CATHOLIC FEDERATION

New Zealand Tablet, 1 February 1917, Page 23

CATHOLIC FEDERATION

WELLINGTON DIOCESAN COUNCIL. The following addresses, unavoidably held over from our last issue, were delivered by the Rev. Father Hurley, S.M., and Mr. W. F. Johnson (hon. secretary) respectively at the half-yearly meeting of the Wellington Diocesan Council, held at Palmerston North on January 17. REV. FATHER HURLEY’S ADDRESS. Under the heading, ‘ A Criticism of the State System of Education that Obtains in New Zealand from a National Standpoint,’ Father Hurley spoke .is follows : One of the reasons of Federation is that we should organise as a body and demand’ fair and just treatment in the matter of education. - For what your politician hates is not a mob of voters, but an organised mob of voters; and we are organising for the noblest and best ends men could organise forviz., for God, for our fellow-men, for virtue, for justice, for all that is good and beautiful. We are dissatified with the present system of education in New Zealand. I am not r-ure that its most ardent supporters are very enamored of it; but the fact remains that it has been condemned by a body of experts in education, I mean the Catholics of. New Zealand. We are not anarchists out to cause destruction. We know what we want, and if we pull down; something it is that we may put a better in its place,. .We know what we want. Backed by divine-

given principles, and by the" experience of . past "ages . for the : Catholic ■ Church is no • new thing in ; the world, we know i what ,is ; best for men, for the; nation; for t lie j world : Education is," for us, the development ,of man, the building up .of . character it -. does ' hot mean ramming ! and packing . ; him ; with - figures • and dates and names: it is the development of the : God-given faculties of .his soul. , We train a man ;in a rational way, according to his nature and according to his end or, purpose in life. We endeavor to make of him a good citizen, and a good Christian to give him a good chance to succeed in this life and to make certain, of . the next. Therefore we give truth to the intellect, and we give strength to the will we help him. to know and do what is best in life. The training of! the intellect and will must go hand in hand, otherwise you will produce a lopsided man and so we insist on religion being an important and necessary part ‘of the training of a child. That is briefly principle number one. ... Our next stand, and one from which we shall never move is this: ‘ That the duty of education is primarily the duty of parents and not the State.’ It is the right and duty of the parents to see that their children have that degree of moral and intellectual culture which shall enable them to succeed like men in the business of life. ‘Of all jurisdiction exercised upon earth, that of father is the most sacred, for he is the direct and indefeasible representative of Him “of Whom all pater nity in heaven and on earth is named.” ’ The family is the unit of society and is prior to the State, and the State exists for the family to protect the family; and it is only when the head of the family fails that the State has the right to step in and take his place. It would be the perfect thing if all education could be given by the parents, for they are the first, most influential and cherished of all teachers. But this is not always possible for reasons that are obvious, and so schools are established where the children may receive a —note that well, — a part only of their training. The school teachers are then for a few hours of the day and to a certain degree the substitutes of the parents. Now see and admire the solicitude of the Catholic Church. She endeavors to procure the very best substitutes possible. She inspires men and women to devote themselves to this work. She places before them the counsels of Jesus Christ, and they sacrifice the things of the world to give themselves whole-heartedly to God and His little ones. And these religious, men and women, are specially chosen and trained for their sacred work, and they are sent into the schools as experts in education and the best parental substitutes which the world can give. We hear a good deal at the present day about vocational training.; it is brought forward as something quite new and modern, but in the training of her religious teachers the Catholic Church has had for centuries the perfection of vocational training. I trust that no one will be so foolish as to think that because I exalt the religious teacher that I thereby condemn the lay teacher. Nothing is further from my mind. The lay teachers in New Zealand are doing their part in a noble work and deserve our highest respect—and they also deserve better pay. But the religious teacher in the Catholic school creates that atmosphere of religion which the child must breathe. For religion with us is something more than a subject of the syllabus. It is something that must enter into the very souls, of the children. It is for them 'the sunshine of God’s love which will cause those souls to expand and grow. The knowledge of God and His holy law will assist them to restrain themselves when needs be and develop the highest and best type of character in the Christian man or woman. . Principle number three. It is the right of the Church to teach religion, for to her was committed that sacred duty, Go ye and teach all nations.’ And the State cannot usurp this right by any State system of religion, or by such a substitute as the Bible in State schools. - - Now I come to criticise the system of education in New Zealand. It is said to be free, secular, and com-

