Current Topics.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIII, Issue 35, 27 December 1895, Page 1

Current Topics.

AT HOME AND ABROAD.

Many of oar readers have desired to see in print Mr Davitl's " Two election bills," which " brought down the honse " wherever he related th«m. I* were unfair to give them while the lecturer was here. He is gone. There is no harm in making an attempt at Riving them now. Daring ooe of his lectures in Danedin, Michael Davitt said he had copies of election agenti' bills which were sent in after the contests which took place about forty years ago— one an English agent's bill, and the other that of an Irish agent. The English Agent's Bill. To 4 roarers of the word " Ohnrch," £40 ; to 400 gallons of Tory punch, £30 ; to brandy, £30 ; for a street show with which to dazzle the mob, £200 ; to 2 riots in the interest of the candidate, £200 ; and for ft set of notorious liars, £50. Irish Election Account. Prior to reading the Irish agent'B bill, Mr Davitt Baid the original copy' of it could be seen framed in the drawing-room of Somerville House. It wasjpresented to Sir Mark Somerville after a contest in Meath. The writer was an innkeeper in the town of Trim (time fifty years ago), who had been instructed by Sir Mark to look after the freeholders. " Looking after 16 freeholders for Sir Matk upstairs is to me £2 12s ; to eating 15 more below, and two priests afier supper is to me £2 15s 9d ; to 18 horses and two mules about my yard all night, feed to every one of them, is to me £6 5s ; to 6 beds in one room and 4 beds in another is to me £4 4<j ; to more than four voters ia a bed at any time, cheap enough God knows, it is to me £22 16a ; to breakfast and te» any of them as they liked to bring in with them as far as I can give is to me £4 12a ; to breaking ailpot above s'airs and for other glasses and delf I am not sure, but as little bb 1 can call it in all or thereabouts, to speak fairly and not to be particular, is to me £79 Is 8J ; for a man for Tim Kernan, who was not expected to live with everything done so as ba keep him alive s>o as to get his Tote in the morning is to me £1 la. Total, with other matters not mentioned, and not to be too particular, say, and God knowß I do not get much out of it, £149. " WAR between America and England 1 Not at all. Neither nation desires it. American politicians are not apprehensive about external; ware. What they fear in the not dißtant future is intern*l|war— cifil war. A race conflict between whites and blacks is pretty sure to come. The negroeß are increasing. Th« whites do not show proportionate increase. Of courss immigration adis to the population: Natural increase, however, except in the case of Irish and German citizens is email. The detestable Maltbusian doctrine has permeated American society. New comers, unrestrained by religioo, are quickly »aeoted. The consequence will be that the blacks, in a few years, will equal, and then soon outnumber the whites. Negro families are large— l 2is a very common number, 19 and 20 in the household cot uncommon. In the race conflict ignorant brute force will be worsted . But the horrors of war will long be remembered, unless the civilisiog influence of real Christianity avert a threatened danger. The convertion methods of the Methodißt camp meeting will oot tarn into a ■opening channel the' emotional nature of the ignorant negro. There iiiwork for the Catholic Church to do. It is high time for her to be actively up and doing. A Catholic University is a noble work, So, too, in view of the future,|iu the Catholic school for the neglected negro child. Thh Lyttelton Times makes a vain attempt to minimise the effect of the recent victory in Belgium of the advocates of religious education. It gives its readers to understand that there is general disiatisf action among the people " against tbe return to clerical control." The Lyttelton Times, without doubt, gets hie information from secularist and anti-Catholic Bources. It is notorious that wealthy Jews in France and Belgium have vast power

TWO ELECTION BILLS.

EDUCATION QUESTION IN BELGIUM.

