The Portland daily press., 1895-06-17
MANITOBA WON'T CONSENT.
She Won't Give Separate Schools to
Roman Catholics.
Her Answer to the Dominion Government
Is that She Cannot Provide Efhclent
Education on the Proposed Plan-Crltl-
cises the Former Catholic Schools.

| Winnipeg, Man, June 15.-The reply
of Manitoba to the Dominion Govern
ment's order suggesting that redress pe
given the Roman Catholics in educational
matters and that the separate school sys-
tenn previously in vogue here be reestab-
| lished is a stern refusal on the part Oh the
province to comply with the order.
Attorney General Sifton made public
Manitoba's answer when the Legislature
reassembled this afternoon, and debate
thereon is expected to come up Monday.
The reply is in the form of a memorial
addressed to his Excellency the Governor
General Of Canada in Council. 1t first
recites the remedial order and then sub
mits the following:
"The privileges which by the said order
we are commanded to restore to our
Roman Catholic fellow citizens are sub
stantially the same privileges which they
enjoyed previous to the year 1890. Com
pliance with terms of the order would re-
store Catholic separate schools with nc no
more satisfactory guarantees OF their ELL
cheney than existed prior to the said date.
The educational policy embodied In our
animation of the results of the policy pre-
viously followed, under which.the separate
Roman Catholic schools (now sought to
be restored) had existed for a period of
upward of nineteen years.
1.-The said schools were found to be in
efficient. AS conducted under the Roman
Catholic section of the Board of Educa-
tion they did not possess the attributes OF
efficient modern public schools Their
conduct, management, and regulation
were defective. AS result of leaving q
large section of the population with no
better means of education than was thus
supplied, many people grew up in state
OF illiteracy, and so far as we are aware
there has never been an attempt made to
we do not know of any grounds upon
which the expenditure of public money in
their support could be justified.
''We are therefore, compelled to respect
fully state to your Excellency in Council
that we cannot accept the responsibility
of carrying into effect the terms of the
remedial order.
taken to any modification of our educa-
tional statutes which would result in the
establishment of one or more sets of sep
arate schools. Apart, however, from the
objections upon principle, there are seri-
Gus objections from practical educational
standpoint. Some of these objections may
be briefly indicated
"We labor under great difficulties in
maintaining an efficient system of prim
ary education The school taxes bear
heavily upon our people The large
amount of land which is free from school
taxes and the great extent of country
over which our small population is scat
tered present obstacles to efficiency and
progress The reforms effected in 1890
have given an impetus to educational
work, but the difficulties which are in
herent in our circumstances have con-
stantly to be met.
.It will be obvious that the establish
ment of set of Roman Catholic schools,
followed by set of Anglican schools and
possibly Mennonite and Icelandic schools,
would SO emasculate our present system
| that any approach to even our present
general standard of efficiency would be
quite impossible. We contemplate the
Inauguration of such state OF affairs
with very grave apprehension. We have
no hesitation in saying that there cannot
| be suggested any measure which to our
minds would more seriously imperil the
development of our province.