NEWS OF THE WEEK.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 210, 13 April 1877, Page 12

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

His Lordship the Bishop of the Diocese, accompanied by the Bey. Father Sheehan, leaves Dunedin this morning for the purpose of opening a Church at Tinker's Gulley, in the Ophir district. His Lordship will be absent from Dunedin for about a week. Owing to the size of our illustration, we are obliged, this week, to alter the appearance of our first page, by returning to our original heading. W> have received a pamphlet entitled "The Laws of New Zealand," by John Cumin, 8.A., of the Inner Temple. The publication contains a great deal of information likely to prove useful to members of the bar, and will be found invaluable in a lawyer's office. Ws would call particular attention to the history of the origin and publication of Wolfe's famous ode, "The Burial of Sir John Moore," given in another column, and especially written for this ! journal by a gentleman who, for over half a century, held a high place amongst contributors to the press of Great Britain and Ireland. The sketch will prove interesting, not only in relation to a poem admired wherever the English language is spoken or understood, and which, had its merit not been recognised in time by a discriminating eye, must have shared the fate that, in later days, threatened Dr. Newman's "Vision of Gerontius," and perished in oblivion. It will, as well, serve as an illustration of the enduring powers of a brilliant intellect; the writer being now in his eightyfourth year. W» rather wonder that we have as yet seen nothing in colonial newspapers of the reported initiation of the Prince Louis Napoleon into the craft of the Freemasons. Suffice it to say that such a report was circulated lately in England, believed by some, and that there was not a word of truth in it. Ws regret to learn that Mrs. Mellican has suffered severely by the late fire on her premises in Walker-street, Dunedin. Besides the destruction of her hotel, a large sum of money — in notes and cheques — perished in the flames. Her loss, we understand, amounts altogether to upwards of £600. We perceive that Mr. Gladstone denies, in the columns of the Times, that the Catholic faith is making real progress in England. For disingenuousness and sophistry on the part of the eminent personage referred to we were prepared, but not for childishness. Denial of an evident truth is the feeblest opposition that can be offered to any cause. If an increase in churches, schools, religious orders, and members be not sure proofs of the genuine progress of the Faith, we know not what they denote, and these things he who runs may read in England. As to whether there be a motion Bomewards of the Anglican Church as a body, or not, we are not yet sufficiently informed to judge. This we know, that, like all forms of Protestantism, the sect referred to must end, when its course has been duly run, by the submission of its members to the Church, or else in their absorption into some of the various phases of infidelity that now begin to show their heads. John B. Callan, Esq., was on Saturday last admitted and enrolled a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand. Mr. Callan is also a member of the Victorian Bar, and for some months past he has been engaged in studying, under the able directions of Messrs. Macassey, Kettle, and Bridges, of Dimedin, the differences that exist between the code of this colony and that of Victoria. The gentleman, to whom -we allude, belongs to a family that has gained brilliant distinctions in the world of intellect, and we have every reason to believe him fully qualified to make good his claim to its membership. We are happy to congratulate him on his admission to the Bar of New Zealand, and we trust thai a Ion? and successful career of practice in Dunedin lies before him. The gentleman who"smole a sickly smile " has been gifted with a companion, in the person of the famous Andromache, wife of Hector, who, in a new version of Homer's Iliad by Mr. Cayley is accredited with having smiled " a teary smile." This translation is done in what is called the Jiomometric style, and is remarkable for a strange melange of archaic terms, with phrases which, if they be not actual slang, make a very near approach thereto. Thew are, however, here and there some very fine passages, which really have a flavor of the original. It appears that there is a difficulty in the labor market oi Otago with respect to obtaining employment for married couple: with children. Those who are void of "encumbrances" are easily provided for, but the bairns are an insuperable impediment. A more inhuman, immoral, and altogether despicable objection can we believe, hardly exist. It is alone sufficient to stamp the country with disgrace. The man who would advance it is richly deserving of castigation, and as for the woman who would do so, in Canidu only could she find her counterpart. The ordinary meeting of the Dunedin Catholic Young Men'i Society was held in St. Joseph's schoolroom on Wednesday evening when there was a fair attendance of members. The furtherance oi of the debate and class schemes was postponed until the following meeting night, owing to the unavoidable absence of the Bey. Fathei Crowley through illness. The evening's work consisted of a papei by Mr. J. J. Eager, and several recitations, readings, <tc. A full attendance of members is requested for next Wednesday evening, at 7.30, on account of the debates and classes, -which questions are b be finally settled.