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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 37, 19 June 1891, Page 17

A Novena. in preparation for the Feast of St Aloysiua was com* menced at Rt Josephs Cathedral, Dunedin, on Saturday evening. A statue of the saint has been placed on the altar beneuh the picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, and before which a lamp is kept lighted. On Sunday at 11 am., Pontifical H;\ Mass will be celebrated in honour of the Festival. The music will be Signor Squarise's Mass with orchestsal acoompainment. A general communion, especially of the young people, will alap take plact on the occasion.

The names of the ladies and gentlemen who have kindly giren their services for the concert in aid of the Dominican Convent bailding fund, to take place in the Garrison Hall, Dunedin. on July 15, are a full assurance of the high character of the entertainment, Both the instrumental and vocal divisions of the programme are admirably provided for, as will be seen by reference to our advertising columns.

A meeting of lady members of 8\ Mary'a congregation (says the Nelson Mail of the 9th iust.) was held ia the schoolroom on Sunday afternoon for trie purpose of considering the best steps to be taken to procure aa organ for tbt Church, It was decided to h»T» ft

Committee with a President, Treasurer, and Secretary, whose duty it would be to organise various entertainments for raising money. Mrs Broad, who was proposed as President, declined on the ground that her domeitic duties would prevent her from attending the meetings regularly, and Mrs G. A. Macquarte was thenjuaanimously elected and kindly consented to act aa President. Mrs Broad agreed to act as Hon. Treasurer, and Miss McGee as Hon. Secretary. The election of a working committee was left over until the next meeting. It wa* resolved, however, to take steps at once to have a Christmas Tree on an unusually grand scale, and a Cake Show in some large hall, as ■con as possible. It was stated that the young men of the congregation would hay« a committee of their own and intended gettiog up concerts and probably an Art Union.

Thi Wellington correspondent of the Otago Daily Time* gives hi the following sinister paragraph :— " A peculiar question is likely to be tabled shortly in the House. A certain section of the members has been actively engaged to-day in endeavouring to find some members outside that circle who will consent to father the query in order that it may not seem too pointed. The question is as to the age, length of service, and religion of the officers in a particular department who have respectively been dismissed and retained, the object being to show that all officers belonging to a certain religious body have been retained in the service, while those selected for dismissal were in every case outside this favoured sect. A private meeting of members holding particular religious views was held this morning, when it was decided that notice should be given of a question to the effect stated above, with the view of eliciting and exposing the facts as they were alleged to be. Considerable difficulty has been experienced, however, in finding a member willing to ' bell the cat ' in tbis matter, and as the promoters of the movement are reluctant to appear in it personally lest they should seem to be actuated by sectarian prejudices, it is not unlikely that the attempt to drag the facts into daylight may fail, for the simple reason that nobody relishes the unpleasant and somewhat invidious task of moving in the matter. Begret is expressed that Mr Goldie is not here, as he would probably have taken up the question with the utmost zest." Of course there is only one religion in tho colony to which this paragraph can apply. " Jew, Turk and Infidel may enter here but not a Papist." Can it be possible that the hue and cry raised by a " Justice of the Peace " and the rest of the pack in the correspondence columns of the Duoedin Star has really obtained attention ? If so troubled times lie before the Catholics of the colony, and it is hard to say where the matter may end. Nothing will satisfy the mob alluded to short, for instance, of the gallows and ripping knives of her Satanic Maj esty Queen Bess. Such agitations as that referred to, however, are generally got up in favour of men not worth their salt as the saying is, and in whose favour nothing rational can be advanced.

THE result of the Baccirat case appears to have been rather fortunate for the man who lost it. Sir William Gordon Cumming, although cashiered from the army, has been married upon the spot by a most devoted, beautiful, an I wealthy young lady, and has been accordei an enthusiastic reoeption by the tenants oa his ancestral estate ia Scotland. And, by the way, the young lady being wealthy, is it not a pity she did not marry Sir William some little time before, at least, if it be true that he did cheat at cards, and that he did so because of pecuniary embarrassment. There is, however, some doubt on the subject of which we would give Sir William G >rdon Cumming the full benefit. It is the unhappy Prince of Wales, who has come in for the heaviest share of blam?. The whole country seem 9to have been turned loose against him, and botb in Press and pulpit his misdoing it severely denounced. As it becomes a loyal subject, we are glad to see that Her Majesty the Queen does not permit the disgrace of her son and heir to prey upon her miod, as it might be feared she would. It is announced, for example, that she is about to attend publicly to bear Madame Melba sing in opera. Under the circumitances the event must be taken as significant.

