Church of England parishioners on Sunday last made a gift of a cedar bedroom suite to Archdeacon A.E. Warr and Mrs Warr, after the Archedeacon had preached for the last time as rector in charge of the Port Macquarie parish.

Officially, as from Sunday, Archdeacon Warr has terminated a 48-year ministry with the Church of England in the Diocese of Grafton; he will, however, continue occasional service in the diocese at the direction of the bishop.

Archdeacon and Mrs. Warr are at present busily engaged setting themselves up in their home in Church Street, for what a great many friends hope will be a long and happy retirement, and the bedroom suite was a much appreciated gift.

One piece of the cedar suite, a bedside table and cabinet, was brought to the hall for the presentation.

Great tribute was paid to Archdeacon Warr when the historic Church of St Thomas filled to capacity for the 9.30am service on Sunday morning.

In the time available to him, Archdeacon Warr was able to touch but briefly on his richly rewarding ministry in Australia after migrating from London in 1921.

He spoke proudly, and lovingly, of the last four years of his ministry in Port Macquarie.

Need for Town Hall questioned

A leading Horton Street businessman, who feels that the building of a town hall in Clarence Street would be ridiculous, questions the soundness of constructing a town hall at all.

He considers that most of the functions a town hall would serve, are already catered for by the town's registered clubs.

He feels especially that this applies to conferences, where visiting delegates would have to be shuttled from the hall to somewhere for lunch and for a between session drink.

How much easier to hold the conference in a club auditorium where dining and drinking facilities are readily available, he says.

The businessman felt that a town hall could offer little more than the clubs are doing now, yet would involve enormous expenses for ratepayers.

If a town hall is to be built he considers that it shouldn't be in the Hay-Clarence Street block.

The new post office, he says, is Port Macquarie's biggest business and already has very limited parking.

As the town grows, he added, the strain on the parking near the post office and information centre will become much greater.

The Clarence-Hay Street block should be conserved for a future development of a multi-storey parking area, he thought.

If council used the land for a town hall it might have in future years, to pay big money for a similar block for this purpose.

He called for a survey to study the need for a town hall.

First median strip

Port Macquarie's first median strip in Gordon Street is now complete and business houses and residences are at last enjoying the sealed road after twelve months of dust and mud alternatively.