MEETINGS OF PARISHIONERS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1887, 4 May 1889, Page 2

MEETINGS OF PARISHIONERS.

ST. MARY'd, GERALDINE. The annual meeting of parishioners of the above church was held on Thursday afternoon last. There were very few parishioners present. The Rev. J. Preston, Incumbent, occupied the chair. The proceedings were opened with prayer. ' The Incumbent's report was fo the effect that, in spits of drawbacks, they were making progress, and diviao services wore regularly kept up in tho seven churchea and thrae schools during tke year, with the assistance of luy-reuderH. Tho Sunday Schools at Geraldine, Woodbury, Peel Forest, Pleasaut Valley, Gapes' Valley, Fairlie Creek, aad Burke's Pas 3 were doing good work, and the attendance had increased. The work of the parish increased yearly, and some people cried out for changes, but so long as he had to do the work of three ordinary clergymen any attempt on his part to greatly alter things would do no good. In the course of time his charge would be cut up into three parishes, and then each could be looked after better. He thanked God that he had always excellent layreaders and Sunday Sohoil teachers to assist him, and there were few pariab.es in New Zealand where more unity and goodfellowship existed between all donotninatione. Thia was a good sign spiritually. The rev. gentleman then read a list showing soma alterations in the hours for servious in several parts of the parish, and went on to deal with the Sunday School Library fund. He had in hand £5 14a to purchase books, and when it increased by a few pounds more ha would send to England for them. They were sjreatly indebted Mrs Andrews for her valuable services as librarian. The Sunday School account was satisfactory, being now I £6 Is lOd in credit. The prizes would be shortly distributed, He tendered his heartfelt thanks to lay-readers, Sunday School teachers, and all who had worked for the good of the Church. The churchwardens, Dr Fish and Mr H. M. Moore, reported that financially the Church was in a better condition than last year. Notwithstanding expenses incurred in re organist, £ll ss, ventilators for the church, £9, protecting the bank of the river, £1 ss, total £2l 10s, they bad a credit balance of 14s 2d, as agaiust a former deficit of £2 10s Id. As regards the weekly offertories, though | there was a slight increase as compared with last year, yet they are far from being satisfactory, as will be seen from the from the following figures :—Tho average offertory on a Sunday amounts to£2ls6d, as against £1 19s 6d last year. The average attendanca at a service is 73. Tbii shows a weekly offering of a little over 31 per head *t eioli service. When we take into consideration the amounts given weekly by noma uaembars it must leave a large proportion of the congregation, who give little or nothing. The majority of those who attend the Church were well able to give more than they bad hitherto done. As regards donations they had to thank Mr White for £7 Bs, Mr Postlefchwaite for £5, Mr Fyfe for a box to hold communion plate, Mr Thos, Sherratt for improvements to the organ, and Mr Brown for work done in the church, for which apparently he does not intend to charge. A 3 regards the pew rents, they think that it would be sufficient to state that, though financially successful, yet they do not think they are in accordance with Church principles, and they believe that a large majority of the congregation are not iu favor of the system, which system they think is calculated to do much harm, not only to our Church individually, but also to the Church at large. In concluding, they wished to allude to a resolution unanimously adopted at a recent meeting of Church officers, suggesting to the Incumbent the appointment of district visitors. The adoption of such a course would be highly beueficial to the parishioners, the district visitors, as well as thoie visited.

The report and balance-sheet were, on the motion of Mr W. E. Barker, seconded by Mr Bartrum, adopted after a short discussion. The election of church officers for the ensuing year was then proceeded with, resulting as follows :—lncumj bent's churchwarden, Dr Fish ; parishioners' churchwarden, M. r H. W. Moore; vestry, Messrs W. TJ. Slack, W. M. Moore, A. White, A. E. Hawkins, J. Pizzey, B. P. Bartrum, T. Sherratt, J. Kelland, J. W. Pye, and W. Willoughby; collectors, Messrs W. U. Slack, W. Hawke, E. R. Gillingham, C. G. Tripp, J. Acland, junr., Hesketh, G. J. Dennistoun, B. P. Bartrum, H. W. Moore, E. H. Templar, and L. Eooke; auditor, Mr H B. "Webster; treasurer of stipend fund, Mr W. E. Barker. Mr Barker stated that the stipend fund receipts were a little over the guarantee, the amount for the past year being L 264 14s 4d. There was a bank overdraft against this of L 7 17a lOd, making a deficiency on the guarantee of L4i.—lt was decided to leaye the stipend fund account open, as it was stated that there were still a few small accounts to come in, the account to be kept open till the amount of the deficiency be made up, or* not longer than a month.

The usual votes of thanks to all the parish workers, and the Kev. Incumbent for presiding, terminated the meeting. ST. JOHN THE EVANGELISTS' CHURCH, WINCHESTER The annual meeting in connection with St. John's, Winchester, was held in the schoolroom on Thursday, 2nd inst. The Rev. T. A. Hamilton presided, and opened the meeting with prayer. The rev. chairman reviewed i the work of the past year throughout the parish, and stated that never in the history of the parish had church matters been in sack a sound state financially or such zeal and energy exhibited by its members generally. He attributed this cheering and hopeful state of things to the lifting of the depression which for many years had hung over the country like a cloud. He complimented the "Winchester!

