MELANESIAN MISSION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20174, 7 February 1929, Page 10

MELANESIAN MISSION.

MUSEUM AT KOHIMARAMA.

OFFICIAL OPENING FIXED.

The restored mission house at Mission Bay, Kohimarama, will be officially opened by Archbishop Averill on Tuesday as a museum for objects connected with the* Melanesian Mission and the islands among which it works. Invitations to be present have been issued to the clergy of Auckland and to those who contributed toward the restoration of the building. The interior is divided into a hall 35ft. long and 18ft. wide, a kitchen and two smaller rooms. The hall bas been fitted for use as the museum with showcases originally belonging to the old Auckland Museum. The objects displayed consist of models of native craft, things connected with native life and the varied collection of Bishop Stewart. Of particular interest are relics connected with the life of the late Bishop Patteson. 4 The two rooms and kitchen are for the use of the caretaker.

The building was erected in 1859 as the dining hall and kitchen of St. Andrew's College, the early headquarters of the Melanesian Mission. It is all that remains of the college, which was transferred to Norfolk Island in 1867, as the Auckland climate had proved too severe for the Melanesian students.^ In the work of reconstruction the stone walls, made of material brought from Rangitoto, needed little alteration, but the shingled roof was in bad _ condition, except for the principal timbers, which were nearly all sound. The floors were also in a bad state, but a large part of the planking was still fit. for use. The building has been re-roofed with new sarking and shingles. All tho new doors, window sashes and interior woodwork have been made to match what was still intact. The renovations, the contract for which was let bv the Melanesian Mission Trust Board, cost about £ISOO, produced by an appeal to the public by Archbishop Averill and subsidised pound for pound by the Melanesian Trust up to £SOO.