DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH

New Zealand Tablet, 30 June 1910, Page 1012

DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH

(From our own correspondent.) " June 27. The annual social gathering of the,Ellesmere branch of the H.A.C.B. Society was held on last Wednesday evening week in the Leeston Town Hall. There was a numerous attendance, including representatives of the various benefit societies in the district. /;-""/.".■"•:-• -' . ;

His Lordship the Bishop telegraphed to the new Governor on his arrival, tendering a hearty welcome to the Dominion on behalf of . the priests and people of the diocese. The/following message in reply was received: ' Gratefully appreciate your kindly greetings to me. Please convey same to clergy and laity of your diocese. —Islington.' Speaking at the entertainment in his honor at the convent school, his Lordship f the . Bishop expressed his pleasure at the appointment by his Holiness the Pope of Rev. Dr. Cleary as Bishop of Auckland. He spoke in eloquent terms of his close acquaintance with the BishopElect, his splendid work in the interests of Catholics and Catholicity in the Dominion, and of the admiration in which he was held by all classes of the community. He (Bishop Grimes) welcomed Dr. Cleary to the episcopacy, and he knew also that the hierarchy and clergy with one accord did likewise. / , ..' - ■ -- A large number of the diocesan and visiting priests were entertained to dinner at the episcopal residence on last Thursday in honor of the feast day of his Lordship the Bishop, and to welcome him on his return to the city. Among those present, • including the '. resident clergy, were the Very Rev. Dean Ginaty, S.M., V.G., the Rev. Father Coffey, Adm. (Dunedin), Rev. - Father Holbrook, ■ - Adm. (Auckland), the Rev. Fathers Tubman, S.M. (Timaru), Hills, S.M. (Leeston), Aubry, S.M. (Waimate), Richards (Hawarden), Cooney (Lyttelton)', . Hyland (Rangiora), Drohan, M.S.H. (Lincoln), Tyler, M.S.H. (Darfield), Hoare, S.M., and Dignan, S.M. (St. Mary's, Christchurch North), Daull, S.M.A., and O'Hare. The Very Rev. Dean Ginaty, S.M.; V.G., on behalf of priests and people ? = welcomed his Lordship on his \ return to the episcopal city, tendered fervent greetings on his feast day, and congratulated him on the success attending his visitation to Westland. • In reply, his Lordship very cordially thanked: the Vicar-General ; for the good wishes expressed, and in grateful terms referred to the great help he had received from Father Hyland. : = i: / •On /Thursday'..afternoon, in honor .of his feast day, a charming /entertainment was given by the pupils of the Sisters of : the/Missions to his Lordship the Bishop in St. Joseph's Schoolroom. His Lordship was accompanied by the Very Rev.. Dean Ginaty, S.M., V.G., all the resident and a number of visiting clergy. There was, too, a large attendance of the laity i and friends of- the children and of j the Sisters. The : following ? programme /was ? excellently given and greatly enjoyed by all present :■—Duet, :£ Spring,' Misses Leon Durville, A. Erck, C. Mcllroy, G. Baker, B. ■ Foreman, K. Haydon, M. Strouts, R. Mahon, and T. Mannion: prologue, /Miss R. Mahon: festal song, pupils: presentation, Miss E. McGrath. 'Queen Esther' (Act I.).—The following was the cast of r principal characters ii King Assuerus,

