PARISH MEETING, GERALDINE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1174, 6 May 1884, Page 3

PARISH MEETING, GERALDINE.

The annual meeting of the parishioners of St. Mary's Anglican Chinch was held in the Literary Institute on Friday afternoon last. The Rev. J. Preston presided. • The attendance was but small. The minutes of the last yearly and special meetings were read and passed. The Chairman then read the following : 1 b.bpobt op thf incumbent of the paeish ! op (tlealdine and Curate op Bubke*' k Pass. Gentlerr en, —I am thankful to state that, all things considered, Church matters in this parish are in a very prosperous state. We hare had, il is true, great difficulties to contend against d urinj; the past two years, but | owing to the zeal displayed by the Church v officer?, and ladies and gentlemen of the ' parish, these difficulties have been in a great measure surmounted.. The n6W Ckurch is norr built a»d furnished, and no debt remains upon it that cannot in due course be cleared off by the income at our disposal. Our position to-day ii much more stable and satisfactory than it was previous to the erection of the new Church. 4t our Easter meeting in 1881, it was slated " that the parsonage house and glebe having been finally transferred from the hands of the local Trustees to the Church Property Trustees, many heavy expenses would in future be saved to the parish ; that the annual demands on the parish funds had amounted before the transfer to £IOO 6s 6d to cover sinking fund and interest on the debt of £6OO on the parsonage property ; that this payment must have continued for six years j longer before the debt of £GOO could be cleared off, if the transfer had not taken place and the grant of £250 and loan of £2OO had not been received from the Church Property Trustees ; that the grant and loan as stated had reduced the annual payment of £IOO 6s 6d to £25 per yaar." The transfer of the parsonage property from the local Trustees to the Church Property Trustees was of great advantage and benefit financially to this parish, for it anab'.ed us to erect a good substantial n«w church, and has given us also a suitable Sunday school in the old Church. I have hoard that there is still some misunderstanding among some people in the parish in reference to the transfer I have spoken of, and to quiet their minds I may say that the parsonage house and glebe are as much the property of the parish now as they were before the transfer, the only difference being that the powers the local trustees had are now in the hands of the Church Property Trustee?, which is a great, advantage also in a business point of view, for the said Trustees are a public body legally appointed to act for parishes m 1 reference to their property, and they are i always on the spot to transact business,

which 15 nor, I lie case very often with local truetaes. It was the reduction in the liabilities of the parish in 1881, by means of the grant, and loan referred to, that en couraged us to seriously contemplate the erection of a new church. You all know with what succeis our efforts hare been crowned. Three years ago this parish possessed a church out of repair and too small for the requirements of the town and district of Greraldino. By the blessing '-f G-od, to-daY we possess a handsome new Church fully equal to our wants, and our position financially is much better than it was thrie years ago. We hare a debt, it is true, of £SOO to pay off, that is, on the new church £3OO, and on the parsonage property £200; but this will be cleared off in due course of time by an annual payment of £7O or £BO.

The Churchwardens' report will enter more fully into financial matters. I will confine myself to reporting on my own immediate clerical work in the parish and parochial district of Burke's Pass. By the help of lay readers, of whom there are eleven licensed to hold service, public worship has been regularly conducted as follows:—In the parish churoh every Sunday throughout the year, morning and evening ; in other churches and places where public worship is held, at least once every Sunday. The Holy Communion lias been administered by me regularly as follows: —In the parish Church on the first Sunday of every month ; in St. Thomas' Church, Woodbury- on t-he third Sunday of every month ; in the Church, Peel Forest, on the fourth Sunday ; on the second Sunday of every month at Fairlie Creek ; and once every quarter in the Churoh of the Holy Innocents, Mount Peel, and in St. Ann's Church, Pleasant Valley. The Sacrament of Baptiim has been administered by me whenever ohildren have been brought for the purpose. The number of children baptised by me amount to 89. Seventeen burials have taken place and one marriage. The Sunday schools established at Greraldine, Woodbury and Peel Forest, and the Union school, taught by Presbyterian and Church of England teachers at Fairlie Creek, are doing good work and are well attended. Our thanks are due to all the Sunday school superintendents and teachers for their attention to the religious education of the young, also to all the lay readers who have so zealously and punctually kept up the services of the churches in my absence. We are also under very great obligations to Miss Fish and Miss Alice Fish, who have for many years, with great ability and untiring attention, supplied the place of an organist free of cost to the parish ; also, we owe a deep debt of gratitude to Mr Hughes for his valuable services as choir master.

