TRANSPLANTED IRISH INSTITUTIONS - University of Canterbury

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which, besides withdrawing subsidies from schools, allowed state education only in secular
subjects. 24 This secularization outraged both Catholic and Protestant alike. The Catholics.
with Bishop Moran at the forefront, decried these 'godless schools' and reproduced an
identical editorial in the New Zealand Tablet for fourteen years between 31 August 1883 to
2 July 1897:
The Catholics of New Zealand provide at their sole expense, an excellent education for their own
children. Yet such is the sense of justice and policy in the New Zealand Legislature that it
compels these Catholics, after having manfully provided for their own children, to contribute
largely towards the free and godless education of other people's children!!! This is tyranny,
oppression, and plunder. 25
The Catholics objected to subsidising secular education while the Protestants deplored the
exclusion of any religious content. As a result there were 42 unsuccessful bills between
1877 and 1935 which sought to modify the secular clause in the Act. 'Bible in Schools' was
the primary way in which Protestants tried to include religious instruction in their children's
education, which they saw as an intrinsically important part of their heritage. 26
The
Catholics wanted their own schools with state aid to help their funding while Protestants
objected to state aid to private schools but wanted Bible-in-Schools in a state education
system. The latter was rejected by Catholics who saw this as introducing Protestantism to
the Catholic children who were in the state education system.
The other controversial issue was prohibition which was a major issue between 1880
and 1920. This saw the flourishing of Temperance and Total Abstinence Societies such as
the Independent Order of Rechabites and the Women's Christian Temperance Union. 27
Some Catholics agreed with prohibition but as the debate developed, rivalry between
Catholics and Protestants became more pronounced as Catholics tended to take a liberal
stance on the use of a1cohol. 28
24Allan K. Davidson & Peter J. Lineham, (eds.), Transplanted Christianity. Documents Illustrating
Aspects of New Zealand Church History, Palmerston North, Dunmore Press, 1989, p. 218.
25Ibid., p. 222.
26Allan K. Davidson, Christianity in Aotearoa A History of Church and Society in New Zealand,
Wellington, The New Zealand Education for Ministry Board, 1990, p. 66.
27The difference was that temperance meant moderation in drinking while total abstinence meant exactly
that.
280p. cit., Davidson, Christianity in Aotearoa, pp. 69-70.