DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 14, 8 April 1909, Page 543

DIOCESE OF CHRISTCHURCH

(From Our Own Correspondent.) • :.:•< - April 5. ~ The Timaru Catholic Tennis Club intend visiting , Christchurch to play St. Mary's Club on Easter Monday. - There was a large. attendance at the quarterly meeting of St. Patrick's branch of the H.A.CB. Society on Monday evening, March 22. Four new members were elected, and one clearence granted. The payments received for the evening totalled £80 14s 2d, and £4 16s 8d was passed for sick pay. The Rev. Dr. Kennedy officiated at the ceremonies of Palm Sunday just prior to the eleven o'clock Mass in the Cathedral. There was Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament after Mass, adoration during the afternoon, and the .usual procession followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament after Vespers. ' " -The Rev. Dr. Kennedy continued Ills series of Lenten discourses in the evening. At St. Mary's Church, Christchurcli North, on Sunday, the palms were blessed and distributed by the Very Rev. Dean Ginaty, S.M., V.G., to a large congregation at the' eleven o'clock Mass. The evening devotions during Lent have been largely attended at St. Mary's. On. week nights instructions have been given, and a fine series of discourses, appropriate to the Jioly season preached on each Sunday evening by the resident clergy. Preparations are now complete for the opening of the All Seasons' Carnival in His Majesty's Theatre on Saturday evening next. The Very Rev. Father Price, Adm., has expended a large amount of energy, and indeed accomplished a considerable amount of hard work, not alone in regard to this particular enterprise but in the interest of the Cathedral parish generally. It but remains nqw for the people to do their share, and, judging by the ready response hitherto, every help will.be forthcoming. In connection with the Christchurch Catholic Club an enjoyable entertainment was given in the club rooms on last Thursday evening in the presence -of a , large audience. Mr. W^'A. Kennedy's orchestral party provided an excel- ' lent programme. Additional items were, given by Messrs. W. Moor and T. Geoghegan (instrumental),. Mr. "J. W. Bailey (recitations), and Mr. J. Johnson (songs).- The Rev. Dr. Kennedy was present, and Texpressod the thanks of the club to the performers for their generous efforts in its behalf.

