DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 50, 14 December 1899, Page 5

DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH.

(From our own correspondent.)

December 11.

On Sunday evening last five aspirants were admitted to membership of the Children of Mary at the Pro-Cathedral, the Very Rev. Father Le Menant des Chesnais, S.M., Vicar-General, performing the ceremony. At .St. Aloysius' Hall on Monday evening. December 4, a very successful entertainment was given under the direction of the Rev. Father Richards in aid of the Pro-Cathedral funds. There was a good audience and the various items of a well-arranged programme were received with evident appreciation. His Lordship the Bishop concluded his mission services in Rangiora on Tuesday, the sth inst. The episcopal visitation of the parish and the administration of the Sacrament of Confirmation were comprised in the ceremonies performed by the Bishop during his stay. The collection for the Cathedral fund realised about £300. Daring the remainder of the week his Lordship and the Very Rev. Dean Foley were occupied at Oxford, another portion of the Rangiora parish, the services there being concluded on Suuday last, after which Dr. Grimes was expected to return to town. The General Election passed off very quietly in Christchurch, and whether owing to the wise provision of having all hotels closed, or the moral effect of Prohibition tenets which have for the last three years been persistently instilled into the minds of the people, but one solitary first offender against the liquor laws made his appearance next morning before the presiding justice. Prohibition advocates were particularly prominent at all the polling places, and their doctrine seemed to pervade the very atmosphere, but notwithstanding their efforts the advocates of liquor reform suffered a most crushing defeat, losing not only the local option vote, but also meeting with the additional disaster of having their two former members and candidates on this occasion rejected. The schools, conducted by the Sisters of the Mission, Barbadoes street, were, as I indicated iv a previous letter, examined by Mr J Baldwin, headmaster of the Sydenham State school, and Inspector of Catholic Bchools for the diocese of Christchurch under the Education Department, on precisely the same basis of examination as his own school (one of the most important under the North Canterbury Education Board) is conducted. In his general report the Inspector says : ' The schools on the whole have passed a very satisfactory examination. The neatness of the work in the upper standards appears to be a speciality, and is highly commendable. The singing in both echools is very good, and the needlework throughout is excellent. The discipline and general behaviour of the children during the examination were good.' Referring to the high school department the examiner says : ' The algebra is in advance of what I expected, the three pupils in the upper division and the six in the lower would, with very little preparation, be equal to the work required in the matriculation examination. The Euclid papers on the whole are very well done.' The French of the