The Evening Star MONDAY, APRIL 11, 1904.

Evening Star, Issue 12167, 11 April 1904, Page 4

The Evening Star MONDAY, APRIL 11, 1904.

It is well that an opportunity is to he

afforded the citizens of Dunsir Fairelonph's edin to-night to say “fareDeparture, well” to the Rev. P. W. Pairclough, who for the past six years has occupied the position of minister to the Wesleyan 'Trinity Church. Under normal circumstances the need for giving a function of this character does not arise. Ministers and pastors come and go, and beyond the few affectionate hand-shakes there is nothing to call for public comment or public appreciation. This is specially true of the ministers of the Wesleyan Church, where a triennial change is the rule gather than the exception. Pastor and. people know; that the parting

must come, and everything in relation to the church s life and work is arranged in harmony with this ever-present factor. Therefore, when those outside the limit*, of a particular congregation are invited to join in the farewell to its minister prior to Lis transference to a fresh field of work, it is felt that the reasons for so doing are at once and easily recognised in the case of the Rev. Mr Fairdough. He has deserved well of his feUowtdtizens during his stay among us. Ho has not only been a faithful servant in his own high calling, but he has ever been to the fore on anv and everv occasion when the strong and able voice was needed to cheer and console. Mr Fairclongh’s term in the Wesleyan Church ministry in this City synchronises with the progress of the Boer War, the rise of the Imperial movement in New Zealand, the death of Queen Victoria, the protest against German slanders, and the Coronation of King Edward Vil. These events have left their impress upon"our social life. They constitute landmarks in our history; they are events and phases of which we have no cause to feel ashamed of the manner of our regarding them; and they are woven into the fabric of our civic reccrda In a special sense they have constituted a feature in the lives of our children that is hardly likely to pass from their memories, even though much else is forgotten. In all these outstanding episodes—in all these breakings away from the hum-drum and normal—Mr Fairdough has done more than well. At almost every demonstration he was the man selected by his fellow-citizens to move one of the main resolutions, whether the cause was one of rejoicing, or mourning, or indignation. And none responded more ably to the calj. He knew the right thing to say, and’’he knew how to say it. Simplicity and wisdom, clearness and eloquence, humor and pathos, and, through all, a vein, of unaffected sincerity—these were the characteristics of his oratory at all times; while on those occasions when speaker and audience were thoroughly in accord he lifted his theme above the level of banal generalities to which most communities are accustomed. There are hundreds who were present in the Agricultural Hall when the memorial service to the late Queen Victoria was hold who yet remember the intensity of feeling that held the vast audience in rapt silence as Mr Fairdough voiced the sentiments of the citizens on that unique occasion. In other ways and on other themes there was no one person among us who better realised or gave fuller expression to that ardent spirit which sprang up in our midst and carried us on through good and ill-report to a triumphant end. This, then, is sufficient cause why the name of the departing minister should bo held in high respect, and why many desire this evening to give personal proof of their regard for his sterling citizenship and patriotic ideals. Of him it may be truly said that Wellington’s gain is Dunedin’s loss.