Miss Lucy Toner; Queen Esther, Miss K. O'Connor Mardochai, Miss R. McCormack; Aman, Miss K. Kerr; Hydaspis, Miss J. McCosker; Asaph, Miss M. Hood; Elise, Miss A. Kilmartin; Zares, Miss M. Plank. Instrumental selection, 'Narcissus,' violins—Misses W. Brick, C. Coakley, V. Erck, K. Moroney; harp, Miss D. Amyes; harmonium, Miss C. Moroney; piano, Miss C. Erck. 'Queen Esther' (Act II.). Instrumental selection, 'Lilac, blossoms,' —Misses V. Erck, O. Coakley, W. Brick, K. Moroney; harp, Miss D. Amyes; harmonium, Miss C. Moroney; piano, Miss A; Payne. ' Queen Esther ' (Act III.). Duet, ' Signal from Mars/ Misses D. Amyes, K. O'Malley, C. Moroney, M. Mackle, A. Payne, M. Higgins, C. Erck; M. Wall; violins Misses C. Coakley, W. Brick, and V. Erck. Epilogue, Miss Gwennie Wilson. The stage setting was very pretty, appropriate scenery and effects being arranged to great advantage. Above the front of the stage was an artistically lettered scroll with the greeting: f A very happy feast to our beloved Bishop.' The dressing of the various characters in ' Queen Esther' was remarkably well done, and the spectacle presented was very beautiful. A feature of- the event was the • presentation to the Bishop by the little elocutionist in.the prologue of quite a stall full of costly and most suitable articles for the forthcoming bazaar in aid of the Cathedral fund, the work of the Sisters and pupils,of their schools. His Lordship very sincerely thanked the donors for their helpful assistance in so great an undertaking, and complimented them on their splendid performance. He referred to his recent visitation of Westland, which had proved so successful, and both he and Father Hyland were exceedingly grateful for the fervent prayers that were, he knew, daily offered for their welfare. He appreciated most sincerely the many kind greetings on his home-coming, especially on the part of \ his devoted priests, some of whom had come quite a long distance to nfeet him, among these being the Rev. Father Tubman, of Timaru, who shared with him (his Lordship) the feast of St. John the Baptist. Great events had happened whilst he was away, notably the death of King Edward, the mournful news of which had touched them all so deeply. Then the proclamation of his -successor, King George, in the celebration of which he had participated in Hokitika. In him the people of New Zealand were particularly interested, as he is the only King that had ever visited this Dominion. To the great delight of the children, his Lordship then announced a holiday for the rest of the week.

EPISCOPAL VISITATION OF WESTLAND,. Prior to leaving Westland, his Lordship Bishop Grimes, through the medium of the Greymouth Star, addressed the following parting message to his people On the eve of my departure for Christchurch, ; I would like, through the columns of your widelyrspread journal, to express my indebtedness to the Ven. Dean of Westland, the Very Rev. Dean Carew, the zealous clergy of his deanery, the devoted Sisters-of Mercy, and the faithful laity of this part of my diocese for the cordial reception they gave Father Hyland and myself, and for their generous response to our appeal on behalf of our grand cathedral. We shall always cherish a grateful recollection of their kindness and hospitality towards us during our lengthy stay on the coast, In return we promise to be mindful of them "before the altar of the Most High. We will beg the Giver of every food gift to bless them and theirs and reward them abunantly in time and eternity.' On last Monday his Lordship the Bishop drove with the Rev. Father Creed from Kumar a to Otira, and joined the Rev. Father Hyland, who had been conducting a short mission among the - men employed in the tunnel workings since the previous Thursday. On that evening the Bishop conducted a service in the schoolroom, as there is no Catholic Church at present in Otira. On the following morning, and again on -Wednesday, morning before leaving for Christchurch, his Lordship preached to large congregations. His Lordship reached home on Wednesday evening in good health,.but naturally somewhat fatigued after eleven weeks' constant journeyings and arduous labors. The wet West Coast (he states) remained true to its reputation, for much wet weather was experienced, and on only two of the Sundays during the three months was the weather fine. His firsts visit to the Coast was made 22 years previously, and altogether he had traversed that portion of his diocese about ten times, the previous occasion two or three years ago. He commenced the work of his present visitation at Okuru, where 20 persons presented themselves for Confirmation, a number surprisingly large in a district so sparsely populated.; At Mahitahi there were ten candidates for Confirmation. Weheka, at the-foot of the Fox glacier, Waitangi, and Ross were also visited, the total number of communicants in that parish being 53. A stay of a fortnight was-; made in Hokitika, and the Bishop then went on to jGreymouth, where his headquarters' were established, to Ahaura, a centre with seven or eight outlying districts, and finally to Kumara. As an illustration of the difficulties of ; caring for the spiritual ? welfare of a widely scattered community, his Lordship said that the parish of Ross extended. from Rimu to Jackson's Bay, a distance of 250 miles, and the whole of that district • was in the charge of one priest, who might be required at any time to make ' a long journey over rough forest roads to the sick-bed of one of his people. Strenuous as it ; had been, involving much difficult travelling over rough bush roads, his Lordship said that his

