Current Topics

New Zealand Tablet, 17 March 1921, Page 14

Current Topics

Mr. Massey's Trip Home V It seems reasonable enough from one point of viewthat the little Liberal Caucus should agree to permit Mr. Massey to go to England, for if any one should go no man could be better spared from the Dominion than its helpless Prime Minister. Of course it is a foregone conclusion that his numerous placemen in the House will obsequiously vote for sending their patron on the trip, and considering his past record it seems equally certain that when he does go Home he will speak, not for New Zealand but for the gang of capitalists' and bigots who put him in power. It is our business to make it clear that he dees not represent New Zealand, and Labor ought to have the support of every single man who is opposed to the murder of women and children in Ireland and to the shameful disregard of all the pledges given to the dead soldiers who fell fighting for what they believed to be the cause of small nations.

Mr. Holland’s Notice of Amendment In a House where so few men seem to remember what they owe to the people of this country, Mr. Holland and Mr. Fraser can be always relied upon to stand oi Democracy and justice. Hence, it is not surprising ivn Miat when the placemen who have secured their billets find it convenient to ignore the fact that the -British Government is shamefully breaking its pledges and that it has set up a military despotism more terrible than Prussia ever dreamed of, and that its crimes in Ireland are making the name of England stink in the nostrils of every honest man in the world to-day, Mr. Holland reminds Mr. Massey that as the representative °t a Government that called upon men to die for the right of all peoples to govern themselves without outside interference it is his duty to tell the British Cabinet that Ireland, Egypt, and India must be allowed to govern themselves according to the will of the people. As tar as we are concerned we hope that to-night every lover of small nations will help to swell the protest against British tyranny and atrocities that ought to make the 17th March, 1921, a memorable date in New Zealand. Let us hope that there will.not be a town or a village in the Dominion that will have reason to hang its head for shame on account of its lack of 1 response to our call. Our Little University Time and again we have referred to the patent tact that what is called the University of New Zealand is little or nothing better than a fair secondary school, and that neither curricula of studies nor results are very creditable to a Dominion that holds its head so ri, as L New Zealand does. We note that the Dean ot the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, at the opening of the session on Wednesday, March 9, spoke plainly and strongly in" confirmation of our view. He told his audience that the University is not living up to high University ideals and is not functioning in a manner that might be expected from an institution so long in cing. He pointed out that there is too much of what might be called “cramming” and too little of true University education. He distinguished between mere instruction and true education, and emnhasised the fact that it is education and not instruction that counts in the long run. Fie is quite right in that, as far as he goes-, but he does not go' far enough/ Is it possible that the State schools which banish God have blinded even University Professors to the truth that as there is no true education unless it aims successfully at developing character, it is likewise impossible for it. to be successful unless it is based on sound morality, and, again*, that there can be no sound moral training* without a religious foundation? In education, as in many other matters, poor New Zealand has a habit of beginning to build before providing foundations. Give up Murder or Get Out A large number of distinguished Englishmen, re-

preservative of .the best - in- the Churches, the professions, arts and letters, < have issued a remarkable protest against the present Government, practically inviting the self-respecting elements among the British people to unite in driving out the Lloyd George Cabinet unless peace is made with Ireland at once. In the protest we read: .

"We see our country, which in the past, and until very lately, made great sacrifices thinking it made them for the cause of oppressed peoples, now presenting to the world the aspect of a land hardly equalled in the past for ignorant and ; unavailing coercion—that coercion being practised on a nation that co-equally with ourselves has inherited traditions of individual liberty. This not because of any native ferocity, greed of gain, or thirst for rapine in our people, but because of irresolution, incapacity, and .misreading of facts by those who hold the reins of government. ;\ "We therefore call upon the present Ministry to find immediate means of arbitration <or mediation be-

tween ourselves and the people of Ireland. "And if the organised shedding of bloodwhether by the natives of Ireland or his Majesty's forcesor arsons, robberies, and requisitions, by either party shall continue, we demand the resignation of his Majesty's Government, and declare ourselves resolved in that case to leave unmade no effort to substitute one that will have for its first and most urgent business that of finding the means of mediation until permanent peace shall be restored to the sister kingdom." A long list of the names of men of letters, university professors, clergymen, etc., etc., follows this remarkable protest.

