CANTERBURY CATHOLIC LITERARY SOCIETY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 47, 14 March 1890, Page 11

CANTERBURY CATHOLIC LITERARY SOCIETY.

Vicr-Pbesidbnt Holland occupied thechair on the "Original Paper night," held on the 4th March. Mr. Peiceval was, unfortunately, unable to attend. A 9 this ia only the second time he has baei absent, his apology was freely accepted. The items submitted consisted of :—": — " Criminal and other statistics," " Recollections of a Phrenologist," and " A Trip to Dunedin." Mr. Milner's contribution on the subject of " Mummies " was not quite original, nor wa3 it a" paper," but a brief lecture. Mr. Hines' account of Dunedin was bis first effort for the Society in the way of a paper. Howaver.it was a very nice one. He saw many things faulty in the Exhibition City, and he enumerated them, The Pireßrigaie accommodation seemed to specially touch bis risible faculty. Certnnly Mr. Hines told tee story of his experience in a very taking style. Mr. Kennedy's " Criminal and other statist ica ' was a most able exposition of the fallacious idea that Ireland is low and criminal. He said — or read that many go entirely by first impressijns. If we trust, thm, to this way, all the Old World's people are t-urely criminal. According to the cablegrams, crime and i>s perpetration, seem the only thiugs worth living for. Crime wai rnost| ibly defined by the writer, by which it conldb" seen thai one migut be avi'e wretch and yet remain a respectable (?) and e*en popuku citizen. Statistics were quoted to show toe relative amount of criminals in the United Kingdom, as a whole, and many individual comparisons were made. Taken any way, they clearly showed Ireland to be more liw-abiding and virtuous than Eugland, Scot'and, or Wales. Mr. Kennedy's paper concluded with an eloquent reference to the ministry of the Catholic Priesthood.

A critic said that the " Phrenologist's recol'ectiona " showed his ability to write down, very minutely too, what he had seen. It was brief and local.

Mr. Milner must have taken an interest in his task to be enabled to expound so clearly the various methods of embalming the dead. He showed that in pre-histonc times, one went to an embalmer, instead of hieing to the local undertakei, to dispose of his dead friend's body. The process of embalming was described as most elaborate and effectual to an extraordinary degree. There was a cheap process and a spurious way. Mr, Milner described the "Cemetery system," wherein these much embalmed bodies were laid. Even the rather gruesome nature of the subject did not provent several bursts of merriment to escape from his audience.

The usual critique was not indulged in, as three of the writers left the room, thus leaving criticism without its point.

On the 18th March the Society's " Lecture Night " will be held. On these occasions the President and members are pleased to welcome visitors.

Myees and Co., Dentists, Octagon, corner of George street. They guarantee highest class work at moderate fees. Their artificial teeth gives general satisfaction, and the fact of them supplying a temporary denture while the gums are healing does away with the inconvenience of being months without teeth. They manufacture a single artificial tooth for Ten Shillings, and sets equally moderate The administration of nitrous oxide gas La also a great boon to thoae needing the extraction of a tooth. Read — .([ADVr.]

Speaking of the forthcoming marriage of Lord Clifford, of Chudleigh, and Miss Mabel Towneley, of Townel^y, wnich is to unite two of the oldest English Catholic families, Vanity .Fair says : " Neither the Cliffords nor the Towneleya have ever changed their fai'h, and the latter boast that Mass was said regularly ftt Towneley Hall, near Burnley, even in the darkest days of the Penal Laws. Lord Clifford owns some 7000 acres of land centring around hi§ fine old seat, Ugbrooke Park, South Devon ; and Miss Towneley inherits a large property in Laucaahire and Cumoerland,"