JOTTINGS.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13159, 4 July 1908, Page 13

JOTTINGS.

i£* I J* T * H. R. DeTTsbury. wh<n« full g™ of £*• Tear,, j n t h e Stroot) Methodist circuit will *»pl<>t«d at i!«t has Perint an i,,v 'taiion to tak« the snof the Auckiaiid( Graf ton

road) circuit. .Since* 1839 Mr Dewsbury's ministry has been limited to tlirw circuits—Wanganui, Christohurch . ami Auckland ((Million road). Having I compl.-tc'd the iirst round of tin**' in „ J HHJU, ho \va,s again invited to Wanga- ; niii, then to Chrisichurch. and lias now * accepted a t-iill to return to the. AuckI ; land < (Grafton road.i circuit. Mr Dews- . : hury's second term in Chri.stchurch has ; witiics-i (i the ciirrying out of yreat , church improvements anu the, estabiish- - niciit ot the Deaconess work. Out of . a ministry of thirty-eight years, twenty- , six have been .spoilt in Auckland. Waii-<;-:nui mid Chriatchurch. It is doubtful . i whether any other Methodist minister , in New Zealand has devoted so many years of labour to w> small a number of circuits. . There are. 121 different Catholic Sisterhoods in the United States (says the New York 'Catholic News"). Tho . various Franciscan Orders. 24 in all, . count G'3oo Sist-ers; four S'otro D;uno Orders count 6700 Sister?, and six »Sis- [ ters of Charity Orders count 0000 Sisters. Thus these 34 Orders alone, with 17.300 members, outnumber all the secular and regular clergy. Edu- , cation and charity form t,ho life-work of most of this great and noble army of women. If we allow one teacher io every fifty p.upils in our parochial schools, it -will require 24,000 teachers to tako caro of tho 1,200,000 parish • school pupils. Fully 20,000 of th«.o . teachers are Sisters. , "Zionism' , was beforo tho Chancery , Court of London, recently, when M r •) us- ■ tico Evo delivered n reserve judgment in tho mattor of the Jewish Colonial , Trust. The undertaking. technically , known as Juedische Colonial Bank, Limited, was started with a capital of £2,000,000 and 130,000 shareholders, tho object being to promotQ colonisation seimnus in any part of the world in connection with tho Jewish fraternity. The trust sought power to restrict its operations to Palestine, which, it was said, was tho great ideal of Zionism, tho return of "Tho Chosen People' to tho Promised Land being the onJv object worth entertaining. Mr Israel Zangwiil did not agree witb tho pro-, posed scheme of limitation. Ho and other dissentient shareholders declared that the great ideal of Zionism was not at present attainable, and that the proposed restriction ■would prevent tho company doing anything to ameliorate tho distress of the Jews in the many parts ot tho world where the race is still being persecuted, particularly in Russia. His Lordship, in dismissing the petition, thoujpht if he weno to sanction the alteration he would bo doing little to ameliorate the condition of an oppressed and, great people outside Palestine. At St. Anthony's shrino at tho Franciscan Capuchin Monastery at Crawley, in Sussex, tho customary nino Tuesdays' devotions in preparations for tho feast in Juno wero observed. St. Anthony, called of Padua though born in Lisbon, is one of tho most popular saints in tho Church. A great light of the Franciscan Order, he was renowned as a preacher and a Biblical scholar, and he possessed a depth of patristio knowledge. Hβ is looked upon as a friend and advocate- of all animal lovers, and it is customary for guilds inculcating kindness to animals to bear the name of St. Anthony. President Roosevelt paid a visit to the General Conference of tho Methodist Episcopal Church at Baltimore in May last, and delivered an inspiring address, manifesting also a spirit of appreciation in respect of tho Church's work and influence on the life of the Republic. Tho following is a paragraph from tho address:—"True religion through Church organisation, through philanthropic organisation, in all the fields of kindred endeavour, can manifest itself as effectively in tho crowded and complex life of to-day as in the pioneer of yesteruay s, anu luo souls ot men need the light now, and strive blindly towards it, as they needed it and strove towards it in the vanished past. It is your task to do the work of the Lord on the farm and in the mine, in the counting-room and tho factory, in tho car shops and beside tho blast furnaces, just as it was tho task of your spiritual forebears to wrestle with tho fiouls of men and women who dwelt on the stump-dotted clearances in the wilderness!" The Rev. W. Nicholas, M.A., D.D., who for thirteen years has been tho Presidont and Theological Professor of the Belfast Methodist College, has intimated his intention of retiring from the position at tho next conference. A meeting of the Board of Governors has since been held, at which it was resolved to nominate tho Roy. J. W. R. Campbell, M.A., as tho successor of Dr. Nicholas, subject to the approval of tho English Conference. General Booth was to start upon his fifth motor tour on June 20th from Dundee He will run southward, stopping at over eighty centres, for a little over a month, winding up at tho Crystal Palace on July 25th. The route is entirely different from those of the previous tours, and the "fleet" of five oars will hardly touch more than one town through which the General has already motored. "Wayside stops and visits to workhouses and prisons will be a featuro of this as of tho other tours. The Sundays nro to be spent in Dundee. Loith, 'Middlesbrough, Walsall and Beading. Tho General will take tho opportimitv of visiting Ayr, where a remarkable Army revival has? been making a deep impression during tho past few months. Owing to the week-end habit, church collect ions have suffered, said Viscount St. Aldwyn at a meeting in Grovesncr Honso recently in add of the Bishop of London's Fund. The clergy would be very hard put to it when everyone who had been in> the habit of stopping in London throughout tho summer went away to the country and forgot to leave something. A prominent minister of the Methodist Church, the Rev. J. A. Taylor, recently passed away at his residence, Ktw. Victoria. Mr Taylor's ministry commenced an connection with the Victorian Conference of 18(53. Twenwthreo years' service was given to Circuits in New Zealand. Ho wn* elevated to tin* presidency at the Chri.stchurch Conference of 1882. displaying more than ordinary power of government «''d I administration. A corrcsiwdent says that Mr Taylor had a scholarly and cultured mind, and displayed considerable pulpit ability, but .he was, unfortunately, inclined towards pessimism in his general outlook. He loaves a largo irumber of ardent friends and admirers both in the Dominion and in the State of Victoria, where tho greater part, of his life was spent. A handsome now Wesleynn ehuivh has just been completed and opened at B;ild«>rton, in tho Newark nirouit. T'-e ouildins is devoted to tho memory of John Hunt, who spent his early days in farm labour in the district, and who afterwards won high nud wrlldeserved fame by his apostolic missionary labours in Fiji, where i!>'d and M-as buried. The evening collection of t"he opening services left the ne*.v ohurch entirely free of debt. Cardinal Gibbons, whom London is to welcome in September as a. visiter to the Kucharijtic Congrws and as the preacher at its closing ceremony ; n Westminster Cathedral, tns received from the King of tho Belgians the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of 'be Crown in recognition of hie services to the oause of Cbristianiity .md humanity. The GrawJ Cross, of tLis Order i«"hut r.in-h- the Car- , dinol beiivz the rirst American to weir I it. A correspondent of the London

