WESLEYAN DISTRICT MEETING.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2737, 24 November 1871, Page 3

WESLEYAN DISTRICT MEETING.

At the sittings on the 16th and and 17th inst., the following was transacted ' The statistics of the various circuits in the district were read, showing that there are 1523 full and accredited church members, and over 10,000 attendants on public worship. The state of the church property was reviewed, and the following buildings were reported as having been completed in Otago daring the year:—Balclutha—A stone church to seat 130 persons, at a cost of L 420. fc-mall churches had also been built at Waipori, in the Lawrence circuit. Permission was granted to the Dunedin trustees to sell the Stuart street parsonage and the Cumberland street church property; als>, to the trus tees at Oamaru, to sell the old church ; and to those of Port Chalmers, to sell a plot of ground. A new church is to be erected at Roxburgh, and a parsonage house at Lawrence. The receipts of the Home Mission and Contingent Fund were found to be L 357 14s 6A ; the expenditure, including travelling expenses to district meeting and conference, and grants to needy circuits amounted to the same sum. A small committee was appointed to consider the propriety of re-or-ganising this fund, committee to report the following morning. Aged Ministers’ and Widow’s Fund —Receipts from circuits. L 179 lla ; ministers’ subscriptions, LI 19 14s; total, L 299 ss. Children’s FundReceipts from circuits, L 285 ; expenditure according to connexional regulations, L 283 10s. The receipts for the Educational Fund were L 43 Is 9cl. The total amount raised for Foreign and Maori Missions in the district was found to he L 96 9s 104 d. After pr. • viding for Te Kote, the native minister at Raupaki, and paying certain contingent expenses, the balance was voted thus Two thirds to the Maori Mission in the North Island, and the remaining third to the Island Missions.

The committee appointed to consider the reorganisation of the Home Mission, and contingent fund presented their report, recommending that the two funds be divided ; the income of the contingent fund to be derived from a levy upon the quarter boards of the several circuits, and collections in tbe district town. The income of the Home Mission Fund to be obtained by collections, donations, and subscriptions in the various circuits; the expenditure of both these funds being under the control of the financial district meeting. During the afternoon’s session, a long discussion took place as to the method of electing the district representative, and it was ultimately agreed to recommend to the Australasian Conference the adoption of the rule recently passed by the British Conference, by which the layman join with the ministers in this election.

A resolution was also passed, recommending that the rule which prevents a minister from returning to a Circuit until he has been absent eight years, should be abrogated. The question of a New Zealand Conference was then discussed. All were agreed as to its necessity, and it was thought that if the matter were rightly put before the Melbourne Conference, in January next, the request preferred by the district meeting for years past would be granted. Resolutions were handed in from several quarterly meetings, asking for special representation on this ground, and agreeing to contribute to the expense. It was agreed that the Revs, A. R. Fitchett and R. Ravin attend the Conference. It was unanimously resolved, “That the cordial thanks of the meeting be presented to the Rev, A. R. Fitchett for his valuable services as the editor of the A r cio Zealand Wesleyan, and that he be re-appointed to that office.”

The stations were read for the third time, and the following list recommended to the Conference for adoption ;—Dunedin, Rev. A. Reid ; Balclutha, Rev. F. W. Isitt; Port Chalmers, Rev. J. S, Smalley; Waikouaiti, Rev. T, F. Reeve; Lawrence, Rev, H, Bull; Roxburgh, Rev. W. H. Beck.