Notes.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 9, 28 February 1901, Page 19

Notes.

An Australian exchange says : ' The New Woman will soon rule in Maoriland. She has votes for parliamentary and municipal c lections. She is entitled to sit in municipal councils — and has eat She has even been mayor — very much — at Onehunga. And ia a brief space we may expect to hear of women sitting ia Parliament ' Oar contemporary's information is a bit antiquated. Every one in New Zealand knows that there are a dozsn or so of women bitting in our Parliament — old women, of course.

It ia well for the Treasury of various countries that there is a conscience abroal with t\ ?] irubok in its h-uid or a sharp goa i, and — among other things — a confess onal to apply the rawhide or the keen point t) thy quarter where it is calculated to do most good. The Colonial Treasurer prob ibly realises thi& ; for, in lant week's Gazette, by his direction, the Receiver-general (Mr. J. B. Heywood) acknowledge! the receipt of £2 in b-mk notes from an anonymous person, with the following words • ' Whoso co^e^eth his sins shall not prosper, but he that coufis^jth and forsakelh them bhall have mercy.'

'A bookless house is a desert,' says the Xeui Century. ' But a house where books have not bfea chosen with carp, is a field of luxuriant and poisonous weeds. A list of the beht one hundred books, chosea from the Catholic poitit of view, ought to be made by some profts^ors of books, as Emerson phraser it. Tho spiritual life must b- fed by the sacraments and prayer, but there munt be food for the memory, the imagination, and the judgment. We do Dot want to encourage a race of polemists, but there is great need that the young shoul \ have their minds stored with reasons for the faith they hold. A w til-chosen book rever grows stale or tiresome. It ia a perpetual and good friend.'

Thf re is scarcely auy thing in the air above or on the earth or in the waters beneath the earth butaoine curious statist with plenty of time on his hands has counted and classified and catalogued. An English enthusiast of this kind has been probing the present century with the following results: It will (he informs uh) have twentyfour leap years — the greatest number possible. February will have five Sundays three timed— ll)2o, 11)48, and 11)70. The earliest possible date on which Eaßter can occur is March 12th. The last time it occurred on that date was 1818. Tbe latest date that Easter can ocjur is A pril 21th. It will oocur but on.-c in the twentieth century on eh .t date —l It l:{. The middle day of the century will be January Ist, 19.11. And the century will be marked by a grand total of 380 eclipsos.

Stray donkeys and frolicsome ghosts should not be allowed to be at large at unseasonable hours. No self-respecting ghost ought to be ween abroad earlier than midnight, otherwise his presence is likely to fright n nervous people. Neither ehould he be fouiid at any great distance from eoine grim castle or antiquated pile of buildings, otherwise the unsentimental people of this prosaic age

will oast doubts on his genuineness, and question his bona fides. A ' ghost,' who did not keep proper hours, was haled before the Wellington Stipendary Magistrate the other day, and severely admonished. This wbb much better than to have received the content* of some pea rifles, with which a few irate individuals, whose friends had been scared, awaited his coming.

Belgium is, par excellence, the Catholic country of Europe, By all the theories that have found favor in some non-Catholic pulpits and lifcWßpapers in this Colony Belgium ought, therefore, to be a melancholy example of ignorance, unprogressiveness, all-round villainy, and general chuokie-headednesH to the re»t of Europe. But, alack for the theorists ! it is the most thickly populated, the most contented, the moat progressive, and probably the best educated country on or off tbe Continent. The Paris Exposition awarded to the Belgian teaching method in primary schools the first and highest award. And now comes the administrative commission of the Pedagogical Museum of Switzerland, and says : ' On the occasion of the Universal Exposition we intend to complete our educational collections by adding to them what in Paris appeared to bear the seal of progress. On this point the exhibit made by the Kingdom of Belgium was considered by us as being without rival ; everything is worth noticing in the different sections in which the Belgian State has admirably synthetised what it does to realise its noble motto, " The School for Life." ' We may add that Spain, with less than half the population of the United Kingdom, has, according to Mulhall's Dictionary of Statistics (cd. 1900, p. 232) absolutely more students in its universities than England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland combined. Mulhall adds : ' The number of university studeuts compared with population is much greater in Spain and Belgium than in other European countries.'

and Little (Auckland), SiHter Kane (Auckland), and Bro. Doolan (Ohristchurch). The meeting was opened in the echoolroon adjoining the handsome little church of St. Patrick's, the Rev. Father Regnault presiding. There were also present Ilcv. Father OConnell, the D.E. officers, delegates, and a representative gathering of the Catholics of the district. It was a cheering niprbt indeed to >-cc the spontaniety and unanimity that existed between priests and people. The rev. chairman, in a few appropriate remarks, introduced the visitors, and showed the necessity for opening and maintaining a branch of the Society in W<iim»t(\ P.D.P., Bro. Flynn, followed after whom were Bros. Sellars, Shcihr.n. vI"A Kt -, •>•>>■> rrt-n..,] +i.o nntiv h»iicfiN spiritual and temporal, to be derived from meraberwhip of the Society. V.'hiLt the ra T .d:dr.tcc were b^>~ mcr^c-Hy oyttmth il, musical items were re dered by Mi^s Turkington, Mr. Goldttono, Bro. M. J. Sheahan, and Rev. Father O'Conm 11, Miss Hoban being the accompanist. Refreshments were handed round by a number of ladies. The initiation of members by Bro. D. Flynn thea took place. The following officers were elected : — Prt-sident, Rev. Father O'Connell ; vice-president, Bro. T. O. Flaherty ; secretory, Bro. Goldstone ; treasurer, Bio. J. O'Brion ; warden, Bro Jos Sim* : guardian, Bro. Costello ; pick visitors, Bros. Jas. Rickey, and John Cremin ; chaplain, Ruv. Father Regnault. The new officers were then installed by Bro. Flynn, after which they took up their respective positions and returned thanks to the members for the high honors con fei red up^n them, and prorrising to use their be-t endeavors to made St. Patrick's Branch, Waimate, second to none ia this Colony. Rev. Father Regnault thanked th" visiting officers and delegates for their kindness in coming to Wai mate, and said that the good work inaugurated might bear the very be t results. Rev. Father Regnault afterwards entertained the visitors at the presbytery. The visitors resumed their journey north by the express train in the evening, well pleased with the good work ho auspiciously commenced under the shadow of St. P lLil *.L .- L-urch, in the midst of the good priests and people of Waimate.