LATE SIR H. BRETT

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 31, 7 February 1927, Page 10

LATE SIR H. BRETT

ARCHBISHOP'S TRIBUTE

(By Telegraph.)

(Special to "The Evening Post.")

AUCKLAND, This Day. Peeling reference to-'the lato Sir Henry Brett and tributes to his services to Auckland were made by Archbishop Averill at a memorial service at St. Mary's Cathedral last evening. "We are thanking God to-night for the life and service of Henry -Brett," the Primate said. "It is well for us in Auckland to remember that we owe a debt of gratitude to him, not merely for what he did but for what he was. Whether wp are conscious of the fact or not, this city is all the richer for the ideals and character of Sir Henry Brett. No city can possibly have a greater asset than the character of its public men, and the real greatness of any city, country, or Empire depends far more on its high-souled and public-spirited men than upon its environment, however beautiful, or its commerce, however successful. Perhaps the world would not be in such a state of turmoil and unrest to-day if the nations would only realise that greatness is not the outcome of the power to exploit or the right of self-determination or self-interest, or even of material progress, but of the will and capacity to serve. Perhaps there would be far less industrial strife if the Christ spirit of service were more universally rocognised and obeyed. " Sir Henry Brett has made a greater contribution than most men to the true ideals of citizenship, brotherhood, and Empire stability, because his life was based upon the principle of service. He has been one of Auckland's great men'and has left behind him an honoured name. He was a man whose character contributed much to the power in the world making for righteousness. He attained to a high position in the community because he was a man of fine determination, perseverance, high ideals, honour, kindness, generosity, and loyalty.

"Yet perhaps one of the greatest Wessons of his life, is the fact that, though he was so successful as a business man, and so closely associated with the business side of life, he never lost his soul in the multitude of his material interests. His whole life and his keen interest in higher things, in the aesthetic and beautiful, in the social and material uplift of men, in his care of the orphans and destitute generally, and in the spiritual, all these are witness to the fact that he had a sense of duty to God and his fellow-citizens."

In conclusion, Archbishop Averill referred to the honour of knighthood conferred upon Sir Henry in later life. He said that this was richly deserved. At the conclusion of the service the large cognregation stood in silence while the "Dead March" was played.