ST. SAVIOUR'S CHURCH MEETING.

Temuka Leader, Issue 942, 25 April 1882, Page 2

ST. SAVIOUR'S CHURCH MEETING.

The annual meeting of the above Church was held last night. The Rev J OhaffersAValsh occupied the chair. The attendance was small. The minutes of the last annua! meeting were read and confirmed.

The Chairman congratulated (hem upon having passed another year i.t such a happy manner. The general welfare of the Church, the number of communicants, and everything else had been satisfactory. As regards the outgoing Vestry, lie had always great pleasure in working with them. They had always taken great pleasure in the business of the Church, and had done everything that ought to satisfy the Parishioners. Mr Alfred Cox then read the following annual report

CHUKUIIWAKDENS’ KKX'OUT I’KESENTEII TO THE VAKLSHIONEKS AT EASTER, 1882.

“The Churchwardens in presenting their report for the past year desire, in the first place, to deal with matters of finance. It gives them pleasure to be able to state that the Bank account, after payall accounts, shows an overdraft of £l2 2s lOd only. This favorable position is to

be Attributed in a great measure to the results of two special efforts made during the year —the Annual Parish Gathering in January'which brought into the Church funds the sum of £34 ; and the circular appeal issued in March, which has produced £23 2s 6d by way of subscriptions. This opportunity is taken to thank the members of the Church, for their readiness in answering this appeal. The demands that have been made upon the generosity of the Parishioners have been due to circumstances peculiar to the year, which are not likely to occur again with careful management. The expenditure from Easter 1881 to this Easter has been exceptional. The Vestry, in addition to the regular charges properly belonging to their time of office, have had to pay accounts amounting to £69 7s Id belonging to the previous year. The actual expense of carrying on the services of the church for the past year, has only been £67 10s 6d. To this has to be added a sum of £45 which represents partly the repayment of the loan of £250 from the Diocesan Funds obtained in 1878 towards building the Parsonage, and partly the payment of interest on the same. Thus the total expenditure rightly belonging to the year has been £ll2 10s 6d. This has been fairly met by Sunday offertories for general expenses, which have brought in £llO 12s 3d. itis only fair to the Vestry of 1880-81 to state that Parsonage repairs and improvements made during their time of office brought a special charge upon the ordinary funds of the Church which they were unable to meet, and thus it has fallen to the lot of the present Vestry to pay the considerable portion of their indebtedness mentioned above, it would be well if future Vestries would provide for similar special expenses by special

efforts. “The Churchwardens wouldhere draw the attention of the Parishioners to the fact that several charges during the past year—such as parsonage, repairs, and Diocesan assessment have been met wholly by the St Saviour’s district of the Parish, though a fair proportioa in all justice ought to have been borne by the sister districts of St Albans, Pleasant Point, and St John’s, Winchester. “ One of the first actions of the retiring Vestry was to make St Saviour’s Church free and open. This was done in the interests of the Parishioners generally, and from a conviction that it was in accordance with the principles of our Church, and although the loss of a certain source of income was sure to make a difficulty at first in financing, yet the Vestry felt persuaded that ultimately no such difficulty would be found, and that the change would promote the welfare of the church. The past year has not afforded a fair test in this matter, owing to the exceptional charges before mentioned. No apprehension is felt as to the means for meeting the expenses of the future, and it is hoped that although |sonie of the Parishioners may have strong feelings in opposition to the course which has been pursued, they will consent to waive thpir objections until the present system has had a thorough and fair trial. “ On the whole the .response to the request for subscriptions to the Stipend Fund has been fairly satisfactory, but some difficulty lias been caused by the irregularity of payments from certain quarters. This difficulty has been got over for the time by the liberality of those who have advanced their subscriptions before they were due, but the Churchwardens would express the hope that the Parishioners in future will do all in their power to render their task in this respect easy. The amount for which the Parish is annually responsible to the Diocesan treasurer is £250. For the past year £242 Tss 6d has been remitted.

“ With one exception the state of our Church finances may now .be looked upon as satisfactory, The exception is a debt of £l5O owing to the Bank of New Zealand upon the Parsonage Building Fund account. This was incurred in 1879, and since then nothing has been done towards paying off the debt. The Yestry have for sometime felt it necessary to . make an effort to raise this money, especially as the amount is increasing considerably each year by the addition of interest. .A. Committee has been appointed to make arrangements for bolding a Gift Auction on

May 2Gt!i, and the offerings of the Parishioners will shortly be asked for for

this purpose.

“ The congregation of St Saviour’s are indebted to the members of the Choir for their willing and helpful services, and thanks are especially due to Mr Rutland for the time and labour he lias spent on the training of the Choir at the request of the incumbent.

“The St Saviour’s Sunday School has b en steadily advancing during the year. In the early part of the year it was under the superintendence of Mr Diddams, and very much is owing to him for improving its organisation and increasing the interest of the scholars. Hi's loss has been made up by Mr Rutland, who is at present superintendent, and the school is being worked with great energy and success. The fol* lowing report is made : —Number on the roll : 139 ; average attendance : 79 j number of teachers : 12. ;

“In conclusion, thanks are given to Almighty God for the privileges which are enjoyed in this Parish in connection with the worship of His House, and the hope is expressed that all members of the Church will by their active and individual

interest do what they can to promote the stability of the Church organisation, and thus secure the presence amongst them of a powerful means for good which nay be handed down to their children.” The Balance Sheet was then read, from which it appeared that the receipts for the year were £443 3s, and the expenditure £455 5s lod, leaving a debit balance of £l2 2slod.

He next read the collector’s list, which showed that £135 3s6d had been collected in the Temuka District, £23 in the Waitobi district, £49 3s in the Pleasant Point district, and £l6 13s 6d in the Winchester district. Ho might mention that the Vestry passed a resolution to have the subscription list published, and if anyone wished this done this was the time to say

On the motion of Mr Heap, the report and balance sheet were adopted. Mr Rutland said that Mr In wood, who moved the resolution in the Vestry respecting the printing of the subscription was not present, and had asked him (Mr Rutland) to move the resolution on his behalf. He would therefore move “That the report and balance sheet with the subscription list to the Stipend Fund be printed.”

Mr Pilbrow seconded the motion. After some conversational discussion the.motion was carried, and an amendment proposed by Dr Webb to omit the subscription list was lost on a division by 5 to 9.

The rev Chairman said he would, appoint Mr Cox as Clergyman’s Churchwarden for the ensuing year. He was sorry to find that some people complained of the regulation of the Church which allowed none but communicants to be elected as Churchwardens or Vestrymen. He was sure the good sense of the people would exonerate himself from all blame, as he was only doing his duty. On the motion of Mr S. D, Barker, seconded by Mr Benbow, Mr Pilbrow was elected Parishioners’ Churchwarden for the ensuing year.

The election of a Vestry was then proceeded with, with the following result: —Messrs S. D. Barker, F. Franks, O’Halloran, Hooper, Benbow, Rutland, In wood, F. Barker, J. Heap, and Dr Campbell. Votes (of thanks were passed to the retiring Churchwardens and Vestrymen ; the Superintendent and Teachers of the Sunday School ; the Choirmaster, Mr Rutland ; the Choir ; Mr Cox for decorating the Church, and the Chairman. The meeting then terminated.