THE CATHOLIC PETITION

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1047, 15 June 1883, Page 2

THE CATHOLIC PETITION

TO THE EDITOR. ? , Sir, —Allow me to say that the object of the petition at the Catholic Church in Paten, on Sunday, ; was not, as stated Jh last issue of the Mail, “ to obtain separate secular schools for Catholic children," but was exactly the same as that of the petition which is now being signed by the Catholics all over New Zealand, viz., to bring once more before the Legislature the injustice inflicted on Catholics by the present secular system in the Colony, and if possible to obtain; redress from the same. If the petition was to obtain secular schools, it would be ridiculous, and without meaning; and father tend to mislead Catholics, as secular schools are the very thing they abhor most in educating their children. Is it not a well known fact that Catholics receive anything but justice from the present system ; and, as a proof of this fact, they come forward and sign their names as a public ahd formal protest against it; at the same time they only ask to be placed on an equal footing with their non-Catholic neighbours. This petition is only, one more proof that Catholics are determined to agitate, whether by petition or at the general elections, and otherwise until the evil is remedied. Hoping you will find space for the above. —I am &c. . F. Grogan, S.M. Hawera, June, 13.