Colonial Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 1, 26 April 1889, Page 2

Colonial Notes.

Ir seems that the Dunedin City Cooncil are not in a position to stamp out the theological and historical element among ns. They have been advis^ by the solicitors that they have no authority to frame a bj-law forbiddirg glove-fightu to take plaot in the houses licensed by them, tuoh a by-h w would be illegal, and might be defied with impunity. The mutter, therefore, must go before Parliament, which aloue has power to act in it, and Councillor Fish, in Lis character of a Member of the Home cf Representatives, is expected to to interest himself in the legislat on rt quired.

Lord Ooslow's arrival in the colonies has ben, so far, a series of Mfctonic demons! rations. Hie Excellency appears to have come among us more as the particular leader of the Freemasons than as the Governor of the colony generally. Masonry, indeed, is especially exuberant just a" present, and it is impossible to turn on any side without encounterinc it. Considering its sinister connection with the worst dements of levolutionary Europe, however, and the secret nature of its designs and imdeitakirgs it is by no meane leatsuiing to find it so openly and iuflugntially associated with the Government cf the colony. Vit'c

Masonic leaders for oar Governor and Premier, meantime, there should be unanimity at the helm, as playing into one another's hands is a principal obligation of the sect. Bvt whether tha unity in question is that precious unity of which Holy Writ speaks to highly may bo rather a doubtful matter.

It forms a notable mark of the progress of tbe Church in the Australian Colonies, that in so many places the celebration of St. Patrick's day took the shape of the opening or foundation of some religious building. Among other undertakings of the kind was also the laying of the foundation stone by the Archbishop of Adelaide of a church at Balaklava. Tbe church, whose style will be early English Gothic, will be dedicated to Almighty God under tha invocation of St. Andrew.

A project is on foot at Adelaide for the formation of a company <o publish a weekly Catholic newgpaper under the title of the Southern Cross and which would appear at the beginning of July. It is muck to be hoped that success may attend on the venture, for, nowadays when so much that is evil and opposed to tbe Catholic Church is published, the Catholic Press cannot be too widely multiplied. No Catholic household deserving of the name should be without its Catholic paper. To serve the purpose required , however, the Catholic paper must not be any mere weakling, made up of goody-goody prosings, or superficial gossip, and which does harm rather than good, and is apt to be pointed out as a test and proof of the qualifications and abilities of Catholics. It should be ably and well conducted, or else its publication were better omitted. Under the patronage of Archbishop Reynolds, and supported by a Catholic community like that of South Australia the contemplated newspaper will be in a position to fulfil all the conditions required.

Out of a total of twenty-three Catholic candidates at th© Victorian general election, fifteen pronounced themselves strong supporters of the secular system. Of the others two, Bir Bryan O'Logblen and Mr. J. Minogue, whose names deserve honourable mention, boldly protested against the injustice done to Catholic?. Three claimed the right of private schools to State aid, and the rest left the matter in as indefinite a condition as was possible for them. The situation is not one on which the Catholics of Victoria are to be congratulated, and there is evidently something not quite sound at heart in it. What that is should form a serious subject for investigation to those who are more nearly concerned. To the Catholics of the other colonies generally tbe matter is one for deep regret.

Bishop Kennion of Adelaide, who has recently returned from Europe has among other things given the impressions made on him by a visit he had paid to Ireland- The Bishop is not an Irishman but claims to have Been more of Ireland, as he says, than " many a Pat," because be has crossed the Channel fifty -six times. The Bishop, however, might double his crossings without gaining much insight into tho true nature of the people if, as in the instance he has now r ferre 1 to. his object was merely to take part in some services of the Church of England. The Bishop on the visit alluded to found there wa» not quite so much of the stage business going on as he bad been used to observe on former occasions. The people joked and laughed less. Their keen-eyed visitor, moreover, remarked that they seemed in feu and terror of each other, and as if they had lost confidence, in themselves, a tragic attitude that it would be worth travelling all the way to Ireland to wit-ness. But, then to sco it one should wear the spectacles of Bishop Kennion. More to the purpose was his Lordship's description of what he really did see and hear. In most places he says, he saw, with deep sorrow, traces of where buildings and walls had been demolished, and the soil turned into grazing ground. He heard the general opinion that the relations between landlord and tenant could not be restored. His explanation that the remedy proposed was the extension of Lord Ashbourne's Act, and the buildiDg up of a new set of landlords, shows the sources wl unce h'3 derived his information, but that makes his Lordship's co: slusion all the more significant :—": — " The landlords have sown the wn d,und are reaping the whirlwind,"

The famous Mount Morgan Mine in Queensland has been attracting some attention. The cause, however, was not any new discovery or richer revelation than had been made before, nor fortunately was it any prospect that the mine was on the point of giving in. An unaccountable variation in shares alone had taken place, and sudden rises and falls failed to be satisfactorily accounted for. Whether there was clever manipulation or groundless paoic was the point to be decided. This point still appears to remain doubtful, but the latest accounts are that the shares were steadily going up, with every hopeful circumstance attending on them.

A new school hall in St. Benedict's parish, Sydney, was opened by the Cardinal Archbishop on Sunday, March 31. His Eminence on the occasion delivered an address on the education question, in which he asserted that Protestantism having run its course as the weapon with which the Catholic Church had been assailed, was now replaced by secularism. Catholics, tbo speaker went on to say, had been accused of assailing their fellow-colonists, and attempting to do irijury to the Public Instruction Act :— " They were doing no injury whatever to those who were promoting the Public School system of education. They offered no hoatihty whatever (applause). All the Catholic people desired was to educate tLeir children in their own schools, to impart to them the teachings of their faith, and to instruct them in tho priociples and practices of their religion (applause). If others were satisfied with the existing system, it was their own bu inets. For his own part, he would repeat that be had no desire to say a woH agaiust. those who accepted the present public system. It the public schools wero according to the wishes of tbx/se people, and were in harmony with their conscientious conviction, he would

cay by all means let them bavo the c school?. It was a fair and right thing that a parent should have his child educated as conscience and faith dictated ; and while he (the Cardinal) offered no objection to the public schools being used by tho'ie who approved of them, he claimed that Catholic schools were necessary, for the reason that Catholic parents desired to have their children trained under the standard of the Cross, which they believed to be the standard of all true education."

A solemn office for the dead and Mass of Requiem were celebrated in St. Mary's cathedral, Sydney, on Wednesday April 3, for the repose of the soul of the Ute Archbishop Ullathorue. His Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop was present, and the celebrant of the Mass was the Right Key. Monaignor Rigney, who, as a priest of over 50 years standing in the diocese, was considered particularly suitable for the office. There was a very larg' 1 attendance of the clergy, and the Sisters of Charity whom Dr. Ullathorne had introduced into the Colony, weie also present in large numbers. A panegyric of the deceased prelate was pronounced by the Rev. W. Kelly S.J. In the course of his address the eloquent Jesuit spoke as follows : — '• I am, possibly, the only individual among the thousands here assembled that beard the distinguished Benedictine, when he had come fiesh from New Holland, preach in the Church of the Jesuit Fathers, in the metropolis of Ireland, about 1837. He stands before me like a thing of yesterday ; his comely presence an 1 full flaw of speech are again in mine eye and ear. That visit of Dr. Ullathorne's to the British isles, with his outspoken testimony, rendered him, indeed, unpopular in many quarters on his return to Australia; but truth was great and it prevailed. Second only to the religious amelioration of which his honoured life was the witness, and in great part the cause, is the change for the better in the social and political condition of New South Wales. "