STATE OF RELIGION IN THE COLONY.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 417, 22 October 1861, Page 3

STATE OF RELIGION IN THE COLONY.

The following is a summary of an interesting statement made by Captain Dally, at a meeting held in the Albert-street Independent' Church on Wednesday evening regarding the religious aspect of the several provinces in New Zealand which lie recently visited.

Me said he arrived in Taranaki on Sunday ; and the beach at New Plymouth was strewed with goods from the steamer. There .was all the hurry and bustle of ordinary business going forward. On landing he saw several who were not actively employed, dressed and going to church, and that was the only indication of the Sabbath. He had made inquiries regarding the state of religion there, and was told that recent events h id caused one idea (that of self-defence) to take possession of men's minds, and that religion had been lost sight of to a large extent. Taranaki was not a phce at present calculated (o foster religious feelings. It was fortified on all sides, and a military spirit was dominant.

He was much pleased with the state of things at Wellington ; and the Independent communion there was well represented by active and earnest men. The other evangelical denominations at Wellington were imbued with a most liberal spirit. The cause of Sunday schools was well upheld in that city.

He had not had an opportunity of satisfying himself regarding Nelson: but its whole aspect to htm appeared to be that of dreaminess, and a place that loas socially asleep could not be supposed to be spiritually active. Canterbury, which had been established as a Church of England settlement, he found to be anything but that, for although liberal endowments of land had been made for the Episcopal denomination, the Wesleyans held the leading place in the settlement. There were many Independents in that province, but they' were engaged in other churches', promoting the cause of true religion. He hoped, however, from what he had learned, that it would not be long until a church was established there on Congregationalistic principles. In both Lyttelton and Christchurch the Wesleyans had the lead, the Church of England being very lukewarm, notwithstanding its large endowments.

Dunedin he had expected to find purely Scotch, but in that he was disappointed. He had attended the Rev. Mr. Stewart's church, and afterwards went to the Sunday School, the superintendent of which was an Independent, and he was very much pleased with what he saw and heard. Although there was no Independent church in Dunedin, he had been informed that many settlers of that communion were in the province. Many of the Presbyterian ministers were imbued with the most liberal sentiments : but there was an exception in Dunedin in one minister, whose Sunday school must be conducted on strict Presbyterian rules, and whose sentiments otherwise were not expansive.

Taking a review of the whole colony, he had come to the conclusion that no province was so favorably situate in all respects for the cultivation of religious feelings as Auckland. In the South the out-stations were greatly neglected; but some arrangements had been made to supply the want of religious instruction at the Tuapeka diggings, so that the large population suddenly brought into the province of Otago might not be left without gospel ministrations. The first invitation for that purpose came from a few of the diggers. Captain Daldy expressed an opinion that owing to the mode of settlement of New Zealand, and the intelligent class of immigrants, the foundation of a second Britain, in a religious aspect, was laid in the South Pacific.