OPENING OF NEW CHURCH AT TE TUA

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 19, 14 May 1908, Page 15

OPENING OF NEW CHURCH AT TE TUA

RIVERTON PARISH

(From our Special Reporter.) * Orepuki, May 10. During the past two days your special representative has had a pleasing opportunity of noting some of the evidences of the progress achieved by the Orepu'ki district since his last visit in 18&9. The town has extended somewhat, and bears upon it the trim and weH-pa'inteid and comfortable air of a place tliait 1 is well established and feels secure as to its future. There Is a pathos in the efforts to make gardens grow and smile in tie teeth of the southerly and south-westerly winds that sweep upon the unprotected coast from over the wide, unbroken waste of the Southern Ocean. But protecting baxriers of pine and yew have grown up around homesteads all along the coast, and the track of many a storm is marked in the manner in which their branches are combed back by the winds away towards the north or north-east. Behind their close and friendly shelter chrysanthemums still linger, and gladioli, and other flowers that flaunt their bravery till the coming of the first nipping frosts of winter. Up a t Te Tu a (eight miles north of Orepuki) the writer saw, in a weUl-tended orchard, an arrletree in fu.ll bearing, while its branches were while With the second crop of blossom. The biggest fly in Orepuki 's ointment is, beyond a doubt, the sha s le-woriks. Your special representative was guided through them by Mr. Muir, and saw the far-extending buildings, plant, tram-lines, etc., which represent the vast sum of some £180,000 lying— as it has lain for some years—unproductive. The buildings and plant are kept in excellent order by the Company's anable representative (Mr. Mudr)*, and might be started again on a week's notice to produce kerosene, tar, naphtha, and paraffin waxwork which for too brief a period occupied some two hundred hands and distributed close on £100*1 a month in happy Orepuki. Active prospecting for shale is now being carried on in. the district and out to the Wairrami river. Those who might speak, however, preserve a discreet silence, but Orepuki is hopeful, and, although the wish may bo father to the thought, it looks with a measure of chastened confidence to the re-opening of the industry whose prosperity might mean so much to the district.

On Sunday, May 10, when, driving to Te Tua to take part in tii3 opening of the new Catholic church of St. Joseph there, I had some opportunity of contrasting the concisions of nine years ago with those of to-day. The vile track of those days is now a metalled road— by no means perfect, but as fair as a ' gxande route ' in. Normandy by comparison with the conditions that prevailed when last \ tried—^•ith only a qualified success — to tread my "way past its perilous pitfalls. Axe and fire and flying saw have pushed back the forest that in places overshadowed the road|, and the wondrou'sly rich soil won from the tangled jungle is a thick mait of girtass on which """sleek Mne fat/ten' in bovine content. Substantial farm-houses have arisen on every side, trim and neat and prosperous-booking, with their circling shelters of wind-swept pine or cypress. Nine years ago, When passing through this district, the present writer took down his harp and prophesied good things 1 . To-day, one part of his prophecy Is f ullfilled ; the rest is in the process of fulfilment ; and he is confident that the garden of Southland will

yet foe found in, the fat and fertile region, bfctwejen Orepuki and the Waiau River. All this is a digressionr-though, it is hoiped, a digression not without its 'interest to the reader The chief dbtfect of your 'special's' visit to the district W + aS r r witness the opening of the new Catholic dhnirch at le Tua, some eight miles north of Orepuki. The ceremony took place on last Sunday morning. The church is a hahfeome, well-built structure, ajid is situated at the junction of two roads, on an acre section presented for the. purpose by Mr. Griffin,. It is in the Gothic style of architecture. The material is wood on concrete foundations. The nave is 40 feet by 21 feet • the sanctuary, 12 feet by 12 feet ; and sacristy, 10 feet by 10 feet. The entrance is by a nice porch 10 feet by 10 feet. The walls rise to a height of 14 feet. In addition to a number of Gothic headed windows in the nave the church is lighted by a very fine lead-light rose window in the sanctuary. On Sundajy, the church was packed in every part rhe ceremony of bless'lhg and dedication was performed by the Right Rev. Mgr. Mackay, Administrator of the diocese, assisted, by Revs. P. O'Neill (Winton) ~P Murphy (Riverton,), and 11. W. Cleary (Dunedin). Father O'Neill was celeibrant of the Mass. The occasional sermon was preached by Rev* 11. W. Cleary. The music of the Mass was nicaly rendered, and was selected from' Winter's, Weib'er's in G, and Farmer's in B Miss Griffith presided at the orgian. The cost of the now building, with organ and furnishings, amounted to £400. The sum of £103 was subscribed in the church •in response to the appealj, and the building was not alone opened free of debt, bu,t with a credit balance— a circumstance of sufficient rarity to deserve mention. Father Murphy returned thanks to the visiting clergy, to the laity who had come from afar to aid in the ,good work, to non-Catholic friends and sympathisers for their generous aid, to the members of the congregation for their self-sacrificing, efforts, to the church committee for their splendid devotedness, and to the contractor (Mr. E. W. Bone) for the admirable, manner in which he had carried out the work.

At the close of the Mass, the following address was presented to the three visiting clergy : ' Rev. Sirs,— We, the Catholics of Te Tua and surrounding districts, desire to accord you a hearty welcome to this outlying part of the extensive diocese of Dunedin, and also to assure you of our great appreciation of the favor you do us in coming so far to perform the ceremony, of the dedication of our church. And we sincerely trust that, as the years yass by, this church will prone a g.reat boon to the Catholics of the district, as a means of spreading our ' holy religion and promoting the glory of God. We also desire to exp,ress oiur gratitude to our beloved and reverend Pastor for the zeal that prompted him to erect this building; and we pray th a t he may be long, spared in good health to carry out the good work he so nobly started. Signed : J. Griffin, G. Flanagan, T. O'Brien, P. Forde, J. Merrilees, D. Corker j'.'

The Right Rev. Mgr. Mackay replied in brief and happy terms, thankins; Father Murphy and congratulating the people on the event, so rare in New Zealand — that of opening a church free of debt. At the close of the proceedings the committee entertained the large body of lay visitors to a well-served dinner in a marqtuee.