THE BIBLE-IN-SCHOOLS’ LEAGUE

New Zealand Tablet, 12 June 1913, Page 19

THE BIBLE-IN-SCHOOLS’ LEAGUE

The following appeared in the Otago Daily Times of June 5 : Sir, —I enclose a resolution passed by my executive with reference to certain statements made in a broadcast fashion by Bishop Cleary, under which circumstances I am confident you will give publicity to our reply as an item of news of public concern. — am, etc., David J. o Gaeland, Organising Secretary. Wellington, June 2. Resolved : That the members of the Executive of the Bible-in-Schools League, having received two communications from Dr. Cleary, Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, making certain charges against Canon Garland, organising secretary of the League, and having carefully considered the same, find that the only charges of any significance are those referring to the 4 relationship of the Roman Catholic children in the schools of New South Wales to the instruction given bj priests of the Roman Church in these institutions, and the charge made against Bishop Cleary of withholding evidence from the public regarding a serious charge he had brought against the League. In the leaflet of which complaint is made the Roman Catholic children are described as ‘Children instructed,’ whereas the numbers specified are the total of these children attending the public schools of that

State. This error was corrected by Canon Garland as soon as his attention was called to it. The leaflet was withdrawn and destroyed ; a fresh leaflet was published and forwarded to those to whom the first issue had been sent. Further, in the columns of the Dominion of March 27, • Canon Garland plainly acknowledged the error and corrected it. \ The members of the executive are of opinion that the Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland's charges are an instance of ‘ much ado about nothing,' or at the most about very little. If the error had not been corrected there would have been some cause of complaint, though even in that case the significance of the unchallenged fact that priests of the Roman Church paid 711 visits to the schools of New South Wales in the year 1911, would have been unimpaired. The ministers of that persuasion are clearly not unwilling to avail themselves of the opportunity provided by the Education Act of New South Wales to impart the tenets of their Church to their children in the State school. But the error was corrected and all reasonable ground of complaint removed. Bishop Cleary in his letter addressed to the executive on April 12 states that' the League leaflet distinctly conveys the impression that I (Bishop Cleary) received a cable message on the subject from the present Tasmanian Director of Education (Mr. McCoy) on December 2, 1913 (sic.evidently a mistake of the Bishop s for 1912), and some days later a letter. As the cable message was despatched on December 2, 1912, and the letter on the day following by the Tasmanian Director to Bishop Cleary, the natural inference which anyone would make is that Bishop Cleary received them ; but, of course, we accept his statement that he did not receive them until December 24. We would point out that even on the Bishop’s own admission he withheld the evidence received from Tasmania from December 24, 1912, to January 4, 1913, a period of 11 days, and even then Bishop Cleary did not publish it; but only admitted that he had received it after Mr. Jolly, a member of the executive, had published a copy of the letter, which Bishop Cleary admitted he had been in possession of for the previous 11 days, and which has not been made public by him. Not until April 12, when he wrote his letter to the executive, did Bishop Cleary / state he did not receive the cablegram sent to him on December 2 till his return to Auckland on Christmas Eve, so that the letter written on January 4 by Canon Garland as organising secretary, stated the facts as they then existed. . The members of the executive take this opportunity of expressing their entire confidence in Canon Garland as the leader of the movement to secure the objects of the Bible-in-Schools, League. They are well assured that he is absolutely incapable of wilfully seeking to mislead anyone. They hereby express their invincible conviction of his straightforward veracity and his fairness to opponents as displayed not only in the matter of the complaint of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, but also in all the, methods he employs in conducting his campaign.