Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 14 April 1921, Page 14

Current Topics

William Confesses • / ’ w ? :i vv lt was almost laughable to hear Mr. Massey tell us time and again that'we need not ' worry and that ityew Zealand was in a financially sound condition. Of course’ people paid as much attention to it all as they do to most of' Mr. Massey’s pronouncements. Apparently he— even he—realises that the game . is up and the time has come to face the music. The other day he changed his tune and admitted that we are in a bad way indeed and that under his benign and bluff regime New Zealand has plunged badly into the mire. At a crisis like this one inevitably thinks what a loss to the Dominion Sir Joseph Ward is, and one remembers it against the P.P.A. that the one thing they have done for New Zealand is to deprive it of the services of its greatest financial expert at the time when he is needed most. Well, the people who helped the P.P.A. to put Massey into power will shortly have, a chance of realising that one may pay too dearly even for hearing Mr. Massey’s monotonous whistle. St. Patrick’s Day We note with much satisfaction that the response made throughout the Dominion to our invitation to mark St. Patrick’s Day this year by making the celebrations eloquent of our; determination to stand by our brave friends in Ireland met with a magnificent response in all quarters except the few that we already knew to be hopeless. The thousands of true friends of justice have made the protest, and if it is not now clear to Mr. Massey what Irishmen and right-minded Englishmen think of the awful atrocities of British rule in a small nation it is only because our Prime Minister has even less intelligence "than he is commonly credited with. An amusing incident that occurred on St. Patrick’s Day is worth recalling. Over a certain public institution the Union Jack was hoisted somewhat less than the full height of the mast, and to make matters worse the flag that waves over ruined Cork was turned upside down in Dunedin. A certain local parson who is notorious for his P.P.Ass. activities and remarkable for other things also nearly got a fit. He had an inquiry made and had aheadv made up his woilderful . mind that here was another Sinn Fein outrage. Alas, poor deluded man ! it was found that an innocent Protestant and not a furious “Romanist” was the culprit. And so a nice subject for a-P.P.Ass. platform oration was lost for ever. Three Compliments '■■- When the Hibernians foregathered in Christchurch on Wednesday, April 6, they did not forget Ireland. May they flourish for ever for it! . In an eloquent address Brother Sheahan introduced the resolution condemning the oppression of our small nation and affirmed the right of the Irish people ’ to govern themselves according to their own will. He supported his motion by adducing striking testimonies . from English authorities who have condemned the conduct and the injustice of the British Government' as strongly as any Irishman could, and the great Hibernian meeting recorded one of the finest resolutions in favor of Irish self-determination yet passed in New Zealand by 'any, society. In doing this the Hibernians were true to themselves, and they did honor to 'their society as well as to their Irish sentiments. At the present time every such resolution counts for a great deal, and we are in a position, to say that moral support given in this manner is precisely what de Valera . expects from us out here. We are grateful, to the Dominion ; deley gates for what they did on last Wednesday, • but we wish’ also to dwell briefly on a more personal motive for gratitude. After the passing of the Irish resolution, Brother Walsh moved .. that -, the thanks of the 5 society be conveyed to the 'Editor of the ; New Zealand ■ Tablet ' for his ! services' in the ' columns of his 1 paper, . the speaker ,adding.., a word of admiration for.-- the