A Self-Determination League Australia is already following the example of America in forming a Self-Determination League for the support of the Irish people’s right to choose freely their own form of government. The League has been provisionally organised in Sydney and it is hoped that it will rapidly extend throughout the Commonwealth, Later a State Convention will be held and good care will be taken that Mr. Churchill will get the information he wants, not from a'Hughes but from the friends of Ireland and of all small nations. At the State Convention permanent officers will be elected. At present the following are appointed to act President, Mr. Neal Collins; vice-presidents, Dr. H. M. Moran and Lieutenant Peter Gallagher; treasurer, Very Rev. Maurice O’Reilly, D.D.; committee— Mrs. Trefle, Mr. John Sheehy,* Dr. Fallon, Mr. Thick, and Mr. P. S. Cleary. A provisional constitution has been drawn up to be utilised as a working plan under which the League will organise . until the Convention, when a more permanent constitution will be drafted. Membership* shall be open to all Australians, without distinction of class, race, or creed, provided that they sympathise with the aim of the League, which is to secure support for the Irish people in their efforts to win their right to self-determination. It is proposed to have a State Council elected annually by a State Convention. Local Councils will be formed in cities, towns, and districts where three or more branches

exist. Twelve or more persons submitting individuallysigned applications, on a prescribed form, declaring acceptance of the constitution, and paying a membership fee of 2s each to their duly elected secretary, and acting under the authority of the local Council, or of the State Council wherever no local council exists, shall be entitled to establish a branch of the League. ■ Here is a step in the right direction. What are we going to do about it in New Zealand?. Surely we too will do our bit for the old cause or son De agus or son Eireann. -•

Elliot In a Corner. . r;;> t n v r, - * Last week the Dunedin papers announced that the horsewhipped . parson would appear,, in His Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday night and tell his chosen friends such stories as might be expected from a man who was castigated publicly for calumnies against a dead woman. When the meeting was under way and things were

going according, to the wishes of a few hundred vinegarvisaged spinsters - who were' present, Mr. J. Robinson asked the speaker whether he had yet -replied to the challenges issued by Bishop Cleary. The horsewhipped parson said he had no time for a controversy with Dr. Cleary and that he recognised Mr. Robinson as an emissary of the Bishop of Auckland. ' Mr. Robinson said it was no excuse to say he had- not time for a controversy. If the people the lecturer represented had a good name and were able to defend it, it was theiir duty to defend themselves against charges of misrepresentation and documentary forgery. Mr. Robinson was of course interrupted again and again, but he got his point home and brought Elliot up against a dilemma from which he cannot 'escape: either he is guilty of forgery and misrepresentation or else he must defend himself as publicly as the charges were made. Even the rank and file of the P.P.Ass cannot help seeing that much. Elliot went on to talk in his usual fashion about Rome. He spoke of the poisoning of Pope Pius X. like the son of Ananias he is. He quoted what he called a sworn testimony from an anonymous person in an anonymous convent and asked them to believe him that it "was true! He would give no names, of course, but yet he invited people to believe him, the man who sat down "in his study to write the filthy letters that made decent Protestants protest in Parliament that they were ashamed of belonging to the Protestant Church that produced such a cad as Elliot. A man in the audience asked the lecturer what did the magistrate in Auckland have to say about him on a certain occasion. This was 1,00 much for the supporters of the horsewhipped cad and they had the man who reminded them of their shame removed. Mr. Silverstone cornered him on his misstatements about Russia. Other men present took him to task for his Orange assertions about Ireland. Lastly, when the vinegar-visaged spinsters arose to sing "God Save the King" a crowd at the back of the theatre raised the strains of "God Save Ireland." It is clear that people are getting tired of allowing this hired muck-raker to draw a salary for calumniating his fellow-citizens. A few more meetings like that in Dunedin would soon shame the sort ■ of people who at present sit at the feet of a horsewhipped cad. Mr. Robinson informs us that he sent a letter embodying Dr. Cleary's challenges to the Dunedin Evening Star in order that it might be before the public on. Saturday'afternoon. ~ The letter was sent in in due time, but was hot.published on Saturday. The cultured, learned, gentlemanly editor of the Otago D.T.'s will not publish exposures of his beloved forger-, "Civis," and he will mutilate a Bishop's address where there is reference to Ireland,.but he does.full justice to the attacks on Catholics made by a horsewhipped cad. Whatever our dailies may do or not do in the matter, Mr. Robinson has now made it public at one of the P.P.Ass. meetings that Dr. Cleary has charged that Orange sectarian association with being guilty of enormities that brand it as baneful, wicked, and dangerous to society, and, further, that it is clear that the charges are so well-founded that even persons who continue to hold some social position, viz., Mr. McGregor, Mr. Dickson, etc., have not the courage to defend themselves, although mentioned by name in Dr. Cleary's challenges. As long as they'refuse to defend themselves we are at liberty to conclude that the P.P.Ass. has been guilty of forgery of documentary evidence, of gross misstatement and misrepresentation, of spreading in the community obscene and filthy printed matter, and of waging a cowardly and blackguardly war on Catholic women. These charges affect all members of the Association, and, until they are refuted, brand them as dangerous to society and unfit companions for self-respecting people.

