THE PRESBYTERIAN ASSEMBLY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1600, 18 November 1912, Page 6

THE PRESBYTERIAN ASSEMBLY.

" « HOME MISSIONS SCHEME. COPING-STONE OF UNION. Tho General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand continuod its' sittings on Saturday morning. The Modorator, the ller. A. Cameron, presided. Consideration of the Home Missions Committee's report was resumed. Generally the discussion concerned possible ways and means of raising funds for sustaining and extending tho work of the Church. Now regulations for tho administration of home mission stations were adopted. Eeference was made by the Rev. Dr. Gibb to tho difficulty of securing suitable men to work in home mission stations. Several men had been introduced from the Old Country, and they were- doing very good work, probably because they had received a Measure of' special training before leaving.. Unfortunately, the same was not true of some of the men engaged locally. The homo mission problem would never be solved -until more men were, found to undertake the work, and the only source from which a supply could be drawn was the Home land. It was finally decidod to tako steps to'procure the services of ten suitable men for mission work from Home. The Eev. Dr. Gibb also urged that .the time had come when the Church should take some action with the object of filling its vacant pulpits. It was, impossible to have home mission stations constituted, fully-sanctioned charges, unless tho men could be found to fill them. Even without the mission stations, there were many charges vacant in various parts of NewZealand. On Dr. Gibb's motion, it was decided to empower tho Home Missions Committee to negotiate with the Colonial Committee of the United Free Church of Scotland for the supply of five licentiates of tliat Church for service in New Zealand. It was agreed that the northern and the southern sections of tho Home Missions Department of the Church be united. Tho southern section is that of Otago and Southland. When the two sections of the Church united in 1901,/ it was not thought possible to unite the home mis-' sion sections. This.motion would, it was stated, be the coping-stone of the union. It was carried unanimously. The Assembly did not sit on Saturday afternoon, and most of the members attended the opening of the Presbyterian Orphanage at Berhampore. At 6 o'clock the lay members of the -Assembly were the guests of the Wellington Laymen's sionary Union at tea in Godber's rooms, and in the evening all the members were invited to an organ recital in St. John's Church. .Yesterday visiting ministers preached in tho Presbyterian churches in and around Wellington. A special feature of the day was a sermon preached in the Gaelic tongue at an afternoon service in St. John's Church by the Eev. D. M'Lennon. j THIS EVENING'S PROCEEDINGS. , At seven- o'clock this evening, the report of the Sunday Schools Examinations Committee will be received, and the presentation of the banners and medals won during the year will take place. At eight o'clock the conveners—Eev. J. Mackenzie, M.A., : and Mr. G. A. Troup—will present the Youth of the Church report. Addresses will be given by'the travelling secretaries, the-Rev. G. H. Jupp and Mr. .F. Barton, B.A. Members of Bible-classes and those interested in Sunday-school work are invited to to present.