DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHUROH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 26, 28 June 1900, Page 3

DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHUROH.

(From our own correspondent.) June 23. Sunday last, the Feast of St. John the Baptist, was the patronal feast of the diocese, and also of his Lordship the Bishop. Pontifical Vespers were sung in the evening, at which the Bishop officiated, and afterwards preached. The sum of £2(5 in cash, and promises of contributions representing £13, have been received in response to an appeal for funds to erect a tablet in the Catholic Church at Timaru to the memory of the late Corporal Byrne, who lo a t his life in South Africa. As funds have been subscribed so liberally, it has been decided to erect both a tablet and a memorial .window in the church in honor of the soldier. At a meeting of the Cathedral and Bazaar Committee, held at the presbytery on Sunday afternoon, plans for additions to the Drill Shed for the purposes of the carnival were adopted, and the engagement of Signor Borzeni for a series of entertainments confirmed. The title of the carnival is to be ' England's call to her Empire.' His Lordship the Biahop presided at the meeting, there being also present the Very Rev. Father Le Menant des Chesnais, Very Rev. Dean Foley, Very Rev. Fathers Ginaty and Marnane.

At Amberley, on Monday evening, the 18th, a most successful concert was given by friends from Christchurch and Ellesmere, in aid of the presbytery building fund. The hall was filled to overflowing and most of the items on the programme were encored. Songs were contributed by Mrs. A. Mead, Misses J. Moir and Duncan, Messrs. C. Goggan and R. Peterson, recitations by Mr. Ryan, and a humorous sketch by the three last named. On the following evening the above party gave an entertainment at Waikari, and on Wednesday at Waiau, considerably increasing by their efforts the fund for the erection of the Rev. Father Price's residence at Hawarden.

On Tuesday evening last a very enjoyable variety entertainment was given at the Oddfellows Hall, Lyttelton, in aid of a fund for repairing St. Joseph's School. There was a large attendance, and the programme was carried out in a manner which evoked hearty approbation, most of the item* being encored. Songs were contributed by Miss C. Meikle, Messrs. C. Read, G. E. Collins, A. Hayden, and Irvine. Mrs. C. M. Renant played a violin solo, and Messrs. A. Ormiston and 11. O'Brien a pianoforte duet. Mrs, Dalton was a very efficient accompanist, and Mr. Riordan's orchestra played two overtures in fine style. An exceedingly good exhibition of mimicry was given by ' Professor Salanto.' A band of children from the Raupaki Maori school gave a couple of hakas in a style deserving of the highest praise. One performed by the girls was of historic interest, being, it is said, that which was given by the Ngapahi to welcome Governor Hobson on his arrival in New Zealand. The other was performed by the boys and was fraught with significance to the native mind.

A grievous wrong is threatened to be perpetrated on the Catholic body of Christohuroh by the City Council. Without previous warning and with a haste quite unusual with this generally slow-moving body, a section of land — immediately adjoining the Church property in Barbadoes street, not more than a tchain from the grounds of the splendid Monastery of the Sacred Heart, where

over 100 nuns are housed, many boarders accommodated and hundreds of the girls of the parish schooled not more than five chains ?romtbee P 4opal residence and site of the proposed -agn^en new cathedral, and about the same distance from the Marist Brothers' Monastery and boys' schools, where upwards of COO pupils Tre taught and have their recreation grounds-has been P™**"*. and on this it is proposed to erect a destructor, with depot for all the filth garbage, and offal of the whole city, and as some of the councillor's naively suggested, the suburbs al-o, when the , oontomElated Bcheine for embodying them in a greater Chnstchurch is accompHshed. It is likewise proposed to erect thereon a morgue with necessary offices, stabling for 30 horses, storage for fodder, drays steam rollers, road metal, street ecrapinga, and every abominatfonwtSh is contained in and usually goes to make what is hSthy. eminently respectable, and attractive locality at a cost roundly of a quarter of a million pounds sterling, with the additional intention of spending £40 000 in the erection of one of the finest cathedrals in the Colony. It i B needles* to say how keenly SltlSi proposal has pained his Lordship the Bishop our devoSl priests and religious, and raleed a feeling of indignant protest from the Catholic people and others owning property^ in .the neighbourhood. Immediate action has been taken by handbill and Advertisement to hold a representative public meeting on Tuesday evening to protest against and strenuously oppose this wholly undeserved and glaring injustice. A petition signed by ratepayers StihTSSi" ia*in circulation, and another by *H Catholics in the city and even Canterbury, or the whole Diocese, if needs be, is in course of preparation.