How the Sinn Fein Boycott Thrives Not long ago a cable'told us how the-Orangemen were howling under the pressure of the Sinn Fein boycott of Ulster. With remarkable loyalty and unanimity to their own Government the Irish people obeyed the order of Dail Eireann and sent the Ulster merchants

about their business with such good (effect that Orange .Ulster began'to protest that its vaunted wealth was largely imaginary - and to admit that it depended on the rest Ireland for its alleged prosperity. Arguments addressed to reason or to justice never had the slightest effect on the hordes that celebrate the pious memory of King Billy, but the argument that touched their purse brought them to heel at once liked the whipped curs they are. In the same way, arguments based on justice, on truth, on humanity failed to move the degenerate" nation of Saxon shopkeepers and Sinn Fein determined to try what a commercial boycott might do where higher motives had no effect. Already writers m English financial journals have begun to appeal to the English people to punish the Lloyd George Government, not because of its crimes against humanity not because it has dragged the honor of England in the mire, not because it has convinced the civilised world that the pledged word of any British statesman is worth less than a scrap of paper, but because they are losing millions of pounds. Sperling's Journal, which is described as the organ of a syndicate of several large British industrial enterprises, points out that the trade with Ireland was worth £250,000,000 to England, and that it is being lost at the present time when it is 'more necessary than ever: _ "And just now the Irish market is of peculiar importance to the British manufacturer and merchant just as every British household would be affected if the flow of Irish produce were stopped or deflected. • ■ . We depend for our existence on food imported from abroad—and Ireland has been accustomed to supply us with a very considerable percentage of our needs With many countries our commerce is at this moment interfered with or deranged by difficulties of exchange and by prostration of purchasing power Every consideration of self-interest prompts us to increase our exports develop our trade, and steady our cost of living by cultivating to the fullest extent the Irish market which lies at our doors. Now it is hardly an exaggeration to say that if matters are allowed to continue on their present lines there will soon be no Irish market worth cultivating. . . What is hap pening in Ireland is this, that our best customer is being put out of business and one of our main, and by tar our most convenient sources of supply is bemoan™ at the fountain - h ead. . . A trade of £250,000,000 a year is in jeopardy. It may be that we are sacrificing it for some supreme political motive. But one cannot be sure that this is so. Indeed there are some rather strong reasons for thinking that it is not so. . . - "Quite a number of people -whose knowledge of Ireland entitles them to be heard with respect maintain that the present state of the country, is mainly due to sheer bad statesmanship, and that we are ruining the magnificent Anglo-Irish trade, which it was never more necessary to develop than at this because our political leaders have refused to bring to the consideration of the Irish problem a single grain of the vision, imagination, and courage that thev showed with such conspicuous success in their handling, fourteen years ago, of the South African question. . . We cannot, afford to throw away a trade of £250,000,000 a year in order to gratify the obstinacy or to save the face of a politician, in a hole. . . While Ireland seems to be, the principal sufferer from the present chaos British interests, and particularly British business interests, are equally involved and equally concerned to find a way out."

British frightfulness put the creameries and other industries out of action. Now an organised boycott against commerce with England has been successfully launched. An English paper says the result is the loss of a trade worth £250,000,000 a year, to England. And the nation of shopkeepers howls. ..