THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 1, 3 November 1869, Page 3

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

To the Editor of the, Tuapeka Press. Sir—Doubtless it appears" to some persons' p,' good deal strange that subscription's in aid of the abovenamed church should have recently been solicited, and that a lecture should have been delivered for the same object, while practically the ShurcH seem 3 dead. Some explanation is, I think, needed, and I propose with your permission, to oiler it. When the Eov. M. H. Martin left Lawrence, the Committee was compelled, iii order to act honorably towards him, to borrow a sum of moiiey to make up his stipend, a<3", through various causes —want of time, and'so on—the stipend fund had not been entirety Collected.' With rarious other matters which were then owing, this left the Committee £l5O in debt. Towards the defraying of that debt, since Mr Martin left, upwards of £SO have been' collected and paid ; and the Committee now sees its way clear to the total abolishment of the debt in the course of a comparatively short time. The. Right Rev. the Pritnato of New Zealand has kindly undertaken the task of procuring a clergyman for the cure of Lawrence, Wethorstoncs, Blue Spur, and' Wuitahuna, and at the present time ail advertisement inserted by his Lordship is appearing in' the Melbourne Argus. I trust, therefore, that all those who have the welfare of our church at heart—that all those who prize her services, and hold sacred the duty of upholding the faith in' which they were privileged to'bo reared—will wait with becoming patience the advent of a clergyman ; and that they will feel assured that? although seemimjlij the Committee has been idle since the Rev. Mr Martin left, they will shortly me that it has been otherwise, afefl that i;he affairs' of the church, amidst great ditlictllties, have been tended to the best of the ability of those to whose care they have been entrusted. —1 am, ic.', John L. Sir.unTKM Kkkv. LftwVejirt-, SftMi Out., I'Sfifi.'