OTAKI MAORI CHURCH.

Shannon News, 11 January 1924, Page 4

OTAKI MAORI CHURCH.

INIEttEb'TING GATHERiNG-DURW^

The first meeting vras held in Otaki - on Holiday Wof the Board, whicTi wtfaifecoitttalnrted at the last sessibli Of* the w; Ariglick ! n =Synod-in> Welirngtbn. Thef e" wesettt 1 * the * Bishop of the end Dr. Sprott, the Rev. W. ft. Wifliams, Superintendent of' tlie L and the Revs. Te'Mlfsra- ToKOaitua} of Otaki, Palcake H. Xebnard, *of MaHOn, and Hefaare Ke'remeneta, '-"of Fipinki, assistant Native clergy. The Maori laity "were Rikihaha, pf Oi&ki, ESrigt Taiiwij ;of Wellington, ~Tiiiki Kerehomaj-'of Loving Tawhai Eruefa, 0 f totdnj; Tata Royal, of Mdiflg, Ma'remare-Re.upena, of Turakina, itfawae Te Tauri/'Of Wan--ganui, and Pita McD'oiinell,' 'of A number of othfer local Natives wereinterested spectators oi the proceedings throughout the day. Tire Rev. s -H. A. Wafke, of Bulls, secretaary of the -Maori' Mission Committeei and Mr. A.-J.-Rutherford, of'Eketahuna, also attisncled tho meeting of the' Board. The various delegates arrived on Saturday und were royally entertained during theirstay by the principal and staff v bf thja- ! Native College. 'On Sunday morning an impressive service was held for'the* Natives in the historic Maori Churchy while in the evening the large building was taxed to its utmost capacity to accommodate the combined congregation of Natives and Europeans, who assembled to worship under the one roof. All the Native- Clergy and lay-readers-took part in the servicb, the. seimon being preached in ; Maori by tha Kcrcmencta, with the Rev. W. G.-Wd*; liams as interpreter. The of the Board wem/conducted on •Mondays in the supper Toom of the picture theatre. The morning session was taken up; with the superintendent's Explanation; of the balance-sheets of the variousNative trust'lfunds .for church purposes, existing in ?the }diocesc of Welliifgton. These balance-shisets showed that' thetotal capital value of the endowments, given by the Natives for religious and educational purposes mi this diocese is no less than x'W'h while the gross income from these funds during the past financial year amounted to £4,365, this sum being apart fftjh free donations subscribed by the Natives-duringithe year. At ning of the'afternoon session thp B«aop of Wellington gave a most interesting and instructive- sketch of the History of the Maori Mission in New Zealand, eivinff stiTring i=nstanees of the zeal and fidelity to the Christian faith displayed by thp Maori race before, and even after the'-sad blunder of :I the/ Maori wars, and he the o representatives of the rising generation to be true to the traditions -of their, ancjastors-. The year just ended had been marked, the Bishop said, by two events, taP9"; ant in the J history of the Maon Church. The flrsfwas the commemoration on; August the 3Td last,- of >th.e centenary of 'the arrival in New .Zealand of the Rev. Henry Williams; it was .mainly due to the labours of Ahis.pioneer missionary, and- his %rother*ithe Rev. William Villiams, of the Haori other event, w&chi>fillea*itheir riearts with sadness, October 31st last, of theißev. A...Q. TOiams, who for nearly *fotty-yeamuhadi superintende'diihe of in this diocese. 1W was a-grandson of Henry Williams, and his devotion to'the Maoris race. shown by the fact-that hB-hadcfrequentj ly refused"bffefs *o£ most, important; churches in tKe- diocese, >in order, that Je might continue his work amongst the Maori people. The-Bishop was glad to think that the family- was still repref sented in the" person of the deceased missionary's son, the present superintendent" of the mission. It was probably a unique experienoe m human history for to be engaged in the same which his family had carried on without'inter juption-foj-, a hundred years. The Bishop's address. was ably by Mr. Tahiwi Ambtgst other matters dis-, cussed by iheßoUrdwas the better supDlv of candidates for Native"ministry., It" was felt that the present smallness; of thva staff, consisting of the; superintendent and four Native clergy, to minister to the Natives in .seventy,'differ-,: ent centres, scattered over eleven;, thousand square miles of country con-., stituted the greatest'difficulty in the. way of a real spiritual revival amongst: the people. It was decided 4o set up 1 loci committees in all the various dis-' tricts, to collect funds in order tol in-, crease the stipends at present paid_to ■the Native clergy. It was tilso decided-, to recommend to the diocesan synod/ that the number of Native lay representatives on that body be increased from two to four, and that the Maori race should be represented by at least one member on each of the Native Trust Boards. The proceedings the day were concluded' with an informal gathering of the members of the Board at the college in tho evening, when lit was felt that not the least important result of the meetings was the fresh inspiration which one and all had derived 1 from the week-end of conference and; fellowship together, ';