ROMAN CATHOLIC BAZAAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6270, 21 December 1881, Page 5

ROMAN CATHOLIC BAZAAR.

The arrangements in course of preparation for the bazaar, ■which is to be opened to-day in aid of the funds of the Benedictine Church, Newton, now in course of erection, are on a most elaborate scale. The ladies of the various Roman Catholic congregations of the city and suburbs have for some months past been plying busy fingers, I in the manufacture of articles —picturesque, ornamental, and useful—and when the bazaar opens there will be a grand display of works of art, vcrtu, and utility. However, these are not yet on view, and, in the I meantime, the working committee are [ making all the requisite arrangements for the show. The place chosen is the large area above Mr. Rattray's new shop, opposite the Thistle Hotel. Mr. Rattray with characteristic generosity has given the use of the rooms without charge, and they are in every rospect adapted for a display of this kind. They are well lighted, well ventilated, fresh, and agreeable. The entrance is from Queen-street, up a large staircase, which opens into the first show-room. Between < the head of the staircase and the front of the building is one large stall standing by itsolf, handsomely festooned in arch form with ferns and evergreens. On the opposite side of the room is a similar structure of rathersmaller dimensions, but equally elegant, and at the end is an L shaped counter festooned in a similar manner with nilcau pillars and fern decorations. This leaves the whole centre room vacant for visitors and purchasers, and a clear entrance is left through the large archway to the adjoining room. One side, that opposite the archway, is occupied by three long stalls, thus leaving the remainder of the space available for promenades. The committee were at work on the decorations up to midnight last night, and had then hardly completed their work of preparation. The goods will be sent and placed in position this morning, and at 2.30 p.m. the bazaar will be formally opened by the Very Rev. H. G. Fynes, Vicar-Capitular of the diocese. The bazaar will then remain open until Saturday night, and it will doubtless prove an object of great attraction, and a material aid to the finances of the new church.