SMALL SCHOOLS AND THE QUESTION OF ENDOWMENT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1681, 22 February 1913, Page 9

SMALL SCHOOLS AND THE QUESTION OF ENDOWMENT.

Sir, —Mr. Cooke has made complaint thnt I.have abused the other side. I certainly had 110 wisli to ba offensive, but . Mi'., Uookc shtmld,know, that iu this fight thcro is likely to bo some hard knocks, and I might siiy, us far as'l.am concerned/ 1 'shall' not spare an opponent if. I can help it. There is 110 use men rushing into these fights if 'they are a littlo afraid of recciviilg as gpod as they give, and perhaps a littlo better. There have been' a lew opponents of the "league" silenced already,' or, , perhaps, they iiro recuperating for another onslaught. Mr, G'ookp accuses mo of liavingiio ease. Well, let us-sec about that. He mhdo a great, point, as he thought, about theso oueollicered schools. 1 pointed out in my reply that tkcro are something iike iGOO of tneso'schools in Moiv South Wales, and there has been no 'difficulty there. Mr. Peter Board, Under-Secretary of the Department of, Public Instruction in' New South Wales, writing. - ! on these schools, says "arrangements such as holding, the class at one end of the schoolroom have to bo made," and he makes'no mention of 'any! difficulty. ■ And I said before that theso small schools fulfil their functions quito as. well as larger ones on all subjects. If there were any difficulty wo would have heard of it long ago. : Then this question -of endowment. Quite a lot of, people run away with the idea that if the Bible is brought back into the schools, and Koinan Catholics object, then there can bo no ground for repelling their demands for Stato aid for their schools. For the inform'ation of those like-minded, I will quote the reply of.the Premier of Queensland to the 'Roman Catholic Archbishop of Queensland, when the Archbishop tried to get State aid; "Tho clergy of your denomination. , have the right of free access to - tho '. State schools for tho purposo of giving religious instruction to tho children of that denomination under regu- : lations framed in accordance with law. Under these circumstances 1,, contend that there is no just ground ! of complaint against tile decision of the people being given effect to, nor- . - do 1 see any special connection between this subject and the subject of endowment. Your Lordship's. main purpose, however, is to ,ask me whe- ; thcr the .Government havo any inten- . tion of proposing endowment to your ! schools. In reply, I may say that the Government have no such intention, as they are of opinion that a major- . : ity of the pcoplo of this State aro op- : posed to grants of public money to . any religious denomination for educa- ' tional purposes.—l have, etc., (Signed) D. Denham." What has Mr. Cooke, Mr. Mackenzie, and the "Post" to say to that?—.l am, etc., TITOS. M. MILLIGAN. . February 17, 1913. ,