LONG VACANCY ENDED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 907, 26 February 1930, Page 14

LONG VACANCY ENDED

REV. I. E. BERTRAM GOING / TO ST. ANDREW’S BIRKENHEAD CHARGE STATUS ■ After two and a-half years, the vacancy which has existed at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Anzac Avenue, since the retirement of the Ttev. J. Lamb Harvey, has been filled with the appointment of the Rev. Ivo L. Bertram as minister. Yesterday the call of the congregation was approved by the Auckland Presbytery and was accepted by Mr. Bertram. Four commissioners from the Church supported the call, which had been signed by 66 of the 99 members of the congregation. These included a number who had been connected with St. Andrew's for up to 70 years, and whose parents, too, had been members there. Mr. Bertram, who has been supplying at the church for the past year, was first called to the Auckland Presbytery more than 25 years ago, serving in Devonport for 11 years. The Presbytery agreed to a request from the congregation of the Birkenhead Church that the charge be raised to church extension status. A sura of £226 was guaranteed toward stipend and a manse will be provided. The Sustentation Fund Committee will be recommended to place the Howick Church on the £230 basis, and to fix the stipend for Helensville at £3OO. A motion of the Rev. E. R. Harries that in future the ordinary meetings of the presbytery be held from 6.30 in the evenings, was carried. This will enable many elders to be present without interfering with their business engagements. The Rev. F. A. Thompson was appointed the corresponding member of the Assembly’s Youth Committee. A letter from the congregation at Silverdale asking that Mr. A. Richards, 8.A., who had been in charge there for the past three months, be appointed to conduct services on one Sunday every month during the winter, was referred to the Home Missions Commute#.