INTERCOLONIAL

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 39, 24 September 1903, Page 31

INTERCOLONIAL

A fine monastery has just been conxpleted by Messrs. Cavanagh Brothers (architects) for the Redemptonst Fathers at North Perth (W.A.). A few Sundays ago the Right Rev. Dr. Doyle, Bishop of Lismore, inducted the Rev. J. Dalton as parish priest of the Tweed. His Lordship subsequently laid the foundation stone of the convent, the collection at which amounted to £,244. Dr. Lowther Clarke, the new Anglican Bishop of Melbourne, was in Sydney recently, and in a ' Telegraph ' interview he said : ' I feel that all honor and credit are due to the Catholics throughout Victoria, who have so tenaciously and persistently maintained their own schools at very great cost to themselves. During the past, year the railways of New South Wales carried over 32,000,000 passengers, without a single death caused by default of the railways. Even counting two fatal accidents through no fault of the department, the record is one death to 16,000,000 passengers carried. In former notes (writes the Melbourne correspondent of the Sydney ' Freeman's Journal ') reference was made to the fact that the F. C. J. Convent, Kew, had been made a ' local centre ' in connection with the Oxford Exams. The announcement hab already resulted in the nomination of entries from 15 different ladies' schools. An application has also been made to Oxford from Baliarat for a ' local centre ' to be established in that city, and the delegates at Oxford have replied by cable that this can be done on the same terms as for the present Melbourne centre at Kew, viz., that a local committee shall guarantee the payment of 25 entrance fees of £1, or of £25 in all. Loretto Abbey, Mary's Mount, Ballarat, will probably be the ' local centre ' for Ballarat. A large and enthusiastic meeting of Catholics was held in Goulburn recently for the purpose of organising a reception to Bishop Gallagher on his return from Euiope. Very Rev. Father O'Sulhvan (Adm.) presided and addressed the meeting, pointing out the desire of clergy and laity to give a hearty welcome to their esteemed Bishop on his home-coming. Very Rev. M. Slattery, V.G., of Wagga Wagga, spoke affectionately of the Bishop, who had been his fellow-student at College, and a fellow-worker in Australia since they first arrived in Goulburn, 33 years ago. Very Rev. Dean O'Keefe, of Yass, desired that the welcome should take the form of an address and purse of sovereigns from all parts of the diocese, the clergy and laity of each district to work in their own parishes, and all to unite their congratulations ard contributions, to be presented to the Bishop in his Cathedral at Goulbum Captain C. J M'Shane ino\ed, and it was agreed to, that an address and purse of so\ereigns, the aggiegate collections of all the parishes of the Ooulburn diocese, be presented to the Bishop in the Cathedral on his return. A subscription list was then opened, and promises' given, Very Rev M Slattery heading; the list with £25. Very Rev. the Dean promised £10 LOs. One of the most notable figures in the early histoiy of Melbourne's ecclesiastical circles was the late Monsignor O'llea, who, for 40 years (writes the Melbourne correspondent of the ' Freeman's Journal '), was pastor of Coburg and chaplain to the Pentridge Stockade, who;e frowning walls are only separated from St Paul's Church by a roadway. Like the late Dean Backhaus, of Bendigo, Monsignor O'llea accumulated a considerable fortune in real estate It is explained, however, that he acquired landed property through the outburst of the gold fe\er Cobuig is surrounded by a fairly good agricultural district, and the pioneer Irishmen yoemen weie not slow to take up allotments, which they asked their pastor to take over, and with the money so obtained they either went m search of the precious metal or started storekeeping — a very lucrative business at that time As a matter of fact the venerable priest possessed but a modest sum in personal property True, he enjoyed an annuity of £1000 a year, which, of course, expired at his death lie gave generously to works of charity, religion, and education, and his benefactions were unknown to the public at large It is only now, that people are learning of some of his acts of munificence For instance, he gave £1500 to the building fund of St Patuck's Cathedral, and £500 to the presbytery, Coburg The obsequies of the laic Monsignor O'llea were attended by a large congregation, and between 30 and 40 priests from the city, the suburbs, and the country. His Grace the Archbishop presided at the solemn Dirge and Requiem High Mass, which was sung by Ihe Yen Archpnest McKenna, PP, V G (Geclong). The Archbishop delivered a short panegyric, in the course of which he eulogised the deceased priest for his nobility of life and his charitable benefactions.