PRESBYTERIAN ANNIVERSARY MEETING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2239, 9 March 1886, Page 2

PRESBYTERIAN ANNIVERSARY MEETING.

Tp Maobj Rao?.

Teb annual meeting was held in the church last night, the attendance of the members and friends beiny very good. The meeting was opened with a hymn and prayer. Tiie minister, the Rev. D. ■Fulton, called upon the Treasurer, Mr Edwin Fiest, to read the report which was as follows;

It would have been a source of gratification to your Committee in placing before you the annual financial statement of the congregation were they able to report that the receipts for the general fund had come up to the expenditure. By a reference to the balance-sheet for 1884 it will be Been that the receipts were a little more than for last year. The debtor balance on the general fund account for 1885 is £12812s 3d, showing an increase ovor the balance of the previous year. The Sabbath offerings have increased, but in some of the districts the contributions to j the Sustenation fund-have not been quite bo large, and in others the amounts usually received have hot been paid.' ''ThesiS con-

,'tributions, however, will most lively come in, but as thu bpoka are made up for last year, ffrey will be entered on the list of subscriptions fpp tbjs year,. Your Committee, recognising fclje fact that it would bo necessary to provide acommodation for the increasing congregation, at a meeting held on July Bth, 1885, decided to take steps to enlarge and impVovo the church, Circulars were lent out to the members and adherents of the congregation with-the result, that,'up to the present time we have received in subscriptions £132, and have further auma promised to the amount of £l4 or'£ls, There are a good many circulars that were sent out which up to the present have not been returned with the amounts promised. About two'months since it was thought desirable to establish afternoon services in connection with this church (in addition to the other places which are supplied by our minister) at Woodlands fortnightly; Ta'uera fnbnthly,, apd' BjdtfH' rndijthly; In order to carry out. these services Mr Fulton has enlisted the services of some lay-agente of the church, .We have also r'ec&wly Mtwb'ljAeid» youig hpi'b fellow-

Bhip,meeting which is held in the Church on Sabbath mornings, and have much pleasure in reporting that this part of our church work has proved successful, it gives an.opportumty for the mutual study of the Scriptures, and we believe that it is a means of developing talents which might not otherwise be employed.. The balance sheet showed receipts £285 9s Bd, and expenditure £304 3s Id. The debtor balance last year was £lO9 18sl0|d, and was now £l2B 123 3|d, showing an increase of £lßl3s sd. The receipt on account of the building was' £lsßlos 7d, which has been paid over to the contractor, and the sum of £BO 18s lid was still required to make up the amount of the contract £239 9s Cd. They had in hand the sum of £4 Is 3d, which, amount was the contributions to the fund for the relief of distressed persons. Mr Feist in moving the adoption ofj the report, said taken as a whole.it might be considered a satisfactory one. The sum Of £417 had been raised during the year, and it was hardly to be.; expected that they would have been able to pay off the whole liability in one year. He payed a high compliment to Mr Fulton, the results of whoso ministry were visible .in the increased attendance. Mr Buttle had said they ought to be able to wipe off the dobt at one meeting. He was doubtful of their being able to do that, but if they did so that night after hearing Mr Ruttle'a address, he would say kapai the Maori. Flo had much" pleasure in moving the adoption of the report and balance sheet. Mr Holdaway on rising said he wished one of the elders of the church had been present to second it. He wished that thoy could say they were free of debt. But financial succ'oss did not always mean spiritualprogress,thoughspiritualprogress meant financial success. They were always glad to see their beloved.pastor, and might congratulate themselves upon having one so spiritually needed, Their sabbath schools were also a success, and that was the great hope of the church, and he trusted the congregation would not be found behind hand in giving' their children a christian education. Other branches of the christian work were not being neglected. The outlying districts were demg attended to, and they would not be sound if thoy did not made their; light shine in distant places, He believed in taking the stepß.they had taken in that . direction, and the seeds sown would bear a good harvest, Their young mens class also was a step in the right direction, and he had no hesitation in saying it- would be a means of strengthening the' church. He had great pleasure in moving the adoption of the report, and trusted at their next annual meeting they would be entirely free of debt. Cheers, The Rev Mr Fulton invited anyone to speak to the motion, and it not being responded to, he, before putting it, made a few brief remarks upon the work done during the past year, and the increased comfort and accommodation provided for the congregation. He thought if ajj members and adherents, especially those in the district who had caiue to look upon Masterton as not their diatriofc, had done what was reasonably to be expected of them, the church would not now have been in dobt. It was proposed to have two or three lectures, and the ladies were sot to work with sewing meetings and other means, He thought they would not have heavy work in getting rid of ■ a debt'Of £200; in fact if it were a little more it might stir them up to greater energy, Each one should be determined to give what could be spared, If they had large aims, large] hopes, and a noblo spirit, they would soon find themselves out of the difficulty. He concluded by putting the resolution, which was carried. Mr Fulton then in a few kind words introduced Mr Buttle.

