INTERCOLONIAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 37, 13 September 1900, Page 20

INTERCOLONIAL.

Sister M. Ignatius, of the Brigidine Convent, Cooma. left for Mo^ntrath Convent, Ireland, recently.

The new wing; of the Passionist Monastery at Glen Osmond is now well advanced, and there is every hope that the opening will take place on September 23. The new chapel will be located in the main building, which will be ready for the holding of divine service at the same time. Owing to the heavy cost entailed by the alterations, an appeal will be made for f unds to defray the expenses. Although the eloquent and devoted Passionist Fathers have been laboring in the archdiocese of Adelaide for nearly six years, they have never previously appealed to the public.

Though upwards of £80,000 has been expended on the buildings in which the nunß of the Convent of the Good Shepherd, Abbotsford, carry on their work, no separate accommodation has yet been provided for the nuns themselves. Exclusive of 100 nuns •who form the community, there are in the building about tiOO inmates, who are separately provided for in the Magdalen Orphanage and preservative clashes, the living apartments of the nuns being distributed over the whole of the building without any particular method. A contract has already been left for the erection of a new convent, at a cost of £20,000, and the designs provide for a building that will form a centre of the three branches of the work of the lister hood.

About three years ago Mr G. n. Reid established in Sydney what is known as the Metropolitan Charities Association. In July last the Colonial Secretary instructed the acting director of charities to investigate the affairs of the Association, and his report has now been furnished. Since its inauguration the Association has received from the Government grants amounting to £K)3t. and has collected from private sources £88, making a total of £1112. Of this sum only £30 was expended on relief to di.-rrensed people. No less than £65(5 has been expended in salaries, nearly every managing officer of the separate committees being remunerated for his services, while stamps and stationery totalled £.">l, printing £')8, sundries £135. The report gives some interesting particulars concerning the objects of the Association. One of the primary obj rets was to prevent overlapping in the distribution of relief, ami seeing that only £30 had been expended in three years the Association may be said to have achieved success in this direction. The acting director of charities recommends that no further subsidy be granted by the Government to the Association, and this has been acted upon.

Referring to the proposed introduction of Scripture lessons into the State schools of Victoria the Ar,ju* says .—lt has been pointed out by Archbishop Carr in our columns that an easy solution of this difficulty would be to grant the Roman Catholics a moderate subBidy for secular work done in the schools which they establish at their own cost. Do this, and we gather that the Roman Catholic Church would become as strenuous for the system as the most enthusiastic of the Protestant Churches. And it is understood that several of the Protestant clergy who once anathematised the idea are now tolerant regarding it. Others, however, will still earnestly take the old ground that if only the substance of Christianity, which is held, or wbich ought to be held, by all the Churches, is taught in the schools, no one Church or sect is entitled to complain if it elects to stand out. We need only say to-day that, provided Bible instruction is introduced, there will be a Btrong desire among all thinking men not to increase rancour in any instance, but to make an arrangement that will be accepted in peace and goodwill by one and all. If the subsidy is objectionable, some other settlement is to be diligently sought for.

Father Ignatius, C.P., who volunteered some time ago to attend the plague patients at the Sydney quarantine station, was born in 1870 at Birkenhead, England. His father is William Le Meaurier, C.E., who took a leading part in the construction of the Liverpool-Manchester Canal. Mr. Le Mesurier is a convert, having 'come over' in 1845, together with his brother, the well-known Alfred Le Mesurier, M.A., of Oriel College, Oxford. Father

Ignatius was educated by the Jesuits, first at Mount St. Mary's Chester and afterwards at Stonyhurst. His father meant him to follow his own profession, but God gave him the call to a higher lite, and in 18D2 he sought and received the habit of St. Panl of the Cross at Mary's Mount, Goulburn. He was a most exemplary novice. On June the 25th of the following year he made- profession of the religious vows. After the usual philosophical and theological course he was ordained priest on Pentecost Sunday by his Lordship Dr Gallagher. Since that time he has beeu attached to the Sydney archdiocese. St. Francis Xavier's Cathedral, Adelaide, was the scene of a Saturday, August 17, when a Requiem Mass was celebrated for the repose of the soul of the late iv'-ig ot Italy. The church was crowded with a large aad representative congregation, including His Excellency the Governor and Lady Tennyson, His Honor the Chief Justice (Right Hon. Sir Samuel Way) Right Hon. C. 0. -Kingston, the Commissioner of Crown Lands (Hon. L. OLoughlin), the Mayor of Adelaide (Mr. A. W. Ware), several members of the Legislature and the Adelaide Corporation, Dr. Pennefather (private secretary to the Governor), Major Taylor (associate to His Honor the Chief Justice), the Acting Consular Agent for Italy, the Consul for Austria-Hungary, the Consul for the Netherlands, the Consul for Liberia, the Vice-Consul for JJrazil, the Consul for Portugal, the Consular Agent for the United States and the Consul for Japan. His Excellency the Governor and Lady Tennyson occupied seats in front of the sanctuary and special seats were reserved for the Parliamentary, consular, munith P th ° re P res entatives. His Grace the Archbishop occupied The Archbishop of Melbourne visited Ballarat on August 18 and was met at the railway station by Bishop Moore and a number of the clergy and laity. At High Mass on Sunday at St. Patricks Cathedral, the Archbishop of Melbourne preached a sermon in aid ?/• v £ ulldin e fund of the new Catholic hall. Subsequently Bishop Moore laid the foundation-stone of the hall in the presenoe of a very large assemblage. The new building is to oost £5600 and subscriptions amounting to £2500 were placed on the itone. Bishop Moore and h« flock (says the Freeman* Journal) always do thine* on a large scale. Ballarat has a splendid cathedral, St. Patrick 1!—1 !— the nrst cathedral in Australia which was solemnly consecrated mere ib not a penny of debt on the building. The magnificent church properties of Ballarat include the famous Loretto convent and college and the Redeniptorist monastery. Outside his diocese Dr. Moore s generosity is well known. His aid was never asked in vain for St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne. The same thing may be said with regard to our own St. Mary's in Sydney At the centenary' meeting in St. Mary s, January 1888, Dr. Moore gave 100 guineas. At the blessing of the sanctuary portion of our cathedral in I8«JO his donation was £100. When a tew weeks ago he accepted the Cardinal's invitation to the dedication of St. Mary's in September next, his Lordship sent as his contribution to the expen-es of the Cathedral Fe.-tival and the Catholic Congress £100 While on the subject it is of interest to note in coaneotioo with St' Mary s that the Archbishop of Melbourne gave £100 in 1888 and £ln<),n 18' JO. His Grace, like his Lordship of Baliarat, also' sent £100 last month to the Cathedral and Congress funds. On Sunday last at Ballarat, Dr. Moore gave £500 and Archbishop Carr £20