AUCKLAND CATHEDRAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22107, 13 May 1935, Page 10

AUCKLAND CATHEDRAL

MISS HORTON'S BEQUEST PAGES FROM THE PAST NEED FOR FURTHER FUNDS Gratification at the bequest of £60,000 by Miss M. T. Horton, of Remuera, to the fund for building an Anglican cathedral in Auckland was expressed by Canon W. Fancourt in his sermon at the morning servico of St. Mary's Cathedral yesterday. The cath <dral project, said tho canon, had been in the clouds over since Bishop Selwyn first entertained it nearly a century ago. All members of the Church in Auckland should be glad that Miss Horton's fine bequest had now brought it down to earth. Canon Fancourt then read two extracts from old writings. The first was from Bishop Solwyn's journal, written in 1843, describing his return to Auckland after an arduous five months' journey to Wellington and back, through the wilds of the North Island: "I reached the Judge's (Sir William Martin's) house by a path, avoiding the town, and passed over land which I have bought for the site of the cathedral, a spot which, I hopo, may hereafter be traversed by tho feet of many bishops better shod and far less ragged than myself. It is a noble site for such a building, overlooking the whole town, and with a sea view stretching over the numerous islands of the Gulf of Hauraki." The other extract was from "Npw Zealand and Its Colonisation," published in 1859 by tho Hon. William Swainson, first Attorney-General of the colony and a "lose friend and associate of the bishop:— Foresight ol Selwyn "By the provident foresight of Bishop Selwyn thi& commanding position has beeu secured for the site of the Metropolitan Cathedral of New Zealand. And at some remote period in the far distant future, when tho projected cathedral shall have become a venerable pile, it will be a matter of no little interest to tho then ministers (should the tradition be so long preserved) to read how, in the dark and early ages of New Zealanf, A.D. 1843, its founder, tho first bishop, returning from a walking visitation of more than 1000 miles, attended by his faithful companion (Rota Waitoa, the first Maori clergyman) of a then, it may be, extinct race, his shoes worn out and tied to his instep by a leaf of native flax, travel-worn but not weary, once more found himself on this favoured spot, arrested for a moment bv the noble prospect presented to his bodjly eye, and cheered by the prophetic vision of a long line of successors, Bishops of Now Zealand, traversing the same spot, better clad and less ragged than himself. Such a scene, illustrative of the hour and the man, in the hands of a true artist, would afford a fitting subject for a painting to adorn the walls of the future chapter-house at St. —" Building and Endowment

It was obvious, continued Canon Fancourt, that Miss Horton's bequest would have to be supplemented by generous contributions from the churchpeople of Auckland, not only toward the cost of the fabric of the cathedral, but also to create an endowment for the maintenance of the building and the services which would be conducted within its walte. These responsibilities could not be met by the parishioner; of Parnell without aid from some other source.

The canon expressed the confident hope that the building of the cathedral would be commenced in the episcopate of Archbishop Averill, and not delayed merely on account of the coming centenary celebrations.