The Rev, JVN, Buttlo, whowasrecpivccl with cheers said Methodists always believed in taking the present time, and he thought,the present wasagoodoppprtunity of paying off the debt, a,nd he trusted they would nobly respond when the time came for the collection. He then introduced the subject of his lecture

! His father came out in 1840 on the Wesleyan Mission, which landed in New Zealand and carried on the mission ary work. During that' time he had a good acquaintance with tho Maori raco and customs, but on the death of his mother he returned to England which deprived him ot a. more thorough know' ledge. He was always ready to read, think and learn of this interesting raco. Tho docline of such races had given philosophers great study, and what the Maori race would come to. Some thought they were fading away in the presence of the white people. He touched on the origin of tho race, and said tradition spoke of a native named Kupo who was blown ashore on these islands, and finding it such a beautiful climate, ho returned to his country and organised an expedition of emigrants, and came back to these Islands. The infer-

iority of the inhabitants of Chatham Islands suggested the thought that the Islands were inhabited before Kupe and his followers landed there. The origin waß said to be Polynesin. He traced the similarity of names and physique to Hie home of Kopu. Ho said among the Maori, females, were many beai|tifqj women. Those of tfyfc island m,ighfc be likened unto the wildduck,anc|theMiddle Island untp tame ducks. (Laughter), He. referred to the chief of tho Waikato, to Rewi'slove for his country, his interview with him, and tho effect it had upon the speaker. Rowi, he said, had greater influence than the king himself. Ho stated that'tho half casts were, both in education and figure, not behind their white friends. In the early part of his life they conversed in Maori, but when they were cut off from them, the lan-

guage was lost to him to a great extent. They often heard of Missionaries securing large tracts of country, but he could say such opportunities were embraced to a very small degree, and by the Wesleyan missionaries not at all. 'The language was decidedly figurative. A

few years ago the rage of Te White brought forth the expressive sentence " The potato is cooked," This was characteristic of the Maori speakers. They had a difficulty in recognising the different white men, and therefore they had to make names for them. The Maoris were also great orators,, and many of them were among their first students at the Three kings institution. He gave several illustrations of the powers and eloquence of the 'young Mwri studenji' He referred to the floisr and sugar pblicy of Sir "Donald M'Lean. A Beries pf articles appeared in the Auckland Evening Star giving a full description of the great native meeting, the description of the various speakers, and their elocutionary powers, This was contrasted with thestuok-up, buokrum style of the representativeof Government. Speaking of Sir George Grey he said there were few men who had done so m'uoh for

the colony. Jußt recently he had intimated his intention to.bestow a munificent gift of a collection of Maori poems and literature upon Auckland for the benefit of the colony, and that act alone should endear him to all true colonists. Ho touched upon polygamy, infanticide and slavery. In regard to marriage, little or no ceremony' was made, They were often betrothed while .young, and the proposa} for marriage camo : from the femaje'side. {t'was a sort of continued le'ip y^ai , 'stVthenY, '(daughter),''Ho gave an illustration of Kera Weni's courtship and engagement, and premature death.. Death, to the Maori wad dark, nd not uatfl the Chris-

tian religion shed its rays upon thorn. He the custoiri; of rubbing noses, the.part of the missionaries. They 'excelled in games of draughts; and are passionately fontf ofjfJhefn; '.Vary great was tho gammohof the'Maqri^and they had a keen sense of the humorous, Tho Maoris, too, were good at cooking. He would in; many ; cases prefer to eat a potato cooked by the Maori than the European. Cannibalism was touched upon by the lecturer, and the superstitions of the Natives., Their only idea of the Diety was as a God of Anger. The Maori mission had been a glorious success. He had lectured upon that subject, and had made up his mind' to prepare a second lecture on the subject of Maori mission work. There had no doubt been an apostosy among the Christian Maoris. The Hau-flau was the principal one, which was political rather than religious, Haii-Hau and Kingites coming to be synonomous terms. He next referred to the treaty of Waitangi and the war. The source of the trouble, he said, might be -confined to two sources, land and women. The pre-emptive ri«?ht claimed by the Government was a wretched mistake. _ The real cause of the war was not rebellion, but the waut of government on the part of the British, They had introduced drunkenness and. ether ovils. The Maori elders saw tho effect of these evils, and asked the Government to create a power by whiofi the Maoris could copo with the evils of drunkenness and licentiousness, but the Government neglected to_ do so. Then the elders of the Maoris said " We will have a king to rule over us," and thus began the war. The lecturer then gave a vivid description of many incidents of- the war, The source and cause of all that trouble was tho •blundering of the Government in England and the attempts to rule this country from London. He, in conclusion, spoke strongly against the attempts made to raise the cry of separation, The political separation of the North and Middle Islands would be a most injurious policy in the interests of the colony as a whole. Speaking of the future of theraoo he said-'.'Let but drunkenness,licentiousness, and evil practices gain ground with tho Maori, and they would Boon have to say farew ell, to one of the noblest aboriginal races that God had placed in any country. The lecturer sat down amidst cheers, and vote of thanks proposed by the Rev. D. Pulton was carried with acclamation. A collection was made. The meeting was brought to a close by the whole assemblage joining in singing the Doxology.