A Wellington Interview

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 5, 31 January 1907, Page 22

A Wellington Interview

There is at present in New Zealand a prominent English' Baptist, the Reverend Mr. Gange. (We are not quite sure about the ' Reverend ' ; but the fiery strperlativeness of his oratory seems to justify the title, so, we give him the benefit of the doubt). Our visiton from afar" varies the calm delights of feasting .-his eyes upon our lake and mountain scenery by the more strenuous joys of making a punching-*ag of the Anglican Church. The ' Romanising ' of Anglicanism has. got him down and is worrying him o' ntghts.- "And. it looks 'as if our- anxious friend > feels that he has a mission to reform the Establishment by knocking most of" the stuffing ("that is, the Popery) out of it. Instead of taking lodgings in a tree, Anglicanism in New Zealand seems, however, to be ignoring - the critic's word-blows in a rather provoking way. That, however," is his affair and theirs. We refer to "it here, in as much as it may afford a possible clue to an open frontal attack which he made a few days ago iri~the Wellington • Times ' upon Catholics *n England. Up to that time he seems to have been content to approach us_Jtso to speak) by a flying sap. ' Mr. Gange ', says the '"Times ' representative, 'was asked to explain the attitude of, the Roman Catholics in Britain to the religious education question. He said he was glad to hear that question., asked, as it gave him an opportunity to make clear one of the motives of

the Nonconformists in their opposition to the Balfour Act. - They had, fought against the Act not only because they considered Lt unjust to be taxed with the •cost of teaching denominational religion in which they did not believe, but also in the interests, of Protestantism.' We are not specially concerned with the campaign of the-. Nonconformists- in what they^ consider "to be ' the interests, of Protestantism '. But in the matter of being ' taxed with the cost of teaching denominational religion ' to Catholics, the Rev. Mr. G-ange has strengthened the lines of his narration, chiefly by way of omission,., in a way that amounts jto a grievous ~ misrepresentation of the situation. (1) In a sense it is now true that •denominational religious instruction is paid for by the State in denominational schools. And in a sense it " is . also true that, under, the Act of 1902, the State has paid directly only for the secular instruction that has_been imparted •in denominational schools. The question was really decided only so lately as December 14 of the year that has just gone by. In the West Riding case, the judgment of the Masterof the Rolls and Mr. Justice Farwell "had declared during the past year that, under - the Act, "religious ■instruction was~ not to be paid for. The decision was not hailed with delight by the Nonconformist -passive resisters, as it deprived, them of the pretext for posing as martyrs— at bargain-counter rates. T«he West Riding County Council promptly began to harass the denominational teachers by reducing their* salaries^On December 14. the House o.f Lords upset (with a qualification) the judgment of the lower court. Here is how an Engftsh contemporary sums up ihe decision of . the Law Lords :— . ;■ ' The Lord Chancellor said the crucial words were those in section 7 of the Education Act of 1902, requiring the Local Authority to " maintain and keep efficient " all public elementary schools within, .their area. Any school could be kept " efficient " and able to earn Parliamentary grants without religious instruction, and no school, need give this instruction. If it was given, however, the word " maintain " required that the Local Authority should pay for it, although in the cases of denominational schools the expenditure would have to be reasonable.' ** Apart from this recent decision, Catholics in England, as in New Zealand, are, 'in their schools, doing a. .public work, under the aegis of "the State, and in accordance with the specifications and requirements of the State, which are enforced by a system of State inspection. Here in New Zealand we merely demand the fight of being treated as the State treats the contractor who builds a railway bridge or a police station. The contractor may, during his work, pray till his knees arc like those of a camel ; he may preach or catechise 'or sing hymns till he tears his vocal chords to microscopic ribbons. That is bis affair, not the State's. And so long as the" bridge or the police station is well and faithfully built, * according jfco specifications, he is entitled in justice to his*' pay. And nobody outside the dismal precincts of Seacliff or Porirua will pretend that the taxpayers' money is handed over to him for the religious work that he carried on in conjunction with his"" secular task. •- - v (2) The Act of 1870 is supposed to have favored a secular system of public instruction. Yet, under every School Board,, instruction is given, on Protestant and sectarian Principles, in a Protestant ' and. sectarian version of the Bible. This instruction is of ;the sectarian sort that is by interested persons miscalled —• ' non-sectarian. ' It is of the kind which Nonconformists gave in their own schools. Many of these Nonconformists schools were subsequently handed over to. School Boards— presumably because the School Boards did, or were deemed to do, in the matter of Biblical instruction, substantially what these Nonconformist schools had formerly done when under Nonconformist

auspices. (3) In the circumstances explained above, it is manifest^, that Catholics could not, in conscience use . the Board Schools, with their daily" doses of a jellified residuum ot Protestant religious teaching— or, as it may also be termed, a pocket edition of Pandenominational Protestantism. English Nonconformists 'are, however, apparently well satisfied with- "that? sort of thing v They get the sort of religious instruction-, and the attenuated religious atmosphere, that suits their easy-going taste. But they object to Catholics having the .religious instruction and the religious atmosphere that meet the demands of the Ca-tholic conscience. In other words, so N long as the- Nonconformists' -conscience is satisfied, they are quite willing that, the Catholic conscience " shall outraged. That is the summing up of the position as between Nonconformists and Catholics in England. It is rathc.r significant that some of the i ablest- and most strenuous opposition to the infliction of a precisely similar wrong . upon Catholics in New Zealand; has com© from a co-^ religionist" of Mr. Gauge. We refer to the/- Rev. .Mr." Hinton, whose speeches and letters on the. subject have from time to time been*, leprodueed in our . columns.