FIFTY YEARS’ SERVICE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 219, 5 December 1927, Page 14

FIFTY YEARS’ SERVICE

CANON HASELDEN’S RECORD JUBILEE ON DECEMBER 23 Fifty years of unceasing service in the Anglican Ministry will be the record attained by the Rev. Canon Haselden. Selwyn Memorial Chaplain to the Aucl . ' *ublic Hospital, on December 23. It was on Sunday, December 23, 1877, at St. Matthew’s Church, Auckland, that Canon llaselden was ordained by Bishop Cowie. The same day he commenced work in his charge which comprised Epiphany. Newton; St. Luke’s, Mount Albert; Whau, Titirangi, Waikuinete, Waitakere, Kumeu and Helensville. Mr. Haselden was then just 23 years of age. He was of good physique and accustomed to horseback riding, and to one so completely engrossed in his chosen calling the 35-mile ride every Sunday in order to take in five full services probably did not appear to him as being an undue hardship. For about three years he rode 100 miles a week, also taking three or four week-day services. In 1897 Cannon Haselden was elected Vicar of St. Peter’s, Onehunga, where he served happily for 23 years, resigning at the age of 65 to return to liis first charge, St. Luke’s, Mt. Albert. This, he held until January 1, 1925, when he was appointed Selwyn Memorial Chaplain to the Auckland Public. Hospital, a work to which he now devotes his whole time. Mr. Haselden’s record is indeed one such us few in any calling can lay claim to. With the exception of one occasion when in the course of his ministration he contracted typhoid fever he has never been off duty, and only on two occasions, once when he went to Dunedin on business in connection with the wreck of the S.S. Wairarapa, and once when he took charge of the Napier Cathedral for one month, has he been out of his diocese. The services rendered by Mr. Haselden in connection with the wreck of the S.S. Wairarapa at Great Barrier Island in 1594, served to mark his outstanding qualifications for his calling. As clergyman, doctor and general organiser he proved a valuable member of the relief party, his services in that connection being recognised by the Union Steam Ship Company by the presentation of a free pass for life on the company’s vessels. Canon Haselden was born in England in 1854, and came to Auckland in 1860 where his father later held the position of Crown Lands Commissioner. Canon Haselden was educated at the Rev. Dr. Kidd's Collegiate School, and later at St. John's College under the Rev. Dr. Kinder.