RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE. Persecution of a School Teacher.

Free Lance, Volume I, Issue 10, 8 September 1900, Page 6

RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE. Persecution of a School Teacher.

THEKE appears in a recent number of the Neiv Zealand Tablet a narrative of the persecution to which a young girl school teacher has been subjected in a country district of Otago, from which it appears that the rancorous and vindictive spirit of religious intolerance is far from dead in New Zealand. Let us repeat the story as it is told. Miss Annett was appointed, some twelve months ago, to the charge of the Rongahere School. The appointment of a Catholic teacher ruffled all the feathers of an interesting little owlery of local intolerants. The sense of chivalrous respect for women that prevails among manly men ought to have protected Miss Annett from insult. But it did not do so in remote and sleepy Rongahere, just because it is a characteristic of manly men.

The first insult offered to the young lady was a brutal and disgusting one, which a clean savage would not have committed, and from which her sex ought to have protected her, at the hands of the lowest white, even in Eongahere. This was followed by a running fire of persecution that culminated in the malicious burning of the school, and the complete destruction of the teacher's effects — valued at £50 and uninsured. The plucky young lady still stuck to her post. The authors of this series of vile outrages — or, as the Dunedin Evening Star termed it, " the reign of terror at Eongahere" appear to have been well known. • • • And the worst feature in this bad business was the manner in which they were shielded by the other local residents from the legal consequences of their savage persecution of a young girl, the head and front of whose offending was her profession of the Catholic faith. But a Papist teacher, however efficient, was not to be tolerated at Eongahere. Miss Annett was still threatened and terrorised in what the Otago Daily Times characterised as " a disgraceful manner," until, in fear for her life, she was compelled to seek safety in another district where human beings live, and where an unprotected Catholic girl is permitted to earn an honest livelihood in peace. • • • In the first fervid indignation that followed the recital of the series of insults put upon Miss Annett, the Otago Branch of , the New Zealand Educational Institute expressed unbounded sympathy with her, and unanimously passed a resolution offering " the moral and financial support of the institute ' to persons " placed in positions requiring such support." But they were strictly frugal in their way, and " sympathised " with the injured teacher to the extent of £ 3 19s 6d sterling — after their magniloquent offer of " financial support " had led to the rejection of proffered contributions from other sources ! And yet her loss exceeded £50, to say nothing of the agony of mind she must have suffered, and which no institute could have compensated her for. • # » Then the matter came before the Dunedin Education Board, and it was decided to vote her £10 by way of compensation, or, to put it correctly, as house allowance during the time she was at Eongahere. " That," says the Star, " may be all that the Board can legally do, but it certainly falls short of justice. We know of cases in the past where the Board have granted what are called ' compassionate allowances ' which have successfully passed the scrutiny of the Audit Department ; and we are disposed to think that no difficulty would have been raised in this case if a similar course had been adopted. Bare justice demands that this lady should be reimbursed every penny that she has lost through the faithful discharge of her duty to her employers and her determination to show a bold front to her persecutor or persecutors. No one— certainly no teacher in a public school — ought to suffer for conscience sake." • # » This is a sentiment that will be endorsed by every fair-minded man and woman in the country. It is shameful to think of a young and helpless girl sent away from her home into the country, amongst intolerant savages such as those of Eongahere, and subjected to cowardly outrages, for no better reason than that she was a Eoman Catholic. And having suffered as she has done, it is the duty of the Board that placed her in this awkward and unpleasant position to see that she is fully recompensed for all the pecuniary loss she suffered while discharging her duty to the Board. No reasonable employer would have repudiated such a strong moral liability upon him, and the duty of the Dunedin Education Board is clear. If the girl does not obtain justice in this way, application for consideration should be made on her behalf to the Government.