RE-ERECTION OF ST. DAVID'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11879, 3 February 1902, Page 3

RE-ERECTION OF ST. DAVID'S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

LAYING THE MEMORIAL STONE. AN IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY. Notwithstanding the immense counter attraction, the departure of New Zealand's Eighth Contingent for South Africa, there was a goodly assemblage of adherents and parishioners on Saturday afternoon, at the ceremonv at the laying of the memorial stone of the St.. David's Presbyterian Church of Symonds-street, in connection with its removal to a more conspicuous and conveniently situated spot in Khyber Pass. Amongst those present were the minister of- the church (the Rev. W. Gray Dixon, M.A.), Mr. George Fowlds, M.H.R., and other representatives of the clergy, including the Revs. R. Scott West (St. James' Church, Burwood, Sydney, and at one-time of St. David's, Auckland), Hugh Kelly, M.A. (Knox Church, Parnell. and moderator of the Presbytery). T. F. Robertson (St. Stephen's Church, Ponsonby), H. B. Gray (St. Andrew's Church, Symonds-street), R. F. Macnicol (St. James' Church, Wellingtonstreet), J. B. Sneyd (Mount Eden Baptist Church); A. C. Wedderspoon, C. 11. Garland (Pitt-street Wesleyan Church), T. Norrie (Papakura, an old minister in Presbytery), Mr. W. Brakenrig (Y.M.C. Association), Mr. Duncan McPLierson (City Missionary). Apologies for unavoidable absence were leceivcd from His Worship the Mayor, Mr. Napier, M.H.R., the Revs. Canon Nelson, T. vers hod, J. Wilkins. H. Bull, R. Sommerville; D. J. Steele, A. McLean, and R. Ferguson. Proceedings commenced with the choir, orchestra, and congregation rendering Psalm 100, followed by prayer by the Rev. R. F. Macnicol. and then followed a Scripture lesson. I. Chronicles xxix. 6-20, by the Rev. Henry ,B. Gray. The Psalm 118, 19-23, wars "next sung bv all present, after which the prayer of dedication was offered by the Rev. Hugh Kelly. M.A. The Rev. Mr. Dixon then called on Mrs. Peter Robertson, sen., one of the oldest and original members of St. David's Church, to lay the memorial stone with a silver trowel. The youngest scholar in the Sunday-school (Miss Alice Johnston) then banded Mrs. Robertson a beautiful bouquet of blooms, presented bv Mrs. Gray Dixon. Placed in an orifice" in the stone was a bottle containing a copy of St. David's Church record, a programme of the day's ceremony, and the names of the office-bearers of the church, etc.

. After the stone was placed in position the congregation sang a hymn, and at the conclusion of an anthem rendered by the choir and orchestra, the minister of St. Davids Church (the Rev. W. Graj Dixon, M.A.) gave an address, in which he gave a sketch of the history of St. David's Church. Mr. George Fowlds, M.H.R.,' said that it afforded him very great pleasure to be present to'represent the city at such ail interesting ceremony, and to join it) congratulating minister and congregation on the result of their labours. He spoke of the re- ' moval and re-erection of the church as marking not oniy a step in the onward progress of Presbyterianism in Auckland, but as one sign of the onward movement of the universal church—for no feature of our day was more significent than the tendency on the part of all the , churches to draw together in closer fellowship and to recognise their essential unity. Mr. Fowlds narrated some of his early experiences connected with the Congregational Church, and informed the gathering that his father, who was 96 years of age, was the oldest elder of the Congregational Church in Scotland. He concluded his address by wishing " God-speed to the new church and its congregation. V The Rev. R. Scott West, a former minister of the church, also spoke of the progress of the Church, and of his early experiences while he occupied the pulpit of St. Davids Church. . * v.-. r Another Psalm by, the choir, orchestra, ~'V. and congregation, and the pronouncement • of the Benediction by the Rev. T. F. Robertson, M A., terminated the proceedings. At an interval in the ceremony a collec- > tion was taken up, which amounted to the good sum of £67 4s.