CHURCH MEETINGS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2447, 28 April 1915, Page 4

CHURCH MEETINGS

ST. MARK'S The annual meeting of the'parishioners of St. Mark's was held on Monday' evening. There was a large attendance. The Rev. C. F. Askew expressed deep appreciation of the many tokens of sympathy evoked by his illness. In connection with the war the vicar mentioned that St. Mark's parish had contributed not a few of her sons to take their part in the fight for liberty. "I have to record my deep obligation," said Mr. Askew, "to my. fellow workers in the parish—the Revs. H. W. Thomson and S. Ogden and Sister Constance. Much extra work' has been thrown upon the assistant clergy since tlie middle of January, and that work has been cheerfully and faithfully done." < The report of the Churchwardens and vestry says:—

It is with deep regret that we have to record, that while on his annual holiday, our vicar, the Rev. C. F. Askew, was seized with an illness from which he has not yet quite recovered! We trust that his return to health will be speedy and complote. It is our painful duty to record the death of the Rev. W. F. Long, M.A., who represented this parish in the mission field of Melanesia. He died noblv while rescuing a native lad from : drowning, and his loss is mourned, by ua all. Our missionary priest in. Melanesia will, in future, be the Rev. Frank Ballance, who is at present,working in Banks Islands. Financially, the parish is not in quite as good a position as shown in the last' annual statement. Although we have a. balance in'hand of £94 Is. lid., parishioners will note that we commenced the year with a credit of £237, so that our revenue has fallen short of our expenditure by £143. This deficiency is , partly accounted for • by a decrease in general offertories of £55, and in pew rents of £25. Our offertories are apparently feeling the effects of the many calls on the generosity of our people, and will no doubt again .become normal at the end of the war. The regrettable falling off in pew rents is occasioned by the surrender of quite a number of seats by parishioners who have left the jwrish. The revenue from this source will increase as these vacant pews are relet from time to time. During the year the parish received another of those splendid 'Hbnations which have reached us anonymously for some years past. The amount this : yeay is £356, and, by request of the donor, is devoted almost entirely to foreign missions, particulars of which will be found in the financial statement. The thanks of the whole parish are due to the donor. Another successful sale of work was lipid in Octolier, the amount realised (£212 17s. lid.) being very* little below the previous year's total. The sum of £125 was allocated to general purposes, the balance,-£B7 '17s. lid., to St. Mark's Missionary Guild. Tile parish trust board statement shows a total of £1,258 19s. 7d. to credit of the rebuilding fund, an increase of £51 ss. 7d.. during the year. The collections of tho Missionary, and Benevolent Society have decreased by £1 10s. during. the year. New suljscrihers to this fund are earnestly required to replace subscribers who have left, the parish. We accord our grateful thanks to Mr. G'. H. Chatwin and the ladies and gentlemen who_ assist.' him in this work, tn all probability before .another report is issued Roseneat.il will have been constituted. % separate parochial dietrictj and St, iiwk'6 will tbeu lure lost tM .

last of its outlying districts. With tho cutting-off of Roseneath district, a big financial responsibility will be removed from our parish, and in view of this fact, and, to help the new district in its early days, the vestry has promised financial assistance for eight years, commencing with £80 and reducing tho amount by £10 annually until it automatically ceases. Parishioners -will be asked to ratify this at the annual meeting. The report and balance-sheet were adopted. Ttie election of officers resulted as follows: —Churchwardens, Messrs. W. H. Madeley and W. Jas. Gaudin; Vestry, Messrs. W. F. Ward, G. W. BarTtrop, J. Besant, R. E. Rawnsley, F. J. Caterer, H. Sanders, 0. Eyre, A. J. S. , White, H. S. Hawker, and J. Avory; auditors, Messrs. E. S. lanes and H. Pilcher; Synodsman. Mr. W. F. Ward.

