ARCHBISHOP AND CITIZEN

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22496, 2 September 1938, Page 10

ARCHBISHOP AND CITIZEN

SENIOR BISHOP OF CHURCH

SCHOLAR AND HUMANIST

INCIDENTS AND ACTIVITIES IN MANY SPHERES

A great churchman, yet a counsellor and a leader far beyond the confines of the Church he served, a man loved and respected mr the finest qualities of mind and heart, has been lost to Chnstchurcn by the death of Archbishop Julius, it is in keeping with the character of ms constant Ind courageous ministry that his bodily and mental vigour continued almost unimpaired into the later years of his life. As senior Bishop of the Anglican Communion throughout the world his was the longest life consecrated to the highest office of the Church. The life of Archbishop Julius may be better understood if his word* in his first sermon in £ his consecration on May 1. are recalled: “I stand here scarce^ realising the awful call God has made to me, scarcel* knowing that I am a Bishop of Church of God, feeling so, heavd* weighted by my new responsibly ities that I fear lest you should e£ pect more of me than I ha'/eJB give ” The 35 years that follower and'the years after his retirement . to the faithful pJ formance of the task assume wm|| such humility. Distinguished Career Archbishop Julius was i»m M Richmond, Surrey, m 1847, ana educated at Blackheath School, at King’s CoUege. London, an* at Worcester CoUege, Oxford, ip graduated 21s 3. Bachelor of Arts ® 1869, as M.A. in. 1871, and took ttft degree of Doctor of Divinity m 188 ft Ordained deacon in 1871 and prie# in 1872. he was curate at St GUft Norwich, from 1871 to 1873. In tilS year he succeeded to the cure <k South Brent, in Somersetshire, in 1875 became vicar of Shapwick. Ift became vicar of Holy Trinity, Islinft ton North, London, in 1878. Six yeaft later he first went to Australia ft take up an appointment as incumbent of Christ Church Pro-Cathedral at Ballarat. He was also Archdeacon Of Ballarat, a position he held at thy time of his election to the See oc Christchurch in 1889. In 1920, Cambridge University hoo* oured him with the degree of Doctor of Laws. In 1922, Bishop Julius succeeded Bishop Nevill as Primate of New Zealand. After being a member o£ the clergy of the Anglican Church for 54 years, for 35 of which he held an episcopate. Archbishop Julius announced his retirement to the Diocesan Synod of 1924, and actually retired from office on April 20, 1925.

The Final Message On his retirement in 1925. Archbishop Julius was given a public farewell by the city in the King Edward Barracks. More than 6000 people attended, representing every church and almost every public body of Christchurch. His farewell speech then was most pleasantly typical of the man himself. “There are just two things." he began. “The first is, I’m going to be pathetic. When God spares a man at my time of life, in health and strength of body, if not mind —there’s no reason for grizzling or lamenting. The second thing is that if you expect me to speak through this little pint pot"— he pointed to the amplifier—“you are mistaken.”

His speech briefly traversed his early years in the colony, commending the help he had received from clergy aod laity, especially from his brother ministers. He gave his final message: “God keep and bless you all. God bless you and your children. I doh% care so much about you grown-up people, but take care of the children — let them know about the love of God. The devil is trying all manner of tricks to gain the children. I couM tell you of countless influences. If ever New Zealand should turn away from God, from the Gospel, and His ways. His law and worship, if sport or anything else should stand between Him and her, then she is not worth preserving and shall fall.”

The Archbishop’s retirement did not mean giving up active participation in the affairs of the diocese. He wra* constantly in demand as a preacher both at the Cathedral and in other churches. His personality and his power of dramatic and outspoken speech won him a great number of friends and admirers outside his own churches as well as within it Until the end of last year it was his custom to act as celebrant at the Sunday, 8 a.m., communion service at St. Augustine’s Church, Cashmere Hilhi and at the Thursday 10 a.m. service at the Cathedral.

Mechanical Interests Archbishop Julius was always » skilled worker with his hands, and mechanical engineering was his principal hobby. Much of his leisure time was spent in the workshop at his home, where he invented and produced numerous ingenious appliances for his house and his car. He was an expert in the repair of clocks. “Born 10 years after Queen Victoria's accession to the Throne. Arcnfaishop Julius lived under five monarchs and witnessed the dramatic change wrought in the world's life by the developments of modem science,” stated a writer in the "Church News” recently. “For example, he learnt photography when negatives were made on paper, before the use of collodion opened the way to the glass plate and the film. He recalls clearly an occasion when a learned professor took him out to expose a paper-plate. The professor remarked: ‘A bit dud—we’ll give it 40 minutes’ and when that time elapsed said. ‘We’ll give it another 10 minutes’—a quarter of an rr.ur either way was neither here nor thcrel And to-day the press photographer armed with reflex and flashiamp will take his portrait in his workroom in a fraction of a second.

“The Archbishop's own keenness for photography almost led to Irasedy early in his episcopate. While he was driving the buggy he brought from Victoria on the West Coast he and Mrs Julius pulled up to camp by the side of a steep 20ft gully, and. wishing to take a photograph, he set up the camera and with his head under the cloth ithere were no hand-cameras those days) he unwisely moved the stand closer—the horse promptly backing from the apparition towards the gully edge. By good luck he reached the horse’s head in time. “The Archbishop used in his work every new mode of travel as it came in. save the aeroplane, which arrived just too late for his active episcopate. (He did go ‘'up" —he went up with Mr F. C. Chichester from Wigram ;or a cruise over the city and country.)