COLOMBO ROAD WESLEYAN CHURCH.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1227, 8 February 1878, Page 3

COLOMBO ROAD WESLEYAN CHURCH.

The tea meeting held yesterday in the grounds of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, in connection with the celebration of the opening of the Colombo road church, must be considered to be one of the most pleasing features of the programme arranged by the clergyman and the committee. The meeting was held in one of the largest marquees which has been erected in Ohristcnurch, and about 370 persons sat down in front of the floral displays and luxuriantly provided tables. As indicating the attention paid to the good things provided by the Waltham ladies, it is only necessary to mention that the tables were re-laid three times, giving a total attendance of, say, 800, for that must have been at least the number provided for. Scarcely was the tea meeting concluded when the church was crowded to excess. The platform reserved for the speakers was with difficulty reached, and a large proportion of the audience consisted of ladies, whose dresses, combined with modest festoons of greenery distributed through the church, had a most pleasing effect. After a hymn and prayer, the Bev. W. Morley, president of the Wesleyan Conference, opened the proceedings with a few appropriate remarks, in which ho referred to the subsequent speakers, and which were heartily received. There was, he said, one gentleman well known to them who had been asked to preside that evening. He had only, he knew, to mention that the gentleman was Mr 0. W. Turner, to have that name received as that of one who had done much for their church, [Applause.] Mr Turner on ascending the platform, when he was received with immense applause, said he occupied that position with much gratitude for the remarks of the president. Perhaps having arrived at that stage it would bo as well to come to business, and he would ask their minister, who was so well prepared, to lay before them his statement. He meant, of course, the Bev. J. S. Smalley. The Bev. Mr Smalley, who was received with loud commendation, said his first duty, after expressing thanks for their kind reception and large attendance, would be to tell them something about the first of the business which had brought about the present satisfactory results. The circumstances were these: —At a meeting of Durham street trustees in May, 1876, attention was called to the rapid growth of population in the southern part of the city, and the desirability of erecting a central church. A meeting of office-bearers and others was held in Harper street Church on June sth, 1876, when the project was approved, and a committee was formed to purchase land, &c. It was then contemplated to expend £3500, and the quarterly meeting sanctioned the undertaking on condition that £1250 be subscribed before tenders wore accepted. By October the plans were modified, and the amount to be obtained before accepting tenders was reduced to £9OO. Competitive plans were called for, and the premium awarded to Mr Lambert. In March, 1877, plans were requested from Messrs Crouch and Wilson, of Melbourne, and in April the plans from which the present building is erected were obtained, and tenders called for. The original plan provided two large vestries at the rear, with an organ chamber above. Want of funds obliged the committee to dispense with those in the meantime, and thus Mr Goss’s tender was reduced from £2599 to £2OOO. The founda-tion-stone was laid on July sth by Mrs Geo. Gould, and since then the work has been rapidly pushed forward. The thanks of the building committee are due to Mr Goss for the care with v, hich he carried out his contract, and to Mr Lambert, the architect, who has attended to the details of the plan and superintended the The following was an approximate financial statement : Income—Cash actually received by the treasurer, viz., subscriptions collected by Bev. W. Morley in Durham street congregation, £455 ; sale of land, £275; subscriptions from South Christchurch, £265; £965. Subscriptions, &c., collected by Mr C. W. Turner, £3OO. Subscriptions collected by twenty-five ladies, say £227. Proceeds of soiree, &c., at founda-tion-stone laying, £6l 6s. Estimated proceeds of opening, £1553 6s. Services —Last Sunday, Colombo road, £57 12s 7d; Durham street, £lB 18s; say £l5O. Subscriptians, &0., still due, £100; £IBO3 6s. Expenditure —Cost of site, £200; builder’s contract, £2001; extras, say £SO ; premium on original plans, architect’s fees, &c., £136; clerk of works, say £SO; fencing, say £25 ; advertising, printing, and sundries, £35; matting, &c., say £3O ; £2527. The Chairman desired to explain that, in buying the land, ho had only exercised ordinary business judgment for the benefit of the committee. The meeting, however, while recognising their responsibility to the committee, heartily acknowledged their responsibilities individually to Mr Turner. The meeting was subsequently addressed by the Bev. the President of the Conference, the Bevs. J. S. Smalley, J. Gittos, J. Neilson, and Messrs Connal and Smith. _ During the evening some prettily arranged concerted sacred items were rendered, with tune and evenness, under Mr G< Daltry and Miss Hall at the harmonium, and altogether the gathering was tfie most successful of the evep Jaejii in C&^erburjr,