ST, JOHN'S COLLEGE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 125, 24 June 1909, Page 3

ST, JOHN'S COLLEGE.

RAKING FUNDS FOR THE PATiJiSOA -WINU. The celebration tlife year ol tae great Bishop Selwyn's birth bus caused tin Anglican community to have a warmei interest in tlie college b c founded at i'aniaki (Auckland) very shortly after his arrival in New Zealand. Un' Ascension Day last His Excellency the Governor laid the foundation-stone of the new wing of tiie college, \,i/ic« is tu lit calleu Ihe Pattesou Wing," i u counnemoraLion of Bishop Patteson. This will accommodate 30 students, and will be a hue addition to the present beautiful College building, which was built by the great Bishop of New Zealand himself. At present the accommodation at the College is quite inadequate for the students, and the new building is muci) needed in lieu of a great part of tHile' old College. With the new wing will be erected the Kinder Librarv, which is to house the valuable collection of books left to the College by a previous Warden, the late Dr. Kinder, xaiOO is needed to carry out the first part of the present Bishop of Auckland's great scheme for the enlargement of the College, and as St. John s is the " provincial" College (that is, it was intended by Bishop Sehvyn to b e the principal, if not the only, theological training institution of the ecclesiastical "province" of New Zealand), he has sent the Rev. A. H. Colvile, M.A., as a missioner to call public attention throughout the Dominion to the need for funds. Mr. Col-

v vile, in pursuance of this plan, addressed a very numerous assembly of people in St. Mary's Parish Hall last night, and he delivered a splendid address. Mr. W. H. Skinner presided, with him being the vicar of St. Mary's (Rev. F. G. Evans). Mr. Skinner drew attention to the great work Bishop Sehvyn had done in founding tho New Zealand branch of the Church of England, especially as through his influence parishes founded as early as St. Mary's derived their endowments. Bishop Selwyn's name and deeds had loomed large in the Press of the Dominion of late, and of anecdotes concerning him there were numbers. There were many yet who could remember hearing Bishop Selwyn's first sermon in St. Mary's—the first Anglican sermon delivered here—and there were some present that evening. Some had interesting reminiscences to tell about him, showing the character of the man better than all the commentary that could be made. He called on Mr. Hooker to tell a typical anecdote. Mr. Heoker's story was told simply and well. He remembered the time when the Bishop arrived. He came overland from Auckland, unattended, and where there was a river to cross he" swam it. He arrived in the settlement unostentatiously, and it was hardly credited that he was the Bishop, unce when a Mr. Fisher was rvery ill, !t!h,-e Bishop was asked to send down a doctor from Auckland. engaged a small sailing boat, commanded by one Watson (from whom Mr. .Hooker liad the story), and this Watson at tins nour of sailing was found by the Bishop drunk in an Onehunga bar. The skipper refused to move, and asked the b.M.0,1 what he was going to do about it. Watson was a big man, but not so big as the Bishop, who answered him by picking him up in his arms and carryin" him aboard the cutter. "Cast off," he said, "he'll be sober by the time you reach the bar." And so Mr. Fisher got his doctor. Mr. Hooker told his stories very ingenuously, and was warmly applauded. ;.- i

Mr. Colvilc's address was magnetically eloquent of praise for tie great Bishop, whom, he said, England recognised not merely as a great Bishop of Lichfield, but before that a greater Bishop of New Zealand. As in New Zealand, his hfluence had lived after him in Lichfield. He combined in himself three remarkable qualities as a tireless and conscientious worker, a splendid organiser, and an intensely magnetic personality animating the other two. Men there were in plenty who were magnificent cither as workers, as organisers, or as characters, few there were who combined th'. three qualities in one colossal personality, and these few were the really great men of the world.. Amongst them the name of Selwyn would ever hold its place. His was the sort of character that, being truly great, was not egotistic, and the energy that was in him communicated itself electrically to those whom he enlisted in the service of his Lord and Master. When he departed, he took not his influence away with him, but left it still to work in those whom he had trained. Unlike Napoleon, whose mighty power depended on his own intense personality, whose servants were machines deriving their power from him, Selwyn's men were men indeed, whose personalities had room to expand. And such a man was I'atteaon, Bishop of Melanesia, whom this new building at Selwyn's College of St. Jonn was to commemorate. The College maintained the traditions of its founder, and, therefore, was not a monastery, but a| training-ground for all classes and ill denominations. There were congregated men of all classes for the arts n|nd sciences of the University, as well as for theology, and there these men hail laid the best foundation for the national life that the mind of man had evolved. There was the nucleus of a great University in St. John's, which one day might have its own professors and grant degrees like Oxford and Cambridge, and play the same vital part in the formation of the national character which the older institutions had done. It was to extend this work the efforts of the community should be directed. It was a matter especially for the Church of England members, who should draw their supply of clergy entirely from their own population. But it was more than a Church of England matter, for the aim of the College was national, and it constantly gave practical expression to that aim.

Mr.Colvile's remarks were closely followed aud frequently applauded, and at the dose of them ho was awarded a very warm vote of thanks, on the nio- ( tion of Mr. 0. E. Baker. Several hynris were sung during the evening by the choir of St. Mary's and, the audience, Mr. Kenaud playing the ac'companimrats, and the meeting closed with the National Anthem, followed by the Benediction, pronounced by Mr. Evans.