News of the Week.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VI, Issue 284, 11 October 1878, Page 14

News of the Week.

On Sunday last, Feast of the Rosary, there was exposition of the Most Holy Sacrament in the Catholic Church, Christchurch. A procession took place in the evening, formed of the membsrs of the Catholic Societies, and in which the Blessed Eucharist was carried under a silken canopy, and preceded by children strewing flowers. Under the heading " Religious Record" an American con temporary inserts the following paragraph, amongst others :—": — " Some of our subscribers are in debt to us for their paper. If they will send us the money they owe us, we shall in return mail them a receipted bill." We admit that it is a most charitable action to be prompt in paying subscriptions to a Catholic newspaper, and we recommend the affair to the kindly consideration of our subscribers. Labourers are short of the demand at Patea in the North Island. The Kumara appears to be keeping up. A washing latoly took, place there -which yielded the owners each £20 per week. The Hon. the Attorney-General lets no opportunity slip of trying to have a slap at the Church. During the discussion in committee on the Laud Tax Bill be scouted the idea of convents being exempted. It is a pity the caricaturist who drew the famous sketch a couple of years ago of Bismarck trying to pull down the Church, rather to the amusement of his Satanic Majesty, did not know of the Hon. Robert Stout, he might have given him a corner of the rope to drag, under the disguise of Bismarck's poodle. The Prince, we conclude, patronizes feebler puppies than that which attacked the Russian Minister. We fear the old " Botany Bay" reputation of these colonies is about to be revived in the old country. They say that Mr. Bradlaugh has been invited by some of our notables to visit Australia and New Zealand. A coroner's inquest was appointed to bs held lately in Wellington. The affair, however, was prevented from coming off, because the corpse proved even more "fresh" than that demanled by the Innocents Abroad of their Italian guide. The coroner found, hi fact, that the subject was " alive and kicking." An epigram, said to be composed by the murderer Sullivan has been going the rounds of the papers. The suggestion may be woith something to literary aspirants unable to attain to fame. They have only to do something exceedingly disgraceful, and the ear of the public will at once be open to them. We have received from Mr. J. J. Crofts, Reef ton, an acknowledgement of the receipt of the Waipori subscription of £3 10s. towards the Fenian. Prisoners Relief Fund. Mr. Crofts informs us that a few weeks will still elapse before his subscription list closes, during which it will be possible for the sympathisers of the hardly used prisoners to forward to him donations for their bsnefit. The cause we need not say is a thoroughly deserving one and has claims upon every Irishman. This indeed has been well acknowledged, and the Irish everywhere have responded to the call in a very generous manner, and one speaking highly of the union that subsists between the " sea divided Gael' as the Nation happily names them. A remittance already forwarded by Mr. Crofts has been received in Ireland, and has given substantial proof to the sufferers of the gratitude entertained towards them by their fellow-countrymen even in this pait of the world the furthest removed from them. The town of Fielding is said to derive a revenue from timber amounting to £1,000 per week. ~ I POWERFUL flour-mills have been erected and set to work at £ Hamilton, Waikato. It is computed that they are capable of grinding * 36,000 bushels yearly. The Rev. Father Hennebery has concluded his mission at Blenheim, where the usual successs attended upon his ministry. He is now in Nelson-. On Sunday 29th ult» Feast of St. Michael, His Lord-

ship the Bishop of Wellington opened a new church in the first named town. It is said that the natives continue to regard with complacency the survey of the Waimate Plain?. The Taranaki Budget says .• — We wcra unler t'ae impression that at the Government schools there was' to be no religious instruction given, yet we hear that at one of them the Bible is read every day. Mr. Taiaroa says he looks upon the Native Minister as a Maori, We are not disposed to contradict the notion. , A correspondent writes to the Wee My Argus : — Parents wfe% led to believe that great things would happen so soon as the mucu-talked-of Education Act came into force ; but it' is not too much to Bay that, so far as the Grey Valley schools generally are concerned, they have been worse managed, ag»l their unfortunate teachers much worse paid, than when under the previous system of subsidies and school fees. The Maoris of the King Country are busied at various industries, and present a most reassuring aspect. The drawing in connection with the Dominican Convent Art ■ Union will be held without fail on Saturday, November 9th next. All persons who have disposed of tickets for the Art Union are requested to forward the blocks in due timo to the Lady Superior at the Convent, Dowling-street, Dunedin. Friends of the cause will doubtless increase their efforts to make the matter a success. The return of gold at the Thames from September Ist to 28th was 4542 ozs. 1 dwt. 12 grs. from 3788 tons 5 cwt. 37 lbs. of stone. We learn from the Auckland Evening Star, 30th ult. :— An interesting ceremony, boing the renewal of the baptismal vows of the children attending the Roman Catholic Sunday schools of the city, took place at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock. There were between 300 and 600 children present, including the inmates of St. Mary's Orphanage (Ponsonby), and their neat and healthy appearance was much admirei. The Rev. Fathers W. McDonald and O'Dwyer were present, as also a number of parents and friends oE the children. The Rev. Father McDonald delivered an appropriate address, explanatory of the ceremony ; reminding those present of the engagements entered into at the baptismal font, and that it was only by the fulfilment of these obligations that they could hope for eternal salvation. The rev. gentleman alluded in a happy manner to the edifying appearance of the children, and passed high, eulogiums on the Sisters of Mercy, who had prepared the girls for the ceremony, and whose labours for the past 27 years in Auckland were worthy of the highest commendation. He also thanked the members of the Christian Doctrine Society, who were engaged in imparting religious instruction to the boys, and expressed a hope that the members would be strict in the observance of their own religious duties which was the only sound basis on which they could make progress in the noble work they had in hand. The usual form was read in a very distinct manner by Miss Mary Fernandez, and the singing of a hymn by the children's choir brought the proceedings to a close. The Catholics of Melbourne are about to present a testimonial to the Rev. Fathers Kelly aud O'Malley, S.J., prior to the departure of the rev. gentlemen from Victoria. Father Kelly goes to Sydney, and Father O'Malley comes to New Zealand to assist in founding the Jesuit mission of Dunedin. Mr. James McLoughlin, late of Adelaide, S.A., has been appointed master of the Catholic school, at Invercargill.