WORLD HAPPENINGS

Waikato Times, Volume 110, Issue 18521, 29 December 1931, Page 5

WORLD HAPPENINGS

LIVING IN CHAINS.

LIFE OF PENANCE AND PRAYER

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin (Dr. Byrne), In a pastoral letter read in Dublin, asked for information relating to the life of Matt Talbot a worker in a local timber yard, the cause of whose canonisation his been taken up at Rome. Talbot slept only for a few hours each night on a plank bed and prayed for long periods. After he died in the street in June 1925 the nurses at the hospital to which he was taken found heavy cart chains and ropes wound .around his body. He had worn these for years.

The Archbishop, in his pastoral, says: "This story of a man until recently in obscurity in our midst, whose spirit of prayer and penance seemed lo belong to Ihe ages of faith rattier than to the materialistic world of today, filled many minds with wonder." The present Investigation, says the Archbishop, is but the first, step on Ihe long road which the Church requires to be travelled before beatification or canonisation is reached.

' The previous week it was announced that the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St, Andrews and Edinburgh was about io leave for Rome in connection with the movement for the canonisation of Margaret Sinclair, an Edinburgh factory girl. ROYAL HUNTING BOX. DUKE OF GLOUCESTER'S PLAN.

The Duke of Gloucester —through his equerry. Captain Howard Kerr—has taken The Spinney, at Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, for the hunting season, and expects to entertain his brother the Prince of Wales there occasionally, says a London paper.

The Spinney is one of the most charming hunting-boxes iij the neighbourhood, with an old-world air and rooms sufficiently spacious for entertaining on a modest, scale. The Maharanee of Gooch Behar rented it three or four seasons ago, when she limited with the Belvoir and the Quorn packs, and the Duke admired it very much when he attended some of [he parties she gave there for her hunting friends. The house stands about a mile from Mellon .Mowbray, on the main road to Grantham. OPTIMISTIC FORECAST. JUDGE AND BETTER TIMES. At the Law Courts, London, Mr Justice Avorv presided in the absence of Lord Ilewart, owing to illness, and said:

“We are passing through dlfflci\t and critical times, but it may perhaps reasonably be hoped that the difficulties are temporary and that before the expiration of your year of office financial stability and International confidence may be re-established and that the City may be fully restored to its proud position as the financial centre of the world.” TEMPLE FIGHT. ATTEMPT TO STORM PRIESTS’ DOOR The Government has been forced to Intervene in the siege by the Untouchables (outcasts) of the Kalaram temple at Naslk (Bombay Presidency) by arresting 48 Hindus, says a message from Bombay, India.

Thirty-three—2s Untouchables and 8 all-India Congressmen—are to be prosecuted on charges of rioting. This was the result of a new attempt by the Untouchables to force an entrance to the temple (which the caste Hindus deny them) through the priests’ private door. The high-caste Hindus opposed them, and lighting ensued, which the police had to suppress.

The Untouchables have decided to follow the precedent set by Congressmen in the civil disobedience movement bv courting arrest in large numbers and refusing to ask for bail. They hope that by filling the local gaol and forcing the authorities to organise detention camps, the Ciovernmenl will be eventually compelled to intervene- on their behalf.