Colonial Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 15, 9 January 1891, Page 3

Colonial Notes.

The quarterly meeting of St. Mary's Branch, No. 193, of the Hibernian A.0.8. Society was held at 8 o'clock on Monday, 29 h December in; the Catholic Boy's Scboolroom,Timaru. There was a goodly number of members in attendance. V.f. Bro. T. Sheehy occupied the chair The routine business having been d-alt with, Dr. Thomas' application for the medical attendance of the society was considered and unanimously accepted, and a number of members requested that tbetr names be placed on his list. The nomination of officers for the ensuing half-year then took place, and will be balloted for at the half yearly meeting on tbs bth of January next. One candidate was propoaed for membership. The quarterly accounts amounting to £33 los were passed for payment. This concluded the business of the evening The usual vote of thanks was passed to the chairman, ami the nieeuni: terminated.

Mr. E. R. Bust, Secretary to the Auckland Trades and Labour Council writes as follows to the local Press :— " Sir,— beeing tbat about half a century since our then meagre populace was threatened with the influx of an undesirable class of criminals, in protesting against which they spoke with no uncertain sound, to the lasting benefit of all classes cf colonial society, I trust you will lend your loud voice and liberal columns in defending the people's lights by denouncing General Booth's proposed scheme of shooting out nil' the worst of bis irredeemable criminals to our peaceful shores, and thus prevent him transforming our dear adopted land, for the prosperity of which our sires have had to fight and toil, to bleed and die, into a veritable convict station, which must endanger the true manhood of

our sons, and the much desired refinement of our daughters. By inserting the following letter to General Booth, and requesting all classes to co-operate with us in taking prompt action to pieveot this much blt-esed Britain of the Southern Seas i.ecoming the very hotbed of infamy, you will confer upon a thankful pub i«a lasting favour, and obtain their unfeigned appreciation." If only as a specimen of ttnglia 1 ! composition, this appeal is worth preserving. " This much bli-sse'i Britain of the Southern Seas" is, in particular, a delightful inspiration. Will General Booth, in one sjnse or another, lend our Bntaii an additional blessing ?

Every honest supporter of the cause of Home Role, and all who value the honour of Ireland the We lington Post), will rejoice in thp result of the election for North Kilkenny. It is the first Irish constituency to pronounce judgment on Mr. Parneli's aadacious assumption of the right to still lead the Irish Home Rule party, and it has emphatically declared that by bia immoral conduct, social improprieties, and treachery, be has forfeited the position, and that the Irish leader must be a man of moral worth, uotarnihhed character, and unsullied personal honour. His betrayal of his friend's wife is an offence which must appear particularly heinous in an Irishman's eyes. The electors of North Kilkenny have done their duy to iheir country and its c!»use by rejecting Mr. Parnell's nominee by a majority of IH6. . . . The result of this election will, we hope, end the discreditable attempt of Mr. Parnell to subordinate a great National cause to his own personal ambition, and convince him that the country desires ha should retire from the posii ion he has disgraced, and relieve the cause he professes to be devote! to from the incubus of his prominent association with it. Ireland has to choose between Parnell and Home Rule. Kilkenny has struck the true key-note.

The overwhelming defeat of Mr. Parnell's candidate in the Kilkenny election Bbould (says the Auckland Star) bring the depoied Irish leader to his senses. The electorate only contains abont six thousand voters, and the PamelUte candidate would have all the support tbat the landlords could give him, Lord Salisbury having sounded the key-note of the Conservative policy in his encouragement to the minority to carry on a faction fight. The majority of eleven hundred for the candidate favoured by the party led by Mr. Justin McCarthy ought to" convince those members who have set Mr. Parnell above the cause of Home Rule tbat, however grateful the Irish people may be to Mr. Parnell for his past services, they will not countenance hia conduct in splitting up the party to prevent him from suffering the penalty of bis owo iocial misdeeds The Kilkenny election appears to have been accepted as a test, and its verdict will probably lead to aa early re-union of the Irish members, working in harmony wi'h the English Liberals. Mr. Parnell has brought additional humiliation upon himself, but no one can pity him under the circumstances.

