“UNSELFISH SERVICE”

Taranaki Daily News, 20 August 1934, Page 7

“UNSELFISH SERVICE”

BENEFIT OF FELLOW MEN TRIBUTE BY ARCHDEACON EVANS. “AN INEXHAUSTIBLE WORKER.” “PASSING LEAVES US POORER.” “It was with profound regret that the community learned the news of Mr. T. C. List’s death,” said Archdeacon J. G. Evans, preaching at St. Mary's Church, New Plymouth, yesterday morning. Mr. List has been for so many years intimately connected with almost every activity in Taranaki and has given so ungrudgingly time and effort to every movement for the benefit of his fellow citizens that people expected instinctively that he would live for many years to carry on a work that was so usefUMr. List had died at a comparatively early age, continued Archdeacon Evans, and at a time when his life was more than ever necessary. As a close friend he himself could bear testimony to Mr. List’s high character and virtue of splendid charity, to his loyal attachment to many friends and to his devotion to a church he loved and served. He had been an inexhaustible worker in whatever cause he espoused. His work in building the standard of his newspaper from what it had been to what it was to-day had been a task which would have tried to the utmost the strongest man, mentally and physically. . His accomplishment had been a manifestation of splendid courage. He had displayed, too, an insight into the character of others. Mr. List’s benevolent activities had been so widespread that regret at his death would be felt not only in Taranaki but throughout the whole of New Zealand. . Archdeacon Evans also expressed sympathy with Mr.' List’s family and said that there must be some measure of consolation in the fact that he had died without long illness and before there was any waning of his mental powers. He had been spared the pain of finding himself unable to continue with the work he loved and of feeling that he must give place to others. To so active a man such realisation would have been a hard thing to bear. “While his passing must leave us the poorer,” said Archdeacon Evans in conclusion, “the memories of his loyalty in friendship, his constant kindness, courage and devotion to duty should be a power for good to us all. I feel sure that in his work he found much happiness. One remembers the pleasure and pride he took in his beautiful gardens imd his eagerness to share that pleasure with Yet to-day in his death he shows us a greater way to abiding happiness—the way of unselfish service. At both morning and evening services the congregations stood in silence as a mark of respect and regret. At the thanksgiving service at the Y.M.-Y.W.C.A. hall Miss M. Greenwell made reference to Mr. List’s close association with the establishment of both organisations at New Plymouth. “We feel,” she said, “that a tragic shadow has fallen over our thanksgiving for success by the death of one who has been so interested in our work and so generous to us.” Those present stood in silence and prayers were offered by Dr. C. R. Mitchell. “ONE OF FARMERS’ BEST FRIENDS.” TRIBUTES TO THE LATE MR. LIST. Reference to the severe loSs suffered not only by Taranaki but also by the whole of New Zealand through the death of Mr. List was made by members of the Stratford County Council at a meeting on Saturday. He had been associated with Mr. List on the Egmont National Park Board, said the chairman, Mr. T. R. Overton, in moving a vote of sympathy with his relatives. He appreciated his worth and ability, and had learned of his sudden passing with keen regret. “Mr. List was an outstanding and exceptional man, and Taranaki has suffered a great loss,” said Cr. S. Pitt. News of Mr. List’s death had come to him as a shock, as he had very recently seen him in the full vigour of health. “Mr. List was' one of the outstanding public men of Taranaki,” continued Cr. Pitt. “A notable point about his character was his unselfishness. His activities in connection with the mountain, afforestation and Rotary will be remembered for a very long time. The commercial community, too, has lost a great friend?’ “I did not know Mr- List personally,” said Cr. T. T. Murray, “but I know that the farmers of the district have lost one of their best friends.” HAWERA ROTARY TRIBUTE. CHURCH MEMORIAL SERVICE. Hawera Rotarians paid a tribute to the memory of the acting-governor when the hearse bearing his remains passed through Hawera yesterday afternoon. Members of the club formed in line on both sides of Princes Street and deposited a wreath on the coffin. Subsequently in their cars they joined the cortege until the hearse, on its way to New Plymouth, reached the outskirts of Hawera. A service attended by members of the Hawera Rotary Club was held at St. Mary’s Church, Hawera, last night, in memory of the late Archdeacon J. A. Jacob, a former vicar of the parish, and of Mr. List. The Rev. H. Whitby James took the service, and Rotarian F. W. Homer, president of the Hawera Rotary Club, read the lessons. Mr. R. F. Page, at the organ, played the Dead March from Saul and, at the conclusion of the service, Handel’s Largo. There was a good attendance of Rotarians and parishioners. Mr. James took as his text Luke 10-27, the story of the Good Samaritan: “Then said Jesus unto him, ‘go thou and do likewise.’ ” “We are thinking of two types of human service to-night,” said Mr. James. “The spirit of the priest, John Attwood Jacob, lived not so much in temples made with hands but in the hearts of those to whom he ministered. There are many here to-night who have treasured memories of the priest and his wife and the excellent work they did. “The life of the Pressman, Thomas Currie List, was of a different, type, lived in the world of business, in the glare of the limelight as well as in the quiet, charitable manner in which he did so many things. As we read the record of his service to others we stand and thank God that there are such men. “The second lesson, the story of the Good Samaritan, was one that Mr. List would have chosen himself. He spoke out io his fellow Rotarians throughout the Dominion of the needs of crippled children. He embodied his findings in a report published only last week, and it is for those who are left to raise a memorial to him by carrying on the so worth-while task that he started.