BISHOP IN BACKBLOCKS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1699, 15 March 1913, Page 21

BISHOP IN BACKBLOCKS.

' INTERESTING EXPERIENCES.

The Anglican Bishop of Auckland (Dr. Crossley) lias just returned from an extensive tour of the North, where ho had some interesting experiences. On the night of February Ift ho was staying at the hotel at Kawakawa. At about three o'clock in the morning the inmates were roused by the cry of "Fire," and oil emerging from their rooms found the hotel stable in flames. Fortrtnately there was not a breath of wind, and tho liro did not spread. The Bishop informed au Auckland "Herald" representative he fully realised tho feelings of powerlessness experienced by those in country towns where no better fire-fighting appliances than a bucket brigade are obtainable. The most interesting service held was in the back-blocks settlement of Que. The Bishop's party went by launch to Kohukohu, and drove from tliero through a magnificent, gorge about twclvn mile* inland. Tho settler at whose house the servico was held feared tliut his modest dining-room would >not- hold the congregation, so he took down the partition between tho dining-room and the Viichen, in order to provide more accomimdatton. This is only one illustration of tho willing self-sacrifice of the back-hlocUn settlor to assist the Church. In hi 9 address to the peoplo at this settlement, the Bishop urged them to. erect a church for "themselves, and before he left one settler offeied an admirable site, and another enough standing timber to construct tho building. "Porhapß the most unique servloe t held was at a timber mill not far from Kawakawa," said Dr. Crossley. "We drove up about five o'clock, as the men were coming from work. One man who we tailed upon and invited to attend tho service was working in bis kitchen. 'I will come if you will baptise my lnddio,' he informed us. I. gladly assented, but had some difficulty in finding a suitable place to hold tho service in. The only building available was a shed containing a billiard-table, and with this as my font, pulpit, and reading-desk combined, I held a baptismal, service, and baptised four little children/'

The Bishop was much struck by the number of settlers from Taranaki and the South Island, men with skilled knowledge of farming methods, who are tuking up land in the north.. The country, he said, was not only burned brown, but might bo described as the "Black North," fiTes having swept in all directions. Settlers were anxiously awaiting rain. The Paparoa district was visited by Dr. Crossley for the first time, and there he held a most successful meeting in aid of the Bible-in-Schools League. Two of the day-school teachers present spoke admirably in favour of tiie cause. The visitor was-much struck by the singular beauty of the sea and river frontages in this district, and is of opinion that when the railway reaches tho district there will bo a wonderful development, as >vell as increased tourist traffic.

"I was given two interesting mementoes of Bishop Selwyn wheh in the North," ho said. "One was an iron, punch ho always carried with him, well worn with much use, and the other was one of the last letters ho wrote before he lntrurned to New Zealand. It is curious in that it is signed Bishop of New Zealand afid Lichfield. I am trying to make a memorial collection of Selwyn letters, which I propose to leave as a legacy to Bishopscourt.

A good deal of interest has been created, in- the North in cbnnefition with .the llarsden Centenary, and tho Bishop took tho opportunity of speaking on tho subject in various places.