,;-pulsory, .. and ; these three : qualities - are now used as a kind of sacred '. phrase and' their - subject is ‘ tabooed/ must not be touched, especially by. the• Catholic Federation. First of all I strike out the word free. The system of education in New Zealand : is not free. 1 The word free is a shibboleth. One would imagine that the Minister of Education ■ merely waved a magic wand or rubbed a lamp, and schools would spring up magically. There is, as there should be, ample taxation' for education, and you Catholics have good reason to know it. The word is merely dust thrown, in the eyes of the people; it is a delusion and a myth,' and any system , that relies on such a prop for its support has not much to commend it. So it would be just as well to drop this word from the magic phrase. ,: -2. Secular, which being translated means godless. It means that the future citizens of New Zealand are not to know God. What does that mean ? It means, says Ernest Renan the infidel, * that the peasant without religion is the ugliest of brutes, no longer possessing the distinctive notion of religion.’ (L’ Avenir de lei Religion, p. 487.) The instruction of the intellect alone has no moralising tendency. It may turn crime into different channels and render it more difficult to detect, but it will "not change a man’s natural propensities or his desire to gratify them at the expense of others. Physical science, literature, art, may refine the judgment and elevate the taste, but here their power ends. Knowledge of these is a power and nothing else. Its practical effect is to make the good man more powerful for good and the bad man more powerful for evil. And that is all it does or can do. You will often hear it said that * some person should have known better than commit such a crime,’ showing the belief that knowledge alone should make a man good—a belief which, as Herbert Spencer points out in his Study of Sociology, ‘is flatly contradicted by facts.’ Criminal statistics exhibit more crime amongst skilled than unskilled laborers. Now listen to a very apt and powerful statement by the great John Milton : ‘To make the people fittest to choose, and the chosen fittest to govern will be to mend our corrupt and faulty education, to teach the people faith, not without virtue, temperance, modesty, sobriety, parsimony, and justice ’ (The ready way to establish a Free Commonwealth). Our teaching in this matter commends itself to all right-thinking men, and amongst them John Ruskin, who makes this strong remark; Nevertheless it is open to serious question which I leave to the reader’s pondering, whether among national manufactures that of souls of a good quality may not at least turn out quite a leadingly lucrative one. - (Ruskin, Unto This Last.) ‘ The secularised state for all its undenominational character should esteem and reverence what we call “the religious idea.” If we have learned anything we have learned that society will not hold together except by moral ties, in addition to material ties, and no moral ties are really effective that have not the sanction of conscience and religious conviction. The State for its own safety and well being _ must be Christian and should be proud to call itself Christian, and should mould its legislation according to Christian ideas.’ An argument frequently brought forward by supporters of the secular system politicians, teachers, and others — this : ‘ It brings peace, it prevents friction.’ This must be denied. It does not produce peace. We are not satisfied with it, neither do I believe the Anglicans and Presbyterians are satisfied with it. Moreover peace at that price would be too dear; and the Catholic Church, bearing in mind her divine commission to teach all mankind,’ will never submit to any system which will exclude the knowledge of God, the love of God from the hearts of her little children. We can turn the argument on to the politician. - Are there no disagreements in political life? Are these disagreements productive of nothing but evil ? When politicians have sunk all party ■: opposition they will have some standing then to preach peace to others. The secular system of suppression has nothing to recommend it. It is not a: settlement,: but an evasion; Let me

