DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 43, 25 October 1900, Page 5

DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

(From oar own oorreepondent.) October 18. Rating upon unimproved values has occupied the attention of the Auckland City Council and several of the suburban boroughs during the last two months. Two of the latter hare adopted tha

principle, but the former, after discussing it at a special meeting called for the purpose, pat the matter on to the shoulders of the ratepayers to decide it by the ballot box. At St. Benedict's last Sunday a special collection was made at the Masses and at Vespers towards the cost of the new fence, now nearinp completion, round the church. The result waa very satisfactory. In the evening the Rev. Father Gillan continued his excellent discourses on the Holy Rosary, which are so appropriate this month. A mortuary service is to be held in the Catholic cemetery, Symond street, on theatternoon ot Sunday, November 4. His LoiJBhip the Bishop will take part in it, Mr. Hiscocks, conductor of St. Patrick's Choir, has promised to have a choir there for the ouoaBion. At each of the three gates a voluntary collection will be made, the proceeds of which are to be devoted to the renovation of the cemetery. The quarterly balance sheet of the local branch of the H.A.C B. Society shows a Bum of £2089 18s 2d to the credit of the sick and funeral fund. For medical attendance and sick pay there was expended during the quarter the sum of £90 11s Bd. The management fund shows a credit of £543 8s 4d, and the benevolent fund £20 18s 3d. Three new members were proposed at last meeting. Bro. P. J. Nerheny was nominated for the office of vice-president of the branch to fill the vacancy caused through Bro. Callaghan, V.P., who resigned to go to Wellington. The Right Rev. Mgr. O'Reilly returned last Saturday from Sydney. At St. Patrick's last Sunday evening he referred to the great gathering ■which took place recently in the capital of the mother colony. The sight at St. Mary's Cathedral on the Sunday preceding the Congress, he said, was one to be remembered and never forgotten. Thirteen archbishops and bishops, 200 priests, and over 60 students took part in the solemn religious function. St. Mary's, Sydney, is a magnificent edifice. There have been already spent upon it £200,000, and it is not yet completed. He understood that £200,000 had also been spent upon St. Patrick's. Melbourne. There were few churches in any part of the world to excel St. Mary's, Sydney. The Congress opened next day with an inaugural address by his Eminence Cardinal Moran. It was worthy of the great occasion. Twenty minutes were allowed to each of the subsequent speakers, at the end of which time tftie bell sounded and many a splendid peroration was left unfinished. The papers read were of a very high order of merit. "With those from the laity he was particularly interested. The papers as a whole covered a wide range, and the criticisms upon them were admirable. He fully believed that great and lasting good would result from the Congress. One thing which struck him was the general advancement in and around Sydney of Catholicism, evidenced in the numb3r and splendor of the churches, schools, and convent*. In this respeot they were much in advanoe of us in New Zealand, but this was acxmnted for by ta<> Urg^r number of Catholics over there. In some of the sister coloui.>* our co-reli-gionists numbered one third of the population, while we hare formed but one-seventh. Catholic education in Sydney was making great strides. He was pleabed to tell them of the very high esteem in which Bishop Lenihan was held by the prelates, priests, and a large number of the laity in Australia, and amongst them general regret was expressed at his absence from them. He (Mgr. O'Reilly) desired to thank his Eminence Cardinal Moran for his very kind treatment of him while in Sydney.