Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 19, 8 May 1902, Page 1

Current Topics

New Efforts at Temperance Reform. A new scheme of temperance reform' — new, that is, to this country — has been recently propounded in Dunedtn and has been already promised a certain measure of influential practical support. The scheme was first mooted by Colonel Mortis in the columns of a Dunedin religious periodical and has since bf en warmly backed b\ Bishop Ne\ ill and several other Chinch of England clergymen and by the Otn^o Daily Times. lit lefly put, the propos il is that there should be formed in Dunedin a Public 1 louse lru'-toi Company .which should begin by buying one of the best hotels and should rcfoim and elevate the traffic by running the hotel 'on business and Christian lines.' The company is not to pay a greater dividend than 5 per cent., and any surplus profits are to go towatds the establishment of a fund for the purpose ot buying up more hotels. In an interview with a representative of the Daily Ti»us, Colonel Morns thus explains the details ol his proposal and the advantages that are expected to accompany it : ' Such company to have a capital sufficient to purchase one of the leading hotels in a good thoroughfare, under the management of*asttong board of directors — business men — who will appoint a manager and bar tenders, all experienced in in the trade, who shall be pud liberal salaries. It is self-evi-dent that such employes, having no self-interest in the sale of the liquor, would not pi ess the sale of intoxicants on the public, nor would they have any inducement to sell liquor to those already partially intoxicated, not to young people under age, nor would it benefit th m to bit ik the laws by -elhng on unlawful days or hours. The bond ol directors would also form such other bye-laws as may seem necessary, and a breach of the law, n nether public or b\c law, would bring about the instant dismissal of tht" man iger At the same tune beer, wine, and spirits of the best description would be kept on the premises for such who demand it, whilst temperance drinks would also be kept, and, if thought desirable, a commission might be allowed to the inanaget on the sale ol such, whilst not a penny of commission would be allowed on the sale of intoxicants. Tea and colice rooms, to which ladies might go, might be added, with, pci haps, billiard and recreation rooms, so as to make the house as attractive as possible. From the experience of such houses at I lo'tit', tlu-te cm be no doubt th.it it would ply well, espi-ci ill* il w iic'ied by a bond o! good business men. In that tw, it is pmposcd that alter paying the shan holde rs a really good dividi'iid (^ per tenl ) the balance ol the pioht should be placid in a sinking fund, until there are sufficient funds to punhisi- m like manner a saond hotel to be wotked in the same manner.'

According to Colonel Munis these Public House Companies arc a gieat success in F.ngland and Scotland, though we imagine it would be neater the truth to say that tne system is still only on Us ti lal in these countries and is being subjected to serious ctiticism. However that may be, we do not believe that the scheme, which dilh rs in essential respects ft^m the Public House Trusts in England, v\ill ever come to aiuL'n.ig in

this country. In the first place people will not be likely to put their money, to any considerable extent, in an investment which cannot yield a greater return than 5 per cent, and which may give them a great deal less. In the second place the scheme can have no chance of achieving complete success unless the company takes over the whole of the hotels in the town. What is the use of having a hotel with male bar-tenders and with provision for limiting the supply to patrons when on the other side of the street there is another drinking place where an attractive barmaid is employed and where there are none of the hampering restrictions that handle ip the 'Trust' establishment. The most probable outcome of the operation of the company system would be that the private hotels in order to hold their own would be compelled to continually add to their ' attractions ' with the result that the last state of the traffic might be worse than the first. As the company hotels gained a footing and were patronised by the highly respectable and moderate people the other hotels would be constrained, by force of circumstances, to cater for the less scrupulous class of customers so that as the company hotels prospered the others would almost inevitably tend to detetiorate. Moreover even if the company hotels did meet with considerable success the success would be a doubtful benefit for in spite of the best intentions and the most careful efforts they would foi m after all to a very large extent a recruiting ground for, and a sort of respectable half-way house to, the less reputable places.

