COMMONWEALTH NOTES

New Zealand Tablet, 25 March 1920, Page 30

COMMONWEALTH NOTES

VICTORIA. His Lordship the Bishop of Sandhurst . (Right Rev. Dr. McCarthy), who left Bendigo on February 17 to pay his first episcopal visit to the Holy See as Bishop of Sandhurst, was the guest of the Catholic laity at St. Kilian's Hall, Bendigo, where he was entertained at a musical evening. The large and enthusiastic gathering of the laity was, indeed, an eloquent tribute to the popularity of his Lordship, and of how he is loved and respected by his people. His Grace Archbishop Mannix dealt with some of the questions of the hour in the course of a speech at Warwick (Queensland) recently. Referring to the people who had talked so glibly about sending the last man and spending the last shilling when the war was on, he asked: Now that the soldiers had come home, he wondered what had become of the last shilling? Too few of the soldiers had lived to come back, but more had come back than those people were able to settle down in life; and the soldiers who risked their lives at the Front were, many of them, wandering about Australia up to the present moment, and they knew not where to settle or to lay their heads. Many a man of them had come along to him, of all people in the world, to tell him all their grievances against Mr. Hughes and his colleagues, and to tell him, although they were brave men and generous men, that they were almost sorry they ever left Australia. What would have been the position had conscription been carried? Up to that time they were sending 4500 men away every month, or rather they were going voluntarily; yet those people wanted to send 16,000 per month. Well, they did not have their way, and he thought that Warwick accounted for some of the majority against it. But suppose they had had their way, and 16,500 men had been sent every month. Even had a good proportion come back, where could Australia have found the money to pay for them and to pay for settling them down now? He had reason to believe that those who tried to carry conscription at that time were praying in their hearts now, though they would not admit it, for the men who defeated conscription and saved Australia from economic disaster. (Applause.) QUEENSLAND. Never before was Warwick invaded with crowds of visitors such as arrived there last Sunday (says the Catholic Advocate, of March 4) to join in witnessing the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of tho new St. Mary's Church. The event was the more memorable because the solemn ceremonial was carried out by his Grace Archbishop Mannix, assisted by his Grace the ■ Archbishop of Brisbane, Bishop O'Connell, Right Rev. Mgr. Byrne, V.G., and the largest concourse of priests ever seen in Warwick. Thousands of people from all over the Downs journeyed to Warwick last Sunday, as many as nine special trains running. Such a huge railway traffic to and from Warwick has never before been experienced in its history, and it is distinctly to the credit of the Railway Department that the arrangements worked so smoothly. Both on Saturday and Sunday green and purple favors, in which was inset a jportrait of Dr. Mannix, were freely worn, and it was quite a sight to see streets teeming with people wearing the small portrait of the Archbishop of Melbourne. Throughout Sunday the crowd was exceptionally orderly, and it was indeed pleasing to note that a ceremony, unprecedented in Church history in Warwick, was carried out to a highly successful conclusion without a single untoward incident. The ladies of the district again won for themselves a reputation for generosity and well-doing such as this district has always been distinguished for. The task of providing for the thousands who went to Warwick on Sunday was, at first sight, an appalling one. Yet the ladies tackled it with such strength of purpose that soon all seeming difficulties vanished. Luncheon was served in the O.Y.M.S. Hall, the school, and also at the stalls erected on the grounds. Later in the afternoon these were changed into tea tents, where visitors could obtain afternoon tea before leaving on the homeward journey. Ample provision was made, prior to the ceremony of laying the foundation stone, for Masses, so that faithful Catholics would be enabled to fulfil their religious duties. It is hardly necessary to add that all the Masses were crowded. His Grace the Archbishop of Brisbane celebrated the first Mass, Archbishop Mannix the second, and Bishop O'Connor the third.