NEWS OF THE WEEK.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 201, 9 February 1877, Page 13

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

We are happy to announce that the Rev. W. Kelly, S.J., contemplates delivering 1 a second lecture in Dunedin on Monday evening next, the 12th inst. The success attendant on that already given by him, and the delight with which it was, without exception, listened to, afford the best auguries for the satisfaction with which our announcement will be received. The undying interest also ■which surrounds the name of Mary Stuart will, in itself, prove a powerful attraction, for it is the career of the hapless Queen of Scots that has been chosen as his subject by tho eloquent son of St. Ignatius, and we look forward with confidence to seeing a crowded audience on the occasion. The evening to which we allude will, moreover, be the last on which the public of Dunedin will be afforded an opportunity of hearing the Rev. Father Kelly, as it is his intention to start on Tuesday next for Invercargill en route for Melbourne. Ottb whipper-in of the 'Otago Witness' still finds in the columns of the Tablet food for his parched paragraphs. We continually furnish a whole gardenful of " big gooseberries" for this tuneful daw to peck at. The -'red rag" and the "bull," as set forth in his " Passing Notes," are very striking and quite original, and by t 1 c latter adjective we may like wise qualify the information he affords, x'elative to hhe priesthood of his Eminence the late Cardinal Antonelli. The Cardinal was not a priest, and, therefore, his having left a large fortune behind him, howsoever acquired, no more proves that the profession alluded to is a money-making one, than such will be proved hereafter, when the pile, this egoistical enunciator of feeble opinions will have acquired by his brilliant powers of journalism, comes to be divided amongst those who shall be fortunate enough to inherit him. Nor is it true that the father of the deceased Cardinal was a wood-cutter. He was a member of a wealthy family, holding landed property near Terracina. The inhabitants of those districts which lie between Dunedin and Queenstown are about to be favored with a visit from Mr. John Armstrong, the well-known surgeon-dentist. Together with the exercise of his profession, by means of which he is so eminently qualified to afford relief to the numerous victims who suffer from imperfections of the teeth, Mr. Armstrong intends to employ his powers as a lecturer for the benefit of those townships in which he purposes to make a sojourn. His qualifications to occupy the lecturing platform rank high, and we have no doubt but that they will entitle him to a hearty welcome throughout the course of his journey. Particulars will be found in our advertising columns. We have received from its publishers, Messrs. Mills, Dick and Co., ' Flowers of the Free Lands,' by Thomas Bracken. We regret that it is impossible for us in our present issue, to give a review of the contents of the work in question. This, circumstances oblige us to defer until next week. We shall now, therefore, merely glance n.t the exterior of the volume, which is of unsurpassed attraction, reflecting the utmost credit on all those persons who have i been engaged in producing it. The pages are neatly bordered in wth red, and each poem commences with a handsomely ornamented Initial letter, the binding is extremely well designed and appropriate, and, though last not least, the frontispiece consists of a magnificent photographic likeness of the author. The book, independently of its literary value, of which we purpose presently to treat, would be a cxeditable addition to the adornments of any drawing-room table in the colonies, and might hold its own with the best productions of the publishing houses of Europe or America. FtooDS, floods, floods, everywhere ! until adapting the words of an ancient conqueror, we feel inclined to cry, "One other such summer and we are undone ! " Are the hills about Dunedin destined to be floated down on streams of heavy rain, until the upper harbor becomes filled up, or where is it to end ? We recollect many years ago, that some vagary of the tides induced the eea on the western coast of Ireland to rise up and invade the pleasure grounds and lower storeys of certain villas, erected for bathing purposes upon

the shore. Great was the panic caused generally, but , chiefly various elderly ladies, who had brought, their bantlings from interior parts to the " salt water" for the good of their health,' insured by on annual ducking, were driven frantic by the anticipation- of a watery death, unexpectedly encountered in their drawing-rooms. One, however, there was, who, bolder than her sisters, gave battle to the waves, for sallying forth she bravely barricaded her gates, and then retired within to the top of her staircase, where Bhe awaited events with a calm mind. But her confidence was mis* placed, for her material of fortification proved floatable, being, indeed, no other than a piano case, and the invading element advanced all the same, as if no impediment had been placed in its way. She had, however, left in the basement storey a servant-man who was engaged in protecting the household stores and culinary utensils as best he might from .the encroaching brine. To him, when matters had progressed somewhat further, she applied for information, calling down the stairs and questioning concerning the state of affairs below, to whom he replied, in his lucid Hibernian manner, ''Troth, ma'am, the pots are swimming about on the; fire." We fear that many pots have floated during these unseasonable torrents, and, what is still worse, that the crops have suffered serious injury. Moreover, the evil is infinitely aggravated by the universality of the deluge.