Although Colonel Morris's scheme is not, as we think, likely to meet with any real success a proposal of the kind, coming from piolessed anti-Pi ohibtttonists is interesting and significant as showing that practically all classes in the community are agreed th it drunkenness is a great evil, and that some tiloit should be m ide to check its growth. In this connection a modest but by no means to-be-despised movement has just been started in the Irish diocese of Ferns which is worth noting, and, as we think, is aho worth imitating. The movement ha» been inauguraU d under the name of St. Patrick's Anti-Ti eating League ' The League has been placed under the patronage ol the Irish National Apostle,' says the Catholic Time*, 'because it rests on the double foundation of religion and pitnotism. The primaiy object is to combat one special and veiy grave abuse, treating in public houses, which is held to be the chief cause of drunkenness in Iceland.' A member piomi-es not to take a tieat horn another, nor to give one himsi It 111 any pi, ice where drink is sold. He also promises to It id a temperate life and to ch-couraye intemperance in others. I hot c is nothing absurd, puntunical, or fanatical about that pledge. No one can deny that the fatal habit of intemperance is more often than not acquired through the habit of drinking foi pleasure when one meets an acquaintance or joins a party, and it people could be induced to give up this custom a great stride would have been taken towatds promoting general temperance and sobriety. Ihe Anti-Treating League has been organised for the puiposeof striking a blow at this custom, and there is reason to hope th it m time it will strike a very telling blow. In case any of our readers may wish to take a practical interest in the movement we may mention that certificates and promoters' cards may be ob ained from the printers, Messrs. O'Brien and Ards, Great Britain street, Dublin. ihe movement was started by a committee of priests, but the

laity are everywhere cordially invited to co-operate, and it is hoped and expected that not only religious confraternities, but social and athletic clubs, and young men's societies of every kind, will take an active part in promoting this eminently sensible and practical reform.

Mr. Seddon and the Tenth Contingent. Mr. Seddon has been very badly • bowled out ' over his action in regard to the sending away of our Tenth Contingent. When the idea of sending a Tenth Contingent was first mooted by Mr. Seddon, immediately after the Methuen disaster, there was a general feeling even amongst thoroughgoing Imperialists—voiced by such papers as the Otago Daily Times — that Mr. Seddon was going it rather strong in this matter, that New Zealand had already contributed as many men as she could fairly afford for South Africa, and that it was the merest common sense to at least wait until the Home Government gave some indication that further assistance was required. After a time it was definitely stated that Mr. Seddon had received a cable from the British Government inviting further assistance, and in response to this supposed request the Tenth Contingent, consisting of 1000 men, was equipped and despatched. It now turns out that instead of the British Government having first requested further help from the Colony the offer of more men was actually thrust upon them by Mr. Seddon and pressed upon them in a most unbecoming and ridiculous way. The London correspondents' letters just to hand contain the full text of the official cables, which were published in the London Times, and these speak for themselves. We quote sufficient to show precisely how the thing was managed.

The first communication was a telegram from the Premier of New Zealand to Mr. Chamberlain and was in these terms : • The jubilancy of a section of the people of Paris and Germany over Methuen's mishap has raised a strong feeling here. No doubt that feeling of resentment prevails also in Canada and Australia. It is the intention of New Zealand to offer through Governor of the Colony another contingent of 1000 men. I believe that Canada and Australia will be willing to send further assistance. Time opportune. Do not miss offer of additional troops from over-sea dominions. It will have good moral effect at present juncture. Do not hesitate to accept and send every mounted man available. Increased mounted force will supplement Kitchener's splendid efforts, thus going far to end struggle at an eaily date. Pardon this obti u,ive suggestion. Our earnest desire to see the war ended before next spring will, I hope, be accepted in extenuation.' Mr. Chamberlain replied as follows — ' Telegram to the Earl of Ranfurly. Communicate following to Premier in reply to his telegram -—I most cordially appreciate splendid spirit of patriotism shown in your offer, following, as it does, on many previous proofs of loyalty and affection of Government and people of New Zealand.' On the follow ing diy the Karl of Ranfurly (New Zealand) wired to Mi. t hainbtrlam. 'My Government desire to offer tenth contingent 10.10 strong O n same terms as last two.' Mr. ChambeiWin replied, as of course he was bound to do, cordially accepting the oiler thusthiust upon him. Mr. Scddon\ action in thi-, matter has been nio-t high-handed and objectionable. He is Premier of the I olony it is true, but that ceitunly does not gue him the right to virtually force upon the Home Government on pr ictic illy his own responsibility and at hi-, own sweet will a' further heavy drain of men from this country. His releiences ,il-,o to Canada and Australia are m the woist possible ta-,te and furnish splendid examples of ' how not to do it ' The people ot this Colony and even those opposed to Mr. Seddon's politics, have a certain admiration for his individuality and force of character but they don't like to see him making himself and the C olony ridiculous. It is sincerely to be hoped that by the time he comes back Mr. Seddon will have learnt the necessity for very considerably 'slowing down.'

