NEW CATHEDRAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 May 1938, Page 8

NEW CATHEDRAL

NATIONAL AND CIVIC ASPECTS DISCUSSED AT MEETING IN WELLINGTON. APPEAL COMMITTEE SET UP. The national and civic aspects of the projected Church of England Cathedral in the diocese of Wellington were discussed recently by the Bishop of Wellington, the Rt Rev H. St. Barbe Holland, with a meeting attended by a number of leading citizens. It was recognised that in the cities of Eng-, land from which New Zealand has received its civic tradition, cathedrals and stately churches have an important place in the life of the community. On occasions of national rejoicing, thanksgiving, or sorrow, the assembly of national leaders and people in such an edifice for public worship is an acknowledgment of the religious beliefs of the nation, which cannot fail to have an ennobling influence on national life. The existence, moreover of a dignified cathedral is a perpetual reminder of the great truths which transcend mundane issues.

In Wellington this influence will be especially marked because of the commanding and significant site which the Cathedral will occupy on the higher side of a square of which two other sides are occupied by Parliament House and Government Buildings. The meeting considered these and other national and civic aspects of the Cathedral project and, as a result, resolved to support the proposal and to appoint a committee which would bring the national and civic importance of the plan before citizens and? invite their co-operation and financial assistance in the appeal for funds. The following gentlemen have intimated their acceptance of membership of the Wellington Citizen’s Appeal Committee:—The Rt Hon Sir Michael Myers, C.J., the Hon Walter Nash, the Mayor of Wellington (Mr T. C. A. Hislop), the Rt Hon J. G. Coates, Sir James Elliott, M.D., Sir James Grose, Sir Alexander Roberts, Sir William Hunt, Sir George Shirtcliffe, Sir Donald McGavin, Sir Charles Norwood, Major-General Sir William SinclairBurgess, the Hon Sir Charles Statham M.L.C., Sir Thomas Wilford, Dr H. Hardwick-Smith, Dr Duncan Stout, Dr Prendergast Knight, Colonel J. J. Esson, Colonel Falla, Colonel A. Cowles, Professor F. F. Miles, Professor Rankine Brown, Messrs R. C. Addison, E. A. Batt, C. V. Birch, Walter Blundell, E. D. Cachemaille, H. H. Cornish, W. H. Cunningham, F. W. Dawson, W. Gray Young, A. P. Harper, N. S. Hunt, L. Lefeaux, A. E. Mabin, D. J. McGowan, S. G. Nathan, E. P. Norman, L. O. H. Tripp, C. M. Turrell, B. R. Webster, R. L. Button, D. A. Ewen, Stronach Paterson, E. Riddiford, T. N. Smallwood. C. J. S. Harcourt, F. J. Courtney, Warwick Gregory and J. H. Jerram.

Sir James Grose was asked to act as director and honorary treasurer of the Citizens’ Committee and has consented to do so.

The Citizens’ Committee, it is explained, is distinct from the Diocesan Centenary Appeal Committee appointed by Synod to direct the appeal which will be made to members of the Church of England iit every parish of the Wellington Diocese. The latter committee will appeal for’both parts of the Centenary Fund: £200,000 for the creation of a worthy Cathedral and Synod Hall in Wellington, and £lOO,OOO to establish the Bishop’s Fighting Fund, which will be used to further church work in the parishes by assisting the provision of additional clergy, the acquisition of sites, and the erection of necessary buildings. The Citizen’s Committee will direct its attention wholly to the Cathedral part of the appeal.