On Tuesday Dr. Kane, the Grand Master of the Orange
Institution, speaking at Cork, declared that the Orangemen were not opposed to a Local Government scheme which would place Ireland exactly in the same position as England and Scotland. He viewed, however, with disquiet the rumours as to the disposition on the part of the Government to tinker the system of education at the bidding of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. It would be a very serious thing if the protection which the present system afforded to their children who were obliged to attend schools under the management of Roman Catholic managers was withdrawn, and if the schools became centres of active proselytism, as they would_ necessarily be if members of religious orders such as the Christian Brothers were the teachers, and emblems of the Roman Catholic religion became part of the everyday school- life of the national schools of the country. The question of a sectarian University would not affect them in the same way, but it would be a grievance to Irish Protestants to have to pay for a seminary for the teaching of a religion to which they had conscientious objections. We are not prejudiced against the Orangemen, nor do we desire to do anything which they can reasonably regard as unfair, but we very much hope that Mr. Gerald Balfour will not let his mind be affected by talk tf this kind. The Government will miss a very great opportunity if they fail to carry out the recommendations of the National Board of Education for allowing the Christian Brothers' schools to participate in the education grant. Again, Mr. Gerald Balfour should solve the University question in the only reasonable way, that is, by giving the Catholics the kind of University they desire. That may not be the beat sort of University in the abstract, but since it is the one which the Roman Catholics want, and since Protestant University education is amply provided for, the Catholics should be given what they ask.
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