CATHEDRAL SITE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 190, 14 August 1933, Page 5

CATHEDRAL SITE.

ST. ANDREW'S, SYDNEY

STATE'S OFFER REJECTED.

MANY COMPLICATIONS,

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

SYDNEY, August 3. A controversy which has been in progress for many years between the chief ecclesiastical and the chief municipal authorities of Sydney has once again reached a culminating point of interest and\intcnsity. St. Andrew's Cathedral, the great Anglican church which stands in the heart of the city adjacent to the Town Hall, is crowded upon by the everencroaching needs of transport and trade, and the time is ripe for its removal to a spot consistent with its dignity and the importance of its public standing.

In 1926, when the first Lang Ministry was in office, the State offered the Cathedral authorities a cash sum of £500,000 and the site of the old Mint in Macquarie Street in exchange for the Cathedral land in-the centre of the city. 4s the Cathedral area was valued at the time at £300.000, and the Mint site at from £300,000 to £400,000, the ecclesiastical authorities would certainly, from the financial standpoint, have made a "ood bargain. , But in the general political turmoil that followed the bargain was never completed, and it is one of many signs of increasing security and public confidence in the existing order of things that the question has come up for discussion again. Government's Own Plans. By this time, however, the Government; has become reluctant to part with the Mint site, which lies just at the top King Street, at its junction with Macquarie Street, facing Queen Square and Hyde Park. One of the reasons is that the Government contemplates erecting on this site a great block of buildings to contain all the criminal and law courts and accommodation for the law offices of the Crown. A splendid etruc-

tiire costing £500,000 is envisaged here. But there is this further complication that Parliament buildings—on the same side of Macquarie Street and separated from the Mint site by the Sydney Hospital—are falling into decay and will soon be past service. It is conceivable, therefore, that the Government may desire to move the hospital out to Centennial Park and take the whole of that section of Macquarie Street for a new Parliament House, with the adjacent law courts —a change which would in any case make the Mint site unsuitable for the Cathedral, and would probably exclude it altogether. Conservatorium Site. For all these reasons the Government has deferentially suggested to the Church that it would be well to locate the new Cathedral on the site of the Conservatorium—a beautiful 6pot a few hundred yards further down Macquarie Street toward the harbour, backed by the Botanic Gardens and looking out toward the sea. It is urged that the Conservatorium sit£, being secluded from the noise and bustle of city life, would be an ideal location, and that the withdrawal of the Cathedral in this direction would prevent any conflict in an architectural sense with St. Mary's (Roman Catholic) Cathedral on one side of Hyde Park and St. James' Church on the other. But the Cathedral authorities maintain that a great Church, to attract worshippers, must be near "the beating heart of the city," and they arc evidently fascinated by the vision of a huge ecclesiastical pile—it is to cost £1,000,000 —standing at the head of King Street and facing directly toward the central area of the metropolis. They have therefore definitely rejected the Conservatorium site, and the whole question lias been thrown into the melting pot again. By far the best alternative proposal yet'put forward is that the new Cathedral should stand on Church Hill, on the other side of the city overlooking Darling Harbour, on the site so long occupied by old St. Philip's. This is certainly one of the most impressive sites in the city.