DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9, 1 March 1900, Page 5

DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

(From our own correspondent.) February 22. « a Th , e . Re J v " Father Fa y> S - M - of Blenheim, is at present on a visit to Auckland The Rev. Father T. McKenna, who has been on a visit here leaves for the South to-day. ' ,v T ! ie J JuryV u ry Rev - Dfcau o ' Reill y visited Otahuha last Sunday, and officiated there in the evening. J A substantial surplus is likely to result from the recent concert on behalf of the cemetery improvement fund, and the committee intends to push on immediately the much-needed work The old Norman custom of ringing the curfew-bell "was strongly urged upon the Government of the Colony by a resolution adopted at a meeting of goody-goody ladies this week in Auckland city A succesef ul concert was heid in Moketu, situated in Rev Father Ahearne s parish, last Friday evening in aid of the Church Building t uud. A number of well performed items made a very acceptable SeS^aluabinervf nnie ""* L ° rrigan> from Au <*land, The annual cry with regard to a water famine has been again hounded by our civic authorities. This (l uestion of a water supply tor Auckland is a positive scandal. The precious liquid is in abundance and at comparatively short distances from the city and though millions of gallons are allowed to go to waste in the rainy season, yet in the dry months of the year the citizens are regularly treated to ' expert opinions ' as to how a sufficient supply i 8i 8 to be obtained. And there the mater is invariably allowed to rest. n .Jv c X? ry Rev - Dr - Ejran, 0.58., hon sec. to the Auckland Catholic Diocesan Education Board, is to be heartily congratulated upon the way in which he placed, in an interview with a Herald representative, the Catholic claim for State inspection of our schools Dr. Egan in the most concise and conclusive manner marshalled his facts, going back to the time when the first appeal was made to the Board of Education, showing subsequent appeals with their accompanying curt refusals ; producing a telling letter addressed to the Bishop from the Hon. C. Bowen, the father of the Education Act and from the present Premier, both of whom stated that the refusal to examine the schools was contrary to the spirit of the Act Since Dr. Egiu, s interview, the Board of Education have met, and with but two ili^enting votes (those of. Messrs. Muir and Luke) have granted per mission to their inspectors to examine our schools ' The argument put forward by Mr. Muir with regard to the financial aspect ot the case was ludicrously illogical. By maintaining fhe said) their own schools, the Catholics saved the State a great deal of money. But the Board of Education was not the State On that ground he would oppose the request. The battle has been after years of requisitioning, won, and a meed of justice has at last been dealt out to us

A pastor of the Presbyterian Church, the Rev. John Irwin, last Sunday at Cambridge (Waikato) said from the pulpit that • it was British {freed that had caused the war in South Africa, and had it not been for the enormous wealth of gold and diamond-, in the Transvaal no notice would have been taken nt the treatment the Uitlanders received.' The rev. gentl -man thei denounced Lord Roberts for telling the troops they would h,i\e an opportunity of avenging the reverse they had sustained at Mairer-fon < in. Oik- of the elders as ;i protest, rose and left the building.