Vestry on their completing their pretty little church, especially thanking Mr H. J, Gladstone for the liberality which had set the work in motion. He then called upon the churchwardens to present the report aad balance-sheet. The report was as follows : The Churchwardens beg to report that during the past year the services have been well and regularly rmintained. The services (100 in number) have averaged 41£ in attendance, and the offertories have averaged 5s Id per service. During the year the Building shares held by the Yestry matured, and* thus the debt of £IOO due to the Church Property Trustees was extinguished. In consequence of this, and of a liberal offer on Mr Gladstone's part, it was decided to proceed at once with the erection of the remainder of the Church as originally designed. An motive canvass is still in progress, and we have great hopes that so considerable a portion of the necessary funds will be collected as to leave a sum easily within our means to deal as a debt on the Ohurob. The contract was let to Mr Wm. Young at £l3O, under the suparviaion of Mr C»ne, Architect of the Church. Services daring the alteration have been held in the schoolroom, but we hope that a week or ten days will restore us the use of the Church. We should here place on record our thanks to the ladies of the congregation who so kindly arranged for a Gift Auotion, which not only paid off the balance due to the Building Society, £l2 odd, thus freeing the Church from debt, but also realised a most useful and necessary sum for the Stipend Fund of £l7. Thia enables the good name of Winchester to be preserved, in so far as regards the total amount - . remitted ; but it must bo remarked (hut, perhaps, the majority oE Church members do not subscribe to the Stipend Fund at all. We aiso, on behalf of the congregation, desire to place en record our best thanks te our worthy pastor, the Kev. T. A. Hamilton, for his faithtul discharge of his duties, «nd the truly Christian example, in word and deed, which he seta before us. To tho lay readers also, especially Mr Gladstone, who kindly consented to take Mr Inwood's place, our best thanks are duo ; also to Mr Smith and all the teachers »f the Sunday School, and to Mrs Deßenzy and tho Choir ; while, in conclusion, we must mention, with special thanks and commendation, the really excellent services which Mies Gimaon so kindly discharged at the harmonium. The balance-sheet showed the total receipts for the year to be LB2 17s 8d by offertories, donations, and gift auction; of this L 77 Os 2d had been expended, L4J. having been forwarded to the General Fund in Temuka, the remainder baing consumed in current I expencea. The balance in hand from the gift auction of Ll 7 Os 3d had been ipaid into the Stipend Fund. There j wasfa balance left in hand of Lsl7s 6d.. On the motion of Mr H. Smith, seconded by Mr H. J. Gladstone, tha j report and balance-sheet were adopted, i A hearty vote of thanks was ac-L corded to the churchwardens for successful issue of the year's work. The election of officers for the ensuing year was then proceeded with. The Incumbent again elected Mr W. Deßenzy as clergyman's churchwardea, and Mr A. W. Ensor was again elected to thejpostof parishoners' churchwarden. The following were | elected vestrymen :r-A. L. Barker, R. Smith, H. E. Smith, Philp and Taylor. Matters of interest were then dealt with. The churchwardens were directed to pay the first instalment of L6O to the contractor. - The architect's certificate states that the work had been very well done and the meaning of the plans and specifications carefully carried out.

It was decided to repaint the whole of the church when completed. The subscription lists were then laid upon the table by Messrs Deßenzy and Gladstone, showing a total sum of L4O 17s 6d collected by them outside of Winchester, and in many instances contributions had been freely given by members of other denominations. Mr Ensor undertook to canvass the township, and in addition it was resolved to hold a tea and gift auction, &c, on Friday, 17th May, to liquidate the balance of the debt. A bullock, 10 sacks of oats, potatoes, &c, were promised on the spot, and the affair promises to be a thorough success. The Incumbent was requested to see the ladies of the with regard to the tea.

A special vote of thanks was accorded to Miss Gimson for her valuable services in rendering the musical portion of the services thoroughly efficient, and a hope was expressed that the choir would attend regularly in order to assist her to the utmost, Totes of thanks were also accorded to the retiring officers, the lay reader, the Sunday School teachers and choir, and all church workers, and also the Incumbent for his work in the Parish, expressing also the esteem in which he was held and the desire that he might long be spared to labor amongst them. The Rev. T. A. Hamilton briefly

responded, thanking them heartily for their good wishes, and stating that he was proud of Winchester for one thing especially, and that was the splendid behaviour of the young men resident in the place. He hoped some day to be instrumental in build- [ ing them a club room, which might I be used for meetings, in re football, &c, besides containing a library and other means of improvement. He had already had a site offered to him by a resident. At the close of the meeting JWr H. J. Gladstone requested permission to remove the bell from its preset position on the church, owing to the vibration damaging the Wilding, and to build a detached belfry at his own

expense. This was agreed to, and the thanks of the meeting were unanimously accorded to Mr G-ladßtone. The meeting terminated with the Benediction.