WESLEYAN CHURCH.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3477, 5 April 1890, Page 2

WESLEYAN CHURCH.

The public meeting in connection with the Wesleyan Church in this town took place last evening. Owing no doubt to'the fact that the usual tea spread hadjieen this year dispensed with, and that many had not returned from their holiday excursions, the attendance was rather thin. The chair was .occupied by Mr James Gordon. The report was read by the pastor, the Kev W. Bowse, in the absence oi Mr Galloway, the Secretary, from which it appeared that the Trustees had not been idle, but that a good deal had been done during the year in improving" matters connected with the Trust, Changes had taken place; Mrs Gordon had resigned her position as organist, and Mr Temple, the late choir master, had gone to reside; in Wellington, Miss White, however, had, kindly come to their assistance, and was rendering efficient service together with the able singers who compose the present choir, The congregation are usually large, and scarcely a sitting remains unoccupied. As complaints had been made regarding the lighting- of the building, seven new gas jets had been introduced The schoolroom had also been lighted with gas through the assistance of the Mutual Improvement Society, Reference was made to the various branches of church work carried on in connection with the Churchprayer meetings, olass meetings, Sunday schools (two), Band of Hope, Mutual Improvement Society, &c, Thanks were given to'the ladies who had given, aud kept going, the fortnightly sewing meetings, and also for the sale of work held in June last when about £SO was raised towards the Ministers Stipend Fund. Reference was also made to the silken autograph quilt, which it appears is still growing, and will be offered for sale when completed. The Trustees had found it difficult to meet all engagements from year to year, owing to the falling off in inepmo from _ anniversary collections and donations. After muoh consideration arrangements have been made to lighten the burden by reducing the expenditure. The Loan Fund have granted an extension of time by which they pay £4O instead of £SO per annum. Other reductions have also been made. In the absence of the Secretary (sfr Galloway), a complete statement could not be given, Interesting speeches followed the reading of the report by the Chairman, and Messrs Bamber, Herbert and Butters. The Choir, which was in good form, rendered hymns and anthems with good effect, aud the meeting was brought to a close with the benediction. ..

j AMONG THE MORMONS. :. Big Gathering at Te Ore Ore. (by pakeha.) Hearing that there was to be a large gathering of natives at Te Ore Ore, and inspired,by the brilliant rays of a veritable Good Friday sun, ■ your humble servant, not knowing f where to spend his holiday in a more ' profitable rannuei', bethought himself that he would visit the scene of tin's gathering, about the objects of which he, however, was ontiroly in the dark, Accordingly, in company with an experienced member of the ink-sling-ing fraternity, ho set out shortly after noon yesterday, on " shanks'pony," for the scene of action, Half an hour's stiff walking, with no small amount of puffing aud blowing, brought us to the entrance of tho big meeting-house at Te Ore Ore pah, Here we were saluted by a dusky damsel,, who was decidedly more extensive than beautiful, with a pronounced "te nga koe." Having responded in broken Maori accent with a modest " teenarkway," we gratefully accepted an invitation to outer, and in a moment found ourselves hi the midst of a large assembly of natives, interspersed with the more civilised European. By special request we removed the covering to our omniums, and discovered simultaneously that we were actually in ohuroh. There, at the top of the whare (or ohurch, rather) were congregated about a score of the disciples, of "Brigham Young," one of whom . was expounding, in the profusest ; of language (interpreted by a bro- : ther), the Scriptures as accepted ; by the " Latter Day Saints." For ! fully a quarter of an hour we listened attentively to the discourses, when, : fearing lest we should be converted, ; or become victims of an attack of "La Grippe," (the latter being very probable from the variety of odours;. arising from dried eels, potatoes-to), ■ we withdrew. We- then very j cautiously approached an influential • native and inquired tho objects of j the gathering. He informed us in a very confidential sort of a way that , the gathering m not iiiey«y«B of the term a Mormon one, ,<s Certainly," said he, "the Mormons have! Bumnioned'the. meeting, but we who '. are nqt-Mormop 'have- taken the cpßQKtuflity to coojo togfetUey out-of j

