MOVING OUTWARDS^

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 213, 2 June 1908, Page 7

MOVING OUTWARDS

■' : ' TREK OF POPULATION. ENCROACHMENTS OF COMMERCE, NEW CONVENT FOR WELLINGTON. ; Only a few weeks ago tho Rev. G. P. Davys, vicar of St. Peter's parish, in his annual report, made reference to the change tho parish was undergoing owing to tho resident population moving outwards before the advanco of commerce. Ho' said that it was only a matter of time when St. Peter's would bicomo like a City of London church,' dependent on cosmopolitan congregations ■ rather than thoso. permanently resident ,in the parish. In conversation with a Dominion reporter, recently, the Rev. "Dr. Gibb, of St. John's Church,-while jdiscussing-tho Sunday School, said-that, witn the trend of population towards t-ho suburbs, tho school had passed its zenith, and could not hope in the futuro to be what it, had been in the'past. hero houses with families . had been in Lpper Willis Street, Ghuzneo Street, 1 Ingestre and Vivian Streets', .were now shops, factories,, and institutional buildings that wero only occupied during business hours, at ' tho' termination of. which their busy occupants" hurried away on foot or by oar to this or that suburb. It meant the coming of a "big; city, in .which the churches such as St. John's and St, Peter's would become/purely city churches ■ ili a parish of shops, stores, and warphousos. Only tho' Other day it was announced that ' tho'•Marisf 'Brothers' school in Boulcott Street had served its tum 4 ,and it was to -bo abandoned.in favour of two schools to be' ■ built at tho. remote ends of tho city, 1 a move , by; the trek of population from the .".bull's-eye,''. of tho city to tho "outer.". , , Qnco. morovis. this exodus from mid-city being emphasised, and again it is by a re- : ligious body. For many years the Sisters' of Mercy have conducted' a day school for Ltoman Catholic children in a building in Dixon Street thai has been known for a cou'plo of decades as the''Dixon Street Con- ' vent. The drab building is shaded in : part' by hugo willow trees, which only show their natural tints after a good downpour of rain. Still 'many a man.and: jWQman iii Wellington and elsewhere who regarded tho plain litt-lo | Convent school as their Alma Mater will feel j a pang on learning, that its days are.numbered. The. migration of population from that neighbourhood. (it is within a stone's throw of St. John's' and St. Peter's Churches). is tho' reason for the step, for the schools . ..must follow, the population, -though the churches may stand still. To keep in touch with its tender, lambs tho Church has, , through, the agency of Mr. Robert O'Connor, purchased the .property in, Sussex Square (owned, by Mr. Robert. Bannistor) on: tho. eastern side of the Basin Reserve. This'consists of an acre of gradually'rising ground, containing an eight-roomed, house, stable,otc ; Tho price paid £6500, and as an indication'of the rise in. values ,in that part of tho'city it is said that tho property was purchased by . Mr. Bannister some' fifteen'• years ago for £1300. Here a now and much larger: Convent school is to bo established-in tho/near future.- , According to tho 'Rev. Father O'Shea, no definite plan of action has , been laid, down, •but ho hopes to.seo tho now school in Susses Square ready for occupation by the beginyear,' untilwhich time tho .Dixon--Street : Convent will bo kept' l in'-tise.