# The Story of Christchurch, New Zealand/Chapter 19

Chapter XIX.
Resignation of Bishop Harper—Appointment and consecration of Bishop Julius—The Boer War—Death of Queen Victoria—Proclamation of King Edward VIII.—The Jubilee of Canterbury–Antarctica.
The time came when Bishop Harper owing to increasing deafness felt that he could no longer do justice to his great charge, and, on August 10, 1889, he resigned his office—his resignation to take effect on March 31, 1880. The Bishop was then eighty-six years of age, having been born on January 9, 1804.
The story of his life has been told by Canon Purchas. The reader will there find the record of an English parish priest, who, in his fifty-third year was not afraid to respond to a call to take charge of an immense diocese which extended over the greater part of the then uncultivated South Island of New Zealand, and who, on arrival, shared with the pioneers the hardships and the dangers of the unbridged rivers, and travelled over the length and breadth of the district committed to his charge. On the first of those journeys, the Bishop was accompanied by his son Henry, who was afterwards Archdeacon of Timaru, and has lately published a volume of his letters written at the time. From these letters may be gathered the very real dangers and difficulties of the journeys the Bishop then undertook. On that first journey from Christchurch to the Bluff, the Bishop had two narrow escapes from death, and was only saved by his magnificent constitution and by his powerful capacity as a swimmer.
But over and above all this stands the portrait of a ​man who to the end of an exceptionally long life, could draw to himself the love and affection of little children on the one hand, and of the rough miners on the West Coast diggings on the other.
After his retirement, Bishop Harper continued to live at Bishopscourt, and was able to take part in the consecration of his successor on May 1, 1890. He died on December 28, 1893, leaving more than a hundred descendants; one of his younger sons was, until recently, Dean of Christchurch.
The memorial erected in the Cathedral to the memory of Bishop Harper has been described elsewhere.
Upon the resignation of Bishop Harper, the choice of the Synod rested on the Rev. Churchill Julius, at that time Archdeacon of Ballarat, who accepted the call, and was consecrated Bishop of Christchurch, in the Cathedral, on May 1, 1890, by Dr. Cowie, Primate of New Zealand; the Bishops of Nelson, Dunedin and Waiapu, and Bishop Harper, assisting at the service. Bishop Julius was born at Richmond, Surrey, in 1847, and was the son of Dr. Julius. He was educated at Blackheath Proprietary School, and Worcester College, Oxford. After holding the cure of Shapwick with Ashcott, in Somersetshire, and later of Holy Trinity, Islington, he was appointed Archdeacon and Vicar of Christ Church, Ballarat, from whence he was called to the position he still occupies.
Bishop Julius celebrated the completion of his 25th year of office on May 1, 1915. Nearly sixty years have now passed since the first Bishop of Christchurch was consecrated, and it is rather remarkable that there have been only two occupants of the See.
Bishop Harper.
The first Bishop of Christchurch
Plate 26.
​Zealand contingent left Christchurch for Wellington on October 5, 1899. (The contingent left for South Africa on October 21). Of the nine contingents which followed, Canterbury sent her share, but one of them, the Third Contingent, known as the “Roughriders,” was essentially a Canterbury corps, recruited and equipped by the people of this province. This contingent left Lyttelton, February 19, 1900. So that Canterbury, less than fifty years after the date of her foundation, was already bearing her part in the affairs of the Empire. It is not proposed in this volume to follow the fortunes of the various contingents in South Africa, or to tell of the rejoicing that took place in Christchurch on the conclusion of peace, nor to describe the welcome back extended by Canterbury to the returned contingents.
It was during the South African War that the death of Queen Victoria occurred, and Christchurch citizens will not readily forget the memorial service conducted in the Cathedral on January 27, 1901, nor the Proclamation of King Edward VII., read by the Mayor, Mr. William Reece, on the following day from the balcony of the City Council Chambers, to a quiet concourse of citizens, standing under a sea of umbrellas, in torrents of rain.