give you a fact which; for a Christian is ah overwhelming as :well as a sorrowful proof/Fifty years ago the i American people were; a religious people from a Pro- ; testant point of view ; to-day there are, after half a century of education, without a - religion, sixty ; million Americans, who have no .religious;, belief-':: whatever. Sixty million''people, sons and daughters of parents who professed belief ,in • the Divinity of Christ, .'have dropped . that Faith because they never acquired "any. interest in it, , T ,.;, ' - ' ' Let me also draw the attention of all those who have the welfare, of the nation at heart to this . remarkable statement published by the Gazette de France : In 1882 the so-called ‘neutral’, systemhe., a system - of education absolutely without .religion, was established. - Between 1883 and 1893 the number of child criminals increased by 25 per cent,, the population remaining stationery. ‘ Between 1893 and 1897 the' seven millions of children between seven and sixteen years of age, produced almost twice the number of crimes committed by the twenty million adults, and others over sixteen.’ It is a striking fact that ‘in Paris, of 100 children prosecuted, scarce two come from religious schools, 98 are from the neutral schools.’ These figures furnish a warrant for that exclamation of the Socialist deputy who is quoted as saying that by killing God we have destroyed morality.’ Time forbids me to pursue and develop this question any further. To sum up, let it be said and pub - lished far and wide, that we as Catholics are 1 irrevocably opposed to secular education. We oppose it not for any selfish reason, but we oppose it because it is a national evil, for it will banish from the lives of people the one great thought, the only thought of life, the thought that will strengthen them in good, form in them true and noble characters, make them a power - in the world— the thought of God and His Holy Law. Now we come to the third note, that of compulsion. The State system is a compulsory system. The first explosive which we will hurl at it is that it is undemocratic. The first duty of democracy is to safeguard minorities, yet in this compulsory system minorities are crushed, brushed aside, and consequently the system becomes autocratic and despotic. It-is, moreover, a wholesale method of working, and whatever is handed out to all alike must necessarily fail to meet requirements with anything like exactness. Look at it in this way. Suppose an army contractor supplies boots of all one size. Some of the soldiers complain that the boots do not fit, or do not suit them. ‘ Very well,’ says the general, ‘ go without or buy them yourselves.’ A nice way to treat an army. Such treatment would not produce a very good spAit. You would very soon have an army of cripples. And you are not going to form a great nation by a wholesale system of education. Every minority must be safeguarded, treated with justice and satisfaction. It may be said that the Government allows any dissatisfied minority like the Catholics to build their own schools. Yes, and many thanks for the permission, which is for the Government a great saving, but extra taxation for the poor minority. This is not freedom-but another burden. We are compelled to pay for the compulsory systemthe Government —then we are excluded from them. ‘ To compel payment and to exclude from participation is political injustice, and to offer participation upon conditions known beforehand to be of impossible acceptance is wilful and deliberate exclusion.’ John Stuart Mill, in his Principles of Political Economy, lays down the .following principle: ‘A Government is justified in requiring from all the people that they shall possess 1 instruction v in certain things, but not in prescribing to them how, or from . whom, they- shall obtain it.’ And- he expands the principle by saying that the whole of' education , should not be in the hands of the State, for a general State education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly alike one another, and as the mould in which* it casts them is _ that which pleases the =• predominant power (or Director of Education) it leads to despotism over the mind and body. An education established and con-

. trolled .by the State should only exist,; if it exists at > all, :■ as ; one «. amongst : many competing experiments for the purpose of r example and experiment and stimulus to keep the others up to’, a certain standard of excellence, v Under this .system men could be brought up Dissenters or Churchmen, the State merely taking care that they should be educated Dissenters or educated . Churchmen.’ (Mill, On Liberty.) » ; ; Now we as hold that our system of education is the best for the nation as a whole. . For it is a system that educates a man as a man and brings out in him what is best, and so is the only education worthy of the name. We do not wish to be a class apart, but by our experience and success in the past we do claim to be heard and treated fairly in such an important matter as education. We are striving for a truly National system, the ’best for the nation and most acceptable to the nation. Listen to St. Augustine: ‘Let those who say that the teaching ,of Christ is hurtful to the State produce such armies as the maxims of Jesus have enjoined soldiers to bring into the field, such governors of provinces, such husbands and wives, such'parents and children, such masters and servants, such kings, such judges, such collectors and, payers of tribute, as the Christian teaching instructs them to become, and then let them dare, to say that such teaching is hurtful to the State. Nay, can they hesitate to acknowledge that such discipline if duly acted up to is the very mainstay of the commonwealth ? All honor to our devoted religious, men and women, who are carrying on the work of Christian education so successfully and thoroughly in New Zealand. All honor to our Catholic people who by a generous sacrifice are building, supporting, and filling those schools. And now to conclude with the great Archbishop Spalding : ‘ Those who hold that education means training for life and the fitting for complete living, that God is the very breath of life, for in Him we live and move and have our being, that towards Him goes our highest thought, our purest love, and upon Him rest our eternal faith and eternal hope, therefore cannot but maintain the method which trains man for life, for reverent living, for holiness, for purity, for - humility, for the fear and love of God, as becomes one who must live nobly here and sublimely hereafter.’ MR. JOHNSON’S ADDRESS. Mr. W. F. Johnson said that the diocesan council had now arrived ‘ at the end of a perfect day,’ a day of supreme happiness to every member. The attendance at the council meeting surpassed all previous records, and for the splendid hospitality of the Palmerston people, he desired to return the sincere thanks of the council. To the local clergy, the Rev. Fathers McManus and Forrestal, to the parish committee of the Federation, and to every one of the members in

