NEW ZEALAND’S ANGLICAN JUBILEE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 25, 22 June 1907, Page 24

NEW ZEALAND’S ANGLICAN JUBILEE.

REMINISCENCES AND REFLECTIONS.

The jubilee celebrations in connection with the signature of the Anglican Constitution of New Zealand were continued on June 13 at the Choral Hall.

Bishop Neligan, in his prefatory remarks, said that there were probably few gatherings, as one looked back for the cause producing gatherings, that were so pregnant of the foundation of things as that gathering. It was, perhaps, one of the greatest epochs in the national life, in a sense that a certain large section of the community determined that they had the right of spiritual self-go-vernment. He sometimes thought that it was the start of the best steps leading to the vindication in this land of the Church itself. It might be lost sight of, perhaps, in the desire to think that the steps that were necessary were less ardu-

ous than the careful student of history concluded they were There were two men there that night who would be able to tell them something of the time that was past. Judge Monro, unfortunately, had been unable to attend, owing to indisposition. But in his place they would hear what one of the present ~generation of men (Mr. Tunks) had to say. It should be remembered, added the Bishop, that they were not commemorating the foundation of the Church in New Zealand, which took place in 1814, but the founding of her constitutional government. Before resuming his seat, his Lordship voiced the thanks of the Standing Committee to all those who had assisted in organising the proceedings connected with the day’s celebrations, including the gentlemen responsible for decorating the hall, the ladies who had

undertaken to look after the refreshments, Dr and Mrs. Thomas, and the Cathedral authorities, and others. (Applause.) EAC H MAN IN HIS ‘GENERATION. “When the constitution was signed, I was not there,” confessed Mr. Tunks amidst laughter, “therefore it ean be said with perfect truth that I am of the young generation, and may on that account spare you reminiscences.” (Laughter.) Occasions of" that kind, however, he went' on to say, always give rise to comparisons between the men of the old time and those of the present day. Those old men were often spoken of as giants, the inference being that they of the present were all pigmies. >Sueh a comparison was not altogether fair. (Applause.) The times now were altogether different. If we had no Selwyn now it was because no Selwyn was needed. If we believed that God was working his purpose out from year to year, we must also believe that men are doing the work that is necessary to work out that purpose from year to year. (Applause.) Such work was going on often in times of apparent inactivity. They did not always take into account the amount of work being accomplished by the silent workers in their midst. The times were changed and men changed with them. It was not because of precedent that we were free, although free after making a precedent for the rest of the world to follow, nor content to make it slowly either. (Laughter.) Overmuch freedom, in fact, was of itself a danger. The men of old time bought at a great price the freedom we enjoyed; and we were apt to think that so much attained there was little else to do but sit down quietly and enjoy the fruits of their labours. And, besides, modern environment—facilities of travel, keenness of rivalry in trade and business pursuits, and all the many distractions attending present-day facilities and advantages—makes the simple life of the old time a practical impossibility to most of us. It was the very simplicity of their lives that made them great; they were not in danger of attempting many things and achieving little. (Applause.) How different to-day! Even the life of the Church itself is an example, as those behind the scenes know so well. There is the Home Mission calling for assistance, the Maoris, the Melanesian Mission, our own children, the orphans, the various institutions, all crying for help, and not in vain. He contended that if the men of old time laid the foundations we, their successors, have to go on with the building, and there was still plenty of room for coming workmen, whether they became famoue or not. (Applause.) REMINISCENCES. In introducing the next speaker, Canon Gould, the last remaining priest ordained by the late Bishop Selwyn, Bishop Neligan related a little tale concerning the great colonial prelate that was characterstic of the man and his humorous side. During 1861 the Bishop was on one of his missionary journeys through Maori country, and arriving one night at a kainga, he was put rather unceremoniously to sleep in a hut in company with a number of pigs. When George Augustus returned from his tour he took Master John Selwyn on his knee and recounted the incident to him. “And what do you think, Johnny,” humorously concluded his sire, “when I woke up in the morning I found a little black pig asleep across my- legs!” To which the hopeful solemnly replied, “Oh, father! didn’t you feel like the prodigal son?”

