St. John's Church, Feilding.

Feilding Star, Volume IV, Issue 24, 2 August 1883, Page 2

St. John's Church, Feilding.

Annual Report of the Parochial District of Feilding for the year ending 30th June, ISS3. In presenting their report to the annual meeting, tlie vestry feel confident that its statements will be accepted by the parishioners, as showing on the whole a fairly satisfactory progress during the year. In the vestry itself a change took place by the resignation of Mr Hanltain, to s «pply whose place as Parishioners' Ch v ivh wa rd en, M r Dawson . .w.as elected at a general meeting called for the purposp, on 20th November, 1882. Six ordinary meetings of the vestry ho» been held during the' year. The old custom of monthly meetings, necessary during Church building and other urgent business, was given up during the year, a conclusion having been arrived at that in the more regular and settled routine of Church work now attained, the statul.iry quarterly vestry meeting is sufficient. The services continue to be well attended, but it needs no . explanation to the parishioners that the winter season considerably reduces the number of worshippers. Regular services continue to be held at Makino, by the aid of Mr J. H. Fry ; monthly services are held at Taonui, and quarterly at Awahuri by the Curate. The choir is at present numerous and efficient, but the attendance at practice and services has been somewhat reduced by sickness and bad weather during the last two months. The large additions of membership in the beginning of the year necessitated a new supply of books, and. finding that " Mercer's Psalter," hitherto in use, is falling out of use in the country generally, and therefore becoming increasingly costly and difficult to be obtained, the choir committee decidel , upon the adoption of the "Cathedral Psalter," as the cheapest, most snitable, and most easily obtained. Tfie expense of this change was met out of the. pro--1 ceeds of a concert given on 7th Sept. In the absence of the Curate, the services are now undertaken by Mr H. L. Sherwill, who has been duly licensed for that purpose by the Bishop of the Diocese. The Church has been improved inter-, nally by the new lamps, which arrived ia February, a very handsome reredos, the gift of Mr Clere, the insertion of painted glass in the side windows of the Church, curtains on each side of the holy table covering the east wall to the height of ■ the reredos, a new prayer desk, and r bookboards and kneelingboards in the .choir seats. We are still without a font. Externally the chief improvement is the painting of the church, - which was done in March last. Horse yards and !_ saddle shed have been erected, and were much in use during the summer months ; two lamps have been set up in the Church ground, a good fence has been made along the street frontages, -and some additional planting has been done. The Sunday School continues infair efficiency under a good staff of teachers, now under the supervision of Mrs Jones. There is increasing need for the erection of a school building on the Church ground, there being a large number of children for whom the present situation of the school is inconvenient, and the need of a Church room for general purposes being much felt. The vestry,Tiowever, decided that the financial position of the Church did not warrant the erection of a room at present ; but the ladies of the congregation, with the sanction of the Churchwardens, have organised a sewing bee, which meets weekly at the parsonage, by means of which they hope to raise such a sum as wiU bring the building of a Church School Room within the range of practical consideration by the vestry. A concert was given by the choir in June, the proceeds of which were used for the purchase of materials for the bee. The " i dde Englishe Fayre " held nr January last, did not realise the expectations of the vestry, only a small sum being raised, which was applied to the building fund. ■'■:.-"■ The financial position of the Church ishopeful. Considering the large extraordinary expenditure of the year, it is not surprising that some liabilities remain. As this expenditure has been met almost entirely by the use of the usual methods of obtaining funds, it may well be hoped that in the coming year, wheu no such extraordinary expenditure, will be needed, sufficient funds will be forthcoming tp meet deficiencies and even to reduce debt. The offertory for. the year shews a considerable improvement on previous yearsA lhe drain upon offertory to make up deficit in general fund continues to be large, the greatest deficit being in the December quarter, when the collection for the general funds was somewhat deranged by the resignation of Mr Haultara, whose efficiency as a collector is well known to thie congregation. Tn spite of this, the call made by general fund upon offertory has been less than in any previous year, which, as : the. assessment of the district was considerably increased, indicates a large increase of subscriptions to general fund during the year. Receipts and Expenditure of the Parochial Dishtrict of Feilding from Ist . Jut v. 1882, to 30th June, 1883. . Receipts.— Balance in Bank 3oth June, 1882, £11. 17s 6d; offertories-— Feilding/ £•119 5s 8d ; Awahuri, £2; Bs— £l2l 13s 8d ; donations, £4 10s } total, £138 Is 2d.

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_^-^-„-.- -4tiiujßni__iuJL-i i ■t.wwiijwaagg .Expenditure. -Ordinary verger (Horry), to 15th May, 1883, £20 ; kerosene (Sherwill), £1 18s 2d ; candles (Toungi, 20s lOd, (Morris), ss, £1 5s lOd ; Insurance (National Company). £3 18s 9d ; Sunday School £5 15s ; advertising (Stak), 53s 9d, (Advocate) 7s 6d, £3 Is; hymn books {Carthew), Bs 7d; miscellaneous (Thompson), 9s 2d, (Crichton) 13s lid, £1 3s Id; cheque book, 2s 1 d— £37 12* 7d. In terest, £32 ls; diocesan fund, deficiency, £42 6s lid ; cost of shed (Berry), £9 ; transfer, cost of stamping and registering, .£1 ls. Special offertories — Teneral Church fund, £4 5s od ; general fund, paid in error, also iv above amount, £2 4s 8d ; Maori mission fund, preceding year, £1 17s ld ; pension fund, £1 17s 3d; Melanesian mission, £2 2s; building fund, £1 16s lOd— £l4s 3s 3d. Balance in Bank the 30th June, 1883, £1 16s 5d ; total, £138 Is 2d. I hereby certify that I have examined the above statement, and that the amounts agree with the Church books and documents in the hands of the Churchwardens, and that it is, to the best of my belief, a trne statement of the receipts and expenditure during the period specified.— Edmund Goodeeheee. Eeceipts and Expenditure, Building Fund, Church of St. John, Feilding, from Ist July, 1882, to 30th June, 1883. Receipts — Net proceeds Promenade Concert, £10; subscription Church painting, £12s 2d ; special offertory, £1 16s lOd ; net proceeds "Ye OhA Englyshe Fayre," £22 ls 8d ; total, £46 Os 6d. Expenditure.- Overdraft on 30th June, 1882, £1 Is 6d; Berry, fencing, £5; ■Fowles, painting Church. £31 10s ; Bartholomew, timber, £2 17s 9d ; Deacon and Bushell, freight on lamps, £4 11 s 2d. ■— £45s 5d- Balance on hand, £1 Is ; £46 6d. Hugh L. Shebwill") churc ] iwardens . A. Dawson )