On last Tuesday evening the members of" the staff of Lyfctelton Gaol, together with- the visiting justices, Dr. J." A. Newell, gaol surgeon, and Dr. T. W. Pairman, exgaol surgeon, assembled in the gaoler's office for the purpose of taking farewell of Mr. M. M. Cleary, Governor of the Gaol, on his retirement from the prisons service. Tlie visiting justice, who presided, said he had been asked "by the members of the staff to express their regret at parting with Mr. Cleary. It Avas a very considerable wrench, and -, he understood how they would miss him, but it was a source of gratification ,to both himself, his fellow Justices, and to the gaol staff, that Mr. Cleary was about to retire to a well-earned rest, after a very" long and honorable career in the prison service,' and after twenty-two years of service as Governor of Lyttelton Gaol. He then handed to Mr. Cleary a handsome marble clock, subscribed for by the members of the gaol staff, and by the doctors and several ex-members of the staff. Mr. Cleary, who spoke with great feeling, said that day was a solemn one for llim- in parting from the staff and from- the visiting justices and the doctors, at the completion of his long service of over forty-five years. He felt the parting v«ry much, for he had always got on well with his officers, and he had always tried fairly and honestly to carry out his duties. On Wednesday evening Mr. Cleary was the guest of the Mayor and Borough Council of Lyttelton. The Mayor, Mr. C. Cook, presided,- and, in addition to' the councillors, there were present Mr. G. Laurenson, M.P.,- Mr. W. W. Collins, J.P., Mr. P.- Pen dor, J.P., and representative townspeople. Mr. Cook read apologies from the Hon. Dr. Findlay, Minister of Justice, Mr. H. W. Bishop, S.M., Captain Marciel, J.l'., and others. He referred to Mr. Cleary' s remarkable qualifications for his position, saying that he had been born for it, and during his long, career Lad exercised towards those who came under his care a justice which liad been infallibly tempered with mercy. On bohalf of tlie residents of Lyttelton, he presented Mr. Cleary with a Ijandsome silver coffee service and "salver and a gold sovereign case. Mr. W. Radcliffe proposed Mr. Cleary's health, and said that all who knew him knew also that he had always done his best to lead the prisoners towards better ways when they were discharged, and many of them had been given a helping hand by the Governor of the gaol as they left its doors. After the toast had "been honored, Mr. Cleary said tliat he would be seventy-four years of age on the following Sunday, but he felt competent to carry out his duties for years to come. His only regret on leaving the service was that the Inspector of Prisons, Colonel Hume, was- retiring also, just because he happened to be a few years over sixty-five. Colonel Hume had been selected at Home from a large number of highly qualified persons, and had been sent out to New ZealanJ at considerable expense, "and it was very much to be regretted that he was retiring now, -when he was in every way as capable of filling his position as he had been twenty years ago. His own^jpfficial career of 45£ years would conclude at midnight, and when he left the gaol at that hour, he would leave in it no person who had been there when he took charge. He expressed his deep gratitude for the presentations made to him, and for the honor which had been done to him by the gathering of so many representative people. His Lordship the Bishop and the Very Rev. Father Price, Adm., were present on last Saturday evening ' at tlie complimentary banquet tendered by the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, to Lieutenant Shackleton, the shore party, and officers of the Nimrod on their return from • Antarctica. The toast of 'The Army and Navy ' was proposed by Bishop Grimes, and very heartily received. He said that "by nature and position he should be a lover of peace, and he supposed that few men had a greater dread • than, lie had of the "horrors of war. At the same time, he felt that there was a certain fitness in asking an' ecclesiastic to propose the toast which had been entrusted to him. He remembered an old adage, 'Tobe in possessions of the blessings of- peace you must always be prepared' for war.' £If we are to avert the horrors of war a wellequipped army and navy are essential,' he said. ' Britain has been so long respected and feared by her rivals because she has in lier Army and in .her Navy men of grit like the illustrious guest of this evening — men of indomitable courage and perseverance — but I am afraid that the Mother Country has been rather long resting on its oars. It * has allowed itself to be overtaken by rivals, and thetjonscquence is that to-day it finds itself face to face with a very grave crisis. The Motherland finds herself -threatened, and we, her children ■of the overseas, are threatened with her, by nations which would like to see her downfall. What is the duty of her. devoted children in such a crisis? Is

it not to rally round the Motherland and to show the nations that require such showing that if the mother io distressed her children in different parts of the earth are

ready and willing, aye,^eager, to come- to her aid? I think that' anyone with' a, spark of true patriotism in his body must be proud of -the recent" action of our Prime Minister. I can fearlessly say'that "the "bulk of the Dominion, indeed, the whole of the Dominion worth speaking of, is proud of what he has done. We look upon the -offer of a Dreadnought, and of two if required, as a measure of sound policy and as a practical proof, of the readiness of the younger countries to come to "the aid of the Motherland. We look upon it as something more : it is an object-lesson and a great object-lesson to the whole civilised world, and especially to those nations that require such' a lesson. It cannot fail to make a deep impression on those who would wrest from Britain her long undisputedsupremacy on the sea. I have long thought that the young^New Zealanders should learn something more about the ' Army and Navy; I have thought, too, that they^ should be urged, as well as encouraged, to join the Volunteers.I say to those who talk of setting up a navy iiL New Zealand that I do not think they know what they are talking about. That proposal is simply a day-dream, the height of folly. Our duty is to strengthen the Government at Home, for if at any time a foreign foe ~ came to the shores of the Dominion no local navy could save us. For that reason -I think that even a lover of peace may well ask you to raise your glasses and your voices in receiving this toast — the health of our excellent Army and our dauntless and unconquerable Navy.'