ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1918, Page 5

ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH.

ADDRESS BY MODERATOR OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY. The moderator of the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand (Mr. J. S. Aitken, M.L.C.J paid an official visit to the congregation of St. Andrew's, New Plymouth, and addressed a meeting in the church last night. The Rev. O. Blundell presided, and introduced the moderator.

In liis address, Mr. Aitken, after conveying the greetings of the assembly to tlie church and. the Tarauaki Presbytery, said the reason why 110 moderator liad previously visited the local church was probably to be found in the fact that no layman had held the office before in New Zealand, and the clergy usually had to maintain their own pastorates, as well as do tlie work of the moderator during their term of office. Though his hand? were very full, he admitted tliat it had been easier for him to visit the churches than it was for a minister. After congratulating the church on the esteem in which it was held by the general assembly, he urged the members to more faithful service and progressive work. I He then proceeded to show the general 1 progress made by the church throughout I New Zealand during the past ten years. He said in passing that possibly the story of the progress of the Presbyterian Church was also the story of the progress of other Christian churches, though he was not immediately concerned with them at the moment. He stated that ten years ago the number of Presbyterian churches in the Dominion wa3 399, while last year there were 499. The preaching places numbered 613 in 1907, and last year 749. The members of the ministry numbered 20G and 285, and home missionaries 00 and 120, yet these were in no way sufficient to fill all the charges that the church liad under its care. He could not give figures showing the number of foreign missionaries engaged by the church, but he pointed out that during the past ten years tlie work in the Punjab in India, and in China, had been opened up. The lay preachers had increased from 80 to 100 in the decade, while in Sunday school work the increases had been, schools 150, teachers 1000, scholars 16,003. The Bible class membership was about the same, but this he accounted for by the fact that yoimg men during the past four years had mostly" gone away on active service, The number of communicant members had increased from 32,000 to 42,000. The contributions to Maori mission J work had increased by about £IOOO, j home mission by nearly £II,OOO, and [ foreign mission by £SOOO. In referring to the home mission contributions the moderator said the amount was not one penny too much, as the salaries paid to the agents were for the most part quite inadequate, ihough last year they had received (and would do so agaiu this year) a Christmas bonus as a slight recognition on the part of the church of the great w° r k they were doing. He I i then referred to the growth of the social service work of tho church, which was the product of the last ten years, and in that time nine orphanages had beeu j opened, and the superintendents of those institutions also acted as social service I agents, and attended the police courts for the purpose, if possible, of preventing youthful transgressors from ibeing sent J to gaol. He also showed the develop-, ment of the educational institutions of the church, stating that there were now five girls' and three boys' colleges in New Zealand, which were doing invaluable work, calculated to keep t|ie youth of the Presbyterian community in touch with the church as nothing else would. He reminded his hearers that the colleges weTe not exclusively for Presbyterians, and related that a Jewish lady in Wellington, in Beeking admission for her daughter to one of the colleges, expressed the opinion that they would become the leading schools of the country. He finally referred to the home for the aged, which liad been recently opened in Dunedin by the church, in which inmates; had their own private room, and whese husband and wife went in together iheywere not separated, as in the State homes.

At the conclusion the moderator was. seconded a hearty vote of thanks- for his visit and his very helpful address.