THE INVERCARGILL M.P.C.

Southland Times, Issue 1587, 4 June 1872, Page 3

THE INVERCARGILL M.P.C.

Sib, — To co -npare great things with small : Tfc was said of the late Rev. Dr Gibson that he had " a fine nose for heresy," unit it may be said of the M..P.G. for Invercargill that he ha* a flue noae for denominationalisin — 30 very fine that he detects that educational bugbear smelling rankly in any scheme not strietiy anti- Biblical. The bare mention of the Bible, it would appear, gives the honest man Jits. Perhaps our mercurial friend's perceptions have become painfully sensitive since his Sabbath wanderings in the neighborhood of Oteramika Bush ou a recent occasion. By the way did you learn whether ha detected " au aroma from oriental gardens " in that locality? You may remember that some time ago a correspondent of yours mentioned the probability of such an aroma dwelling at the Bluff as one reason why Sunday trains should ba established. When the Koman Catholic champion, Mr Macassey, fought the last inch of the education battle in the Council on the 27th ulfc., our antiSabbatarian friend generously ranged on the weak side, not because of that side being in the right, but because the Council did not pronounce in favor of an anti-Biblical system of education. He said : — " But the Council having adopted a denominational system" ( ! ! ) . . " That they " (Roman Catholics) " should be rated for what they could not use was, he considered, a gross injustice. Had the Council gone in for a purely secular system, available to all, he should have voted for the rating." The Roman Catholic opinion given by Bishop Moran — " The Church teaches that all education should be founded upon religion, guided throughout by religion, and should never be separated from religion. . . The advocates of secular education he divided into two classes — the designing infidels, and the honest dupes. . . The secular system would lead to the destruction of all sense of moral responsibility." It is thus clear that Mr Lumsden would, unier cover of liberality, force upon the Roman Catholics a system, of which, according to their bishop, they could not conscientiously take advantage. No doubt the champion aforesaid, who belongs to a profession famous for its bamboozling skill, would by " a subtle process of reasoning," make it " all right" to our single-minded representative. Mr Lumsden ought to consider that if not to himself, it is due to his constituents that he should refrain from talking nonsense when a subject which he does not understand is under discussion. By the by, what about that Chinese petition for the removal of Warden Beetham, presented to the Council the other day by Mr Macassey ? That petition in that gentleman's hands is strongly suggestive of cloven hooves, barbed tails, and — I wonder our sensitive member did not detect it — brimstone. Were I an "honorable member" of " that house," I would have suggested that, when presenting that petition, Mr Macassey should stand on the table with coat and boots off. — I am, &c, Nethb Mind. June Ist, 1872.

P.S. — Bishop Moran's opinion above quoted is from hia address on education, as reported in the Ofcago Witness of 11th ult. N.M.