CATHEDRAL BELLS.

Taihape Daily Times, 30 December 1918, Page 5

CATHEDRAL BELLS.

TO RING IN WELLINGTON. Among the charms"of many of.the cities and towns of Belgium and Northern France which attracted visitors. fn the days before the war were the beautiful peals of beffs which rang out from their cathedral" belfries. There never were such bells as those of Malines, for example; and their destruction deeply stirred all those people who had ever listened to their musical responses to the master hands thcit rang them. Wonderful and solemn and sweet are the tones of true cathedral bells! Yet the people of Wellington have never heard them in their own city, never heard their own cathedral bells chiming with a cheery, uplifting clamour or swinging steadily to send their deep notes quivering across the waters and nut over the hills. Some day they will, though, and whether it be soon or late will depend upon the support given to the scheme which is now well under way to build an Anglican Cathedral in Wellington. Throughout those wrecked areas of France and Flanders, men will be busy building and rebuilding their houses of God. wSich the Huns have shattered. To the people of those lands the idea of living without their beautiful buildings, and their wonderful bells, would be unthinkable. Individually. the~se people ar»poorer than New Zealanders, yet they will rebuild the cathedrals as thankofferings for peace. So that the reasons why we in New Zealand should build a great Cathedral in our capital city, as a thank offering too, are much more urgent and real. They know, those wise folk who have suffered untolu torments during the past four years, they know that life without things and thoughts that are beautiful is a crude and unsatisfying existence. We in Wellington do not realise this because we Ifcive never heard our city's cathedral bells ringing overhead, or possessed a cathedral of any kind that I such bells would belong to. But time is coming when we shall, and you can hasten it by subscribing to the cathedral building fund. Donations or promises (which may be spread oyer five years) will be welcomed, and should be sent to the hon. organI ising secretary, Rev. C. F. Askew. St. j Mark's Vicarage, Wellington. •