MASTERTON WESLEYAN CHURCH.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5153, 11 October 1895, Page 2

MASTERTON WESLEYAN CHURCH.

ANNUAL SOCIAL. A very enjoyable social, in connection with (lie Mastcrton Wesleyan Methodist Church, was held in the Sunday Schoolroom, last ovening, about an hundred Church members and friends being present, Mr C. E. Daniol 1 occupying the Chair. During' the evening, hymns wore sung, and references made to the financial position of the Church, showing that the management during the miniatnA. of the Rev. Mr Dukes, had brough®L financial matters to a very favorable* condition, and in that timo the circuit debt had boen practically cleared. Too much cannot be said in praise of Mr Danicll, the Senior Circuit Stoward, for the way in which he has worked for the welfare of his Church and its people, and on the motion of Mr Dukes, who testified »s to Mr Daniell's great help and interest in Church matters gonorally, a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to him for his four and a-half years of past services,

During an interval in tlio programme, refreshments wore freely distributed among those present. The most interesting feature of the meeting, was an account of " The first twentjr years of Colonial Life," as recorded by Mr H. Jones, sonr., of Masterton, an old and widely-respected settler in this district, and we very much regret that want of space proronts our giving a detailed account of Mr Jones' story of the hardships endured by the early settlors of New Zealand. Suffice to remark that a great deal k of this Colony's progress is owing tc•A the indomitable courage, endurance, and self-reliance of such devoted pioneers as Jlr Jones proved himself, and it is indeed pleasing, after so many years, to lind him still in our midst, enjoying health and strength. I'rom the interesting account. t>iven, wo glean that Mr Jones, with bis wife and four children, left theOld Country for New Zealand, in tho old sailing vessel " London," in the year 1811, the voyage proving a very eventful one, and landed at Port Nicholson on Sunday, May Ist of tlm same year, with but a few pence in his possession, and it was a , memorable event in his life, v/hon Mr Charles Dixon, a truo and faithful shipmate, helped to make up sufficient money to purchase tho first loaf of bread eaten by his family and Mr Dixon, in Now Zealand. To them, uq bread had ever possessed j such relish, as they had lived—or irather existed—on "salt junk," throughout tbe months of their i suffering existence on board the old sailing vessel, from tho effects of which, it took them some consider- k able time to recover. 4/L After some time of residence and near Wellington, a period full ,of tips and downs, Mr Jones and family, iu company with the late Mr Charles Dixon, removed to the Wairarapa an undertaking of some 4 considerable importance in those days, when parts of the roughly, formed track over the Bimutaka range were so narrow, that it was with considerable difficulty that bullocks could cross in single file with their packs—and landed in Masterton in the year 1812, where himself and family had remained ever since, undergoing all the many trials and privations of the early Colonist, but overcoming and out- 1 living them all. To him, the greatest, blessing of all, was the fact that he had lived to enjoy the fruits of his many years of toil and labour, ( account was greatly appreciated by those present, and the Rov. Mr Dnkes is asking Mr Jones to complete bis history up to thefc, present time, whioh Ivo are surwF would make a worthy record of worthy man, The meeting, after a touohmg and impressivo Scotch reading by Mr Gordon, senr., anotherMasterton's early settlors, concluded with the Doxology.