CHRIST CHURCH BAZAAR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 81, 6 April 1874, Page 2

CHRIST CHURCH BAZAAR.

To the Editor of the Evening Mail. Sir — In common with many of the members of the Christ Church congregation I was sorry to see that a «♦ Parishioner " had deemed it incumbent upon himself to address to your contemporary of Saturday last a letter, the object of which clearly was to do an injury to the bazaar to be hell on Wednesday and Thursday next. That bazaar originated thus: — Some twelve months since, two or three ladies who are not merely parishioners by name, but who take an active interest in the welfare of Christ Church, determined, by the work of their own hands, and with the assistance of such volunteers as they could enlist in the good cause, to raise sufficient funds for replacing the public-house looking-kerosenelamps which at present disfigure the church by decent gas Jights. They accordingly notified their intentention of getting up a bazaar for the purpose, and have ever since been working day and night to accomplish the end they had in \iew. By the last English mail a letter was received from the Bishop of Nelson stating that he intended to present the church with a large and ornamental chandelier. This, it was calculated, would set at liberty a small portion of the receipts for expenditure upon some other object, and it was determined to lay it out upon, lining the tower. While fully admitting the right of any bonu fide parishioner to make in a friendly . manner such suggestions as he might think desirable with regard to the expenditure of moneys raised for church purposes, I cannot but think that it would have been more courteous and more considerate on the part of the Colonist's correspondent had he intimated t's wishes, either personally or through the medium of the churchwardens, to the promoters of the bazaar, who are but very few in number, and might easily have been reached through some more fitting channel than that afforded by the columns of a newspaper, but in adopting such a course as that which he has thought fit to pursue, he betrays a desire to influence, not so much those who have &o kindly undertaken the management of the bazaar as the public who are invited to attend. In other words, he has sought to make a failure of that which deserves to be a success. He has, I presume, taken no part in furnishing the stalls ; he can have no idea of the worry and mental anxiety experienced by those whose hearts and hands have for months past be^i devoted to the work, but, at the last moment, he, utterly regardless of the pain and annoyance he is causing to the ladies who have taken a prominent part in the affair, rushes into print, and insists upon having a voice in the appropriation of tunds, to the realisation of which he has not afforded the slighest assistance. Thanks to the zeal and energy of those who have exerted themselves as they only who take a Keen interest in the work they have taken in hand can do, the stalls on Wednesday and Thursday next will be laden with articles of various descriptions and of a saleable character, and with all deference to the opinion of the " Parishioner of Christ Church," I submit that with those who have so hardily earned the money that will be taken oa those - days will lie the sole right to * dictate to the - churchwardens in what .direction it shall be expended. If the " .Parishioner's " amiable

endeavors to set the public againot tho bazaar should prove tuccessful, tho resulb will be that a twelvemonth's toil for a most laudable o^jejt will have been tlrown away; if, on the other hand, the efforts of the ladies who have worked so zea'ously are duly appreciated, as I have no doubt they will be, there will be a considerable surplus iv han<i which, most probably, will be dtvotcd to repairing the parsonage. Once more expressing my great regret that a '-Parishioner of Christ Cliur.h " "hould \ aye allowed himself to pen to 111-considered a letter. I am, &c. t The Parishioners' Churchwarden,