BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2337, 19 December 1914, Page 12

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

/Br Liber.). THE ANCLICAN CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND. Three new books, of 'special interest to members of the Anglican Church, have recently been published, These are "A History of the English Church in New Zealand," by H. T. Purchas, M.A., vicar of Glemvark and Canon of Christohurch Cathedral (Simpson and Williams, Christchurch); "Letters from Mew Zealand 1857-1911, being some account of life and work in the province of Canterbury, South Island," by Archdeacon Henry W. Harper (Hugh liees; price 3s. fid) j and "A Great Missionary Pioneer; The Story of Samuel Marsden's Work in New Zealand"; by Mrs. 12. M. Dunlop (The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; price Is. 3d.). Of 'the three books above mentioned that by Canon Purchas is by far the most important. For the first time tha story of the growth and development of tlie English Church in the Dominion is set forth with a generous wealth of detail, well arranged, and expressed with praiseworthy clearness. The book written on the same subject some years ago by Dean Jacobs' had its merits, but it was for the most part a constitutional history. Canon Purchas has enjoyed' (the advantage of access to much interesting material unknown or inaccessible to his predecessor, and his work is specially valuable in containing many interesting pen portraits of the early missionaries and others who have distinguished themselves in the building up of the Anglican Church in Wow Zealand. The difficulties against jvhicli tha founders of the Church had to oonteud were such as might well have deterred less stout-hearte<l men than were the pioneer missionaries and clergy of the earlier periods, and as;the reader peruses the pages of Canon Purchas's book he cannot fail to be struck by the wonderful spirit of 6eir-sacnhce, devotion: to duty, and true Christian, courage, which cnaracterised those who laid, and laid so hrmly and well, the foundations of the Church in this land. The book deals with three periods in Church history on iNew Zealand. In the hrst wo have the visit of Te Pahi to iNew South Wales and his meeting with Marsden, which bore fruit, in ltii3, in the arrival of the JUi6siou in New Zealand, and the landing of. Marsden at the Day oi islands on Christmas Day, 1814. The growth of the Mission, the visit to England of Hongi and the Hev. Mr. Kendall, the return "of Hongi, and the tribal wars which followed, are then 'descnibed. Next comes an account ot the arrival of Henry Williams and of the slow but steady extension of Church enterprise in the Jb'ar North. In Chapter VI wo meet Maunsell, Broughton, and Octavius Jladlield for the hrst time. Gradually the mission work was extended further and further fiouth. until, in the later thirties and earlier forties, we have the visit to Port Nicholson oi Henry Williams and Hadheld, and the journey of the former up the Whangauui Hiver.

The second period commences with the ucw situation created by the arrival of Lho New Zealand Company's immigrants, and, }et more important event, the coming ot Bishop Selwyn, of whose first tours up the West Coast to Now Plymouth, and then across the island to the Bay of Plenty, and through the Waikato, an interesting desenpuon is given. Later on we have references to the establishment of St. John's College, to the Wairau tragedy, and to the part played by Hadheia and Wiremu Kingi in saving Wellington from attack \uy the Natives. The general history of the Clvureh, with detailed accounts of its more important phases, is continued up to the conclusion of tlie Maori War and the acceptance by Selwyn of tho Lichfield bishopric. The third period brings us up to the piesent day, tne hnal chapter jaeing devoted to the work of the Church now that it is firmly established as a lasting agency of Christian effort in the Dominion, the administration of the Church, its educational and charitable enterprises, the Maori Mission, and other features of the work being dealt with in detail. To do justice to Canon Purohas's work would make too heavy a demand on my space. It teems with interesting charactersketches, :and in its careful analysis and much documented narrative of the vari-: ous events recorded is an achievement upon which the author deserves warm congratulation. The illustrations, which are numerous; include portraits of Marsden, Honry Williams, and the New Zealand bishops in 1914,, views of the old mission settlements, and pictures of some of the more notable churches in the Dominion. . The price of the work is not .stated on the copy sent for ier view.

The letters of which Archdeacon Harper's book is composed were written to an English friend, Mr. Francis St. John Thackeray. Largely dealing with the author's personal experiences, which in the earlier period of his clerical career were often far from being unexciting, and unworthy of being recorded, tho letters discuss, incidentally, many problems of importance which the Church in New Zealand has had to solve. Early in the book we get a glimpse. of tha picturesque personality, Bishop Selwyn. Arriving at Port Lyttelton, in the ship Egmont, the Harper family were met and welcomed by the famous Bishop of New Zealand. It was through the influence of Selwyn, it may be noted, that the author's father, was persuaded to come out to Now Zealand as first Bishop of Christchurch in the Canterbury Settlement. The Archdeacon tells how a boatswain on the Southern Gross, Bishop Selwyn's yacht soon enlightened tho nowcomers as to the sort of "masterful man" his master was.

"Why, sir, not long ago, over then hills yonder, wo went wtih the yacht into Akaroa Harbour. ... There was several whaling vessels there at anohor, two Frencnies, and one Yankee, and an English vessel from Hobarton. We knowed tho place, as wo had bin there before, and the Bishop, he wanted to visit the wife of a settler, that wasn't well. So we rowed him to the heach, and waited with the boat, while he went up a little way to a house and went in. We was sitting there yarning, when presently wo saw the door of the house bang open, and out came, ■ flat on his face all along the ground, a big slab-sided Yankee, and after him the Bishop's foot and leg. The chap picked himself up, shook his fist at tho door, and came down to the beach with his mouth full o' bad words, and off he goes to his own boat. Fact was, he had been insulting the woman, and the Bishop, lie just kicked him out of the house. You see. sir, he wasn't accustomed to a. Bishop like ours." Archdeacon Harper gives a- .very interesting account of his first parochial work. His pastoral district had an area of 900 square miles, stretching from Christchurch to tho Southern Alps, with a population of sheepfarmers, shepherds, and labourers, in all, in 1801, but some four hundred souls. In 1864 he went Homo to obtain suitable men for the Church, and in 1866 went to Hokitika, romaining on "Tho Coast" until 1875. His n«xt sphero of workwas at Timaru, where, in course of time, he was instrumental in having built one of the finest Anglican church edifices in the Dominion, a work only completed in r IDO9, He has, of course, much to say,, of Church work in Canter-

bury, especially in Christchurch and Timaru, and gives an interesting account of the establishmant and working of the Diocesan Church Fund system. Ho finally retired from active Church work in 1912. In addition to his many interesting descriptions of Now Zealand life, tho author gives some noteß on his trips to Europe. Several well reproduced illustrations add to the interest of the text.

In view of the approaching Marsden Centenary, to be celebrated on Christmas Day, Mrs. E. M. Dunlop's unpretentious but useful and interesting littlo volume should have a wide sale. Tho author skilfully -sets forth the main events of Marsden's long and useful life, preceding her account of his work in New Zealand by a summary of the story of the Maori discovery of New Zealand, tho coming of Tasman mid Cook, and the tragic story of the "Boyd" massacre. Of the noble part played by the energetic and brainy Yorkshireman _ who laid tho foundations of the Christian Church in New Zealand, Mrs. Dunlop writes at some length, quoting many curious and interesting tacts which will bo new to many present-day New Zealanders who have not made any special study of tho early history of their country. An arrangement, by tho author, of an ancient Maori legend of tho rata or New Zealand Christmas tree, a legend which, Mrs. Dunlop says, "appears to foreshadow some understanding of tho beautiful story of Christianity,"! is given as an appendix, and a glossary of the Maori terms used in tho book was a happy thought.