DEATH OF TAMASESE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20454, 4 January 1930, Page 10

DEATH OF TAMASESE.

MEMORIAL SERVICE HELD.

TRIBUTE TO THE DECEASED.

A memorial service in connection with the death of tho high chief Tamase.se and seven other Samoans in tho riot in Apia was held in St. Alban's Church, Dominion Road, yesterday morning. Tho congregation numbered 50, and included the Hon. 0. F. Nelson, Mr. K. W. Gurr, and several Sanioan friends and relatives of tho dead.

Speaking from (he chancel steps, (he Rev. A. J. Greenwood, who conducted tho service, said that during lite six months that Tamasese was imprisoned in .Auckland the chief's wife had come to St. Alban's every Sunday, and (lie chief himself had frequently received the sacrament. " I feel tho death of Tamasese very deeply," he said. "To know him was to lovo him. One could not look into that fino man's faco and not feel that there was a man and a Christian gentleman, and I think I have had enough experience of the world to be able to say I know a man when I see him.

"Wo are assembled together," Mr. Greenwood continued, " not only to commemorate those who were very dear to some of you, but also to offer thanks to God for lives which you understood to have been spent in faithful and patriotic service, however much it was misunderstood in sonio directions. We have to remember that victory can only come through sacrifice, that true life can only come through what wo call death. Wo must try to do good, irrespective of what (he world, kept in ignorance, may think about our work and service. As children of tho Prince of Peace, wo must follow a peaceable course, and wo must seek by those means to bring about the settlement of these unfortunate and unhappy difficulties that have occurred so -frequently, and, I regret to say, irritatingly in Western Samoa. Wo must be prepared, as children of the Prince of Peace, if necessary to go on suffering in patience, never losing sight of our objective, yet, by peaceful service, by patience and much endurance, go forth steadfastly in our faith in God, believing that in His own good time Ho will set tho crooked way straight, and will bring truth and light out of much untruth and darkness. May God give you strength to bear the great sorrow which tho death of your chief leader has caused you." Tho congregation sang tho hymns " Now tho Labourer's Task is O'er," " Through tho Night of Doubt and Sorrow " and " 0, God, Our Help in Ages Past," and the service concluded with the playing of " Tho Dead March " in "Saul," and the music to which It. L. Stevenson's " Requiem " is set.