Sir Walter Nash’s Lying-In-State In Parliament Buildings

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31699, 7 June 1968, Page 20

Sir Walter Nash ’s Lying-In-State In Parliament Buildings

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, June 6. Filing slowly through the hushed, purple-draped main foyer of Parliament Buildings, several thousand New Zealanders today paid their last respects to the late Sir Walter Nash whose body lay in state in a simple wooden coffin.

Throughout the day an almost constant thin stream of mourners climbed the steps of Parliament Buildings and slowly circled the closed coffin, which lay on a purple and black draped catafalque beneath a high purple awning.

Officials who organised the lying-in-state were surprised by the high proportion of young people in the line of mourners.

This afternoon members of the Nash family called at Parliament Buildings to see the arrangements made for the Iving-in-state. They included Sir Walter Nash’s sister. Miss Emily Nash, and his eldest son. Mr J. A. D. Nash.

Early-morning workers and schoolchildren were the first to pay their respects when the main doors of Parliament buildings were opened at 7 a.m.

For one hour in the afternoon the doors were closed to enable members of the diplomatic corps to pay their own respects. As mourners left the main foyer during the day they were shown to the social hall to see more than 70 wreaths and bunches of flowers which had been sent by dignatories and laymen. Parliamentary messengers

finally closed the doors to the building at 10 p.m.; Sir Walter Nash’s body will be taken to St James’s Church, Lower Hutt, tomorrow morning for a State funeral service. Releasing final details of the State funeral tonight, the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) said the coffin would arrive at St James’s at 7 a.m. The church will be open to the public from 8 a.m., and the service will be held at 2 p.m. The pall bearers will be members of Sir Walter Nash’s family and honorary pall bearers will be: The Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Marshall), the acting dean of the diplomatic corps (the Indian High Commissioner, Mr S. N. Chopra), the Speaker of the House of Representatives (Mr R. E. Jack), the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Kirk), the Deputy Leader of the Opposition (Mr Watt), the president of the Labour Party (Mr N. V. Douglas), the Chief Labour Party Whip (Mr H. L. J. May), the membe- for Northern Maori (Mr M. Rata), and the secretary

of the Labour Party (Mr A. J McDonald). Official guests will include members of the Executive Council, members of the diplomatic corps, privy councillors, the Chief Justice, members of the House of Representatives, clergy, leaders in local government, former Cabinet Ministers and representatives of the National and Labour Parties. The address will be given by the Bishop of Wellington (the Rt Rev. H. W. Baines).

After the service the cortege will drive from Lower Hutt to the Karori crematorium where there will be a short family service. Television and public address systems will be used tomorrow to bring the State funeral service of Sir Walter

Nash, in St James’s Church, Lower Hutt, to three of the church’s adjacent halls. St James’s has a normal seating capacity of 450. With extra seating it is expected there will be provision for at least 650. Three Halls An additional 600 will be able to be seated in the three halls, giving a total seating capacity of more than 1200. The service will be opened by Canon H. Taepa, of the Wellington and Belmont Maori pastorate. Then will follow a hymn, “For All the Saints." The lesson will then be read by the Right Rev. G. M. McKenzie, Assistant-Bishop of Wellington. Bishop Baines will then deliver the sermon, at the conclusion of which Psalm 23 will be sung. Archdeacon W. A. Scott, the vicar of St James’s, will say the prayers, and then the hymn “Now Thank We All Our God” will be sung.

At the Karori crematorium the Bishop of Wellington and Archdeacon Scott will officiate, with Archdeacon Scott performing the committal ceremony.

Sir Walter Nash’s body will lie in State at St James's Church from eight o’clock in the morning until one o'clock in the afternoon. At that time the church will be cleared.

Tributes By Churches

The life of Sir Walter Nash was the direct result of his Christian faith, said the general secretary of the National Council of Churches in New Zealand (the Rev. D. M. Taylor). “A loyal Anglican, he showed vision and courage in the way he supported actively the ecumenical movement over a long period. The National Council of Churches had his positive support at al) times,” Mr Taylor said. A few years ago Sir Walter Nash became the New Zealand commissioner on the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs. In this capacity he was one of 50 persons in various parts of the world who had been regularly consulted by staff in Geneva and at the United Nations in New York, he said. Methodist President Sir Walter Nash had made a distinctive and significant contribution to Methodism, said the president of the Methodist Church cf New Zealand (Mr J. W. Grocott). An Anglican, he had many times addressed Methodist assemblies.

“The principles, standards, high idealism and Christian conscience of Sir Walter Nash will be a beneficent influence in the life of New Zealand for many years,” Mr Grocott said.