Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XLVIII, Issue 45, 15 November 1923, Page 18

Current Topics

The Hickson Mission Apparently the nine days’ wonder of the Hickson Mission has died out and to all appearances the daily press has forgotten all about it. This is exactly what we foresaw would happen, and several people complimented us both on our cursory notice of the matter, and on our good sense in not giving it undue prominence and thereby advertisement. Auto-suggestion is certain to have beneficial effects in certain cases. ' Thus, the purchaser of a bottle of Mother Seigel’s Syrup, being persuaded by advertisements that the stuff will work wonders, is often cured by sheer optimism, tactily repeating Cone’s formula after each draught of the liquid. Hence it is to be expected that the Mission would have good results in numerous instances. But so far there is nothing, in the nature of a miracle about the cures alleged. The Melbourne Madness - The Melbourne police went out on strike, and forthwith Melbourne went mad.. Shops were looted by roving gangs and law and order was set at naught. The thin pie-crust of British civilisation broke down when the men in blue were out of sight. The culture and the education and the restraint supposed to be the fruits ; of many years of secular schools were put to an easy test and found wanting. Hands are held up in horror at the spectacle of a British people running amuck like a pack of coolies, but there is very little salutary thinking don© by those who ought to profit by the,warning. The truth is that our British civilisation’ is based on respectability and not on Christian principles. Don’t be caught, is the first sanction, and the second is Mind the policeman. What else can be expected from children who are trained to regard religion as a matter of indifference They are taught that singing “God Save the King” is more important than the grace of God, and that to neglect posturing 'before a flag on a pole is worse than a breach of the Ten Commandments. Hence Melbourne saw the sights she saw. : Ireland No news is good news, and the fact that our cables are silent about Ireland at present is a sign of peace and progress. We are assured with more confidence than ever that the reign of terror is ended, and that the- Republicans will carry on their campaign in a constitutional manner in future. We are all with them there. To call the people who were in arms against the Free State Republicans was always inaccurate, for any man who read the papers that reported in full the speeches made during the debates on the Treaty could . see with half an eye that most, if not ■ all, of the Free Staters were Republicans, only they thought their way the surest to . attain their ends. As General Mulcahy put it at the time, the Treaty was not by any means what Ireland wanted, , but it was the best that could be got under the circumstances. It gave Ireland a chance of getting on her feet, and developing her resources. It was a case in which the half loaf was better than no bread, and /in that sense it was supported by most of the -Teach who voted for it. One day the full measure of freedom will come through the development which all the self-governing Dominions are undergoing steadilynot excepting that one which a great London paper recently described as the least intelligent of them all. It. was not Ireland that was thus described : it was our own New Zealand of which we are so proud. . ■ General Foch and .the Peace Treaty ' * One often hears it said that if General Foch had had his way, He : would have marched to Berlin and dictated to. the; Germans a. more crushing , ultimatum. But this is not the .opinion of. Mr. . Barnes, the; Labor'

