LYCH-GATE DEDICATED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 69, 21 March 1940, Page 11

LYCH-GATE DEDICATED

ST. STEPHEN'S CEREMONY. HISTOUIC BUIM.U. PLAI K. Tin- lydi-gntc which has U«vn erected at the Clltranco of tlic historic St. Stephen*; cemetery, Judge's Bay, by co-o|K.'ration .between the City Council and the St. Stephen's Cemetery Preservation Association xvae dedirated yesterday afternoon by Archbishop Averill. The ceremony was attended by many member* of old l'arnell families. de.-ceiidants of the pioneers who were buried in the cemetery, and pupils of the Queen Victoria School for Maori (iirls. Also present were the. BUhop i of Polynesia, the lit. lJev. L. S. Kvnipthoine, and the headmaster of the St. .Stephen - * College, Bombay, Mr. \V. C. Morris.

Thanks were extended by the chairman of the Cemetery Preservation Association, Mr. J. W. MeGechie, to all those who had contributed to the erection of the lych-gate. He ■wae glad, he said, that as a result of the work done during the past four or five years the cemetery had l>een restored to a Mate more in keeping with its historic pa»t.

A *hort service was conducted from tli-? steps of the gafe by Archbi»hop Axerill. He was attended by Archdeacon \V. .?. Siinpkin as i-luiphiin, and the lesson wa* read by Hear. \V. Fancourt. In an address,. the archbishoji thanked th<% asiiociution f<ir the splendid service it had rendered to the old historic burial place. The cemetery ww now in tlio order in which every (Jod\s acre should be, and the lych-gate jjave added interest to the spot. He was vlad, he eaid, that he wa« able to perform the dedication ceremony as one of his last official acts in Auckland. The Kev. W. Panapa spoke on behalf of the Maori fteople. Mrs. Averill wae presented with a bouquet by the Maori jrirls. and. liefore leaving, it was deposited on the jrrave. of Rota Waitoa, tlie first Maori to be ordained to the Anglican ministry. The girls also took the opportunity of bidding good-bye to Archbishop Averill in a speech and eong of farewell. The inscription on thn lych-gate readas follows:—"This lych-gate is erected in the Centennial year of Xew Zealand in gratitude to Almighty God for the laboiire and sacrifices of the pioneere of the first century of the history of the Dominion."