In reference-to the Benevolent Aid Fund, Sunday School Fund, and Sunday School Library Fnnd, which are under my immediate ;ontrol, I beg to state that the Sunday School Library is still under the management of Mrs Andrews, who has kindly looked after it aver since its foundation. There was a balance Prom last year of LI 3s lid to the credit of :he Library Fund, and I personally collected subscriptions to the amount of L 9 10s, making in all the sum of LlO 3s lid. This sum :nabled me to forward a draft of LlO to England to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge to purchase new book*. I jxpect to hear of their arrival shortly. I jonsider the library a great boon to the oarish, and the additional books ordered will jreatly increase its usefulness when tbey jome to be circulated. No money has been hrectly collected this year to add to the 'unds of the Church of England Benevolent Aid. Fund. We have had a credit balance -rom last year of Ll 5 3s 6d. Mr Wilioughby 3aid into the fund 18s, which Mr Johnson -.ad collected for a charitable purpose, and ;here were 15s remaining over from Mr Hooper's donation, which makes in all LTG L6s 6d. Of this sum Lll 9s lid has been spent during the year for benevolent pur poses, leaving in hand a* a balance to the iredit of the fund Lo 6s 7d. Mr Edward hooper has been in the habit of kindly giving ;he sum cf L 5 annually for parish purposes, riie expenditure of the same will appear in ;he accounts duly audited by Mr Cunning iiam. St. Mary's Sunday School Treat iccount stands as follows : —Expenditure, L2l 19s lOd ; receipts, L2l 12s 4d. To balance this account 7s 61 had to be taken from the Sunday School account. The Sunday School Fund stands thus : Balance in hand from last year, L 3 13s Id ; no receipts or offertories during the year ; working expenditure on behalf of the Sunday School, L2 14s 5d ; balance still in hand, IBs Bd. The money expended for prizes, about L 4, came out of the proceeds of the Sunday School treat, I may state that there are eleven teachers in St. Mary's Sunday School, over which Mrs Preston is superintendent, and about 130 children on the books. Owing to the wide extent of my parish and parochial district, my work cannot help but partake of the nature of missionary work. I am frequently away from home on clerical duty, and sometimes for days together. I therefore find it utterly impossible to pay the attention to the requirements of the parish Church and town of Q-eraldme that the population now demands. Ido what I can and I can do no more. For about a year I have, with the permission of the Committee, conducted a Bible class twice a weak in the public school, G-eralJine. I have not been able to attend any other day school in the district for a like purpose, or increase my parochial work in any other way further than I have been in the habit of doing. The division of my charge and more clergymen alone can remedy the want of closer parochial work. lam thankful to see our congregation increasing year by year, and greater interest displayed in Church matters. This is encouragement, for it speaks to us of Go&'t blessing and of good results in the future. "James Pkkston, Incumbent." Mr Cook, the people's Churchwarden, then read the following : Chuechwabdens' Repout. Gentlemen,—We have the honor to lay before you the annual statement of the financial affairs of the parish for the year ending Easter, 1884. The year ended has been one requiring a great amount of money to be expended, owing to the new church being finished, and having to be furnished, which has been successfully done. The receipts for the year have been LI9S 3s 9d, including LIS Is 2d, brought forward from last year, and L 76, being proceeds from bazaar and collections for furniture. The expenditure for the same period has been LI9I I4s od, leaving a balance to credit of L 6 9s 4d. We have to draw the attention of the incoming Vestry and Churchwardens to the necessity of inereaing the Verger's salary, as the work has been very much increased, owing to his having to keep the new church and school room clean. As our offertories now amount to about LIOO per annum, we think that it can be easily done, as the interest on loan is L3O, sinking fund L3O, lighting about LIO, sundry offertories, say, LIO more. We would draw the attention of the incoming Vestry to the necessity of having the paths leading to the new church laid off and gravelled. Robert Fish } Churchwarden 3. R. S. Cook J The balance sheet in extenso was also read. Mr Barker, Treasurer of the Stipend Fund, read, the list cl subscriptions received toward the same.

