ALLEGED PAGANISM.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9116, 8 April 1908, Page 7

ALLEGED PAGANISM.

BISHOP NELIGAN’S ADDRESS. In the course of a sermon preached at St. Stephen’s Church, Westbourne, Grove, Bishop Neligan declaied, among other things, that the people in country districts in the Dominion were in danger of relapsing into Paganism. The chief reason for this tendency to heathendom was, in the Bishop’s opinion, the State system of secular education. “If you could only live in the Dominion and see what I have seen; ” he exclaimed. These, and other similar statements in the same address, are taken exception to by many people in Auckland, who know the country districts of the province well, and naturally resent the wholesale stigma on the people of the Dominion.

The chairman of the Education Board (Mr L. J. Bagnall), in the course of an interview with a representative of the Herald, expressed his disapproval of Bishop Neligan’s utteranc*. In his opinion, the statements, if correctly reported, might he spoken of as Mark Twain referred to the account of his own death—- * ‘ very much exaggerated. ’ ’ “In so far as the teaching of the State system of education is concerned,” continued Mr Bagnall, “I cannot believe from my own knowledge of the country districts and the people of those districts that the results are at all in the .’direction that the Bishop states. I lived for some 16 years in a country district, very isolated, and the religions services were held frequently, and the Sunday-school was carried on regularly. * Through different parts of the north and south in the Auckland province that I have travelled the people welcomed religions services, and their conduct was anything but what would have been found if there were any Paganism in the country. I visited many country schools, and always found the children well conducted and respectable. Many of them compared favourably with the children in the towns. Many things happen in the country on Sundays which, to people brought up from a strict Sabbatarian point of view, might seem very objectionable, but when you consider the conditions they are not so serious as would at first sight appear. Farmers have to do a good deal of work on Sundays in looking after stock, particularly in districts where dairying is carried on. No doubt, in the absence of religions services, things are frequently done which might be considered to be out of place on Sunday, but I feel sure a comparison of the result of the instruction, both in the schools and of such religious instruction as they do get in the country, would show that the people here compare favourably with those of any other country. Statistics, which must be considered some guide, show that New Zealand compares favourably with England, or any other part of the civilised world. I think that if we were to take countries in Europe that have had religious instruction in their schools for centuries, more immorality and more crime will he found than in New Zealand. I cannot [speak from statistics on this point, tut that is the impression I have. With regard to the need for religious instruction in country districts, there is no doubt something more could be done in that direction, but the great hindrance has been found in the fact that there are so many religoius bodies, who, if not working against one another, are not in sufficient harmony to bring about the best results. In some districts it is impossible for the different sections represented in the various denominations to [maintain separate services of their own, and it would appear to be desirable that a greater amount of [united action should take place than is now done in order to prevent the waste of power and expense in the keeping up of separate religious establishments. “I think it is a matter to be regretted that the Bishop of Auckland should have spoken in the way he has done to people who are to a largo extent ignorant of the conditions here. His statements are calculated to give them an entirely wrong idea of the position of people generally in the Dominion. Coming from a high dignitary of the Church, one does not like to speak too strongly,fand characterise his statements as might be done, but certainly they are a gross exaggeration of the actual conditions, and must result in doing a great deal of harm to the reputation of the country, though they may have the effect of stimulating some of the people in England to send ministers to New Zealand. So far as the public schools throughout the Dominion are concerned, there can he no doubt that they are doing excellent work in the community. The teachers are respectable, and of high moral character. Their influence is certainlv fat good, and their instruction,'while not religious, is moral, and calculated to have a good effect on the growing generation as to thfe responsibilities and duties of life. There is nothing in the teaching that is in any way at variance with true religion. The school buildings are used in many districts both for religious services and Sunday school work, and the State is assisting in placing these buildings at the disposal of those imparting religious instruction, on Sundays and at other times when they are not used for ordinary school purposes. ’ ’