Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLIX, Issue 45, 16 November 1922, Page 18

Current Topics

Election Humor According to the Christchurch Press, Mr. Massey said at Auckland that the people of New Zealand need just now careful finance, stable government, and sound administration." Mr. Lee, speaking at Oamaru, quoted some extracts from a Socialist catechism and made a great pother about the contempt which Socialists and with them all people of common sense have for the flagflapping. The only policy possessed by Lees and Parrs seems to be to wrap themselves- in the flag and call out: "Hit me now and the child in my arms." People are a wee bit tired of that sort of nonsense. "Beware of politicians who have no stake in the country," said a, capitalist orator not long ago. "Who made your town? Who made your harbor? Where would you be but for me and the other mes like mo with their thousands floating on land and sea What fun we lose because reporters are kind to wealthy politicians! Poor New Zealand The ether day in a train we overheard a man who looked like a milliner's mannikin proclaim aloud that Ireland ought to., be submerged in the sea for ten minutes or more. It was only by pointing out that the mannikin ought to be. regarded as merely a nuisance with which it was impossible for a man to be angry that we prevented a wild Irishman from kicking the reformer's backbone through the roof of his hat. What the silly remark of the silly person brought to our mind was the amount of good that a real washing might do to poor New Zealand which, as a magistrate told us recently, is becoming a sink of immorality. "And," he added, "it is only when we have schools like yours that we shall begin to save the country from the putridity which is destroying it rapidly." Dail Eireann When the Dail met at length in September Professor Hayes was elected Speaker, and Mr. Cosgravs nominated his selections for the several Departments. The proceedings proved that the members are all anxious for the restoration of normal conditions in the country and that they will stand no militarism. The following note from the Nation and Athenaeum sums up the proceedings: '•• Om Monday and Tuesday, Mr. Cosgrave and General Mulcahy supplemented the. brief statements of policy that had been made on Saturday. Mr. Cosgravo announced his intention to carry out the Treaty ; spoke of the great dishonor repudiation woukl_ menu to Ireland; arid pointed out that whereas no' Government could tolerate armed resistance, constitutional opposition to the. Treaty on the »art of- the minority was, x of course, perfectly legitimate. General .Mulcahy told the Dail that before the attack on the Four Courts, the Government wore warned by Rory O'Connor that he meant to attack British soldiers in order to bring back the British Army. Mr. de Valera, has broken his long silence by a newspaper interview. He argued that peace was not possible without a revision of -the Treaty, and complained that the war was doing everybody harm. This amazing person speaks as if he had no responsibility for the crimes of his followers, though he has never said a word to discourage them. He complained, too, that the Dail, in its long wrangles last year, spent too much time on personal questions. This from the politician who accused Mr. Griffith and Mr. Collins of personal treacherv ! There has been , some excitement in Ulster over the rumor that the .Royal Assent was to be refused to the Bill that passed the Northern Government for' abolishing" Proportional Representation in local government elections. . The Nor-

them Government lias so little regard for appearances that it would rescind at the first opportunity the right conferred on minorities by the British Parliament.

Ireland The troubles in Ireland still continue.. In spite of the priests and bishops young desperados range the country destroying life and property and trying to outdo the Black-and-Tans. We have just received a letter from a priest in Ireland who says that five miles from where he lives a company of Free 'State soldiers were fired on as they were going in to Mass with the people on a Sunday morning. Three of them were thus murdered on their way to Mass by people who evidently prefer shooting from. behind a hedge on - the

THERE IS NO MORE DESERVING CHARITY THAN THE ST. VINCENT DE PAUL ORPHANAGE.

