Notes

New Zealand Tablet, 7 September 1911, Page 1750

Notes

*• 1 # f The Scot’s Weak Heart Frugal North Briton , (his first experience of a taxi) Here, man, stop! I ha’e a weak heart. I canna stand that hang’t wee machine o’ yours markin’ up time tuppences, ’—Punch.

Religious Orders in Portugal In the House of Commons the other day Mr. John Redmond asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he would state what protection would bo afforded by the British Government to the rights of British subjects holding property in Portugal who had complied with the terms of the decree issued by the provisional Government of Portugal. To which Sir E. Grey gave the following reply The hon. member, no doubt, refers to the decree issued on the 31st December, 1910, by the Portuguese Government. This decree, of which a translation was published in the London Gazette of the 25th April last, pronounced the forfeiture to the State of the properties of religious associations in Portugal under certain conditions and laid down the procedure which must be followed by any claimants desiring to establish a rightful claim to the ownership of confiscated properties. His Majesty’s Ministers at Lisbon formally reserved all rights that British subjects might possess in respect of the properties affected. On further representations' from his Majesty’s Government the Portuguese Government have given an assurance that any decision adverse to British claims may at an early stage of the proceedings be referred to arbitration at The Hague.’

Mr. Redmond’s Disclaimer ■ . * Some of the New Zealand papers which criticised the Home Rule demand on the occasion of the envoys’ recent visit, or extended only a lukewarm and halfhearted support to the movement, attempted to justify their attitude by references to certain statements regarding Separation alleged to have been made by Mr. Redmond in his American speeches. American news-

papers are notoriously imaginative; and sweeping or sensational statements from such a source are always more or less suspect. It is, therefore, in no way matter for surprise to find Mr. Redmond giving an explicit disclaimer to these alleged separatist statements. The following letter (says the. Dublin Freeman's Journal) has been sent to a Glasgow correspondent who wrote to Mr. John Redmond regarding an alleged quotation from a speech which he was supposed to have delivered in America: -4-

House of Commons,

July 6th, 1911.

Dear Sir, —I am directed by Mr. Redmond to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the sth inst., and in reply have to state that the allegation that he, speaking at Buffalo, U.S.A., last year, said that 'what the Irish Party wanted was Separation,' is absolutely untrue. Mr. Redmond never made any such statement either at Buffalo or elsewhere. Yours very truly,

T. J. HANNA.

Peter Campbell, 98 Stanley street, Kinning Park, Glasgow.

A Hawera Protest A Hawera parent, who has been proceeded against by the local Truant Inspector for not sending his boy to school, has sent a vigorous and indignant letter to the Wanganui Chronicle on the subject. In the course of the letter he gives the following as his grounds for not complying with the compulsory provisions of the Education Act: ‘lt is a “terminological inexactitude” to state that I refused to “send my boy to a school wliere military training is taught.” The reasons given by me to the Truant Officer, for taking my boy from the Hawera State School, were numerous, among them being: —(a) His general education was not conducted on lines which I approve. He was kept too long in standards which he had obviously outgrown. In arithmetic, for instance, he was compelled to work for twelve months at rules which should be mastered in three months, (b) I strongly object to the absence of gymnastic training, and to the substitution therefor of military drill with dummy guns, even for children under the age of twelve years. It is immoral, from my point of view, to instruct infants, not to speak of grown-up boys, in militarism. The Hawera school is in danger at present of being turned into a military academy, (c) I object to the insanitary conditions existing at the school when my boy attended, the urinals and closets being so bad that some boys refused to enter them. My child contracted measles at the school, (d) I object to my child associating with boys who constantly use filthy language, and whose actions were in some cases unspeakable; and no power in New Zealand will compel me to tolerate such.’

Whatever may be thought of the first three grounds advanced, the sympathy and support of the whole community will go with the protester in the stand he takes in regard to the last count of his indictment.

The letter concludes with the following sarcastic outburst: '"The Board instructed the Truant Officer to take action against the father." Does, the Board think that lam incompetent to teach my child ? lam a poet, journalist, author, artist, and musical and dramatic critic of twenty years' standing. I am author of the following books— The Higher Teaching of Shakespeare, The Inwardness of Shakespeare, Lady Rosalind (a.novel), Collected Verses, Flowers, Birds, and Children, Symbolistic Sonnets, Poems, Essays for Ireland, Imaginations in the Dust, as well as innumerable essays on educational and literary subjects. University men throughout Europe have not been above learning from my books, and I have been elected a F.R.S.L., F.R. Hist. Society, and member of the Society of Arts —-all Londonon the merit of my creative literary work. Does the Education Board believe that I am not competent, or to.be trusted, to see that my child is properly educated? Or, has the Board • allowed itself to become a foolish tool in the hands of the headmaster of the Hawera School? My wife is a highly-educated

woman, and quite capable of imparting a satisfactory education. New Zealand is a truly remarkable country ! Is there any other country in the world where the village tailor and the village • piano-tuner are tolerated as dictators of educational policy? —Yours faithfully, ‘LOUIS 11. VICTORY. ‘Regent Street, Hawera.’