INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 31, 10 December 1897, Page 6

INTERCOLONIAL NEWS.

It is understood (says the correspondent of the Sydney Fireman) that the contemplated visit of the Archbishop of Melbourne ad limina will be made after Easter next. It is customary for bishops to pay a visit to the Eternal City every ten years to give an account of the progress of religion, etc., in their respective dioceses. His Grace was translated from the Bishopric of Ualway Lo the Archiepiscopal See of Melbourne on the 27th September, 1880. arriving in his cathedral city 11th June, 1887. Consequently, it will be about eleven years' stewardship as Metropolitan of the province of Victoria that the Archbishop of Melbourne will give an account of to his Sovereign, Leo XIII., in whose venerable hands also his Grace will place the offerings for two years of Peter's Pence in the dioctse over which he rules with so much honour to himself and advantage to his devoted flock. It has been mentioned before and may be repeated here that there is some probability of the Archbishop receiving the highest honour it is in the hands of the Vicar of Our Lord to bestow on " the good and faithful servant'' — the Cardinalatial rank. Certainly, the Divine status of the Papacy has never. perhaps, during the nineteen centuries of its glorious existence been so luminously and logically expounded and firmly established to the satisfaction of Catholic and non-Catholic alike as has been done by the Most Eev. the Archbishop of Melbourne. The elevation of his Grace to the ranks of the " Sacred College " vould give satisfaction and delight not only to the 144,000 subjects under the immediate jurisdiction of the Archbishop and the Catholic body of the colony generally, but likewise to thousands in every part of Australia . where the weight and influence of his personality and scholarly attainments have spread far and wide. We have had big fires in Melbourne before (says the correspondent of the Sydney Fireman'), but nothing like the one which broke out about two o'clock on Sunday morning. At sunset on Saturday night all was safe in the city. At sunrise on Sun 'ay morning half the buildings between Elizabeth and Swanstonstree-ts, fronting Flinders-lane and Flinders-street, were blazing fiercely. and before sunset on the same evening the biggest fire that has ever occurred in Australia was sullenly burning itself out, and material wealth to the value of ab ut £1,000,000 had ceased to exist, Happily, there was no lloss s of life. The the raged with appalling fury till about (J a.m.. and in that comparatively short sp ice vt tiinethe greater part ot the block, comprising about four out of live acres of buildings, had been convetted into an empty rum. The devasteel block is that which lies between Swanston and Eliz.beth streets, facing the Flinders street railway station, and contained the warehouses of some ot the leading Melbourne met chants. Jhe tiiti originated in the wan house ot Messrs. Craig, \\ illi.Lii-.oai and Thomas, in Elizabeth street, which was utterly rume 1. with all that it contained. It then swept eastward, spreading north and soaLh, among the tall buildings. The Mutual Stoio. in Flinders street, escaped with comparatively small damage by fire 1 , but sis;amcd some loss through water. The Port Pinlhp Club Hotel had a similar experience, though the rear po: turn of the structure «.b considerably damaged ; and several shops near the mutaal store also escaped destruction ; but with these exceptions, the warehouse s and their stocks were utterly de.s roved. Among them were the whole of Messrs. Sargood, Butler. ISiohol and Ewen s waiehouse. including the premises lately opened by that firm in Flinders lane, Messrs. L. Stevenson and Sons' warehouse, and other valuable buildings, the fire having made a clean sweep till it stopped at the rear of the h\\anston--irett irontages. When the flames and smoke cleared away tlu scone presented was one ot ghastly destruction. It is lough'ly estimated that the loss caused by this great fire in building and btock a.i.ounts to a million pounds. and that some 2000 persons will be ten'poiaiily thrown out ot employment. Ruined walls are liable to lall at i.ny mouienr. and the city authorities have quarantined jot turn of the block against all traffic as a measure of safety. Included m the ruined buildings is the '• sky-scraper" known as Fink s\ eight .stonus high, which was one of the monuments ot the '•Boom.' 1 ihe uhuiamo amount to £700.000. The colonial oilices are ali'e ted as lollows . — Victorian, £77,000; Sydney, £, 12,000 : Queensland. -Ci.'lno ; South Australian, £10,00); New Zealand, £.>ii,oiM) ; Ta-maiiiun, JL: 1 *.>.« >« >t>. These items total X. 183,000. British oiticus will theretoro have to find over £.")00,000. One hundred and nine f y in emeu, under Lhiul -(Juicer Stein, worked hard, and excellent discipline w.is m anlaine I. Two auxiliary firemen were, however, locked up onchaiges e>r attempted theft. The odd thing is that no wat< huien were employed on the block, which is now almost entirely in ruins. This, it is said, accounts ior the delny in gi\mg the alarm to the firebi ig\ules. lhe fire must have been burning fiercely .some time be*oiv the alarm wa.s given, and the question aiioes how was it that the h okouts did not discover it I Some sensational evidence concerning the fii\st ajipoirance of the fire was obtained on Monday. The matron at the Melbourne Hospital on duty in ward J on Satuid iy night states that she looked out of the window at one o'clouk on Sunday morning

and saw dense volumes of smoke rising fron the direction of Flinders-street station. Thinking it would most certainly have been seen by others, and reported, she resumed her duties, and at half-past one she took another nurse to the window and then saw the fl unes shooting iulo the air. It will thus be sefcn that the firot pinoke was seen at one o'clock, the first flame at 1.150. and that the brigades got the alarm at 20 minutes to two. Mr. Stein is of opinion that the nurses have made a mistake in the t me. The Eight Eev. Dr. U-ibney. Bishop of Perth, while on his way to St. Patrick's Cathedral. Melbourne (says the Adelaide Southern Croxx), visited the Convent of Mercy, Angas street, with the object of arranging tor the foundation of a community of nuns at Kanowna. Ilis etl'orts weie entirely successful, and on his return from the great Melbourne celt br.ition Dr. Gibney was informed that five of the nuns wnuid leave in January next, to open a school in that dibtrict. 'lhe Eov. Mother will accompany the nuns until all arrangement^ a, - e complete. A branch of the Sisters ot Mercy is already established in Perth. The Sisters ia Angas street, however, although oiiy uiiilly connected with the mother house at Bagot street, Dublin, e.ur.e to ibis colony from South America. It is understood (-a;>s tlie l''m i.mv) that sti ps will shortly be takrn in Melbourne to 00-opeiate with the Sydney ''.US centenary committee— a lnovcuc .t whit h mubt appeal to every lu-htnan and every man in whom ihe sacred spark of nationality glows. The patriotic Irish in Victoria, have not yet formulated a programme tor the occasion, but there exists a strong fouling in favour of a distinct demonstration in Melbourne, to be concurrent with that in Sydney, and to devote towards the proposed monument to be erected in your city the surplus iundo expected to result from the local celebrations. Some leading Irishmen in Melbourne have expieseed tl.eir intention ot being present at the Sydney demonstration of National Irish sentiment.