INTERCOLONIAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 9, 28 February 1901, Page 20

INTERCOLONIAL.

Over 3500 old age pensions have already been granted in Vie* torn, and as only 6000 had been provided for by Parliament, it is feared that a large number of applicants will be disappointed. Nut withstanding the cleansing process to which Sydney had hep i s'ibi "cted during the prevalence of the plague still there were o\er 1000 o »ses of typhoid in the city last year. It is proposed that the site of the Commonwealth proclamation on the Centennial Park, Sydney, shall be marked by the erection of a permanent pavilion on the lines of the temporary one, at a cost of £17,000. The TW. Mnher Xavier, Superioress of the Convent of Mercy, Billirit. Vict)ria, has returned to that colony after a visit to Europe, bring. ug with her a number of novices of her Order. The Rev. W. Grey, Presbyterian minister of Jamestown, writes as follows to an Australian contemporary : — ' The Cardinal's position is this . The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia is a Cardinal. According to the best authorities on the rules that govern society, a Cardinal takes his rank next to kings and princes, and above all other Church functionaries. To put Cardinal Moran beio v the Primate was a violation of this recognised rule. And from the Cardinal's point of view his action is right and dignified. The conductor of St. Mary's Cathedral Choir, Sydney, Mr. J. A Delany, has received a flattering token of the kindly feeling in which the members of St. Mary's Cathedral orchestra regard him in the presentation of a handsome ivory and silver-mounted umbrella suitably inscribed. In offering their gift the members referred to the good will felt by all the performers towards their conductor. Mr. Delany, in acknowledgment, very heartily thanked his well-wishers, and sincerely hoped that the present amicable state of unison and concord between himself and the gentlemen working under his baton might remain unchanged The uncertainty of life was exemplified some days ago in Melbourne when a young man named William McDougall was drowned in the Yarra. The day before his death he had reoeived official notification that he would be recommended for recognition by the Humane Society tur wiving a person from drowning. On the day of his death he was in a boat on the Yarra with two companions, and went into the water to bathe, and before his companions could come to his assistance he was drowned, having been seized with cramps. Mr John FiU-imons, who left Sydney the other day for London for the purpose ot establishing a branch of the Citizens' Life Assurance Company theie, was given a most enthusiastic send-off by his friends. The steamer Greyhound had been chartered for the occasion, and on board weie a large number of employes of the company, beanies several representatives of the St. Ignatius' College Ex-Students' Union, the Bdmain Rowing Club, and Balmain Football Club, with each of whijh institutions Mr Fitztimons had been prominently identified. The steamer accompanied the ocean liner as far as the Heads, and after a parting greeting a return was made to town. Mr Fitzsimons entered the service of the company ou leaving school, home ten years ago, s-o that his advancement has been very rapid. By the last mail Lady MEaehern, wife of the ex-Mayor of Melbourne, forwarded from London a cheque for £50 as a donation to the building f uud of the nuns of the Good Shepherd at Abbotsford.