Notes

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3, 21 January 1909, Page 102

Notes

Thanks! s We crave the kind indulgence of the large number of clerical and lay friends in New Zealand and Australia who have been good enough to telegraph to us /their felicitations on the honor which the Holy Father has been pleased to confer upon the New Zealand Tablet in bestowing upon its editor the distinction of Doctor of Divinity. It is quite impossible for us to reply personally to all these kindly messages of good-will. An extremely gratifying feature of these generous missives was the extent to which they - represented the good-will of our valued confreres of the daily press, of the religious press of other faiths (notably of our able and high-minded Presbyterian contemporary, the Outlook), of many of the non-Catholic clergy (Christian and Jewish) and laity — and, above all, of the poor and humble of our own faith who have found helpful and healthful reading in the columns of the New Zealand Tablet. To one and all, thanks and evermore thanks 1 Licensing; Reform The Licensed Victuallers' Association is doing well in. the latest move towards getting its house in order. At Auckland last week they passed with commendable xinanimity the following resolutions: ' (1) Abolition of barmaids (it is proposed to keep a register of all barmaids at present employed in the city of Auckland, and employ thereafter none except those whose names are on such register) ; (2) abolition of private bars, " when the present leases expire, except in the case of a lengthy period, when a special date is to be fixed. ' (3) Raising the age limit at which youths can be served with liquor in hotels from 18 to 20 years. ' (4) No woman to be supplied with drink for consumption on premises unless she be a boarder.' The Battle for the Schools In our editorial paragraph on page 89 of this issue we inadvertently omitted to record the death of the English Education Bill. It is pleasant to know that the marked Catholic hostility to it had a good deal to do with poleaxeing the measure; pleasanter still to have what is tantamount to a declaration from Mr. Balfour that Catholic feeling will be a vital factor in any future effort to settle the education difficulty in England on a permanent basis. ' I must say,' remarked Mr. Balfour in his funeral oration on the measure,, ' that aoßill which is really unworkable from the Roman Catholic point of view is a Bill which does carry in itself the seeds of destruction. I think a Government which really did endeavor to bring forward a Bill which absolutely prevented the Roman Catholics from carrying out that kind of religious training for their children which they conscientiously believe to be necessary is a Bill which I feol confident would have to be revised even if it were passed/