Canterbury settlers have always taken a legitimate pride in the story of their settlement—naturally so, for the story is, in some respects, unique. Preparation was therefore begun very early for the due celebration of the Jubilee of the Province. It was the desire of the citizens that they should be represented on the occasion by a man of Christchurch birth as Mayor, and a very fortunate selection was made in the election, unopposed, of Mr. William Reece. He had a strenuous year of office, marked by hard work and indefatigable attention to the affairs of the city, coupled with a tact and courtesy to others, which secured the hearty co-operation of all. It may, indeed, be said that the union of boroughs, which ​took place two years later, was the fruit of the entente cordiale he established with surrounding local bodies in the preparation for Jubilee celebrations of Canterbury.
A main feature of these celebrations was provided by the Canterbury Industrial Exhibition, opened November 1, 1900, in the Canterbury Hall. This hall had then just been completed by two Canterbury institutions, the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, and the Industrial Association; some of the cost also being provided by the public. The opening of the big hall, capable of seating over 3,000 people, was very dramatic, when the fine “Jubilee Ode,” written by Mr. O. T. J. Alpers, and set to music by Mr. Maughan Barnett, was rendered by a choir of over 300 voices. The theme was inspiring, opening with a song of thanksgiving and praise, followed by a tribute to the pilgrims, striking a note of pathos in its reference to the quick vanishing of that aged band. In turn was presented a sombre picture of Canterbury, waste and uncultivated, waiting the quickening arrival of the settlers, and, in sudden contrast, came the joyous bars proclaiming the later vigorous life of the province—
Another feature of the celebrations was the great gathering of pilgrims at Riccarton, under the hospitable roof of Mrs. Deans, a re-union continued annually on Anniversary Day by Mrs. Deans, and after her death, by Mr. Guise Brittan, Mr. John Anderson and Mr. R. C. Bishop.
There was one other celebration of the Canterbury Jubilee which must be referred to, and, as it was in connection with this that I was quite unconsciously led to ​take part in public life, perhaps I may be permitted to tell the story from a personal standpoint. The explanation may serve also as an apology for the apparently inevitable appearance of the personal pronoun in some of the pages that are to follow. The story begins with one morning in 1900, when I received notice that at a public meeting of citizens, I had been elected a member of the Canterbury Jubilee Memorial Committee, and summoning me to attend its first meeting. I did not know then that by the same post about ninety-nine other citizens had received similar notices. In fact, I did not know what the Canterbury Jubilee Memorial Committee was expected to do, and, drawn by curiosity, I attended the meeting to find out. The meeting was presided over by the Mayor, and there was an attendance of about a dozen. The Mayor explained that the object of the meeting was to elect a chairman. The other eleven members present were in turn proposed, but each had had the forethought to come provided with a valid excuse. Then the whole eleven, with flattering unanimity, selected me for the post of honour, overcoming my protests by sheer weight of numbers. The primary duty of the Memorial Committee, I discovered, was to select some fitting object with which to commemorate the Jubilee of the province, and divergences of opinion began to reveal themselves at once. There were three main divisions among the citizens who were interesting themselves actively in the matter. First came those who advocated something ornamental, such as statuary or a fountain; next those who wanted something with a philanthropic motive, like a home for old people, or a hospital ward; and finally a strictly utilitarian group. In illustration of the line of thought followed by the third division, it may be recalled that one Canterbury borough celebrated the coronation by the purchase of a road roller, on which it sought, and I think, obtained the Government subsidy.
Suggestions came from all quarters before the first ​meeting of the Committee. The newspapers, with the best intentions, had opened their columns to the multiplication of new ideas, and by the day of the meeting, the Committee had at least a hundred proposals from which to choose. Thirty or forty members attended, and I began to realise that my position as chairman was no sinecure. No one scheme was likely to have the support of more than five or six members if it had to he put to the meeting. I have presided at many meetings of different kinds since that day, but I do not know now what course I ought to have taken, although it has occurred to me that I might have taken as a precedent my own election to the chair, by first solemnly putting to the meeting ninety-nine proposals, and, after their rejection, declaring the hundredth carried by acclamation. In the end, after many meetings, a decision was reached by a process of compromise, and a Memorial planned which combined a number of separate proposals. The Jubilee Memorial, which now stands in Victoria Square, bears on one panel of its pedestal, the names of Canterbury men who fell in the South African war. On other panels are depicted the arrival of the Canterbury Pilgrims, and the departure of the first Contingent for South Africa, with symbolic figures representing the art, industry and education of the province. The whole is surmounted by a statue of Queen Victoria, under whose rule Canterbury had been founded, and had passed its first half-century. The statue of Queen Victoria is the work of Mr. Williamson, of Esher, and the foundation of the Memorial was laid by His Majesty King George, during his visit to Christchurch as Duke of York, in 1901, and was unveiled on May 25, 1908.
