The Church of England Missions

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7751, 1 March 1905, Page 2

The Church of England Missions

A numerously attended meeting was ' held in St. Mary's schoolroom on Monday evening to listen to ad'Jrcsi - , cs from his lordship, the Hishop of Auckland and other gentlemen, in re- ; fereiicc to tho three missions in connection with the Auckland Diocese. | I'rocoedingis; were Opuned Ivy (hymn and prayer after which his Worship the Mayor, Mr It. Cock, who occu- ; pied the. chair, introduced Ihe subject, of the addresses of the evening. I killing with the Home MtsXion, bin Woivship spoke of the old days of Taranaki, when the late Hev. 11. linnvn faced the dillicillties of bu:-h trucks, and unhrid'geid streams, and roads deep in mud!, to carry comfort to those who weie cut oil from other spiritual attention. From personal observation he tcsiilind to the i.iilhful work which the defused Kin |!«- jniiin had iM'rl'orimvl, and expressed the opinion that if an experienced nuiii like him could be again secured, it I would lie the best solution <|: present difficulties. Incidentally his Worship also testified to the hospitality o: people in the bnckblocks, and' said, they couM be relied on at all times to attend to the personal wants of ; whoever came among them. Itefcrimg to the Maori Mission his Worship hoped that a married man would he obtained, and in this collection spoko highly of the odncaMon ol Maori girls u t the Victoria Collego, and hoped the ladies of Xew jl'lymouth would rally to secure another £2O for the continuance of the good work. Maori women, well educated, he said, would help to enlighten other Maoris, and also s a ve educated Mnoni men from backsliding into primitive manners and customs. Impressing on his audience the de-1 mands of the Home und Maori Missions, his worship said he did not ! believe in Chinese and Indian missions. Missionary work was praiseworthy, but let New Plymouth peo|*le direct their attention to Tariha'ka, where to-day the Maoris were a worse condition spiritually than , jln the days before the War. Finally ;he hoped that, now that the Hishop , | of tho diocese hud become aroused to 4 the fact, that measures would be taken to pay their missionary more • than 25s a week. > J The llcv. Xikora Tautuu, the chief inissionary of the Waikato district, •■ next addressed the meeting, speaking i in the Maori tongue, which was ini terprcted to the audience by Mr W. -' Grey. After touching on the troubles i of the early days Hie rev. gentleman : said that after those difficulties disi appeared there had been the trouble 'of bad white men. He hud worked I for twelve years in the backblocks, covering a large area, which realty . 'required the services of another man. j |Thc speaker illustrated his remarks j by one or two amusing anecdotes, ', and described his trip through Tara'- . 'nuki, during which hq hud baptised i several native children. He desceibt ed the condition of many of the elder 1 Maoris us one of prejudice aguinst , Christianity, but hoped -better days , ( .were now in store for Taranaki. , Dr. F o okes dea'lt chiefly with the - pressing necessity for greater effort 1 in connection with the Home Mission , and explained the claims of the lut- , ter upon the ixiople of New l'lyr mouth. There were white pagans as - wall as black pagans, and it was es--1 sential that each Christian should do t his share to curry the (Jospel right - home to the hearts oC our indifferent - or careless brethren. lit did not _ agree with his Worship the Mayor 3 that a man of advanced years would „ be thei most) suitable for the ,wo|k I, of the back'blocks. He illicit point .. out that young men often requi.v ,i more spiritual attention than old 1( men, nnd one who was in natural sympathy with youth would lie more )f likely to exert influence over them. . | Youth and vigour were i-ctqu.'rcd for 1 pealing with youth and vigour. Ilen side*, there was tlic fact that the _ physical fatigues to he endured mude ',. strong physique essential, and this iwas not naturally to be found in an elderly man. Concluding, Dr. Fookes j_ appealed to tho town to help the people of the backbloek"». who | though willing also to help llieiu- • selves were not able to do nearly ° all that was required. I Ilis lx>rdship the Hishop of Auckland then addressed the meeting „„ | the whole subject of the three missions, gmng an earnest, eloquent address lighted up bv flashes of humour, which often excited laughller iroin his hearers. Alter informs i"g the audience that his uddress e would necessarily tuke n> cortsidernMi, ■ ' JZU? n t det \ l xery toWhr with dry .details, his Lordship invited thv-i i s as soon as they felt they had had f plough to intimate as much bv anv s means which would bring the" fact i home to him. l r | The. object of these meetings he b explained, was the dissemination of - informal on. They were now a roto ' *ut'aK° l T l -'' '" thc ,ar « w «*Wr™. he ™i i w^ ver an audience could 1 hi£r f tog f tlu "-: Shew WaS onJv„„„ : .»isL l , h^ 0 of d n ',t cto , igl,orcih '= r dies but ~,.»£ ther h 0...„.'• ...„.'• ad to COI "-entrate his m ;^ , a , "JJ , a!&-„ l -w ;.oi'.'-': , ,';^:,,^ ll ■^T„''.rr w, '■ one might, ~.l ui lllm ,™ v £ 1 fonuer vexatious condition.was not the ruisng of monev J hero would, of be a cXcl Hon. knowing | lte hwre-s " a d " " 0t diSa '^ l » l • His Uml.ship then went on to explain the , s]> | K . rc , <)fw h * church mtaKioiiH-ite Home. Z M , . ■ '•>• """ « h >- Melanesia!). i.-j,. s , „, "" ; <'er ol importance came tlt<- Home »'<*■«»>. The others depended , meant religion in ( l le lu -»Z ,'f the I!nt.sh nice depended the stability <)! the Itritish Kmpire. Referring to the settlement of Tarunaki by Devonshire people, his Lordship carried the minds of 1, s ; J™*™ '»><* to the days of Drake, and Huloigh, a nxi Sir Humphry (jji. Bert, and the chaAer of the •"coi iw!, n ' V '"r -J" v «"'"on,." The min .T\ "" ,o,ld in thoSl> ««.vr and in the later times of Charles II "1 ceived a charter from the Crown one clause in which bound them to keep he Christian f„ ilh nm , lo those not of it to join it. Thn t duty was still incumbent on eve v n»n«, tho Hri.ishn.ee. fiod had I called our empire into exisleiuv for n ' purpose of his own, j„ M ns h(1 hil , n , called the Jewish nation of old Hut ' just ns the latter people had got swelled head " and thought (hev could improve on the designs of \imighty tfotl. so there was u danger ol our initiating (hem in an Imperialism that would prove a failure The prime duty of Christ fan nations was to prevent the white man from ,' lapsing into paganism. In the pro-' vince of Xew Zealand we had no ' business to think of missions to In- ' dm, and China, and Japan, and \f-'' riea, with l'arihaka and Melanesia ! at our doors. 11 (n an eloquent exposition of ilu.j' needs of the U 0111( . „,j. ss j on> lliK i al)l . (| . | Ship ivpouuted th,. »„rk that had • been done so far, and the much,' moie thai was still to do. For ( I,J Home mission of Taranaki a man ! was w.inlxrf.wi.lUrnmed. 5t ,.„„,, I|n " 1 married, ami one who had a ireWe' 1 m liiH own soul. Onl.v'H.fh a man ( could bo n success, He had siKHiiicd , " single' man. tor the •reason that he would have lo be much abroad, and ' should be without anxieties regard- ' «ng anything except the wort, to ' vhich he should devole himself. Had ' they such a man ? his Lordship „sk- I i°' P rCl>licd th(, y had n«t, ; and only by prayer to (iod cnld J they find him. None of us pruved nni"**' ~< !<. , . " S ' "°'" k c0,,,d ■>'■ <««"'• ■ only ,n (lod's way. Six men were ' wanted for the Home mission work,' of the diocese, nnd they only had I, two ; but Xew Zealand had cause loi' he proud of those two, who were c men of Xew Zealand birth, spl-ndid "■ men and in every way titled for the' wo|;k. i^ After jiefeiring to the sources of income from which Home, mission expunscs were defrayed, the Bishop said that tho cities and towns of NVw Zealand did not realise lo wnat « huge extent (hey owed their existemx- * to the work done on the land. Out *• of £15,000,000 north of exports, 8 £14,000,000 worth came direct from . V the lan'd. nnd it would iM-come the u people of the towns lo think of the I spiritual niMlw of those who, (or « from church, did a large share of thp»B work involved (a raising Uie« „*,* ~ . - . . ..... :,_.. S^J*b»

