Answers to Correspondents

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 22, 7 June 1923, Page 21

Answers to Correspondents

Observer. — (a) It is merely a sign of bad manners to call a clergyman by his surname, e.g., to refer to a Father Murphy or the Rev. Air, Smith as “Murphy.” and “Smith.” (b) Whistling is regarded as a breach of good manners, especially in the case of females. An old Irish proverb says: “A crowing cock and a whistling woman are heard in hell.” Celt.— are several books on early Gaelic literature. Douglas Hyde’s little manual is excellent. Then there is the larger work in two volumes by Eleanor Hull. For early history and critical inquiries you cannot get better than Eoin AlacNeill’s books. Student. — Alartial law, by British orders, does not look much like freedom lor Egypt. The educational system forced on the Egyptians by the British Government was designed for the continual subjection of the race. Its corner-stones were : 1. The masses must be kept uneducated at all costs. 2. The schools and colleges must produce just a sufficient number of men instructed in such a way as to be merely efficient and subordinate officials to the English master. 3. Self-respect, self-help, self-reliance, self-confi-dence, sense of nationality, the spirit of independence, and, in short, all that tends to make men great in the real sense of the word, must be systematically eliminated from all schools. 4. The little technical education that there is must be conducted in such a way and in such a spirit as to keep Egypt for ever depending on England for pure and applied science, industry, and trade. (Ibrahim Rashid, in The Irish Year Ho oh).