DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 24, 13 June 1901, Page 6

DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND.

(From our«own correspondent.)

June 6. An entertainment in aid of the Sisters of St. Joseph's school, at Newmarket, takes place at St. Benedict's Hall at an early date. His Lordship the Bishop is due next Sunday at Pukekohe, where he will administer the Sacrament of Confirmation. This parish i 8 in charge of the Rev. Father Aherne, and the Rev. Father Benedict, O.P , is just concluding there a most successful mission. News has been received of the sad death of Mrs Le Bret, eldest sister of his Lordship Bishop Lenihan, which took place at Brussels on March 12. The deceased lady leaves a husband and three children to mourn their 10-s. Mu'-h sympathy has been extended to them and to his Lordship Dr Lenihun. The three little girls, Leonore, Eva, and Nina Johnston, who perished in the flames at the Grand Hotel this day week, were for a long time boarders at St. Mary's High School, Ponsonby. Arrangements had actually been made for them to go back to the Sisters. They were not of the Faith. Jn his sermon last Sunday night the Bishop incidentally alluded to the three little ones, all of whom he knew well. The Bishop was one of the first the morning after the fire to call and condole with the sorrowing parents. Once more an indignant public protest in unmistakable manner at the shockingly inadequate equipment of our fire brigade. Warnings without number have been given our civic authorities. Death itself now knocks at their doors. Imagine a body of men tugging behind them to a fire in our hilly city appliances weighing 30 tons, and expecting them, after such exertion, upon reaching the scene of the fire to cope successfully with it. Another danger is want of fire escapes in our three and four-storied hotels. The majority of them are veritable death-traps. Then our water supply is deficient. The whole thiug is a disgrace to the people of the largest city in the Colony. The census returns, the official and corrected returns, give the populations of the four principal cities with their suburbs as follow : Auckland, 07,2(1,") ; Dunedin, 5,5,2 < J4 ; Christchurch, 4i1,104 ; and Wellington, 4t5 093. Commenting on these figures the Herald says : ' How does the present Government act towards this great district ? Does it not freely build railways all over the South, but grudge every mile of line to the North ? Does it not purchase estates in the South for closer settlement while it delays the throwing open of Crown lands in the North V Isolated though we certainly be, Auckland prospers in epite of it. His Lordship the Right Rev. Dr. Lenihan was at the cathedral last Sunday night, where, to a crowded congregation, he delivered a very fine discourse on Faith. He defined in terse and forcible language what faith really is. its power and its efficacy, the mighty and apparently insurmountable objects it has overcome, and the lasting good it has accomplished in a world which mocks at it, and professes to ignore its potency. To those Catholics who profeseed the faith, but conveniently put it aside when mundane considerations rose paramount, his Lordship administered a timely and telling rebuke. ' I turn,' said the Bishop, 'to Plato and Socrates and Cato who each in his turn Bays : "My life whilst in the world was what it should be, morally, socially, and politically. To my fellowmen I was ever honest. I obeyed the laws of the country, yet I possessed not faith like unto you Christians in the world to-day. Although you profess the faith you do none of these things. You, on the contrary, lead bad and wicked lives.' His Lordship contended that few would deny that this charge was warranted. Procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the church followed, the Sacred Host being borne by the Rev. Father Patterson, deacon Father Buckley, subdeacon Father Rusßell, master of ceremonies Father Moore. The canopy was borne by four of the

Marist Brothers. The choir, under Mr. P. F. Hiscocks, as usual, mustered in strong force, and acquitted themselves in admirable style.