ports. All that was wanUri itqJSfr "■ Taranaki was some encuuragc4nant towards tho employment of a Upum missionary, under thc Acchdeacon, at a sulary of £l3O a jwr. In rsfcronce to the Maori mission, his Lordship said thero was, no a result of thc wars wtth tho Maoris, an inherited anti-Christian feeling still largely prevalent among them. He was tired of the man who met him in nearly every place he visited, and told him of the good advice he had given Hishop Selwyn, or General Cameron, which, if taken, wouW have saved all the mistakes. He did not care who had made the mistakes In the past. What lie knew at prei-m was that out of 42,000 Maoris there were 20,000 in thc Auckland dtocese 8000 of whom were heathens or aiHK slates, and the Viuestion with him was now how to win these 8000. His Lordship then discussed proper methods, und dwelt on the work of educating the girls ns well as the young men. Quoting Emerson, he said : " Civilisation is the influence of good women," and the Victoria, Maori tJJrls' (School was the beginning of a great and splendid move* ment. Married Maori clergy ware wanted—educated men with educated wives. Heferring to tho scope for mission work in Tarunaki, he said there were 1485 Maoris in that part of bis diocese, and, on a generous estimate, 85 of, these were Christians. He mentioned in terms of warm praise the abilities of thc Hev. Mr Bennett. who, he had agreed with the Bishop of Wniapu, was the IK test man for the work to be done at Hotorua. To secure a native missionary for Taranaki, there should be something more for the maintenance of a duly quallfled and ordained priest than £65 a year. Sixty-flvc pounds a year for an ordained priest of the English Church, repealed his Lordship-35 bob a. week for a priest of the English Church ! Making an apology to his audience for thc time he had tuken, his. Lordship said : " Next • year when I come 1 shall not bo so ■ long, and so dull. I will tell you ■ stories—make them up, and tell them ' to you—nice little missionary stories i —that will make you feel quite plea- ' sed." > Then, reverting to seriousness, his > Lordship closed with a touching mr- - oration regarding the urgency of the > work to be done, and invoked the prayers and assistance of all preset*.. [ lie reminded them that there were , still, in spile of thc sacrifice* of no- . ble men inuhc post, such as Bishops . I'attcson and John Selwyn, and of . great efforts bring made at present < by Hishop Wilson, 15 pagan cannibal , islands within the s|>hero of the Xtm . Zealand* English Church in Heuta- ; esia, and he concluded ; " If we ear« j about thc name of Selwyn at all-we must yet do more for Melanesia than ,' we have ever done before."-