INTERCOLONIAL

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 36, 8 September 1904, Page 31

INTERCOLONIAL

On Sunday, August 21, his Grace Archbishop Dunne administered the Sacrament of Confirmation to 516 candidates in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Brisbane.

A few' Sundays ago his Grace the Aichbishop of Melbourne solemnly blessed and opci.ed a new handsome church at Panton Hill, in the Heidelberg parish.

The parishioners of the Mother Church of Victoria are looking forward with much interest to the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of St. Francis', which will be celebrated with great solemnity on the first Sunday in October.

The Rev. Thomas Quinn, who has been transferred from Queonscliil to Uie pastorate of Mentone, was entertained and presented with a testimonial from the parishioners of the Queenscliff and Sorrento mission, and members of t)he local Bowling Club.

Sir Gerald Strickland, the newly-appointed Governor of Tasmania, is a nephew of the late Sir Edward Strickland, who twenty years ago was a prominent figure in Sydney Catholic circles— the real aut&ior of the Soudan Contingent.

Mr. Allan M'Lean, who has joined the Reid Ministry less through love of Reid than dislike of Labor measures, is tihe Catholic leaven which even the Yes-No politician appears to find necessary to bis Cabinet.

' The- Right Rev. Dr. Doyle, Bishop of Lismore, who had to errter a private hospital in Brisbane in consequence of a severe attack of rheumatism, is reported to be much better.

Colonel Murray, of the New South Wales Irish Rifles, has h'een appointed Judicial Officer of New Guinea The salary is £1000 a year and expenses. The Colonel who is a Crown Prosecutor, is a son of the late Sir Terence Aubrey Murray. He is an Oxford man a ripe scholar, and a Catholic.

It is reported by the ' Advocate ' that his Grace the Atfohbishop of Melbourne has received a letter from the Reiv. Father Hays, the famous temperance lecturer, of Market Rasen, England, who will conduct a temperance crusade in the archdiocese early in the new year.

At the annual meeting of the congregation of St Patrick's Church, Maclean, the Rev. Father Walsh who presided,, congratulated the committee upon having extinguished the £3000 debt, and furnished a property at a cost of £1000. ' y

Of the 25 men who took part i n Burke and Wills' expedition to cross Australia from south to north there is only one survivor, although the expedition left Melbourne only 41 years ago, and he is Mr. J. R. Lane of Carlton, who attained his 82nd birthday last May. Like so many of ihe pioneers, Mr. Lane only opened the country for tihe profit of others, and up to a few weeks ago was drawing an old age pension.

The Rev. A. Marion, S.M., of Loretto, Fiji is the new Provincial of the Marist Order in succession to the late Very Rev. P. Le Rennetel. He has been there ever since he came out from his native France, 23 years ago, and in him Dr. Vidal, the worthy Bishop of Fiji has always found a right-hand man. The fine convent' school, church, and other buildings which adorn Levuka' Loretto, and other parts of the Fiji mission field owe their existence largely to the zeal of Father Marion. Born at Xevors, France, he was educated at the Marist Institutions, and joined the Order in 1879, and in '81 was sent to Fiji. He was first stationed at Levuka where t/he venerated Father Breheret ministered and made the Marisi Order loved and respected. Father Marion remained at Levuka until 1884, when he went to Loretto, only three miles from Levuka. In 1888 he started a mission station in Samoa, where he sfcent three years, but finding his health impaired he was recalled in 92. In addition to his other duties he tilled the post of Procurator to the Marist Order in the Fiii mission. From '92 onward he was eleven years at Le,vjjJco, and eleven months ago he was sent to Loretto, which, being convenient to Levuka, left him free to continue the d-ities of Procurator. Father Marion's many years' association with the late Father Breherot Prefect of the Mission up to his death in '98, afforded him -a vast amount of valuable experience in missionary woTk. 'At Loretto Father Marion erected a church a residence for the nriests, and also one for the Sisters. At Levuka he had a handsome stono towcx placed on the church by means solely of native labor. Additions to the convent were also made by him. On the departure of Father Marion he was made the object of presentations by the Catholics, and by the Town Board of Levuka. The natives accorded him a great demonstration on his departure, a.nd were deeply grieved at his leaving. The Rev. Father Govet, S.M ,of Nam-usi, succeeds Father Marion at Loretto.