It is highly fortunate (sayb the Dunedin Star), that a representative Irish constituency should have been called oa at the present time to pronounce upon Mr. Parnell's extraordinary attitude, and it must be matter of rejoicing to all true friends of Ireland that the oppori unity has been so properly utilised and an obvious duty so unequivocably performed. It would have b^en a great pity if Mr. Paruell had been able, owin^to ab-ence of a testing oppoitunity, to go on asserting that Ireland was with him in his prepusterous c'aims ; v wculd have been a far greater pity if, when the opportunity arrived, his assertion had been proved accurate. Hisexprea-iionsof bumptious CO' fidence alter the elevation may be taken foi wbat they are worth, which is assuredly not much ; nor are we inclined to attach great weight to the reports of a possible reconcilia ion and reunion b 'tween the new and the "lost" leader of the Home Rule party. Tne idea, mentioned in a cablegram, th tt Mr. Parnell should retire from the p esent Parliament and be re-elected leader of the party, is absurd, and does no solve a singe difficulty. Mr. Parnell s pr sence in Parliam«nt may be undesirable, but it is at least a less violent outrage upon public opinion and the fitness of things than his continuance aa leader of an important political par>y whose trust he has wantonly betrayed. Possibly the njtion is that, as extra parliamentary leader there would be do necessity for his cming into pers nal contact with Mr. Gladstone and other Liberal leaders who decline the honour of further pol tical relationship with the co-respondent in O'Shea v. O'Shea and Patnell ; but Mr. Gladstone's casuistical tastes bts hardly like yto go the length of submitting to such a device. The plain faci is that the Home Rule pany have to choose between Mr. GladB'oue and Mr. Parnell — between the statesman who has made the Irish Nationalist c. use a living reality and the politician who has struck it a cruel blow. We trust we are safe in taking it for granted that the choice has really been made in the direction indicated by the result of the Kilkenny election.

This world is neither wise cnutigh nor chantable enough (t.ay« 'he Danedm Globe), to refrain fiom vibiting the Bins of champions upon the cause they b-ive espoused, and tuero aro many who will do their utmost to make Home Rule suffer for the imquiti(.s of Parnell. This is manifestly unjust, for while tnat cause is closely identified with that statesman's career it has no cornection with violations ol the seventh commandment. Hme Ruler is not a synonym for adulterer. At the same time it may be urged, and justly so, that a certain amount of suspicion must attach itself to a cause which so warmly commei ds itself to one who has shown himself to be d«ad to ail moral sense and to every principle of honour. It would therefore b j well if Ireland were united in condemning in unmistakeable language the actions with which Parneh has stained their Dame, for until bis abominable conduct haa betn repudiated by his lOuntrymer, a bar ci i-ter will re*t upou the escutch on of Huni" rtult . Itiere is no uation in the world more noted for its galla tiy and chivalry than the Irish, and we feel certain that not even the love of Home Rule will permit them to tolerate in their leaders those vices which woulU

imperil the chastity of their wives and daughters and shake the whole framework of society. We do not expect from our po'i icians that h.gh standard of morality that we 1 ok for in the clergy, but as we entrust them with legislation for the suppression of vice and the protection of virtue, we do expect that they should not be flagrant ainneri, without sense of decency or shame.

When Mr. Charles Santley was in Australia we {Freeman's Journal) mentioned that be was received into the Cb'irch by the Very Be». Vincent Grogan of the Passionist«. Father Vincent himself will be wiih us in a few weeks, for we learn that he has I ft England m the s.fl. Oroya, which is due here in he beginning of February Father Vincent is the . x-Provincial of the Passionists in England, and he, we understand, comes at the request of the General of tne Orier in the capacity of visitor to the Australian Province. It is unlikely •?Jj u b ? r VlDcent Wlll "main in Sydney, although every effort will doubtless be made to retain his services for the colonies.

His Eminence Cardinal Moran, speaking on Saturday last at St Mury's Cathedral Girls' School Oys the Sydney Freeman* Journal of December 27) made a promise which might fairly come under the head of Christmas-boxes. After commenting on the marked increase in the Dumber of the pupils .luting the year, he stated that there had been a corresponding incriase in the Catholic schools tnioughout the diocese of Sydney. His Eminence went on to say that during the past 10 years the increase had been at the rate of 1000 a year H's revered predecessor ten years ago announce*! that there were 4000 children in attendance at their religious schools ; to-day the number 7" between 15,000 and 16,000, showing an increase of more than lUOO per year. He proceeded to observe that he was very happy to Bee that there was a great spirit of competition and rivalry among the religious schools, and among the devoted teachers none were more conspicuous for their successful work thin the Sisters of Charily During the coming year a number of special prizes, amounting in value to something like £120 to £150, were to be offered for competition among the primary schools. The competition would be open to all their religious schools, and the Cardinal expreesed himself as having no doHbt that this step would serve to encourage a spirit of work among all the children attending their schools, besides tending to increase the popularity of the schools themselves.

