wollow FROM PAGE ONE to which we have referred, we made one essential demand: that the parents of Catholic children should be given lull right to education for their children in schools to which they could send them with a good conscience and without the imposition of intolerable financial penalties. We have made it clear to the Board that we are not indissolubly wedded to all our managerial rights; that we are prepared for honourable and reasonable agreements; that a way could be found whereby we could with security surrender the right to the appointment of teachers. We protest that a just and acceptable solution could and should have been found.
We have made, from time to time, varidus constructive proposals, among which are the following:
(1) That the Scottish System, with suitable adjustments, could be applied to Catholic schools; or (2) That for new schools should be aided by a State loan of interest; or (3) That in order to remove our anxieties concerning the uncertainties of the future, our liability should be limited to a fixed maximum price per school place.
We now wish it to be known that we are preptued for equitable negotiations regarding Catholic schools in single school areas. Our people will stand united and determined in what to them is a matter of life and death. They must use every available means to make the justice of their claims widely known and completely understood. We trust that before the Education Bill is tabled, before it is too late to prevent disunity and contention amongst the people of England and Wales, an equitable arrangement will be sought and reached.
(Signed)—Richard. Archbishop of Liverpool: Thomas. Archbishop of Birmingham: Michael. Archbishop of Cardiff; Peter. Archbishop-Bishop of Southwark: Arthur. Bishop of Brentwood; Thomas, Bishop of Mie4temorough; John. Bishop of Plymouth: William. Bishop of Clifton; Ambrose. Bishop of Shrewsbury; Henry. Bishop of Leeds: Joseph. Bishop of William and Newcastle: Thomas, Bishop of Lancaster: Hen(y. Bishop of Salford; Thomas. Bishop of Northampton; Dared, Bishop of Menevia: John, Bishop of Portsmouth; Edward Myers. Vicar Capitular of Westminster: Charles Payne, Vicar Capitular of Nottingham.