"Tablet," who owns that the little things of lifo hare a faaoination for him, recalls and trr-asmres a trifiii::; incidejit of a tornior visit i>3i<l io Loi:don by Cardinal Gib!x>ns. This corr«Tpondont, well ao<iiiaint<Kl with Koirwand the lordly otiqvwtt-e there htvlgingin a Prince of the Church, one day <?<*- scorified into tho Hades of a London imdorrrround railway station. In (ic'ptks was a weighing-machine, a*ui from its shoddy velvet seat he rooeiied the siniliii£ salutation of—Cardinal Gibbons. It was probably the first occasion on which a. Prince of the Chinvh had occupied this particular fort 'f thron*': und it was rvecupixl with a simplicity that- ivus full of tru" dignity. Thf episodes chosen for the jireat F.ndish 'Cluin-h Pageant, which is to be held at Brighton in July of next yoar. all have a special educational bearing, and cover a wide field, rana-in-r from the founding of a British Church at Silchestor to the acquittal of the wveti bishons. Su.cyestions have boon invit«d for" an oicrhteeuth-cer.turv episode, and for an episode and finale illiistrntinc; the expansion of the Church during the nineteenth century. Auihoriiotire comtnittoes for music, art. arohspolorry. history, and rostuine are being formed. Two thousand performers will take part, and it is expooted that most of* the religious parts will be taken by prominent clergymen in the South of England.