CHURCH LIFE IN ENGLAND

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 249, 17 July 1937, Page 10

CHURCH LIFE IN ENGLAND

Queues Await Admission at Some Places Dominion Special Service. Auckland, July 16. “People are at last beginning to realise that New Zealand is not part of Australia, although they still ask how often the ferry runs there,” said the Rev. Canon D. Ilaultain, vicar of All Saints’ Church, Nelson, who returned by the Arawa after a six months’ visit to England. “The term ‘colonial' is much less used, and New Zealand, along with Australia, Canada and South Africa, and other parts of the overseas Dominions, is recognised as a vital unit in the British Commonwealth . of Nations,” said Mr. Ilaultain. “New Zealand stands very high in the estimation of the English '-people, and there is genuine appreciation of New , Zealanders and all that they stand for.” Referring to conditions of church life in England, Mr. Haultain said it was much like anywhere else. When real, live spiritual leadership was revealed the Church was very much alive. It was a unique and gratifying experience to have to queue-up to get into churches for ordinary service. This happened at St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, where the Rev. Rat. McCormick was the preacher, and at the City Temple, where tlie Rev. Leslie Weatherhead was preaching. There was a queue of people two deep for several hundred yards on either side of the door three-quarters of an hour before a service was due to begin. “Where churches are empty, as many in the city are, it is largely because they have quite outlived their purpose,” said Mr. Haultain. “The people whom they were meant to serve are no longer living in the area. Unfortunately many of these city churches are heavily endowed.” Mr. Haultain, who is accompanied by his wife, will remain in Auckland for the next three weeks before returning to Nelson.