Colonial Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 21, 13 September 1889, Page 3

Colonial Notes.

On Sunday, August 18, the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney laid the foundation stone of additions to a church at Burwood. His Eminence, in the course of an address delivered by him, took occasion to refer to the part taken in politics by the Catholic priesthood. The Church, he said, took no particular side in politics. In New South Wales, for example, its graces and blessings were equally bestowed upon Freetraders and Protectionists "He would not say that the Catholic priest had not his political views, just as anyone else had. The priest was a free cilizen and an enlightened citizen — bis very position enabled him to become enlightened, and as such he was entitled to form and to hold his opinions on all questions of public interest ; but it was only as a citizen, and by his right as a citizen, that he held these viewe. As a priest he embraced in his care, and had under his charge, men holding, perhaps, widely different political views, and his pastoral solicitude extended to every member of his flock, no matter what his own or their political view might be. A priest recognised his duty in places in which there happened to be conflicting parties among his fl >ck, and in those cases he abstained from taking any part in political affairs."

At the annual breakfast of the A.H.C. Guild in Sydney on Sunday morning, August 18, a contradiction was given to the statements of Mr. B. R. Wise in Macmillan's Afagazinrhy the Hon. D. O'Oornor, Postmaster-ueneral, and Mr. T. M. Slattery, M.P. Both gentlemen denied that Catholics were in any way controlled in politics. Mr. Slattery gave as an illustration thj fact that he and Mr. O'Connor held different views and sat on opposite sides of the House. He also said that he had not come across a Catholic who knew what the Cardinal's politics were. Mr. O'Connor, in reference to Mr. Wise's charge that Irishmen were billet-hunter?, dwelt at some length on the services rendered by them to the Australian colonies, quoting many eminent names in support of his argument, "To the colonies,"' he said, "Ireland had given nobla Governors, wise statesmen, brilliant orators, and learned Judges, and at the Bar and in the Senate Irishmen had splendidly upheld the fame of the land of their birth. In such a gathering it was almost unnecessary to speak of that profound jurist and great advocite, Edward Butler; of the incomparable orator, wit, and Bcholar, the Right Hon. William Bfde Dalley ; of that greatest Judge that ever adorned the Bench of Australia, Sir James Martin. At the present day the Chief Justice of the colony of New South Wales was an Irishman, Sir Frederick Darley ; and the high office of Judge in Equity was filled by another highly, gifted son of the old land, Mr. Justice Owen. There was cot a battle for political freedom that had ever been fought in the colonies in which was wanting a phalanx of the liberty-loving sons of Erin. In the past the Irish in Australia had proved themselves the truest aud best of Australian pitnuts." — Mr. Slattery'also referred to the charge in question. ".There was not an atom of truth, he said, in the assertion that Irishmen were the Government billet-hunters of the colonies. Since the shooting of the Duke of Edinburgh some years ago, he went on to say, it had been almost impossible for an Irishman, and especially an Irish Catholic, to get any public position in the service worth having. When Ministries were in power who were looked upon as favourable, they dare not appoint Irishmen to the much talked of Government billets, and when unfriendly Ministries held office, Irishmen receive 1 neither favour nor fair play. In allusion to Mr. Wne himself, Mr. Slatteiy spoke as follows :—": — " The charge of billet-huntingcame with singularly bad grace from a man who had been educated in great part at the expense of the colony, and who himself opened his public cirejr in New South Wales as a billet-hunter. Almost on the very day of Ins arrival from England, this gentleman, who affected to sneer at Irish billet-hunters, waited on the late Mr. Dilley, a man of Irish blood, and begged for a Government billet, which he got from Mr. Dalley in the shape of some Government briefs."

The unfortunate man Morrison who, some months ago, Bbot Constable Sutherland, who wis attempting to arrest him as a burglar in a street at Sydney, was hanged on Tuesday, August 26th. Morrison, who, shortly after his conviction, expressed a desire to become a Catholic, and was received by the gaol chaplain into the Church, had subsequently been remarkable for his good behaviour. A few days before his execution he had been confirmed by the Cardinal Archbishop, who visited the gaol for the purpose of administering the sacrament. The unhappy man is also described as having been particularly attentive to the religious instructions given him by tha chaplain and the Sisters of Mercy visiting the prison.

The Shearers' Onion continues to make headway in the Australian colonies. Mr. Spence, the president, speaking a f;w weeks ago at Gunnedah, N.S.W., calculated its membership at about 20,000. The Union, he said had been formed owing to an attempt made by station-

holders to reduce shearers' wages from £1 to 17s, and also by the exorbitant charge made for rations. Mutual satisfaction, for the most part, distinguishes the sheds where work is being carried on under Union rules.

