INTERCOLONIAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 11, 13 March 1902, Page 15

INTERCOLONIAL.

The Rev. Father Thomas Brown, S.J,, is acting as locum tenens for the Very Rev. Ryan, S.J., at Hawthorn, Melbourne, during the latter'a absence in Europe. The new convent chapel of the Sisters of Charity just opened at St. Vincent's College, Sydney, cost over £7000. It is said to be one of the finest convent churches in Australia. In consequence of the prevalence of the plague in Sydney his Eminence Cardinal Moran has granted to the oity and suburban parochial districts the same relaxation in the Lenten Fast and Abstinence as was granted last year. The following are the District Officers of the H.A.C.B. Society (New South Wales) for the current year : — District President, Bro. R. M'Connack, J.P. (unopposed) ; Distriot Vice- Presidents, Bros. M. J. Egan (Junee), and J. M'Elhone, J.P. ; District Seoretary, Bro. O'Loughlin (unopposed) ; District Treasurer, Bro. W. Hogan (unopposed) ; Distriot Trustees, Bros. J. Dwyer, J. Woods, T. Sweeney. The personal friends and admirers of the Hon. E. W. O'Sullivan, N.5..W., have decided to present him with his portrait, painted by Mr. H. J. Thaddeus, R.H.A. The Minister was born on March 17, and the portrait will be a birthday gift. At a meeting in the Hotel Australia, with Mr. Freehill in the chair, £50 was subscribed in the room, and speeches were made by prominent public men eulogising Mr. O'Sullivan. Mr. Freehill described him as a man who reflected the greatest possible credit on the public life of the country, and said that even those who differed from him in politics had the greatest possible admiration for him as a man. Mr. M. Meagher was appointed hon. seoretary to the movement, and Mr. J. W. Purves hon. treasurer. The portrait is an excellent one, and it represents the Minister in all his force of character. ' What are Cardinal Moran's resources ? ' That is a question (cays the Sydney correspondent of the Adelaide Southern Cross) put to Catholics from time to time. No one can give a definite answer. It iB no matter for surprise that people ask the question, for his Eminence gives large sums away almost every week. The amounts publicly announced make only a small proportion of his donations, To one institution, I know, he gave £15,000 privately. At every foundation-stone laying his Eminence heads the list of subscriptions. I visited the Waitara Foundling Hospital the other day, and in showing me round the Sister in charge said : ' The Cardinal came here unexpectedly some time ago, and he said, "You are in need of a laboratory ; you want this, and you want that.' And he presented us with everything we stood in need of.' It is always the way. When the orphanages are in distress they turn to the Cardinal for relief. And it seems they are never disappointed. Early on Tuesday morning, February 25, the Convent of Mercy, Wyalong, situated near the hospital, about a mile from the town, was discovered to be on fire. The alarm was given by telephone from the hospital to the presbytery at West Wyalong, three miles away, it being found impossible to establish telephonic communication with any closer subscribers at such an early hour. By the time Rev. Father Ryan had arrived on the scene by bicycle the the whole building was enveloped in flames. The Sisters were in Borne danger, being unable to get through a wire-netted enclosure which surrounds the building. Their personal effects, which were removed by the Sisters and placed against this wire fence, were eventually burned. The building was constructed of wood, and consisted of five principal rooms and an oratory, with the necessary adjuncts of kitchjsn and servants' quarters, the whole being surrounded by a spacious verandah. The building was erected in 1895 as a residence for the parish priest who gave it up to the Sisters of Mercy on that Order establishing a branch in Wyalong. The whole of the building and contents were absolutely destroyed. The Marist Fathers (says an exchange) are looking forward to a great event in the intended opening this year of their cathedral at Suva, Fiji. The coral territories of the Pacific are poor in the materials of great buildings ; stone and timber must be brought to them from Australia or New Zealand, and the cost of building is thus very greatly increased. The Cathedral of Suva is of massive proportions ; it is built of stone which has been hewn out of the Pyrmont Quarries, and carried 2,000 mileß in steamers. The month or August has been chosen because its climatic conditions are the beat of the year. Negotiations are in progress for the provisional chartering of the large intercolonial steamers by the Marists. It iB proposed to take from Sydney 100 or more visitors, for whom the trip will be made of exceptional interest. A cruise will be made through the principal islands of the Southern Oceanic Mission, including Tonga, New Caledonia, and the Solomons. At the recent municipal elections at Parramatta Alderman John Toohey was re-elected, while Mr. T. Gilmour was sent into the Council for the South Ward. Two features of this event are worthy of note. Alderman Toohey is president of the Executive Council of the Hibernian-Australasian Catholic Benefit Society, while Alderman Gilmour is one of the few survivors of the original band who at Albury founded the society in New South Wales nearly a generation ago. This would not be a very noteworthy circumstance but for the fact that in both cases the successful candidates were opposed by the Orange faction. The Rev. DillMacky visited the district during the struggle, and made a vigorous appeal to the sectarian prejudices of the eleotors, but — and it speaks well for the municipal common sense of Parramatta-— the eleotors refused to rejeot men who could serve them well in matters of sanitation and comfort eimply because they professed a particular faith.