ST JOSEPH’S CONVERT FIRE

Hokitika Guardian, 2 April 1921, Page 2

ST JOSEPH’S CONVERT FIRE

STATEMENT BY BISHOP GL'AARY i A meeting was held at Auckland on Sunday afternoon to discuss the re- ( , building of gt. Joseph’s Convent which j j was destroyed by fire last week. Ilie attendance was estimated at 3000 peo- , pie. The sum of £3554 was subscribed towards the rebuilding fund. Dr. H. M. Cleary, Roman Catholic Bisiiop of Auckland, in a speech, followed up a series of facts regarding the fire and drew the conclusion that it was an incendiary one. Further investigations were now proceeding, and until they had been completed lie was unwilling to say anything of a definite nature. However, he assured the gatnering that if a time came when his duty was" o speak, he would do so in plain and open terms. According to the Auckland “Star,” on Monday Dr. Cleary made the following statement for publication: “The general public lias no adequate 1 idea of the atrocious character of -the mass of printed matter which the Government found it necessary to suppress ? during the latter part of the war, but 1 which nevertheless continued in active i circulation through the malls and ,• otherwise, and whfcli is now in unre- - striated circulation. I have a mass of , this disgusting propaganda matter m j my possession, and I am prepared to I 1 submit it to the inspection of the police - of journalists, of public officials, and j - of the clergv of other faiths. These 3 vile productions make out convents to t debauchery, of callous murder, and uu- , speakable shame. It should be need- - less to emphasise the effect which the . perusal of that vile printed stuff, and e of the hearing of similar platform atv tacks, are calculated to produced on t credulous, ill balanced and excitable - minds. We know the results of such t campaigns of calumny in the convent ;l in the two Charlestons and Philadelphia - in the United States and at various v places in Canada, and (not to mention a. other places) in Belfast and Portnafeigh in Ireland. It is significant circumil stance that this incendiary. fire at t Grev Lynn occurred the night after d a meeting which was a small part of it a campaign against convents. It is not h improbable that the destruction of the a Grey Lynn convent was accomplished e by someone wifili an ill-balanced mind ,s that was inflamed by the agencies that s I have already mentioned. It is not at j, all unlikely that the person who peril- petrated that outrage may, after a >- while, seek to compass the destruction t of 1110 other convents in and about the o city, and as they are mostly of wood, i- anl occupied by many sisters and ’, boarders, there may ensue Serious loss h of life as well as loss of property. Tn ,s view of all the circumstances of the case is I have frit it my duty to direct the at-

tention of the Minister of Justice to the dangers arming from these inflammatory attacks upon the consecrated flower and glory ot our Catholic womanhood. anl requesting adequate police protection. In the meantime a large

reward is being offered for evidence leading to the conviction the offender, and arrangements are in hand tw provide guards at night for the various convents.”