THE CENTENNIAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 December 1939, Page 4

THE CENTENNIAL

RELIGIOUS CELEBRATION. SERVICE AT EXHIBITION. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The official religious celebration of the Centennial of the settlement of New Zealand by British people—a memorial to the past and a witness to tlie future —will be held on Sunday. January 7. On that day undenominational thanksgiving services will be held itt all the chief centres, the Wellington one being at the Exhibition. At the request of the Government, ministers of Wellington churches have arranged a service which will be held at 3 p.m. in the bandshell area of the Exhibition, or. if the weather is wet. in the Town Hall. The Exhibition is closed on Sundays, but the Kingsford Smith Street and Tirangi Road entrances will be open for the admission of the public to the service. The Bishop of Wellington, the Rt. Rev. H. St. B. Holland, will preside, the Rev. A. B. Kilroy will deliver an address and the ministers of various churches will assist. Music will be provided by the Salvation Army Band. The appointment of Mr Kilroy, minister of St. Andrew’s Church, to deliver the address, is an honour paid to the current occupant of the pulpit of the first church to be established in New Zealand to minister to the spiritual needs of the European settlers. An order of service which is expected to occupy an hour has been drawn up. It will open with the hymn "All People Who on Earth do Dwell." and will include the singing of Psalm 103, prayers, lessons and the address. Presbyterians, who are so specially interested in the Centennial because of the earliness of their church’s representation in the New Zealand settlements. beginning with the arrival of the Rev. John Macfalane at Petone early in 1840. will hold special celebrations in Wellington and Petone in February.