Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 15 July 1915, Page 21

Current Topics

A * Tablet ’ Veteran The following letter from, an old subscriber who bad got somewhat in arrears, and whose circumstances ■were not known to us at the office, speaks eloquently for itself. ‘Orepuki, July 5, 1915. Dear Sir, — am sending you £2 for the Tablet, hoping you will give me a clean sheet, as 1 don’t- know when I will be able to give you any more money. lam sending you my old-age pension, and doing without myself, as I don’t like to stop getting the paper as I have got it for over forty years. It is not worth while to stop now, and I want to help, and 1 hope for better times. * I remain, yours sincerely, —Michael Reid.’ * This veteran subscriber has supported the Tablet through all these unbroken years not because of its literary although during the ten or eleven years in which Dr. Cleary graced, the editorial chair the paper reached an exceptionally high level in that direction—but out of simple loyalty to the faith, of which the Tablet is the acknowledged defender and exponent, and because he ‘ wanted to help.’ What a fine example this humble old-age pensioner sets to those wealthy Catholics who, in some cases, are too mean to take the paper at all, and in other cases are willing to squabble and haggle for weeks as to whether they will pay —under circumstances in which it is justly due--the paltry few shillings which represent the difference between our advance and our booked rate of charges. What a contrast to the splendid type of Irish pioneers who, generous and open-handed, filled with the spirit and traditions of the Old Land, ever placed the interests of faith and fatherland before mere worldly considerations, and who, through all their ups and downs, were ready at all times to make cheerful sacrifice for every good cause. Verily, they have their reward —in the respect and admiration of all whose good opinion is worth anything, and in the assurance of a still higher recompense to come. Needless to say, our subscriber’s request for consideration in the matter id accounts was met in the generous spirit it so well deserved. We are proud to number amongst our supporters men of the sterling stuff of Michael Reid. Sir Edward Carbon’s Stay-at-Homcs Lovers of Gilbert and Sullivan will remember the entertaining scene in ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ in which the chorus of maidens warble inspiring and inspiriting sentiments to the burly sergeant of police and his followers, in order to spur them on to do their duty and engage the foe. If we can trust to memory, the maidens sing somewhat thusly : ‘Go, ye heroes! Go to glory! Though you fall in combat gory, You shall live in song and story, Go, to immortality !’ To which the ponderous sergeant and his followers keep responding lustily : ‘ Yes, forward on the fee, We go, we go’ : and at length the maidens reply cynically and disgustedly, Yes, but you don’t go.’ The situation has its parallel in the present position of the much-boomed and much-belauded force of stalwarts organised some three years ago by Sir Edward Carson to fight to the last ditch against the establishment of Home Rule. After the outbreak of the war, this body was understood to volunteer for service at the front, and Sir Edward Carson received much kudos and limelight for his patriotic and fine-spirited offer. The Ulster Division had at that time already had two years’ training as •volunteers; and its members were, according to Orange oratory, quite a match for the pick of his Majesty’s forces. Nevertheless, they were not sent to the front.