Tablet’s, fidelity to the Irish cause through the trying times in J which we f live. rfa We assure ! the Hibernians of , Our cordial appreciation of the 1 compliment J thus paid us, and in this generous tribute from such an influential body we have abundant reward for whatever trials our efforts on behalf of a small nation have brought upon us. They were not few, and they were not always light; but approbation from this and other high authorities more than compensate for them all. ./• . During the past week we received from a distinguished New Zealand priest who wrote from Killarney on January 29, a letter in which the following passage occurs: “I hope this letter will find you well. Since my arrival in Ireland I have had- the Tablet forwarded to me. I have never yet seen a paper .that‘was so universally appreciated by those to'whom T gave some copies. It would be a splendid idea to have copies of it placed in the libraries of the Ecclesiastical Seminaries here. In fact one student who is studying . for New Zealand told me that he would never have selected that country were it not for a chance copy of the Tablet which he read; ; • ; : Finally, we have been ■ again selected • for special condemnation by that Orange Society which consigns, ( the Pope to Hell so piously. That, too, is a great ' compliment. Ireland and England An American exchange reports that Mr. Chesterton has said that England is regarded now by the nations in the light of a malicious lunatic, and that observant statesmen abroad regard the misrulers of Great Britain as the greatest obstacle to the permanent peace of the world. Present news goes to show that they have landed England at the brink of a civil war. The cables announce that terrible industrial turmoil is upon England and that the authorities are feverishly calling up the army and navy. It all reminds us of the old saying: “When Our Lord falls on Our Lady’s lap England will meet with great mishap.” We heard . this repeated many times in connection with the falling of Good Friday this year on March 25, and for once it seems that an old saw is going to be verified by events. While trouble for England is brewing apace the “Black-and-Tans” continue their dastardly work on a small nation, and each new day reveals clearer the moral obliquity of Greenwood, who is now challenged to publish the report concerning the .burning of Cork supplied by - General Strickland. His refusal to do so has made it evident that he told a “British truth” when he said the Sinn Feiners were guilty. Many people have asked .us what ; we think of the appointment of Lord Edmund Talbot as Lord Lieutenant of ’lreland. Knowing what French was we cannot imagine that this English Tory will be any worse, but we have little hope that he. will be any better. As far as the Irish people are concerned his appointment does not matter one straw as far as England is concerned it is probable that he will represent King George more decently than , his predecessor, concerning whom we know , what we know. At the present time the English are carrying on a furious campaign against Ireland in Rome, and ..like the cowardly bullies they are they even threaten what they will do to . our Catholic missions in certain contingencies.. It may -be that the appointment of Lord Talbot is a-phase in ' the Vatican campaign against Ireland. But the people at the Vatican are not fools. In the meantime Sinn Fein goes forward on its hard way, and it is not losing hope. ' De Valera testified on his return to Ireland that he found the,, whole people more united and more determined than ever. % So , much for the vaunted success of ’the 1 war against. Irish women and children !\d Our 1 day-lie reports concerning the .fighting - are as false! as most’of . their Irish reports usually are. Sinn Fein j papers tell us that from week to week events are happening that give the Irish - people 1 greater confidence.) ;• Owing to the fact that to tell the whole truth may mean* persecution or even death they leave us to read the rest between the lines. But the one fact that stands out is that the- • i'f-T-D ’ai'v.'-ii? . n ’ SSk- . tK -..- Ml-wT-

Irish people are ■' confident that they are 1 winning and that j victory ,is r j drawing near, j England’s present troubles interest us very much in ,so , far as they may hasten Ireland’s release from persecution., Perhaps the “Black-and-Tans” will have work to do at home shortly. C I • . { p —— The Crusade of Prayer for Ireland ! x. We want to exhort our readers to join ,in the Crusade of Prayer for ■ Ireland.. already ‘ successfully launched by the Sisters of Mercy,. South Dunedin. Humanly speaking, the Irish people stand alone in their desperate struggle for those rights for which brave men gave their lives in the recent war. They are oppressed and persecuted by the very people who invited men to die 'for the right of self-determination for small nations, by the very men who beggedlrish- - men to go and fight in the certainty that the fight was also for Ireland’s freedom. These mem have now thrown aside their war-aims and they are doing in Ireland exactly what they said the Prussians were doing in Belgium. They are making war not only on men but on women and children. The nations of the world stand by and watch the persecution. - They, too, care nothing for justice, nothing for humanity, and their > apathy to-day is the test of their real sentiments when they told us that they went to war against Germany for the sake of justice. Ireland depends, humanly speaking, on herself alone, and she is fighting with incredible determination against overwhelming odds. But Ireland does not forget that there is a Power, above ? earthly kings and that even to a weak nation God is as a tower of strength. Ireland’s chief hope is in God to-day. And we who cannot heln Ireland otherwise can help her at the Throne of God by our prayers on her behalf. This is what the Crusade of Prayer asks us to do. Will we not do it for Ireland? Is there one of us that will be deaf to Erin when she asks us to pray for her? It will cost us nothing, and it will achieve much, even a speedy victory, certainly a final victory. Here is a chance for all of us to have a part in Ireland’s victory, and surely we will not let it slip by now. Join the Crusade of Prayer at once. Get all your friends to join it. Inquire in the parish school and make sure that all the children are joining it: for of all prayers the prayers of the children are most powerful. Individual prayer is great; the prayer of two or three has a special divine ' sanction but a vast union of prayer has always appealed to the Church and had special favors from the Popes, which prove that there is a power and efficacy in united prayer thalt is wanting in independent and isolated efforts. For this reason, it is good to pray for Ireland but it is still better to pray as' a member of the Crusade. Bear clearly in mind what is asked of you. Members of the Crusade are expected to assist at Holy Mass and to offer up Holy Communion for Ireland. ‘ Members must hear one Mass - and offer" up one Holy Communion, but the more Masses heard and v- the more Holy : Communions received with this intention the better. Members are also expected to recite daily the Rosary, asking the Mother of Sorrows and the Comforter of the Afflicted to bring peace and comfort’to the children of St. Patrick in their own land. During a visit to the West Coast we were delighted to see how the convents are taking up the Crusade over there. A distinguished’ priest in Christchurch spoke eloquently to us in praise of the movement and assured us that he had already felt' the necessity for a combined Crusade exactly on these lines. As time goes on we trust that every Catholic in New Zealand who loves Ireland will be enrolled in the Crusade, h and we hope we shall never hear that there is a single : school in which the children are; through the fault of their teachers, denied the opportunity ‘of doing their -•part for the land to which under God they owe their i. Faith. The nuns in South Dunedin will send you leaf- >'• lets willingly. .'-They have had thousands of them printed and you have only to send in your name and to say that you wish to join in this great spiritual camapaign on behalf of dear Ireland: w 1 -H ,

