Diocesen News

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 34, 30 August 1923, Page 27

Diocesen News

ARCHDIOCESE OF WELLINGTON (From our own correspondent.) August 25. Upper Hutt has been earning blessings by remembering the orphans. Its carnival was a great success. The weather here on Tuesday drove even the wharfrats inland. It bears out the Gaelic saying— "Ni tig an fuacht go dtig an t-earracV I met one of the most earnest of the Marist Old Boys' bazaar workers in a tram yesterday. She thinks the bazaar will do well. Good luck to it! The recent charity social organised by the St. Joseph's Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society yielded a net profit of £4O. This society is following closely in the footsteps of its founder. The Rev. Father Gondringer, S.M., M.A., lectured last Wednesday evening to the St. Joseph's men's branch of the Sacred Heart Society, giving an account of his recent tour. All the members want to visit ""Europe now. A great many telephones rang anxiously in Wellington last week when it was rumored that Archdeacon Devoy was seriously ill. The Island Bay presbytery was besieged by enquiries. lam glad to state that the "Grand Old Man" of our parish clerics is gradually recovering, though still unable to leave his room. Readers of the Tablet in Wellington and elsewhere will be sorry to hear that Mr. P. Hoskins has relinquished his position as correspondent for this city. For 13 years he has sent his notes faithfully and never did he miss a week save during his visit to the Melbourne Race Conference. Mr. Hoskins's merit has received Papal recognition. I need say no more. •

It is , always an event for the Cumann na n-Gaedheal when Fathers O’Leary and Eccleton return to town'. Father Eccleton gave a fine address on Sunday night on the Act of Union and its consequences, at the Dominion Farmers’ Hall. We were pleased that the rev. lecturer quoted some lines by Con - O’Regan, a young poet who died at Reefton while his leaf was in the green. Among those present we noted Mr. McCombs, M.P. for Lyttelton, and Mr. Sullivan, M.P. for Avon.

This week has seen the inter-collegiate competitions. St. Bede's brought up the flower of its eloquence and strength to match against St. Patrick's. A great debate was held with Father Eccleton, S.M., Mr. Craig (Controller of Customs), and Dr. Marsden (Assistant Director of Education) as judges. Mr. Reardon was chairman. St. Pat's won the debate but St. Bede's the oratory and the football. These competitions arouse keen interest, for it is realised that in years to come these foundations will be as historic in this country as Stonyhurst or Clongowes. <rt~S> _ Annual Meeting of St. Patrick's and St. Bede's Colleges DEBATING, ORATORY; AND RUGBY. The annual meeting of St. Patrick's and St. Bede's Colleges in debating, oratory and Rugby competitions, took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 21 and 22. The southern boys came to Wellington on Monday evening and returned on Wednesday, after the Rugby match. Rev. A. v Cullen accompanied. the team as manager, and with him were Revs. W. Buckley and J. Joyce, and Mr. E. McDonald, coach Of St. Bede's College. There were some 30 members in the whole party. The debating and oratorical competitions took place in the Study Hall of St. Patrick's. In spite of bad weather the hall was crowded with the parents, the boys and old boys of the two colleges. The programme opened with musical selections given by the college orchestra, conducted by Mr. P. Cullen, and flute solos played by Mr. L. Evatt. The Very Rev. T. A. Gilbert then welcomed the southern representatives and introduced the officials of, the contest: Mr. M. J. Reardon, late Assessor of the Arbitration Court (chairman); Rev. J. A. Eccleton, S.M., of the Marist Mission staff (judge of oratory); Dr. Marsden, Assistant Director of Education in N.Z., and Mr. G. Craig, LL.M., Controller of N.Z. Customs (judges of debating). The chairman briefly explained the rules governing the debate and announced the motion under discussion: "That Arbitration in industrial disputes had been of less value to the worker in N.Z. than the strike weapon." St. Patrick's held the affirmative and St. Bede's the negative. T. G. Taylor opened for the northern college. After dividing the trades unions into arbitration and strike unions, he proceeded to make detailed examination of figures and statistics to the advantage of the strike unions. M. Daly led for St. Bede's College. He opened vigorously, insisting that the debate must be kept to the. sphere of fact. He made four main points: that the arbitration method had done splendid work during the period of postwar depression; had increased wages generally in a manner not achieved by the strike weapon; had reduced the hours of labor. He ended with a challenge to the affirmative to produce figures showing a like success attained by the opposite method. J. Gaynor proceeded for St. Patrick's to take up the challenge in figures. He quoted parallel cases of the results of awards of the court and the advances made without the court. Particular cases taken were those of the Petone and Ngahauranga workers and Poverty Bay Freezing Workers. He finally warned the audience of the danger of accepting the argument of sympathy in a debate which involved the "right of conflict." ;. C. Feebly for St. Bede's argued from the dislocation of facilities during strikes; the danger of enmity of sections of the community —as in the case of . the Waihi strike and finally the grave loss to the worker himself in strike times. .....•.-'; W: Ainsworth spoke very emphatically on the affirmative side. Accepting the challenge of the negative leader x he produced figures dealing with the Seamen's Union. Beginning with the Maritime Strike he traced the advance

