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below, are concerned mainly with the educational and spiritual welfare of the natives, and they receive State support in the shape of subsidies from the Government.

As early as 1846 a Benedictine Mission was commenced, at what is now called New Norcia, by a Spanish Monk, the Rev. Father Dom Rosendo Salvado, O.S.B., afterwards consecrated Bishop of Port Victoria, North Australia; and, though labouring at first under what then appeared almost insuperable difficulties, his efforts have been long recognized as having ultimately culminated in an unqualified success. The Mission was established as an Abbey Nullius and a Prefecture Apostolic by His Holiness Pope Pius IX. on March 12, 1867. Since the lamented death (in 1900) of Bishop Salvado, after a life of self-sacrifice wholly devoted to the interest and benefit of the aborigines, the Mission has been under the charge, as Superior, of the Right Rev. Fulgentius Torres, O.S.B. The following information in connection with the Mission, kindly furnished for the Year-Book by Father Torres, is given in his own words:—

"The object of the Mission has ever been to inculcate the precepts of Christianity and confer the advantages of civilization on the aborigines of Western Australia. Since its foundation on the Victoria Plains a considerable number of wild natives from various districts of the State have been civilized, in the full sense of the word, and have received instruction in the tenets of the Roman Catholic religion. There are at present residing at New Norcia and its out-stations, Marah and Wyening, about 200 aborigines and half-caste natives, who are all well lodged, clothed, educated, and supplied with every necessary by this charitable institution, while a number of the males are, in return for their manual labour, receiving weekly or monthly wages from the manager of the Mission.

"The Mission comprises cruciform church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, built of stone, 160 ft. long, a large monastery, and over fifty other buildings of burnt bricks and stone, including a steam flourmill and factories, where all the clothing, boots, shoes, etc., used at the Mission and its outlying stations are made by the brothers and natives. There are also twenty-two cottages for the use of the married aborigines and half-castes, several large dwelling-houses, orphanages, and two separate schools for native boys and girls, who, when they are of age, are mutually engaged according to their own freewill or choice, and embrace the Christian marriage state just like other perhaps more highly-civilized persons. After marriage they either settle in the Mission village or voluntarily leave it at any time to seek employment elsewhere among the settlers or farmers throughout the State."

In 1905 a Convent was erected for the full-blooded and half-caste native girls, which is under the control of the Sisters of St. Teresa. Over 1,500 acres of land have been cleared about the Mission station, and nearly 1,000 of them are under yearly cultivation. At this Mission, which is perhaps the most important of the aboriginal Missions in the State, and certainly one of the most successful, there are about 170 receiving instruction and relief. An offshoot from New Norcia, known as the

was founded on the Drysdale River in 1908 by the Right Rev. Bishop Torres. Being situated in a region remote from any European settlement, and surrounded by the treacherous and warlike tribes of the Kimberleys, most of the time since its establishment has been occupied in building strong and secure premises and palisades. In 1910 the total strength of the Mission consisted of three priests, one lay brother, six natives, and eleven half-caste boys, but there is little doubt that in the course of time it will be equally as successful as the parent Mission. This venture does not receive any direct subsidy from the Government.

In this Mission the Church of England makes provision for the education and training for employment of