ALL SAINTS' CHURCH.

Otaki Mail, 2 May 1923, Page 2

ALL SAINTS' CHURCH.

PARISHIONERS' MEETING. The annual meeting of parishioners in connection with the above was held last night, the Rev. G. F. Fetrie, M.A., presiding. There was a fair attendance.

Mr L. St. George stated that only one nomination —that of Mr G. M. Lethbridge—had been received for the position of Synodsmun. and declared him elected. The Rev. Petrie spoke in high terms of the way Mr Lethbridgo had carried out his duties in the past, and considered him the right man for the position. The Vicar's report was tlien read and considered highly satisfactory, while the statement of receipts am. expenditure, presented by .Mr St. George, was looked upon as being very gratifying, the credit balance at the end of .March last being £lO3 0s 2d. Mr SI. George also presented his annual report.

A r otes of thanks were accorded H members of both Mission Guilds, it being freely admitted that, all had done good work. Complimentary referenct was also made to the line work done by Mr Kershaw.

It was agreed that new music for the! Church was necessary, and after a brief discussion i; was agreed to set aside £3, Station Sunday School. The Chairman mentioned that some £2O had been spent on the Station-room to put it ill order. .More work, however, required to be done.—lt was agreed to give the room further attention with a view to letting it for socials, etc. Motor-Car for Vicar. Mr W. M. Simcox considered the time «as opportune for the purchase of a motor-car so as to allow the Vicar bet tor facilities for t ravelling to Te Horo and Manukau, and other part- of the district. The Chairman said sometimes he had as many as live services in a day. and had to'travel 30 to +0 miles. Il had , been agreed to some time ago that a car was necessary, lie added that the motor-cycle, now six years' old. was IK>rve-rackillg and disastrous to one's health. The Ladies' Guild had stated that it would be -able to help after Ihe painting of the Vicarage and as this had been done he saw no reason why a car should not be procured. I'ahautanui —one of the poorest of pari-he had a car.

Mr St. George favoured the purchase of a car. and as Te Horo and Manaknu received a direct benefit he saw no reason why -uch places should no! help bear the expense. After further discussion Mi' Simco.v moved that the time had arrived for the parish to purchase a ear. and thai immediate steps be taken to carry out the suggestion, The motion was declared curried unanimously.

Election of Officers. The election of officers resulted;— Vicar's Warden, Mi- W. Best fre-elect-cd); People's Warden. Mr 1.. St. George (re-elected); Vestry - , Mrs Batching. Messrs W. M. SimcOx, s. Simcox, F. Dunn. H. Xicolson, E. X. Lanehester, J. Brooker, C. 11. Williams. W. P. Ker-haw. S. Norgrove: Central Parochial Committee. Messrs W. M. Simcox, W. Best, and L. St. George; auditor, Mr 11. C. K. Stahle. Complimentary reference was made to the splendid work of Messrs Best and St. George, and it was only after much pressure thai the latter agreed to again accept office of People', Warden Refreshments were supplied by the ladies, who were accorded a hearty vote of thank- tor their thought fulness. Church-Warden's Report. The Church-Wmdens reported:— ''Mr Chairman and fellow Parishioners:—Once again it becomes our duty to give an account of our stewardship. In presenting the- Church-warden's report and annual statements we arc pleased to report favourably that ad! Church

fund- are in a very satisfactory state. Owing to our financial year closing tight on Easter this time, and the Banks being closed, We were unable to lodge some' £26, appearing in our statements a- for certain specific objects. such a- social service and likewise our cheques were not presented at the other end until after Easter holiday.-. However instead of showing tkese »nio""t> as cash-in-hand and amounts owing, I have placed them in their proper order. so that Parishioners may sec how we stand. I may state that I hold receipts tor the amounts in question. Tour subscription- to the Stipend fund -.sere £lO below last year, being £72 9s lOd. and your general offertories were £l3 10s short, being £.174 12s 7d. You will note that these two main r-ourcc., of revenue show rather a di-appoiming drop of £23 10s. On the other hand your offertories to special objects am-

