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Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 423, 5 September 1877, Page 2

The amendment which Mr. Ccrtis has given notice of his intention to move in the Education Bill now before Parliament is one the justice of which must be admitted on all sides. It simply offers a very reasonable concession to a by no means inconsiderable portion of the population of the Colony. If Mr. Cuktls' proposal is adopted by the Legislature, it will have ;i very decided tendency to remove much of the opposition to the Bill which has, with very great reason, been manifested by the Catholics. The mecisure, as introduced by the Government, is calculated to inilicfc an injustice upon the Catholics. While they would be called upon to contribute towards the support of a system of State education, they would either have to forego all participation in the benefits likely to flow from that system, or abandon their religious principles. Such a state of affairs would be manifest!} - unfair, and we therefore hope that the House wilj cordially endorse the opinions of the hon. member for Kelson. Although New Zealand is essentially a Protestant country, it is one in which all creeds meet, or should meet, upon a footing of equality. Therefore, so long as the Catholics pro\e themselves a law-obeying section of the population, their religious feelings and religious .scruples have a perfect right to be respected and carefully considered in any legislation of a general character. Neither do wo believe that any very greatamount of harm will be done to the principles of the Bill, or to the welfa-re of education, by the adoption of Mr. Cnrrrs amendment. The schools which have been established in this Colony by the Catholics have so far been noted for the excellence of the education they have imparted : in fact, so well have these schools been conducted, and so earnest have the teachers iu them been in the performance of their duties, that hundreds of Protestants have availed themselves of them for the education of their children. So long as the education imparted in those schools is in accordance with the general principles of the Bill, and the schools them selves be open for inspection by the Government Inspectors, there can be no earthly reason why they should not receive a fair share of support from the funds set apart by the Legislature. The Catholics cannot bo expected to send their children to schools where the Protestant Bible is read, and it would therefore be only acting with justice towards them to allow of their managing their own educational matters, and grant them a fitting allowance for the number of children they voluntary undertake to educate, so long as the}- are willing to act in conformity with the law. That they will do so we have not the least doubt, and we therefore hope that the Legisla- j ture will do justice to a large and highly j respectable section of our fellow-colonists j by adopting the amendment of Mr. i Curtis. I

':'•;:: Hon. Mr. Fox lias again mounted his hobby-horse, the Local Option Bill, and the consequence is, as is usually the case, that the poor beast is being ridden to death. We would not for one moment attempt to say that the cause which the Hon. Mr. Fox has espoused and fought for for years is a bad one. Far from it. Everyone must readily acknowledge that the present state of the liquor law requires considerable amendment. Drunkenness amongst all classes in the Colon}' is by far too prevalent, and the statesman who can devise an effectual means of lessening the vic3 would deserve, and should receive, the thanks of every rightminded man, woman, and child in the Colony. We fear, however, that the Hon. Mr. Fox is not the man to bring about this much-needed reform. He is too ob stinate, too bigoted, and altogether

too one-sided in his proceedings to enable him ever to succeed properly. He is too prone to assail his opponents in a violent and personal manner, and i 3 too much given to substituting abuse and intemperate language for plain, sound argument. Such a line of conduct is calculated to damage any cause, however good. When we hear of a man of considerable political experience and known ability getting up in his place in Parliament and talking about " the working men's money being taken to bribe the liquor dealers to take their blood-stained hands from the throats of their wretched victims," simply because more temperate and more just men consider that compensation should be paid to publicans, we are prone to smile at the silliness of the speaker instead of being struck with the force of his remarks. We begin to think that he is more fitted for a place in a lunatic asylum than in a legislative assembly. The whole thing is turned into ridicule, and men laugh instead of giving heed to the urgent necessity for a remedy being provided for one of the greatest social evils with which the Colony is cursed. The Good Templars, and other bodies having for their object the lessening of drunkenness, have our fullest sympathy. We give them every credit for their desire to win men from dissipation and crime, and wish them the utmost success. But we ask them to be temperate in all things. At present those who preach temperance the loudest are the very men who are the most intemperate in speech and action with regard to the liquor trade. in their praiseworthy enthusiasm for a good cause they, we regret to say, very often become blind to all else, and render themselves, like the Hon. Mr. Fox, illogical, overbearing, and supremely ridiculous.