THE PRESBYTERIAN ASSEMBLY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1598, 15 November 1912, Page 3

THE PRESBYTERIAN ASSEMBLY.

FOREIGN MISSION WORK DISCUSSED, NEWS FROM THE FIELD. '. -' The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church.of New. , Zealand.continued its sittings yesterday.. The Moderator (the Rev. Andrew Cameron, 8.A.) presided. . Personal. ; The Rev. Alexander-.Aitken, of t)alry Church, Edinburgh, who is on a visit to New Zealand, was associated with tlie Assembly on tho motion.of the Rev. Dr. Gibb. It was .mentioned that the Rev. Mr.Aitken is a brother of Mr. J. G. \V. Aitkon, an elder of St. John's Church. On the.invitation of the Moderator,-the Rev. Mr. Aitkcn briefly addressed the Assembly. He conveyed friendly, greetings from . tho United Free Church of Scotland/and spoke.of the movement for the unibij'of that church with the Established Church of Scotland. He thanked the Assembly for the honour done him by associating him with the gathering. ■ On the application of the Clutha Presbytery, {the Bev. J.- 11. Spence was given the status of a minister emeritus, with a seat in the. Church Courts. ' Mr. W. Fleming was made a Home Missionary in full standing. ; BENEFIT FUNDS. The Rev. A. M.. Finlayson (Waitati) moved the adoption. of the report of the Beneficiary Funds Committee, which was as follows:—"The credit balance of the Aged and Infirm Miilisters' Fund twelve months ago was .£33,953 Os. lid. The income has been:—lnterest, .£1626 55.; congregations, iESoC ss. 10d.; ministers' entry money, ,£253 10s.; ministers' subscriptions, i£62o 16s. 3d.; donation (Mrs. Begg), J3250; legacy (Mrs. Ross), .£250; other income, .£136 3s. U.; total income, .£3993 os. 10d. The expenditure ' has been:—Annuities, JUSIB 35.; refund, .£l3 2s. 3d.; expenses, ,£l7l 18s. 9d.; total expenditure, .£1733 is. Gd.; leaving JE2259 16s. id. to be added to capital, which now stands at £3G,212 17s. 3d. The number of present annuitants is 21. The credit balance of the Widows' and Orphans' Fund last year was .£34,437 is. Sd. The (income has been:—lnteiesV i) 1726 13s. 2d.; entry money, .£169; subscriptions, .£llO3 12s. Bd.; sundry contributions, £Z; total income, £2H&2 ss.' lOd. The expenditure has been:—Annuities, .£lO4l 17s. 6d.; expenses, .£152 10s. 2d.; total expenditure, X 1197 7s. Bd.; leaving .£1864 18s. 2d. to be added to capital, which now stands at 2s. 10d. Tho annuitants are 27 widows and 5 children. The report was adopted. ■ FIRE INSURANCE. Mr. J. G. W. Aitkeu presented the report of the : Fife Insuranco Fund Com'luittee, which was as follows:— ' Your committee has to report that operations of the fund are steadily increasing. At August 19 insurances were in. force-amounting, to £W,M. They were distributed over 15C churches, and their contents, 83 manse and outbuildings, and 35 schoolrooms and halls and their ■ contents, the property of 141 congregations. Levies unpaid at that date amounted to .£27 3s. lid. Two fire losses have been sustained, both partial, tho schoolroom at Pahu Street, Thames, having been> damaged to the extent of £116, and the church at Foxton involving an outlay of 7s. Gd. Of this .£74 16s. Gd. was' covered by insurance, leaving a.net loss : to the fund of .£72 11s. The 'amount.totho credit of the fund is £ISB.Os. Gd. .Since: tho date to which the above figures refer. the church at Runanga has been totally destroyed by h're, involving tho fund in a loss of £300, none of which is covered by insurance. Somo of the buildings now ■ insured in the-Church Fund were previously not protected by- any insurance, and it is feared that other properties are in a similar position. The committee the Assembly -to again ufte all congregations to loyally-support-the' iChurch Fund, and ,to. direct, church .secrc'taries or treasurers to report to the 'General Treasurer the amount, date, and office in which , their-buildings are insured. ■ The ' report was adopted; '■■" FOREIGN MISSIONS. : NEED FOR -MORE REVENUE. . ' The Rev. n\ Howitson (Knox College, Dunedin) submitted the report of the Foreign Missions Committee, in which it was stated that during tho year the missionaries had/given themselves to their work with sustained devotion and unbroken harmony, whic'lu had made tho committee's co-operation" with them a great ■ pleasure. "Tho health of all. the, staff, with the exception of Mr, Mawson, has been much as usual," it was stated. "He was laid aside forsome time,.. ■ but the last reports of him are quite satisfactory. The Rev. P. Milneis still, in. Edinburgh working at translation and'publication. He expects to leave for New Zealand in November.' Dr. Bowie has been on furlough .in Britain, whore he has been working with great zest at- research. He has won the degree of Doctor of . Tropical Medicine, Liverpool. Mrs. Morris has resigned her position as nurse at