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New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 363, 7 June 1946, Page 5

Sir,-There would appear to be some rather muddled thinking among the rhetoric of the letter from "8676" on Wellington Cathedral. The author pretends to imagine that "we are to see repeated in Wellington" the Italian mistake of a "magnificent church . . . which

shouldered aside the miserable dwellings of a people with whom starvation was a frequent lodger." Does he really believe that our cathedral is going to create hunger or slums, or even that the relief of such conditions will be retarded by it? If so, he believes nonsense. The cathedral is going to be built out of the wealth of New Zealand, not its poverty. It is going to be one item in a large group of buildings to house government departments, broadcasting, science and music, which will becom- the administrative and cultural centre of New Zealand. Are we to take the position that whereas Wellington can afford a magnificent railway station, handsome insurance and civic offices and beautiful homes climbing every hilltop, we cannot or must not spend a penny to show forth to worship the splendour of God? Perhaps "8676" doesn’t really think worship is worth while. He believes that the City Missioner could make better use of the money; but Mr. Squires is one of the keenest members of the Cathedral Committee. Many men have suggested that it is better to relieve distress than pour out one’s substance in "useless" devotion. It is interesting that it began when a disciple rebuked. Mary for her wasted ointment-and he was Judas Iscariot. 9999 (Wellington).