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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 22, 25 September 1885, Page 15

A manual of conversation in English and Maori has been published at Wellington by Messrs. Lyon and Blair, which is pronounced by competent judges to be the best thing of its kind ever issued, and, indeed, quite unique. A residence of 25 years among tbe Maon tribes has made the author intimately acquainted with their lai.guage, and fully qualified for the task now so ably accomplished Tie b iok also contaius a grammar and a dictionary, and by mean-> of paiticular accents lends useful help in acquiring the correct pronuDCiation. Anyone desiring to study the language of the Maoriea, and to become proficient in it with the lease possible amount of

labour, will do well to secure a copy of this manual which is pub. lished at the moderate price of 3s 6d.

On the eve of Mr. A. J. Rearden's departure from Hokitika for Napier, be was presented by the members of the H.&.C.8.5., in recognition of his services to their society, with a silver tea and coffee service and an address. The presentation was made in the Catholic school-house, where a large number of Mr. Rearden's friends and well-wishers had assembled— the Rev . Father Martin presiding.

The usual quarterly meeting of St. Patrick's Branch, H.A.C.B.S.t Wanganui, was held in St. Mary's school-room on Monday, 14th inst. The President, Bro, Lloyd, occupied the chair, and there was a good attendance of members. As the Secretaryship of the Branch had become vacant, Bro. Kearney, who was nominated at the previous meeting, was elected to that office. Various matters affecting the interests of the Society were discussed, and the meeting closed in the usual manner. l

The friends of Freet hough t may well fear for its future when they consider the manner in which its chosen leaders not unfrequently prove faithless and desert its standard. The death-bed is very fatal to its interests, as was provea once more, for example, the other day, when Cardinal Sanfelice reconciled to the Church the dying Senator and Professor of Philosophy Vera. A more notable conversion, however, is that of the champion of the sect, commonly known under his norn de plume of "Leo Taxi 1," and of whom we had last heard as presiding, two or three months ago, at the Atheist congress so daringly and insolently held in Rome. The Dublin Freem%n refers to this event as follows :— " It is no exaggeration to say that the conversion of ' Leo Taxil ' (M. Gabriel Jogand) has astounded all France. He was the most pronounced Atheist in the country, and filled the office of President of the Anti-Clerical Society of France, of whom he was also the founder. No more relentless or ferocious writer against Catholicism, and, indeed, Christianity in all forms, has recently appeared ; and some of his offensive anti-Papisti-cal volumes have been standard works among the French Freethinkers. Some doubts having been cast upon the sincerity of his conversion, he wrote to IS Univers declaring that his conversion was indeed a true one. ' I had been,' he added, ' discouraged, pained, but I believed in Republican truth ; nay, I thought that among Republicans alone was truth. For the Republic I had sacrificed my friends, my father himself. Now I have been the subject of endless Republican lies. ... I refused to be interviewed in spite of which I have been accused of acting by way of a little advertisement. But, indeed, I have taken no part in the disturbance made about me. . . . The mere resignation no longer suffices to my conscience ; it is now a matter of true penitence, sincere, absolute. The pain which has been inflicted upon me has been followed by shame for my faults. If lam weeping now it is no longer for anger or spite ; I weep only for the scandals which I have given, which I deplore, and which I will henceforth repair with all my powers.' The curious part of ' Leo Taxil'a ' conversion is that it was while in Rome attending the ' Anti-Clerical Congress ' that he returned to the Cburch from which he had seceded, and of which he became the bitter enemy. Toe conversion of Lord Ripon, the Grand Master of Freemasonry in England, was not a more remarkable event in England than the conversion of the President of the Anti-Clerical League of France has been in France." But while such conversions are frequent, it is evident that the Freethinker's standing-place must be considered in some degree precarious, and such as might reasonably check the confidence with which we occasionally haar it boasted of. The ravages made by the cholera in Spain have been terrible. And there also the Sisters of Charity and other members of the religious orders have proved themselves as usual true to their calling, and given many proofs of a more than earthly heroism. An unfortunate contra lictioa has, moreover. b3en given to the assertion that devoted members of the Catholic Church are opposed to the advance of science, by the fact that 49 of the Sisters submitted to the inoculation invented by Dr. Ferran and died in conseq i±nca of it. Pasteur, meantime, declares that the face of their death proves that Ferran has discovered the true virus of the cholera, but that he has not known how to use it properly. If the inquiry ou followed up by the great French man-of-science and result in a t ue success, we may conclude without hesitation that the dead Sister, would not regard their lives as sacrificed in vain. Tney has in au , case offered them willingly for the good of their fellow-creatures.

His Lordship the Bishop of Dunedin, who ) ts been staying for the past ten days at the Hot Springs, Hanmer Ja in, is expected to return to Dunedin to-morrow (Saturday).

A meeting of Aspirants to the Sodality ( t the Sacred Heart (women's branch) will be held in St. Joseph's sc 1 001-room Dunedin, on Thursday evening, October lßt. THE Dunedin Irish Hides made their appeara.ice on parade for the first time on Tuesday evening, when they were considered to acquit themselves very creditably. The appointment of Mr. J. B. Oallan as captain of the corps has been gazetted. THE report that Kussia insists upon the deposition of Prince Alexander of Bulgaria would seem to give countenance to the opinion

that Russian intrigue bronght about the revolution. An excuse waa wanted in order to get rid of a Prince who had successfully resisted the designs cherished at St. Petersburg — if he wouid not be bronght to a better mind. It is not to be expected that Russia will permit the suzerainty of the Sultan to be extended over Bulgaria, and, there fore, unless things can be reduced to their former) condition, it is not unlikely that a serious outbreak may be the result. The dangers of the Afghan frontier have, per daps, been renewed on another site, and now may prove doubly formidable.