NEW ZEALAND : GENERAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 6, 7 February 1901, Page 19

NEW ZEALAND : GENERAL.

The Sixth Contingent from this Colony for South Africa left Auckland for their destination on Wednesday of last week. The contingent was in charge of Lieut -Colonrl Banks. With this number of the N Z. Tablet we issue a supplement containing process portraits of the prelates present at the dedication of the Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington, and also of Bishop Lenihan, who waa unavoidably absent. We also give a picture of the new basilic 1. It is proposed to erect a fctatue of the late Queen in Wellington. The movemeut has been initiated by Lord Kanfurly, who has promised a subscription of 25 guineas. At a preliminary meeting a sum of ovei £250 was raised, including 50 guineas from the Ministry. A Greymouth correspondent writes: — Among the successful oandidates at the recent matriculation examination was Mi-« Mary Ellen Noonan, a pupil of the Convent of Mercy, Greymouth. Another pupil of the convent, Miss Frances Broad, passed the second grade freehand drawing examination which was held last December in connection with the Technical School, Wellington. The Imperial contingent, which waa present at the Commonwealth ceremonies in Sydney, and consisting of about 780 officers and men, arrived in Dunedin on Tuesday e\euing, and received an enthusiahtic reception. On Wednesday there was a parade of the Imperial troops through the principal streets, and in the evening the visitors were suitably entertained by the citizens. Our Nelson correspondent writes :— The sum of about £33 has been collected in this parish to go towards the Marist Brothers' defence fund.— The Very Rev. Dean Mahoney and Father G. Mahoney have left for Wellington for the annual retreat. The Dean will go on to Christchurch after the retreat to witness the laying of the foundation stone of the new cathedral. The Canterbury Jubilee Exhibition was formally closed on Thursday evening. The president announced that everything had worked smoothly ; that the exhibition had been one of the most successful held in the Colony ; that the total number of visitors was nearly 250,000, and that there was a surplus of £3000. The home industries and working exhibits sections had been specially successful. It is said that Mr. C. Walker, who was present at the proclamation of King Edward VII. at Palmerston North, has seen five

monarchs on the British throne, having been born in 1811. He was a magistrate of Yorkshire in 1849, more than half a century ago, and is still so hale that he was able to take an active interest in the accession of the new King, by braving the elements to be present at the ceremony. A correspondent writes :— Next month Miss Connell, of Hawera, who has already earned a name for herself in musical circles as a vocalist, leaves for Wellington to join a concert party who purpose touring the Colony professionally. This done it is the intention of Miss Connell to proceed to Europe to further pursue her musical education. A sad drowning accident occurred on the estuary at New Brighton on Saturday. Mr. B. Bull, ox-Mayor of Si. Albans Borough, with a married and a single son and a grandson, were sailing in the estuary, when a puff of wind oapsised the boat. The younger son, Leonard, first got the nephew ashore and then his father, but Samuel, the father of the boy, was exhausted and was drowned. A hailstorm of an exceptional character wae experienced the other day at Duntroon, 28 miles from Oamaru. The storm expended itself over a small area, but it entirely ruined the crops of one farmer, and partially destroyed those of others. The hailstones were like hens' eggs, and iron roofs were perforated and windows smashed wherever they faced the storm. Mr. W. Hoban, solicitor, of Christchurch (says an exchange) has just purchased from the New Zealand Farmers' Co-operative Association the Te Raki estate, at the Chatham Islands, formerly in the estate of the late Mrs. T. O. Hay. The property comprises 4666 acres, 1,600 sheep, a number of horses, implements, together with the buildings and improvements, which have been considerably increased of late. This property adjoins his own run, and will be advantageously worked in conjunction therewith. Calculations made by the Postal department show that during the week ended January 7 to 13 the number of letters posted in the Colony was 30 per cent, greater than during the corresponding period last year. Other figures showing the operation of the penny postage system disclose the fact that 5r>,932 letters went from the Colony by the San Francisco mail on the 21st ult., as against 26 662 by the previous mail in September, an increase of 109 per cent. As occasional correspondent, writing from Hastings under date January 28, says —Sunday, January 27, the occasion of the opening of the new convent, was a day of special devotion in the Sacred Heart Church, Hastings. Mass at 7.30 was celebrated by the Very Rev. Father Smyth. At 11 o'clock Solemn High Mass was sung by the Very Rev. Dean Kirk, fit Wanganui, Key. Father Goutunoire, of Meanee, being deacon, and Father Piquet, of Sydney, subdeacon. After Mass Father Smyth, in the absence of his Grace tne Archbishop, ble-sed th. j convent, and Very Rev. Dean Kirk preached a short sermon. At 7 o'clock Solemn Vespers were suDg by Very Rev. Dean Kirk. Rev. Father Piquet preajhed a very instructive sermon on ' Death.' The following paragraph which appears in the Stirling Journal and Advertiser of December 7 will be read with interest by West Coast readers as evidence of the success of a young New Zealander and native of Hokitika :— ' The Town Council of.Stirhng has conferred the freedom pf the burgh on Dr. St. Leger'H. Gribben, who lately returned from South Africa, with the Edinburgh and East of Scotland Hospital. Dr. Gribben, who is a native of New Zealand, was house surgeon at Stirling Royal Infirmary, and volunteered for service in South Africa. He left Stirling in March last for the seat of war. His many patients and friends will be pleased to see that thi6 honor has been accorded him, for by his professional abilility and tact Dr. Gribben gained the respect of all who knew him ' Dr. Gribben's father is Mr H.iGribben, Superintendent of the Sea View Lunatic Asylum, who is to be congratulated upon his son's promising career. There was a crowded house of members of the Ashburton Catholic Literary Society and their friends at the Boys' School on Wednesday night of last week (says the Mail) to hear a lecture by the Rev. Father Crotty, entitled ' A glimpse at London,' with limelight illustrations. The lecture occupied over two hours in delivery, in the course of which the lecturer explained his experiences in the metropolis, and also described the various eights to be seen there, his description of St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and the Tower of London proving very interesting. The lecture was delivered in a humorous and telling manner, and the lecturer kept his audience with him from beginning to end, a consequence of which was that the proceedings were a great nuccess, everyone being thoroughly pleatei with the evening's entertainment The various scenes were thrown on the canvas in a manner that reflected the highest credit on Mr. F. Cooper, who manipulated the limelight apparatus. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded Father Crotty for his excellent lecture. Ex-Judge Gresson died at his residence, North Canterbury, on Friday morning, the anniversary of his birthday. The deceased was 92 years of age, and had been living in retirement for a considerable time. The deceased was born in County Westmeath, Ireland, in 1809. He matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin, and took his B.A. degree. He studied with a view to the profession of a barrister, and was called to the Irish Bar in Trinity Term, 1833 ; but was without any intention of offering himself for practice at the time. In London and in Dublin he obtained experience in his profession, and, in onjunction with a brother barrister, published a book on Irish Equity Pleading. In 1854 he arrived in New Zealand, and later on was appointed Provincial Solicitor and Crown Prosecutor. These offices he continued to hold until December, 1857, when he accepted the office of Acting-Judge of the Southern Districts, including Wellington, Nelson, Westland, Canterbury, and Otago. He retired from the Supreme Court Bench in 1874.

