ARCHDIOCESE OF WELLINGTON

New Zealand Tablet, 1 October 1908, Page 12

ARCHDIOCESE OF WELLINGTON

(From our own correspondent.) September 26. The Rev. Father Peoples has been stationed as an additional priest in the Thorndon parish. The Catholics of Karori have, instructed an- architect to submit the plans of a church for consideration. On to-morrow week, at the Sacred Heart Basilica, a number of children will receive their First Communion. The members of the United Irish League are to hold a social reunion on the 13th of next month. A progressive euchre tournament will be part of the evening's programme. The Catholics of Brooklyn are now considering proposals for the erection of a church. Last evening a large meeting of parishioners was held to consider- the matter. A committee, consisting of the Very Rev. Father O'Shea, S.M., V.G.,\ and Messrs. Healy, O 'Sullivan, and Bourkc, was set up to further the decision of the congregation. On Wednesday evening, at the Druids' Hall, Taranaki street, a .social gathering was held under the auspices of the Hibernian Society in aid of the widow of a deceased member. The function should result in the realisation -of -a fair sum for the assistance of the widow and her children. - The society is to be commended for the practical interest it takes in .the welfare of its members and those belonging to them. The Sacred Heart Society at South Wellington is "indeed a real live organisation. Arrangements have been made for .heads of circles to keej> in touch with members, and a supply of - cards have been obtained for communication with those absent from the meetings. When it is found -that a member is absent on two consecutive occasions, a^card, signed, by. the head of his circle, is despatched reminding- him of his absence, and advising him of the date of the next meeting. This method is calculated to-have a very salutary effect. The Catholics of South Wellington are ttf be congratulated on the completion within such a short period of their new club rooms, which were opened on Thursday evening, a social gathering being held to mark the occasion. Before declaring the premises open the Yen. Archdeacon Devoy; to whom the erection of the building is chiefly due, briefly narrated the steps that led to the formation of. the club. It was felt for some time that " the parish^ had grown sufficiently to warrant the institution of a club, and at the last mission given by the Redemptorist Fathers a start was J made. There was some difficulty at first as to finance, but this the Yen. Archdeacon soon overcame. The club starts with a good membership roll, and under such fortunate

conditions should make splendid progress. Provision has been " made for a billiard table, and the literary and social side of club v life will be well fostered. There is a movement on foot to secure the removal of the small club-room now in the occupation of the Hibernians. It is proposed to add this to the new building and so provide for -a smali^ billiard-room. The Hibernians at the present time have a small table which they find of immense assistance to the social side of the society's life. A meeting between representatives of the two bodies will take place very soon to consider the proposals. It would be a wise step for the two clubs to amalgamate for social and, intellectual purposes. . After the Yen. Archdeacon had declared the room open an entertaining programme was gone' through. Items were given by Misses Barton and Segrief, Master Christie, and' Messrs. Potter, Christie," Laurenson and Raymond. The officers of the new club are as follow :— Pajron, Yen. Archdeacon Devoy ; spiritual adviser, Rev. Father Herring; .president, Mr. D .Moriarty; vice-presidents, Rev. Fathers Herring and Herbert, Messrs. Andrews, Collins, and Holdsworth ; secretary, Mr. James Fitzgibbon; treasurer, Mr. James Butler; committee, Messrs. Gamble, Strickland, Williams, Collins, Moynihan, Leydon, and .Peters; auditor, Mr. E. J. FJtzgibbon, LL.B. ; chairman of" Literary Society, Rev. Father Herbert, S.M. ; vice-chairman, Mr. P. J. Moran.

(From an, occasional correspondent.) September 21. In the semi-finals for the Crystallite Cup billiard competiUon Mr. Brice, of the Petone Catholic Club, was defeated. It is with much regret that I record the death of Mr James O'Galligan, of Bolton street, last Sunday. The deceased was eighty-six years of age, "and was an esteemed member u»" the Thorndon parish. Sincere sympathy is expressed by his many friends for his sorrowing relatives. R.I. P. The second annual meeting of the Wellington Catholic Seamen's Conference took place on September 17 at St Patrick's Hall. Rev. Father Yenning, S.M., presided. The election of officers resulted as follows :— Spiritual director, Rev. Father Yenning, S.M. ; president, Mr. D. Strickland ; vice-president, Mr. J. Donoghue ; hon. secretary, Mr. E. F. Reichel ; hon treasurer and librarian, Mr. E. J. Cotterill ; wharf visitor, Mr' James McCusker. Mr. P. J. O'Regan lectured before the Catholic Club on Tuesday evening in St. Patrick's Hall on 'The Real Functions of the State.' Mr. O'Regan maintained that, contrary to teaching now popular, the individual, having existed prior to the State had rights independently of it. Theoretically speaking, the State had not the power to add to or detract from the human rights The human race had existed for ages before the State, and th* rights of men then were the same as now, and so the true prinaple was that human law was not law at all unless it flowed from the eternal law of justice. The real functions of f\ «,r re tO Pr ° teCt the rightS Which existed independently °Lt ♦ ha \ were the rightS ° f man? The y insisted of the right to live, from which flowed the right to work, and, every man having the right to work, it followed that every man also had equal right to accumulate property, provided such property had its foundation in the natural right of the laborer to the fruits of his toil. 1* ft " as , to ar * unusual audience that Miss Irene Ainsley sang last night (says the Dominion of Friday last). For the past two years she has been singing at concerts throughout England And Scotland, singing in brightly lighted halls to people more or less fashionably attired, most of whom were so accustomed to concert-going that .no one^vening's music would make any astmg impression Qn'their minds. - Last night she sang in a large bare room at the convent in Hill street to a score or so of nuns and novices, to whom her magnificent singing was a ben e pfi r at M V™ * ° Oncert that Was «*«, ' far their benefit. Mrs. Queree played a pianoforte solo, and Miss Ainsley sang several songs, among them ' Lilies,' < Annie Laurie,' ' Souvenance of Bemberg,' 'A happy son g,' 'Absent,' and ' When he comes home ' Ah were sung with >great charm and exZTZTw S Hami u° n H ° dgeS ' Wh ° had -companiedh^?,--mES? V^" 0 ?.?? many songSi among them the daint y Forget-me-Not and Beloved, it is morn.' The little concert lasted more than an hour, and it was evident that the performers enjoyed ,t as much as the -nuns, to whom they were, giving such pleasure Several others were present, Lady Ward and Mis, Ward and the Misses Seddon being among them.

(From- 'a "correspondent.) Word was received from Dunedin last week that .Mr. L. K. McMurrich, son of Mr. Duncan McMurrich, local superintending engineer of the Union ,Steam Ship Company, passed the Board of Trade's examination for a second marine engineers-certificates -certificate •of competency. Mr! McMurrich_is an ex-pupil of the Marl-;!: Brothers' Schoql. He served his apprenticeship in the Petono Railway Workshops. At the conclusion of his apprenticeship last year, he joined the engine-room staff of the Aparfma, of the- Union Company's fleet, which, from the time of" her departure from Dunedin in May, 1907, until her arrival in Auckland at the beginning of the present month, visited the follqwing countries :— Australia, Fiji Islands, Canada, United States, Uruguay, Cape De Verde Islands, Scotland, England, Germany, Egypt, India, and the Straits Settlements. ~^