ined glass. The building was
roofed with teak timber, with a sarking of lighter wood as a lining to
form a contrast, and then covered with slates imported from England.
Over the main entrance is a vaulted dome, with a neat piece of groining
in granite, also made by the convicts. Leading to the organ loft is a
circular well staircase, made from quarter-inch plate iron, the treads
and risers punched with holes by the punching machine in the work yard
to render them lighter. They were bracketed together, and secured by
screw bolts and nuts. The risers were bent round a two-inch bar of round
iron, which passed down through all of them at the centre from top to
bottom of the staircase. The whole was made and fixed in its place by
the convicts.

[Footnote 10:

Archdeacon and Chaplain, Ven. John Perham; }
Choirmaster, Mr. C. B. Buckley; } 1899.
Organist, Mr. E. Salzmann. } ]

[Footnote 11: Colonel Macpherson had seen as a young man the
ruins of the old church and abbey of Netley, or "Letley," as it
was originally called, from the Latin word "laetus," pleasant,
and the Saxon word "ley," a field, and had been so impressed
with the simple character and proportions of the Early English
style of church architecture, of which this was an excellent
example, that when called upon to plan a new church for
Singapore, he, as we say, chose this as his model.

We have a very good account of Netley Abbey given in 1848 by
George Guillaume, architect, and from his description it was
founded in 1239, and was occupied by monks of the Cistercian
order, who were brought over from a neighbouring monastery at
Beaulieu in the New Forest, where there was already an abbey
dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Netley Church was built on a
cruciform plan, and was proportioned according to the ancient
mysterious figure called the "Visica Pisces," as will be seen
in the sketch below from his work.

[Illustration: A Visica Pisces.]

Singapore Church, now, as we have said, the cathedral of the
diocese, has been much admired for its true symmetry and exact
proportion, as well as for the delicate simplicity of its
details.]

As a pattern for the convicts to follow, we built two arches on the
ground, the exact counterpart of those in the building; and, indeed, at
any time when they wanted a guide, we had a model