The two scholarships given annually at St. Patrick's College Wellington, tenable for two years and valued at 40 guineas each, have this year been won by Masters A. Yenning and V. Geaney, ot theMarist Brothers' School, Timaru. It will be remembered o>'nvß the Timaru Herald) that one of last year's scholarships was carried off by a pupil from the same school. That both the scholarships should have been carried off by the Marmt Brothers' School r. fleets great credit on the school and the devoted Brothers who conduct it. We wish the winners of thepe valuable prizes success in their college career. Yenning belongs to Timaru and Geaney to Geraldine. THE liegistrar-Ueneral. Mr. iv. J. von Dadeiyzen, ithkn fui Cu c intelligent co-operation of every person in charge of a dwellinghouse in bringing to a successtui irsuh the census which will lj« taken on the night of Sunday, March 31. The Colony has been divided into 42 enumerators' districts, each consisting of agroupof contiguous counties with their interior boroughs. The enumerators have divided their districts into sub-districts, for each of which a sub-enumerator has been or is to be selected to distribute and collect the household schedules. There will be about 850 sub-enumerators ulto/e h-r. Each sub-enumerator will be provided with a map of his district, coloured to show all existing territorial divisions, such as electoral districts, counties, ridings, road and town districts, besides boroughs, and the populations of all these will be ascertained. The areai of the sub-enumerators' districts will also be marked off on the maps into small blocks, and the population of these given by the subenumerators, for the purpose of defining new electoral districts for the apportionment of the European representation of the people in Parliament. The particulars required by the Act respecting the people include name, sex, married or Bingle, birthplace, length of residence in colony, religion, occupation, education, whether British subject or alien, if suffering from sickness, accident, or infirmity. The dwellings are also to be described in respect of rooms and material. Besides the information as to the population, special returns will be collected relating to all industries, manufactories, or works in the Colony, giving particulars as to the hands and power employed, value of materials operated on, produce or manufacture, value of land and buildings, machinery, and plant. Further, returns of places of worship, land and building societies, literary and scientific institutions, etc., will also be collected by enumerators from information supplied by sub-enumerators. A TRAVELLING correspondent writes : — For some time past the clergy in Taranaki have been bringing before their respective congregations the great necessity of practically supporting the only Catholio newspaper in New Zealand. They declare with no uncertain voice that if it were not for the efforts of the Tablet in the past Catholics would not enjoy the toleration that they do now. During the last 12 months the Church had been going through a grave crisis in Australasia. Firat, they baid, the unfortunate Slattery came to rouse up old pa-siona and cause bitter sectarian strife. Slattery's departure was followed by the unearthing of a so-called ' scandal ' at Btok<?, where, besides other accusations a Brother was accused of a crime of the gravest possible import. And lastly the Coningham divorce case at Sydney came up for consideration. Through the able and energetic efforts of the editor of the Tablet, Slattery's mission was a failure. Regarding the secular press generally and the Stoke prosecutions — or persecutions — it was note- worthy the reports of the trials in the lower Court •were headed with big black lines. And some papers had the bad form to comment upon the cases whilst they were .sub judici . But when the Supreme Court trials came on the results were of the wrong sort— for some people and newspapers— for the black headings had disappeared, and in many cases a • local ' of three or four lines constituted the report. The editors were away to ' bark up another tree.' The speakers paid that by subscribing to a Catholic newspaper a silent preacher would be in their homea. Catholic* should not be satisfied by saying their prayers and going to Mass, but Bhould so inform themselves on matters pertaining to their Church as to be able to combat accusations and slanders made against it. And one of the beat weapons to place in their hands was the Tablet.