CHRIST CHURCH.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXII, Issue 20, 13 September 1895, Page 18

CHRIST CHURCH.

(From our own Correspondent.")

The thirty -Bixth yearly meeting of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce was held hst week and the committee presented the annual report. When speaking of the Chatham Islands Bteam service the report says :— " Your committee has used its exertions to thwart the s'.eps now being taken in certain quarters to transfer this service from Lyttelton to Wellington. The Government have announced that the service will at least not be disturbed during the present contract, which ends in March next, and it is to be hoped that every effort will be used to prevent Canterbury being deprived of a trade which she has created and cultivated for years." A local paper points out that, though the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce is entitled to the thanks of the community for attempting to prevent a diversion of the Chatham Islands trade, yet stronger reasons than those urged for its retention as at present are needed. Neither the fact that the islands have bteu developed by Canterbury capital nor the fact that the present service was established by Canterbury enterprise, form any unanswerable argument against a change. The Oovernmert will have to consult the wishes of the settlers on the islands, and should Canterbury wish to retain the trade she will have to convince them that their best interests are served by maintaining their connection with Lyttelton. The question is one which cannot be decided on sentimental grounds. Therefore Canterbury will have to defeat the efforts of Wellington to alter the Chatham Islands trade by Bhowing that expediency as well as Bentiment are on the side of the present arrangement. A majority of the settlers, it seems, are in favour of letting matters remain as they are. At the recent Anglican Syrud in this city, the president, Bishop Julius, delivered bd annual address, and when speaking of the i Anglican Church at Home, he said :— " Never, during the past thiee centuries, had men bj yearned for religiuus unity as they did to-day. The Evangelical Alliance of the Griendelwald conferences was a movement of striking interest in the Established Church in Scotland; the reunion of Methodist communiocs ia Australia was also a sign that Christian men were learning to recgaise the simple fjlly of division. Hence it was that the Papal letter to the English people had created a deep and widespread interest. Tha letter was not addressed to the Anglican Church, but, ' to the English people who seek the kingdom of Christ ia the unity of faith." It makes no proposals and suggests no concessions, but waß merely, as a Roman Catholic writer truly says, oue long insistance upon the efficacy of prayer, and an almost pathetic appeal to the English people to join with the Pope in prayer for the blessing of reunion upon the Church. But though all Christians, Catholics included, are fully at liberty to agree to pray in order to gain a good and a common advantage, yet th<; <'athol.c Church does not permit her c .i!dren to jo nin the ritnal of any other Church. This must be simply the meaning of the warning which Catholics are said to have received on this pom*, and therefore the Bishop must bo somewhat in error when he says :— " The letter to the English people marked a distinct

and definite advance, for, only thirty years ago, the faithful of the Roman Church were warned against joining their prayers with those of heretics and schismatics. In this change, there was hope that the estrangement, which had existed for centuries among the different churches, might come to an end." In speaking of the Papal letter in quest ion the Bishop expressed bimrelf very well in the beginning, and is it not strange that he could not end better ? Much regret is felt by the people of Port Lyttelton, also by many persons in this city, at the demise of Mrs Ellen Qrantham, the eldest daughter of Mrs Butlei, and the wife of Mr Bobert Grantham, licensee of the Royal Hotel, Lyttelton. The deceased lady, who was only thirty years of age, died on Tuesday last at her late residence in the Port. Her remains were brought round the Sumner road to the residence of Mrs Butler at Waltham, whence the funeral of Mrs Grantbam, which was largely ati ended, left on Thursday last for the pro-Cathedral and the Linwood cemetery. The Right Rev Dr Grimes, who had visited her twice during her short illness, said in the pro-Cathedral a solemn requiem Mass for the repose of her soul and also officiated at the grave. Mrs Grantham leaves a husband and two children to mourn her loss. — R IP. The Industrial Exhibition continues to be well patronised, andoa Thursday last during the morning and evening fully 2,500 people paid for admission. The Alpine Club gave its annual exhibition in the concert hall in the eYeniDg, when the room was filled with an audience, who thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment provided. The Hon J. G. Ward visited the exhibition on the same dny, and was received by the president, Mr H. B. Kirk, and conducted round the various departments. When the intpection of the exhibits was over Mr Ward was conducted into the reception room where his health was drunk with musical honours, In proposing tbe toast Mr Kiik expressed the pleasure of the committee at the visit of the Colonial Treasurer, who had given an assurance that on his return to Wellington he would cause £500, granted by the Government towards the exhibition, to be forwarded to Chns'churcb. Mr Ward, in reply, said he was much surprised to see so good and extensive an exhibition seeing how little noise had been made about its preparation, and that he considered exhibitions of great importance to the Colony. He had seen other exhibitions in New Zealand and also in other colonies, and he would Bay that the present one compared favourably with them. The Ministry fully recognised the importance of the undertaking and had really intended that one or more of their number should have attended the opening. He regretted that he had bo little time to Fee the exhibition on the occasion, but he hoped that when he returned from Invercargill with his wifo he would have time to pay another and a longer visit. Mr Ward then proposed the president's health, which was enthusiastically drunk and to which he very suitably responded. An excellent programme wa« prepared for Friday even-

ing last and was very tastefully executed nnder the direction of Mrs O. Edgar. On Saturday afternoon Mr E. W. Seager gave a children's entertainment whereat he described the history of the magio lantern and showed a number of views,