BISHOP CROSSLEY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 76, 20 September 1911, Page 5

BISHOP CROSSLEY

VISIT TO INGLEWOOD. (From Our Own Ccvrespondent.) On Monday evening a meeting was held in the Parish Hall for the purpose of welcoming the Bishop of the diocese. The early part of the evening was devoted to the discussion of ways and means of financing a scheme to purchase a vicarage; Mr. Henry Brown addressed the gathering on the subject of public worship. He lamented the small attendance at church, and said that years ago, when the population of Inglewood was nothing like as large as it is now, the attendance at church was larger. He went on to give reasons why people should attend public worship. As a nation, we, the British, had more to thank God for than any other people—the freedom from invasion by a foreign foe, the just laws under which we live, the glorious climate we enjoy, together with the freedom from any serious epidemic we have experienced, ought to make us approach God with reverent and grateful hearts; and to take every possible opportunity of uniting together in public worship to praise and give thanks to the Giver of all these blessings. Dr. Crossley, in the course of his address, very strongly condemned the prac-' tice which so many church people have, i.e., not attending divine service liocause "it's only a lay reader." He had, he said, the greatest respect for the one or two faithful, earnest gentlemen who had, in spite of great discouragement, kept the services of the church going. He lamented the fact that our bright little town was, as far as the church was concerned, classed as "back-block," inasmuch as there was no resident vicar nor means of supporting one. However, he had faith to believe that the congregation would rise to the occasion and provide the stipulated stipend ( £200), which, with a residence, is required before a vicar can be appointed. Speaking of the .Maori work, the Bishop said that he was going to ordain two Maori priests, the first in Tarannki since the Maori war, when he visited New Plymouth. The Maori race, he continued, had a very warm place in his heart. His interest in them had been aroused years ago at Home in the Old Country, when he had heard from a friend of his; who was a lieutenant of artillery in the Maori war, an example of chivalry without equal in the whole wide 'world 1 . When this officer, with his guns, was engaged in an attack upon a pah, they got into a swamp, and were Jlounderin'g about, men and horses getting badly mixed up, when the Maoris erased their firing and sent to say that the soldiers were fools, and that that was not the why to attack the pah; also that they (the Maoris) would withhold their fire until the guns were on firm >mund and in a fair way of approach. Then they would fight them. "This," said the Bishop, "won my heart." Another item of interest in connection with the Maoris was that they were the only people in the world who never made and never knew any form ■>( intoxicating drink before the coming uf the white man. The foreign mission iheld and its needs was also touched upok A hearty vote of thanks,was put and carried by acclamation. !