CONVENT OPENED.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1664, 3 February 1913, Page 6

CONVENT OPENED.

AT LOWER IJUTT. \ \ - 1 ,r

A convent, the Institute of Notre' Dame des Missions, at Lower Hutt, waa opened yesterday afternoon. The sisters of the mission'are a comparatively new order in Wellington, having come from'Christchurch here about a year ago, and they have taken'up educational work at 1 the Hutt. ; •

The property which they have acquired stands in some twelvo acres of ground, the building is admirably adapted s for the purposes for which it is intended, and the surroundings are delightful.

. There was\a very large attendance at the ceremony. TMir Excellencies the Earl and Countess of Liverpool, who arrived from Christ church in the morning, were present, and they were received by the Mayor of-Lower Hutt (Mr. E. P. Bunny) and Mrs. Bunny. Among the clergy present were: 'His Lordship Bishop Grimes (Christchurch), the Very Rev. Dean O'Shea, the Very Rev. Dean Regnault, the Very Rev. Dean Lane, tho Very Rev. Dr. Kennedy, the Ven. Archdeacon Devoy, and tho Very Rev; Father Hickson. 1 The Mayor (Mr; Bunny) congratulated the sisters of tho mission on having acquired such; excellent quarters, and, expressed the hope that they would win, the regard of the people of the district. His Excollency the Governor was received witli loud applause. He stated that it gave Lady Liverpool and himself pleasure in being present, the more especially on account of the kindly welcome accorded to them by Bishop Grimes at Christ.church .some days earlier. They appreciated very sincerely; the kindness of;the welcome accorded to' them all over the Dominion. 1 (Applause.) '■ ON EDUCATION. ■ Bishop Grimes. also congratulated the Sisters on having obtained such a fine property. They had coulo to the district to affirm again the principler-dear to all Catholics, and founded upon reason as •well jas in their faith—that there could .be no education worth tho name unless it 'had religion as its basis.. Not only must religion bo the basis, but it must form' an actual'part of the training. The'assembly was another testimony of the loyalty of Catholics to the grand old principlo of liberty, and the expenditure of upwards of .£7OOO on the property by the Sisters was proof of their devotion and loyalty. He.had ho wish to strike a discordant note on sftch on occasion, but this was another.page in a long roll or wrongs inflicted upon Catholics. Tho Catholic community in New Zealand numbored, as Government blue books showed, 145,000, or abont one-seventh of the total. They had 14,000 children in the secondary and primary schools. In, their secondary schools were 2337 children' and 95 teaoliers. On tho assessment of cost allowed by tho Stato (.£12.31 per head), the education of those secondary. 6chool pupils would oost per year. The primary schools contained'.' 12,463 children, and at the State allowance of iJS 18s. Bd. per head the cost per'annum would be JE73.947. And besides providing for their own children Catholics were required to pay their share towards the upkeep of schools to wfliich, for conscientious reasons, they could, not send- their children. Catholics believed that. tlicy had' wrongs, and' they suffered them because they believed that, however, thorough education might be, unless (as -had already stated) it was - based on religion which was truncated and incomplete. God was always the God of all knowledge, and that being so they considered it an act of: treason against the Almighty, and a cruel wrong 'to the children, if they thrust aside God and the influence of God during tho timo of their children's lives, when their minds were plastic. (Applause.) The work of all the Sisters of all tho Orders in New Zealand had been wonderfully successful, and as a Catholic Bishop ho was glad to take the opportunity of sayine how grateful ho felt to them. He had been much pained to read that tho Wellington Board of Education had not shown the fairness and wisdont of the boards in Taranaki,' Greymouth, and North Canterbury, and that they had refused to allow Catholic boys. to holdscholarships at St. Patrick's College. He urged the people to put on tho board' fair-minded men, who would rise above narrow bigotry or foolish jealousy. While the Church taught children their duty to God and their duty to their parents. tho Church did not neglect to remind them of their duty to tho State. Ho deprecated the action of a foolish section' of the community who, from faintheartedness or other causes, refused to take their share in defending their country. No one had been more delighted than he when New Zealauders had come to the. ns=nstanee, of the Motherland in a time of trial, and sent forth fighting contingents. This, he believed, was one of tho finest object-lessons ever given by tho colonies to other nations of the loyalty of Britain's oversea dominions. Ho hoped Catholic people would never bo failinir in their duty to the country and the Empire. (Applause.) Speeches were also ™ado bv the Very R«.v. Dean Lane,-and Mr. T. M. Wilford, M.P.

Before leaving for town tlfe Enrl of Liverpool and Lady Liverpool were entertained at afternoon ten by the clergy and the Sister* of the convent.