The Qaeensland shearers' strike has come to an end, another warning to men to look before they leap. A good deal now depends on how the pastoralists make use of their victory. The opportunity offers of effecting a lasting settlement, if they have the wisdom to avail themselves of it. On the other hand the world of labour is again admonished, by the failure of such partial efforts, of the necessity for general combination, and ihey at least will not fail to profit by the lesson. The victors, therefore, need not be over jubilant.

In a note to a paper on English Freemasonry recently published by him, and which we quote elsewhere, the Rev. Father Clarke, S.J., writes as foil >ws :— " The following is the oath taken by the Apprentice at his initiation. I can vouch for its substantial but not its verbal accuracy. • I swear in the Name of the Supreme Architect of all worlds, never to reveal the secrets, the signe, the grips, the pass wordg, the doctrines, or the customs of the Freemasons, and to preserve with res ptot to them An eternal silence, I promise and swear

to God never to betray any of them either by writing, by word, or gesture ; never to cause them to be written, lithographed, or printed never to make public anything of that which has now been confided to me, or of that which shall be confided to me in the future. I pledge myself to this and submit myself to the following penalties if I fail in keeping mv word : They may bum my lips with a red hot iron, they may cut off my hand, they may pluck out my tongue, they may cut my throat, they may hang up my dead body in a lodge during the admission of a new Brother as a scourge for my faithlessness and as a terrible warniog to others ; then they may burn it and cast ita ashes to the winds, to the end that thert may not remain a t single trace of the memory of my treason. So help me God, Amen.' "

The Financial statement was delivered by the Hon. J. Balltnce on Tuesdty evening. A chief point, however, is that there is a surplus of £143,965, from last year, that estimated for the current year being £257,660. The report reaches us only as we go to press. The estimated expenditure for the year amounts to £4,155,105. The surplms will be applied in part to establishing a penny post, aiding settlement of the lands, and paying off a portion of the deficit of 1888. Another point of interest in the Statement is the proposal to substitute for the property tax a graduated land and income tax.

Mb De Cobain's constituents purpose offering strong opposition to his expulsion from the House of Commons." Well, it would be a pity to deprive them of a congenial representative, if only the decent Members of the Honse could at all manage to stomach his company.

The South Australian Register of June 2 gives us the following particulars respecting the death of a lady who, a few years ago, was resident for a short time, in Dunedin :— •• It was considered unnecessary to hold an inquest upon the body of Mrs Mary Alice L'Estrange, who died suddenly at her apartments, Edinburgh House, Victoriasquare, at about 11 o'clock on Friday morning last, her medical attendant, Dr. J. A. G. Hamilton, having certified that the cause of death was disease of the heart. With a few weeks intermission Mrs L'Estrange had resided in Adelaide for about ten months, and was a highly edacated and accomplished lady, much esteemed by the many friends who had the privilege of her acquaintance."

The Paris correspondent of the Timet telegraphs: The Irish Fund in Paris, as ascertained in connection with the recent correspondence between Mr Parnell and Mr M'Carthy, is £40,000. It was £48,000 but Mr O'Brien drew £B,OOJ for the Relief Committee.

Thebb is a meeting of Greek with Greek between Sir Robert Stout and the Otago Daily Tines. The Timet, says Sir Robert Stout is as much a bioatsd aristocrat and be himself ia, because he owns shares in the New Zealand Piae Company. Sir Robert replies that the leader writer of the Tunes is everything he ought not to be, and threatens him with dire exposure. Sir Robert further declares that, in taking ths timber off the land the Company is acting the part of a public benefactor, and, uotil the season arrives for an even distribution of goods, Sir Robert may as well be left to enjoy bis property in peace. We can understand that he loathe* the existing condition of things which obliges him to do so ; bat the circumstances of the times compel him to submit to it. Just as, for instance, he declares he must do as he loathes, if the Daily Times compels him by interfering any further with his private concerns. Sir Robert characteristically calls on the community to frown down his intention. The Times meanwhile evidently does not like Sir Robert Stout's threat to invade his privacy In revenge and expose the leader writer. He quotes in deprecation the ethics of journalism which, he says, does not permit anything of the kind. The ethics of journalism, nevertheless, varies. In America, for example, we find journalises addressing one another by name— and sometimes a great deal depends on the identity of the writer. Sir Robert and the Times, however, appear tolerably well matched, and it cannot fail to be amusing to see the fight between them fought out.