AN EARLY CHURCH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 88, 15 April 1939, Page 8

AN EARLY CHURCH.

THREE KINGS RELIC.

|By GEO. M. FOWLDS.)

In acquiring th© extensive property of the Wesley Trust at Mount Eden for housing purposes the State has taken over one of the most historic areas around the city. As New Zealand is less than a century old and most structures were made of wood, it is not rich in 'historic buildings. It is to be regretted also that some of the earliest of these have not been so designed as to encourage steps for their preservation. Still it is desirable that before any old buildings are allowed to bo wantonly destroyed, particularly those having any special associations with famous people or events, a careful review of their condition should be made in order to ascertain whether they warrant retaining. Remembering our callous treatment of the magnificent flora, which the first settlers found this country clothed with, it is not surprising if we display an equal disregard for the preservation of relatively old buildings. Within five miles of the city of Auckland, on the property of the Wesley Training College, in the Mount Eden district, where the Methodist school for Maori children was opened in 1846, there is an old stone chapel in a fair state of preservation, now used for storing hay and farming implements. The outlines can be traced of the former Gothic windows, now filled up with stone and brick. There arc signs that originally the roof was covered with shingles before the present iron was attached. Despite the fact that the building was probably erected in the 'fifties and the inside of the walls was packed with clay instead of mortar, it stood remarkably well for nearly eighty years. Above the eyeline, use was made of small rough rocks of the local lava, but at the corners and up the sides of the doors and windows larger stones were laboriously squared. Off one end is a long, rambling stone building of single storey in the shape of an "L," once used to accommodate the Maori boys, and still inhabited. With the removal of the wooden college some ten years ago. when the institution was transferred to a larjre area at Paerata, and the burning down of the seventy-year-old headmaster's house about two years ago, the old church-stablc-oottagc is the only one of the early buildings now remaining.

An Early School.

It is certain that some of the early educational work was carried out in the old church, for it is stated that the first groups of Maori students were accompanied by their relatives, who lived in raupo whares on the surrounding hill slopes, grew their own crops and had access to the nearby swamps for eels. Upon the approach of the Maori War in the 'sixties, the Maori people and their children hastily departed, and the work closed down for 6even years. A subdivision plan had been prepared for the property some years ago, but upon the advent of the depression no further step 6 were taken to dispose of sections. It was announced at the time that the trustees proposed to vest the Big King Hill in the Crown as a domain, and as this cone is the only one of the Three Kings (really four) group that is untouched by excavation, the proposal was welcomed. A short distance behind the terrace on which stood the former college building a small hill contains the finest example on the isthmus of the infrequent use made by Maoris of rock facing in their fortifications, and it is to be hoped that they will not be destroyed. While it is likely that a road may be planned inside the encircling rim, along the little valley where the old church now stands, it is possible that, provided competent authorities reported that the building was worth retaining and restoring, the trustees might have been induced to allot sufficient land and hand the •building over. The mention of this old building again shows the need for some competent authority, like the British National Trust fpr Ancient Monuments, whose duty it would be to -make a survey of old buildings and historic sites, and, where considered desirable, take the necessary steps for their acquisition and conservation.