Intercolonial

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 3, 17 January 1907, Page 35

Intercolonial

On "Sundays December "30,,- Mrs, Cronin, who has'resigned the _ position of. church organist at St. 'Mary's Church, Geelong, and is leaving 'for ' was, on behalf of - the" past and" present members- of the choir, presented "with- a gold bro.oph.- -„.,. -,- -- - Lady .MacMahon, widow :of the * late' Sir "Charles MacMahon (second Speaker of -the 'Victorian, Legislative "Assembly, -from -1871 to 187 iy, has returned : to Victoria. Lady MacMahon .-has-. "been . spending about, two years in Ireland attending" : to business connected "with the • estate of- 'her late ..husband. Dr. J. -D. Houlihan, who arrived in New South "Wales from* Ireland only .a few weeks ago, and commenced practice in JMorpeth', ■ has received news of the death of his -brother-in-law, Mr. .William' Joseph Menton, a well-known -lawyer and leading citizen of Roscrea, Ireland.. Deceased was- in his 50th year, and"was well-beloved by all classes in. the community. The death of the Rev. Father Thomas Patrick Sheehy^ O.S.F.C, took place ab the presbytery, Quirindi, on December 2i.' He'- bad been ailing about a month, and a fortnight previous to his" death he went to Sydney, returning to Quirindi only three days before he • died. The cause of death was heart -failure. . Owing to his 'advanced, age— he was _ 6.B— his. medical attendant had. little hopes of his recovery. The late Father Sheehy was born in County Kerry, Ireland, and was a member of the Capuchin Order." Two deaths from lightning /Were recorded in New South Wales, on New Year's Day: A severe thunderstorm occurred at Mahonga. Two" -men were struck by lightning, Fdward Hopkins being killed instantaneously, aod his companion, Dennis, being—paralysed. Hopkins wasf ia married man: In "a storm - that '^passed over Leura, a' girl named Ethel Heffernan, aged - 12, who Was. on a ' visit from Newtown, Sydney, was • struck dead. She was watching three young men taking- down a tent, when ...the storm came on, and., they took shelter under a tree. The ttee~ was struck, and- the four.of them were felled to the ground. „ One "of the young men sustained concussion of the brain, but .he is progressing, favorably. The body of the- .girl ivas much burnt. - • - A happy manner of - celebrating the fi-st _ anniversary of his consecration was hit upon, by his Lordship Dr. - Duhig (writes the Brisbane co-respondent " of the - ', Catholic Press.'). He -invited all* the members -of the various Catholic' societies in the- city to a conversazione in the Hibernian Hall on Monday evening, 10th December. -The gathering turned out to be theVrn^st pleasant in the recollection of. .all present. It. brought, the Catholics socially together, and* thus accomplished one great object the v Bishop has always " in view. Dur-" ing the evening the "members, of .jthe H.A.C.B.S. and the C.V.'M.S. offered special congratulations to his Lordship, and the latter body presented him with a handsome silver inkstand. . Burglars broke into the sacristy of - St. Thomas. Church, Lewishani, on the night of January 1, and a large iron safe was dynamited. The robbers did- not enter "the church proper at all, but broke a window and went into the saciisty. Half of the safe . was 1 blown to pieces. ' This was on "the side nearest the '••eyhole, where the explosive had evidently been inserted. The door was almost torn off. its hinges, and pieces of the iron were 'imbedded in the door. The room was strewn' with sections of the burnt safe. A silver chalice, valued, at- £3O, was broken, in halves, and the monstrance and a lot of the . church plate were injured by the explosion, to deaden the sound of which' precautions were taken by using some material found about. Young Neal Macrossan, of Nudgee College (writes a Brisbane correspondent) is- ,the most remarkable student that has gone through the Brisbane school since the days of Thomas Joseph Byrnes. First, Macrossan won a' State scholarship, then in the Junior Universi ty. examination he scored seven first-class, passes, winning also' the Byrnes gold medal. Now, in the senior examination, he has taken c'ight first % class passes, came first in .the list of Queensland - exhibitioners, and prox-accessit for a big Southern scholarship. From the Queensland Government he is entitled to £100 a year , for three years. It is said that he' will enter Sydney or Melbourne University to study medicine. Neal is the . second Queensland exhibitioner from . the Macrossaa family. . - ~