PATTESON WING OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 21, 26 May 1909, Page 45

PATTESON WING OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE.

FOUNDATION STONE LAID. The Auckland celebrations in connection with the centenary of the birth of George Augustus Selwyn, first and only Bishop of New Zealand, opened on Thursday by a ceremony meet to the occasion—the laying of the foundationstone for the new Patteson wing of St. John’s College. West Tamaki. A considerable number journeyed out to the pleasantly situated College to hear his Excellency the Governor declare the foundation-stone of the Patteson wing to be well and truly laid. Lord Plunket was received by the president of the College, his Lordship the Bishop of Auckland. Following the impressive special service for the occasion. Mr. Ernest Chitty, M.A., a theological student of the college. read a Latin address to the Governor, of which the following is a translation : — To His Excellency the Right Honourable William Lee Baron Plvnket, K.C.M.G., Governor of New Zealand. The warmest greeting do we give you, illustrious Sir, and the more gladly, inasmuch as we know that Your Excellency is sprung from ancestors distinguished in Church and Senate, and that both you yourself are a man of known virtue and piety, and also come among us as the representative of our beloved King Edward, Defender of the Faith. For the spreading of which very Faith there left England 67 years ago and came to these shores the great Bishop Selwyn, who founded our College to the honour of Almighty God, that true religion, sound learning and useful industry might here forever flourish and abound. It is now one hundred years since this famous man was born. Wherefore it seemed good to us, his unworthy successors, who endeavour, however haltingly’, to follow in his footsteps, to show some evident sign of our affection for him and of our gratiture to God for so many great benefits given to us through him. We further especially desired to perpetuate the memory’ beloved and precious of .John Coleridge Patteson. who was the first Bishop of Melanesia, and, like a good shepherd,

laid down his life for the sheep. Again, .we recognise that the actual founders of this College made it their aim to render their students, not simply better tk holars. but better men and better citizens. But to prove, if proof be needed, i-’jat out’ single man can do a man's work in achieving all these aims, can promote alike the interests of learning, the interests of the community and the Kingdom of God. we have but to point to the striking instance of John Kinder, a man of profound h-arning. who spent many years of his life as Warden of this College. anti at his death bequeathed to its members his own valuable library. No doubt, too. in time gone by there have been in our College many others of high repute who have by their example given us a wonderful conception of man's duty and man’s capacity for far reaching good; but it would be superfluous and tedious to recite their bede roll here. It was then to do honour to such merit that the Clergy and Laity of the Church of the Province of New Zealand in General Synod mblcd decided to extend this College of ours by the efforts of ourselves and ou: friend-. Going forth from this College, di-viph < have spread the Catholic Faith, not only throughout New Zealand, hut even in the islands of the Southern Sea: ami in the-, calmer times zealous Priests ami faithful Laymen are fulfilling their daily round of duties in Church and State with unpretending piety. Bravely have they all laboured, bravely also should we labour: we. who. j laced a- we are. like military settlers at the outposts of the British Empire, raw recruits as it were on guard, are only too eager to lay hold upon those grand and perfect rules of good and manly warfare which are offered us by the tried combatants who have fought the good fight. We hope, therefore, that from this College, at length enlarged, there v.ill go forth an ever-increasing number of di-ciples as faithful messengers of God, going into all the world and preaching the Gospel to every creature. In conclusion, we desire to thank you. illustrious Sir, for your kindness in well and truly laying the foundation stone of this our new building. May God grant that our College may be built upon the foundation i f the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Chri-t llim-elf being the chief corner -tone, in Whom all the building fitly framed together gvoweth unto an holy’ temple in the Lord. A-ctn-ion Day, May 20th. 1909. In welcoming the Governor. Dr. Neligan expre-sed the thanks of the Boards of trustees and of Governors in giving encourageE-ieut to their big enterprise bylaying the foundation stone of the Patten menu-rial wing, with which was ini'. yp« rated the Kinder Library. ‘•The history of St. John’s College.” raid the Bi<hop. "is bound up with the hi-tery <f New Zealand: for the nation— <tory is inseparable from the story ct the life of one of New Zealand's greatest men—George Augustus Selwyn. t .« centenary of whose birth we cominenniate this year. The Bishop of New Zealand founded the College at Wai mate North in 1>42. but. later on. Im sed the wish that st of the Epiphany. 1543. should be regarded as th* Foundation date, and in 1>44 he r« = • - ’I the College to its present site at Tamaki ’ Leg* has passed through many v .--if. »-s. of which mt a few were s . - re to Im expc rted by am i -'itution in its early days. It lias c» m* thrmigh this experience strengthened - respects. '■ I in ether-; but the -car- and wounds it may have r- * -m uld but endear it to th*? sous and daughter* of New Zealand, and more especially t« the men who have, cr do, or will come under its influence. ■ St. .Lena's College and its little chapel yon > r. in the mid-t of a 'God— Acre.’ be rnt* 1 the -a red *p«. t of N»- Z* rid tm I« na of tl*e Britain of t • Pa i?ie. Here, as in the history of t .u Er.tain • f the Atlanti . is recorded r ■ n. t-- oft n rg. t. that the naj r»du• f the -leadfiwtne-s < f a few in--JWidtia'-. As men *.i this nation kneel t- pray and praise our God in tire little < . *ge . b a pel. they ar*- reminded, by tba memcrjal* it contains. m t only of G» orge Ai _ Selwyn, but of William Martin. Thcunas Whyte head. Ar<hdea*vn Brown, Edward Merrick. John Coleridge Fatte-* n r William Nihill. Joseph Atkin, Henry Appkyard. Alfred Marsh Brown, Maria Blackett. "tepl»en Taroaniara, John Kinder, and tue like —men and wo-u*-n who**' stead fast dcs. helped to pro ctauA the things that are higlicst and best