ounted to £63 lis. being an increase of £l4, and your subscriptions to various deserving causes were a decided advance on last year, being £34 16s 6d against £ls 15s —an increase of over i £l9, so that Otaki has given £33 more to outside calls and special offertories than last year, namely a total of £lOl 7s fid. Now, tiii- i- f-ertainly a step in the right direction, but as your Trustees of local fund, we would welcome si) increase in the Stipend subscriptions. As the district grow- this fund should show a steady annual increase. We are pleased to mention that our mainstay has been the All .Saints' Ladies' Guild, which has hf-en the means of augmenting our genera! Church fund during the year by £lO5. This amount was credited to the general Church fund this year: during all previous year.- the Guild has worked for the Vicarage. f UE ,i Wc art - indebted to the .Junior Mission Guild for a further grant of £5 for purchase of Churchservice books, and we take this opportunity of heartily thanking both Guilds for their ioya.l support. Manskau and Te Sore subt<Uiuisi4' azS'ttf X,% coa-

grutulated on keeping up their quart©** ly assessments regularly and in advance. During the year Manakau has contributed £7O and Te Horo £SS, or a total of £I2S towards Stipend and motor upkeep. The envelope system of offertories continues to work well and give good results. Mr Best, our painstaking envelope secretary, reports as follows:—We have 33 subscribers to

the envelope system, the average receipts are just over £lO a quarter. The total receipts for the year was £77 -is, arrears due £3 Is 3d. We would welcome new members to this fund as it undoubtedly is a great help to our finances. On the debit side: Although last year's outgoings were heavy we

have to report much heaviei payments during the year just ended. Our total genera! expenditure for general Church fund was £10(5 10s against £7O 17s. b'o-

ing an increase of £35 13*. The chic items were as under: —l'aini' tg Ghure

H-' It's, share of concreting paths £l'. Il's od, advertising, printing, etc.. £ll Is 2d. gram to Vicarage fund £lO (being Otaki's quota). These four items

account for over £6O of expenditure. The motor grant (for upkeep) of £4O has been paid to the Vicar, although the statement only shows £3O to March 31. We are pledged to pay to the Diocesan treasurer a minimum of £:'•"> annually

for support of social service in our Die cese and £lO annually tow aids Diocesan Church schools. This is a levy on the whole parochial district of Otaki. We are pleased to say thm. the district has responded splendidly, both through your secretary and dirocl to Wellington. The social service Ur.u\ has been specially well supported. 1 have .-> id down £2O -Is and have in ban.l and in sight another £ls odd. and I know that quite a number have senl in donations direct. As to the Vicarage account we are just now only collecting sufficient from each district to .over overhead expenses. Otaki i- contributing CI" annually and Te lloio and Manakau W each. This year v. e have spent £76 on puii l '.- ing, concreting paths and necessary repairs, and have a balance in hand of £52 is.- 7d. Four Central Parochial representatives, ai the request ol Mrs Petrie and on the lecomniendation of both Church-wardens, decided to enlarge the prcsenl out-buildings by adding a much-needed storeroom. This

is just about completed, and will cost

about £2O. We also had the mOtOrshed roofed with iron as the rubberoid was leaking badly. The iron and nails cost £2 lis I'M, while Mr Best did the work free of charge. The principal work done dining the year has been the concreting of path.- and a general paint up. The paths cost us £2-1 ISs od. Mr Wilson made a good job of them and we feci sure that the Jnoncv was well

-pent. Tie- painting was done by Mr Granfield at a total cost of £d7 12s, which was a most reasonable price, the work being .-.ell done. The total cost of these improvements amounted to £92 10s 'id. The vurious funds lodged in the Post Office Savings Bank ou t ru M amount, with interest, to over £230.

Our liabilities are fairly heavy, being: Social service £'..' 10s, Church schools £2, Vicarage outbuildigs. about £2O, repair- being done to Station Churchroom, about £2O. Total £sl II 1 -. However, we arc not running the parish into debt a- we have the cash in hand to easily meet these liabilities. The credit balance at the Baa!: and cash in. hand at March 31st, J 023, amounted to £155 ISs 9d, being £52 ISs 7-1 Vicarage credit, ami £lO3 0s 2d general Church fund credit. We have a small credit of 29s <3d to hand, being allowance on fermented wine. Several importantmatter- have beet: hung up for the time being, mainly the matter of Church schools m our ruid.-t and -i Church hall. These are both very desirable and parishioners should work on steadily until they are accomplished facts. As 'Li:; complete- Mr Lethbiidg*o'.- three years of office a- our Synodsnian, we ta'-e this opportunity of heartily thankifcg him for service- voluntarily given. a n'4 express the hope that he will continue in that office. Ladies and gent! em en— We thank you tor your ever-ready assistance arid financial support, and oo relinquishing office trust that the u, coming officers will have :i pleasant and very useful year, and that all Church work will prosper. We ,-,, u assure them of much good work to be done. Signed for the Vestry. L. St. George, W. Best, Church-Warden-."