1.—13b

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described as "the first teachers , examination" (page 7). The following are copies of cable messages sent and received in connection with the above-quoted statement of the Rev. Mr. Cook : — "The Convent, Yaes.—Following statement made before Parliament Committee: 'The Yass Convent School makes a special feature of coaching candidates' for 'the firsi teachers' examination.' Do you make, or have you made, special feature of such coaching? Kindly reply anj time to-day. Matter urgent.—Bishop Cleary, Boulcott Street, Wellington." "Bishop Cleary, Boulcott Street, Wellington.—We have not and do not make coaching candidates a special feature of our schools. - Sister de Sales, Yass." The high level of general education imparted in that great school is sufficient to account for any success of the Yass Convent pupils at such examinations, without resorting to the theory of specialized coaching. On page 8 of his evidence the Rev. Mr. Cook credits me (of course, inadvertently) with attributing to Bishop Gallagher, of Goulburn, statements which, in point of fact, I never yet attributed to him. The reader is asked to compare with the Rev. Mr. Cook's words those which I actually handed to the Committee and to Canon Garland on the 4th August, and which were taken by the Committee as an exhibit : " No educationist in Australia has probably so intimate a knowledge of the Catholic teachers' hearts of New South Wales as Bishop Gallagher, of Goulhurn. who is in constant touch with them. In a letter to me he declares that the Catholic teachers in his wide jurisdiction positively 'hate the lessons' from those sectarian mutilations of the Scriptures which (devised by Carlile and Whately for the avowed purpose of proselytizing Irish Catholics) had to be banished from the national schools of that unhappy land."

APPENDIX J. Miscellaneous Correspondence. Sir,— Wellington, 29th October. 1914. This afternoon I reoeived from the New Zealand Catholic Federation a copy of a supplementary statement by Bishop Cleary which, 1 understand, has been forwarded to the Committee. Mr. Girling Butcher, who forwards me the statement, states he learns a copy was forwarded me by the Committee, but if so it has not reached me up to the moment of writing. In consequence of the lateness it is impossible for m< , to traverse the Bishop's statement as 1 should be quite prepared to do, but one point catches my eve—his quotation (on page 1 of the supplementary statement) of Dr. Oibl>'s speech at Hawera. I enclose a copy of the extract of the full paragraph from the report of what Dr. Gibb said, and which bears out my statement in rebuttal of Bishop Cleary's accusation that the League had threatened to wreck the national system. The full context shows that from the bottom of their hearts the League stands for the national system, and that if the Scripture is barred then the national system would be in danger. I have, &c. . David J. Garland. G. M. Thomson. Esq.. M.P.. Chairman. Parliamentary Education Committee. Parliament Buildings. Wellington.

[Extract from the Hawera Advocate, 2nd August, 1913.] The League, continued Dr. Gibb. did not wish to break up the national education system, and on the whole the speaker approved of the syllabus, though it was a little overcrowded, and more interest appeared to be devoted to the entrails of a frog than to the soul of an archangel. From the bottom of their hearts I h< , League stood for nationalism, and it would be a great grief to it if the national system were impaired—but it could not be. The great opponents of the national system were the Roman Catholics, though just now Bishop Cleary, with the prickly brood under him, was not anxious to obtrude the fact that he and his Church did not love this national system. The League was said to be assailing (lie national system, but some of those who said so hated the national system with a great and bitter hatred. Without desiring to threaten, the speaker continued, he niigh* say that the T-eague would not tolerate the barring-out of Scripture. and if it did not get its rights would have to take a leaf out of the Roman Catholic Church's book and start schools of its own. What would become of the national system if all the strong Churches went in for a denominational primary-school system? God forbid that such a time should come, as the League desired to retain the national system.

Sir,— Wellington. -27th October. 1914. I enclose original letter of even date received from the Assistant Secretary of the General Post Office, by which you will see that the copy of the cable message ('received from Mr. Board on the 14th July, 1914) was not certified through an inadvertency in the General Post Office. None the less was the copy supplied to me as a certified copy by the General Post Office and was correct. I regret that even an opponent of the Bible-in-schools movement should have drawn attention in the manner in which he did to the absence of a formal certificate. I have the honour to request that, the letter of the Assistant Secretary of the Post Office be placed on record. Your obedient servant. David .T. Garland. Organizing Secretary. G. M. Thomson. Esq., \f.P.. Chairman. Parliamentary Education Committee, Parliament House, Wellington.