PM. Attends Dedication! Service For M.P.s

Northern Advocate, 19 December 1949, Page 7

PM. Attends Dedication! Service For M.P.s

AUCKLAND, Mon. (Sp.).— A full list ol engagements has been planned for the Prime Minister (Mr Holland), who arrived here yesterday morning on his first visit as leader of the country. When the express pulled into the station nearly 50 members of the public, including officials of the Auckland branch of the National Party, were present to welcome Mr Holland and his wife and two daughters. En route to Auckland many stations were thronged with people eager to extend their congratulations.

At Pukekohe, aoout 50 people, headed by Mr J. N. Massey, M.P. for Franklin. were on the station when the train arrived, and bouquets were presented to Mrs Holland and he' daughters During the journey Mr Holland was engaged until a 'ate hour studying official ' reports and documents and in dealing with the ,arge volume of correspondence which has reached his office since the election At 11 a.m. yesterday the Prime Minister and his family attended an impressive service c f dedication for members of Parliament in the Auckland district, at the historic St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Lower Symonds Street. About 550 vorshippers filled the church, while another 150 listened to

a relay of the service in the adjacent

St Andrew’s Hall. Three of Mr Holland’s Cabinet, and five members of Parliament, together with their wives, were among the congregation of 550 tn the church. CABINET MINISTERS PRESENT They were tnc Attorney-General

(Mr Webb), the Minister of Education (Mr Algie), the assistant to the Prime Minister (Mr Fortune), Mr D. M. Rae, M.P. for Parnell; Mr John Rae, M.P. for Roskill; Mr F. L A Gotz. M.P. for Otahuhu; Mr E. H. Halstead, M.P. for Tamaki; and Mr \v T Anderton. M.P for Auckland Central. Mr Anderton the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Fraser). The Mayor (Mr J A. C. Allum) wearing his Mayoral robes, and Mrs Allum and the town clerk (Mr T. W. M. Ashby) were also in attendance. The service was the first of its kind conducted in New Zealand. The Rev. D. N Pryor officiated. An Old Testament lesson was read by Mr Webb and cne from the New Testament by Mr Anderton. MATERIALISTIC AGE Mr Pryor in his sermon said that people today were living in a materialistic age and they had cast off the deep spiritual resources which had inspired the pioneers. lie asked the congregation to turn aside from materialism for a brief time and dedicate themselves to God, I Who alone could revive those spiritual | resources. I Mr Pryor said he had been deeply impressed, as no doubt were all thinking people on both sides of the House of Representatives, with Mr Holland’s statement on election night. It might well go down in history as one of our great speeches. In those inspired words the Prime Minister had recognised that life contained three important experiences thinking, working and prayer. Prayer had been ritualised, with the result that for many people it had become a formal, technical performance, divorced from the lealities of life. CALL TO DEDICATION

So they had drooped it, but life had shown that no powerful personality had ever made a permanent contribution to the world without the experience of prayer. Called by the minister to dedication, the congregation then rose to its feet, and, led by the Mayor, recited a prayer especially written (or the occasion. In the afternoon the Prime Minister was present at a tea party tendered by the Minister of Education (Mr Algie) and Mrs Algie and last night he had supper with the Governor General (Sir Bernard Freyberg, V.C.) at Government House. An official welcome was given Mr Holland at a public meeting, arranged l by the Auckland Division of the Naj tional Party, in the Town Hall at 12.30 p.m. today. He and his wife wfill be guests of honour at a civic At Home in the Town Hall tonight. Mr Holland will return to Wellington by air tomorrow morning.