AN ORANGE LIE NAILED

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 36, 8 September 1904, Page 3

AN ORANGE LIE NAILED

Towards! the close of our ' Current Topics ' of this isislue reference is made to the charge made by an Orange leakier^ one Wheeler, in reference to a teacher in the Woollaih-ra public sctWol, New South Wales. The charge ran as follows :—: — 4 It is the duty ofl the people to see that only properly qualified men and women are appointed to teach in the public schools—teachers who will not pervert the children's minds with the tenets or doctrines of the Roman Catholic ChurfCh. (Applause). In this connection a little episwld oce'utred in the Wo.allahra electorate only on Tuesday which I want to refeT to. A little girl went* to a public school with a ©mail piece of orange ribbon pinned to her breast. She was called out of heir class by the teacher, chastised, and sent hqme, because that piece of ribbon reminded her (the teauher) of that " renegade and blackguard, Dr. Dill Macky." (Laughter, followed by great cheers and rounds of Kerati'sh fire for Dr. Maeky). I want you to understand t)hat a little episode of that character is not going to pass_ unchallengod—(cheers)— because it is no part of the 'djity of a public school teacher to find faiult with any srholar who wore a piece of green or yellow ribbon. (Cheers).' The following is nhe report of the official investigation into the charges j— Wo'ollahra Superior Public School. Complaint against Miss Galloway, the mistress of the infajn't department : Om Mofntdav, 25th ult., an inquiry into the complaint above referred to was conducted in the presence of all concerned, ifncliuding the head niasier, Miss Galloway, Mrs. Little, Mr. Little, and the child, Margaret Little. Though I allowed Mr. Little to be present, I refused to allow him to take any .part in tflie proceedings. No attempt was made to question t.he child, as I consildeaied her too young (6£ years old) to give reliable evido/nce. Tho facts of this case are soon told. On July 12 Margaret Little was sent to school with a piece of yellow ribbon pirned to the front of her dress. At first no notice was takon of the badge. The punils, Margaret amongst tihe number, were sent out of school at 11 o'clock, as usual, to play, and while so engaged a boy narwdd Sullivan pushed Margaret down. This was notiJreid I>y, the teachers in charge and reported. When tfhei children returned to duty Miss Galloway called out Sullivan and Margaret Little to the front of Ihe class, inquired into the conduct of Sullivan, found him to be in fault, and, as a punishment, gaive him two strokes o/ti the 'hand with a cane. Just as the two rhildirien were returning to their places in the class, Miss Galloway noticed for the first time the orange, colored ribbon on the child's dress and hair. Margaret was at once asked to take it off. but sne renlied, ' It is sewn on.' Then Miss Galloway directed her to leave the riWbon at home in the afternoon, aWd added, 'If you bring it b?y*k I niia.ll punish you.' Margaret then went on with her Jrsvons as uanal. and at 12.30 was dismisistfi with all the other children for dinner. Of course the rhild told her mother what the teacher had threatened to do.

'After dinner Mrs. Little took Margaret back to school without removing the ribbon. She fixsit called upon the head mastier, Mr. Saxby, and told him What Miss Galloway had threatened. He explained that no teacher could (punish for such an act, and gave it as his opinion that Mis« Galloway had been misinterpreted. • Go,' he added, ' to Miss Galloway yourself, and disiouss the matter with her.' Acting at once on this advice, Mrs Little took her chiJd to Miss Galloway. An altercation then took place, during which Miss Galioway informed Mr,s. Little that if the child returned to school with the ribbon on her drays, that ribbon would be taken off The itghti of a teacher to do this was challenged, and the he,ad master was referred to by Mrs. Little as opposed to suqh action. Thereupon Miss Galloway, followed by Mrs. Litftle, went to Mr. Saxby, whom they found on the boys- playground, and, after being questioned about what he had said to Mrs. Little, he out the interview short by saying to Miss Galloway, ' if I have no right to interfere, it is useless to say any more.' All then separated, but as Mrs. Little was turning away to take her child home she cnice more asked Misis Galloway • 'Do you intend to punish my child if I send her this afternoofl with the ribbon on ? ' To this Miss Galloway replied Yes.' This reply closed the conversation Mrs Little returned home with her daughter, and explained to her huslband what had happened. He determined to defy Mis® Galloway in this matter, and so sent the child back to school with the ribbon still on her dress r rs^ , Little accompanied her daughter to the school handed her to Miss Galloway with an apology for her lateness, artd without further comment she again returned name. Miss Galloway received the child, sent her t o her class, and took no< steps to carry out her oft-re-peated threat witjh reference to the wearing of tihe ribMiss Galloway has' been in charge of the infants' department at Woolla'hra more than 20 years. Durinoall thiaJt time she has discharged her duties to the satisfaction of her superior officers and the commendation of tne local public. •^J^^P 1 was made to Pervert the child's mind with ttoe doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. She was not called out of her class for wearing yellow ribbon, she was not chastised for that or anything else she was mot sent home for that, nor did Miss Galloway use the expressions ' renegade ' W nd ' blackguard 'as descriptive of Dr. Dill Macky or of anyone else. (Signed) M. WILLIS, ** Senior Inspector. North Sydney, August 2. The Orange Lie. ' Here we have,' says the ' Catholic Press,' ' an excellent example of the Orange lie. The man Wheeler clearly sitated that the child was chastised and sent home for wearing (a ribbon that reminded her (the teacher) "of that renegade and blackguatrd Dr. Dill Majcky '•' Obviously Wheeler led the public to believe that tne teacher was a Catholic, and that her Catholic sympathies were leading her to influence the minds of the children towards her beliefs. T,he petty incident was magnified into an awful example of what Catholics are capable of in any position of influence. It was certainly Wheeler's intention to work up anti-Catholic hostility by relating this anecdote. Yet the teacher was a Presbyterian, and could scarcely be accused of Catholic sympathies. It was the little boy, Sullivan, and not Margaret Little, who was chastised. The teacher did not call Dr. Macky either a "''renegade " or a " blackguard," although, as a member of his denomination she is probably aSfliamed of him. It is apparent that the teacher, n.o matter what her religion was, could have acted in no other way. She probably suspected that little Sullivan's patriotism was at tne bottom of little Margaret's misadventure, and whilst sihe punished him for his action she appreciated the fact that Margaret's peace and comfort were not best consulted by her mother when she sewed a party badge upon her dress and sent he"r among her schoolmates in a recognised militant guise. As it is laid down 'by the departmen/t for the guidance of teachers that " nothing moist ever be said or dofne by any teacher in a pupil's hearing or presence calculated to offend the religious views of that punil or of any pupil in the school," so teachers must find it also necessary to protect the religious convictions of one oupil Prom the rancor of another, and taike such steps as they might find necessary to keep tihe atmosphere of their classes free from any sectarian taint. If anyone should have been spanked it should have been Margaret's very foolish mother, whose bitterness and ienioran^ led her to attempt to Upset the serenity of a little children's playgtound. ' However, we are not concerned with tihe ethics of the teacher's conduct and do not intend to discuss it,

from any poijnt of view. For the sake of argument, let Us say; she acted wrongly ; the incident still remains an exaimple of the misrepresentation of which evilly disposed rasters are capable. The given by the department in no way tallies wiili the man Wheeler's wtory He seems to have distorted an inconsequential bickering between a Pies by ten an teacher and a p.arcnt into an example of how Catholic teachers attempted to pervert the minds of their pupils in the public schools. It is only one of the many samples we could give of Orange methods.'