MR LEWIS O'NEILL'S TWO LETTERS IN REPLY.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1048, 13 March 1879, Page 2

MR LEWIS O'NEILL'S TWO LETTERS IN REPLY.

Sir,-— I have, in the first place, to acknowledge with many thanks your courtesy in finding space for my former communications, and to beg a further indulgence for a few remarks touching Mr Lewis O'Neill's comments upon them : — First The letter of Mr Jacob Frank, at which your correspondent sneers, bears on the face of it all the evidences of truthfulness and honesty, and was, moreover, published in a local paper— the * Nelson Colonist ' thus affording Mr Adams a full opportunity of vindicating his character Written _ apparently towards the close of the election contest, the letter in question so far from favoring Mr Pitt's candidature, has decidedly an opposite tendency for, the writer avers that he knows not what Mr Pitt's views on the Education Question are, that he has " not canvassed for Catholic votes as suoh," and, "that he has made no promises." Without a distinct .pledge on the Education Qucstion, I need hardly remark that Catholics have but little faith in a candidate for parliamentary honors. Mr Frank writes to his "old Mow-settlep to oxpose.

humbug," on the part of Mr Adams, who was guilty of "galvanizing religious animosities into life for a time. " People with minds of their own" may, if so they prefer, stake implicit confidence in Press Association telegrams, though Mr Lewis O'Neill knows full well that information conveyed through suoh channels, has frequently as large an admixture of pure sensation as of genuine truth. A case in point, as regards Catholic news. Press Association telegrams, had tho late Pope Pius the Ninth, either dead or in extremis, for some three or four years. Very frequently do I find them untruthful. Secondly, I have to inform Mr Lewis O'Neill that he entirely misunderstands the drift of my question, in reference to Moody and Sankey Hymn Books, &o. It belongs to that class of questions which do not seek for information, but expect a negative reply, and your footnote to my letter— "such practices should be at once brought to the notice of the Education Board —supplied an easy key, which I am surprised your correspondent had not the acume_ to use. Lest he be sceptical any longer on the matter, the Hautapu School is the one referred to, and the teacher of that * State school has placed Moody-and-Sankey in the hands of Catholic boys. Moreover, when remonstrated with by the parents of those boys, he acknowledged the fact, shu«ed about the propriety or non-propriety of the practice, and made this reluctant but very unsatisfactory explanation—that" your boys," addressing the parent, "will be allowed to retire while the singing is going on." " Subseotion 1 of Section 48 of the Act," as triumphantly referred to by Mr Lewis O'Neill, is one thing ; daily practice, another. Nor is the Hautapu School the only one in Waikato in whioh the Act has been repeatedly violated. The public Scho Is, i u many \u* -noes, "d>ive a coaoh and font," mo < ''Council used to say, over your seotiou and i-üb-secti >oe of ih< Education Act Tbe code ( f laws regulating the GUsgow Bautt Directors were, I auppos., stringent enough to "convinc. the most f*c*-pucal" that no frauds would be ptrmiittd; and so when public conscience w-s fasc at rest, the directors, now in oisgrao*-, were preparing a most gigantio swindle. As in other in stnnces, so in our State Schools, law and praouoe do not always harmonise. Thirdly, on the comparison he institute*, between the Marquis of Kipon and Pastor Cbintquy, Mr Lewis O'Neill leaveme no room to felicitate him. A pries i becomes an "apostate" oniy when degraded in the Catholic Church for one or more gtavt* acts of unpries'ly couduct- Ecclesiastical cen> sures he voluntarily brings upon himself, and subsequently, if he fails to mend, the Churoh is well rid of him ; nor does he shine as a gospel light in the community wherein he casts his lot by apostacy. Degraded as a priest, in his new sphere, he becomes a fire-brand, and his religion consists in all manner of revilings against the Catholic Church, Pastor Chiniquy being a fair specimen of such a class. 1 have yet to learn that the Marquis of Ripon, cr any converts from Catholicity —lay or clerical, — had been degraded in the Church of their nativity. In obedience to the voice of conscience, they sever many dear ties, often suffer the loss of earthly honors, and are sorrowed for by the Church which loses them. In the Church of their adoption, they are not remarkable for uncharitableness, descending to the vilest abuse of the creed of their neighbours, such as is the wellknown practice of the '* apostate "' pastor. A 25 years run, and hoary hairs do not seem to improve the outcast apostate. In the quotation from the speech of the Marquis of Ripon, on Catholio Education, there ia not one word against chanty. The allusion to wine, as applicable to him, lands Mr Lewis O'Neill on the horns of an'ugly dilemma. If conversion to the Catholio Church be apostacy for the noble Marquis, conversion to Good Templarism is apostacy for Mr Lewis O'Neill. In conclusion, strictures on my letters would come with far more propriety from you, sir, whose leader I am answering, than from your correspondent, whose name I never mentioned, and whose taste in the matter is very questionable.— l am, &c, J. Golden. March 12, 1879.