KELBURN PAROCHIAL DISTRICT. _ The annual meeting of the congrega- ! tion of St. Michael and All Angels, Kelburtt, was held on Monday evening. The annual report and statement of accounts for the church year ended March 31 were considered satisfactory, and adopted. The report says:—"The past year can hardly be compared with previous years, owing to unusual circun> stances. In the first place, the Rev A. W. H. Compton was transferred in November to Greytown, and for a few weeks there was no one to take his place. Then the terrible times through which the world is passing have materially influenced ohurch life everywhere. This latter oircumstance has no doubt largely contributed to an improvement in the attendance at the services, and, as a; result, in the offertories also; The special offertories show an increase of £8, largely duo to the offertory for the British and_ Belgian Relief, Fund. Rents and subscriptions to assessment are lower than last year. The balance of general income over expenditure has increased by £32: and special funds by £128. '

"The Ladies' Guild did better than ever before, and Las handed over £77 lis. to the vestry towards the sinking fund. ,It would be a great help and encouragement if more would attend the working party on Tuesday afternoons. . "On the whole, the work of the Sunday school has progressed during the past year. The numbers of boys and girls now attending are - 32 and 48 respectively—a considerable increase." The Vicar the Veil. Archdeacon Harper, having appointed as his warden, Mr. J. Cook, the following gentlemen were elected Parishioners' warden, Mr. H. E. Evans; vestrymen, jfessrs. G. Bell, G. F. Dixon, A. H. Haylock, F. T. E. Johnson, T. Milligan, J. Rowberry, H. M. Stephens, G. N. Sturtevant. W. E. Southwick, and V. B. Willis auditor, Mr. S. G. Hamerton.

KARORI PAROCHIAL DISTRICT. The annual parish meeting of the Karori parochial district was 'held in the church-room on Monday, and was attended by about thirty parishioners. The balance-sheet showed a small increase ill the general offertories, but the offertories for objects outside the parish showed a _ very_ substantial increase. These offerings included £27 for the Belgian Relief Fund, £35 for Foreign Missions, in addition to the support by the Sunday school of, a boy at Norfolk Island in training for the Melanesian Mission, and another lad in CGna. The Ladies' Guild had contributed to the parish funds £82 as the result of a successful sale of work in October. During the year an effort was made to reduoe the debt on the new church, and the sum of £177 was paid off, besides an amount of £50 off the debt on the new vicarage.'. This leaves only £100 debt oil the church, which it is hoped to pay off before it is consecrated in August, 1916, the 50th anniversary of the consecration of the original, church; The vicar, id his address, referring to his predecessor (Rev. Mr. Hansell, j now of the Hutt parish), said that after i nine months' experience of the working of the parish, he found his predecessor had laid- splendid foundations, worthy for any-successor to build upon. The following office-bearers were elected:—Vicar's churchwarden, Mr. J. W. Henderson; people's churchwarden, Mr. T. D. Bellett; vestrymen, Messrs. W. F. Newcombe, H. Cook, R. Caldwell, M. Anderson, L. Porter, A. G. Henderson, S. B. Shortt, R. M. Sunley, W. A. Andrews, and R. H. 0. Caldwell.

BT. ANNE'S CHURCH, NORTHLAND. The annual meeting of St. Anne's parishioners was held at Northland last evening, the vioar (the Rev. C. H. Harvey) presiding. • The various reports of the committees were of a favourable and encouraging nature. It was 6tated that the Ladies' Guild had colleoted the sum of £78 during the year by means of sales of work and "socials." A sum of £175 is now available for the reduction of the church debt. It was also stated that the Sunday school was being erected by the voluntary labour of the men of the parish.

ST. JAMES'S PARISH, LOWER HTJTT The annual meeting of the parishioners of St. James's .parish was held on Monday evening, the Vicar (Rov. A. L. Hansell) presiding over a full assemblage of parishioners. The report indicated marked progress along all the lines of the church's activities. The receipts for the jear amouuted to £648 and tie expenditure to £637. A vote of sympathy with the family of the late Vicar (Rev. J. Jones, deceased) was passed. The meeting unanimously decided to abolish pew-rents, and after June 15 next all sittings in tie church will be free. The following officers were elected:— Parishioners' churchwarden, Mr. A. F. Tosswill; clergyman's churchwarden, Mr. J. 0. Anson; treasurer, Mr. E. G. Woodward; vestry, Messrs. Aldous, Evans, Russell, Staples, Meek, House, Ellis, Kempthorne, W. A. Collott.