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Arohanui: Letters from Shoghi Effendi to New Zealand

  • Author:
  • Shoghi Effendi

  • Source:
  • Bahá’í Publishing Trust of Suva, Fiji Islands, 1982 edition
  • Pages:
  • 104
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Pages 68-69

(61) July 24, 1955

Secretary, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand
Dear Bahá’í Brother:
…The news of the purchase of the Hazíratu’l-Quds in Auckland was most welcome. The acquisition of this building is really one of the pre-requisites for the formation of the National Assembly of New Zealand; he hopes that the impetus this has given to the work of the Faith there, combined with the devotion of the Bahá’ís will speed the formation of local Assemblies, which alone constitute the necessary firm foundation for the National Body, a Body which will be one of the direct pillars supporting the International House of Justice. He urges, therefore, your Assembly to give all the teaching help it can to New Zealand; and to encourage the believers there to do their utmost to achieve their goals….
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers:
…The purchase of the Hazíratu’l-Quds in Auckland, as the future headquarters of the New Zealand National Spiritual Assembly, is another accomplishment that merits the highest praise….
…The establishment of Bahá’í endowments in the Dominion of New Zealand is yet another responsibility devolving upon their elected national representatives, a responsibility which should be discharged prior to the emergence of an independent national assembly in that distant and promising island.
Whilst these immediate goals are being steadily and resolutely 69 pursued, attention should, likewise, be particularly directed to the vital need for the constant multiplication of isolated centres, groups and local assemblies, as well as to the necessity of increasing, to an unprecedented degree, the number of the avowed adherents of the Faith who can directly and effectively contribute to the broadening of its foundations and the expansion of its nascent institutions. Particularly in the Dominion of New Zealand, where a pillar of the future Universal House of Justice will soon be erected, must a fresh impetus be lent to this vital process which can alone reinforce the foundations on which this projected institution must ultimately rest….
(Extract, ibid., pp. 123, 125, 126, 127)