OPENING OF A MARIST COLLEGE IN SUVA

New Zealand Tablet, 4 September 1913, Page 45

OPENING OF A MARIST COLLEGE IN SUVA

On Sunday. August 10, the postponed function of the opening of the new College of St. Felix for the Marist Brothers at Suva took place (says the Polynesian Gazette). His Excellency the Governor was accompanied by Lady Escott and suite. A guard of honor was formed by the Marist Brothers' School Cadets, and his Excellency was received by his Lordship Bishop Vidal, who t handed the silver key to the Governor and thanked his Excellency for attending to perform the ceremony. Among those present on the platform with his Excellency were the Hons. Alexander, Hutson, Scott, Marks, and Turner, Dr. Brough '(Mayor), Messrs. L. Brown, Bradney, Greene, Mataffy, J. J. Davis, and the captain of the Zelee, Mesdames Hutson and Marks, and Miss Alexander. His Excellency in the course of his address said: 'I appreciate very • highly the honor which has been done me this day by being asked to open this college. I was Very glad to hear his Lordship say that he had not extended, the invitation to me merely on account of '> my high position as Governor, but also on account of the interest I take in the education of all classes of the 'community. I should like to flatter myself that there is a third reason, and that is because it is well-known that I am in sympathy with the excellent work of the Marist Brothers. In time to come, looking back to this day, I shall no doubt be able to call to mind records of success of the pupils of this school, attained not only in school, but in after life. It is the first time I have unlocked the portals of a Catholic college, but, on one occasion, I laid the foundation stone of such an institution. At the town of Belize, the capital of British Honduras, I performed the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of a college, and' my hand was then guided by Father Hopkins, now Bishop Hopkins. I then declared the stone well and truly laid, and it proved to be so; and on another occasion I was able to congratulate the masters and boys of the college on eighteen years' excellent work. In the Seychelles, where I held my first Governorship, there was the St. Louis College, which was presided over by the Rev. Brother Sarius, who is still there. There my own son Was at school for two years, and I like to think that some of the lessons he has learnt, which must carry him through life, he learnt there. We are told by the local papers that this school cost £3OOO to build. The Rev. Father Bourdier, the architect of the school, 'began his career as a distinguished engineer before Bishop Vidal persuaded him to join the Order. The building is creditable to him and to all connected with it, and to the town of Suva .itself. . . On behalf of the Marist Brothers I thank you all for coming to this •ceremony it must cheer them much in their work. I feel sure you will join with me in wishing both the boys and the Marist Brothers complete and entire success. Mr. Roger Greene then gave particulars of the . expenditure on the college, the total cost being over £3877. Several other speakers, including the Hon. Mr. • Marks, the Hon. J. B. Turner ,and the Hon. H. M. Scott, K.C., also referred to the good work of the Marist Brothers in the colony.