Ambrim, chiefly on tho ground of health. For some years she has rendered Dr! Bowie groat assistance, and in her relations with the patients she 'has proved herself a good and kind woman. The committee is making inqniries about a sucoessor to Mrs. Morris, but thinks it inadvisable that an appointment should be'made until after Dr. Bowie's return. Mr. Loie has yielded to frequent pressure, and, with the goodwill of the committee; has taken up the position of Superintendent of tho work of-the Methodist Church in Victoria among the Chinese. Ho served our Church with unfailing fidelity for 13 years. Mr. George Y. T. Cihon, brother of the Rev. W. Chan, and a graduate of tho American Presbyterian College, Canton, is carrying on Mr. Loie's work in Auckland. The Rev. Peter Milne, jun., left Dunedin for Canton on December 13, 1911, and the Bov. T. E. Riddle for India on December 24, 1911. ' . . The following additions were made to the staff:—Dr. Paterson and Mrs. Paterson were appointed to Canton, after consultation witl» the : C.V.M. Council, and en its recommendation. Dr. Paterson expected to roach Canton in October. Miss Hancock and Miss James, when their training in the Institute was finished, were ordained on September 8, 1912, and sailed for Canton on the 11th as representatives of St. Andrew's, Dunedin." The committee naa been in communication with eleven volunteers, four of them Madies,. for foreign mission work. The committee made the following recommendations: — . That a sites and building fund for work in Canton--be opened, and that the balance to the credit of the C.V.M. Hospital Fund be transferred thereto; grants for sTces and buildings in China to be paid from this fund. That a sites and building fund for work in India be opened, and that the amount standing to the credit of tho Indian Hospital Fund be transferred thereto; grants tor sites and buildings in India to to paid out of this fund. That the unexpended balance of the Anderson legacy of .£450 be set .aside to pay for the completion and equipment of the Ambrim Hospital, and to pay for tho renewal of other mission buildings on tho islands. That the committee be authorised to uso for sites and buildings in China cr in India a sum not exceeding -£3000 out of those trust funds which wero given unconditionally for Foreign Mission pur- , poses. The amount expended not to oiceod .£IOOO in any one year. That Miss Ramsay be appointed for another year to work under the direction of thoP.W.M.U. ■ All the recommendihens wera adopted. It was further decided that, of the volunteere for mission work the folloivinß should bo sent away from hew Zealand next yoat: Miss Stubbs, to Ko-Tonß, China; Miss Milne, to hospital work, India; Miss Christcnson, M.Se., to ?ducntienal work, India. The salary ef Miss Stubbs was guaranteed by Knox Church, Christchurch, and that of Miss Milne by the Young Women's Bible Class The-'Rev. Dr. Gibb said he would endeavour to persuade St. John's 'Church', Wellington; to make itself responsible for JJiss ChristonsonV salary. (Applause.) The Rev. W. J. Comric, treasurer of the church, snid he feared the Assembly did. not realise what was involved in the adoption of a recommendation to tend men and women out into the field. New mLs»tonnrtß3 xerq being ftpspjats&.tat $%

congregations were not making additional contributions in proportion. A few years ago there had been a credit balance g! somo thousands of pounds in the J'oreigri Mission Fund, but it had dropped until last year it was only .£IOO. In spite of this he could not advise the Church to do otherwise than to so on, but to go on with a full realisation ot what this would mean. ■ A special vote of thanks was accorded to the Rev. W. Hewitson, convener of theForeign Missions Committee. At this stage- the debate on missions was adjourned until the evening. : Missionaries' Addresses. ■ When discussion of the subject was resumed at 5.20, p.m., The Rev. A. Don, nussioner to the Chinese in Olago, .delivered an address oil. foreign missions work. Ho said that the Missions Committee were most anxious to disseminate information concerning missions by means of literature, ■ but the committee had found it practically impossible to discover by correspondence who would take charge of pamphlets, etc., for sale or distribution. Hβ read letters of greeting from two daughter churches in ; two Canton villages,' and said it was a great day for the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand.when she received greetings from daughter churches nca'rly GOOD miles away. Dr. Oohn Kirk, of the Canton Village Mission in Ko-Tong, conveyed greetings to the Assembly from his comrades in the mission field. The methods of missionary work, he said, were threefold in character -educational, evangelistic, and medical. Teaching was necessary to overcomo that superstition which lived on