HAMILTON CATHEDRAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 852, 21 December 1929, Page 6

HAMILTON CATHEDRAL

FEARS AS TO STABILITY NEW BUILDING MOOTED From Our Own Correspondent HAMILTON, Friday. The future of St. Peter’s Cathedral, Hamilton—the mother Church of the Waikato Diocese—is not bright and it is possible that in the near future another site may be found and the present building demolished. According to the latest issue of the Diocesan Magazine, the Greater Chapter of the Camedral is gravely concerned about the condition of the building, which has been Hamilton’s chief landmark for many years. At a recent chapter meeting permission was sought to instal the beautiful east window which arrived recently from England and toward the cost of which the Women’s Guild had been working for several years. At previous meetings, both of members of the congregation and the chapter, it had been decided that none of the funds in the possession of the cathedral treasurer should be expended except on permanent work. The cathedral architect, Mr. G. S. Reid, expressed the gravest anxiety as to the wisdom of putting in the new window in the east wall in its present state. This raised the question of making the east wall sufficiently strong and the minimum cost was stated to be about £6OO. Further discussion raised the point whether the durability of the present structure was assured and if‘the site were suitable. It was decided that before finality was reached inquiries be made about other possible sites. After the conclusion of the meeting several members of the Greater Chapter visited the church with the architect and examined it inside and out. “They were very discouraged with what they saw,” the report proceeds. “The condition of the main rafters of the roof, the cracks in the tower, the generally shoddy appearance of the building, together with further information supplied by the archetict, as well a.s the congested nature of the site, all tended to fill those present w r ith the greatest discouragement. “It is too early to decide yet what steps we shall take, but at present it looks as if we shall have to turn our attention to another site and leave it to a future generation to build an entirely new v cathedral,” the report concludes.