Unblushing Mendacity'

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 1, 3 January 1907, Page 9

Unblushing Mendacity'

Disraeli' once said in the House of Commons, in the course of a~ speech-ou the Sugar Duties*:.; '-Figures are hoi party men. You 'may cross tlie House," but you cannot convert 15,000 tons into^2o,ooo.' All this is very true oX honesty figures - .treated. _ But figure-facts ' are no more proof -Ifh'air are ' other--' facts against the ways and wiles^ of- the fact-manipulator. And his* treatment.of them\fff>m time to time gives a ' point to the sarcastic degrees of comparison : lies, thumping..lies, statistics. In our issue of September 20" of the past- year we gave a detailed exposure of a series of 'doctored ' ' statistics ' that were published by anonymous writers—acting apparently in concert—in several ' newspapers throughout New Zealand. The figures purported to have been taken from the -Liverpool " ' Catholic Times,' and their -.ostensible..-object was to 'demonstrate' the high criminality arid general'cfouckleheadedness of adherents of the ' Romish ' Church. The ' proof ' was an assertion professing to show that, according to the Catholic .organ mentioned" above, the number of -' Fapldt's' who passed- through the Liverpool prison in 18S'4 was' • out of all proportion to the Roman Cathoftc population of that city '. And the ' argument ' was clinched with the smug' observation : s By their fruit's ye shall know them.' Referring to our exposure of - the 'faked' figures regal-ding the Liverpool prison, the ' Catholic Times ' of November IG, 1900, says : ' Our New Zealand contemporary points out—what had no.t' been-stated—that Catholic prisoners aie- sen"; to Liverpool from St. Helens; Widnes, Southport, Water-lbo, Seaforth, Crosby, Ormskirk, Birkenh-ead, and Liscard, and Flint borough and County in Wales ; that over fifty per cent. of,the

Catholic prisoners were committed for less than. a fortnight (through inability to pay fines) ; that thirtyeight per cent, of them were imprisoned for but a f week or less ; and that , only four per cent. of. them had to serve sentiences of three months or longer. 'Die figures to which our contemporary refers were, of course, those circulated by the " Protestant Press Bureau ".' iv its anti-Catholic campaign of which Mr. Edwin Charles, a pressman, wrote the other day that never in tlie course of twenty-five years' press, experience has he seen the like oLit for wilful misrepresentation and unblushing mendacity. For ourselves, we came to the conuur.ioii lorig mice that the effusions of the 'Protestant Press Bureau" are utterly unworthy of serious notice in our columns.' - . ' '

Mr. Vincent Crummies used to ' gag ' in all sorts of plays in order to justify tire introduction of the ' infant phenomenon '. And our readers' may depend upon it that the cheap, street-corner order of controversialists will from time to time resort to the cus-

tomary journalistic ' gag ' for the- purpose- of introducing these ' faked ' Liverpool statistics and drawing, a shocked .' moral ' from them to the disadvantage of the ' Romish ' Church. -In the ; circumstances, it is well to know that the ' authority ' for those sham 1 statistics- is not the ' Catholic Times ', but the 'Protestant Press Bureau \ And if its other efforts are on a par with this, we can well understand Vhy Mr. Edwin Charles scourged it so lustily for ' wilful misrepresentation and unblushing mendacity.'

Referring to the fraudulent misstatenients of their religious belief so frequently made by prisoners in this and other English-speaking countries, we said in our issue of September 20 : '-Putties' 'of the religious profession of prisoners are made for two purposes — with a view to spiritual ministrations, and for statistical information and comparison. For this latter purpose, accuracy becomes a matter of public right and of scientific -aud moral interest," and it snould be secured by adequate precautions. Such affirmations as to religious profession should be taken as statutory ' declarations, in

which faUe statements would be punishable as perjury. The details of -tins much-needed change could be readily worked out, and a few prosecutions for perjury would serve to convince even the criminal fraternity that, in this matter at least, truth-telling is the better policy.'