MAORI BISHOP’S VISIT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 609, 11 March 1929, Page 14

MAORI BISHOP’S VISIT

SERMON AT ST. MARY’S VISIT TO OLD SCHOOL The Right Rev. F. A. Bennett. Bishop of Aotearoa. had a busy day in Auckland yesterday on the occasion of his first visit to the city since his consecration.

He paid a visit to St. Stephen's Maori College, his old school, and in the evening preached at St. Mary’s Cathedral.

At the school the Bishop was escorted by Mr. W. C. Morris, headmaster, and Mr. A. Wilson, past headmaster, and was met by Mr. A. B. Robertson, chairman of the Diocesan General Trust Board, and Archdeacon H. Williams. Ho inspected the dormitories and class-rooms built by Bishop Selwyn in 1845. and recalled where, with others, lie had been punished for small offences .by having to stand against the dining-room wall and watch the other boys dispose of their Sunday plum pudding. “It is a great thing for the Maori race,’’ said Mr. Roberton, “that they should have a bishop of their own to unify the different opinions prevailing among themselves. If anyone can accomplish that task it is Bishop Bennett.” He trusted the bishop would be long spared to carry on the great work to which his life was dedicated. Several speeches of welcome were made, the speakers including Canon Percival James, Miss M. Brereton, headmistress of Queen Victoria College, Mr. P. Smythe, on behalf of Te Akarana Maori Association, the Rev. Poihepi, of Mercer, Otene Paul, of Orakei, Hori Ngapera, of Mangere, Hupa Hamiroa, of Whakarewarewa, Dan Kaa, of the East Coast, on behalf of the St. John’s College, and Tukara Maene, of the Xgatipaoa and Xgatiwhanaunga tribes. SERVICE AT ST. MARY’S

At the cathedral in the evening the congregation included the GovernorGeneral and Lady Alice Fergusson, the Earl and Countess of Liverpool, Dr. H. D. A. Major, principal of Ripon Hall, Oxford, and between 200 and 300 Maoris.

The new bishop made the occasion one to appeal for unity and affection between the European and Maori races. Throughout the diocese had accumulated encouraging assurance of Maori support, he said, and there seemed to be no grounds for the fear, once entertained, that tribal differences would create other differences. There was not the slightest evidence of it._ Many people, indeed, who had joined the various schisms had come back to the Church since the founding of the bishopric.

“I feel very strongly that no progress will be made by one race or the other unless both march forward together,” he continued. “For one race to cut the painter and try to go on its own way means disaster. Both races have their particular qualifications, but there is no reason why they should not become one, particularly regarding spiritual matters. There is no occasion for such a thing as a colour line in New Zealand. We want the Pakeha people to sympathise with their Maori brethren. We want them to feel that the work of the Maori Church is their work and that the Maori bishop is the servant of the one Church.”

Jf there was any reason for conferring lustre on the name of Britain, he added, it was because of her treatment of the small races which came under her influence. The Maoris were now’ a remnant of a small but a great people. He trusted the affection of the Pakeha for the Maori would grow stronger and stronger.