They have now had seven or eight months’ training, in England, but still not one of them has seen the firing line. - They are’ back in Ulster again, ' and on Saturday, May 8, were to hold a parade in Belfast. ‘ May B,’ says an extract from a letter of Sir James 11. Stronge, imperial Grand Master of the Orangemen, ‘ will be memorable for the parade in ' Belfast of the fine force which Ulster Unionists have contributed to the defence of the Empire, and I am sure that we shall have reason to be proud of the men themselves and of the efficiency which they- have acquired.’ At present this fine force, of which the Orange Grand Master is so proud, is ‘ defending the Empire ’ in comfortable quarters at Ballykinlar, Finner, and other places in Ireland. * In, the meantime, the Irishmen from the South and West who quietly joined the colors at the end of last year and in large numbers since, are facing bullet and gas and shrapnel on the fields‘of Flanders and France. Why are the men of the Ulster Division not by their side ? The only excuse that is given is a very lame and halting one. ‘We are told,’ (Sir James further states) ‘ that every unit which has been sent out has been kept up to its full strength by drafts from reserve battalions, and we are also told that our Division will not leave home until provision has been made for its maintenance by the formation of reserves 5000 or 6000 strong.’ At a public meeting held in the City Hall, Belfast, on April 29, Major-General C. .H. "Powell gave the same explanation of the puzzle. ‘ Tho Ulster Division, he. said, cannot be allowed to go out ‘without some formation of reserves behind them to fill up gaps.’ The Major-General said he was there to ask for between six thousand and seven thousand men. He confessed that he had been hoping to secure the men after the last visit of Sir Edward Carson. Here they were, however, at the beginning of May. and they had only got three hundred and seventy in one reserve battalion and in the other battalions hardly one.’ If that is the state of affairs, 'and if this Division is not to move until the reserves have been made up exclusively from Ulster Volunteers, it is clear that the Carsonitc brigade will be kept marking time at Ballykinlar until the end, and until the greatest warin history has been fought and won without their aid. Supposing that even 20,000 of them-have joined the colors, why have matters been arranged so that all this number have been allotted to first units and not part of them to first units and part of them to reserves, thus completing an efficient force available for field service? It is not fair, of course, to blame the men of the Division : they have no say in the matter. They cannot go unless they are ordered : and if the order is given, they must go. It is impossible to escape from the conclusion that they are being kept at home for purely political reasons; and that the War Office, in collusion with Sir Edward Carson, is the party responsible. Apart from the wretched party spirit shown by the authorities and apart from the ugly look of the whole business, the action —or inactionof the War Office at this juncture is a piece of deplorably bad policy. There has now arisen a unique opportunity for healing the dissensions that have so long divided Irishmen and for bringing about a real and genuine union of hearts. ‘ I would appeal,’ said Mr. John Redmond, in the noble declaration issued by him in September last, ‘ to our countrymen of a different creed, and of opposite political opinions to accept the friendship wc have so consistently offered them, to allow this great war, as to which their opinions and ours are the same, and our action will also be the same, to swallow up all the small issues in the domestic government of Ireland which now divide us ; that, as our soldiers arc going to fight, to shed their blood, and to die at each other’s side, in the same army, against the same enemy, and for the same high purpose, their union in the field may lead to a union in their home, and that their blood may be the seal that will bring all Ireland together in one nation, and in liberties equally common to all.’ That is the utterance of a statesman : and if the War

Office is not utterly bankrupt of brains and vision, it will seize the golden opportunity, and render a service' to the Empire the beneficent influence of which will be felt not merely in the immediate crisis, but also in the brighter days that are to come. Registration of Catholic Schoo's During the past week or two, the heads of our Catholic schools, both primary and secondary, have been in receipt of circulars from the Education Department, or from the local Education Board, drawing their attention to certain changes effected by the new Education Act of last year, particularly iii the direction of making provision for the registration of schools, and advising them to make application to the Director of Education, Wellington, to have the schools under their charge registered; and as some of our teachers are not very favorably circumstanced for mastering the detailed enactments of the bulky, comprehensive, and revolutionary measure which is now in force, they may be in some perplexity as to the exact bearing of the adyice which has been given them, and as to the course which it is proper for them to pursue. In spite of the labyrinth of clauses and sub-clauses in which the proposals are embodied, the situation is in reality quite simple, and Catholic teachers need not hesitate to comply with the suggestion in the circulars, and to make application, in terms of tho Act, to have their schools registered. * The principal section of the Act to which the circulars direct attention is Section 133 ; and wo quote the more important clauses; ‘(1) Where the teachers or managers of any private school apply to the Director to have such school inspected by an inspector, the Director shall thereupon arrange for the inspection of such school to be conducted in like manner as the inspection of public schools or secondary schools, as the case may be; and a copy of the inspector’s report shall be sent to the teachers or managers of the school. (3) If the senior inspector reports that such school is efficient, the Director shall forthwith cause such school to be registered as a registered primary school or a registered secondary school, as the case may be. “Efficient” means, in respect of any private school, that the premises, staff, and equipment are suitable and efficient, and that the instruction is as efficient as in a public school or secondary school, as the case may be. (5) On the receipt at any time of a i court from the senior inspector that any registered school no longer fulfils the prescribed conditions, the Director may declare that such school has ceased to be a registered primary or secondary school, and may remove its name from the list of registered schools accordingly. (6) The Director shall publish in the (!n:ct !>•., at intervals not exceeding one year, a list of all schools for the time being registered under this section. This means, in effect, that, the new Act contemplates that practically all schools shall he registered schools; the only exception being the rare case— rare, at least, as regards primary schools— in which a school is seriously, and glaringly inefficient. Int he case cl (hose Catholic schools which are already subject to State inspection, registration will be effected merely mi application 'to the Director of Education, and to seen re this application is the purpose of the circulars which are being sent out. In resoect to any Catholic school —primary or secondary —which is not yet subject to State inspection, and winch the teachers desire to have registered, it will be necessary to make application to the Director of Education to have such school inspected by an inspector; and if the latter’s report is satisfactory the school is forthwith registered by the Director. Registration is not absolutely compulsory on Catholic schools, but it is very nearly so. Broadly speaking, no school attendance will count for the purposes "of the compulsory clauses of the Act if not at a registered school. There is, indeed, a provision — in Section 60, Clause I, Sub-clause (b) — whereby a parent may obtain a certificate of exemption for a child if he can show that ‘ the child is elsewhere under instruction