ignorance. It could not live on truth, and now this, suporstition and idolatry were : being sapped and mined by the teaching of truth. The preaching of the Gospel of. the Kingdom in China had to be definite, for the man whose message was not definite' soon discovered that lie had no message at all.' Only by exceeding definiteness could existing religions bo overcome. Somo of the Chinese preachers were- remarkably gifted in this regard, and he believed that the Chinese Church would one day make its own contribution to the beauty and power of Christian truth. The Chinese workers were the very best, helpers of the missionaries. One of them, who was really good, • was at : least twice, probably ten . times, as' useful as any foreign missionary. The work of educating these --people was, therefore, likely to be immensely effective. The C.V.MV Council in Canton had held a meeting before he left, and the meeting had decided that they required two more ordained men, one to be in evangelistic work in the villages, and the other to be in. secondary school work in the city of Canton. They alse needed a nurse at KoTong, and ho was very glad that Miss Winifred Stubbs had teen appointed. The council had come t<t tho conclusion also that for the normal development of the mission work in the Canton villages it would be necessary to acquire property' and to erect buildings to the value of .£11,400 in. the next two years. He believed the money could bB raised in New Zealand if tho right people could be made really to know what was being done in the mission fields of China. On the motion of the Rev. W. Hewitson, a vote of thanks ' was accorded to the Rev. A. Don and Dr. Kirk for their addresses, and Dr. Kirk was asked to convey the greetings' of tho Assembly to nis fellow-missionaries. It was decided also'to record the gratification of tho Assembly upon the receipt of the letters from the churches in, the Canton villages, and to dispatch suitable replies to them. Missionary Training, ;!■ :The Rev. W. Hewitson moved the', adoption of. the report of the Committee of •the Missionary Training Institute. ■ The report commented on the year's work in tho college, and the comment was generalljr satisfactory in effect. ; The Rev. WV Grant (Gisborne) seconded the motion, which was carried. Miss Ramsay, travelling secretary.of the Presbyterian Women's'- Missionary Union, was ordained a. deaconess. Miss Ramsay has taken.a course of study at the institute. TEMPERANCE REFORM. . 55 PER CENT. MAJORITY RECOM-- -• ■ ;-■■- MENBEpr' : - : ;-- ! :.;■•;•, The Rev. 'A. Millar (Aupkland) moved, the adoption of the report of the Temper-, ance Committee. . ■ The committee remarked upon the fact that the drink bill per head in New Zealand was £3 12s. Cd., in England £3 12s. id., in Ireland .£3 25., and in Scotland : .£3 13s. 2d. The committee recommended., that the Church should support strongly in every possible Way both local . NoLicense and national prohibition, and that a petition should be presented, to Parliament asking (a) that the '55 per cent, majority should be sufficient to carry both local and national .polls; (b) that national prohibition,, if carried, should come into operation two years 'from the date of the poll, and (c) that the principle of one license one bar. be established, and that each bar 6hould open on to the' street. . Speaking to the motion, Mr, Millar said that while the national poll had been entirely satisfactory last year, the majority in favour of local option in the several electorates had not been sufficient to close a single hotel • bar. This convinced him, along with other temperance workers, that the conditions attaching to tho' poll were not equitable. Hitherto the Assembly' had supported the threefifths majority, because it was not deemed wise to subscribe to the full temperance programme of the bare majority. The recommendation of the one license one bar principle, and of making all bars public, was, made because the committee that tho. secrecy of private bars caused many evils. ■ '■ The Row R. Wood (Waikari) seconded the motion. The drink, evil, he said, was no imaginary evil, and history showed that all attempts at.regulation of it hadbeen a failure. Mr. J. E. Burroughs (Auckland), and the F. Rule (Christc'haroh) spoke to the motion, which was carried. TO-DAY'S BUSINESS. Among tho business set down for this morning's meeting of the Assembly'are ■the Bible-in-schools report and tho nomination of Moderator. This evening at seven o'clock the Maori x Mission report will be..presented by the Rev,- G. Budd, Sister Alison, the-Rev. J. I. Monfries, and a Maori elder from Taumaranui will speak briefly on various phases of this work. At eight o'clock Dr. Gibb will introduce the subject of home missions, and among the subsequent speakers will be the Rev. P. B. Fraser, the Superintendent of Home Missions. .