State Library of NSW
[Page 298]
3.
The mention of his name reminds me that there is to be a great ceremony of laying the foundation stone of new buildings at St John's College next month, & that Dr Mannix has been invited by Fr O'Reilly to be the principal speaker on the occasion. It will be his first appearance in Sydney since our little row, & I believe that great preparations will be made for an immense & enthusiastic crowd to greet him. There was a first class row among the Fellows of the College at these arrangements having been made without their consent, but the majority of the Fellows carried a resolution endorsing Fr O'Reilly's action, so there the matter rests. I am very glad I declined the honour of a nomination as a Fellow of St John's, though at the same time I fully recognise that Dr. Mannix has a perfect right to come here as an invited guest to take part in a Catholic ceremony. I suppose it is only human that our anti-conscriptionist friends should like to have a good gloat over their great victory!! I don't know what part John Mullins is taking in all this. In point of fact I have rather avoided discussing it with him lately. Judge Heydon has taken to writing to me about these troubles at St John's, but I decline to mix myself up in disputes to which I am not a party.
It would make a cat laugh to see old John Meagher, who is staying in this hotel with his daughter-in-law Mrs. Mick Meagher, talking to mother & me
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