The late Mr Massey

Patea Mail, Volume XLVIII, 22 May 1925, Page 3

The late Mr Massey

NATIVE SYMPATHY MRS MASSEY’S THANKS Mr Maui, secretary of the Maori Committee, Waitotara to Whiteclills, has received the following telegram from Airs Massey:— “On behalf of myself and the members of my family, I desire to thank most sincerely the Maoris of the Western Districts for their very kind message of condolence in our groat sorrow, conveyed through Hon. Sir Francis Bell.—C. A. MASSEY.” SIR F. BELL’S APPRECIATION Air Alaui has also received the following telegram from Sir Francis 801 l “AJy colleagues and 1 desire to express our deep gratitude for kindly message of sympathy from the Maoris, Western Districts, in groat loss antlered by Government and Dominion. I am writing to convey your message to Airs Massey aud family. —FRANCIS BELL.” MEMORIAL SERVICE AT ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH Dignified, solemn aud not lacking in true pathos, would fitly describe the Requiem, or more popularly termed the memorial service, held in St. George’s, Patea, on the day of the funeral of the late Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. IV. F. Massey. But of morbidity, there was none! Life, rather than Death; gain, rather than loss; thanksgiving, rather than regret —these seemed to bo the dominant notes of the service, finding their ultimate expression in the address given by the Vicar. The service commenced with the singing of the hymn, “Days and Moments Quickly Flying,” sung in procession by choir and clergy. Then followed the glorious opening sentences from the burial office —“I am the Resurrection aud the Life ... I know that my Redeemer liveth.” After that, Psalm 2-1, “The Lord is my Shepherd . . .

yea! though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death 1 will fear no evil. ...” chanted by choir and

congregation. Then the lesson from the great 15th chapter of Ist Corinthians, to be followed in its turn by “Dens Fliscreatus” —“God be merciful unto us and bless us” —followed by the Creed and the beautiful Commendation Prayer from the office for the Visitation of tho Sick. The hymn “When Our Heads Are Bowed With Love” was then sung, and was followed immediately by the address, 'which occupied some 15 or 20 minutes.

Using no text, the Vicar began by quoting, in extenso, a tribute sent by a certain Maori tribe:—“We mourn the loss of this great man —a loss to the Empire and to New Zealand —to Pakeha and to Maori alike! Farewell thou giant of the forest, in whose enfolding boughs we, thy children, in the past, did find a sure shield from- the wintry showers and stormy blast! Farewell! Oh, Noble Spirit! Depart thou to those eternal shades our ancestors have foretold, and find surcease from toil and pain! Farewell, our friend in need and deed! Depart thou hence with the western wind, followed by our woeful dirge and wail!” “Beautiful, poetic, and with a pathos characteristic of tho Maori,” commented the preacher, “but, thank God, not true! Not to any ‘eternal shades’; not necessarily to ‘surcease of toil,’ certainly not permanently; nor even to freedom from pain —had our great chief departed —but rather, having been found faithful, his going was promotion to wider fields of service, to truer knowledge, to fuller life.” “And,” he continued, “Loss” • —who speaks of loss ? There is no loss, or if there be, then shame on us, so blind, we miss the gain intended! But already there was overwhelming evidence of present gain! Until to-day, one might have been acquitted of undue severity and pessimism if one had said that, speaking generally, straight-deal-ing, truth, unselfishness, singlcmindcdness, honesty, modesty and steadfastness of purpose seemed to be at - a discount in popular estimation! But the passing of our chief amply proves that so thinking—we are wrong! Despite evidence to the contrary, our people hold these things as of the highest value; and because he, whom to-day we specially honour, exhibited these virtues, the people of this country, in their thousands —from the North Capo to the Bluff- —pay tribute to his memory in kindly thought and word, in tear and fervent-worded prayer. We are not as bad as we seemed! We can yet appreciate and honour straight-dealing, fearless honesty and that love of God revealed in Acts! Here, then, is gain—not loss! On the site of that gun emplacement on Point Halswcll—where originally the protector of tho port kept watch and ward—there shall shortly arise tho symbol of another protector — not of the port of Wellington only, but of the nation, at whose birth, mid the din of war and in torrents of blood, ho presided! Night and day, through the years to come, shall that monument provoke the question, “ What mean ye by these stones?”-—to receive t lie answer, “They tell of a groat one who attained the highest honour through unstinted service to his country, which lie rendered by the grace of God.” Here is gain—not loss! Greater in Death than in Fife! In his example he is with ns still! more truly understood and valued! As by the apparent going of Christ, came to us great gain, so by the passing of every Christ-like man and woman, gain is likewise assured. If th<2fe bo loss—the shame be ours!” Just before the preacher concluded his address—at about 3.20 p.m.—ho said; “They are burying our groat Chief—

I think the most poignant moment has arrived. We therefore commit his body to tHe ground—hear the holloa sound of the falling earth! —‘Faith to earth! Ashes to ashes!’ Oh! sad, pitiful woids—hopeless, sorrowful words! but that the sorrow is blotted out by those which now, like a fanfare of trumpets, break the great silence —telling of hopes ‘in sure ami certain hope of resurrection to Eternal Life.’ “Lord God! we thank Time for Thy servant departed this life in Thy faith and fear, praying that we may so follow liis good example, that, with him, we may be inheritors of Thy Everlasting Kingdom. —Anion. ” Tlie hymn, “God of the Living, ui Whose Lyes, Unveiled the Whole Creation Lies,’’ was followed by the concluding prayer—“that we sorrow not its those without hope”—-and the “Dead March in Saul,” impressively played by Fir J. H. Johnson. Then, with tho Benediction and (lie hymn, “Now the Labourer's Task is O’er.” sung by choir and clergy, as a solemn recessional —a deeply impressive service ended.