FAITH AND COURAGE

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 33, 9 February 1931, Page 9

FAITH AND COURAGE

CHUECH SERVICES,

GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S

ADDRESS

(By Telegraph..—Press Association.) HASTINGS, This Day. "As His Majesty's representative in -this Dominion," said the GovernorGeneral (Lord Bledisloe), at a combined memorial service held in Cornwall Park, Hastings, on Sunday, "I assure you that His Majesty is thinking of you and graying for you continuously. I shall bo proud to toll His Majesty, as J Lava already bcea telling in a cable1

sent to him to-day, that in the face of the terrible calamity that has befallen you there is a magnificent spirit of sympathy and co-operation, and throughout the wholo community a determination to think of others rather than yourselves. I shall bo proud to tell him that the people have been put to the test and have amply deoionstrated those great qualities of qu'et courage, resourcefulness, and devot'on to duty, and unselfishness that alw?T3 characterised the British race." His Excellency went on to express his own and Lady Bledisloe's personal sympathy, and said that they hoped to visit all the injured in hospital, at Napier, Hastings, and at other towns to which they had been removed. "I want as a man, not so much as His Majesty's'representative, to appeal to my'fellowmen here and to ask them to maintain those qualities that already have been so strongly in evidence among them —the qualities of steady courage, level-head,edness, and presence of mind. If only for tho sako of our splendid women, who, from all that I have heard and in spite of the frailty that is supposed to characterise them, have in our hospitals and elsewhere done most wonderful, brave, and unselfish work, let us do nothing to deprive them of their presence of mind, or to undermine their already shattered nerves. Let us prove ourselves to be men. "Allow me to congratulate you all," His Excellency continued, "on the splendid spirit you have shown and on the co-operation not only among religious ministers here, but among men of all political views, of all trades and professions, and of all walks of, life. Let us have that co-operation that was already necessary for economic reasons before this tragedy, but which is doubly necessary now." ■ \ Something -else had boon put to the test besides those great British qualities that stood out pre-eminent in the world, Lord Bledisloe added. God moved in a mysterious way, and faith was needed now more than ever. ; "If we can put our faith in our Divine Master at a time such as this," he said, "then our faith is worth having. Lot us maintain that faith. and let us be true to it. You have suffered a great bereavement and have suffered enormous- material damage, but from what I have seen with my own eyes it is miraculous that your losses-have not been even much greater. The sympathy of the. wholo world is pouring out to you to-day. I hope that though your hearts may be sad, as indeed they must be after all you have been through, you will put a bold face on your troubles and that there' shall \be a smile on your faces. God bless you," His Excellency continued with great earnestness, '' and bring you that' relief which only He can give. We shall do our very best-to help you. Not only the people of >.New Zealand, wha have shown; most magnificently in the last few days the stuff they are made of, but the people of the whole British Empire, will do all they can to bring yon help." The service was-attended' by a large number of the public, and was most touching and fittingly simple. All the Protestant clergy attended and took part, chief among them being the Rev. Dr. "Williams, Bishop of Waiapu. The service opened with the^ National Anthem, which was also sung at the conclusion. The Sixth Psalm, with the following appropriate verses, was read: Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be moved and though i the - hills be carried.into the midst of the sea. . '■ Though the waters, thereof rage and swell, and though the mountains shake at the tempest of the same. The Lord of Hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. : In a short address, the Bcv. D. J. Shaw exhorted the people to maintain their courage and think of spiritual gain in the midst of economic loss. He made appropriate reference to the famous cartoon of the days df the Great . War, ■■ in which the Kaiser was shown taunting Albert, King of the Belgians, with the words, "You have lost all," to which Albert replied, "All except my soul." The Rev. Mr. Shaw concluded by urging the people to remember with thankfulness amid their troubles how splendid the people had been, not only here but everywhere throughout the Empire, and.how greatly they had shown "an invincible courage and a quenchless hope." i Mass was celebrated by Hastings Catholics at a temporary altar erected in tho grounds of the Catholic School. There was a large congregation. Father Sehaffer asked the assembly to pray for the happy repose, of the souls of all the victims of the catastrophe, and in particular for their late priest. Father Gondringer, 'who perished at Greenmeadows Seminary.