■-■'■' -•" ■' 4S?'"" ".-:■■ ■ _ ■;. ■■■■■• ' ' \ -■-'... ■ ■ '_ :■ ... tour of the province had not been without its compensations. He always returned to W r estland with renewed interest, for its sublime scenery greatly impressed him, ana its climate, though humid, was equable, and, he thought, healthy. Its people-were genial and remarkable for their cordial hospitality to all visitors, of whatever race or creed. In the south of the province the settlers were mostly of the Catholic faith, and wherever he went he found a healthy religious t tone. The old-standing members of ; the Church had received his ministrations with the greatest eagerness. In some parts of the country it was not always possible for the priest to conduct services on Sundays for scattered units of his flock, but in such cases the people always arranged to meet their pastor on a week-day. Many of the people, who attended services conducted by him had travelled ten miles, and several made journeys to and from of twenty miles. On many days he had visited several districts, and on the last Sunday preceding his return had preached six times. His Lordship was most favorably impressed with the fine qualities of the people and the resources of the country. In the south of the province, he said, a considerable area of land had been applied to agricultural purposes. Good cattle were also raised, though the value of the stock was considerably depreciated before it reached Hokitika, which was the nearest market. The extension of the railway system would be of immense benefit to the settlers, and would be appreciated as highly as was the excellent system of telephonic communication that had been installed as far south as Okuru. The pioneers of the early days, who braved the perils of rapid, broad rivers, made their way across wide lagoons and penetrated the virgin forest, must have been men and women of the finest type, and he was pleased to have found that the energy, pluck, and perseverance displayed by them was reflected in their descendants. Though he did not pretend to rank as a judge of beauty,' he could not be other than favorably impressed with the women of the province, and on several occasions, when preaching, he had remonstrated with the young men for their dilatoriness in marrying. The young women as a class possessed the qualities of industry, modesty, simplicity, and personal charms, and he was sure they would make excellent wives, yet for some unaccountable reasons there was little marrying and giving in marriage. , The efforts of the settlers had _ already been rewarded by the production of many splendid farms, especially on Cook's Flat, near the Fox glacier. Much of the country had been opened up, and large areas of bush cleared, but there were still possibilities for extensive development. It: would be useless, however, to attempt to settle people on small holdings, for only a section of large acreage would repay a settler for the cost of clearing his land. Speaking of other industries of the province, Bishop Grimes said that the coal-mining industry was in a flourishing condition. Greymouth had undoubtedly a great future before it as a distributing centre, though at present the river-bar was a great handicap to its trade. Many of the gold-mining districts were not flourishing as they had done in the past, as the claims were regarded as 'washed out, 5 but there appeared to be a general conviction that efficient sluicing appliances would restore much of their lost prosperity. All the most modern scientific principles ■ were being applied to the working of "the Ross Goldfields Mine, the shaft of which was down 350 ft when he visited the mine. Everywhere the people held high hopes, their optimism being unlimited. During his visit to Otira, with which he concluded his tour, he had been given every facility by the contractors to inspect the tunnel workings. About 70 chains had been completed, and he had been much interested by the gigantic scale of the undertaking. One machine recently installed Was unique in New Zealand, and he was informed that it was still little known in Europe. It was employed in the mechanical mixing of concrete, and, like all the other ma- ; chinery at the workings, was driven by electricity. In his opinion the completion of the work would bring more benefits to Christchurch than to the West Coast. . Speaking in regard to the workers' conditions, his Lordship says that although the men employed in the construction of the Arthur's Pass tunnel were a somewhat mixed community, they included many fine intelligent fellows, and he had been pleased to find that several of them had been at work there since the contract was commenced.. The chief drawbacks to the work appeared to be the unavoidable wetness and the inefficient ventilation of the workings, though, as the older hands had told him, men who undertook such employment could hardly expect different conditions. Generally the men spoke in good terms of their work and of their employers, but there were a few agitators who were dissatisfied with their own conditions and sought to make others discontented by continually # harping upon the equality of men and other points of their creed. The irony of the whole thing was that these men had either been dismissed or had given up their employment because they were not suitable for the work, and could not earn a living at it. Now they were going about wearing good clothes and drawing good salaries for l spouting' Socialism;, among the men. . v He had found a somewhat similar state of things on the coalfields of the West .Coast, .where Socialists were trying ■ to form a religion •of ' their own and -', prevent others from attending the churches of their particular creed. These men appeared to be possessed of ; a degree of intelligence a little above - the i average:,of those around them, and they were employing it to effect a good deal of harm.