Paeroa

New Zealand Tablet, 13 August 1908, Page 14

Paeroa

A welcome social to the Rev. Father Bradley (says the Ohinemun Gazette ') was heldin the Choral Hall on the evening of July 29 when there was a large attendance, not only of Paeroa people, but also of those from up-country. Just before the adjournment for supper, the Very Rev. Dean Hackett intrn duced Father Bradley, saying that he was a young fr6m

- Australia who had come to assist him in his work. On August - 14 he (the speaker) would have been in the district' for fourteen years, and although he had seen many .changes, it looked' as if .he, like Tennyson's brook, would '.go on for ever.' He was pleased to have Father Bradley to ' help him with his latiors, and, on behalf of the parishioners, he welcomed him to "the \ district. ... - , ' " ' - - Mr. J. McCarthy ' then read an address of welcome from the parishioners. ' , ' - - Father Bradley, in reply, said he was pleased to hear their -jwords. of welcome*, and he was, pleased to be" associated with- his . friend, Dean -Hackett, who was a man to be fevered and looked up to. .When he firs'* saw Dean Hackett in Auckland, before Jie had any intention of coming to Paeroa, he recognised that' he was a man to be loved. Over in Australia he had met -many New Zealanders, and when in Queensland he had come across several from ' Gcd's Own Country ' looking for land, and he was surprised to hear that there^was.not enough land in * God's Own Country - for everybody. He had- heard, so .. much about New Zealand that he had decided to come over ' and sample some of it. He had made many friends since he had come to . - Paeroa ; in fact, he had made more friends during the few weeks he had been in Paeroa than he had during the seven or eight months' he was in Auckland. Somehow or other, the people in Auckland seemed to.be of a different stamp to the^good folk of Paeroa. He had been round Karangahake and the other- parts of the district, and he was pleased to see some of the people* from those places present that night. He believed that social intercourse between priest and people • did a lot of good, and it was on occasions like the one that he preferred .to meet _jhe ladies and gentlemen of the district. There was no doubt that social events such as that did a certain "amount of good. He "thanked the members -of the committee and all present for the welcome accorded him, and trusted^they would meet again -on several similar occasions. ' - •• . The Very Rev. Dean Hackett returned thanks to all present for assisting to make the welcome so successful, more particularly those who had presented the euchre prizes and the members- of the committee who had worked so earnestly. He was pleased to see members of all denominations present, and said that Father Bradley would find that there was no religious animosity here as there was in some places. - Dean Hackett also presented • the prizes won at the euchre tournament as follows : — Ladies : Mrs. Barrett, first (silver toast rack, presented by Mrs. Moriarty) ; >Irs. Rolton, second (silver and glass butter dish,- presented .by Mr. Keller). Gentlemen : Mr. Le Compte, first (set of carvers, "presented by Mr. J. Brenan) ; Mr. J. Gordon, second (wheelbarrow, presented by Mr. G. Collins). > After the speeches and the presentation of prizes, supper •provided by the ladies was handed round.