O.Ting to several collectors not having sent in their returns, the account was allowed to stand open for another fortnight. Proposed by Mr Shiers, seconded by Mr Hawke and carried—' That it be a recommendation to the incoming Churchwardens and Vestrymen that the Verger's salary be increased to. £2O per annum, should the funds be available for the purpose.' Proposed by Mr Cunningham, seconded by Mr Shiers and carried—' Thit MiBarker be empowered to get circulars printed, for the purpose of obtaining annual subscriptions from Church members. The same to be circulated throughout the district.' Proposed by Mr Shiers, seconded by Mr W. Moore and carried—' That the reports and ba'ance-sheat he adopted as read.' The election of Chnrch officers for the ensuing year was next proceeded with. The Chairman stated that as Dr Fish had intimated to him his desire not te be chosen again as Minister's Churchwarden, he had appointed Mr Pearpoint in his stead. Mr Shieri was elected Parishioners' Ohmrliwarden. The following were duly elected Vestrymen: -Messrs Cunningham, Hawko, Barker, Cook. Slack. Hughes, Willoughby, Postlethwaite, W. Moore and Dr Fish. Mr Barker was re-appointed Treasurer of the Stipend Fund. The following were elected as collectors for the various dittricts :—Mr Slack, fcr Pleasant Valley ; Mr Cunningham, for Geraldina ; Mr Marchant, for Burke's Pass ; Mr Greaves, for Woodbury ; Mr Mitlon, for Mount Peel ; Mr W. Hawke, for Geraldine road ; Mr C. G. Tripp, Orari Gprpo ; Mr Dennisteun, for Peel Forest ; Mr J. Kelland, for Hilton ; Mr F. Gillinghnm, for Fairlie Creek ; Mr Hesketh, for Gapes' Valley and Kakahu Bush. Mr Barker proposed a vote of thanks to the retiring officers. Mr Cook replied on behalf of the Churchwardens. Mr Cunningham proposed a vote of thanks to the Misses Fish and Mr Hughes, for their valuable services. Mr Hughes briefly returned thanks on behalf of the Misses Fish and himself. Mr "Willoughby proposed a vote of thanks to the collecters of the district towards the Stipend Fund. Mr Shiers returned thanks. Mr Shiers proposed a vote of thanks to the lay readers. The Chairman in jeconding the proposition passed a high eulogium on the valuable aid afforded by the lay readers. Dr Fish and Mr W. Moore returned thanks. The meeting then terminated. VESTRY MEETING-. A meeting of the newly-appointed Vestrymen was afterwards held, the Incumbent presiding. Proposed by Mr Willoughby, seconded by Mr Moore and carried—' That the necessary expenditure be iucurred to repair the leakage in the new church.' Proposed by Mr Hawke, seconded by Dr Fish and carried—' That proper fastenings be obtained for the church gates.' Proposed by Mr Cunningham, seconded by Mr Cook and carried—'That the Parishioners' Churchwarden be authorised to obtain a small overdraft, on tho best terms possible, for the purpose of paying off all existing liabilities.' Proposed by Mr Cunningham, seconded by Mr Willoughby and carried—' That the sule of goods left on hand nt the close of the recent bazaar take place in the Oddfellows' Hall, Geraldins, on Tuesday, 13th May next, and that a promenade conceit be given at the same time.' The meeting then termiuatod.