as regular and as efficient as in a registered school ’; but the provision is evidently ; meant to apply to the' case of individual children, ( and could hardly be used for the purpose of securing exemption for a whole school. Practically, then, all Catholic primary schools will find it necessary to be registered. The principle of the new Act is: All inspected schools shall be registered and all registered schools shall be inspected.. The principle applies, also, to-secondary schools, . but there is no element of compulsion in their case ; the only penalty for non-registration would be that the unregistered secondary school would not be likely to be ‘ approved ’ for scholarship purposes. * The only seeming drawback to the registration scheme is that, on paper at least, it gives the inspector a power to interfere in the matter of ‘ the premises, staff, and equipment ’ of Catholic schools which he has not had hitherto, and which, if arbitrarily exercised, might conceivably occasion trouble and inconvenience. It should be noted, however, that the inspector is called upon to certify, not that the premises, staff, and equipment are of the most complete and up-to-date character possible, but merely that they are ‘ suitable and efficient.’ If the inspector exercises his power in a. reasonable manner it is in the best interests of the Catholic body that’ any defects under these heads should be promptly remediedwe have absolutely no interest in maintaining other than a high standard in these matters. If, as is extremely unlikely—for the inspectors, as a body, are amongst tho most reasonable and fairminded of men—this power should at any time be exercised in a really unreasonable and arbitrary fashion, there are ways and means of ventilating -the injustice, and of securing redress. In these days of free press, Catholic Federation, and ready access to Ministers, inspectors of schools are as amenable to public criticism where there is real ground for it—and to departmental correction as any other body of public servants. The definite advantages accruing to Catholic schools would seem to outweigh any slight possible danger under the new arrangement. These advantages are as follow: (1) Catholic schools are now to a certain extent to be incorporated and given an officially-recognised place and status in the general education system of the country. The mere fact, of registration amounts to a Government certificate that the 1 premises, staff, and equipment ’ of these schools are ‘ suitable and efficient.’ and that ‘ the instruction is as efficient as in a public school ' of the same grade. (2) Pupils of registered Catholic schools will now be eligible, on the same terms as pupils of tho public schools, to compete for both Junior and Senior Scholarships. (J) Scholarships are now tenable at ‘ a (State) secondary school or its equivalent approved by the Minister.’ By. the mere fact of registration, every registered Catholic secondary school is declared an ‘equivalent’ to the State institution, and practically becomes, ,ipso facto, a school at which both Junior and Senior Scholarships may be taken out. (J ) Registered Catholic schools may, on the application of their manager, receive free medical inspection of pupils on precisely the same footing as the public primary schools. These advantages still fall short of complete justice to Catholics, but at least they are au instalment. * In connection with the last-mentioned benefit, we may recall that, for some mysterious and unstated reason, the Legislative Council attempted to deprive Catholic schools of the concession of free medical inspection, and that we owe it largely to the energetic protest of Mr. G. W. Russell, member for Avon, that the right was retained. We quote from the Hansard report of Mr. Russell’s speech on the point: ‘Another amendment he desired to refer to, and which was sufficiently important to deserve attention, was that in clause 134, dealing with medical inspection. The Legislative Council had struck out the following sub-clause: ‘ (6) The manager of any registered private primary school may apply to the Director for the medical inspection of the school and of the pupils thereof, and the Director may arrange for such inspection accordingly.’ Why had

that clause been struck out? The State recognised the Roman Catholic and other private primary schools in connection • with scholarships and other matters, and tvhy should the right that had been given by this clause, allowing them to apply for the medical inspection of their children, be refused ? The striking-out of the clause was unfair and improper, as it was just as necessary that there should be a medical inspection of the children in the Roman Catholic schools and other private primary schools as of the children in the State schools. The medical inspection was not intended for one exclusive class, but to raise the general health of the children of the whole country. He sincerely hoped that the Managers for the House would insist on the retention of the sub-clause, in common justice to their fellow-citizens who for conscientious reasons did not send their children to the State primary schools.’ This view was endorsed by Mr. Bradney, member for Auckland West. As we have indicated, the sub-clause was retained, and serves to bring the pupils of all registered schools within the scope of the concession granted to the public schools.