friendship—merely to • see one .another." Being a half-caste, and ■ speaking in an audiblo manner, we, of course, believed his statement, He assured us that there were fully 600 visitin/j Maoris present, some hailing ' from Gisbome and Napier, whilst others were representatives of Palnierston, Otaki, Wellington and South Wairarapa. Thanking him heartilyforhis bit of information we left, and ..decided to make a tour of the various " whares.". To attempt , ; to desoribeiudotftil the sights'wo J, saw ffould be an uttor absurdity, : ' suice to say thatherewas grouped,, r a dozen ' : industrious] ; : "waihenas," preparing the "kai,"' '.' peeling .potatoes," roasting .eels'on-'. j ovens of stones, boiling pork etc, (the aroma from whioh could, without'' : '' exaggeration,, be-out .with a knife,); ,-« whilst in i ; score of other places were \ ,- ; i'' groups undertaking the same peculiar - business.i Having visited; most'.of -i i tho huts, and. made 'acquaintance' i with perhapsmore friends than we -' : had bargained for (i,e, a multitude of fleaß),|wefeturried to the;* big-house/ '"■■'t to find that service, was just ".concluded. Of course our curiosity was aroused as to tbe : reason presence of ! such a comparatively ' large'number of European "saints." ■,.., Spotting an individual-whom we supposed (ftomthe.Ban'otimdny de- \'. piotedupon his face), was an " elder," we, with our professional boldness, > asked if he: could Bupply us with a...,,., little information.. To oiif intense ■ }'. amazement' the solemn individual looked down upon as as a Supreme .Being upon "worms of the earth," and pohtely referred <us to the Secretary. We soon discovered His Royal Highness, and were with very little ceremony ushered into the holy of holies, whero was Boated in a corner, surrounded by his." elder" coUcagues, one to whom we wero introduced as the President. Contrary to expectations we were recoived by this official in a most courteous manner, and having exobangedcards and greetings found him to be blessed with the ' delightful cognomen of Angus T, Wright, We were soon at home in:' 1 his company,'and although'we did- * not consent to immersion or any other initiatives of the creed, we were supplied with all the-informa-tion we required, Mr Wright acquainted us of the fact that this assembly wasthe"annualconferenco" of tho Mormon Church, : Besides himself, who had ridden on horseback the whole of the way from Auckland, there were fifteen brethren. (or elders) present. These represented the' districts of Waiapu, Poverty Bay,Matua, Hawkes Bay.Manawatu, and Wairarapa, The minor objeots of the gathering, he assured us, were toenlightentheNativesandstrengthen the church. The balance-sheets'and,. ,■■, reports in connection' with the ;; mission would be presented Way (Saturday), and the mission would dose on Sunday night. The elders, we were told, were sent out from Salt Lake city on a three years mission, and at the expiration of that term would return and would be replaced by others. In New Zealand at the present time there were 8854 adherents to tho church, the majority of whom were Natives, and during the past twelve months no less than 548 converts had been , v baptised into the. faith, including Vj infants. The mission was almost 'ni solely confined to the North Island. ' Thanking Mr Wright and his colleagues, (who, by the way, if not jt characterised by an over amount of vJ intelligeno9 wore very sincere,) for their civility, we left the presence of the high and mighty, experiencing a peculiar sensation, somewhat analogous to that of a cold bath on a frosty morning, and impressed with the idea that the calling of a Mormon priest on a foreign mission was at least a" rosy billet," productive of a sleek, though not overolean sppearauce. The theological views of these "peculiar people," appears to admirably adapt themselves to the superstitious nature of our aborigines, who are most enthusiastic in their devotions. Having bid farewell to those of our acquaintances who had shown us round the pah and' treated lus with their usual courtesy, we left for home, after spending a most 1 interesting and enjoyable time. Amongst the more enfluential of the native visitors is Wi Mahupuku, who hails [from the Lower Valley, Heuare Potao, from Gisbome, and Piripi Te Maari, from Hawke's Bay,' New Zealand Loan and Mer- W cantile Agency Company.

The twenty-fifth annual ordinarygeneral meeting of the shareholders of the New Zealand Loan and Mer-

cantile Agelioy Coinpauy, Limited, was held on Friday, February 7, at the. Gannon-street Hotel, the Bight Honi' Sir James Fegussou, M.P., presiding. The Chairman said that the report 1 showed that the business and profits. | ofthe company had been well main. ' tained during tho year under review. ; The company continued to occupy a '< prominent place among agenoy com' ' . paniesaud firms doing business in Australasian colonies,, and turning ' to the last year's working, bethought 1 it ought to give increased confidence ' to both shareholders and debenture- ' 1 holders, while the flourishing condi. [ tionof the colonies gave a hopeful ' prospect for the future. It would be observed-that the net profit.was.(M; £06,752, while in the previous year W it was £82,158. This result had been obtained notwithstanding that they had experienced a cycle of years in the colonies very unfavourable to pastel industry and injurious to Borne of their constituents. He ■■*■ wished to refer especially to the **■ continued expansion of the wool trade 'f the most important, and perhaps the "' most legitimate, business of the company. The item showed that for the year under review there was an increase of 10,268 bales upon 174,042 bales consigned to them and sold in i London or the colonies whilaby their latest reporte they learned that the company had received and dealt with an increase of 27,000 bales. What was most encouraging tothemselves, and gratifying to their conBtituents was that there had been an increase of prices obtained for wool in London to the extent of nearly M ■ per bale in the last twelve months, amounting in the aggregate to an advance in their returns from 1 £1,170,000 in 1884, to £1,807,080 iifr ■ 1888, and to £1,454,220 in while tho value of all produce in ' their hands for the same period had risen from £1,590,950 in 1884, to '£l 1 720,120in1888,andt0£1,978,000 in: 1889.- If to ; these last figures ,■ thoy added the ■ indents exeouted in ! London, the volume of their business had reached nearly £2,022,000. But even with that satisfactory proof of their prosperity and with accounts', showing net profits larger than those". , of 1888, the directors pomroeiideihan inoreasetb their,', C.. reserve' fund- rather than; a division: of the usual bonus, The alteration ' ■ iw Hio W impost w

Hie London Board a greater responsibility than formerly for the business of the convpauy, and, having that in view, they had made a wore thorough investigation of tho business both in London and the colonics; andwhilo tboy found it to be most flourishing and increasing, with excellent results and great promise for the future, they had,:nevertheless, to bear in mind that of tlio'large area over which '• their operations ontended, nftwy parts were liable to what bo mighl call climatic vicissitudes. After making provision out of earnings for bad and doubtful debts to a larger, extent than iu former years, and conferring with their general manager in 'Australia, thoy deemed ■it pruttatj in view of tho possibility of the return of periods such as that from which they had,emerged, to strengthen their reserve fund, believing that it was a wise policy that the reserves should, if possible, bejupme proportion to the paid-up rWal. They thought, moreovor, that it would give greater-confi-dence to the debenture holders. They wero in the courso of converting their four-and-a-half per. cent terminable debentures into permanent forms of debentures at • 4 per cent, which he thought could not fail to bo facilitated by the policy they were pursuing. Having read BOirie extracts from letters bearing on the prospoofs of the company, ho concluded by formally moving the adoption of tb/juiort and thd declaration of the divliend recommended. Sir E. Stafford seconded the motion, which was unanimously agreed to. Tho retiring directors and auditors were afterwards re-elected—Financial News,