Intercolonial

New Zealand Tablet, 2 March 1911, Page 403

Intercolonial

His Eminence Cardinal Moran made an appeal on behalf of the building fund of St. Mary's Cathedral at Redfern on Sunday, February 12, when a sum of "over £llOO was contributed. The subscriptions towards the fund now total over £70,000. The Rev. Father O'Sullivan, C.SS.R., has arrived in Australia from the Philippine Islands. He is now attached to the Redemptorist Monastery at Waratah. Father O'Sullivan spent some years in the Philippines on the Redemptorist mission there, and previously was an active missionary in Ireland. The death is reported of Sister M. Gabriel Doyle, of the Presentation Convent, Elsternwick, Victoria, who was born at Leighlin Bridge, County Carlow, Ireland, seventytwo years ago. Last year a sister of the deceased (Sister Mary of Assisi) died at the Convent of the Good Shepherd, Abbotsford. Sister Mary Brigid Brady, of St. Mary's Dominican Convent, West Maitland, passed to her eternal reward on February 8, after a long illness. Born in Belfast, Ireland, she came to Australia in her youth, and at the age of twenty-five years entered the Order of St. Dominic, in which she labored zealously for a quarter of a century. The Right Rev. Dr. Clune has interviewed the Hon. the Premier and the Minister for Education on the matter of Government inspection for the Catholic schools (says the W.A. Record). Dr. Clune's negotiations were successsful, and in future our schools will be regularly examined by the Government inspectors. This step will no doubt be welcomed by the community, as it will relieve us from the heavy expense of employing an inspector of our own. By the R.M.S. Mulwala, which left Sydney on February 12, five —Very Rev. Father T. Harrington (Quirindi), Rev. Fathers R. Collender (Surry Hills), J. Gorman (Pyrmont), P. Dowling (Botany), and M. Rohan (Balmain)were among its passengers bound for Ireland. Prior to their departure, they were entertained by their respective parishioners, and each presented with a purse of sovereigns. Father Harrington, who had been in charge of the Quirindi parish for eight years, was, prior to his departure for Ireland, presented with a purse of 185 sovereigns by the parishioners. - The ladies gave him a gold watch costing £25, and a gold sovereign case and the school children other presents. Our readers (says the Tasmanian Monitor) will learn with pleasure that St. Virgil's College has commenced its all-important work with gratifying assurances of success and prosperity. The college opened with an attendance of 58 students, and a few days later the number present was 80. The applications are well over 100. This is news at which many in Tasmania will rejoice. It justifies the hopes expressed at the grand function on January 22, when the college was formally handed over to the Christian Brothers by his Grace the Archbishop. It shows that the day has come when Tasmanian Catholics are able to erect and are ready to support a college equal to any in the State. In fact there is not at present a college or school possessing buildings, grounds, or equipment to compare with St. Vigil's. The teachers in charge have already -proved their worth as educators. Well, then, may Tasmanian Catholics congratulate themselves on the possession of such a school. The results of the first examinations held by the new University have revealed a wonderful all-round success for the pupils of the Christian Brothers' schools throughout the State (writes the Brisbane correspondent of the Catholic Fress). And it is fitting that it should be so, because the Brothers and "their students patriotically supported their own University, and did not divide; their support between it and the Sydney University. The gratifying distinctions which have been achieved furnish still greater testimony to the efficient methods and high teaching attainments found in the Catholic schools. -In the senior examination Nudgee was the only college which sent up candidates. Five boys sat, and all passed, three of them securing exhibitions to the University of the total value of £2OO. In the junior examination pupils of the Christian Brothers accounted for 51 passes, out of a total from all schools of 96 candidates. That is equal to a little over 53 per cent, of those who succeeded in passing the examination. A Nudgee student, James Hickson Baxter, tops the list with five distinctions and three passes, which is something akin to A's and B's, with which we are so familiar in connection with the Sydney University examination. The Senate of the Queensland University have decided that candidates who gain high marks in a subject will be credited with having passed with distinction, while those between the pass limit and the distinction limit will be credited with a pass. The successful Brothers' boys came from the following schools: Nudgee, 15; Charters Towers 14;» Gregory Terrace, 9; Ipswich, 4; Maryborough, 3 • Gympie, 3; Rockhampton, 2; and Toowoomba, 1. This was the best junior Nudgee ever had, and their 15 candidates scored no '.ess than 34 separate distinctions.