ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

New Zealand Tablet, 18 November 1920, Page 22

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

Sundry Readers.— -Once more we warn, readers that .the Editor has nothing to do with the business department and that ; he will not be respon,r-. sible for any business communications sent through him'. / This is the nine-hundred-and-ninety-ninth time we have said the same thing. Fair Play. — Make no mistake about it, the P.P.Ass. Amendment was a direct attack on Catholic doctrine. Of course there may be a few 1 people foolish enough to think that the Cabinet had nothing to do with it, just as there are a few who imagine that legal official opinions on it have not ' been supervised by its egregious framer, the Bellman. Inquirer.— Evolution is only a theory. It is not proven. he New Zealand professors who teach Material Evolution as a certainty are either dishonest or ignorant. As for the opinion that man’s body was evolved from lower forms of animal life while it is not heretical and is possible it is by no means established scientifically. Gael. — Affnn (old Irish niff red/>) is the same as the Latin word nfferendn, just as Mass is the Latin M-is&a. Affrin is found in place-names all over Ireland as a relic of the Penal Days. It is eloquent of the ears when the same British Government that is murdering Irish Catholics to-day because they love their native land persecuted them because they loved God. Take the names, Ardanaffrin, Corranaffrin, Mullanfrin, Glenaffrin, and Lisanaffrin, all of which remind us of Masses said on high places, in sheltered vallevs, in old forts, in glens, and in deep trenches. There are many words in Irish to express honesty, self-sacri-fice, bravery, devotion, and suffering: there are few good terms for poltroon, charlatan, diplomat. The latter are much more needed than the former in English. When you meet the name Sion (or Mount Sion) in Ireland remember that if is an English corruption for .ddhean (pronounced Sheeawn), meaning a fairy mount. A story told of O’Connell illustrates English ignorance and corruption of beautiful names. 'There was a lawsuit concerning water rights at Lax Weir, near .. Limerick. The counsel against made a long rigmarole of argument on the word Lax, and argued that the very name implied that there were no strict rights about the weir. O’Connell replied in his shortest speech : . “Are you aware that lax means salmon?”