ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

New Zealand Tablet, 8 May 1919, Page 18

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

"Rationalist" (Waitati). —We hold over your queries re Catholic schools in order to make exact inquiry. 13. D. (Wellington).—Please don't write to tis as if we were experts. But if you will ask for information concerning the genealogical trees of quadrupeds we suppose your patronage of the Tablet entitles you to an answer. The data of the case are as follows :—■ PunkaCooltrim —Galliuaria—Gallinule Desert Gold All BlackGallinule. You can do the rest of the calculation for yourself. The problem is what relation is a great-grand-child to a grand-child when in collateral descent. E. M. II. —Johnson was certainly one of the greatest figures of his age, but it is hard to assign him a definite place in the Temple of Fame. He owes so much to Boswell and to his friends of White's Coffee House that at this distance to get his true perspective is almost impossible. Burke, who was certainly just before all things, thought that Johnsou was greater as a cau'seur than as a writer, and no doubt as a writer he has acquired a certain amount of false fame which really was due to his conversational powers. There will always be many to admire him, but as time goes on their number will decrease, for the trend of English prose is directly away from Johnson's model. As for us, we believe that without Boswell's Life and the admiration of the really brilliant coterie in which he moved his reputation as a writer would stand far lower than it does to-day. "Juvekna." —Patrick McGill wrote half a dozen books, as far as we can remember. His first was his best — The Children of the Dead End. In the Eat Pit he told the same tale from a different point of view. Two war books, The lied Horizon and The Great Push were successful. They were followed by a book of ballads, which he called Soldiers' Sony* —nothing very startling in them. Then came another effort to tell his one story in a third way. It was vile and dirty. A poor book called The Di(/!/er.i has since appeared. "He ought to have died when he had written his first book. J. J. P. (Hastings).—Thanks for your letter. Will write soon. I think your friend will score. "Gael." —There are hundreds of Gaelic words that clearly suggest the French. For instance the popular term among the Irish peasants for a boy is "gorsoou," which is almost identical with "garcon." Albionthe French name for England (whose, proper adjective is also very Irish) —is practically the same as the Irish words for the White Cliffs. Monsignor O'Leary used to pronounce them Ale baton'. "Gars" and "gosse" are familiar terms. The latter might be rendered as "brat," W. W. II. —You can take it as absolutely certain that many Protestants voted. Prohibition for the precise reason that they were told it was a blow aimed at the Papists. It was, too. We' know of ~' a few decent Protestants who voted against Prohibition - exactly because. they saw the black, dirty bigotry behind the movement. Although a few^sincere

Catholics did support it they did not realise what they were doing. ' Emphatically Prohibition is against .the practice and f example of Christ,, who not. only drank wine but made it for others to drink. ..< .. 'yP. W.—We do not deny and never wished to that our paper is predominantly Irish. Did we not say that it could not be otherwise if true to its founder ? What we do deny is that it is exclusively Irish. Reflect for a moment in how short a time we should starve if it were not for the Irish supporters. Do you think we are going to forget them ? You are mistaken as to our corrections having had no effect in a certain quarter. We could easily convince you that they had a very surprising effect and that it has been remarked by many. Cathal Brugha was recently prosecuted for giving his name in Irish, The Irish papers taunted Lloyd George with the fact, recalling his late statement that the Irish had no language of their own. Cathal Brugha is the Sinn Fein M.P. for West Waterford. Don't you think there is such a think as a duty to truth, even if one's efforts reap no actual reward. To think so is Irish at any rate. I think you would find a pamphlet by Stephen Gwynne (a Protestant Nationalist) useful. It is, I believe, published by the Dublin Freeman's Journal. From their office you could obtain many useful leaflets by various members of the old Nationalist Party. Thanks for your letter and its kindly criticism. It is no harm to agree to differ on some things.