WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIV, Issue 1, 1 May 1896, Page 28

WELLINGTON.

(From our own Correspondent.)

April 18, 1896.

Bishop Vidal was [recently interviewed by a reporter of a Sydney paper, to whom be gave a good deal of information respecting Fiji and tbe progress of the Catholic Church there. A few of the remarks may be of interest to your readers. The Bishop has been connected with the mission for twentyfiva years, the first sixteen of which he spent in Samoa. The Roman Catholic population was about 10,000. The mission staff consisted of twenty-eight priests, Beven Marist Brothers (for English schools), 140 Native oatechists (.for Native school?), nine Sisters (for English schools), and thirty-two Sisters (for Native schools). About 215 English pupils and 2,000 Natives attended the schools. There were sixteen district churches and fifty chapels in addition to meeting houses. A very fine cathedral was in coarse of erection in Suva, the stone for which was being imported from New South Wales. The building would acoommedate, when completed, 2,000 worshippers. It was designed by Father Hosier, a missionary who bad been tbe architect of many stone churches in New Caledonia. The church had been commenced about a year ago, and would be completed in about three years. Dr Yidal said he had h( ard that accusations bad been made against the mission of proselytism by bribing tho Natives to forsaks tho Church to which they belonged. It was true the priests hid done in fiji what they had done in all parts of tbe world, maJe presents of beads, crosses, and medals, but no one could designate such gift 9as bribes. On his return to F,ji from Sydney he was willing to submit the matter to an independent tribunal for inves igati-n. Dr Vidal was on bis way to Rome, and will be absent six months.

It would seem that the day of the no-popery orator is even pise* ing away at Home, for I read in an English paper (the Daily Tel»* graph) tbe other day of bow a spoater of the Protes'ant Alliance was received in Hyde Park one Sunday afternoon in the beginning of March. The paper says that leaflet were distributed among those present bat these i.ffjrded no c!ue as to the raison d'etre of this organisation, bat the intersting announcement was made that funds were " urgently needed to carry on the work " and that •• the lecturer is willing to go anywhere, town or country." Oa the present occasion he was subject 'o continuous interruption and remarks that could scarcely be construed as complimentary ; bat the c had not the effect of deterring him from proceeding with a dkcoursa that was long, incoherent, and calculated to gravely offend any listeners holding opposite theological views. One person who attempted apparently to stay tbe lecturer's t)rrent of words was told by tbe speaksr that he " would not be responsible f r what might happen if be ventured to lay hands on him " The lecturer c nticued his doleful harangue, paying no heed 'o the polite sallies ot his auJieaca, wlio3e numerical strength, having regard to tbe pitiless koenc 89 of the wind, was nothing less than astonishing. At last tne little white banner went down, and then, when it becanoe known that the wearisome oration was at an end, a great shout was raised by the crowd, bats were waved, and irooical cheers were indulged in by tbe assemblage. Lest any attempt might be made to accord an unusual vcte of thanks to the speaker in tbe shape ot a physic \1 assault, tha police officers at once proceeded to disperse the gathering in summary fashion, jostling them to the right and to the I ft, and showing them plainly that they most crea'e no sort of obstruction. This method ot dismissing the crowd proved, on tne wiole, expedient, although it causad people to muster on the ground in large numbers who had p-eviouslj held alcof from the proceeding, and there ensued a harmless display of horseplay wbicb enabled tbe self-appointed chairman of the meeting

just closed to escape from the sow of bis d inbtfal triumph unnoticel and unmolested. He took with him the white banner, and as many insults as a single individual could conveniently carry. A fashionable wedding took place in Archbishop Oorrigan's drawing room, in New York a few weeks ago, when Miss Louie Bennstt, a charming young Australian, and secretary to Madame Melba, was married to Mr Kenneth Maaon of the London Stock Exchange. The ceremony was performed by Archbishop Oorrigan. Misa Mitchell, sister of Madame Melba was bridesmaid, and her brother, Mr Ernest Mitchell, was best man, Tbe wedding breakfast was laid in Madame's rooms, which were a blaze of colour and light, and tbe principal toast was proposed by His Grace. The great diva provided the breakfast at a cost of £500 and presented a cheque for a respectable amount together with a grand piano as a wedding present. Mrs Kenneth Mason is daughter of Mr Henry Bennett, and nieoe of that popular medico, Dr O'Hara, of Melbourne. She is a cousin of Sir John Madden, Chief Justice of Victoria. As many people in this city are out of work just now, and money is so&roe, perhaps Mr Ziman would give hia offer of £1000, as the nucleus of a fund for building a warship, to the Benevolent Society to be spent io tome nseful work around the city, in which men having large families dependant on them, would be able to earn sufficient to keep the gaunt wolf — hunger — from the door during the approaching winter. Tbe United Kingdom can very well afford to maintain her navy without having to reaort to the expedient of receiving assistance of this character from the colonies. Dnring the last ten years she has reduced her national debt by about £80,000,000, or at tbe rate of £8,000,000 per annum ; and if she only ceases from contributing to the sinking fnnd for the next five years, she can, without an increase of a penny of taxation, build all the battleships necessary. The colonies have no need of displaying their loyalty in this twopence-tulf-penny manner, for no one either here or in England doubts it, and a trumpery display of this kind would only make people wonder what the colonies were going to do — perhaps ooncoating a scheme for a big loan. We had in this Colony to cease paying into the sinkiog fund some years ago, because the Government thought they ciuld do better with the money. If the United Kingdom can afford to reduce the national debt every year by a sum nearly double our revenue, surely she can afford to keep up her navy with the nquirements of the times without a sort of charitable aid subsidy from her colonies. The loyalty of tbe colonies cannot be doubted, fjr they have no reason to be otherwise than loyal as they have everything that a free people could desire in the way of national liberty. Perhaps the offer was made as a joke, or for the purpose of attracting attention, anyhow it has fallen quite fiat, and the public, figuratively speaking, smiled cynically and wicked the "other eye" when the matter was taken up seriously by the newspapers.