MAORI MISSION WORK.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2602, 5 July 1923, Page 2

MAORI MISSION WORK.

ADDRESS BY REV. H. J. FLETCHER. The Rev. H. J. Fletcher, Missionary to the Maoris of Taupo for over 2S years, gave an address in the Presbyterian Sunday School room on the Maoris and Maori Mission last night. He briefly sketched the arrival of the Maori in New Zealand backwards from the arrival of the seven historic canoes in the 14th century to the first arrival of the Polynesians in New Zealand somewhere between the sth and 7th centurv A.D.

The coming of the Rev. Samuel Marsden with Missionaries in December of 1814 and the difficulties they had to contend with were mentioned. Tn particular Hongi’s raids on the Waikato and Rotorua were dealt with as well as Te Rauparaha’s expulsion from Ivawhia and his raids on the west coast of this Island and as far south as Akaroa. The first Baptism in 1815 was given and the rapid spread of the Gospel threafter, under the preaching of the Maori converts, until in 1840 it was said that Missionary work was practically finished. The coming of the Europeans after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi changed the whole aspect of mission work and the misunderstandings over the land question led to the unfortunate Maori War. Mission work suffered to such an extent that in 1870 it had practically ceased to exist over large areas in the North Island. The rise and progress of Maori mission work under the Presbyterian Church was given from the arrival of the Rev. J. Duncan in Foxton up to the present time. Special attention was paid to the remarkable developments in the Tulioe country, where the church now has nine stations and over 25 workers.

The speaker gave an account of an offer made by the Tulioe Maoris of a valuable site at Waimana for a Maori Boys’ College. The site will lie about two miles from the east coast railway line when it is formed between Taueatua and Opotiki. The section comprises 70 acres of good dairy country and it is worth about £3,000. The Assembly authorised the Mission Committee to raise a building fund of not less than £2,000. The speaker had been appointed to visit all the congregations between New Plymouth and Wellington in order to stimulate the interest of people in this attempt to h.elp the Maori boys of Tulioe. The Maoris of Tulioe are asking the church to give the boys a practical training in farm work so that they will be able to cultivate their own lands and they have made the offer as a portion of their contribution to the scheme. The speaker conclu - ded his address by asking his hearers to show a good example of right Christian living to the Maoris among whom they lived.