made by that union since 1890. He made closely reasoned contrasts between the present condition of the seamen and that of the marine engineers and officers who had proceeded along arbitration lines. He showed thorough knowledge of the figures to the point between 1906-1922. J. Wall was, the last speaker for St. Bede's. His contribution to the debate was an examination of the objections usually raised by the opponents of arbitration. M. Daly made an excellent summing up for St. Bede's in his reply speech. T. Taylor was the last speaker as affirmative leader. He spent his remaining time meeting the objections raised by the negative side. The judgment was given by Dr. Marsden. . He explained the general headings under which points had been allotted. In his opinion the debate was the finest he had heard for some time from debaters of a similar standard. He pointed out the general defects noticed by the judges and then announced the decision. W. Ainsworth was selected as the best speaker in the debate, with M. Daly a close second. The team points were as follows St. Patrick's College, 224; St. Bede's College, 224. Thus St. Patrick's won the Kennedy Cup, held by St. Bede's since 1921. The competition in oratory took place after the debate. The following were the speakers with the subjects chosen: (1) T. G. Taylor: Damien of Molokai; (2) C. Mcintosh: Napoleon Bonaparte; (3) F. Crowle: Joan of Arc; (4) J. Connor: Kosciuszko. Rev. Father Eccleton awarded the O'Connell Shield for Oratory to C. Mcintosh, of St. Bede's College, for his speech on Napoleon Bonaparte. After the competitions Mr. M. J. Reardon. made the presentations. Rev. Father Gilbert thanked the chairman and the judges, and the vote of thanks was carried by acclamation. Cheers were then called by the rival collegians, and the evening terminated with the singing of the college song "Blue and White." • The Rugby match took /place on Wednesday at the Basin Reserve. Mr. E. Perry was referee. The teams .were as follows: —St. Bede's College (black and red): Fitzharris, Spring, Payne, Lee, Ahem, Galvin, Mullan, Tansey, Quirk, Feebly, Baxter, Murphy (captain), Vavasour, Harrington, Taylor B. St. Patrick's College (blue and white): O'Connell, Taylor, T. Riddell, Smith, Blake, Johnson (captain), Evatt, McLaughlin, Kelleher, Burnes, Ainsworth, Flynn, Hoskins, Young, Wallace. In the first spell St. Patrick's had the better of the game, scoring 14 points to St. Bede's 6. In the second spell, St. Bede's struck form and playing a fine open game ran up 14 points, the games thus ending 20-14 in St. Bede's favor. The game was a fine, sparkling display of college Rugby, and was remrkable for the recovery of St. Bede's and their ultimate victory. In the evening the southern boys were entertained to dinner at St. Patrick's College. The matron (Mrs. N. Chamness) had the dining hall gaily decorated in the rival colors. Speeches were made by Rev. T. A. Gilbert, Rev. Fathers Cullen, Bartley and the captains. The toasts were drunk and cheers exchanged, and the southern boys left for the ferry. At the wharf colors were exchanged, and the rivals parted in merry - spirits. St. Bede's captured two out of the . three trophies. . They concluded a . fine season in which they won the college grade in Christchurch by defeating the representatives of their old mother college. Palmerston North (From our own correspondent.) August 24. Departed recently for pastures new, an old resident of this parish, in the person of Mrs. Rice: she has gone to live in Hamilton and being a hard worker and a hard prayer, the dear old saint is greatly missed from the church. Also left us for a few months' stay in Auckland, Miss K. O'Hagan, one of our best Children of Mary and a councillor, of the sodality. We hope "Councillor O'Hagan" will find Auckland pleasant; but not (pleasant enough to keep her very long. Death has claimed several of the parishioners lately. First Mr. P. Scanlon died; he resided with his daughter, Mrs. Diederich, of Linton Street. Mrs. Cosgrove, of Campbell Street, also lost her father (Mr. W. F. Hobbs), and