Delegate who had a seat at the conference table with Lloyd George and Olemenceau and the rest of the champions of small nations. Mr. Barnes was certainly in a .position to know the truth and his view is Worth considering. • - Dealing with the Armistice, Mr. Barnes states definitely: “It is beyond question that it was upon advice of Marechal Foch that the struggle was not prolonged, and that the conditions of the Armistice were those which he himself proposed.” He quotes on this point an important passage from Pomp of Powtr: “On October 25, 1918, Marechal Foch (to whom the Allied War Council had referred the whole question) asked Petain, Haig, and Pershing to meet him at Senlis, and to express their views. Haig, who ' spoke ' first, thought that the chief consideration was to draft terms so moderate that the Germans would be certain to accept them. In his opinion the Allied armies were out of breath, the military power of Germany was not broken, and it was therefore desirable not to miss: this chance to end the combat. He suggested that it would suffice if the main conditions were the evacuation of ■Belgium, the invaded parts of France and AlsaceLorraine. Petain had an entirely different idea of what the Armistice should 'be. His proposal was that the German troops should retire to Germany without taking with them a single cannon or any war material except the arms they carried; while he thought it essential that the Allied Army should occupy both the left bank of the Rhine and a zone of 50 kilometres on the right bank. Pershing agreed with Petain. Foch did not then intimate that he had arrived at any decision’, but on the following day he sent M. Clemenceau a concise memorandum embodying the terms which he believed to be necessary. Briefly it may be said that his plan, while going further than that .of Haig, was not quite so stringent as that put forward by Petain, the main difference being that it did not require that all the German artillery should be abandoned. Some days later (October 27 to 31) this memorandum was considered by the representatives of the Allied Powers and of the United States.” A Lesson from Scotland For many years Catholic schools in Scotland were ignored completely, if they were not penalised in some way or other. As a result of the activities of the United Irish League, of the priests and Catholic teachers, and of Members of Parliament who - had courage enough to be honest men, . a great change was brought about and a satisfactory modus agendi arranged between the Education Authority and the private schools. An Act was passed which marked a new epoch of emancipation in Scotland, giving to all voluntary schools, their teachers, and their pupils, a status of equality. , In New Zealand the circumstances are somewhat similar to what used to obtain in Scotland. The private schools are not helped by the government which collects taxes for the parents' who demand that their children shall be trained in the religion of their fathers. The private schools are penalised in many ways, and as time goes on it is becoming more evident that the politicians are more and more disposed to sell their services. to the No Popery bigots who would if they had their way raze our schools to the ground and destroy the only fountains of Christian education in this Dominion. .' Honest men solved the problem in Scotland. It is unsolved here for the simple reason that we have not honest politicians, or, what comes to the same thing, that our politicians are afraid to be honest if by being so they risk losing the votes of the bigots. As in the days of Bishop Moran, we are the victims of a system of rapine and plunder and oppression at the hands of the Government, of New Zealand, and it. is our- duty to carry on to the end the fight against the forces which stand lor the maintenance of that wrong. What was 1 done in Scotland could be done here. It might not be the only way, or the best way, but it was one way of doing justice and of proving that thft British Government, as far as Scotland was concerned,

was mindful - of the fundamental principle that all' citizens . had the right to equal treatment, and that while one section of the community got the secular schools it asked for another must not be compelled to accept secular schools which it abhorred. Secular schools are sectarian schools. There is no doubt about that. They are schools set up in favor of the sect of -■ people who think secularism good enough for them; and they are schools set up in opposition to the sects that hold that religious training is an essential part of true education. ; Scotland saw that it was dealing unjustly with those who demanded private schools, and Scotland set about righting the wrong done for many years. New Zealand deals unjustly and tyrannically with those who have conscientious objections to its godless schools, . but New Zealand makes no attempt to right the wrong. It is opr duty, and the duty of every loyal member of any. Christian fold, to fight tooth and nail against the godless system of what is called education; and , it is the duty of every fair-minded citizen, no matter whether he has religious beliefs or not, to help us to win justice. In Bishop Moran’s day he advised Catholics how to vote. There are many who say that we have nothing to do with politics, but they are blind to the fact that it is our duty to deal with politics and with politicians when they come into contact with our religion and its rights. The Tablet in Bishop Moran’s day was never afraid to fight for its rights against bigoted politicians. And, although we are often blamed for so doing by those who might be expected to know better, we will follow in his footsteps as long as we remain in office. We have not only the right but the duty to expos© the doings of our politician enemies, to put them before our readers in their true colors, to arouse the feelings of Catholics against them, so as to compel them to recognise that they cannot with impunity sell our in- : terests for the sake of the votes of bigots. This is the tradition handed down to us, and we are going to be> faithful to it until our enemies learn their lesson. They have learned something of late, and we take some credit to ourselves for the fact that a little more respect for the Catholics whom they insulted and outraged has been forced upon them. It is useless to say that we cannot compel them to do us justice. If we are only united for the defence of our rights we can do l anything. The Catholics of Scotland were not much more numerous than we are in proportion to the population, but by united action and by having courage to fight the good fight to the end they won. Some people have now found out that No. Popery was a rotten reed, and they may be more disposed to respect, us in future. To them we recommend a study of the following provisions by which a government composed of more honest men than ours did a measure of tardy justice to the private schools of , Scotland. The principal provisions of the Act (as far as we are concerned with it) are: “1. It shall be lawful to transfer a Voluntary School to the Education Authority with the consent of the trustees of such school, together with -the site thereof, and any land or buildings and furniture held and used in connection therewith, by sale, lease or otherwise. The Education Authority shall be bound to accept such transfer upon such terms as to . price, rent, or other consideration as may be agreed, or as may be determined, failing agreement, by an arbiter appointed by. the Department upon the application of either party. . . , ■ . “2. The Act provides that the existing staff of . teachers in Voluntary schools prior to the passage of ...the Act Education (Scotland) Act, 1918 shall be token over by the Education Authority, and shall from the date of transfer be placed upon the same scale of salaries, as teachers of corresponding qualifications appointed to corresponding positions in other schools of the same authority. . , : ' “3. All teachers appointed to the staff of any such school by the Education Authority shall in every case be teachers who satisfy the Department as to qualifica- ; tion and are approved as regards their religious belief

