St. Matthew's Parish.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3257, 16 July 1889, Page 2

St. Matthew's Parish.

The annual parish meeting was held in St. Matthew's Schoolroom last night, the incumbent, the Rev, W, E. Paige presiding. About twenty-live parishioners were present and the meeting opened in the usual form,

The Secretary, Mr W. Sellar, reiiu tho'raiiiut.es (jf the last meeting which were duly ooiiiirmeii.

Mr Poijro said to make tilings clear it would be necessary for him to briefly touch upon the circumstances attending last year. At the annual meeting in July, 1888, several gentlemen thinking they had discovered a certain method of improving the' financial position of the parish, agreed to take office upon certain conditions, stipulating that they would resign if the Synod refused to agree to them. The Synod, as they were all probably aware, refused unanimously to adopt the conditions submitted to them, with the result that the Vestry refused to continue office. A mooting was called but only two or three parishioners attended and an adjournment took plaoe for fourteen days. ' The Vestry at the latter meeting would not resume office nor would they elect any one to fill their place,, so that the parish was for eight months without a Vestry. He had to record his hearty thanks to Mr J. Niool," who stood by single bandedaudcarried on the work'of the vestry, M l ' Nbol did not take office with any~opnditlW Silked to it, neither did he resign, The thanks of the parishioners were due to him. (Applause.) He need not point out the unsatisfactory position in which the parish was placed by the action of the vestry last year, It had the result that a great- deal of

mud bad beenmost unjustifiably cast at the parish of Masterton, He would say again unjustifiable, and would repeat the words in the Synod. The Parish only owed something under L2OO on the general account, and a debt on the parsonage of Ll5O, which was a loan on the parsonage borrowed in 1878 at 8 per cent, and i which would not be likely to be called up. Ho was not prepared to say what was the financial position of other parishes in the district, but ho was prepared to say that Masterton was m a better financial position than a good many parishes who owed thousands of pounds, and yet it was never suggested that a special committee should be appointed to enquire into the cause of their indebtedness. Simply becauso the debt of the parish, of Masterton had been transferred from a private account at the Bank to the general account, it had gone abroad that Masterton was a dolinquent. When ho heard the Bishop and standing committee had decided to send up two laymen, he could not help writing to the Bishop and stating his views. . Those two gentlemen came up, but it would bo better, perhaps, for him not to state his private opinions on that point. If the opportunity was giyen in the Synod, he would not fail to express them there. He thought it derogatory to the Council to adopi anything like the private detective work they bad undertaken in sending up two men to sow discord in the parish, (Applause). He was informed those two gentlemen made it their business to go round to certain individuals and ask' them what thay had against him'. He therefore repeated J bis words-theaction was derogatory. Those gentlemen had sent in their report, and he was happy to see the whole motion relegated to the Synod -in other words" hung up," What their report was ho did not know, it had, however, one practical result. When the investigation of the books was made, they saw for themselves that the statement he made in the Synod was correct that Masterton was in abetter financial position than a great many parishes, So much, he said, for the finances. It was certainly uufortunate that the vestry resigned as it gave a colouring to the report thai there was a variance between them and himself. The minutes in the books showed, however, that the variance was between them and the authorities. The vestry tried to force them to adopt their views and lease tho frontage of the Church acre and reduce the amount at which the parish was assessed to £2OO. He would take the opportunity to disabuse the minds of certain parishioners in respect to the church acre. It was not the property of Masterton. They had no legal claim to it, and supposing the frontage'was let they would have to go as beggars, and ask for a share of it. He thought it a bad policy to calculate upon getting anything fronVtheni. Being Diocesan property they could not claim oiio penny of the revenue, Tho position had nos been fully understood and that was why he had referred to it. This ignorance of the position of affairs had led sonio to the mistake that leasing the frontages would help them out of their financial difficulties. There was a difference of opinion amongst the Trustees whether' the land should be leased or not. The financial statement and balance sheet for the past year had been placed in their hands. They began the year with an overdraft of L4l lis Bd, including interest, He was happy to be able to say at the present time they did not owe the Bank one penny. Nor did they owe anything in or out of the parish. Tne Secretary bad been paid up, the first time for two years. The sum actually paid to the general church fund was £.2181G, to which if they added the debtor balance of L4l with which they started tho year, and the LlO paid the Secretary for arrears, he did not think they would find any deficiency in the amount of L 250 at which they were assessed.

