ST. MARY'S CATHEDRAL, WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 39, 15 July 1892, Page 13

ST. MARY'S CATHEDRAL, WELLINGTON.

The following is the speech made by the Hon Dr Grace at the meet ing referred to in the letter of onr Wellington correspondent :— " It will be in the recollection of some of you that when the late lamented and ever-to-be-revered Dr Viard died there was a debt of £1000 left on the Cathedral. That debt, chiefly out of sayings from the seat rents and savings from the Christmas and Easter daei, has been paid off. The Cathedral has been kept in repair and many and eerioua deficiencies in the roof finally snpplied. In addition, £1200 haa been expended on the finishing of the interior and the construe. ion of the organ loft, £600 on the altar, and £600 for the purchase of an organ . The square tower which was imperilling the solidity of the whole structure was altered in design harmoniously with true architectural principles, at the Co6t of a single member of the congregation. I therefore leave that out of the calculation. Thus without any special call baring bten made on as, a sum of £3400 has been disbursed to the ciedit of tbia Cathedral fund, since we last took account. I proceed to analyse The sources from which these flowed. The £1000 of indebtedness was paid off by parochial savings, chiefly as I have explained. Four hundred pounds of the sum (£1200) expended in improving the interior came from the diocese. About one hundred pounds was collected from you to* wards the payment of the cost of the altar, about £100 was contributed to the cost of the orgaa, and the whole of the rest — ix. £1800 was contributed by the Archbishop out of his private resources. Thus you will see that the Cathedral, as it stands now, is out of debt, and as a diocesan asset is £3400 more valuable than when the Archbishop was appointed to the diocese. With regard to these parochial saviogs I wish to draw your attention to the fact that they became possible only by the parish priest going without any salary, and I can testify that Father McNamara, like his predecessors, went away a poorer man than when he came to the parish — poorer in vital energy, health, and pocket. Soon after the Archbishop's arrival, it became clear to him that an extension of the Cathedral would be needed, he, therefore, bought the ground on which the presbytery is now built, and erected thereon the priest's house. The land and buildings cost £1600. The land was mdispeni* able, the presbytery necessary. Of this money £300 was collected in the diocese generally, £300 was contributed as a free gift by the Archbinhop, and there remains a debt of £1000 on mortgage— which has to be lifted before we can proceed with any extension. From this point I ask you to follow me to the Archbishop's houße. It, with the necessary offices, laying out of gardens, fencing, etc.. cost £2,400. Of this £800 was contributed by the diocese ; the balance, £1,600, came ont of the Most Rev Dr. Redwood's private purse, making £3,700 in all contributed by the Archbishop out of his private purse to these service?. As the city began to grow it became manifest to the Archbishop that above all things space was necessary, he therefore bought for £4,200 the bouse and half-acre of land abutting on the Archdiocesan premises, seeing clearly that when the Cathedral was extended almost all the available ground would be covered, and there would be no room for a priest's house, and no probable future chance of pro- , curing any space. The Archbishop proposes to convey that property

to the diocese, on receiving two thousand pounds, and he only makes that stipulation because his resources are exhausted. I make no lengthy comments on the personal liberality be has displayed ; I merely inform you that the whole of his inheritance, which was quite considerable— with the exception of a sum of £1,200 which went to Relieve a near friend — has been expanded in the cause of religion, and all his ecclesiastical revenues to boot. It may interest you to know the condition of other accounts. The Brothers' School cost £5,000, and is out of debt ; the new Orphanage cost £5,500, this is all either paid or arranged for, on a perfectly solid basis, excepting £850 which is due to the bank. You all know the cost of 8t Patrick's College (£20,000) and the wonderful work done there, Have we not, therefore, a wonderful record to be proud cf , and can we not, without straining ourselves, aim at continued expansion. Is it not our privilege ? Is it not the chief joy of life to erect lasting temples to the honour of God ? Does not the inner fire which stimulates us to new efforts prove the vigour of our spiritual life ? la not this inner fire the ever freshening testimony we offer to civilisation of that childlike earnestness which delights in sacrifice, revels in the unseen, and lifts the vnlgarest mind of the most illiterate pick and shovel manto an intellectual companionship with Dante and Milton, to a spiritual relationship with the angeh, to the lofiy yet most reverent contemplation of the attributes of that great God who is our joy, our glory, and our all. As the lark at morn lifts bis joyous breast soaring to the mighty heavens, pours forth his triumphant song of prayerful love, bo we-by erecting mighty monuments whose lofty pinnacles kiss the rising sun — so we watch for the early dawn in prayerful mood by rearing cathedral piles on the loftest vantage grounds to the honour of God and glory of our age.