A HISTORIC BUILDING.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 770, 19 March 1910, Page 6

A HISTORIC BUILDING.

OTAKI CHDRCH RESTORED. SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE SERVICE. . A LARGE GATHERING OP NATIVES. The Otaki Maori Church ia at least locally famous both as a link with the first Christian mission held in the Wellington district- and as a singularly fine example of Native architecture. When Wellington was a very little village the Rev.: Octavius\ Hadfield, afterwards Bishop of Wellington, ruled over an enthusiastic community of Maori Christians at Otaki, and in proof of their devotion the Maoris built this church, which has been standing now for sixty years. It might. not have stood much longer had not repairs been put in hand which have now been completed, and us the result of which the architect, Mr. ]?. de.J. Gere predicts a further sixty

years o£ life for the historic building. A large number of Maoris, are. visiting, Otaki to take part'in ' special'' services to be held to-morrow to mark, the com,pletion of the renovations. - It is expected that Natives from as far away as Auckland and "the South Island will be present. Bishop Williams) late ; of. Waiapu, and the Eev. A. 0. Williams, superintendent of the V Maori Mission, 'will', conduct a service in the morning, and in the afternoon a feast will toe held in accordance with . Native custom. Wallis.of Wellington, states that . he.regrets that. an engagement previously entered into will prevent his being present at to-morrow's service, ' ' ' .

Important Renovations.' ;"' ' " The church mightnot- haw needed re- ; novations but for the , fact that it was built too ckfeo to the ground. It was found recently that all the timbers resting, on the sand had decayed almost quite away, leaving just sufficient solid material, in some,of the piles to sustain the building. In every, gale the struc-. ture shook in such an alarming manner that the Natives were .afraid lest it should come down during service. Many .of the Maoris thought that■the church was doomed, but Mr. Henry Hadfield, son .of'the late Bishop, and some others took steps to raise' a restoration fund, and the -building will now do service for many years. . Ail the decayed timber inthe walls and flooring was removed, and a solid concrete foundation, . reinforced with metal, was, inserted.' New strong buttresses were substituted for the old worn-out ones, and it was then found that the three central posts were very much decayed at the core. The decayed matter" was removed, and the space filled in with concrete, a strong'iron band was fastened round each post, and the posts were made to' rest on a large con-, crete' foundation. The roof was found' to be 'very shaky,, and a largo number of new "struts" were put in. Mr. Clere, who devised the plan of restoration, states that the flooring of the church does not appear to bo as old as the rest of the building, ,and he thinks that .the first floor niyst .have been •of earth.

An Historic Illustration. • : A special interest attaches:to the illustration which accompanies' this ■ article. It is taken from,'a litograph of. the interior of the Church which was published- in'lßsl, when the building, was first completed. The litograph was recently, presented by Mr. £ EL Turnbnll to'!'the Dominion Museum, and it is by the courtesy of Mr. A. Hamilton, director of the museum, that we are able to publish a reproduction of it , The inscription on the is as follows —Interior of Otako Church, ■ New Zealand. The Church, which is 80 feet long, 36 feet. broad, and 40 feot high, has.been erected entirely by the voluntary labour of the Maoris, under the superintendence of Archdeacon Hadfield and the Rev. H. Williams... The timber for the building was' carefully selected from tho.forest and , brought a distance of several miles; the ridge pole; which is made of one solid totara tree 86 feet long, was brought a distance of twelve miles. The building was commenced in tho year. 1849 and opened in the year 1851. and is a noble.specimen, of Native workmanship. /D. Barraud del, > Wellington, N.Z., R. K. Thomas lith. Day and Son, lithrs.: to the Queen."