People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 2, 10 January 1907, Page 28

People We Hear About

Father Wernz, who was recently elected General . of the Jesuit Order, •distinguished himself by devotion,' and courage on the battlefield in the Franco-Prussian wwatr t

There is a report current in London that Sir Antony MacDonnell will shoitly be given a prominent post in the Indian Government, and that, in conse- - querice, he will quit the Irish Office. At present he-is only ' lent ' by . the Indian Office to the Irish Office, and it* is^thought that there is pressing 1 - work await- ■ ing his attention in India. Meanwhile there is being erected in Lucknow a statue to "commemorate his six years of office as Lieutenant-Governor. It has cost £1800, and has been subscribed for by all creeds and races.

* ■;' It is nob oi\ten that ' T.P. makes any personal revelations, 'especially of a political nature. But at the Philadelphia Convention he went so far as to say a few words which ought to still more^endear him to the Irish" in Britain and to be sufficient answer to those who have questioned his bona-fides as an. Irish He said : ' Allusion has been' made by more than one speaker to the fact that I ■ have been fo: a great many years president of the United Irish League of" Great Britain. I believ? I have been elected twenty-four times, - and 1 have presided over twenty-three annual conventions. - There is'no position of -which ' I am half so proud as that of president of the United Irfsh League of Great Britain, 1 and I will tell you why. I was always an Irish Nationalist. My grandfather fought at Vinegar Hill, and mv father was

in the '48 movement, and it would be strange indeed if I were not also an Irish Nationalist. And it was in England my Nationalist spirit first became really -ardent. There are few towns in Britain that I have ilob visited. And let me tell you that if -you /want to be trained *in ferocity in 'Irish National zeal you had. better spend a few years in England or Scotfland.'

lir'-is long since (says the ' Catholic Times ') the Catholic Church in this country lost such a valuable exponent of her social "mission as Mr. Charles -Stanton 1 Devas. We do not, indeed, remember the name of any writer who equalled him in the field of. his labors, Mr. Devas saw many years ago the growing- importance of social problems ' and their bearing -on religious life. His psychological -studies, in which he displayed so much acumen, his investigations of the science of political economy,- and his other intellectual exertions all converged on this subject, and of the thoughts to which they gave rise he may be said to have presented a beautiful synthesis in his last work, ' The Key to the. World's Progress.' Following Newman as , guide, -he explains in it how in the course, of civilisation the Church has ever been moulding society for the better to the benefit of man,* and how she has aeVd as the undying torch-bearer, dissipating the darkness fif our mortal life. And how deep is the love he mani-j-fests for her, • the loving Mother of us all,' • who. may -be thrust aside in the hour of prosperity, but is the ever-ready refuge, to whom those can turn whose burdens are heavy, whose hopes are shattered, whose days aie drawing to a close, whose hearts are aching - with * irremediable sorrow.' In this hour of sorrow his friends may take comfort at the thought of- a'^terlmc faith proof against the sting of deatlu - - • Mr. William Dillon, brother of MrrCTomi'Diilon-M P is (as we le a rn from Chicago exchanges) a candidate 'for the oilice of Associate Judge of the Municipal Court of that city, on the Independent, non-partisan ticket, and has been selected for the _ post by a committee of the Chicago Bar. - Mr. Dillon was born in " Brooklyn N V -in the month of July, 1850. When he was only about six years old fcfes /ather returned with his family to Ireland He.ieceived his general education at a private college in Dublin, and at the Catholic University, of- which Dr (afterwards Cardinal) Newman was the first rector" He received hisf legal education in London and Dublin ' and practised for soihe six or seven "years as a barrister at the -.lnshßar In 1880, his health having broken down he > was obliged to relinquish his practice in Dublin and went' to the United States, He was admitted [ft the llinois Bar in that -year; and . after a short stay in Chicago went on to Colorado, where he was a L!Lit led to the Bar. After iving tbr 80S ytaTs aS^a a Sch he resumed .the practice of the law, and was- County Attorney for the county in which he lived in Colorado for several years. Jn 1893 he returned to CMeaco an-rt from the spring- of 1894 to the autumn of; 1902 hn was editor of the 'New World ' £ Lt *„♦„,! of 1902 he resigned the editorship of the < New W<S* P^crof^aw^ deTOted WmSelf «*»™7 to tie