Orange Tactics in Timaru. We learn from a subscriber to the N /. T\bi.it tint a petty and contemptible attempt to arouse the demon of religious bigotry in Timaru was organised by the dark lantern fraternity on the eve of t!ie iceent school committee election*,. The meeting of householders for the purpose* of electing a school committee for the yv;u was held on a Monday night and on the previous Satin d ly a scuinlous and abusue leaflet, professing to deal with 'The Krluc.itiou Question ' but m reiiity being a general all-round attack on tlTe ( athulic ( hnre.li, wa-, distributed in the streets by a unrest nlativ r ol the O.angc party. The leaflet is in itself cssentnlly insignificant and contemptible and we only notice it r.t all tor the purpose or administering a passing kick to clear ;he unclean thing out of our way. Ihe writer is a typical Oiangeman — a >-ort ol mtellcvlu il epileptic, bigoted, unscrupulous, cm,)tv licaJed, and h> stc-i ical. He i-i precise!)- the suit of m in that Josh Billings had in mind when he rem.iikfd,' ' How menny men (.here is who argy, just as a

bull dus, chained tew a post ; they beller and paw, but they kant git away from the post.' The Orange writer scribbles and raves and ' bellers and paws,' but he ' kant git away ' from the post of ignorance, abuse, and bigotry, to which his congenital lack of brains has permanently tethered him. Outside of the childish and drivelling abuse which, as we have said, makes up the greater part of this leaflet the only portion which calls for the least attention is a reference to certain alleged 'statistics 'on the subject of Catholics and crimes. The writer takes the case of England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, and gives certain figures to show that the proportion of Catholic criminals is greater than that furnished by any other religious body. As to these figure:, we remark (.1) The writer names no year for which they are given ; (2) no book, writer, or publication of any kind is mentioned as being authority for the figures, and (3) the statements bear conclusive internal evidence of being unreliable and ' faked.' Thus the writer says : ' In Ireland they (the Roman Catholics) are one-half of the population, yet they furnhh six criminals to one for the Protestants.' The population of I reland according to the last census as quoted in the Statesman's Year Book for 1900 is in round numbers 4,700,000, out of which according to the same authority no less than 3,500,000 are Catholics. The man, therefore, who states that the Catholics are only one-half of the population in Ireland writes himself down at once as a descendant of Ananias, whose unsupported statements are worth simply nothing at all. As to the general question of Catholics and crime it would require a great deal of time and space to deal fully with the matter, and we do not feel called upon to do so for the benefit of an anonymous Orange scribbler. For the present we content ourselves with making two remarks. First, it is well known that criminals make a regular practice of giving false names and false statements as to their religion ; and the Irish people and the Catholic religion are special sufferers in this respect. And, secondly, in settling the question of comparative national morality there has to be considered not merely the quantity of crime in a country but, above all, its quality— the proportion of grave to minor offences, etc. — and if this distinction be borne in mind it will be found that Catholics are singularly free from those serious crimes and grave offences against morality which furnish the real test of the moral condition of a people.

Especially is this the case in regard to crimes against chastity, the absence of which is generally admitted to be distinct evidence of the restraint of moral and religious principles on the home life of a nation. The writer of this leaflet by another batch of bogus figures referring to Continental cities (no year being assigned and no authority given) tries to show that the proportion of illegitmatc births is much greater in Catholic than in Protestant populations. As we have shown over and over again, the exact opposite is the truth, and it is one of the crowning glories of the Catholic Church that in the countries where her influence has full scope the standard of female purity is far above that prevailing m countnes where Protestantism holds sway. Here are some statistics on the subject, and it will be noted we give official or recognised authorities for all our figures. Let us take Kngland, Scotland, and Ireland first for our comparison— countries, by the wa>, which the antiCatholic writer carefully avoids ' The Registrar-General's reports for 189S for the United Kingdom,' says a recent C.T.S. leaflet, 'are open before us as we wri.e; and from them we gather that the proportion of the illegitimate births for England is 42 per 1000 ; for Scotland, 6 8 per cent. ; for Ireland, 27 per cent. Let it be rioted that Ireland, where, assuredly, the confessional has full sway, stands in a noble pre-eminence, and that Scotland, the type of unswerving and unadulterated Protestantism, comes lowest on the list.'