The panel bearing the names of Canterbury men who fell in South Africa was placed in position later, and was unveiled by His Excellency Lord Ranfurly, the Governor, on April 7, 1904, his last public appearance in Christchurch.
Jubilee Memorial in Victoria Square.
Plate 27.
​Perhaps it will be fitting to conclude this chapter with an account of the three Antarctic Expeditions which sailed from Lyttelton. In strict chronological order the story should come later, but it is not one which should be associated with the civic development of Christchurch, with which the next chapter is chiefly concerned.
The departure of Captain Scott, R.N., in the “Discovery,” on December 21, 1901, for the Antarctic, is an event which will long be remembered in Canterbury. The expedition was organised by the late Sir Clements Markham, himself an Arctic explorer, and at that time President of the Royal Geographical Society. The selection of Christchurch as the base of the research party was due ta the New Zealand Magnetic Observatory having been located here, which afforded the scientific members of the staff an opportunity of checking their instruments. The “Discovery” remained for some weeks in Lyttelton before sailing for the Antarctic, and the officers and men made troops of friends, and rarely has Christchurch been stirred to such enthusiasm as it was on that occasion.
This was the first of three expeditions which made their base in Christchurch, the second being the “Nimrod,” under the command of Sir Ernest Shackleton, which sailed from Lyttelton on January 1, 1908, and the third, Captain Scott’s last and ill-fated voyage in the “Terra Nova,” which left Lyttelton on November 26, 1910. The story of each is too widely known to need more than passing reference.
The plan of the first expedition differed from the two later ones in that the “Discovery” wintered in the Antarctic, and Captain Scott had arranged for a relief ship, the “Morning,” Captain Colbeck, to follow the next year. On his arrival, Captain Colbeck found the “Discovery” frozen in, and Captain Scott decided to stand by his ship and spend another winter in the Antarctic, so the “Morning” returned alone. Two ships went south next summer, the “Morning” and the “Terra Nova,” ​and very fortunately, the ice broke up that year, and allowed the “Discovery” to escape. The three vessels returned together, and early in the morning of April 1, 1904, news was passed round that they had been sighted from the Godley Head lighthouse. A great concourse of people collected on the wharves, the Governor, Lord Ranfurly, among them, and watched the three specks on the horizon slowly approaching. For some time, there was a tense feeling pervading the watchers, but at last the signal came “All’s well.” The enthusiasm excited by that arrival will net readily be forgotten, and is in strong contrast with the sad arrival of the “Terra Nova,” on February 10, 1913. She put into Oamaru at 3 a.m., landed two officers, Lieutenant Pennell and Dr. Atkinson, charged with the duty of cabling the Commander’s despatch, and silently put to sea again. The two officers came on to Christchurch by rail that after noon. They were enjoined to silence, and were not recognised, though their identity was suspected, and rumours of disaster were already afloat. Next day, the news of the loss of the entire Polar party was, published. Seldom indeed, has a community been so greatly moved as were the people of Christchurch that day. To many of us the loss was a personal one.
This is not the place in which to comment on the splendid heroism displayed by Captain Scott, Dr. Wilson, Captain Oates and their companions, a story read with mingled feelings of pride and sorrow throughout the Empire. Suffice it to add that a memorial is being prepared to be placed in the reserve opposite the Christchurch Council Chambers. It will include a statue, designed by Lady Scott, of Captain Scott, in Antarctic dress, bas-reliefs of his four companions, and on the base will be engraved the splendid message written by the commander of the expedition, while calmly awaiting his death amidst the eternal silences of the Antarctic.