ST MATTHEW'S CHURCH.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3567, 22 July 1890, Page 2

ST MATTHEW'S CHURCH.

Annual Mooting of Parishioners*

: The annual meeting of Parishioners of St Matthew's Church was held in , the schoolroom last evening, the Sev 3 W. E. Paigo (Incumbent) presiding, . The minutes of the previous annual meeting were read' and confirmed, 1 after which the Chairman addressed i the meeting upon the financial posib tion of the Parish, • He was pleased ? to have to congratulate them upon 1 the improved condition. The arrears B to the general Church fund bad beoia 3 considerably reduced, and in fact the 1 whole finances of the Parish were in f a healthy condition. He did not 1 intend fe detain them by making any further remarks upon this subject, as 3 the balance sheet gave them all the 1 informationhe thought was necessary. : He would, however, take this opport tunity of alluding to tho valuable assistance he l|ad reoeived from the' , Yostry during the past year, 'The I meetings had been harmonious, and J every member of tho Vestry appeared , to be working for the welfare of the ) Parish. Ho was sorry to havo to state that Mr Jas. Nicol, who had so ' long acted as Incumbent's Church- : warden, had decided .to retire from ; that position. Mr Nicol would, , however, act on the Yestry if elected, i Ho was pleased to,inform the parish- , ioners that Mr 0. E. Bremner i had kindly consented to accept ! the office vacated by Mr Nicol i for the ensuing year. Whilst 1 referring to churoh matters, ho could 1 not allow this opportunity to pass \ without expressing rogret at the loss the cliuiob. had sustained by the , death of Mrs HpskiHg, who, during ; her residence in Masterton, had rendered valuable assistance in many ways. The Incumbent also took occasion to thank those gentlemen who had acted as lay readers, and moro especially Mr Bradbury, who had relieved him on many occasions and enabled him to visit the outlying districts. It was also pleasing to note that the number of communicants for the past year had been considerably increased, lie also noticed that at the evening services in the church there was a larger attendance of the stronger sex. He had nothing further to say at present but would submit the school balance-sheet,- ' which showed" a sh'ght deficiency, f lije was accounted for by the collapse of the Philharmonic Society, the rent from which had been a great source of their income, To meet the existing deficiency he suggested that the box in the-church porch be utilised for the purpose of collecting subscriptions to refund the cost of the lamp erected in ' tho grounds, which had been paid out of the school funds, He would how oall upon the Secretary to read the report, ' " ' 'The balance-sheet was taken as read, and the'report, which was read ( as folfows, was adopted : In-presenting the annual' balance- : sheet, a copy of which lias been for- i warded t,o every subscriber and pew ' holdej. 1 , the' churchwardens and Vestry are glad tobp able to congratulate the parishjoners on the , impi'oved state of the finances of tho Popish, for whereas at the end of the i last financial year tlie amount owing to the general djurcl) fund was £221 ' 7s (id, % WW' uo P" M e 21st, { 1830, WftS £l6? 5s (Jd, a decrease of { £SB 2s 3d, Since thjg date a < furtheijsum of £25 has been remitted, thus reducing the debt tof 188 5s Gd, a For every-material assistance in t bringing about this; desirable result ' the hearty thanks of the parisi"'™? l ' B are to ths members of the Ladies' T Guild, and to those ladies who topkpart \ in the Xmas Tree. .''■ '' '".-■•. \ The Vestry are glad to notice an 5 increase of |lo'Bs 8d inthe offertories t over those of'M year, jyhile there is ' only "a'difference'of |l"8s in the ' subscriptions and pew rents. In thjs Jast item the Vestry regret to see \ so"jarge,aj))mp'uiit'pf arrears (£79 i 17s,)'""jii Sflme cases oxjkendiHg .over t two or three years.. tW- desire to v impress on parishioners the desirable- t ness of prompt payment in each v quarter, for unless some plan of this " kind is adopted the finances can j. harjjly bo otherwise than.in an liiitie'altbystate, Tljo 'Vestry would c

point out that if those arrears were paid the indebtedness of the parish to the general church fund would only amount to LSB 8s Gd, and in another year would probablybe extinguished. .The Vestry desire to thank Messrs Bradbury and Jaoksonjfor the efficient help they have given as Lay Readers, Mrs Paige for acting as organist, the gentlemen of the choir and the teachers in the Sunday Sohbol for their valuable assistance, aud Mr 0. A.Tabiiteaufor again kindly Auditing the accounts, They also desire to place on record their appreciation of Mr Pickering's handsome gift of a stained glass window in the ohurch, The'Eov Paige then nominated Mr. 0 E Bremner as Incumbent's Ohuroli■warden.- Mr' 6. Welch waff elected Parishioner's Churchwarden. :

Tho meeting resolved that the number of the vestry for the ensuing year be five, and the following gentlemen were' elected-.—Messrs A M Bradbury, Alex Hunter, W lggulden, i Jas. Nicol and Henry Yates,

Messrs 0 A Tabuteau and B H Waddington were elected auditors. . A vote of thanks was pissed to the retiring vestry, a vote of thanks being also accorded to Mrß Paige for her services as organist, A vote of thanks was also passed to the auditors and the Ladies' Committee for their great assistance, In moving a vote of thanks to the lay readers and teachers' in the Sunday School, the chairman took occasion to mention that classes had been commenoed at the Taueru and other outlying/listriots, Mrs Freeth and daughters had taken the matter up in the Upper Plain district, and were initiating classes there. Votes of tjianks to the chairman and the Secretary terminated tho proceedings. A meeting of tho Parishioners was held subsequently in accordance with advertisement, Mr J J Freeth, returning officer, in the chair, The business was to nominate two. Synodmen in the place of Messrs G Beetham and C J Pharzyn, retiring. Messrs G Beetham and G Fannin were elected to fill the vacancy, and the meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the chair,