Palmerston, the council desired him ; to say Many thanks.’ . ... After hearing the eloquent addresses and the beautiful music it was their privilege to. listen to that evening, he was afraid , that it was . asking rather too much' to expect those present to be patient with him;. while he endeavored to place before them something of the past record of the Federatioin, its present position, and its prospects and aspirations for the future;, There was, the speaker said, one aspect ■'of the question that deserved consideration, and that was the question of endeavoring to obtain for the teachers in our, Catholic schools -the devoted religious who are giving up their • lives for the eternal welfare of oir children—some remuneration from the State for the services rendered. If an educated child is an asset to the Stateand V ’*■ ft;

. ••;./, ; ,-. . • •*--.• . _ -. • ••:- ■v: J ■-•' -•■■*.. - : i.'-'■*>-” -•■'v-/A v'V-.-ir -i-v----------everyone .agrees that it is—surely its teachers are v entitled to equal remuneration with others, no matter in .what school the education is imparted. : 1 ’ -; When we' read that the average salary for male teachers not including pupil-teachers - and probationers ■—is .£248 11s 3d, and for women teachers £l4l, 3 it makes one wonder where is the sense of justice on the ■ part of the responsible officers of the State, to allow‘the . teachers in the Catholic, schools to be compelled' to give their services gratis to - the State for conscience’ sake. If the Government tax the whole people for education, surely the whole people have a right to share in the ■ beneficial use of such taxation." Let us therefore insist on equal pay for equal work,’ seeing that all are taxed equally for education as for other State services. Before leaving the education question, let me briefly refer to the . ■ ; . • . • Kitchener Scholarships, and here again, thanks to the Catholic Federation, a ? grave injustice to the ‘ less fortunate section of the community was nipped in the bud. These scholarships, ; which it is proposed to establish as a memorial to the late Lord Kitchener, owe their existence to the munificence of Colonel the Hon. R. H. Rhodes, who generously placed a substantial sum' at the disposal of the Government for the purpose. To ensure that the scholarships shall effect the purpose intended, they must be subsidised by the State. Therefore the. conditions of the scholarships are of public interest. It was the declared intention of Colonel Rhodes that the scholarships should be open to the children of all men who have fallen in the war, but what do we find The Council of Education,to which body the form of the scholarships was referred by the Governmentrecommended that they take the form of naval cadetships either in England or Australia, to which an entrance examination equal to matriculation would be required. As this proposal seemed to be totally opposed to the declared intention of Colonel Rhodes, and would necessarily disqualify every child in the primary schools, Catholic or otherwise, the Federation felt it to be its * duty to protest to the Government against the adoption of the report of the Council of Education. In this protest, it had the whole-hearted support of the Labor Party, which roundly condemned the glaringly undemocratic nature of the proposal, a proposal which would have the effect of making the Kitchener Scholarships the perquisite of the well-to-do, instead of being as they were intended to be, the privilege of the poor. In this matter, the Federation deserves the sympathy and support of every working-man and woman in this Dominion, Catholic or otherwise. Press Vigilance. The Federation has also given its attention to antiCatholic and offensive. statements appearing in the press. Quite recently , a * statement was cabled out that at the recapture of Fort Douamont, ‘ the remains of sixty Germans who were -asphyxiated some , months ago by an explosion, remained immured like faithless nuns.’ This cable message first appeared in the evening journals of New Zealand, and the Press Vigilance Committee of the ;• Diocesan Council could not allow such a gratuitous insult to the devoted religious of our' Holy Church to pass without a protest. A sub-committee of the Diocesan Council—to which all these questions stand referredtook immediate steps by writing to the editors of both the morning journals in the city, calling attention to the offensive reference, and requesting that the same be deleted from their reports. This was done in both instances, and the editors thanked for their consideration. The Diocesan Council then requested the Dominion Executive to approach the Press Association, . and to point out that such messages were needlessly offensive to a large section of the general public. The: Federation has received the assurance that more care' in this respect will be exercised in future. War Distress Fund. In the early stages of the war, it will be remembered that a large number of cases of clothing were

