Colonial States.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVI, Issue 5, 25 May 1888, Page 2

Colonial Notes.

As reported by the Annales. the Catholics of Mauritius under the guidance of their good bibhop, Mgr. Meurin, are making a spirited resistance to the education system intended to proselytise their children. Our contemporary calls attention to the strange spectacle of an anti-Catholic party in a country where a fifteenth of the population at most are separated from the Church. The pupils in the Government schools are obliged to repeat Protestant prayers, but Archbishop Meurin points out, in a letter addressed by him to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, that it is not religious Protestantism they are likely to learn, but, as his Grace says, the Radical irreligion, with the social and political consequences which it engenders. The object of the Archbishop's lejfer is to propose conditions on which the Royal College of Port Louis, now engaged in promoting the growth of infidelity among the children of Catholic parents, may be made acceptable to the Catholics of the colony, and the necessity may be obviated of their setting up an institution in opposition to it. The Archbishop points to the great BUCcesß of the College of St. Francis Xavier established by him at Bombay in 1868, and which reckons among its students a full third belonging to the various non-Christian creeds of India, whose members have so much confidence in the religious impartiality observed that, owing to wantof room, hundreds of their children are y> arly refused admission to the college. The proposal made by the Archbishop is eminently fair, especially in a colony where the rights of the Catholic population as Catholics are supported by a treaty.

Were it not for spirit-rapping, hypnotism, theosophic practices and beliefs, and other things of a similar kind, in more prominent countries, we might be surprised to find that, at this time of the Nineteenth Century, it should be necessary for Catholic Bishops anywhere to address their flocks as to the existence among them of pagan and diabolical superstitions. Mgr, Meurin, for example, has found it desirable to instruct his priests in the Mauritius, to make a paiticular inquiry into the superstitions alluded to as they exist among their people, so that his Grace may give suitable admonition on the matttr. Mgr. Blouard, ths Vicar Apostolic of the Seychelles has actually issued a long and able pastoral on a similar subject to his flock, among whom also such superstitions and practices are rife. But as we have said, we may well expect to find such a state of things prevailing in remote places, and among populations who have had inferior advantages, when we see thar, in the centres of civilisation and culture, people boasting of thtir superior enlightenment even there are often occupied with practices and buperstiiions which, if they are not mere trickery and nonsense, are certainly diabolical. t

To the great joy of the Catholic population, the foundation stone cf a church, to be erected by their voluntaiy subscriptions waß laid at Noumea on Sunday, April Bth, Low Sunday, by the cuie, the Rev. Father Pionnier, the Vicar Apostolic having met with a slight accident, which prevented him from being pi esent. Ourcontempcraiy, the Neo Caledonien, hails with enthusiasm the approaching end of the dishonourable provision represented by the ruinous barn where prayer and the Holy Sacrifice have found a doubtful shelter on tenitory which for over thirty years has been French.

An influential committee of Catholic laymen has been formed at Sydney to promote the completion of the new college in course of erection by the Jesuit Fathers at Kiverview. The enthusiasm shown in the matter proves that the Fathers have earned by their devoted and successful labours a high place in the esteem of the Catholic public. But such is the universal rule.

The consecration of the most Rev. Dr. O'Reilly, Bishop of Port Augusta, in St. Mary's cathedral, Sydney, on the Feast of St. Philip and St. James was carried out with great splendour. The Cardinal Archbishop oficiated on the occasion, assisted by the Bishops of Maitland and Grafton, the Bishop of Goulburn being also present in the sanctuary. An eloquent sermon was preached by the Very Rev. Dr. O'Brien, Rector of bt. John's college, whose pupil Dr. O'Reilly bad been at All Hallows, near Dnblin. Dr. O'Reilly is a native of Kilkenny where he was born in 1816, and, soon after his ordination, in 1869, he proceeded to Western Australia, where he had been ever since engaged on the mission. He was resident principally at Fremantle, and, besides the regular work of the mission, was engaged for several years in ably conducting our excellent Catholic contemporary, the Record. In Dr. O'Reilly's appointment to the Bishopric of Port Augusta, the rule observed in almost all the appointmants made in response to the recommendation of the Plenary Synod was not departed from. This fact was alluded to by Cardinal Moran, in a recent address made by his Eminence at Manly, in which he said the new bishops were almost all of them men with whom the Catholics of the colonies had been long familiar and whose piety and zeal had formed the edification of their respective flocks. In the app>im ment of the Bisuop of Port Augusta, the remaining recommendatioj of the Synod has been fulfilled.

The foundation-stone has been laid at Lutwyche near Brisbane, of a ilagdalen Asylum, to be conducted by the Sisters of Mercy. The institution is intended to serve also as a memorial of the late Most Rev. Dr. Quinn, first Bishop ofthe Bee, who was known to have its erection very much at heart.

