Notes

New Zealand Tablet, 6 March 1913, Page 35

Notes

A Muddled Cable It is apparent from the following cablewhich appeared in Monday's papers a considerable number of Anglican clergymen have 'gone over in a body to the Catholic Church but, for the rest, the message is an achievement in the art of muddling in which even the cable fiend has excelled.himself. The message runs: ' Sixty-four of the Caldy Island Benedictines have been secured by Rome. The Pope insisted on the brotherhood eliminating from their breviary the missal doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and the corporal assumption of the Virgin, and on a discontinuance of the exposition of the Sacrament and the Benediction.' It would be a pity to spoil this cable ' gem of purest ray serene' by any attempt at explanation or comment. Bible in fchools In the correspondence columns of the Auckland Star, in a recent issue, Mr. D. O'Donoghue writes very pertinently on the proposed Scripture- referendum (socalled), and also on the disingenuous manner in which Canon Garland puts forward his referendum appeal. The letter is headed ' Should Majorities Rule on Every Question'; and we quote the salient portions: That question, almost as I have stated it, has lately been raised amongst us by a rev. gentleman . . . from Australia. Now, have majorities the right to rule on every question? The rev. gentleman referred to addressed a meeting in Pitt street Hall; . .' . and he put the question in these words: "Should not a majority of the people rule?" He did not add: On every question." Soon afterwards a large meeting was held in the Town Hall, a packed meeting, at which, after difficulty, I was able to attend, admission having been refused to everybody not furnished with a ticket from an Anglican, Presbyterian, or Methodist minister, or from a captain or colonel of the Salvation Army; and as I had none I was kept with many others waiting on the street until the Town Hall had been satisfactorily packed. Then a door hitherto shut, was thrown open for the mob to enter, my humble self being a unit, . . The rev. emissary from Australia once more put the question: '' Should not a majority of the people rule?"He did not add " on every question," although he conveyed that impression. Now, should a majority of the people rule on every question? That a majority of the people do rule on many questions is, of course, undeniable— being no better power to make use of; but still the interesting question remains: "Have majorities of people the right to rule .011 every question?" that is, to force their views, if they so rule, on minorities, and get them to pay for the propagation of such views?' * In the columns of the Auckland Herald a correspondent, 'Martin Smith,' also scores well against the ex-president of the Methodist Conference, and shows who it is that are really interfering with the present national system of education.' He writes: ' Sir,—The retiring president of the Methodist Conference (the Rev. W. Ready) is reported to have said that "they would oppose any interference with the present national system of education, but would insist on Biblical instruction being given in State schools." It is surely unnecessary to state that the present system of education is purely secular, that is, non-religious, and being so, the addition to it of religious instruction as the Rev. Mr. Ready and friends are now " insisting" ■.-■-. 6

bn, would be, if they .succeed, a- most serious "interference with our national system of education. 16 would mean, of course, -the-destruction of the present "■ national system of secular education— and nothing else. Now, why do not the ..clerical agitators be candid, and say that such is precisely.what.they. are aiming at?' l- ~ »■■■—■■ M ; ... . [- Brother Dutton Not Dead On matters of Church news we have' become accustomed to regard the London Tablet' as almost infallible; and on the strength of a statement appearing in that journal many Catholic ourselves included - published comments on the heroism'of Brother Dutton, - m successor to Father Damien, who was said to have succumbed to the lepers' malady. It would appear that" the report of Brother Button's death is—as Mark Twain expressed it—'exaggerated.' The latest issue to hand of the Philadelphia Catholic'. Standard and Times says: 'A cablegram from Honolulu to the New York Herald carries a denial of the report of the death of Brother Joseph Dutton on : Molokai, -in the Hawaiian Islands, whither he went- in 1886 to assist. Father Damien in caring for the lepers. The report originated with the London ■•.'When doubt was expressed as to its truth the Herald cabled; to Honolulu, and the inquiry elicited the gratifying information that Brother Dutton is alive and in excellent health.'•■'-.■ I * As we said when referring to Brother Dutton, there are many Molokais and many. Damiens. Some months ago there was chronicled, the. death, of Father Isidore Dupuy, a French Jesuit, who, after having been named , Knight of the Legion of Honor for services as chaplain of the French troops in Madagascar, returned to labor among the lepers of that colony and succumbed to their dread malady. The' same month,. October last, and the same colony witnessed the death : of another Jesuit who was, like Father Dupuy, an apostle.: aniong the lepers. 'ln 1898,' says Anierica, "'■: Father Beyzim, of a noble Polish family,.^arrived ,'at Tananarive: His religious superiors, yielding ,to-Ins desire, Had promised him that he should be'employed solely in " the service of the lepers," whose imprisonment he was to. share. The first hospital to which he was sent,' that of Ambohidratimo, was in a wretched condition the inmates ;: were so badly fed and so scantily clothed, five or six deaths % were reported every week.... Father) Beyziih exerted V himself to remedy these deplorable conditions. Ho wrote to Poland for assistance, -and at- Tananarive ~he went from door to door begging- for his lepers. In .the hospital itself he acted as infirmarian and cook, and hi the end succeeded not indeed.in curing a disease that is incurable, but in improving the .state of the. patients fco considerably that, instead of six deaths a week, only five deaths were reported in the course of a year. .In" 1902 Father Beyzim was removed to Marana, where he was able to rebuild the leper hospital with the,funds sent to him by his friends and relatives in .Poland. Two years ago he was visited by a French Jesuit, to • whom he showed his arms, upon which big stains, were now visible. "One cannot avoid the illness," he' said quietly. "I breathe the same air and have the same l'fe as the lepers." By degrees the hideous disease took possession of his whole body. He died. on October 1, . 1912, and was buried in the leper, cemetery, among those for whom he had lived and ..died.' f ."