Of Persons And Places

A Roving Causerie By G. E. ANSTRUTHER
THE London County Council keeps jubilee. It is an event upon which Catholics in the Metropolis are entitled to look with no small satisfaction, seeing that fellows in faith have certainly " done their bit h and done it well, during the fifty years history. It le often eaid that in matters of public life the Catholic is much too backward in carnieg forward. That reproach hardly holds good in the ease of the L.C.C.
Within a single decade, the twenties, three Catholics occupied the Chair. There was in the first place that stalwart in service, the late Sir John Gilbert, K.C.S.G., K.C.S.S., who in 1910 bees me the Council's first Catholic Alderman, and was Chairman in 1920-21. Sir Francis Andertan, K.C.S.G., was chairman in 1922-23. He, too, was a 1910 Alderman, and he held the Aldermanic dignity also at a later period, from 1925 until 1931. And in 1927 the Council elected the late Sir John Gatti to the Chair. At the present time " Par Chairman " at County Hall is a lady. Catholics cannot plume themselves upon having given one of their number to that supreme position; but the Deputy
Chairman, a few years since, was Mrs Charles Mathew, who in 1923 had been elected an Alderman of the Council in place of her late distinguished husband.
THE Priest in Politics may or may not be desirable, in the abstract, according to the point of view; but the priest in municipal politics made a very good showing, as a County Councillor, in the case of the late Canon James Mahoney, Ph.D., of Deptford. Ask working men and women in that waterside district what they thought of Dr. Mahoney. not only as Deptford's representative on the L.C.C., but also as a social worker in their midst, one who, in a memorable emergency, literally took opportunity at the flood, hastening to the economic relief of those who, like St. Paul, were in perils of waters. Gatti, Gilbert, Mahoney: these have passed from the scene. In this week of jubilee they shall not be forgotten. Sir Francis Anderton and Mrs Mathew are with us to receive their share in the felicitations, for London's gratitude to its municipal workers sweeps in retrospect right through the fifty years.
Among other Catholics of public Nara who have had L.C.C. after their names. one should not omit Mr John R. Oldfield, whom the East End, particularly, knows as a frequent and forceful advocate of the people's welfare. Mrs Mathew and Mr Oldfield. by the way, have been neighbourly in thee repreeentation, the lady sitting as a Councillor for Limehouse, and Mr Oldfield wooing and winning a Division at Whitechapel, not far away, after a spell of Parliamentary experience. er es le er
ON both sides of the Thames the feast cii. the Annunciation brings a gladsome episcopal anniversary. It will be just four years, to-morrow, since Cardinal Hinsley was translated from the titular see of Sardis to become Archbishop of Westminster; and on the same day the Archbishop-Bishop of Southwark completes thirty-five years from his consecration. Fervently the flock, making no distinction of diocesan frontiers, will wish ad mintos annos to these two revered pastors.
Cardinal Hinsley's first four years at Westminster have been fruitful in many ways. Alt eady His Eminence reaps something where he had sown in faith and confidence: in his effort to enlist the generous co-operation of his people in providing and extending our Catholic schools. The official establishment and organisation of Catholic Action, too, has been an important step in time's march during these latter years.
The celebration for Mgr. Amigo's sacerdotal jubilee, a year and more ago, was an occasion for recalling His Grace's long and notable work for God on the Surrey side and throughout the south land. The pen contents itself now, therefore with the happy task of chronicling the attainment of another episcopal milestone.
a 4 4 4 IN the diamond jubilee year of the I present St. Mary's, Chelsea, it may be hoped that respect for this well-known church and parish will not rest on the history of only sixty years. We go a good way back with the fabric belonging to 1879, but to pay due honour we have to remember that these past sixty years tell only the later and shorter part of the story.
When the Abbe Voyaux de Franeous, a French emigre priest of the Revolution period, settled at Chelsea, he had at first to be content with a chapel in a poor room above a ehop. A brighter prospect later unfolded itself, and in 1811 Bishop Poynter, the Vicar-Apostolic of the London district, was able to lay the foundation-stone of a substantial church for the needs of his growing congregation. Thereby hangs a tale, a tale of non Catholic co-operation; it makes pleasant hearing. The Abbe had many Catholics among the military veterans in the Royal Hospital not far away. On the opening of the church, the Duke of (Continued at foot of next column.;