dispatched to the High Commissioner for Ne>w -Zealand, for ' the ; relief ;of !: those rin need on account; of‘.the war. r It ; came to the knowledge of the - Federation that the distribution ; of these gifts was being • administered by a board upon which there was' no Catholic representative. ■ . Representations -were , made to the High Commissioner, with the: result that forty large cases of clothing were sent. to, the . Westminster Federation for distribution, and £IOOO was promised; by Sir Thomas Mackenzie from the War Relief Funds for those in distress through the war, and his promise is being fulfilled. , If The Censorship of Cinematograph Films, established in consequence of a movement initiated by the Federation, at the instance of the Wellington Diocesan Council, has more, than justified' its existence. Several films have been condemned, while others have been subjected to radical alterations. The Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, has just announced its intention of enacting a similar law. The Establishment of Catholic Women’s Hostels in the principal centres of the Dominion is another work standing to the credit of the Catholic Federation. It must surely Be a great relief to the parents of those girls who are called upon to live in the larger cities of our Dominion, to know that a good:home is placed at the service of such where there is no danger of irreligious or anti-Catholic surroundings undermining the influence of the training received at home.. The hostel established in this diocese has more than fulfilled the expectations of its founders. At the conclusion of its first year of existence, it finds itself absolutely free of debt on all accounts, and with a small balance to credit on ordinary account. What a record ! Now, what other organisation in New Zealand can show such a record of good works in the short time since it was established ? The Present Position of the Federation, Now you will naturally expect from me some information as to the present position of the Federation and I have pleasure in placing before you a few figures compiled from statistics supplied to me by the treasurer to the Dominion Council— P. D. Hoskins. Now it is not my intention, nor is it my desire, to play off one diocese against another, or to attempt to unduly exalt our own, but ‘facts are chiels that winna ding,’ and I will content myself with giving you actual figures. The Federation was established in 1913, and up to and including December 31, 1916, the total amount received by the Dominion treasurer on account of ordinary revenuethat is to say, on account of contributions from diocesan councils for subscriptions received £2OOI 18s sd. Of this amount, the archdiocese contributed £Bl2 6s 7d, leaving £1179 11s lOd to be contributed by the three other dioceses • an average of £393 3s lOd. Since the books were closed on December 31, further payments have been received by the Diocesan Councils, of which the proportion due to the Dominion Council amounts to £2l 19s, making the total amount sent to the head office £833 15s 7d. With reference to the n Field Service Fund, . the record of the archdiocese is even more creditable. And here, before I go any further, permit me to thank the Palmerston Patriotic : Society for the very handsome contribution of £SO to the fund, and the officers and. members of your parish committee for having made the application for the same. . . .. The total amount remitted to the Dominion treasurer on account of the Field Service Fund up till December 31, is £599 18s lid, and of this amount, no less than £514 15s, 4d was raised in the archdiocese, leaving £BS 3s 7d to be contributed by the three other dioceses. Now I, am not saying that the whole of this creditable amount has been raised by the parish committees of the Federation, as the , total includes grants from the Marlborough Patriotic Society of £IOO, £SO from the Manawatu Patriotic Society, £157 raised by means of a concert in Napier, £7B by similar means at Wairoa, etc., but I am justified in saying that it

• was ► through < the . good offices of members of our parish committees-. that • these 1 grants : were obtained, • and - these : substantial sums realised. ; -Put; of the. sum of £599 lJ3s . lid so raised grants have been made <of £l5O to Chap- . lain-Captain McMenamin, Brockenhurst Hospital ; £SO each to Chaplain-Captains Segrief and Connolly of the ■ .hospital ship"Marama and Maheno, and' £25 to Chap- ( lain-Captain McDonald, Egypt, together with: sundry payments for religious objects for use on the transports, leaving a- balance in hand of £305 4s 3d. Quite recently, the War Relief Association has. decided that no further grants be made by patriotic societies' to any denominational or religious organisation; but that all grants be made by the High Commissioner. V. This will no doubt be eminently satisfactory to the Catholic chaplains, who have never received anything but the utmost consideration from the High Commissioner’s office. - ! - And now, having shown you what the Federation has done in the past, and what it is doing to-day, the question is— What of the Future ? The future of the Catholic people of this Dominion is :in the hands of the Catholic people of to-day. We look back with pride upon the history of the pioneers of our holy faith in this country, and we are full of gratitude to those heroes of the Church who braved death and danger at-every turn. At this time, we have arrived at a distinct epoch in the history of the Church in New Zealand, at a period when for the fix-st time, the Government has told us plainly that we are a class apart, and are unworthy of consideration. Future generations will look back and ask : * What were the Catholic men and women of 1917 doing, to allow this deliberate affront to pass without notice ? and what must the answer be? It rests with you. In the first place, our Catholic men must come out of their seclusion, and take their proper share in the public life of the Dominion, and we want them not only because they are Catholics, but because they are capable and worthy men. Anyone with half an eye can see the importance of Catholics being adequately represented on the public bodies of New Zealand; on borough councils, and upon hospital boards especially. Cardinal Bourne, in concluding his address to the Westminster Federation on April 3 of last year, made use of these words:— ‘ The work of the Federation must be the - work of the laity. The clergy cannot take a great or leading part in it, although I trust that they will always give them their encouragement and sympathy. You must never be disheartened if, owing to many claims on their time, that encouragement and