Considerable exoitement has been caus <d in laverell, N.S.W by the discovery ia the district of a rich lode of tin. The ground has betn extensively pegged out, and the bhafts sunk all show a good appearance, °

The departure of his Emiuence Lhe Cardinal Archbishop from Sydney on h ; s voyage to Home, has been the occasion of on enthusiastic out-burst of afLction and good-will. On Sunday evening, the 6th. the piesenta-ron to his Eminence of an address and a purse of bover. itjnf, to jk place in St. Mary's Cathedral, on the termination of a magnificent procession and B nediction ot the Most Holy Saciament. A congregation of over four thousand people, including many non-Catholics, filled the church. Tne; address was presente >by the Right Hon. W. B. Dalley, who prefaced it by a long and eloquein speech, in which, among other things, he refened to the works done by the Cardinal since hie arrival as Archbishop. The speaker summed up his details as follows :— " In other words you have nearly doubled the number of members of our religious communities, and you have more than doubled the number of priests, and, as a matter of fact, all Catholic schools now are under religious teachers." The expenditure oa Catholic objects during the period in question, added the speaker, had been" the sum of £428,700. His Eminence, in his reply, attributed the great progress alluded to to the generosity of a faithful people and the cordial union of pastors and their flocks. He dwelt also on the progress of the Church generally, and pointed out particularly ihe advantage enjoyed by her in Australia in being fiee not only from persecution but from the no less dangerous fetters of St<te favour and patrormge. He alluded also to the services rendered by Catholics in public life, and deprecated all sectarian s'nfe and dissension,— beariDg eloquent testimony to the merits of many Protestant citizens. At the termination of the Cardinal's reply, the congregation approached the sanctuary in defile, kneeling to receive his Eminence's blessing. On Tuesday the Bth, the Cardinal left the Circular Quay in the Orient, where also crowds of his people, as well as many members of other denominations, had come to take farewell of him. The vessel was accompanied to the Heads by several smaller steamers thronged with passengers who cheered heartily on the trip, concentiatiug all their energies for a parting cheer as the Orient passe t outot the haibour. The Very Rev. Dr. O'Haran who accompanied his Eminence had also been presented with a handsome testimonial on the eve of his departure.

The Feast of St. Paul of the Cross has, been celebrated for the first time in Sydney at the Passionibts' chuich. at Marrickville. The ceremonies were carried out with great splendour and the music was Tery finely performed. Both at High Mabs in the forenoou, celebrated by the Very Key. Superur of the Vincentian Fathus, and in the evening, at the procesbion ot the Most Holy Sacrament, there was a crowded attendance.

Any attempt to summarise the details of the anti-Chinese agitation would be vain. It proceeds apace everywhere, and is very determined and demonstrative. Peihaps, however, the most suggestive utterance that has been made in counectiou wiih the matter was that of the Premier of New bouth Wales, who, in n ply to a declaration of the Vice- Present of the At.ti-Cumese League that separation from Great Britain wa& to be advocated m cate of extremity, reminded that gentleman that, in case ot such, separation, the colonies wou.d be helpless, and exposed to be overwhelmed by counties numbers ot Chinese on the first pretext for war. As 11 is possible, meantime, that circumstances may occur to place the colonies, at least temporarily, in a position equivalent to that arising from such a separation, it is evidently incumbent on them to make certain provision against any such invasion. The Premier's reply involves a very strong argument against Chinese immigration.

The testimony of an enemy is always of value when it is given in opposition to his enmity. Sir Heury Parkes, for instance, during a visit paid by him to 'te schools or the Bi-teisof Mercy at Bathursr, wrote in the Visitors' Book thebi- wuids :— " 1 have been much gratified by tha evidences of order and efficiency in the^e tchoola." As squeezed by the force of undeniab.e evidence out of the arch-supporter of. the " trcavenger's Daughtei," the words are of bume importance.

Sir Thomas Brady, Senior Inspector of Irish Fiaheries, has arrived in Tasmania, accompanied by 400,000 salmon ova, with which he has been invited to stock the rivers of tne Colony. Sir Thomas bears a high reputation among the Iriih fishermen, whose position he has done much to amend, and is gtneially reputed a thoroughly competent official and a most estimable man.

Matters connected with Broken Hill are much less brisk than they were tcrne time ago,— but the knowing-oneß foretell a future in excees of anything foitulate that has as yet appeared . There is much need, however, of sanitary improvement in the place itself, as the atmosphere at present is pestilential, and fatal cases of fever are of frequent occurrence.

The publication at Sydney of the report of the Minister of Education, does not give a veiy pioiuising account of the secular system in the colony. Even the fi lends of the system „re obliged to admit that the cost is very great, ar d the results only m. derately satisfactory. Ab to ii t s rational enerniee, their protests and predictions are being more and more justified every day.

Five new surburban railroads have been opened, with festivities, at Melbourne. They are the- following :— Royal Park to Clifton Hill, 2£ miles ; Nicholson street to Fi zioy, 1 mil- ; Clifton Hill to the Johnson street portion ol the Riehmtnd and Aiphmgton line, 1 mile ; Alphington to Heidelberg, 2£ miles ; and Clifton Hill to Alphington, 34 miles.

sToung Australia has just received a charming exhibition at Malvern — where a kind of imp has been brought up, or rather would hare been brought up only he would not come, at the police court. The Lffence for which he was summoned was that of unlawfu'ly using a rvrse — his hubit, it appeared, b -ing to mount any uufortunat • animal of the kind he could find, aud race and gallop it without saddle or bridle, until it could do no mere. But, in addition to this, he had as many tricks as a sprite — including tbe interruption of trams by lying down openly in tbe track of the c igine and obliging a halt to be made, the false alarm of fiie, and various other terror-striking inventions. Tbe lanikin species is evidcnil/ v idertroinu funher development.