Tapley, writing in the Advocate of December 20 in reference to the contrast that rxists between Protes'ant and Catholic missionaries, speaks as follows :-'• When the French Admiral was here last week in the Dtibourdieu he had the same story to tell of these things. He had been amoDgst the islands, and seen with his own eyes the intriguing spirit amongst these Presbyterian brethren. They •re all on fire for their ' rights,' and they fill Christendom with their clamour and the assertions of their 'claims.' They arc loud in the proclamation ot the half-million of money they have spent on the islands ; but when asked how tbey have spent it, it is plain tnat it has gone, if it has gone at all, in securing their ' establishment, 1 though Dot in bringing sools to Jesus. In that they have almost utterly failed. In fact, they have done worse than merely failed ; for, while they nave a few natives who are fervent in religion, they have inspired the great mass with the notion that Christianity, as seen in its results, is a religion of thorough selfishness There is no phase of ihe great failure known as Protestantism that fails so utterly as in its missions.

•a u & meetin S of the Irish National League hel lat Sydney to consider the cablegram, " The cause is saved. The p .rty r, li. son Australia, and stands firm : Jnbtin M'Carthy, chairman : Dea»y and Jismonde, Whips," the following rebolu ion was Dtssed . — •• That this meeting declines to thkeany s-epsin regard totheln-h leadership at toe presen time, but is of ojjii ion that any such steps should he dealt wiih by a convention of the Australim leagues, and the President should, with a view te this effect, communicate with the branches in the other colonits.''

The death is announced of James Esmond, of Ballarat, notable as the pioneer gold-digger of Victoria. Esmond, on returning in 1851 from a trip to California, prot-pected and discovered gold at dunes, having detected a likeness between the natural features of that locality to those of the American goM-fielde. He has, nevertheless, died a poor man at the ape of (58. R*- was a native of Ireland and a member of the Catholic Church.— R I.P.

We have this week to regret the death of two good friends of pure, both estimable colonists and worthy men. Trey were, respectively, Constable Barry, of Wairnß, and Mr. Timothy G-aney, of Pleasant Point, and, as a strange coincidence, each came to his end in the same lamentable manner, that is by drowning. Constable Barry had gone on a fiohing expedition, and, on his return in the evei ing, the boat whs capsized while crossing the bar. He sank and nothing afterwards was s( en of him. Mr Geaney was attempting to crots the Tengawai river in a buggy, which was upset, taking him down with it. In each case a valuable hie has been sacrificed, and a man has perished whose loss will long be felt.— lf. l.l'.

The Melbourne Jdiocatr conclude? rh follow h m. article referring to the situation in Ireland - —In what we have said we have not been able to set out the whole case as it presents itself. Weceriainly have not exnggerated the consequences threatened by Mr. Parnell's most culpable ohstinacy, and yet have said tn'.ugh, we hope, to convince any man to whom lrtla- d and the fortun. s of her people are of firtt importance that prompt an i decided action ahould be taken here in Australia to compel that di=cr. ditid gentleman to quietly surrender the position whi h he is no longer worthy to fill. If he is not forced to do so, Ireland, in a slurt time, will present even a worse eptctacle than that at which her sons abroad now grieve and blueb ; for there is only too much reason to fear that Iriih politics will become infected witn a spirit so unnatural to the

Irishman, and so baneful to his country's best interests, thst for the evil so wrought there is no political boon that would be adequate compensation.

The Wellington Evening Post refers as follows to the appeal of Dr. Ban, irdo . -A tew d^ys ago we protested against the impropriety commut-il by the agents of the Press Association in trausmittiug from Loadon as an item of news a begging appeal from Dr. Barnardo on behalf of the professed chanty conmcted with his name, We thm remaiked that there were hundreds probably of other charities «q tal y deserving. For this remark vru feel some apology is really due to other charities, for the information to hand in the papers by the last English mail renders it a matter of grave doubt whether Dr. Barnardo'a chanty deserves any support at all. The H me papers are fml of notices of a law case in whicn Dr. Birnardo figures a* defendant. The case is stated to b^ the third of its kind brought acfunst him. . . . Commenting on this case the London Weekly Dispatch of 9th November remarks : — ' It is scandalous that D,. B rnai.jo should be p-rmitti-d to waste the subscription!* of charitable people in prolonging his vexatious controversy with Mrs. M'Hugh. . . . And notwithstanding lhat the Queeu'a Bench has rulu.l in her favour, Mrs. M'Hugh has not yet got back her child. Why? Because Birnarlo, beini? ab eto Bpend in litigation the money he gets for feeding and housing desolate waifs, is rich enough to appeal and drag Mrs. M'Hugh to a higher court.' In the f«ce of remarks of such a nature from the Conrc of Queen's Bench and by the press, the charitably-disposed people of this colony have good reason to complain that the Press Association should have gone out of its way to transmit Dr. Barnardo s appeal for subscriptions from New Zealand. It is quite probable that the disclosures and remarks made at Home have checked the usual flow of subscriptions ihere, and it was desired to get what was possible trom the Australasian colonies before the facts became known in them. The Press Association owes it to itself and its subscribers to ascertain the circums ances under which the extraordinary appeal was transmitted as an item of news."