And not only does Catholic Ireland stand at the bottom of the list as regards percentage of illegitimate births, but in Ireland itself, as between the Catholic and Protestant provinces, the excessive ratio is always in the Protestant provinces. The most Protestant province in Ireland is, of course, Ulster, its non-Catholic population being 52 per cent, of the whole, as ngainst 14 per cent, in Leinster, 6 per cent, in Munster, and 5 per cent, in Connaught. The Registrar-General's returns give the following figures for the respective provinces :—: — Ulster... .. .. H7 illegitimate per 1000 births Leinpter . . . . 26 „ „ Munster .. ... 2i „ „ Oonnau^ht ... . . 6 „ „ „' Thus Protestant Ulster has no less than 37 illegitimates per 1 000 births, while Catholic Connaught has only 6. The superior virtue of the Catholic population is still further emphasised by the remarkable fact that even in Ulster itself the percentage of illegitimate births rises and falls with the rise or fall of the Protestant population in the various counties of the province. Returns from the separate counties have not been published since i8()i, but the following table (which has appeared before in our columns) was specially compiled for the N.Z. Tablet from the statistics of that year :—: —

Total Tor Cent. Tt«r Cont. Illcgit. Tor Cent. Count y. Population. Catholic, non Uath Births. Ulogit. Cavan ... 111,917 808 H»-2 32 2 8 Donegal ... 18r>,63.-> 76 1) 2S-1 (iO 3i Monaghan ... Bt>,2ofi 732 2(> 8 38 M Fermanagh ... 74,170 55 4 44-(> 5/5 7 4 Tyrone ... 171, 101 st« 4"> 1 130 7 1 Armagh ... 113,280 Hi <> .">.Vt 13 l J 9 0 Londonderry .. 152,001) 44 ~> 55 5 143 1)4 Down .. 2<i7,5D5 3ti 3 M 7 2-U 105 Antrim . !2M2^ 2H> 7". I s»'.n IH'O In the firbt five counties, in which the Catholics are in a majority, the a\erai>e rate ot illegitimacy, according to the census returns of iSvji, was 4-9 per cent; while in the four counties in which non-Catholics predominate the rate is 104 percent, or more than double that of the more Catholic counties.

Going further afield, we find always and everywhere the same results. Thus, taking Europe as a whole, we have the following statement, in a study on the moral condition of Europe, by Dr. Fousagrives, of Montpellier : c It is proved that there is in Europe an average illegitimacy of 15 to every 100 births. I thought it would be an interesting study to compare the extent of illegitimacy amongst the European nations of Teutonic and Latin origin, and I found it 15 per cent, with the former, and only 6 per cent with the laltei.' Roughly speaking, the Teutonic nations arc Protestant, and the Latin nations Catholic; so that the foregoing statement is equivalent to saying that the proportion of illegitimacy is nearly three times greater among Protestant than it is among Catholic nations. Coming to particular countries we find Dr. Fousagrives' general conclusion amply verified. It is hardly correct perhaps to describe any country as entirely Catholic or entirely Protestant. But it is near enough for purposes of comparison, to say, for example, that Sweden and Prussia are Protestant, and Spain and Italy Catholic. Here are the rates of illegitimacy for these four countries as given by Mulhall, a recognised authority, in his work on The Progress of the World in Arts • Sweden (Protestant) ... 110 illegitimate per lOOt) births. Prussia (Protestant) .. 80 „ „ „ Italy (Catholic) ... (it; „ „ Spain (Catholic) .. . .V> „ n )( And as in Iteland, so in the continental countries> where thcie are Catholic and Protestant districts, the excessive proportion is always in the Protestant districts. For example, in Germany the Rhine Provinces are mainly Catholic, and Prussian Pomerania mainly Protestant ; and the proportions in in these two districts, according to the authority just quoted, are :—: — Pomerania (Protestant) ... «.) '.)' illegitimate per 100 birtha Rhine Provinces) Catholic) ... 2 7.) „ And so we might go on mi mthiititm but we have surely more than established our point. It figures ever proved anything they unmistakably and conclusi\ely prove that, in freedom from vulgar crime and in punty ot character, and life, the Catholic populations of the world stand, in pioud pre-eminence, above all other people-*, and have i>amed for themselves a good name and fair fame which the puny ctlorla of ignorant bigots are utterly powerless to destroy,