Page:History of West Australia.djvu/448

 that after few days when he had laid his case before the Cabinet he would have undoubtedly resigned.

Perhaps a Premier under a constitutional Government should have the power to dismiss a colleague in extreme circumstances, but it is a dangerous procedure, and could be used so arbitrarily as to banefully influence public life. A policy of temporising might be better.

To turn from this difficulty it is pleasant to observe that the Hon. H. W. Venn has not wasted many days in contributing to the general weal of Western Australia. Whether in explorations and grazing pursuits or in politics, he has done his best, and acted in accordance with what he considered the true interests of the country. Throughout his Parliamentary career he evinced laudable activity, and his several years' term of office as Commissioner of Railways and Director of Public Works will redound to the advantage cf the colony and to his own credit. He was the first to inaugurate Responsible Government in those State Departments, and is among the best pioneers of Western Australia, and being yet in the prime of life and full of mental activity he should wield a future influence over local political life. He is at all times respected for his integrity and fearless independence of thought and action.

 

REAT and powerful is the Roman Catholic Church in Australia. This ancient body had its origin at just about the time when present-day civilisation was springing into being, and has wielded a larger influence over that civilisation than any other denomination. During its history European nations have been very widely and very powerfully swayed by the heads of the Church, who have held the fate of monarchies on their mental scales, and in cases the fate of nations themselves.

The Roman Catholic Church must ever receive praise for her practical encouragement of art in all its forms. Painting and music, as the arts which are most closely associated with the emotions of man, received great stimulus in early times from the Church. The Christian era was yet extremely young when a liberal and enlightened Pope — Pope Gregory,— after deep meditation, composed for an accessory to worship what is esteemed as the origin of modern music. He recognised that music and worship are closely related. Strange and weird was the influence which his chants had over the old-time people. These chants form the foundation of the music peculiar of to-day. Then, in painting—also a supreme and beautiful factor of emotion,—the great cathedrals of Rome and other old world cities contain some of the sweetest and most masterful representations ever painted. It was the substantial encouragement of the Roman Church which brought out the genius of the great mediæval masters, and made painting almost a divine art. Knowledge is indeed power—knowledge should conduce to a more ideal state of existence: and the contributions of the Church to all kinds of knowledge cannot be weighed.

Down through the dim, dark ages, amid the rise and fall of nations, the progress of society; through upheavals which drew into oblivion monarchies; through prosperity, famine, and death; through ignorance and lust; through the upward rise to a more enlightened people; through the ever-changing history of the past nineteen centuries, the great Roman Church has stood upon a firm foundation, substantially unmoved, throwing out branches in every direction, and taking nations under her wings as does the hen her chickens. Great Britain, in common with other nations, has been affected more than she knows of by this Church, and now the Greater Britain—her dependencies in every clime—feel the all-pervading power. In America and Australia the Roman Catholic Church has strong footholds, and her presence is felt in the politics of the countries and is influencing their destinies to a peculiar degree. Silently but surely she is working among the people, and her wealth and importance are undoubtedly growing apace.

Max O'Rell, during his recent visit to Australia, particularly observed, as all must observe, the splendid buildings which were everywhere possessed by the Roman Church. They are generally to be found on the hill-tops, on the most favoured sites of the cities or towns, and there they stand, looking down, as it were, with a fatherly eye on the moving populations below. But seventy years ago Australia was almost a waste. Since then people have been choosing the goodly places and cities and villages have grown, and soon after them have come the Catholic clergy. In the cities, in the towns, in the smallest villages, in the agricultural districts, and even in the "back blocks," where sheep and cattle almost run wild, and but few white men are seen, the Catholic Church is already established. Throughout the length and breadth of Western Australia there