Mr. John Dillon, speaking a few weeks ago at Toowoomba, in Queensland, stated that he was systematically followed in his tour through the colonies by a spy, employed especially for the purpose :—: — " It was true," he said, " that at the present moment there was a gentleman by the name of Kirkpatrick sent out by the Times newspaper, who was following him all over Australia and engaged in the interesting and valuable work of writing anonymous letters on what be (Mr. Dillon) said. This gentleman had arrived in Melbourne with letters of recommendation from the Tunes, but they should have been letters of warning. A warning to every honest man to have nothing to say to him. This man had followed him (Sir. Dillon) about from city to city, and he appeared to have some influence over the cable messages which have come out to Australia, because as he (Mr. Dillon) travelled about the country, wherever he appeared, the day he arrived there was some cable from the old country not quite true and adverse to the Irish cause. This gentleman, he was sore, was in alliance with the cableman and sent back cable messages of false information for the purpose of misrepresenting the public of Australia."

Referring to Mr. Wise's article in Mac Milton's Magazine, Jthe Sydney correspondent of the Melbourne Age writes as follows :—: — " When ex-Attorney-General Wise, smarting under a double defeat by Mr. Toohey at South Sydney, and Mr. Crick at West Macquarie, sat down and penned hiß now famous article to Mac {Milan's Magazine, in which he asserted that the New South Wales Civil Service was over-run by Irishmen, and that Irish office-seekers were tho rule, be little thought he was cutting a rod for his own back. A member of the Opposition with the Irish came of O'Sullivan, obtained a return, showing the amount of public money which the ex- AttorneyGeneral'a family and connections had received. Attached to the return is a letter from Mr, Wise, in which he points out that be has not the honour of being related to Mr. J. M. Marsh in any way, and that Sir William Manning was no further a relative than that he was fora short time, many years ago, connected with his (Mr. Wise's) lac father by marriage. The returns showed that the sum of £108,035 28 lOd had been paid to the five gentlemen named as follows :— To Mr. E. Wise, Judge of the Supreme Court, from 1857 to 18«.», £11.980 Is 3d ; to Sir William Manning, from 1837 to 1889, £63, 161) 19d 4d ; to Mr. J. M. Marsh, S.M., from 18C0 to 1889, £17,097 Is Id ; to Mr. G. F. Wise, from 1851 to 1889, £12 223 3s 7d ; and to Mr. B. R. Wise bimself, from 1883 to 1889, £1574 17s 7d. No mention is made in the return of the pension of £200 per annum paid to Mis. Wise, mother of the last named gentleman, and widow of Mr. Justice Wise, and which that lady has been in receipt of for the last twenty-five years. It is only tair to state that Judge Wise, who in 1865 died at St. Kilda and is buried there, bequeathed to the public library his very valuable collection of books, many being very rare works connected with the history of Australia."

Father Kelly, the learned Jesuit, (says the West Australian Record), before departing from Perth recently, after his brief sojourn bere, paid a visit to the Catholic Assisted Boys' School in the city. Oa the occasion all the papers doni? bj the upper standards, at the examination held a few weeks previous, were submitted to his inspection. Father Kelly, after perusing them carefully, declared that they would be a credit to any of the advanced pupila attending the State Rcho3l= in the sister colonies. Such aii assurance, coming from one who has had so much experience in educational matters aa Father Kelly, speaks highly for tne success of our Education Act, and, besides, muse be very gratifying to the manager of the school whose work drew from him such unexpected laudation.

If mothers in general shared the nerve exhibited by mothers in Ceylon, trouble would be spared in many a household : " Babies wanted for crocodile bait. Will be returned alive." If newspapers abounded in Ceylon as much as crocodiles do, (says the Ceylon Cathoht Messenger}, advertisements worded like the foregoing would be common in tueir want columns. As it is, the English crocodile hunter has to secure his baby by personal solicitation. He is often successful, for Ceylon parents, as a rule, have unbounded confidence in the hunters, and will rent their babies out to be used as crocodile bait for a small consideration. Ceylon crocodiles suffer greatly from ( nnui ; they prefer to he quite still, Boothed by the sun's glittering rays, and while away their lazy lives in meditation. But whenadark brown infant with curling toes sits on a bank and blinks its eyes at them, they throw off their cloak of laainess and make their preparations for a delicate morsel of Ceylonese baby humanity. When the crocodile gets about half way up the bank, the hunter, concealed behiud some reeds, opens up fire, and the crocodile has his appetite and life taken away at the same time. The sportsman secures the skin and head of the crocodile, and the rest of the carcase the natives make use of.

The effect of English religion on the Eastern mind is neatly expressed in the following advice which our contemporary, the Ceylon Catholic Messenger, quotes from the gpeecn of a certain Mr. Arunachalem, made at a recent anti-Christian meeting in Colombo :—": — " Let the Eastern nations imitate the energy, the industry, the perseverance and tho blunt honesty of the English, but let them not, whatever they do, copy the religion cf the English."

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