INTERCOLONIAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 4, 24 January 1901, Page 6

INTERCOLONIAL.

A splendid new Catholic hall is now approaching completion in Ballarat. A sum of £ 1000 has already been expended on the buildiDg, which will coat £f>ooo. The Rev. Father Quinn opened a new presbytery recently in his picturesque Queenscliff parish. Victoria. The Rev. Father M. J. Maher. CM . preached the special sermon. The Commonwealth Fair to provide funds for a new presbytery at South Yarra has iust been wound up. the profits standing at £1000. Rev. Father R. S. Benson is pastor. A community of +he S^fer" of Mercy from Lilydale are shortly to be established in the new mission of Healesville, Victoria. On the same occasion the new presbytery for the Rev. P. Gleeson will be opened. The Hon. R. E. O'Connor, Vice-President of the Federal Executive, made a vigorous speech at a dinner at St. Mary's Cathedral after the Commonwealth celebrations?. He dwelt at length on the high plane to which the Cardinal had lifted the Federal movement, and to the sectarianism that has been levelled at Catholics. The grovelling sectarian npirit, he said, would never enter Federal politics. Sectarianism there would always be, but its home in future would be in the gutter, and public men could never again afford to descend to that level. January 1, 1001. waa made memorable in Maclean (N.S. Wales) by the extinction of the heavy debt that for a long period had hung heavily upon the beautiful local Catholic church, which is one of the landmarks of the Clarence River. Last year the new pastor, Rev. Father Walsh, took the knotty problem in hand. He agreed to pay £17.")0 to the Commercial Bank by the end of the year 1900. He set vigorously about the work of collecting, and with such wonderful success that by the last day of the year the debt was completely wiped ofF. That evening flags were hoisted from the tower of the church to signalise the consummation of the task undertaken by Father Walsh. The Australian, Sentiml, the Orange organ, intimates (says the Adrocatt ) that Mrs Coningham ha* not been excommunicated, but that she has left the Catholic Church voluntarily. Every Catholic will say good riddance of bad rubbish. In the future, nays the same organ, if she went to public worship it would be to the Church of England Her two ideal children are to be brought up Protestants. Her scruples about religion must be elastic. I should not be surprised to hear that she had joined the Orange lodge for women, and if everything else fail' she has enough brass in her composition to mount the stump and lecture on ' the iniquities of Rome.' Some time bnck a pickpocket relieved the Right Rev. Mgr. O'Brien, Rector of St. John's College (with n the Univcn lty). of his valuable watch and chain, a pre L <>ntation from his father. As the articles wrre never recovered, and u>uld not be replaced, the Monpignor had the s-ymp ithy of miny friends who heard of his loss, and they determined to compensate him in some degree, and at the same tune give him a small proof of the high esteem in which he is held. So last week (says the Catholic Pr< .w) at a gathering of distinguished citizens in the Hotel Victoria, presided o\ur by Major Freehill, the Monsignor was presented with a magnificent gold watch and a massive chain. The watch was inscribed : • Prepented to the Right Roy. Merr. O'Brien by a few of Ids friends.' The Monsignor made a graceful acknowledgment of the gift. In the course of his few remarks he said that, dear as the associations wound up in the old watch were, he hardly regretted its loss, since in the one now presented to him hp would recognise associations no less dear, as the thoughtful presentation was an indication that he had the respect and, he hoped, the affection of a large number of his fellow-Catholics in this community. A demonstration of Catholic school children took place in connection with the Commonwealth celebrations in Sydney. An immense platform was erected near St. Mary's Cathedral, and here 4000 children assembled. The platform was now a moving mass of color, and the scene that presented itself to the eye of the observer was one of surpassing splendor and brilliancy. Flags innumerable floated from St. Mary's Cathedral, and in front were a profusion of flags and bunting, all symbolical of loyalty. Indeed all the colors of the rainbow were in evidence, and were so judiciously arranged that it would be impossible for the most tcthetic eye to find fault with anything in the whole magnificent pageant. The flags, together with the multi-colored dresses of the ladies and gaily bedecked children, lent an air of festive grandeur to the scene and formed a triumph of pictorial art, gorgeous coloring, and theatrical display that will long be remembered. Directly the clock chimed 10.30 Mr. J. A. Del any took up his position in front and led the children. As Lord Hopetoun's carriage approached St. Mary's a halt was mado in the procession to enable his Excellency the Governor-General to listen to the singing of the Catholic schools hymn, the words of which are by Mr. P. E. Quinn, M P., and music by Mr. J. A. Delany. The band of the 2nd Regiment, under the conductorship of Bandmaster TiUey, which accompanied the children in tbe Binging, was happy in ita selection of incidental tune". The children, at the conclusion of the singing, gave three hearty cheers for his Excellency and the Commonwealth, who, in a most graceful manner, acknowledged the tribute. The children, assisted hy the assembled multitude outside the cathedral, joined in singing tn» National Anthem, after which cheers were given for the Queen, »nd the procession reaun ed its journey. During the whole time the procession was passing the bells of St. Mary's Cathedral rang out joyous peals. The demonstration of the children from the Catholic echools on the whole was a magnificent spectacle, and probably one of the finest yet made That the public thoroughly appreciated the pageant waa evident from the frequent bursts of applause from the thousands of spectators that lined the route of the Commonwealth procession.