CANTERBURY CATHOLIC LITERARY SOCIETY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIV, Issue 45, 4 March 1887, Page 13

CANTERBURY CATHOLIC LITERARY SOCIETY.

Christchurch, February 26, 1887. The usual weekly meeting of the above Society took place on Tuesday evening, February 22. In the absence of the President the chair was taken by Mr. W. O'Shruighnessy, Vice- President. There was only a moderate attendance, about twenty-five members being present. The Rev. Father Moore, who was present, gave some interesting details regarding the working of the Wellington Society, from which it appears the Christchurch people are very far behind the former numerically and otherwise. This is, no doubt, due in a great measure to the energetic action of the clergy, assisted by the able efforts of our late President and founder, we might add, of the present Christchnrch Society, Mr. Maskell. The programme for the evening was a debate for junior members, as to " Whether it was better for a Boy to learn a trade or profession." Mr. Courtney opened the debate in favour of trades, and in the couise of a very well reasoned argument, contended that in a great measure the taste and inclinations of a boy should be consulted. Mr. Joyce in a very humorous speech contrasted the life of a mechanic who has to turn out at 6 a.m., snatch a hasty breakfast in order to get to his work at 8 o'clock, and then have a bit of cold lunch under the shade of a friendly tree at noon ; with that of the professional man, who manages by an effort to have breakfast at 9 and get to his office at 10, looks over his correspondence, and directs his business until be goes to one o'clock lunch at his club, and winds up the afternoon with a match at lawn tennis. Mr. Kearney also spoke in favour of learning a trade as likely to be of more benefit to a youth in after life, and instanced the good wagss earned by competent mechanics of all kinds, who had far lesa difficulty in getting work than professional men. After the juniors had their say some of the seniors took up the debate, those who engaged in it were Messrs. Milner, Crooke, M'Kay, and Kennedy. On a vote being taken it was found the tradesmen had a majority. Mr. Courtney was adjudged to have made the best speech amongst the juniors. The meeting then terminated with prayer in the usual manner.

The story is old, but it has uot been in print before. It was at the time of the removal of the remains of Dr. Cahill to Ireland, over a yeai ago. The occasion was solemn enough and fittingly observed ; but one official mourner overdid the gravity of the case by remarking to another, with a sonowful shake of the head : "This is a very, very melancholy event ; " and the proprieties were wholly destroyed by the unseemly miith which followed the dry answer : "It is indeed — and so sudden, too 1 ' The reverend Doctor had been dead 20 years — Pilot. Three robbers stopped a train on the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad, one day last week, and while one of them kept guard over the engineer and fireman, the other two went through the train, overawing half a hundred passengers, and coolly robbing them of their money and valuables. Among the passengers were an officer and five men of the Twenty-fourth Infantry, colored. At the solicitations of the other passengpis, they made no resistance, but delivered up their arms and money to the two robbers. The Boston Record ironically nominates the commander of these warriors for promotion under the civil service rules, because : " There was certainly nothing military in his conduct, while his civilty is beyond question." A pitman and his wife, a short time ago, left Newcastle on a visit to the Isle of Man, and while parading on the landing stage at Liverpool espied the Manx steamer with the usual three legs on the paddle-box, which is the coat-of-arms of the island. Geordie was heard to exclaim to his better half, " An' aa tell ye agyen thor the Manx arms," when the wife indignantly replied, " An' aa tell ye agyen, ye fyeul, them's no arm? — them s legs ! " The Catholics in Prussia form no less than 40 per cent of the entire population. On December 31, there were 18,243,578 Evangelicals, as against 9,621,624 Catholics. Not only that, but during the years between 18S0 and last year, the Catholic population augmented by no lesa than 4^ per cent., whilst the rate of increase of Evangelicals was on 3£ per cent. Lastly, the Catholics are also ahead in the proportion of school children, that is. 189 per thousand, as against 182 of the Evangelicals, and 178 of other Christians, and 175 of the Jews. Some statistical particulars have lately been published concerning the Italian Universities which present some items of general interest. There are 21 Universities altogether in the Kingdom of Italy, 17 of which are " royal " — that is, maintained out of the funds of the State ; and four " free " Universities (Camerino, Macerata Ferrara, and Perugia) are maintained out of the local funds. There is only one University for Piedmont, at Turin ; one for Liguria, at Genoa ; one for Lombardy, at Pavia ; one for the old Venetian territories at Padua ; two for the island of Sardinia, at Cagliari and Sassari ; Bologna, Modena, Ferrara lie near each other ; Tuscany has Pisa and Siena ; Rome is for Central Italy ; Naples is the only University for Southern Italy ; while Sicily has three — Palermo, Mtssina, Catania. Naples is attended by 3,900 students — an attendance which in Central Europe is only surpassed at Berlin and Vienna. Turin has an attendance of 2,100 ; Rome, 1,200 ; Bologna, 1,160 ; Padua, 1,000 ; Pavia, 1,000 ; Palermo, 950 ; Genoa, about 800 ; Pisa, 600 ; Catania, 400. Of the others. Modena is at the head with 270. and Ferrara at the foot with 39. Surely nothing would be lost by the amalgamation of these miniature Universities. Ferrara only profeßses to teach medicine, mathematics, and jurisprudence; Macerata jurisprudence only. Per contra, the great Milan Academy— where Ascoli teaches (ume of the greatest philologists in Europe) and the Abate Ceriani is librarian of the Ambrosia— has not the rank of a University, although it does more genuine University work than a dozen of the nominal Universities. The same is to be said of the Institute of Higher Studies at Florence, where the teaching staff includes the historian Villari, the great Hellenist Comparetti, and De Gubernatis, Bartoli, and Rajna — names famous all over Eurpoe,