Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 10 August 1911, Page 1513

Current Topics

. » ■' -■' «Of More than Local Interest’ . It is interesting and gratifying to note that Bishop Cleary’s Lenten Pastoral on Education and the Education Questionwhich was. so greatly appreciated by the Catholics of New Zealand and which met with such high encomiums from all the - Australasian Catholic papers—has attracted attention farther afield, and has now been published in permanent form, and in very neat and tasteful style, by the s America ■ press of New York City. From the America press and under the auspices of the America newspaper is issued bi-monthly a publication which is named The Catholic Mind, each number of which consists of a specially-selected article, of permanent and more than ordinary value, on some important question of the day the articles so selected being considered —in the judgment of America —the best current statement of the Catholic position on the particular subject discussed. The very high compliment that is implied by the selection of any article for The Catholic Mind may be gathered from the editors’ official statement as to what it is precisely which the publication undertakes to give to its subscribers. The Catholic Mind is intended, they say, to give in popular style the ‘ best statements of Catholic doctrine; surest ..results of historical research; latest word' on subjects in dispute documents such as Papal Encyclicals; and Pastoral Letters of more than 'local interest,’ etc. ‘ These articles,’ add the editors, * are taken from the best sources, and the rule of selection is: One at a 'time and the best to he had,’ so that subscribers may keep each number for frequent reading and reference. Bishop Cleary’s Pastoral is published as the May issue of The Catholic Mind; and it comes in under the double qualification; ‘ Pastoral Letters of more than local interest,’ and, One at a time and the best to be had.’ '- What America thought of the Pastoral is indicated by the comment of one of the ablest writers' on that extremely able paper: ‘lt is marvellous how, for an old subject, he has put it so differently and so well.’ The republication :of the Pastoral is highly gratifying, both as a notable compliment to its author, and from the fact that by this means Dr. Cleary’s wise, weighty, and well-considered words will be given to thousands of readers throughout the English-speaking Catholic world, A ‘Socialist’—Gf a Kind An esteemed Australian correspondent has sent us a cutting from a local secular paper ; containing the report of an address by - a priest, in the course of which the latter appears to have made the statement, ‘ I am an out-and-out Socialist ’ —and our correspondent wants to know if we can explain the phenomenon. The explanation in this case is not-very difficult—and as the report of the priest’s utterance is sure to travel to some of our numerous New Zealand Socialist papers it is perhaps as well , that we should' deal with it now. The priest on this occasionan all too common blunder ! —overlooked the importance of .defining his terms; and Socialism with him is merely another term for republicanism ’ or pure democracy. There is not a word in his address about economic or industrial Socialism; and it is evident from the context that he is thinking exclusively of forms of governmentand, in particular, of democratic as opposed to monarchical government. •** Thus, after pointing out that ‘ We had been fortunate in having very good Kings and Queens on the English Throne, and now, following after such illustrious sovereigns as Queen Victoria and the ‘ beloved Edward VII., we had King George V. and Queen Mary— sovereigns who. had already earned the respect and love of the English-speaking world, and with such persons occupying the English Throne there was little danger of the British Empire not prospering;’ he continued: ‘I am a Socialist, an out-and-out Socialist. J have travelled in various parts of the world since I was a lad, and the older I grew and the more acquainted I became with the various forms of govern-

