THE OAMARI BASILICA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 19, 11 May 1899, Page 19

THE OAMARI BASILICA.

AN APPRECIATI ).\

Tut: White Stone City by the sea lie b.i'htd in -umliine. Thereat blue ocean, bre iking its heaving billows on i.id ooaar. 1-, murmuring •its c\erla-tin» hosanna'; i 4 &ib M i,h Millnov* ad Is to the peiceiul beauty of Nature; and arl. ,n that Gre ian structure known as the Catholic B silica, has inscribed on the scene a poem of migtity pnhc. Says a modern writer —'in matters of art, the s UU u, s t flasii o t gi-mus, the smallest effort to soar to new conq le-t, t rt scmates men m >re than all the resources and lights ot s len c witinu the limns ot knowledge'— and truly, a new conquest, is here to view, laminating trom the assooiati m ot ideas that linger around if.

In the coumo of a few short years ehe ( \itholi.; people of Oam iru hiveachie\ea remarkable results, l'nu man who Iv years ago w, nld have predicted the existence within ih.i. limit or tim.s in Oamiru ol a basilica ot such proportion and beamy. s\ould have been regarded a.s a dreamer, whose education la-.-Kod L h« practical knowledge derailed by the gieat American humoiist. ot '~S ti \v Zealand's poJulition and politics, and ionn of «o\enuneut, and commerce, and tax.- h and products, and ancient hi-r.»ry, a. id varieties of religion and nature ot laws, and their codification, and amount of revenue' and whence drawn, and methods ot collection, and percentage of loss, and character ol" climate— well, i lot of things like th.it ' "Xol for ;>0 years to come could it have been suppled that with the resources at hand sucn work could be accomplished. Surely, every white stone m that beautiful pile may be considered to represent -i weary care, an anxious thought, a hard pull on the part of the zealous pastor who took took upon himself the responsibility of raising to the Most High a temple >n some way worthy of the sacrifice therein to be offered when the toilers ot to-day are receiving their reward in God's Eternal Home. &

The style of architecture, which gives the basilic i so unusual and striking an appearance, is very suggestive of dreamy thought Lingenngly, we drink in every detail, and thm we close our eyes and dream a dream. With the speed of thought we annihilate time and space, revisiting the classic land where first the Corinthian pillar rose iv its chaste elegance, and there the shades of Cimon and Pericles wander past us, immortal. The basilica has been often described, from the delicate stucco work semblanced in the ceiling, to the spiral staircase m iron that winds alolt in fairy-like elegance. Of a truth, civic crowns are due to the people who have embellished the town of Oumaru with an architectural monument which cathedral cities are taking as a model.

But the Catholic people have higher aims than civic crowns They are ad asur to complete the noble undertaking, and they are dettrmined to clear away the harassing Linden ot debt The approaching bazaar and art union aie causing c-iiMderabJe excitement, and the preparations to have the amu-unciis on a bi"- s« a le are wry active. One speaker, a thorough in.nt..iMn. but" not a eomimttee man, was heaid to a-k when the \.nioiis jui/us weie tli.s-cu-sed •Is it wise to present tor the brst priye a vw.ih.ot art valued at sixty guineas ' Tae point was debated among eomioiss C uis UJK I with ill-concealed envy. '1 he question bein r lett di open one another remarked, • homebody is going to get that magnificent pu.ee ol art lor sixpence.' Well, such is the 'toituneot war,' and moie good luck to the winner. So say I. — Rn- \an Wikku;.