New Publications

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 3, 17 January 1907, Page 15

New Publications

ISt Joseph's College Annual,' issued by St. Joseph's College, Hunter's Hill, Sydney, conducted by the Marist Brothers, is a bulky publication of over 100 pages, with nearly two score of illustrations. The contents are varied and^, interesting, consisting of, in addition to the usual record of school happenings, several poems, essays, and a full account of the jubilee celebrations held during this year: t The annual, is admirably printed and and does much , credit to the institution from which it emanates. - ,^he. Christmas issue of our progressive Catholic contemporary, ' The Freeman's Journal,' . of Sydney, consists of over eighty pages of prose, poetry, and illustrations. The readers of our contemporary must feel deeply grateful for the generous store~of light and wholesome reading provided for the festive . season, whilst at the same time .the proprietors are to be congratulated for Iheir enterprise. The number before . us is the largest ever,- -we believe, published of any religious organ in the Southern Hemisphere, and is highly creditable in eveiy way to the office from which *t. was issued. - . "-■> Our Catholic contemporary of Brisbane, ' The Age,' is to be highly complimented on its Christinas num- , ber of 68 pages, the reading matter of which is of a, ! nature to suit all tastes. Among the original articles, stories, etc., written specially for ' The Age,' are 'The • Church and the World,' by the Bishop of Rockhampton ; ' A Christmas Lesson,' by the Rev. Clement Came ; " Christmas Time,' by the Rev. M. O'Flynn ; 1 Death,' by the Rev. P. Hickey ; ' The Fall of the Hammer— a story of the. land boom,' by Mr. G. Moynihan ; ' Forbearance,' by the late T. C. Timbury ; ' ' Jack Dalton's Oath,'* by Mr. ' Joseph Lenehan. In addition to the original matter there are several pages of selected stories, verse, etc., the reading of which cannot fail to instruct, and to amuse. Messrs. Mills, Dick, and Company's ' Otago, Southland, and South Canterbury Almanac and Directory ' for the current year is now. so well known in the - districts for which it is intended that little is required to commend it to the notice of the general public. It is a publication- which, is indispensable to the merchant, .shopkeeper, and settler, each and all ot whom will find in its 251)- pages a good' deal of ] interesting and useful inlormation in a compact form. The ' Almanac of the Diocese of Maitland,' a copy of which is just to hand, is one ot the besli of its • l.md published. Not only is it full of information re- • yarding religious matters generally, but it also con--tains information oh public aftairs which will be found most useful. It can be truly called a ' tamily and home annual. 1 It should find a place in- every house- ■ hold in the diocese for which it is intended, and even beyond it. From it we learn that there' are now in the., diocese 77 churches, attended by 42 secular and 6 regular priests ; 30 monasteries and convents, 216 nuns and 14 Brothers. There are 40 primary and 16 secondary schools, attended by 3799 pupils. -The Catholic population is 30,000. . ' We have received from th& Mines Department a copy . of the Mining Handbook, edited -by Mr. P. G-alvin, • Secretary of the Mining Bureau. The handbook is a very comprehensive work on our mineral resources, and , contains a large quantity of most useful and interest- - ing information regarding mining in all its branches. . The value of the handbook is considerably enhanced . by the inclusion of two maps showing the principal - mineral localities in the Colony. In his preface to the work the lion. J. McGowan, Minister of Mines, states that as some twenty years have elapsed since -' the publication of ' The Handbook of New Zealand Mines,' it has been, deemed "fitting at the present time, • when New Zealand has*' embarked on the largest exhibition of- Her industries in the history of the Colony, to give a-^review ot. its metalliferous and mineral re- • sources ; to give an account of what has been done, aml._of' what are the prospects for, the future. As an' aid -to -the reader's' right understanding of the" Colony's mineral resources ' and the difficulties to^ be overcome ' before % these can be worked with profit, the work con--tains a number of papers by Government officials and experts— men of practical experience and scientific knowledge—who write in . a straightforward manner, and whose sole aim is to present a truthful picture of what has been done in the past, and to denote where combination of v capital, labour, and professional skill may, secure the rewards , of enterprise in the future. The work, which consists of nearly 600 pages with index, .is copiously illustrated. It is full Mtf use-* ful information, and even a partial study, of its contents will convince any reader that, in addition to its agricultural and pastoral interests, the Colony has

in its minerals a vast asset which, at some future date, will- enable it to taVe its place among the manufacturing countiies of the world.