Lord's Day to honoring God. From a speech in Dail Eireann by the Minister of . Agriculture we learn that ■ at Maryborough three of the best of the Free State officers were shot dead with "dum-dum. bullets and immediately after the cowardly ambushers put up their hands and surrendered, led by a. gentleman who was , a British gaoler a year ago. From a speech by another deputy we find that after a similar attack at Leix. the men'behind the hedges actually screamed for mercy. The following extract from the President's speech gives in a few words a picture of the conditions under which the Irish people are living at the present time: . " "When people spoke of prisoners and the disadvantages and of other sufferings they evidently forgot that their soldiers were cockshots for snipers behind either a wall or a chimney or anything else (cheers). Day and night the sniper goes on with his' fell work, and not alone the soldiers of the National Army, paid for out of the treasury of the Irish people, but even the unfortunate civilians going to their work, going to their rest, and women and children at night had their lives made a terror." All this is taking place without a protest from 1 de Valera whose silence can only be construed as approval of the crimes of his followers, and whatever were his services in the past it would be a foclisk thing to allow remembrance of them to excuse him when he is a menace to the Irish people. De Valera, Collins, Griffith, none of them matters in comparison with the Nation ; and the people are the Nation ; and the people will in the end put down the armed lads who are doing all in their power to make Ireland a hell for those who live in it. From the revelations made by General Mulcahy it is now clear that de Valera aimed at becoming a military dictator and that he was absolutely deaf to the voice of the people, in spite of his own pleading for self-determination throughout-his American tour. It certainly seems now that ambition, hatred of England, or pique matters more to both de Valera and •Guilders than the welfare of Ireland. Once more we* repeat that it is the people that concern us. We stand or fall with the majority of the Irish people, whether they are for a Republic or for a Free State; and no man who has any knowledge of Christian ethics can take up any other position. This is not merely a political question. It is a question with direct moral 't bearings, and the. Catholic who refuses to listen to the voice of the united -Hierarchy of Ireland is lacking either in loyalty.' or intelligence. It is good to read the strong and determined speeches made in theDail and to find in them all a resolute and unwavering purpose of 'asserting and defending the authority of the 'Government elected by the people. 4 The Dail will have no military dictatorship by de Valera or by anybody else, and speaker after speaker made it clear that any army in Ireland, big or little, must be -the servant of % the Irish people and not their master. Final! TT let us say that we are full of hope that all will come right. When you hear people weeping and moaning over ) the : state of the country remember that Dr. Sheehan who hn-ows says that things are not a tenth' as bad as they ■ are painted. . '

, A Sane English View \ \- '_- / While brainless asses of the man-milliner type to •'.which we have already referred prate about submerging Ireland, there is a disposition among English people who have both knowledge and honesty to admit sorrow- . fully. that the example of the British forces. in Ireland is" a considerable cause of the present lawlessness. The V following extract from the Manchester Guardian is a fair presentation of the case, and we recommend our readers to note that even if the worst comes the editor of this important English journal regards it as .hopeless for the Irregulars to think of bringing' back the \ British army. Speaking of the doings of the Irregulars, he says: "The burnings and wreckings of creameries and . dwelling-houses during the Black-and-Tan Terror were just as bad. And for more than a century we had been taking pretty sure means to inoculate Irishmen with the idea that law and order deserved neither liking . nor respect. But, however much Englishmen have contributed to raise up the spirit expressed in the savageries in Lord Lansclowne's house and garden, the question now is not one of relative shares of moral responsibility for these orgies of spite and of waste. The question is that of Ireland's rescue, by her own' sons' and daughters, for her' own sake, from the slippery chute on which any country is started when the notion becomes at all. widely spread that a man may enter another man's house and steal or break up his things without becoming a cur and a traitor to mankind, and especially to his own country. "This passion for mean destruction is a disease of : common occurrence under certain conditions. Undisciplined troops soured by defeat and retreatand miserable city mobs in utter despair of any alleviation of their miseries have always "been liable to break out in paroxysms of looting, burning, and smashing; The unnatural impulse to lessen man's- store of all that. man lives by and labors to make is a kind of moral low fever that visits men when hope fails and the future shows nothing to live for, much less to behave oneself for. In Ireland the malady seems to have been encouraged, with a sort of insane cunning, by some of : the most twisted minds among the rebel leaders, the moral perverts who would rather see Ireland depopulated and sown with salt than bate a jot of their own fine-drawn theories about national conduct. Some observers say that the notion is to reduce Ireland to such a pandemonium of fraternal strife and misery that England would come back, and the luckless remnant of Kilkenny cats would then unite to get .themselves exterminated in opposing her. If so, let all hope of ' staging this second-rate tragedy be given up. England is-not coming back. Ireland has got to deliver herself from any wild life that she suffers to breed, in her own jungle. If she does not master the. jungle, the. jungle will overgrow her and Irish life will go hack to the state in which all human life was when a man who had found a piece of food had either to flee or to fight for his life while he ate it.' Even the- absolute beginnings of human joint action are not secured from abolition by except perpetual self-control. On the other hand it is right to say that trustworthy observers of Dublin crowds describe the beginnings of a new temperan alert and cheerful readiness to do as the civil authority bids— is, of course, the natural temper of a free citizen who feels that the civil authority is nothing more nor less than the organised will of himself and his neighbors." «■■,■.

