Page:Letters from New Zealand (Harper).djvu/371

Rh detached from the main building, octagonal in shape, twenty-five feet in breadth at each angle, with plenty of space, not only for a numerous choir, but for church meetings. Underneath the passage is a crypt, with a chamber for heating apparatus, organ water-power machinery, and church properties. On the northern side of the sanctuary a second vestry for the clergy is provided; and in place of the tower and spire, as designed by Mr. Armson, we have substituted a tower, later in date than the rest of the church, in the Perpendicular style. Although Timaru has always been free from earthquakes, which in Christchurch have twice damaged the cathedral spire, we though it best to avoid risk, and build a tower instead of a spire.

Architecture has been one of my fads, most useful I have found, not only when travelling on holiday, but for the material of lectures, and especially in a new country when one has to deal with church building. In regard to that, I am, of course, the merest amateur, but one's knowledge, such as it is, has often enabled me to give useful advice. I have a large collection of photographs and some instructive books. I have also gone in for the study of stained glass, and the mechanism of organs. It all works in well with my professional business as a parson, to say nothing of the recreation it affords. And when the chance of a holiday ramble in the old world comes, there is, I think, nothing like some particular purpose, whatever else comes in your way. Mine has been architecture, glass, and the history enshrined in the great buildings of past centuries.

The new plans prepared by Messrs. Collins and Harman are very satisfactory. A contract has been entered into for the work with Mr. S. McBride, a local