CHRISTIAN CHIVALRY

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1011, 30 June 1930, Page 14

CHRISTIAN CHIVALRY

NOBLE WORK OF ST. JOHN AMBULANCE ANNUAL CHURCH PARADE Starting from Newmarket with the Ponsonby Boys’ Brass Band leading. 160 members of the St. John Ambulance Brigade and the Association marched to St. Mary's Cathedral yesterday afternoon for the annual church parade. Mr. C. J. Tunks, a Knight of Grace of the Order of St. John, was in command. Sir George Fowlds, another Knight of Grace, was also present. “The St. John Ambulance is a part of one of the oldest orders of chivalry now existing,” said the chaplain, the Rev. G. E. Moreton, in an outline of the history of the order. He said that in 1099 when the Crusaders seized Jerusalem, a company of “Poor Brethren of the Hospital of St. John” had been formed to maintain a hospital for the sick and suffering. The order thus formed grew stronger, until it became one of the most powerful military organisations of the times. An English charter was granted in 1888 by Queen Victoria, and the Grand Priory of the order in the British Realm was established. The first hospital established in New Zealand was opened by Bishop Selwyn in 1845, and patients in that hospital were attended by brethren and sisters of the Order of St. John. The voluntary service the order gave, concluded Mr. Moreton, was an outstanding example of Christian chivalry. The public owed the St. John Ambulance a debt of gratitude. Twenty commissioned officers took part, including the assistant-commis-sioner, Mr. F. J. Hutchinson, the district officer, Mr. A. W. Probert, and the corps superintendent, Mr. F. E. Schofield.