merit in the world the more dissatisfied I became with the system of having kings and queens as the head of government. ... I am now one of the staunchest republicans living, and believe in that form of govern-' ment as being before any other for the great benefit of the masses of any country’s people. I came to this conclusion after having paid , a visit to the greatest Republic in the world, and that is the United States of ‘ America, where they have a President, who i? elected' by* the people, and who is forced to abide by their decisions.’ In other words, the 'out-and-out Socialist ’ merely means ■ that he' is an out-and-out democrat. ' Theire , was. j a -> time 1 when - the word ‘.Socialism ’ was so vaguely and loosely employed as to almost justify the remark—said to have been made by the late King Edward when he was Prince of Wales that ‘ we are all Socialists nowadays.’ In later years, however, its meaning has become narrowed down and much more clearly defined; and a careless, slipshod, and inaccurate use of the especially on public occasionsis certainly to be deprecated. «Graft ’ „ - -■ _ • When the late Mark Twain was in Loudon on one occasion, he was the ‘ lion ’ of a dinner given by a literary club in the modern Babylon. One of the rules of the club required that each member should formally and in set phrase introduce his guest to the company. JI like that custom,’ Mark drawled out in his reply, * for it reminds me of the time I lectured in a little town in the Rockies. My chairman was a well-to-do “cow-puncher,” who found the situation evidently -irksome. “ I’m told I must introduce this yer man t’ye, boys,” said he; “but I can only say two things in his favor. One is, that he’s never been in gaol, and the other is, that I don't know why.” ’ /- -«t. The revelation in the Otago Daily Times last week of a somewhat bare-faced case of ‘ graft ’ in connection with civic affairs in Dunedin has come with a shock on the local community ; and the stories now going the rounds as to other instances of the practice are such as to suggest that Mark Twain’s ‘ testimonial ’ is of very wide application. The Otago Daily Times thus states the facts in the case in question: Some little time ago, incidental to changes in the system of administration, an official of an important local body retired from the position he had been occupying. The local body, desirous of recognising in a tangible form the services he had rendered, decided to vote him on his retirement a bonus of an amount equal to six months’ salary. The official was deeply sensible of this mark of .the good-will of the local body and appreciated highly the sentiment, that had prompted the members to treat him so handsomely. Nor did he at the time regard as other than jocular the remark of one of the members to him that the vote was worth a new suit to the speaker. This seemed to him to be one of the pleasantries that might be viewed as appropriate to such an occasion. He had no expectation that the member in question really contemplated the acquisition of a suit of clothes at his expense. It came, therefore, as a surprise and rude shock to him shortly afterwards when he received an account for £B, being the cost of a suit that had been supplied to this member. " He concluded that the only course open to -'him was to settle with the tailor and look as pleasant as he couldthough he may perhaps have considered that the suit was a more costly one than he was himself in the habit of purchasing,—and to, say nothing about it.’ The Otago Daily Times practically vouches for the facts in this case. It is possible that the other stories we have referred to may be exaggerations; but even if the instance cited is an entirely isolated one it is well that attention should be drawn to it. It is always easier to stamp out an evil at the beginning ; and public opinion is strong enough to kill ' graft ’ in any New Zealand community if only, the people can be placed in possession of the facts. More 4 Popery * Dr. Gibb is right after all. The 'intolerable invasion ’ and ' subtle encroachment ’ of ‘ Rome,’ which he is,to denounce next November, proceed apace; and

Popery' is penetrating into the blessed kirk itself not in any underground, back-stairs fashion, but openly, in the very courts of the Church.,. ■>. Here is the latest evidence. The General Assembly of the Established Church of Scotland was held the otherC day in Edinburgh and —as we learn from the Outlook —' the feature of the report of the Temperance Committee was the recommendation as to occasional fasting as a means of grace, which evoked a mild controversy. Mr. W. S. Thomson, of Aberdeen, described it as more a matter of monkish medievalism than modern Christianity, and Mr. Crabb Watt, an eminent King's Counsel, described it as the introduction of a new cult into the .Established Church, which was on a par. with flagellation and the wearing of a hair shirt. Despite all opposition, however, the recommendation in favor of fasting was carried.' ■ ?, /

; . It may soften .the blow to the anti-Rome ‘stalwarts ’ to know that action of the General Assembly fin approving' of fasting is bub-a return to the attitude which has ever been adopted by the overwhelming majority of Christians in-regard to this practice, and which was adopted by the early Presbyterians themselves. The early Reformers (says the Protestant historian Schaff) approved of fasting ‘ as a means of selfdiscipline and a preparation for prayer.’ This was the view of fasting taken by Luther in his commentary on the following words of Our Lord: ‘ And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.’ Calvin in his Institutiones (IV.), says; ‘Holy and legitimate lasting is directed-. to three ends; for we practise it as a restraint on the flesh, to preserve it from licentiousness, or as a preparation for prayers and pious meditations, or as a testimony of our. humiliation in the presence of God when we are desirous of confessing our guilt before Him.’ Down to the present day the Church of England retains in her Book of Common Prayer all our days of fast and abstinence, together with a number of vigils which we no longer keep; and many of her foremost divines urge the Christian duty of fasting as strongly as it is inculcated from the Catholic pulpit.. In the formularies of the Presbyterian Church ‘ religious fasting ’ (which requires ‘ total abstinence from food ’) is reverently and emphatically laid down (in the ‘ Directory for the Publick Worship of God ’) as -‘ a duty which God expecteth from the nation and people ’ in certain circumstances. In the ‘Confession of Faith’ (xxi., 5) solemn fastings are set forth as ‘part of the ordinary religious worship of God’ ; while the ‘ Directory ’ contains minute instructions for the conduct of national, congregational, and family fasts (in the section ‘ Concerning Publick Solemn fasting’). Unless we are wrongly informed, Scottish almanacs to this day publish the fasting days fixed by various Assemblies. So that in approximating now towards the Catholic idea of fasting the Scottish Presbyterians are at the same time returning to the original teaching and practice both of their own denominations and of the Reformed bodies generally.

