ST. MARY'S CHURCH.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13338, 15 July 1907, Page 6

ST. MARY'S CHURCH.

COMPLETION OF THE BUILDING,

LAYING A FOUNDATION STONE

Yesterday afternoon the foundation stone ■was laid of the chancel, transept, vestries, and tower in completion of St. Mary's Church, and the ceremony attracted not only members of the congregation, but also many others, townspeople generally taking an interest in thh work whether members of the congregation or not. Tbs weather was not quite all that could have been desired, as a warm norNrester was raising the dust off the streets bsfore the hour Used for the ceremony, and during the proceedings the sun became obscured and the wind cold. Nevertheless it was a fine afternoon for midwinter, and a large number of people assembled on Sophia street, where they had a clear view of the proceedings, and some spaces npon and about the foundations were fully occupied. Portions of the future floor spaces were planked over to provide comfortable standing room for those taking part in the ceremony ,the choir, the vestrymen, the building committee, and the Garrison Band, which very efficiently took the place of the organ for the outdoor singing. The scene from, the further side of Sophia street was a striking one, and a photographer who was stationed there ought to have some good pictures. The/ elevation of the church above the street level lifted all those taking part in the ceremony above the heads of those in the street, and flanked by a dense line of onlookers on each side of a fenced-off space in front, the camera had a good opportunity to memorialise an interesting scene. Printed slips were distributed as a guide to the service, which apart from its import and implications was exceedingly simple, consisting chiefly of the singing of hymns, and a few "short prayers uttered by the Bishop of Cbristchurch. ' Midway in the service the Yen. Archdeacon Harper, vicar of the parish, laid the foundation stone, a well dressed block weighing about half a ton, and destined to be the lower block of the north-eastern corner buttress. A cavity, had _ been formed in the base-course, and in this was placed a large glass-stoppered jar, coated ■with paraffin wax, containing the following articles:— lT) Parchment document certifying the fact of the laying of the foundation stone, with the names of the Tricar of the parish, the curate, the churchwardens and vestrymen, the building committee, tl»e clerk of the vestry, the organist, and choirmaster -the verger, the architects, the builder and contractor, and the resident superintending architect. (2; Current coin of the realm, from a sovereign to a farthing, dates 1903-1907. (3) Prayer-book, with hymns, 1907. (4) St. Mary's Young Men's Societv membership card. (5) St. Prisca's Guild membership card. (6) Copies of the "Timaru Herald" and- the "Post." (7! Names of St. Mary's choir. (8) I/st of services in St. Mary's Church. Sunday, July 14th, 1907. (9) Form of service for laying the foundation stone. Mr Panton." superintendent architect, placed the bottle in the cavity and spread the mortar for bedding the stons, and Mr Mcßride, the builder, presented to the Archdeacon a silver trowel and boxwood mason's mallet, offering these " instruments of labour" with the wish that the Archdeacon might be spared for many years to labour in the completed building. The trowel bears the following inscription : "Presented to the Ven. Archdeacon Harper, M.A., on the occasion of his laying the corner stone of the chancel, transept, vestry, and tower of St. Mary's Church. Timaru, N.Z. July 14th, 1907. Collins and Harman, architects, S. Mcßride, contractor." Mr Mcßride and his assistants lowered the block from a tripod, the Archdeacon declared it well and truly laid, and then read a copy of the documsnt enveloped in the bottle as follows: Diocese of Cbristchurch, New Zealand: Church of St. Mary. Timaru; July 14th. 1907. In the name of the most high God, and in the faith of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, this stone, being the corner stone of the chancel, transept, vestries, and tower, in completion of the church, is laid by the Venerable Archdeacon Harper. M.A., viear of the parish of Timaru. in the presence of the Right Reverend Chnrchill Julius, D.D.. Bishop of Christchurcb. Other foundation can no man lay than that is .laid, which is Jesus Christ. Henry W. Har-

per, M.A., vicar of the parish of Timaru, Archdeacon of Timaru and Westland, N.Z., -Canon of Christchuich Cathedral; Tremayne M. Curnow, M.A., curate; church wardens, Charles Allen Wray, Charles Howard Tripp; vestrymen, James Shepherd, Thomas H. Gillman, William H. Williams, Henry B. Kirk, Francis T. Mayo, Douglas D. Dryden, Miles J. Knubley, Gladstone Robinson, Robert Morgan, Henry H. Webb; building committee, John P. Newman, Arthur Shirtcliffe, Gordon P. Wood, Frank Palliser, William, J. Black, D»vid C. Turnbull, Thomas Thomson", Charlton S. Fraser, John Hole, Henry Newland, William Prkst, Robert W. Simpson; vestry clerk, J. E. S. Jackson; organist and choirmaster, Herbert' Louis James Webb; verger, John Rainsley Jones; architects, Messrs Armson, Collins and Harman, Christchu'rch;' builder and contractor, Samuel Mcßride, Timaru; resident superintendent architect, Walter Panton, Timaru. Other hymns were then sung while members of the St. Mary's Young Men's Society passed through the crowd with collection bags, and brought their gatherings and placed them on the stone. Further special.prayers, for the workmen and for the people of the parish, and the Benediction, concluded the ceremony.

The Archdeacon announced at the evening service that (the collection for the building fund was £2BB. A number'of peopie afterwards examined the work already done, and some who had not done so before expressed surprise at the extent of the foundations. These are now practically completed for the whole of the buildings to be erected, and the first couree of the wall of the octagonal vestry has been laid. This shows how the whole is to be built, with a •substantial wall of blnestone outside (but with white stone decorative lines and corner pieces) and a white-stone wall inside, the space between closely filled with concrete. Good judges of the material say that Mr McBride has secured, in Blackmore's quarry, a first rate class of bluestone, even in grain and free from flaws. This quarry is in Waimataitai Valley, west of the old North road, and is in the same lava stream that at the sea front forms the- Dashing Rocks. The white stone for the interior wall is the best of Oamaru stone./ YESTERDAY'S SERVICES.

Bishop Julius preached at St. Mary's Church yesterday, morning and evening, to large congregations. . The services were given a special character in relation to the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the church completion in the afternoon, ps-alms, lessons, hymns and anthems being selected for their appropriateness to the occasion. A full choir led the singing, and the psalms and hymns were well taken up by the congregation. The anthems sung were Gounod's "Send out Thy Light," Goss's " The Wilderness shall Blossom," and Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus." His Lordship's sermons also had indirect reference to the event of the day, with some passages of direct mention of it. In the evening sermon, on the text "The Church of the Living God," he voiced a strong warning against " undenominationalism." He could understand, respect and value a staunch Presbyterian or Methodist but the '" undenominational Christian—there really could not be any such thing." He urged members of the congregation to be loyal to their church —actively and helpfully, not merely passively so —and pointed out that they had good reason to be proud of it and to be loyafr to it in its long history, its continuity, its catholicity, and the freedom allowed by the simplicity of its forms of faith. These things should ba well impressed upon the young. The congregation had done a good work that day, in laying the foundation stone of a completed church, and he praised their courage and the sacrifices they had made, and would continue to make, until they had completed, on a noble site, a noble expression of their devotion to God ; but they must not forget that the children were the material of the. r.-al Church of St. Marv of tli.» future