and character by representatives of the Church or denomination#} body in whose interest the school haefbeehi conducted. ‘ . V' % _ y “4."Section 18, Clause 3, sub-section . hi/, specifies that “subject to the provisions of section 68 (Conscience Clause) of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1872, the time set apart for religious instruction or observance in any such school shall not be less them that so set apart according to the use and wont of the former management of the school, and the Education Authority shall appoint as supervisor without remuneration of religious instruction for each such school a person approved as regards religious belief and character as aforesaid,' and it shall be the duty of the supervisor so appointed to report to the Education Authority as to the efficiency of the religious instruction given in such school. The supervisor shall have right of entry to the school at all times set apart for religious instruction or observance. The Education Authority shall give facilities for the holding of religious examinations in every such school.” ’’ These clauses have so operated that no creed has ,been unduly penalised. In Glasgow, all the Catholic schools are now under the arrangements quoted, and subject to the management of the Education Authority. which is elected on the lines of Proportional Representation. - T Under these clauses an Episcopalian school was taken over by the Authority, and the minister has the same, right of entry as the Catholic clergyman to the E.A. -managed Catholic school; and in the Adelphia Street School, where most of the pupils are Jews, the teachers are Jews and the Hebrew religion is taught.' Thus the Glasgow Education Authority has u schools which suit pupils of varied creeds.: The concern of the E.A. is to manage the schools and see that the standard of education is what it ought to be; and the Act safeguards the principle that the teaching of religion id what the parents desire, and that it is done by teachers of the creed determined by the character of the school. In essence the Education (Scotland) Act was broadly conceived. It has its faults; but it ended the penalisation of anyone in educational matters because of creed. The experience of that Act in Scotland might supply an example of legislation which the Northern Government of Mr. Criag might follow. . 0:; ;: m The Catholic Secondary and Higher Grade ,Schools have been taken over by the education authorities - in the same way as the elementary schools, and all the salaries are paid by these bodies. A The Voluntary schools are leased to the E.A. The payment of the cost of repairs and . structural alterations depends on the lease. The owners of the school have to keep it wind and water tight. If additions are necessary, these , are made'in Glasgow by the Voluntary school owners, provided the E.A. is satisfied these, are necessary; and these additions are afterwards made the basis of a lease. - ; NEW VOLUNTARY SCHOOLS. The need arose recently for two new Voluntary schools, and of their necessity the Glasgow Education Authority was satisfied.' The Catholic school authorities erected the schools and leased them to the E.A. There was no trouble, no rancour, no squabbling;-everything was carried through in an amicable way. y*