through the Press, which in very many cases they own or control. Tbe Jews, with their allies the Masonic Liberals, leave no stone unturned to regain the influence they have recently loefin Belgium. It ie not difficult with the news>gencies under, their thumb to make the outside world believe that ' popular demonstrations" egainat religious education " have taken place all over the country." A few men in the back parlour of a country hotel can constitute an indignation meeting and make " newspaper history " for those who live at a distance. That the National Liberal Association ",has entered strong protest against tbe clerical policy " means about as much as if a numerically weak Association in New Zealand solemnly protested against the verdict of the man of the people. The JAgueie VErueignement makes an; appeal "to Belgian Constitutional law against the effort to control the religions] opinions of tbe people." Six and squarter millions of Catholics coercing 14,000 Jewa and Protestants, " protected by a conscience clause " ! Absurd I Association of ideas recalls tbe action of Begnanlt de St Jean d'Angely, 27th September, 1790, who called Rewbell and tbe opponents of giving civic rights to the French Jews to order on the ground that " they Wire opposing tbe Constitution." Louis XVI. signed the decree which placed th« French Jews in a position to foster revolntion and every movement which had for its object to unchristianiza France. Catholic France has mncb matter for reflection, when in this connection she reads some pages of modern history. Few in numbers, the Jews are rich and powerful in France and the adjoining countries. "M. deißotbschild and his co-religioniss (said the Univers, 11th May, 1889) are in our day more really masters in France than tbe president of tha Republic and bis ministers." What with reason is said of France is true mutatis mutandis of Belgium, The same anti-Chriatian forces, powerful in material resources and social icfluence, are at work. Will they again succeed ? Success ii oiflficult when the plotter is discovered, and bis machinations unveiled. The enemies of Christian education are determined, if possible, to bring about a return to godless schools. The people, however, have opened their eyes to the fact that they were being skilfully manipulated by the lodges. Th. y have expressed their fiat, and religion must henceforth be at the he id of the educational programme. The LyUleton Times does nat understand the trend of Continental Freemasonry, which, c ntrolled by Jews and atheists ) wages war against the Church, by decbristiaoisiog education. The lodges may, through powerful members, control the news agencies and deceive those at a distrnca. Tbe recent elections have abown all but tbe wilfully blind that they cannot loDg hoodwink a faithful Catholic people. Attention has lately been called to the fact that the Bey Father Calendoli, a member of the Dominican Order, has invented a type-setting machine that will compose fifty thousand letters an hour— a task equal to the labour of thirty-six compositors. The difference in speed, as compared with existing machines, lies in tbe (act that, in* stead of letters being mode to fall separately into the composing etick, entire words can be composed in an instant by the simultaneous application of the fingers of both hands. It is a kind of harp, whose cords are replaced by metallic tubes adhering to each other in fonr series. All these tubes communicate through an ingenious electrical device with a key-board, or rather chess-board, divided in twenty-one small squares covered with electrical knobs. Each letter is printed on the little knobs. In these squares cod sonants are not repeated, but the vowels are triplicated and surround the consonants in a very ingeniua way, which permits the composition of most of the sylablei witb a single finger in touching two knobs at the tarn* time, as be, bi, bo, bu, etc. Practically, a Bkilful operator plays tbe parts of a pianist, who, by the nee of his ten fingers, is able to strike fifty-thou-sand notes an hour ; letters replace the notes in tbe type-setting scheme, An electrical current is produced at the precise time tbe compositor raises bis finger from the knobs, and infctantaneously the letters drop from the tubes oo the inclined wire, which is placed in full sight of the operator on the right side of the chess-board. " Justification " is accomplished by the foot of the operator, and the beauty of it is that the copy is always in sight, which render! the

ODDS AND ENDS.

correction practicable on the spot. It is claimed that the invention means a complete revolution in printing.

An Old Story.— A priest was standing at a corner of a square abont the hour of dinner, when one of his congregation, observing the worthy father in perplexity, thus addressed htm : "Oh, Father O'Leary, how ia your riverence ?" " Mightily put out, Pat, was the reply." •• Pat oat I wbo pat out yer rirerence ?" "Ah! yon don't understand. This is jatt it, lam invited to dine at one of the bouses in this rqaare and have forgotten the name, and I never looked at the number, aid now it's 7 o'clock." "Ob I is that all?" was t&e cry. " Jast now be aisy yer riverence, I'll settle that for yer." 80 saying, away fbw the good-natured Irishman round the square, glancing at the kitchens, and when he discovered a fire that denoted hospitality, he thundered at the door and enquired, " Is Father O'Leary here ?" As migb be expected, again and again he was repulsed. At length an angry footman exclaimed, " No 1 bother on Father O'Leary, be is not here, bat he was to dine here to-day and the cook is in a rsge ( and says the dinner will be spoiled ; all is waiting on Father O'Leary." Pat, leaping from tbe door ac if the steps had been on fire, rushed up to the astonished priest and cried, " All right yer riverence, yoo dine at 43, and a mighty good dinner you'll get." "Oh ! Pat," said the grateful pastor, " the blessings of a hungry man be upon you 1" " Long life and happiness to yer riverence 1 I have got yonr malady ; I only wish I had yer care," returned Pat,

It may not be generally known to onr readers that the Domini" can Nans of Florence were among the very first to set up a regular printing press.

Literary pastime.— Once a gentleman wbo had a marvellous gift of Bhaping a great many thing! oat of orange peel was dis. playing bis abilities at a dioner party before Tbeodore Hook and Mr Thomas Hill, and succeeded ia counterfeiting a pig. Mr Hill tried the same feat ; and after destroying and strewing the table with the peel of a dozen oranges, gave it up, with the exclamatioD, " Hang the pig I I can't make him." " Nay, Hill," exclaimed Hook, glancing at the mess on the table, " you have done more ; instead of one pig, 70a have made a litter."

Sacrilege at a New York Church.— A priest chases the thieves, —New York journals relate tbat as the Rev Father Wood, rector of the Church of the Holy Cross in that city, was leaving the pulpit after delivering the daily instruction, he beard a suspicious noise proceeding from a lobby or vestibule of the church. On hastening to ascertain tbe cause be found two thieves in the act of ransacking the poor-boxep, wbo, on perceiving the priest, immediately made off. Father Wood, however, vetted as he wbb in cotta and stole, gave instant pursuit, and chased the pair through one or two adjacent streets, when, finding themselves too closely overtaken, one of them threw away the alme-box which be was carrying, and while Father Wood stopped to recover it they succeeded in effecting their escape. The case is in the hands of tbe police, to whom the priest has given a description of the culprits. Fortnnately, in consequence of tbe F-tber's quick arrival on the ecene, the bulk of tbe money was saved.