ALL SAINTS’ PARISHIONERS’ MEETING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1972, 3 May 1919, Page 1

ALL SAINTS’ PARISHIONERS’ MEETING.

The annual meeting of the parishioners of All Saints’ parochial district was held in All Saints’ school-* room on Monday night. The vicar, the Rev. W. Raine, presided over a moderate attendance. After opening the meeting with prayer,■ ;the Vicar read his annual report dealing with the work of the parish for the past twelve months. Mr A. J. Kellow, vicar’s warden, then presented the bglance-sheet, which showed a balance in hand of £42 5s 4d. This report was adopted. The Vicar then announced that Mr Kellow had consented to act as his warden for the ensuing year, which announcement was received with applause. For the office of people’s warden the Vicar proposed Mr A. S. Easton. In doing so, he stated that

this would be Mr Easton’s 37th consecutive term of office, which must surely be a record for New Zealand. He further dwelt on Mr Easton’s long and faithful service to the church. The motion was seconded and carried unanimously. The election of vestrymen resulted in the appointment" of the following gentlemen: —Messrs P. Robinson, C. 11. Symons, E. Barber, W. Kye, D. Christie, Tyer, C. Spiers, L. J. Furrie, A. Crowe, and R. T. Betty. A vote of thanks was passed to Mr F. Symes for kindly auditing the balance-sheet, and he was asked to accept the position of auditor for another year. The work of the Ladies’ Guild, which is the main financial stay of the parish, was warmly approved, and a hearty vote of - (hanks was accorded (hem. A vote of thanks was also accorded to Mr Betty, and the choir, for their faithful work during the year. It was decided to raise a fund to provide a “Peace Memorial” in the Church,

The Vicar’s annual report was as follows:

“It affords me pleasure to present my fifth annual report, and first of all, I must thank you for the sympathy and help of another year, and also for your Easter offerings, and the kindly feeling to which they bear witness. Before beginning the survey of our own work and needs, there are two outside events, both of which affect us, to which I must refer. First, my last year’s report closed with these words: ‘I trust this year may be a year of progress, and witness the victory of our allied forces.’ I thank God the wish has been fulfilled. ‘The Giver of All Victory’ has given us the victory. Our men are returning by (heir thousands, and hearts everywhere are throbbing with joy. We hope soon that peace will be finally consummated and the weapons of war laid down for ever. It seems at present that: the difficulties of peace and reconstruction are as great and serious as any of the problems of the war, and they are going to demand as much thought, care, sacrifice and prayer as were called forth by the darkest moments of 1914. Peace once disturbed is not easily restored. Industrial unrest, the native restlessness in Egypt and India, the chaotic condition of Russia, Jills the heart with foreboding. Is there any panacea ? I believe there is. We read, “and the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.’ With what result? Order came out of disorder, peace and harmony reigned, everything was very good. We have the same need now. And the same Almighty Spirit of God, working through His church, the company of all faithful believers, can alone bring this peace, harmony and concord for-which the world is longing with aching heart. And I hope, ere this year closes, we shall see the complete restoration of goodwill and order, all mankind living peaeably together.

“To commemorate the coming of peace, an idea will be brought be-

fore you to-night, to erect a per-' inaneut memorial in our church. “The other event was the death of the Yen. Archdeacon Paneourt, after a long illness and much painful suffering. This is a loss that will he felt by every parish throughout the diocese. He came to Wellington in 18(57, so had 51 years of active work in the diocese. These years gained for him a wide experience in, and an unrivalled knowledge of, the needs of the diocese. It would take too long to tell how, by his work and gifts of organisation, he was largely instrumental in building up our Church. Suffice it to say that a Saint of God has been called to his rest, and the Church here loses one of her most valued servants. Of his kindness and sympathy I cannot dwell in detail, but many a parish priest has lost a true friend, helper and sympathiser. May the Eternal Father grant him rest and peace, and may light perpetually shine on him.

“.In turning to our own work, I um glad to be able to bay that under all the circumstances the past year has been a most successful one, and (he prospects are cheering. We started the year with a balance in hand of £335 1.4 s 3d, and we finished the year with £42 5s 4d in hand, in addition to this, the Ladies’ Guild lias a balance in hand of £7O 16s 3d, part of which has been allocated to a special need — the erection of a much needed shed at the vicarage. Our ordinary offertories were £IOO 7s 4d, compared with £ll2 Is 5d for the past year, while the special offertories were £35 3s Bd, against £35 10s 0d for the preceding year. This is highly satisfactory,. when we think of the number of people moving and all the sickness and unrest attendant on (he epidemic. The subscriptions were £77 8s (id, compared with £OS 11s Gd for the year previous. You will see that we are entirely dependent on special efforts to maintain a sound financial position, and if anything should interfere with the holding of the success of our annual bazaar our finances are straitened. "We shad feel the pinch for a month or Uvo this year. There is no doubt in my mind that we have not yet got the perfect system of finance, and the incoming vestry will have to consider ways or means of increasing our subscriptions. It is still a regret to me that the freewill offering scheme we inaugurated was allowed to die. 1 would plead to all who have the welfare of our church at heart to consider very carefully this matter of finance. J£ wo could increase our offertories 50 per cent, it would be a great help, and this is possible. I suppose we all fee! that at the very least we ought to attend Church once a Sunday, and according to our means we give a certain sum. But what of the Sundays when we are prevented by illness or weather from at lending ?_ ' The Church is the poorer for our absence. Take the Sundays during (he epidemic, when the church was compulsorily closed. Our finances suffered, and were never made up. So I appeal to each one, as a matter of conscience and duty, to lay aside each week a certain sum for God’s work, and to give it when you come to church. In this way our finances would be considerably strengthened, and our dependence on other efforts proportionately decreased.

“The Sunday school: I can not sufficiently well express my feel(Concluded on page 4.)