BROTHER JOSEPH IN AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 24, 1 April 1892, Page 15

BROTHER JOSEPH IN AUSTRALIA.

(From our Hawke's Bay Correspondent.;

I HITS received a private note from Brother Joseph, of Christ* church, wbo recently went over to New South Wales for a wellearned holiday, and there is in it so much of interest regarding his doings, tbat I send you the following extracts for the benefit of the popular brother's innumerable friends both here and in Ohristcrturcb. After premising that he has been impelled to neglect his correa. pondence, brother Joseph say, " I met Father Kickham at a concert given by the pupils of the Cathedral girl's school the day after my arrival in Sydney. He was surprised and delighted to meet me and a few days later we visited Manly Beach together. As soon as Father Prendergast (late of Hawkea Bay, 0.0.) learned that I had arrived in Sydney, he wrote inviting me to come and spend a few days with him, and he spared no effort to make my visit to Bull! a pleasant one. Buili is a mining township 42 miles south of Sydney on the sea coast, where beautiful white sand beaches stretch for miles. The mines are in the Illawarra ranges, about half a mi la from the beach, the coal being obtained by tunnelling. I saw no shafts for other than ventilation purposes. The coal-laden trucks are drawn out of the main tunnels by wire cables worked by steam engines, but in the branch tunnels ponies do tha haulage. It takes the miners half-an-hour to walk from the mouth of the tunne to the pit head. In the cemetery there is a handsome granite obelisk erectei by Government in memory of the 80 men who were killed by an explosion of fire-damp in the Bulli Company's mina a few year ago. The Bulli Pass is one of the sights of the colony. Our mutual friend, Father Prendergast, has been doing the work of two extensive parishes lately owing to the illness of the P.P. of Wollongong. Tha day before I arrived be had a a sick call, sixteen miles north of Bulli, and on the following evening was called to attend a dying man who lived 8 miles in the opposite direction. He got home shortly after midnight, and had to ride off to Wollongong next morning to say mass and attend a funeral. Ihe work is hard enough in country parishes where the population is scattered, but it is not an nnmixed evil, as it furnishes variety of occupation, and relieves the monotony which would otherwise become intolerable to a young man of arden temperament located in an isolated district. I enclose a programme of an organ recital in the Centennial hall. The organ cost £12,000, and the price of admission to M. Wiegand'a recital was sixpence, so you may jud»e of the effjrts wbish are being made to cultivate a taste for really high-class mu«io here. 1 have attended two of 'be recitals, and was encLantei. I have ofteu been delighted at listening to Mendelssohn's " Bongs without words," but after bearing Wigand'a exposition of them on this organ, I fail to see how a true conception of the great composer's

work can be formed by hearing them on any other instrument than a grand organ. While the organ reciUlß are being given by the city organist, a ep'endid opera company is meeting with great success in the production of grand opera. The works are splendidly put before the public by two distinct staffs of artists playing alternate nights, which enables the musician to go two ereniaga in succession to the same opera and compare the two interpretations — an advantage which is obvious. " I spent a few days at St. Joseph's college, the Institution o our Order, whose phenomenal success in the university examinations for years has surprised everyone. The college has a splendid building of which yon have seen photos. The main corridors are each 280 ft. in length. Apart from the main building are several two-story edifices, which are used as music rooms, museums, quirtera for servants, etc. There are 250 pupils, 20 brokers, 12 men servants, and a number of visiting maßterß. After seeing the excsllent discipline and serious earnestness in study, class, and elsewhere, one can readily understand that success mmt necessarily attend the pupils eff ;rts in the ex^ms. " The mention of the university in connection with the success of St Joseph's reminds me to tell you that I spent four hours in visiting a portion of that great seat of learning. I was fortunate in meeting there a Mr Craddock, the junior Bedell, wbo very courteously sbowed us through the great hall, lecture room, and library in the m*in building, and explained and pointed out objects of interests in each department. We were chaperoned through the college of chemistry by Bey Broker Wilbred, one of the Marist Brothers, wbo has been attending the university lectures for a few years and recently passed m chemistry and some other subjects with honors. Leaving the rcbools of chemistry, we rejoined Mr Craddock, who took us through the medical college— a palatial building. Ihe curator of the anatomical museum proved to be a New Zealander, and be accompanied us through bis department and explained the various specimens. Then the theatres, lecture rooms, dissecting rooms, etc., were visited, but, owing to want of time, we were compelled to defer our visit to the Macleay museum. Besides building this museum at a cost of £6000 and handing over to it the most valuable collection in Austialasia Sir William Macleay has endowed the department named after him ''

After desiring to be remembered to all friends in New Zealand, Brother Joseph concludes a moat interesting letter.