THE TAB
A Weekly Newspaper and
Review.
ET
DOM VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMOS OT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATiS.
Prom the B r ie f o f H is H o lin ess P iu s IX . to The Tablet, June 4, 1870.
V ol. 84. No. 2841. London, October 20, 1894. Price s<i. by Post 5% d.
[Registered at the General Post Office as a Newspaper
C hronicle of the Week !
The Liberal Unionist Party—The Houses of the People—Lord Rosebery’s Blunder — The Political Situation in Germany—The Austrian Budget — M o n a rch ic a l Finances as a Whole—A Catholic Congress—Conference of Catholic »Guardians—Franciscan Centenary at Taunton—The Greek Finances —Great Frauds in Spain — The Ameer’s Illness — Punishment in
Page
Industrial Schools .. . . 597 ^Leaders :
The Election and Catholic^ Duty 601 The Belgian General Election .. 601 A l le g e d Parallel Between the
Jesuits and the Freemasons . . 602
CONI
Leaders (Continued):
London School Board Election .. 603 “ The Irish Catholic" on Mr.
T. P. O’Connor .. .. .. 603 Mgr. Gilbert, D.D.,V.G., on the
Page
Coming School Board Election 604 Catholic Nuns .. .. .. 605 Notes .. .....................605 Reviews :
Life and Letters of Erasmus .. 607 Modern Ethics .. .. . . 607 Popular County Histories .. 608 Father Humphrey on Holy Scrip
ture and the Sacraments .. 609 Fragments of Coloured Glass .. 609 My First Book .. . . .. 610
ENTS.
Page
Anglican Orders .. .. . .6 10 County Council Scholarships .. 611 Cobbett’s Histoiy of the Reformation 611 Correspondence :
Rome :—(From Our Own Corre
spondent) .................................... 613 Letters to the Editor :
Necessary Existence and Infinite
Perfection.. _ .........................614 Outlook in Belgium .. .. 6x4 ' Catholics and Disestablishment .. 6x5
“ Half Communion ” . . . . 616 Anglican Orders .. .. . . 6x6 Anglicans and Baptism .. .. 616 Aelfric and Transubstantiating .. 617 Was St. Augustine a Benedictine 617
News from the Dioceses :
*
Westminster . . . k . . 621 Southwark . . .. . . .. 621 Hexham and Newcastle .. .. 621 Liverpool .. .. .. . .6 2 c Newport and Menevia .. .. 622 Nottingham.. .. . . . . 622 St. Winifrede’s Well .. .. .. 622 The Athanasian “ Incomprehensible” 623 Free Public Lectures . . . . 623 Obituary .. .. .. . . 623 Social and Political . . . . 624
SUPPLEMENT. The Crook Hall Centenary at
Ushaw .. .. .. 629 The Students’ Cententary Dinner 618 Crook Hall .. .... ...» .. 619 The “ Newcastle Daily Chronicle" 620
Rejected MS. cannot be returned unless accompanied with address and postage.
C H R O N IC L E O F T H E W E E K .
THE fLIBERAL-UNIONIST
POLICY.
M R . CH AM B E R L A IN took advantage o f a crowded meeting in the Birmingham Town Hall to show that the Liberal Unionist party is provided with a positive policy o f its own. H e began with a reference to the subject which marked the dividing o f the ways and broke the old Liberal party into two. H e expressed his satisfaction that people in Ireland seemed now settling down to take advantage o f the beneficent legislation which had been passed for their advantage by successive Governments. A fte r quoting Mr. Johnson’s gibe that the Irish ought to be •considered a very fair people, because they never spoke well o f each other, he pointed to the candour and impartiality with which the present leaders o f the Nationalist party are describing each other’s characters. Was it not tim e, however, that 35,000,000 Scotchmen and Englishmen received as much attention as the 3.000,000 Irishmen who had hitherto monopolized so large a part of the time of Parliament, and had been heard like the widow in Scripture because o f their great importunity? In the forefront o f the British questions with which he would have •Parliament deal, he placed the regulation o f the liquor »traffic. It was a misfortune that the temperance agitation 'had fallen into the hands o f men who were more anxious to prohibit drinking than to prevent drunkenness, and more •eager to punish the publican than to reclaim the drunkard. T h e United Kingdom Alliance had degenerated into a mere branch of the Gladstonian organization, and professed themselves so satisfied with the promises they had received, that they forgot to care about their performance. Mr. Chamberlain then went on to lay his finger on the two weak points o f the Government Local Veto Bill. It is a Bill for restricting local option. It would give the community the power o f deciding one thing-— whether there should be no public-houses at all, or all those that exist at present; while i f the majority decided in favour o f the continued existence o f the public-houses, but at the same time wished to regulate them, and to see that they were carried on without abuse, they would have no means o f giving effect to their wishes. Even if the B ill would do good, that good would
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be bought at the price o f injustice, for it proposed to take away the legal property o f the publicans, and to deprive them of their means o f livelihood. Finally, the Bill was an unequal Bill, because while it would interfere with the convenience and liberty o f the working-classes, it would not touch the pleasures or even abuses of the rich. H e agreed with Mr. Gladstone in thinking that the true method of temperance reform was to take the control o f this traffic into public hands, and to deal with it in such a way that all idea of personal gain should be eliminated from its future conduct. Upon the question o f compensation, he was extremely explicit. I f we are going to acquire the property o f the publicans we must be prepared to pay a fair price, “ the same kind o f compensation that we now pay i f we take those houses for public improvements, such as the improvement scheme in Birmingham, or any other improvement for municipal purposes.
Next in importance to the liquor question — t h e Mr. Chamberlain places that o f the housing p e o p l e . ° ‘ the poor. After criticizing the Artizans
Dwellings A ct, and declaring that it remains to this day the one serious valuable attempt to deal with this question, he went on to unfold a dream before the democracy. H e pictured to them the outline o f a plan by which the working classes of this country would become the purchasers o f their houses. An ordinary workman’s house in Birmingham is let at a rental o f 5s. 6d. a week, and the average market price o f such a house is about ^ 14 0 . I f the working man occupying the house were to find one-fifth o f the purchase-money, ^ 2 8 , from his own savings, and if the State were to advance him, through the Municipality, the remaining four-fifths, 12, and if then he were to continue to pay the same rate as at present, he would have paid off the loan with interest, and he would be the absolute owner of his own house in 10 years, that is, supposing that the State lends the money at three per cent. But now suppose, for some reason or another, he felt himself unable to pay so large a rent as at present, then if he were to pay 3s. a week, that is to say, 2s. 6d. a week lessthan his present rent, he w»ould still pay off the loan and become absolute owner in 20 years ; and if he were willing to wait still longer— say, for 30 years— he would become the absolute owner o f his house by the payment o f 2s. 3d. a week, or less than one-half o f the present rent. A t this point the speaker was interrupted by a voice asking: “ What about the land leasehold or freehold ? ” The question seemed to disconcert him, and he answered that it was his