Leprosy and Fish According to a Sydney cable in Saturday's papers, in giving evidence before the Food Commission, the Naturalist of the New South Wales Fisheries Department, dealing with the connection between leprosy and fish-eating, said that "' with proper cooking there •was nothing to fear, even when fish had internal parasites. He emphatically disclaimed any connection between leprosy and fish if eaten fre.sh or when reasonably fresh, after being treated by any method.' The emphasis of the Sydney -official was amply justified, and both the facts and the authorities are on his side. Some months ago Sir James Crichton-Browne, one of .the most famous specialists in England on mental and nervous disorders and public health, and president of the Sanitary Inspectors' Association, in his presidential address at the -annual Conference of Sanitary Officers took occasion to dispose of the absurd notion that the Church should consider the question of modifying

her laws of abstinence in order to avoid the danger of a spread leprosy through fish-eating. This theory was first advanced by a Dr. Jonathan Hutchinson, whose peculiar views received considerable prominence in New Zealand papers some few years ago. Wherever Catholic missions are successful,' he had said, with particular reference to India, there is an increase of leprosy j and he continued : ' The facts which I have brought forward are such as to impose a : duty upon the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church to reconsider their fast-day ordinances.' To this view the president of the Sanitary Inspectors' Association gave no countenance. Whilst admitting that there could be no question of the generally pernicious effects of fish that was in any way diseased or in even the incipient stag© of decay, he declared that""' leprosy, even were its dependence on a diet of decomposing fish fully demonstrated, which was not the case, heed not now in this country be mentioned in such a connection.' So far from thinking an abatement of the Church's fast-day ordinances desirable-Sir James referred with unmistakable regret to the decline of the old custom—which prevailed' in the old days when England was Catholic —in accordance with which the people marked the observance of Lent by confining themselves, during the whole of the period, to an exclusively fish diet. > ; #'' : "' '• ■ . . '

It : would seem clear, from the facts, that the use of fish, even when it is far from fresh, has nothing to do with the causation of leprosy. Our New Zealand Maoris eat largely of fish, and their favorite food, eels, is always eaten ' high '—yet the Maoris do not develop leprosy. A writer in the Manchester Guardian supplies—from Burmah— a valuable set of facts to the like effect. 'Every Burman,' he says, 'eats fish, and even eats putrid fish, with every meal. ..This food is known as "ngapi," which is fish pressed in a primitive and unscientific way. Yet it would appear that leprosy is not only not prevalent in that country, but is declining. According. to the census of. 1891, there were 6464 lepers, while ten years later the number was only 4190, or eight per 10,000 of the whole population. The numbers vary greatly in the different districts, but Mr. Hutchinson's conclusion, drawn from his recent tour in India and Ceylon, that the great prevalence of leprosy is almost always in or near a fishing place does not appear to apply to Burmah, where the investigations of Mr. Lowis, the Census Commissioner,, show that the highest rates for the districts are not in those near the chief centres of the fishing industry. Mr. Lowis's conclusion in regard to the distribution of the disease, so far as Burmah is concerned, is that it prevails more in the West than in the East, and (curiously enough) more in the dry than in the wet area. ..,,;. *

The Census Report-of the protected native .State of Travancore for 1901 also comes into ruinous collision with Dr. Hutchinson’s theory. The figures are specially valuable in view of the fact that the overwhelming majority of Christians in Travancore, as in the rest of India, and in Ceylon, are Catholics. .In the diocese of Travancore there are one Bishop, 270 priests, 50 monks, 60 nuns, 38 ecclesiastical students, and 140,000 native Catholics. Volume XXVI. (part 1., p. 243) of the Report has a chapter on Leprosy in the State (chapter x., No. 185). ‘Leprosy,’ says the Commissioner, ‘considered by religion, is most common among the Musulman males and the Animist females, the least common among the Christian males and the Musulman females. Taking a lakh (100,000) as representing each class of religionists, the lepers among them will be 64 Animists, 53 Musulmans, 50 Hindus, and 38 Christians.’ In chapter x., p. 248 (table II.), the Commissioner gives the average number of lepers per 10,000 of each sex by religion. It sums up as follows Hindus, 7.1 males and 3.0 females per 10,000 of each sex respectively Musulmans, 8.5 males and 1.8 females; Animists, 7.1 males and 5.7 females; Christians, 5.4 males and 2.3 females. The indisputable and ascertained facts of the case knock the fish-leprosy theory ‘ kite-high.’