WESLEYAN DISTRICT SYNOD.

Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 221, 11 December 1897, Page 3

WESLEYAN DISTRICT SYNOD.

The Synod resumed its sittings on Wednesday, the Rev. R. H. Dewsberry pieBiding. TE AWAMUTD MISSION. The report of the committee on the proposed appointment of a home missionary to Te Awamutu was received and adopted : 1. That in the opinion of this committee the work of the Hamilton and -Te Awamutu circuit cannot be efficiently done without another agent. 2. That a home missionary be placed at Te Awamutu to work Te Awamutu, Paterungi, Mangapiko, Otorohanga and Te Kuiti, as part of the Hamilton and Te Awamutu circuit.

3. That a grant of £3O be made to the Hamilton and Te Awamutu circuit to assist this aggressive movement. 4. That the consideration of the above be referred to the Hamilton and Te Awamutu December quarterly meeting to report through the Chairman to tho Conference. MAORI MISSION WOHK. It was resolved tint Conference be recommended whenever a suitable young man is found to appoint him a probationer to the Maori work, who si all labour under direction of the Rev, \V, Gittos. THREE KINGS COLLEGE. The following is an extract from the report of the Principal, the Rev. J. H. Simmonds, on the College, which was adopted :—ln estimating our work at this College it must be remembered that our scholars come to us weighted with mauy disadvantages Their physical temperament and hereditary habits incline them to take life carelessly. Their minds are subject to limitations that make learning in the larger and truer sense a Blow and tedious process. They arc proud but not sufficiently self-respecting. They have ambition, but their will to achieve is feeble. They desire to do right, but on many points their idens as to the distinction between right and wrong are confused and unstable. Inspired and stimulated by the stronger Teutonic spirit, they can rise to a good measure of successful effort ; left to themselves they at once lapse into inaction. To expect from thc;c boys what is possible with the most capable and privileged Europeans is to expect the impossible. We make it our endeavour at Three Kings to provide for them a happy Christian home and to give them an education suited to their capacities and needs. We continually urge them to seek the grace and heartrenewing of true religion. The truth that makes men free is inculcated by catechism and by daily Bible reading in both Maori and Englith. Several of the elder boys hare expnssed a desire to become preachers. We constantly tiy to realise the present circumstances of the Maori people, and to avoid thinking of them as living in a past that has r.one for ever. We know that they must everywhere come into contact and competition with the English-speaking colonist, and we accordingly impress upon them the importance of becoming correct and facile in the use of the English language as the best and surest means of commanding fair and advantageous terms in this inevitable intercourse with the dominant race. We have this year increased the list of our schools subjects by adding Latin and Algebra, so that the more capable may have an opportunity of advancing to higher education. At an institution like this the scholars need instruction or oversight in various ways from early morning until bed-time at night. In the garden and field and workshop, as well as in the schoolroom, those in charge mußt inspire and lead. Very little in the nature of work or study is done spontaneously. Nothing is done skilfully and well unlets under vigilant and patient direction. Even the games and amusements of the boys require a measure of our interest. The thought that troubles us is this, that our own efforts and those of others seem so inadequate to save the survivors of the once noble Maori race from degradation and extinction. What is to be the future of those who do. come, and upon whom we are spending so much care and effort ? They must soon leave us and return to their own people. What will become of them ? In the majority of cases they will be met on every hand by carelessness, thriftlessness and temptation. Is it to be exj pected that mere inexperienced youths of IS or 20 years, however thorough their , training may have been at school, will re-act with any potency upon such an 1 environment ? Is it not much more likely that they will yield to their sur- ; roundings and conform to the ways of 1 those about them ? We may be told that the time has come when the Maori people must help themselves. At present the work of Three Kings and the Anglican schools as well is too much like those streams that flow into the desert and are lost in the unfertile sands. Our scholars go away from us into the midst of influences that to a large extent neutralise the instruction and training they have received.