PRIOR VAUGHAN.

Evening Star, Issue 9910, 23 January 1896, Page 2

PRIOR VAUGHAN.

The Very Rev. Prior Vaughan, a distinguished preacher of the Roman Catholic Church, spoke from a Dunedin-platform last njght, appearing as a missioner in the cause of suffering humanity. There was but a small audience. The City .Hull, in which the oration was delivered, has seating accommodation for five or six times the number of those, present. The Mayor of the City (Mr Wales) took the chair, and beside him on the stage were Mr E. B. Cargill and Mr F. W. Petre.. The rev, gentleman struck a popular note at the outset of his lecture. " The Bri'ish Empire," he said, "is the greatest empire in the world," and the well-worn remark was greeted by cries of "Hear, hear" from all parts of the house, given with such heartiness as to suggest a prompting in the international questions that have been largely occupying the public mind during the last few weeks. A similar demonstration, signifying loyalty to •' the flag," was evoked by the rev. gentleman's remark towards the close of his oration : " England is proud of her colonies, and is ready to shed her best blood rather than suffer dismemberment in respect to one of them ; and if the Germans or the Russians or the Japs dare to show their noses in these parts our flying squadron will be after them." His utterances in this direction were charged with vitality, and as he spoke such a sentence his tallness (for he is a big man) seemed to increase by at least a couple of inches. Evidently our celebrated visitorisanEnglishmanaswellasapriest. But above all he is a missionary, and be made this plainly understood. The references to England's greatness were but the groundwork on which he painted a vivid picture, , studied from the life, of the social and moral degradation which pervades the old land, and causes her to miss her opportunity of | becoming what she might be—a mighty I instrument in the salvation of mankind. " Were there nothing beyond this world," observed the Prior, " we might be satisfied with the glowing picture of England basking in the zenith of her greatness." But there was another side. The murky pall of pauperism covered the face of the land. There were 649 huge workhouses in it, and but for these unions thousands would die of sheer want, and death from actual hunger was more common than was supposed. The dwellers in the slums led a fearful life, but there was a lower depth, reached by those to whom even the filthy lairs of wretchedness were inaccessible, and who had no homes at all. Four thousand men and women had been counted' sleeping in the open in London during one winter. One-eighth of the population of the country were obtaining relief in one shape or another. The roar of the famished multitude was beginning to threaten the stability of the social fabric. Nevertheless, this picture was a bright one compared with the moral condition of the people. There were 200,000 arrests for drunkenness every year ; it was computed that the prostitutes and habitually unchaste women in London alone numbered 60,000; and the criminal and semi-criminal couvict.ioos for the whole country were stated by Mulliall in his 1892 volume to reach 692,814. What was lying at the root of all these evils, said the speaker, was the neglect of religion. This was mo3t to be observed in England and Wales. He was not speaking of Irelaud, for, said he, " the whole world agrees that the women and the girls of Ireland are the purest and the most chaste on the face of the earth." Neither was he referriug to Scotland. " I have spent fifteen years of the happiest days of my life in that romantic country, and my experience of Scotland and the Scotch people is this : that although there is not very much sweetness among the rival kirks—indeed, I have known some of them hate one another like poison—yet the people of Scotland are eminently a religious-minded people." With this tribute to the piety of the Scotch—which, by the way, we have heard of before, on the authority of other eminent visitors—the rev. gentleman passed on to describe the depravity of tho English and the irreligious behaviour of the Welsh. England was drifting into infidelity and becoming dechristianised. Indifferentism, scepticism, and atheism were everywhere threatening the stability of society and of religion itself. About 84 per cent, of the rural population were unbaptised, and therefore remained in original sin. It was calculated that two out of every three Londoners never set foot in a church they were heathen, though in many cases leading honest lives. In Sheffield the percentage of churchgoers reached only 23 ; in Liverpool it was 26 per cent. The multitude belonged to what a young man in his hearing deßcrioed as " the cock - and - hen religion." Asking him what that was, he (the Prior) received the reply : "Oh, I scratch away all the week and roost with my wife on Sunday." Such was the state of affairs among men who were leaders of the artisan classes and the best jpwkmen. There was but one remedy—it was a sovereign remedy —and that was the force of religion. Religion was the knowing of God, and true religion was the blessedness arising from that knowledge. That was the remedy that would bring consolation and resignation to the hearts of such as were sorrowful or in trouble, that would solve the problems of labor and capital, end the costly strikes that were ruining the nation's commerce, stem the rising tide of Socialism, and quell the distant thunder of anarchy. To help in this work was the object of the Gregorian mission to which he had devoted himself. Whatever he collected would be applied to that purpose. His personal wants were few, and already provided for. Those with whom he was associated wished first to get at " the submerged tenth," then to deal with the young men and women who had a little capital, but could find no work at Home. The latter would make excellent immigrants, and it would be part of his programme to help them out to the colonies, where he hoped they would be welcomed. For " the submerged tenth" other relief would be afforded. They were not fit to become immigrants. Since they were born in and brought to poverty in England, England should help them. These persons would be relieved at hospices, and provided not only with food for the body but suste nance for the mind. To do all this required money, and this could properly be given irrespective of creed distinctions. The Empire was menaced by a common danger, and the need had arisen for a common defence. He should be very glad to receive visits at the Grand Hotel, any afternoon from four to six o'clock, and would welcome any callers, especially if they came with a half-crown, a sovereign, or a "fiver." On the motion of Mr Cargill (who said that statistics showed a marked diminution in crime in England) a vote of thanks was accorded the lecturer.

Among the many uses to which celluloid is now put is the making of jewellers' ringtrays. A ring-tray of white velvet lasts ordinarily but a single season; carefully as it may be handled, it is sure to get soiled. A celluloid tray can be easily cleaned, and it lasts for years; there are thousands of them in use.

In the United States and Canada last year there were sold the enormous number of 1,207,895,000 copies of weekly newspapers, besides about 10,000,000 copies of tri-weeklies, semi-weeklies, and semi-month-lies. These papers circulate almost wholly among the rural population, for in the cities daily papers are orderly read. A Russian professor has fallen a victim to the bacteria he succeeded in producing, his system having become thoroughly poisoned.