Ho would take the present opportunity to thank the ladies of the guild, Mrs Beothara for her garden party, and the ladies generally who in other ways had used their endeavors to raise funds towards the expenses of the parish; also the Sunday School teachers and others who helped in Church work in other ways. (Applause.] He thanked them collectively as they were too numerous to indiyiduahse. He also thanked the members of the choir for their able assistance, and expressed a hope that a few more able singers would help to strengthen the choir in the coming year—the two px : lay readers Mr Yon Stunner and Mr Grundy for their valuable assistance during the past year which had enabled him to visit the outlying district of Pahiatua, where they had built for themselves a mission room which was almost paid for. They held services there every Sunday with lay readers, and a quarterly visjf from himself. Ho must also thank his present lay' reader, Mr Bradbury, who was appointed by the Bishop, Ho found 'tho extra assistance a benefit to himself and he thought it Tvas agreeable to the parishioners. The Auditors also lie thanked and formally moved the adoption Qfthe balance sheet, He congratulated the parish on tho fact that the deficiency was no. greater, Thoy only owed £lB5, and that ought not to cause any depression of feeling. If their finances were conducted to such a successful issue with only a Church Wardon working single-handed iliey £!£!;!'?>: ne ct with a proper Vestry to carry on the affaire of the parish ptl) even greater results in the The motion was seconded by Mr L, J, Hooper, and carried unanimously,

The appointment of officers was then proceeded with, Mr Paige said lis bad much pleasuro in again nominating Mr J, Nicol as his cimwhwarden for the; ensuing year, Mr J, J. Freeth' w'aa unanimously elected parishioner's ehurohwarden on the motion of Mr Hooper, seconded by Mr R. Meredith. It was resolved on the motion of Mr P. Dickson, seconded by Mr L. J. Hooper, That the number of vestrymen should be ten, and the following gentlemen' were declared duly elected amidst applause.—Messrs A. Bradford, Hunter, 'G, Welch, -J, Siissell,' H. YatesvA.' M; Bradbury, J. Bulpit, W. Iggulden, Oi J'. Froeth and J, L, Murray,' ' ' ■

Messrs'Tabuteau and Porritt were re-elected auditors.'

The Sunday School accounts were tkon read over, 'Tlio tqtftl receipts amounted to L4l'BsJod,'including the sib of LBlss 9d for'rents, The included prizes L 6 0s 2d, transferred io-Sls'Cbureh account L 9 9sßd,'gas W Bs, and Other items, leaving a credit balinpVof LBlßs 5Jd The Chairman said tho balanco sheet' just read was a most satisfactory one and showed a very profitable

return for the money invested ): &' enlarging and improving tiio school- ™ room,

Under general business it was resolved tlvit letters of thanks be sent to the ladies connected with' the parish work for their kindness during the past year, also to the auditors. A vote of thanks to Mrs Paige for her services as organist, moved by Mr P. Dickson and seconded by Mr V. Hooper, was carried by acolamatiou, Mr Paige, in response, thanked" ( v those present for the kind expression Jk accorded Mrs Paige, He could only v say that to her it work of love, She had always doiwher best, and if at times the singing was not always up to the desired standard, it was the best that could be provided at the time, It was always opou to improvement, and would improve. It was tho bridge that carried them over till something better was obtainable, and they must not despise the bridge. He had been to some trouble and expense privately to try and improvo matters but .■ circumstances bad proved adverse he regretted to sty. As he said before be trusted to see those endowed with good voices come forward and help to make the ohoir better than it was, He again thanked them for their vote to Mrs Paige. (Applause). A vote of thanks to Mr Sellar, the Secretary, for his past service brought tlie meeting to a close,