CANTERBURY CATHOLIC LITERARY SOCIETY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 49, 28 March 1890, Page 19

CANTERBURY CATHOLIC LITERARY SOCIETY.

On the 18th March the subject for debate was a very comprehensive one, yet there were only two members who would espouse the negative.

Tbe gentleman whose lot it was to prove that machinery had been beneficial to the working man did so in a Btyle that was admirable. At the close of the debate he excelled himself by his keen reply. The other side was proved in a lengthy, interesting speech as an initiative. The negative side of the debate was then continued by a junior speaker who felt that machinery had most seriously depreciated the value of labour. A fourth member went on to «how that the inventive faculty had proved a great factor in building up America. One member restricted his remarks to show that the arguments of the anti -machinists were fallacious.

After several others had spoken, the question was put to the vote. In doing so Mr W. B. Perceval summed up. He said that, unquestionably, great good had accrued to the labouring clas9 through the instrumentality of machinery. If it had not been of greater utility it was due to the unfair deilings of the owners, not because machinery was an inhennt evil. However, he had to compliment the speakers on the ability shown in dealing with the subject. It was really an important matter, but he must desist aa time was pressing. He would now put the question, " Have labour-saving inventions proved beneficial to the working_classes ?" The affirmative was carried on the voices.

For a number of years the Society have held a picnic ; it occurs once within the year, yet there has been no regular date fixed. This present outing will be held on Easter Monday at Rhodes' Bay. Aa usual, members will invite their friends to share the holiday. A committee has been appointed who will soon issue tickets, but the cost will not exceed half-a-crown or three shillings. A very pleasant day is anticipated,

Mr Perceval proposed Messrs. Clarkson and Barber as new members. They were duly elected. Mr J. McCormick nominated three new members, and Mr Milner m\de one njtninatioi.

The quarterly communion on St. Patrick's Eve was very well attended.

About thirty members were present. The Chairman closed the meeting as usual.

"^"France is getting excited about the rights of French fishermen in Newfoundland. Pans wants lobsters.

Messrs Robert Anderson and Co., Manor place, Dunedin, are cash purchasers of wheat, oats and barley.

Householders are invited by Mr. Andrew Macfarlane, Walker street, Dunedin. to inspect his patent portable boiler, which they will find possessed of valuahle improvements,

Messrs Brown liwingand Co., Princes street, Dunedin, call attention to their large, and well selected stock of goods, suited to the present season.

Messrs Reid and G-ray, Dunedin, have been awarded at the Melbourne Exhibitions, gold medals for their double-furrow ploughs. The agricultural implements turned out by the firm are in all mstanceß superior aud deserving of trial.

In 1836 a Roman priest, Djn Vmcenzo Pallotti, the founder of a missionary house, whose beatification is now uad"r consideration, hnd the pious id-iH of erecting a beau'iful representation of the Crib, and invited priests of all nations to come and celebrate the different offices of the Church according to their rite and in their own languages. The little church of the Pallotti missionaries being too small for the numoer of faithful who yearly flock to these ceremonies, the Church of St. Andrea della Valle was chosen instead.

Right Rev. B'shop Hogan, saya a Kansas paper, whose taste for statistics is well known, h-is in the course of other investigations pertaining to the diocese been led to pursue inqaines into other fields, with a result that is not a little surprising. From a careful collection of Government statistics, he is satisfied that a grave error exists in the estitnatednumber of Catholics in the United States, Tho evidence of this sepins irrefragable. According to the ''Ninth Census of the United States Vital Statistics, 1870," the total population was 3-vj5S 371. Of this number 1.100,475 were under one year of age, or lin 35 According to th.3 census of 1889 the total population was 50,162, 7<S3, of which 1,447 983 were under one year of age, or 1 in 34. Now, of all the records kept by the Catholic Church there is nonei more reliable than the baptismal register. Whil9t ttiere may be, and there is from various causes, error in the number reckoned as beloognig to the vaiious pamhes, ihere is none in the number of " infant baptisms," wbich number may fairly be considered as equivalent to those made one year. From a careful collection of the statistics of the different dioceses, as given in the Catholic directories, it appears that the number of infant baptism* for last ytar was 440.000. Taking these figures as representing one out of uvery thirty, the Catholio population would be 13,200,000.