KING'S AND ST. JOHN'S.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20603, 30 June 1930, Page 11

KING'S AND ST. JOHN'S.

THANKSGIVING SERVICES,SERMON BY HEADMASTER. The recent agreement to bring E!ing's College under the control of the St. John's College Trust Board was the occasion of special thanksgiving services attended by old boys of both colleges at the King's College chapel yesterday. Over 70 old boys visited the school at Mangere and spent half an hour wandering through the classrooms and dormitories before the morning service began. The headmaster, the Rev. H. K. Archdall, in a sermon drew a parallel between the return of the Jews to their mother city, Jerusalem, in the sixth century, 8.C., after their sufferings in Babylon, and the circumstances leading up : to tho return of King's College to the mother college of St. John's after the passage o£ many years. As it was said in Isaiah, chapter 62, verse 6, "I have set watchmen upon thy walls, 0 Jerusalem ; they shall never hold their peace day nor night; ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, take ye no rest, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." Speaking of the importance of sound educational institutions in a young country like New Zealand, Mr. Archdall pointed out that the ideals behind King's College were based on many centuries of experience in the past history of Europe and had' received a special form of expression in England during the time of the Renaissance in the 16th century. Ho referred to the vicissitudes in the history of the college, with its alternating periods of progress and difficulties, and paid a tribute to the Christian vision of Bishop Selwyn and those who helped to carry out his ideals, and to the. courage of private enterprise, which slipped into tha breach in a time of great economic anxiety in the Auckland district. The college chapel, erected by the' old boy 3 and parents as a memorial to the men of the school who gave- their lives in the war, was a great achievement, which had j given Auckland and the country in general a splendid heritage. The special thanksgiving nature of the service, said the headmaster, was in connection with the very generous services and gifts of money which had been forthcoming in order to bring about the new control. These efforts, in which old boys and friends of the school had displayed a wonderful spirit of generosity, had enabled over £20,000 to be raised to enable tho transfer of King's College to tho St. John's College Trust Board to tako place. He expressed the opinion that the community of Auckland would in future fully appreciate the necessity of the ideals upon which King's College was founded. For the present, while the enthusiasm of building up the institution was still alive, it was important that a feeling of gratitude should produce a humble and steadfast purpose expressing itself in deeds. A vastly new responsibility had to be assumed, but it would be taken up with courage and new confidence. Special hymns of a thanksgiving nature were sung, the service ending with the school song and the National Anthem.