BISHOP SELWYN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 31 August 1942, Page 1

BISHOP SELWYN

CENTENNIAL SERVICES AT MOTUEKA i LARGE ATTENDANCES YESTERDAY The Maori Church, “Te AhUrewa”, ! was well filled with a Maori and pakeha congregation on Sunday morning when the Bishop of Nelson, I the Rt. Rev. P. W. Stephenson and the Bishop of Aotearoa, the Rt. Rev. j F. A. Bennett, took part in a Selwyn 1 Centennial service.

Bishop Bennett took the communion service, assisted by the Bishop of Nelson.

In his address Bishop Bennett referred to the fact that Bishop Selwyn had arrived in Motueka just a hundred years ago. The first service he took was for the Maori people. He slept the night in a Maori house, where several bundles of fern were deposited on the earth floor, upon which he slept soundly. Next day he conducted a service for the English people. These services were held at the old church cemetery in Thorp street. Reference was made in his journals to a MaorLsettlement named •‘Amate” which was opposite the present Maori church. Before Selwyn arrived in New Zealand he had learned sufficient of the language to enable him to conduct a Maori service at Motueka shortly alter hi.: arrival in New Zealand. He had met a young Maori on* the sailing vessel on the voyage out. Selwyn. Bishop Bennett said, rose rapidly in the service of the church once he made up his mind to spread the Gospel. reaching, as he did. consecration at the early age of 33. the minimum age according to Church law. The preacher continued: “The Bishop of Nelson and I regard it as a privilege as followers of Bishop Selwyn to be in this Maori church of Ahurewa to-day to join with you in celebrating the centenary of Selwyn’s mission in this district.” SERVICE AT ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH For the afternoon service at St. Thomas's the congregation filled the church to the doors, the service being conducted by the Bishop of Nelson, with the vicar, the Rev. W. A Beaumont.

In an eloquent address Bishop Bennett referred to the high personal qualities of Bishop Selwyn. tracing his career down from his youth through eventful days of his life in New Zealand and back home to his last days in England. Selwyn had become so attached to the native race of New Zealand and to the work of the Church in this outpost that his last words included a message spoken in Maori to a people he had learned to love so much. Bishop Bennett said that the records showed that Selwyn had toured the whole of the North Island down one coast and up the other, on foot.

During the Maori wars he was ever on the alert in mediation. “On such occasions this man of God.” said the preacher, “became suspect from both sides, but he bore the false accusations with the fortitude characteristic of this just man.” The Bishop spoke of the special associations the district of Motueka had with this early missionary. In those early days a Dr. Greenwood had made a personal gilt of some thirty acres of land in Motueka to Selwyn in recognition of his humanitarian services. Selwyn passed the gift on to the church authorities: and he revealed that the congregation he was addressing was seated on part of the same property. The Maoris, too. had had the unique experience of hearing, probably for the first time, a sermon in Maori delivered by a pakeha preacher. . The Mayor. Mr W. J. Eginton, and councillors of the Motueka Borough Council, were present at the service The Bishop of Nelson thanked Bishop Bennett for coming down from the North Island to assist him in the Selwyn centenary celebrations throughout the diocese. He remarked that in one respect the Bishop of Aotearoa was like Bishop Selwyn in that both had the whole of New Zealand to cover.

Later in the afternoon Bishop Bennett left for Takaka for the evening service there, making his third for the day.