The Grey Lynn Convent We call the. attention of our readers to the appeal made by Dr. Liston in our columns on behalf of the Grey Lynn Convent." Here is ah opportunity for generous Catholics to make amends to the devoted nuns for the base calumnies levelled at them incessantly by the horsewhipped .. parson and . his , foul-minded, followers. We saw for ourselves recently . ; what destruction the. fire did and how, utterly ruined was the mother house of the good Sisters of St. Joseph. The. insurance is so small that it will go only a very little way towards restoring their home to the nuns, who must i depend now, on the Catholic people, to enable them to build a new convent on the site of that which, as far as one can gather, was maliciously destroyed on Good Friday morning. We are sure that readers of, the Tablet will not be deaf to so noble a call upon their generosity. Priests, nuns, and laity ought to welcome this opportunity of bearing practical testimony to the work done for the Faith in New Zealand, and we trust that Dr. Liston’s appeal will meet with a grand response. We wish here to bring before our readers several suspicious circumstances connected with the fire. First, a false alarm was given concerning the same convent a short time previously; second, on the night of the fire the brigade was called out by an alarm given from a signal near Grey Lynn and they found that they were .called out to extinguish a seat on a cart in a yard; thirdly, the fire was set going under the verandah near the street, and there were no electric wires near the spot, nor was there anything to suggest that a fire might have accidentally broken out there; lastly, a gentleman who was going to keep his watch before the Blessed Sacrament in Grey Lynn church noticed the fire and at the same time saw an individual coming towards him from the direction of the convent. This person cut across the street and got away speedily when his attention was called to the fire in the convent just behind him. All things considered, there are strong grounds for suspecting that the convent was destroyed by an incendiary, and this conclusion is supported by the opinion of men whose business it is to investigate such matters. In a statement made to the press Dr. Cleary pointed out that atrocious publications making out convents to be places of wholesale debauchery, callous murder, and unspeakable shame were being circulated in the Dominion at present, and that they were being emphasised by similar platform-attacks on nuns, and that this vile propaganda was calculated to produce on ill-balanced minds such results as were produced in Ireland, Canada, and the United States, where convents were actually destroyed by fanatics. Mr. Dickson a leading P.P.A. agitator in Auckland, takes exception to Dr. Cleary’s statement and makes in the Auckland Star, March 31, a very lame apology for the P.P.A. contending that at the recent meeting ,in , the city of Auckland not one word was said by any speaker in reference to a nun or convent. In an able letter, . Dr. .Cleary points .put th,at Mr. Dickson has not a word of defence to say concerning the charges that the circulation of infamous , printed matter and similar plat-form-attacks are calculated to produce in New Zealand effects similar to those produced by such agencies elsewhere. Dr. Cleary also points out that with reference to the meeting in question it was, publicly advertised that people would be told all. about the “story of ,a convent escapee,” and that moreover the organiser of the P.P.A. asserts openly that that association is engaged in what that person calls a . campaign against convents. At the time when Mr. Dickson was so hopelessly defending r the P.P.A. in ' Auckland the horsewhipped parson was engaged in ’ Christchurch in doing exactly what Mr. Dickson was trying to. make out the ,““.A. does not do. . Indeed, it was on the very day that'Mr, Dickson’s letter appeared in Auckland that a Christchurch evening ‘ paper published an account of a dastardly attack made j by the unmentionable parson on a Catholic ' institution' in Christchurch. We : are happy to be able ; to say;'tWt the unscrupulous P.P.A. hireling’ overstepped the mark on this occasion .. and . drew,. down upon ; himself a well-deserved' castigation lin the press as well as occasioning a complete exposure of

his methods and supplying the opportunity for-a splendid public testimonial to the institution attacked.