Lecture by Dean Burke

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 18, 7 May 1908, Page 12

Lecture by Dean Burke

St. Joseph's Hall, Dunedin, was crowded on Friday evening, when the inaugural lecture of the season, under the auspices of St. Joseph's Men's Club was delivered by the Very Rev. Dean Burke, of Invercargill. The Rev.' father Coffey, Adm,., presided* The Very Rev Dean who returned a few weeks ago from a twelve months' trip oo Europe, took for his subject an account of the homeward voyage from Sydney as far a s Colombo (Ceylon).. In, his introductory remarks he said it was almost 'impossible for a priest in the mission to; give the time necessary to the preparation of a lecture owing to the many calls upon his time, some of which were altogether outside His duties. Having referred in a humorous manner to the class of callers who disturbed his literary worfe, the Dean then proceeded toi dead with the eventsi of the voyage and the places -called at. Of Sydney and Melbourne little need be said, as miany- of his hearers had visited those important commercial centres. Ho had not seen Adelaide for a period of twentysix years, and during that time a great expansion had taken' place. He was greatly pleased with the South Australian capital, which is a very fine city, beautifully situated. The visitor cannot help being struck with the fine shops and their splendid display of goods, the display of fruit of ail .kinds, especially , grapes, being most tempting. The gardens, with their semi-tropical vegetation, were greatly admired. After leaving Adelaide, they encountered the customary rough weather "i n the Australian Bi^ht, w'lth the result that most of the passengers and even some of the stewards felt so unhappy that they made the usual resolutions to sftay on dry land, after that experience, for the remainder of their lives. The next port of call -was Fremantle, which is not an attractive place. A visit was made to Perth, which was then suffering from dulness of trade. Some of the residents 1 were of opinion that the State had seen its best days. Now that most of the gold was taken, out there was little else to fail back upon. They were reminded that they had a glorious climate, but the pessimists' replied that something more subtetantdai than, sunshine was necessary for the bringing up of 'a family. Here the people seemed to refleot their beautiful climate in their courieousness and cordiality, their manners being in direct contrast to those> of the people of less favored crimes. From Fremantle to Couomlbo the sea was beautifully smooth, and consequently all on board settled down to the usual methods of passing time on shipboard. The Very Rev. Dean' here gave a graphic and humorous description of some of the passengers, their peculiarities and idiosyncracies. There is ho place like shipboard for the study of mankind. Among the (passengers were some South Australians who were •taking their customary holiday trip to Ceylon. He suggested New Zealand as a more enjoyable place, and painted «tn glowing colors the many attractions, of the Dominion-. On the ninth day out from Fremantle Adam's Peak, a historic mountain in Ceylon (nearly 8000 feet high) was sighted. This mountain is held ta the highest veneration by the Buddhists of the island,, who make pilgrimages there, and point out a ©left .in the peak as the footprint of Buddha. On approaching .the coast the passengers were enabled to get a view of the trop.ical vegetation for which the island is celebrated., They could see the stately and~useful cocoamt palm-, the talipot palm, the bread fruit tree, and many other kinds strange to the eyes of the travellers. In the jungle are to be found wild elephants, cheetahs, jackals, bears, and poisonous snakes abound 1 everyw&ere, whilst the rivers ace infested with alligators. Ceylon is a most interesting country, its inhabitants being made up of many nataonalities—JTeddahs 1 , Cingalese,. Tamils,

Moormen from the coast of India, Malays, Eurasians, burghers (descendants of the Dutch and Portuguese who formerly owned the island), and- British. The population .is now abour four millions, that of Colombo being 159,000. The Dean" here gave a-n interesting account of the early hisitory of the island and its people, - had attained a high state of civilisation in. past ages as was evidenced by the 'discovery in recent times of the remains of buried cities and immense water tanks which were apparently used for irrigation purposes..' The most celebrated of these tanks was that at Anuradfaapura. What strikes one most on, reaching Colombo is the purely Oriental character of the people, the -variety, qtuaintness, and brightness of the different cos-, tonnes. Their modes of ' conveyance are a mixture .of the old and the new— jinrickshas, bullock hackeries gharries, and electric trams. Owing to the failure of coffee towards the end of the seventies the European ' planters went in. for tea, which is now the staple product of the colony. The Buddhists are the most numerous religious denomination in the island, numbering 2,141,000, then come the Hindus, 826,000 ; Christians' (mostly Catholics), 349,000 ; Mahommiedans, 246,000. The Catholic hierarchy consists of an Archbishop and four suffragans. In addition to St. 'Lucia's Cathedral, there are several Catholic churches in Colombo, which has a Catholic population, of 50,000. During his stay in Colombo the Dean was the guest of the clergy at St. Philip Neri's Church in the Pettah, the rector of which waij a namesake of the Dean's, and a Dublin, man. Among the Catholic institutions visited during- his stay were the Good Shepherd Convent and St. Joseph's College, an institution as large as the Dunedin Boys' High School. The progress of education in the colony was next touched upon, and the old methods compared with the new. In conclusion the Dean said that at some other time he would be pleased to give further particulars of his travels. On the motion of Mr. J. B. Callan, jun., who paid a well-merited compliment to Dean Burke for his interesting and instructive lecture, and congratulated the members on such am auspicious opening for the current session, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded the Very Rev. lecturer. Dean Burke, in acknowledging the vote of thanks, advised the young, men- to join one or other of the parish societies, for organisation and combination were the great powers of the present, an example of such being seen by him whilst travelling in Germany. Rev. Father (Jofiey announced that Dean Burke had consented to deliver another lecture later on in the season, the subject being a visit, to Rome, which would be illustrated with lantern views. The announcement was received with applause. During the evening songs were contributed by Messrs. Poppelwell and Jos. Swanson.