in the national conscience of to-day. Like St. Paul, such as these give encouragement by the steadfastness of their own hopefulness. The incentive to individual effort that they beqtieath is best expressed in Virgil's line: ‘Totideni nobis animaeque manusque.’ “Today we think more especially of two men in the history of our College— John Kinder and John Coleridge I‘atteson. Dr. Kinder was master, or warden, of the College from 1871 to 1880. A man of high academic distinction himself, a scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, he desired that the bench’s of learning might be continued, through his gift, to the men of St. John's; in 1902 he presented to the College his valuable library of some 3000 volumes, provided they were suitably housed. Largely through the efforts of the St. John's College Association. a body of old St. John's men, the sum of £5OO was collected towards the erection of a Kinder Library. The Association and the College Trustees decided to incorporate the Kinder Library into the plan lor the Pattcson .Memorial wing. We have all felt that it was in the best interests of the College and the nation to erect a library whieh. in years to come, would be of permanent service to learning, lhe portion now to be built will be large enough to contain the late Dr. Kinder > books, and also the principal portion ot that exceedingly valuable collection of books given to the Bishop of New Zealand, whieh is now perilously housed in the Cathedral Library at Bishopseourt. The provision ef a really good library whieh is thus begun is of vital assistance to the realisation of the great Selwyn’s ideal of St. John’s College being 'the centre of sound learning. ”l>f John Coleridge Batteson. in whose blessed memory this work in particular has to-day been inaugurated, it is hard to speak without emotion. He stood in \\ indsor Parish Church all through a sermon by the Bishop of New Zealand, with the dew of the Holy Spirit fresh on his young heart through his recent confirmation, and then and there resolved, God willing, to devote all he was and had to the service of Jesus Christ in the mission field. The story of ths father and mother surrendering their only boy for hazardous service in the savage isles of the Pacific is one to be told and retold in the homes of our Empire. it is rhe story of ' the Lord confirming the Word with signs follow’Tt is fitting—if your Excellency will permit me to use the phrase—that the representativ? of our King—who may God long pieserve.'—should inaugurate this work to-day. For though St. John's is definitely a Church of England institution. yet its benefits never have been restricted to members of the Church of the province of New Zealand. Thus it i- a notional institution, founded on the only trie i-.isis fo r national weal—religion. Moreover, this College never has b-: :n ly a I h-oiogical College. These things being sc, we. the trustees and governors, claim to-day that we have enterprised upon a national work: the presence ami sets of your Excellency to-day ei’.otuage us in our belief. Our dream is that as the years roll on St. John's will Ic the great Residential Coileg affiliated in some real living way with the t niversity of Ne w Zealand for men jitp.rmg for various avocations in life —men v. ho. whether as clergy or i- laity, will serve their country in < Imrch or State the better and the truer because they- have been exposed in their young manhood’s days to the atmosphere of a religious and scholarly tradition: have been taught by the daily chapel services to consecrate their talents, in whatever walk c-; real life, to our Heavenly Father; n.en who will do more than obey the law of duty, becan.se, through St. John’s College and its religiou« foundation, they obey a higher law —that of responsibility to God. Duty is always -afe in the hands of men who have learned responsibility. ’’There are among us to-day not a few men of the old days of the College. In years to come more ’old .To’mians ’ will eome here to renew their youth as th-y r< vl-it. on various occasions, the haunts • : their younger manhood’s years. Th«y will then ome to their old College with the added experience of lilt's maturer years. ■'Your Excellency has to-day begun a wot s whi> b, tv? believe, is, by the blessing of God, destined to have an influence in this country, through such men, of far reaching and beneficial consequences. If we cf New Zealand to-day are faithfully Ti«pon*-i»e to the trust and tradition that the New Zealand of yesterday has handed down to us then the New