“It is just about sixty years ago that I first met George Augustus Selwyn, the first and last Bishop of New Zealand,” said Canon Gould, reminiscently, “But I got to know him, so to speak, about two years before that time, when in 1845-46 I was an assistant master in u commercial school at Riehmond-on-Thames. This school had been established through the efforts of the Bishop’s father, and was held in an institute, in an anteroom of which, over the mantelpiece, hung a full length portrait of the Bishop himself. The likeness was a striking and characteristic one, giving an excellent impression of the man’s powerful personality. I also got to know a great deal about him from his sister, who used to read to me many extracts from letters she received from him. I remember that those letters were always particularly interesting, owing to the accounts- in them of his

travels and the vicissitudes of his life. Very often, too, there would be ped and ink sketches in them of places ami people he eame across in his journeyings. It was, in short, due to these reflected glimpses of the young land that I came out to New Zealand, where I began by, taking charge of the boys’ school attached to St. John’s College. This was, at that time, the only school in ths country of the grammar school kind, and in it were collected boys from almost every part of the colony.” The! Canon then went on to describe the enthusiasm which the Bishop used to infuse into the work of the boys, reBounting several little anecdotes illustrating the grip his earnestness and personality took over those with whom he came in contact. George Augustus Selwyn was one of those men who work with a resolute, single-minded purpose until it is accomplished, a man who must indelibly leave the impress of his effort on the road of life, in whatever, boundaries that road might lie. (The Canon, who had been closely followed, resumed his seat amid applause.) MORE REMINISCENCES. The Hon. E. Mitchelson also had old memories that drifted back to the time when that great and good man, George Augustus Selwyn, was Bishop of New Zealand. He remembered Bishop Selwyn as a man of great strength, both in spirit and frame. He never spared himself, often spending the day in crossing rough country, wading or swimming the creeks and rivers en route, and conducting services at night. Such was his nature that although at the end of a day, he would arrive at a place wet and cold, he would allow no one to do anything for him, saying, as he did his own washing and mending, that he would not permit his friends to do for him what he was well able to do himself. He was courageous, also, as a lion, going without fear among hostile natives, knowing each time that it was more than probable he would never see his wife and family again. And no matter what the burden of his work, he was never absent when there was a sick person to be called upon and comforted. He was also a man very careful of the susceptibilities and religious scruples of others. When wrecked in the steamer White Swan from Auckland to Wellington, he displayed extreme bravery in helping to rescue the passengers, and, when they were all safe, he desired to offer up prayer for their deliverance. But that he might not obtrude on the possible prejudices of some of the others, he remarked that he would go a little way off, and any who desired could join him. Everyone joined. This incident was told the speaker by one who was at one time a minister of the Unitarian Church. He did not then believe in any church, but the impression produced upon him by the Bishop was so profound that he never forgot it, and, to the day of Selwyn’s death, he had nothing but good to speak of him. The speaker’s own first knowledge of the Bishop had been, when a boy at old St. Matthew’s Sunday School, he had been taught on several occasions by the Bishop on some of his visits. He also very well remembered how more than once he had rung the church bell before services at which Bishop Selwyn had preached. “I shall never forget his teaching,” said Mr Mitchelson, “for he was a man among thousands. A great deal has been said about his love for the Maoris, and that he interfered too much at the time of the Taranaki war. Bishop Selwyn at that time thought that the war was not justified, and those who have read the history of it will agree with him. Had Sir George Grey been governor at the time the war would never have taken place. But it took place, and a great many people took a dislike to Bishop Selwyn for his attitude. But he was not bound by narrow conventions, he believed in the law of common humanity, and that we are all the children of one God.” (Applause.) In regard to the work of the church, they had heard Mr Tunks say how the younger generation were carrying on the building of which the foundations had been laid by the men of the old time. That was true, and he himself believed that they were carrying it on, and were doing good work. (Applause.) During the evening an excellent musical programme was enjoyed, among the singers being Miss Blanche Garland, “Home, Sweet Home”; Madame Chambers, “Come Baek to Erin,” encore “Killarney” am! “Auld Lang Syne”; and the Waiata Quartette, who rendered several of their favourite harmonies.