FRIEND OF CHILDREN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 December 1938, Page 7

FRIEND OF CHILDREN

THE LATE REV. J. COCKER’S WORK TABLET AT METHODIST HOME. UNVEILED LAST EVENING. Over a long period of years the late Rev James Cocker was SecretaryManager of the Methodist Children’s Home at Masterton, and the splendid work which he carried out during his term of office was the occasion for eulogistic references at the Children’s Home function last night when a tablet was unveiled to Mr Cocker’s memory.

A number of speakers dwelt on the excellent manner in which the late Mr Cocker had carrried out his duties during his long association with ihe Home, the care and upbringing of the children deceiving special attention from him. He took a particular pride in the Home and always insisted that it should be conducted in such a manner as to remove any suggestion of charity. His great work among the children, it was stated by more than one speaker, was a monument for all lime to his memory. Tributes were paid to the zeal he had always displayed for the institution in which he took such a pride, the Masterton Methodist Home.

The Rev P. Paris, president of the Methodist Church of New Zealand, said that it was fitting that a memorial should be erected at the Home io one who had been :uch a good man, and who had devoted his energies to the uplifting of mankind and to helping the children to shape their lives in the way they should go. When a boy the speaker had often heard Mr Cocker preach. He knew of his good works, and he always wished that he would be able to follow the splendid I example set by Mr Cocker. It was the children that Mr Cocker was always anxious for. He was an unrelenting enemy of strong drink, for he knew the misery that it brought in its wake to children, and how it blighted Iheir fives and robbed them of a decent chance in life. It was fitting that (here should be something in the Home to remind the children and the people of the future of the great work Mr Cocker had done in Mas tei tori and in other naris of the Dominion. It was not necessary for ihere to be any reminder to the past, or present children of th-.- Home or ;hose adults who had visited the institution of Mr Cocker’s services to mankind—they would always remember him. Mr Paris then unveiled a brass plaque inside the entrance to the Home, bearing the following inscription:—

. This plaque is erected to commemorate the work of lhe Rev James Cocker, who devoted his gifts to the service of this Home as Secretary-Manager and friend of the children for over 13 years. "His works do follow him." "HA being dead, yet speaketh.” A short prayer by Mr Paris brought he ceremony to a close.