Intercolonial

New Zealand Tablet, 29 October 1908, Page 35

Intercolonial

The old-ag*e pensioners jn New South Wales total 21,685, who received pensions last year to the amount of - ,

His Eminence Cardinal Moran, speaking at the annual meet ing in aid of the Westmead Boys' Home, said : ' I regret fo si« that the statesmen of the present day do not seem to recogn* « the work that is being carried on. I see by the published "reports, that" almost every sort of institution recehes public aid fr^ii the Government except the Catholic institutions. If they looked to the Ashfield Infants' Home they saw the additional grants made year by year by the Government. Almost in the same way the Women's Hospital and the Children's Hospital received public aid. But,' said his Eminence, 'not *v. single, one of tho Catholic institutions receives one penny from the Stale. I think this is trampling on the rights of "the minority. — (Hear, hear.) The Catholic body is a minority in the State, but such . a minority as a body has its rights, every minority has its rights and it is the duty of those in- the majority for "the time beins; to respect those rights. — (Hear, hear.) I am sure no one. will contradict the statement that there is not a single one of the Catholic charities which is not entitled to State aid.'

In its annual report, the Superior Council of Australasia .of the St. Vincent de Paui Society states : — ' The twenty new conferences are as follow : In the State of New South Wales,

10 ; being 5 in the suburbs of Sydney, at St. -Joseph's Colleg-i (Hunter's Hill), and at Penshurst, Woollahra, Ryde; and Belmore ; and 5 in the country towns of Lithgow, West Maitland, Hamilton, Armidale, and Albury. In the State of Victoria, 2, at Melbourne — viz., Port Melbourne and Camberwell. In th 3 State of South Australia, 2 — at the country towns of Kadina and Wallaroo. In the State of Queensland, I—at1 — at Charters ■Towers. In the Dominion of New Zealand, 11, being — und :r the Particular Council of Christchurch 1, at Woolston ; in tht; Archdiocesa of Wellington 6, of which 2 are at Thorndon and Newtown, in the City of Wellington, and 4 at the country towns of New Plymouth, Masterton, Hastings, and Petone ; in th-j diocese of Auckland 3, at St. Patrick's Catehdral, Newtown, and Newmarket, in the City of Auckland; and in the diocese of Dunedin 1, at St. Joseph's Cathedral, in the City of Dunedin The special event of the year is the marked progress in New Zealand. At the close of 1906 the conferences in that Dominion numbered 5 ; at the end of 1907 there were 16.'

The announcement that, at the request of his Grace the Archbishop of Hobart, the Holy Father had been pleased to confer on the popular Administrator of St. Mary's Cathedral, Hobart, the dignity of Domestic "prelate, was received with much pleasure not alone in Tasmania, but throughout the Commonwealth and New Zealand. The Right Rev. Mgr. Gilleran is one of the most popular and beloved priests in the Commonwealth, and his kindly, genial, and hospitable nature has endeared him to all who have had the pleasure of his acquaintance. He is greatly beloved by the people amongst whom he has labored so zealously for many years. The dignity which has been conferred on him by his Holiness, as well, as that which has come to the Rev. Dr. O'Mahony, to which editorial refer ence was made in our last issue, are well deserved, and wo hope the Monsignore will be long spared to the people among whom he labors with such zeal and devotion. Writing ot the honor conferred on the Administrator of St. Mary's Cathedral, the Hobart correspondent of the .Monitor says: — ' Monsignor Gilleran has been so many years with us that he has become quite an institution' in our midst. Since his ordination over thirty years ago he has lived almost continuously with us, except a short time spent in Campbell Town and Latrobe. —Every good work has had his help. He is as big a favorite with the non-Catholic community as he is with his own' flock. He h; known to everyone, and he himself knows, everyone in Hobart. and many a time, without ostentation or display, that knowledge has led him "to do the kindly act that" befits the Christian priesJas mercy befits the sceptred monarch. Such men, as he are the salt of the earth : they honor the purple as the purple honoreth them.'