N.Z. COLONY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 81, 17 March 1933, Page 13

N.Z. COLONY

SERVICE IN LONDON — i i i NATIONAL DAY OBSERVANCE. j i PRAYER FOE THE DOMINION. I |j | j Loudon, Feb. 9. [ | Members of the New Zealand colony j j iu London yesterday attended a service | for the first time in what is in the i future to be known as the New Zea- ! landers’ official church iu London. This I is St. Lawrence Jewry, next to the I Guildhall, and the official church of the | Corporation of London. A large pew | with an elaborate central chair is al , j lotted to the Lord Mayor and his couu- j cillors. The church is called “Jewry” | j because Jews formerly lived in the ? neighbourhood. The first church— ! mentioned in a will in 1259 —was de- I stroyed in the Great Fire, and the | present church, designed by Sir Chris- j topher Wren, was opened for service j iu 1667. | Here, then, New Zealanders gathered j to commemorate the inauguration of j New Zealand Day. The Prince of j Wales was represented by Admiral Sir j Lionel Halsey, Comptroller aud Treas- = urer to the Prince, and the Lord Mayor I ! and his sheriffs and other members ot . I the Corporation, in their official robes, I I were also present. The church was | fully occupied. ■ | In the prayers there occurred the ■ | words: —“O God, our Heavenly Father, ; j we render Thee most hearty thanks for ! ' the work of those who, 93 years ago, j ! ar-hieved the Treaty of Waitangi, and | so brought New Zealand into the circle | of Sister Nations which is the British j Empire. We praise Thy Holy Name j for all the gifts which Thou hast so j bounteously bestowed upon the Dornin- j ion of New Zealand, and pray Thee to - grant that we may so treasure and use ! our great inheritance that Thy Blessing ! may ever rest upon our land; through I Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Canon W. P. Lesley, who conducted the service, said:—“You have come to this church with gladness, a church which New Zealanders hr.-. ■ decided is to be the official Church of New Zealand in London. You ha-, e mine here, and it is with a full heart that I welcome you. The more so when oue remembers who arc here—New Zealanders from the opposite side of the world with their High Commissioner, who occupies for the first time the place assigned to him; with the representatives of this great portion of the City of London, and of the ward in which the Guildhall and this church stands; also tho representative of that greatest ambassador of Empire, the Prince of Wales. All these are gathered together in this church to give thanks to Almighty God for the privilege of belonging 1 to the British Empire.” Privilege always meant responsibility, said the preacher. They were proud of their rights as citizens of that great Empire, but rights always meant corresponding duties. Imperial privileges meant Imperial responsibilities, and that meant that the individual members of the great Empire were pledged not to look only on their own i things, but also on tho things of others, : and to remember they were part of a great brotherhood in that sisterhood of I nations, and their duty was to benefit the whole and serve one another.