Zealand of tomorrow will recall, with (thankfulness to God ifor St. Johai’a College and all it meant and means to the in.” In replying to the Bishop, his Excellency heartily supported the claim that Selwyn never intended St. John's to be purely a theological college. He was confident that if those who believe in the combination of the old phrase “a scholar and a gentleman” came forward and generously supported the building fund, they would soon have a residential college connected with Auckland College whieh would go far to advance in honour and usefulness higher education in this Dominion. (Applause.) So soon as the serious drawback from whieh they were at present suffering, due to wretched housing, could be removed, Auckland College would make yet more rapid strides than it had in the past. The Christian Church in New Zealand was at the beginning of what he believed would prove a great sphere of usefulness for itself, for higher education, and for the State. In Wellington. Anglicans and Presbyterians had combined to raise and manage a residential house for female students attending Victoria College, and the Anglican Church had erected one for male students. In Dunedin, a splendid residential college in connection with Otago Vniversity was about to be built by the Presbyterian Church. And now Auckland had its opportunity, and he trusted it would avail itself of it in a really generous way. (Hear, hear.) In older lands these houses of learning owed half of their success to the ancient traditions and high ideals whieh had grown up with them until they had become an actual part of themselves. Surely, if there was one such place in this young country where noble ideals formed a part of its life, it was at St. John's College. where every surrounding reminded the student of Selwyn. the broadminded Christian, the true patriot, the courteous gentleman, and the brave man! (Applause.) The foundation stone, which stands at what will be the north-east corner of the building, is of Italian marble. It bears an inscription in Latin, of which the following is a translation:— TO THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD, AND IN rtOUS MEMORY OF THE RIGHT REVEREND GEORGE AVGI STI S SELWYN, D.D., ■Who as First Bishop was instrumental in Founding the Church of God in New Zealand, and of the saintly JOHN COLERIDGE PATTESON, D.D., Who. as First Bishop among the Heathen of Melanesia, even unto death, Preached the Most Holy Name of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. We. their unworthy successors, who have entered into their labours, have had this College, long dedicated to true religion. sound learning and useful labour, extended and enlarged. All ye who here do teach, who here do learn, who here the Saviour of the world do worship, see that by your words and deeds, both in your own land and the uttermost parts of the earth be proclaimed the Gospel of Christ to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory and honour for ever and ever. This stone was laid by William Lee Baton Pluriket, Governor of this Dominion, during the Primacy of Samuel Tarratt, Moore Richard being Bishop of Auckland, and Cecil Bishop of Melanesia, on the 20th day of May, 1909. being the centenary year of the birth of the great Selwyn. A handsome silver trowel, bearing the usual inscription, was presented to the Governor by Mr. Grandison, the contractor, with whieh to perform the ceremony. Three cheers for his Excellency and a verse of the National Anthem terminated the proceedings, after which those present were entertained to afternoon tea by Mr. and Mrs. Seott-Moncrieff.