THE RELIGIOUS COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2292, 3 February 1898, Page 53

THE RELIGIOUS COLUMN.

• . * Bishop Wilson, cf Melanesia, was a passenger from tko north by tha express train on the 26th ult. ' . • The deficit in the Foreign Mission Fund of the Presbyterian Church of New Sou f h Wales is £84-0, as Bgainsii £502 16s 10 J on December 31, 1896. • . • An English journal aays that a considerable number of members of the Church of Euglaad have joined in a memorial to the dispensers of ecclesKa3lical patronage, asking them to provide some fitting acknowledgment of the very valuable services rendered to the church by the Eev. W. Hay Aitken, the popular and successful missioner. ' . • Profes&or Rentoul, spanking at the six'ieth anniversary of Scats' Church, Melbourne, said ''Presbyterians had been to the front; in industry, politics, education, and philanthropy." Bi?hopCowie was waited on at New Piyraouth on the 26fch ulb. by a deputation of churchmen with reference to Ihe forma 1 ion of a Taranalri diocese. Ths P.imate realised the importance of tbe matter, whicb, he said, would ba fully considered afc the General Synod. ' . • The health of the Rev. Be Lamb, of the New HeV>r;dej Presbyterian nrssion, has been considerably improved by several months' residence iv Queensland. He was recently on a visit to New Zealand, whence he returned to Queensland, aud hapes to start for the New Hebrides in April. • . • The London Missionary Bociebj's steamer Johu Williams was at. Apia, Ss-moa, on Dccmbcr 26, Lavl»g vi<ufced Raratonga, Cook IsL-ißd*, the cub stations, and Niue. She had a number of teachers and their wive? on board for New Guinea, and wa3 to leave Samoa on Decr-mber 28. ■ . • The eldest Bqglish bishops of the Church of England are the" Bishop of Liverpool, bom in 1816; the Bishop of Gloucester, born in 1819 ; and the Archbishop of Canterbury, born in 1821. • . • Someone hus writtpn to the War Office, London, pointing oub that the new uniforms of tbe Salvationist bandsmen are, under a recent act, illegal in consequence of thek near rcsemblarce to those of the Gold3treara and Greaadier Guards, such resemblance baing likely to bring her Ma j^sby's uniform " into contempt." Lord Lansdowne was looking into the mater. • . • The E.2V. G. Bnckeridga, S. J., of Melbourne, is a visitor to Dunedin (says the Tablet). He is at present engaged in conducting the annual retreat of the Dominican nuns. On the Bbh of February he will open the retreat for the clergy of ihe diocEsa at Seaview. On the following Sunday, at Sb. Joseph's Cathedra!, Father Buckeridge will begin the exercises of a retreat for tho Catholic women of the parish of Dunedin, It will cose on the folio svicg Sunday morning, to be followed on the same eveniDg by a retreat For men. • . • The Calvary Baptist Sunday school, Washingt-OD, D.C., in the United States, ig said to be "'the finest Sunday school in the world." There are 2000 scholars on tbe roll, five general c fiiociv (iucludiag tbe paafcor, superintendent, secretary, treasurer, and librarian), eight assi ciiite superintendents, 19 adtsblants to the different omc»rs, aud 88 teachers. Thy schoolhcuse cost 100,000ilol (£20,000). • . ' Tho late Mr Harriot, a Yorkshire nianu-fac'u-er, recently lefb £300,000 to be_ expended in building now cliurches in poor paiidiies. The trustees, including the Archbishop of STork, have already received more applications than can be provided for. • . ■ Another p!ensing evidence cf llioc^-an progress (says the Tablet) is the fouuding of a Convcofe of Metcy afc Wrojr'a BiHb. Through the zeal and foresight of Rev. M. Walsh, pansh priest, of Rivertoß, afiue proparty cf 80 acres o£ laud with a house was secured in a flue situation at Wrey's Bush, and preparations axe now far advaucfed for the advent of the Sisters of Mercy, four of whom took up their res; dei.ee there last week, stud b?££sn the work for which tbeir order ia so well equipped. • . • There is, -we are informed, goo<i reason for believing that the F»ev Father Lyrc'a, who for go many years was connected with St. Joseph's Cathedral, has abandoned his intention of cetu'niag t-> this colony. The rev. genUesiau is at; present in Rurne, and i!i is said Las ut'Cid?d to join one of th.c missionary orders ther?, so that ahould he come to this colony, wliina his very numerous friends will sicc^rely hope he may do, it will be as a nmsionaiy, snd aofc to resume the effire which he filled for so many years, and in which he won the respect and est^m of all those v/.t'a whom he came in contact. • . * The re-openiag of Sfe. John's Roman Citbclic Church, Alexandra, parsed off on Sunday. Jinnary 16, with great success («ays tbe Herald). The congregation was gratified to see the interior entirely renovated, and in tbe words of a gentleman visitor at Alexandra, the congregation may boast of as pret ( y a little cbureh ns miy be seen up country. The ceiling of tbe sanctuary is Cftlcirained in s?ky blue sprinkled with sfcars worked in gold leaf. The walls of the sanctuary and of the body of *h.£ church are done ia a lighter tint, sbo viog an agrreable contrast to the ceiling, and the whole producing a very pleasing tif^ct. The roof of tha main body of the church has beeu strengthened, and the ceiling done in wood — the sides in four eqnare sections made of .i^m red and white pine, alternately sat off with rm uldings, and the centre similarly arranged wi'h fed atui white pine, only running longitudinally. This is all hand dressed aud well varnished, and has a very handsome appearance.