THE EDUCATION BILL.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11481, 14 January 1903, Page 8

THE EDUCATION BILL.

TO TILE KDITOB OF THE PRESS. Six, —'Mr Cuff having set up a Bogey \ ; Bill, seems determined to maintain th»t ~ his bogey is the real Education Bill. Mes *<' Hike Mr CM, on visiting the coloniei,* "£ would do well to leave their fanaticjia i behind. .Mr Cuff, we are told, is "a mem* ber of the Association whicJi is so (toutly i& fighting the papular cause in this matter." jij < Unfortunately ior the argument, it is theie* k own, ilie Nonconformists' ministers', cause, -yy ■not that of the people. The whole oppoei- i*j tiaa was got up by the ministers, and '« f kept going by them. The vast majority>fs af the people await the advent of the Bill J ■with great 'hope of its beneficial effect* ~ The rev. gentleman's address at Dunedia-* was a. good specimen of the fanaiticl»m r ' misrepresentation, and egotism tidied up, '% for the congregations of Tabernaetee m ,] other Baptist places. With regard lo t'wj Education Bill, they are acting the of the dog in the manger. Having failed f completely an educational matters th«ri«';>| selves, they have for generations'throws. || every obstacle into the path of the Church $ in her steady aUvtmce as the great tiomal agency in England. Mr FoTPterVj Bill establishing school boards waaspectiUf '3; designed to overthrow the supremacy of tittjsji Church in the field of but ifailed completely, as "Amy weapon Jbrgei'jyj against the righteous and the just »h*ttJj fail." After reading Mα" Cuff's remadk»i| re the Nonconformist conscience, it majr*J be. .well to remind the gentleman, that ifl»4 national oomfscience is of far more.monMet , thaib the conscience of a limited number, | like the Nonconformist ■ bodies. Tihe tional conscience has realised the grots justice to which churchmen are subjected 4 in having to bear the bulk of the expeaiMM| of Board schools, i.e., t!he bulk of the ecti J of educating the ohiWren of Nonconfona« ists, and having, at the sanW time, to *up- *j ■port entirely schools where their childrea can receive that fuller education the Board schools cannot give, acd tib* .} national conscience ha* decided that th» j time has arrived to do justice to tie Church, and the nation's representatives hi % Parliament, by overwhelming majoirti**, M| have placed on tlie statutes a wise; prthensive, and statesmanlike measure, to "<s| make amends for a long-borne injusti&j. -5 The Rev. W. Cuff say* he and hie jg frknds will not only become themselves, but will do all in their powef" ''| to persuade others to do the same. A *•} grand specimen of a patriot is Mr It ia, however, diaritable to assume i* l\ does not realise the consequences of m ■boasting, if, which is not likely, he should Is attempt to carry it out. The Government Ja of Great Britain is in strong and steady hands, and will not tolerate H obstruction to the law. The punishment '- : | will be more scientific and effective than ?j in the far-off days to which Mr Cuff al« Jades when any silly old quaker waa ftl- l \'| lowed to rot in prison because lie refused y>| to open his mouth wide enough to eajr M more than yea, yea, or nay, nay. Cuff says it is " the b*«t and most *aintlf s% people who oppose ths Bill," that is fchi *| Nonconformist ministeis. Could egotiein •"2 go further? At Manchester some yean back an eminent Nonconformist minisier, in '.1 his mature age, made "the following apologia f for a life-long opjxmtion to the established ■£? church:—"We g*t our bast books, from "■ the church, our most beautiful hymns w* % written by churchmen, our greatest gcholani i| arid statesmen are t-uorchmen, and, had I my life to live again. I would be withia thY pale of the church." Let Mr Cuff *»* .jj \ii« friends read, mark, team, and inwardly \ diijfst these words, and then let tjs hop* ,j? they may see the necessity of nwwiinf -J! their ways and becoming good and I*** <m abiding citizens.—Yours, etc., k F.H.S. "J P.S.—ln to-day'e " Press " appears a let , ,: ter signed R. j. Murray, in which th* writer expresses surprise at your anonymous letters bearing on this rubjed. f I am not surj>rised, your correspondo* " 'T," having laid bare the fallacy of 31r-_-;, Cuffs statements, the friends of the latter, r < now, throiigh R. J. Murray, have the ii£ } j pertinence to accuse you of publishing «•* ~ ;ers calculated to stir up sectarian bitternel tyj the Old World bigotry. Let me «*""•'■s J Murray who. in tliis instance, threw first stone? At Home, in the Old CounttJtef the Xonconfoi mists are always the ::ors, and. to do them justice, always the Avoißt of the argument.