Page:Letters from New Zealand (Harper).djvu/239

Rh School Church, with room for five hundred, to be used as a Church until the completion of the nave of St. Mary's. Liberal subscriptions have come in, and a design for the new church accepted, but not without much opposition. I was anxious to take advantage of the general enthusiasm shown by Church people, and to get their consent to a plan of the best possible style and material, and of sufficient size to provide for an increasing population, which need not be completed at once. In Westland I came across a young English architect, W. G. Armson, who built some wooden churches for me, now in Christchurch, where he has established a good business. The Vestry agreed to my proposal to employ him and, after some time, during which I had many consultations with him, he completed a very fine design in Early English style, of which the Nave, with accommodation for seven hundred, would suffice for some time to come. In Timaru we have, close at hand, quarries of a purple grey dolerite, excellent for the main fabric, very hard, but taking a fine finish when hammered, and, at Oamaru, within fifty miles, a granular limestone, of creamy colour, easily worked, for the interior.

Great opposition, however, arose when the design was submitted to a general meeting of parishioners for their approval. Without their consent, as the progress of the Church, whether in the matter of church building or support of the clergy, depends here on their contributions, nothing can be done. The opposition was vigorous, and in argument effective. "That plan will not be finished under £16,000; the nave alone will cost £10,000; where is the money to come from? Why embarass the church with debt? Here is a plan by a local Architect, for £5,000; further, the