MR. HOOLEY'S GOLD PLATE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21224, 2 July 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

MR. HOOLEY'S GOLD PLATE.

FATE OF S! 0.000 GIFT.

MELTED DOWN BY ST. PAUL'S

It was stated on this page last' Saturday that (he gold Communion plate, valued at £IO,OOO, which was presented to St. Paul's Cathedral by Mr. Ernest Terah Hooley 35 years ago, had been melted down by order of the Dean and Chapter, and is to be replaced by another set of vessel!-', because, .according to Canon S. A, Alexander, the plate "was not big enough £<nd was the wrong shape." Mr. Hooley, now living in retirement in ths Midlands., comments on the action of the cathedral authorities in a letter published in the Daily Express. He writes:—

" Slome 35 years igo I was a rich man and believed in letting others participate in my wealth. At the request of the thon Dean of St. Paul's and his canons and archdeacons, I promised a service of gold for their use, and left it to them to choose the style and pattern and size and the maker. All I had to do v, - as to pay for it. This was completed and paid for when I was a wealthy man.

" Evil times came, and, instead of forging and blowing out my brains, I went to the Court and handed over all my possessions for the benefit of my creditors. The greatest crime I over committed was losing my money. Then all my influential friends vanished with the going down of the sun. Injustice was heaped upon me, and finally I overcame tho lot.

My present to St. Paul's was kept in a. dark hole, not because it was too small, but because the donor had fallen from grace. Now I ask if it would not be fair to return the gold now melted down than use tho same for some other purpose for which I have not been consulted ?

" The church is supposed to be for the conversion of sinners like me. But another church,- which cost me £9500, and 1 reseated and put a new organ in, sent a deputation to me after my trouble, saying I should not be persona grata to the authorities, and they preferred my loom to my company. But, thank God, I have found (he church at last whore sinners and the poor are as welcome as tho widow and her mite."