INTERCOLONIAL

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5, 1 February 1906, Page 31

INTERCOLONIAL

Upwards of £200 has been subscribed at Warwick in aid of the Irish Home Rule movement. The Very Rev. Dean Phelan left London on January 19 on his return to Melbourne. He is expected to arrive about February 21. Rev. Father James Byrne, late of Holy Cross Church, Wooloowin, has been appointed to the charge of St. Stephen's Cathedral, in succession to Right Rev. Dr. Duhig. Dr. M. U. O'Sullivan, F.R. C.5.1., of Melbourne, who was recently decorated by the Pope for services to science, has been chosen President of the Medical Society of Victoria. The death is announced of the Rev. Father James Duff, who passed away at Fremantle on January 1. Father Duff was born in Tully, County Louth, in 1860, and was ■educated at All Hallows College, Dublin. Immediately after his ordination he came to Western Australia. I The dividends paid by tlite West Australian gold mining companies during last year amounted to £2,167,142. This is the largest amount paid in any year since the inception of the industry, the nearest approach being the distribution of £2,0(?6,015 in 1899. A total sum in cash dividends, amounting to about £277,000, was declared last month. The friends of the popular ' Dan ' Fitzgerald (,says the Sydney ' Freeman ") will be pained to learn that the malady from which he has suffered for some time past has assumed a form which leaves little hope of his recovery. l ,Mr. Fitzgerald now lies in a private hospital in Melbourne calmly awaiting the end which seems inevitable, and for which he has been strengthened by the last Sacraments of the Church. Australia will be represented by two Catholics at the Postal Conference to be held shortly in Rome — Mr. Austin Chapman, Postmaster-General of the Commonwealth, and Sir Joseph Ward, Postmaster-General and Minister of Railways of New Zealand. Both have been in Rome before, and have been favored with audiences with the Holy Father. Mr. Chapman was with Sir Edmund Barton and Sir John Forrest at the audience with Leo XIII. An old pioneer of the Rochester district, Mr. James Graham, died recently at his residence, Rochester East, at the age> of 7H) years. He was unmarried, and a native of Cork, Ireland, and took up land at Restdown .°>s years ago. lie was buried in a grave on ground purchased by him for the purpose many years ago, and on which he at the time had erected his own tombstone, suitably inscribed, and with a blank for the date of his death. During Right Rev. Dr. Duhig's visit to Brisbane, after his consecration as Bishop of Rockhampton, he was made the recipient of an address from the members of the men's branch of the Associations of the Sacred Heart, at St. Stephen's Cathedral. During the Bishop's term of duty in Brisbane he was director of the association, and worked hard for its welfare. Accompanying the address was a magnificent group photograph of Father Duhig and the members of the council of the association. An important addition was made to the hospitals of Brisbane the other day, when a ■distinguished company gathered to witness the opening ceremony of the Mater Miserieordiae Hospital, which is to be in charge of the Sisters of Mercy. The premises were recently the residence of the Hon. P. Perkins, and are admirably adapted for their new work. All the latest fittings for hospital work have been installed, and the Rev. Mother was warmly congratulated on the arrangements. The hospital is for both male and female patients of all denominations. The opening of the New Year reminds us (' W.A. Record') of the arrival 60 years ago of the first Sisters of Mercy in Australia. It is the proud boast of West Australia that the first Sisters of Mercy who, set foot on Australian soil came to West Australia with the first Bishop of Perth. It is only fitting then that the celebration of this notable event should be properly celebrated in connection with the Convent of Mercy, Victoria Square, which, without questioning, must be regarded in a sense the Mother House of the whole Order in Australia. It is the intention of his Lordship the Bishop that the celebrations in connection with the diamond jubilee shall take place on the Wednesday of Easter Week.