Mrs. A. C. Rodgers died loth August, as the result of being thrown from her trap the previous Sunday. The deceased lady, who was the eldest daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. W. Donnelly, of Lower Hutt, had resided in Palmerston North for over 30 years. Besides her husband (the eldest son of Mr. Thomas Rodgers, of Rangitikei Line) Mrs. Rodgers leaves a family of nine, children—lrene, Mary, Ursula, and 'Kathleen, and Thomas, Oswald, Hector, Alphonsus, and Kenneth.—P. Mrs. McGrath held a euchre and dance on Wednesday night, and Mrs. M. Spelman had her fortnightly euchre and dance on Thursday night. Both functions were well patronised, and the proceeds will be devoted to the forthcoming bazaar. A wedding of much local interest was solemnised on Wednesday, when Miss Cecilia. Baldwin, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Percy Baldwin, of Palmerston North, and eldest grand-daughter of the late Mrs. Johnston, of Highden, was united in Matrimony to Mr. John Duncan, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Duncan, of Wellington. The church was beautifully decorated with arum lilies by the Misses Watson, and the bridesmaids were Misses A. Duncan (sister of the bridegroom), M. Watson (Palmerston North), Wilford (Wellington), Vavasour (Blenheim), and little Jessie Broad (Palmerston North). The office of best man was filled by Mr. M. Duncan (brother of the bridegroom). After the ceremony, a reception was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, when many guests were present. Mr. and Mrs. Duncan left later for Rotonia; their future home will bo in Wellington. His Grace Archbishop Redwood and Rev. Father Hickson passed through the town last week; his Grace was travelling to Greenmeadows'. We also had a visit from Father Kelly, of the Chinese Mission; he paid a visit to the schools and had a chat with the children. These "Chinese" Missionaries puzzle us; first Doctor Maguire came, then Father O'Shea, and lastly Father Kelly. As each one came on the scene we looked at him, and listened to him, and our verdict was: "Alio samee Father Mac, and yet a Chinaman!" perplexing. When Doctor Maguire was hero- he told us of the old Irish mother who, when informed that every fourth baby born into the world was a Chinese baby, exclaimed : "Thank God! I. only had three." Perhaps these "Chinese" missionaries, are "fourth" babies, born in Ireland, of Irish parents. That may not be sound "theology," but it is an honest attempt to solve the problem. _<*X> : L. Sisters of the Missions, Perth, W.A. Rev. Mother and Sisters of the Institute of Notre Dame des Missions, of the Sacred Heart Highgate Hill, Perth, desire to thank all' who contributed so generously to the building fund on the occasion of the blessing and opening of the new chapel in memory of Blessed Therese, "The Little Flower," which took place on Sunday, July 22. Clients will also be pleased to know that a novena of Masses in connection with the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary were offered up for the intentions of those who contributed to the cost of erecting the chapel. Miss Amy Castles ' ' The announcement that the famous soprano, Amy Castles, was to give a. series of concerts in the Burns Hall, commencing on Tuesday last, was received with delight, -by all who love the old melodies. During President Roosevelt's public career he always evinced a warm interest in Irish-American affairs, and attended the great annual soiree given -in New York by the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. On the occasion of the celebration held preceding his death. Amy Castles was specially engaged to sing, and the ex-President effusively congratulate! her on her singing. Alberto Torzillo (harpist), Charles Tuckwell (pianist, and Miss Eileen Castles, the celebrated lyric soprano, are assisting at these feasts of music. Unfortunately Miss Amy Castles contracted a slight chill early in the week and as a consequence her concerts, in Dunedin had to be postponed for a few days. The first is to be given this (Thursday) evening, and others on Friday and Saturday. After her Dunedin season Castles is to give concerts at Invercargill on September 4, and at Gore on September 6. . ,