v sympathy may not always be as apparent s as you desire. You must do the main-part of ? the work yourselves. ;; It is the work of the laity, ; and ;it is surely a matter for which we ought to give thanks to. Almighty God, r that there are so many, interested in the ;work of the Federation r determinedso; far as they are concerned, that the work shall go forward as earnestly and as courage-' ■ , v - • .i, , •;;:■ ■ J -- ■ ° ■ ously as possible.’ , : 0 Is any further commendation needed? ,If so, listen to the words of the Holy Father Benedict himself, sent by the hand of the Cardinal Secretary of State. (Mr. Johnson here read the letter of the Cardinal Secretary of State, conveying the Apostolic Benediction to the N.Z. Federation, and which has already appeared in the Tablet.) - , . This time last year, when the council had intended to meet in Palmerston, his Excellency the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Cerretti, honored it by a visit, and imparted the Apostolic Benediction to all members; and his best blessing upon the - work. Further, the Federation has the entire approval and blessing of our illustrious Metropolitan Archbishop, and his able Coadjutor ; of the suffragan bishops, and the clergy of the Dominion, and it only remains for the lay. people to realise their responsibilities to each other, when the Federation will become a power, in the Dominion. Now the Federation is not merely a local organisation, it is firmly established in every English-speaking country in the world, and organisations similar in constitution and with similar aims, exist on the Continent of Europe and in India. In August last, a National Convention of the Catholic Federation was held at New York 20,000 delegates were present, representing 5,000,000 people, and yet it commenced at Boston ten years ago with 40 persons. On the 31st inst., a conference of the Catholic Federations in the several States of Australia will be held at Hobart, at which proposals will be submitted for a confederation of all the State organisations throughout Australasia, which will embrace over one million Catholics. I mention these facts to show that other countries are alive to the necessity for organisation, and it behoves New Zealand to do its share to keen abreast of the movement. Now the greatest enemy to the Federation is not anyone outside the Church —neither the Government, nor the Education Department, nor any one else, — its enemies are within ; and the greatest of these is the careless and indifferent Catholic who, instead of thanking God for the privilege. of hearing Mass, is more inclined to thank God that he has ‘ got that off his mind for another week.’ Ask one of these men to take a

' 7“• ■" , ™V—~~ V T •i.p spade, and / assist you to ‘ clear :up -t the ; church or | school’ ;; grounds, and you will -leave: him ; absolutely dazed .with astonishment at your audacity. ' ‘ - ;; ' Then r we ‘-have those good people who are ,so concerned about saving, their own souls, that they have ho time to give to the necessities •of their ; fellow-Catholics, • and religiously keep clear of all meetings or gatherings where there is a possibility of being called upon to do something. - ;: : * , ; ; And then we have the ‘ man who knows all about everything.’ You meet him everywhere you go. Talk to him about the Federation, and he will tell you that it is on the wrong lines,’ ‘ it ought to do this thing, or leave that other thing alone.’ He takes exception to the persons who are giving their time and such talents as they possess to the glory of God, the liberty and advancement of our holy religion, and-the welfare of our co-religionists in this country. Let me only make a final appeal to those who have not yet become members, to do so without further delay, and I feel convinced that within a very short period of time, you will see that your confidence has been fully justified. The present system of education was established in the year 1877. It is now 1917, so that the chosen people have now served the full forty years in the wilderness, waiting patiently for something akin to a miracle to bring them out of the house of bondage. But ‘ who would be free, themselves must strike the blow,’ and already one can see the advance guard of the great Catholic army of New Zealand ascending the foothills of Mount Pisgah, and if they keep well together, with confidence in the divinely-appointed leaders of the people, they will most assuredly see the glorious sunrise o’er the promised land of religious freedom in this Dominion, where there shall be equality of opportunity for all, and favor to none. Mr. Johnson resumed his seat amid loud applause. At , intervals, songs were given by Miss Hanlon and Mr. T. Rodgers, Mrs. Rodgers being the accompanist. The Rev. Chairman moved a vote of thanks to the speakers for their able and enlightening addresses, which was carried with acclamation. A similar vote was carried to the Rev. Chairman, on the motion of the Rev. Father Hurley.