For the Orphans : ; ; ' This week, and till the'end of the 'monthv. the Sisters of Mercy in Dunedin are holding a grand bazaar for the purpose of raising funds in order to enlarge their orphanage which has become inadequate for the calls made on its resources.- .For nearly a quarter of a century it has done magnificent service in the cause of ireligion. Owing to many circumstances the number of applications for admission have- increased in recent years, so that the task of building

new, premises can no 'longer be avoided. As the orphanage was erected to protect and safeguard Christ’s little ones it is in the spirit of Christ who loved little children that the enlargement is undertaken by the Sisters. They have given their work and their prayers unselfishly in the cause of charity and they will continue to do so as long as God spares them; and they, giving all they have to give, now ask their friends, Catholic and non-Cathqlic, to whom true charity appeals, to give some financial assistance towards • making the bazaar a success for on its isuccess depends in large measure what they will be able to do for the orphans now and in the future. The devoted Bisters shelter, clothe, feed, and educate the children committed to their care, and one has but to visit the institution to be convinced that the work is done mar-

ARE YOU DOING YOUR BIT FOR THE ORPHANS . ;■ THIS WEEK?

vellously well. A little aid is given by the Government, but it is very little. Spread over all the orphans it only amounts to the paltry sum of a pound per head in net expenditure for a year, so that it is almost negligible. In some instances a parent is able to contribute towards the expenses of keeping his children, but very often there is no parent to contribute. Yet, by the aid of Divine Providence, the Bisters somehow manage to make ends meet and to bring up healthy, well-trained children in an atmosphere of peace and happiness. But for the good Sisters many. of these little ones would be lost to the Church and exposed to such dangerous temptations that their eternal welfare would be in jeopardy. The number of children they save every year is a splendid contribution to the cause of Christian charity, but when we think of all they have done for the past twenty years we get some idea of the claim which their orphanage has on our support and ©n our admiration. The little children, such as Christ in His mortal life gathered around Him, are gathered around Him on earth to-day in the shielding arms of a Catholic orphanage, and all who help to make such an institution more efficient are certainly sharing in a most meritorious work and gaining great blessings for themselves. In giving towards the bazaar one is lending to the Lord, and laying up a treasure in Heaven where thieves cannot enter and break through, nor rust or moth consume. The virtue of charity has solemn obligations, and we are all bound—not merely advised but strictly bound' in conscience— give according to our means for the relief and support of our poorer brethren. In practice the best way to fulfil this obligation is to give to some organised work of charity in which the money will be used wisely, and well. From time to time we have all been.:deceived by persons who came a-begging and no doubt frequent deceptions make some of us inclined to be hard-hearted. However, such deceptions do not remove our obligation of giving alms; they ought only teach us to give with more discretion. Here, then, is a work of charity of the very highest excellence; here is an organisation in which every penny will be spent conscientiously and advantageously. By giving generously yon will help to make the bazaar successful, and by making the bazaar successful you will enable the Sisters of Mercy to draw round the Feet of Christ a larger number of little children who will be trained in His love and service. In a special manner-this great charity appeals to the whole diocese of Dunedin, for the doors of ' the Orphanage of St. Vincent of Paul are open to the whole diocese, and even to. parishes beyond the diocese. We have no doubt that the appeal will also be .heard by very many good Christians throughout all New Zealand and that they will respond generously for Christ’s sake.

The inequalities of life that are most galling to men are not those that have been caused by nature, but rather those that have been introduced by fictitious social distinctions. : . . •