INTERCOLONIAL

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 28, 9 July 1903, Page 31

INTERCOLONIAL

The Sydney ' Freeman's Journal ' was first issued on June 27, 1850, so that it is now in its fifty-fourth year, and, unlike most mundane things, it grows more vigorous and able with advancing years.

The Very Rev. Father Gibbons, of Glen Innes, has been, transferred to the charge of Narrabri district in place of the Very Rev. J . Hearn. Before his departure from the district Father Gibbons was entertained at a social gathering and presented with a purse of sovereigns.

On Sunday, June 21, his Grace the Archbishop of Melbourne laid the memorial-stone of a handsome Convent of Mercy at Seymour, 61 miles from the city, on the Melbourne and Sydney line. The nuns came originally from Mansfield. They have a fine agricultural district to work in, and a goodly number of boarders have already been enrolled. They have charge of the girls' primary school.

The Rome correspondent of the ' Catholic Press ' says :—: — This year of the eleven doctors created at Propaganda, the one who obtained the most brilliant pass was the Rev. John Kavanagh, of Maitland diocese. He is an exstudent of the Sacred Heart College, Maitland, and his Australian Alma Mater has reason to be proud of her promising son.

The city (writes the Melbourne correspondent of the ' Freeman's Journal ') boasts of a splendid home for the old aged of both sexes, and Ballarat has just put the finishing touches on a similar institution — Nazareth House — on which £8000 has been expended. The good nuns were fortunate in receiving several fine legacies ; a clerical friend left them £4000, whilst Mrs. Coghlan and Mr. Loughlin (nephew of the late Martin Loughlin) have given substantial aid to this charity.

Dr. Frederick Norton Manning, Inspector-General of the Insane in New Souith Wales for over 20 years, passed away recently at the age of 64 years. He came to Australia in the early sixties as a medical officer on H.M.S. Esk. He was engaged in the Maori war, and at the first attack on the Gate Pah at Tauranga was carrying a wounded blue-jacket off the field when the man was shot through the heart while in the young doctor's arms.

North Queensland readers (says the ' Freeman's Journal ') will be interested in learning the movements of Father O'Brien, 0.5.A., who administered the Cooktown Vicariate during the two years' absence of Bishop Murray, and left on vacation last year. Our Rome correspondent writes on May 23 : — The Very Rev. Father O'Brien, of Croydon (Q), has been staying in Rome for the past few weeks, at the Minerva Hotel. He had the privilege of having an audience with the Holy Father, and expeots another during the coming week. Father O'Brien will leave Naples on Sunday, 31st May, by the Oroya, for Australia, arriving there early in July. The very rev. gentleman and some friends spent several days at the world-renowned shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel at Cenazzano, as the guests of the Very Rev. Prior O'Keeffe at the Irish AlJg.ustinian Monastery of San Pio — one of the most beautiful monastic establishments on the Alban Hills.

The following is a fepoit of the work done by the Sydney centre of the St. Vincent de JL'aul Society for the past year : — The 33 conferences which constitute the Particular Council of Sydney have an active membership of 651. What these 651 earnest lr.en have to sh')W for the year 1902 is shown in the following figuies : They have paid 12,473 visits to the poor in their homes ; relieved 1772 cases of destitution, or 7443 persons ; arranged decent lVnerals for 22 ; assisted 58 persons to get a living in business ; obtained employment for 153 : obtained passages for 23 ; supplied 883 with bedding and clothing ; provided nigi.t lodgings for 552 ; obtained medical assistance for 165 ; provided help in hospitals or institutions for 80 ; proved by investigation 223 unsatisfactory cafes ; sent 81 cases to other conferences ; and vhen the year closed hod 242 cases on the boo Vs. The total cash receipts for the year, including balance from 1901, amounted to £.2843 10s Id, and the expenditure of £2410 l.*>s 7d ; leaving a balance of £442 3s 6-d to be cairicd forward to the present year.

News was recently received here (writes the Brisbane correspondent of the ' Catholic Press ') that the three colonial exhibitions awarded by the Board of Trinity College, London, had all been carried off by Queensland competitors. We are pleased to note that two out of the three successful students are pupils of All Hallows' Ctnvent school, Brisbane— Miss Mary McHugh, of Toowooni'ba, and Mi?s Hilda Roberts, oi Brisbane. These young ladies are the fortunate exhibitioners who have done much credit to Queensland and to All Hallows' school by their distinguished success. At the cxaminat'ons for which the exhibitions hare been awarded, Miss McHugh scored 300 per cent, in sin<?inir, and Miss Roberts gained the rragnificent percentage for pianoforte ploying. The credit due to the candidates and to their teachers is all the more marked by the fact thnt the exhibitions were open to students from any British dependency.