Reefton

New Zealand Tablet, 5 November 1908, Page 24

Reefton

(From an occasional correspondent.) Ten miles from Ikamatua is the rising township of Waiula, where the Blackwatcr gold mines are situated. Many of the miners are Catholics, and have decided to have a church near the mine. A certain amount of money has already been collected. At Cionadun also most of the settlers are Catholics. Their number is increasing rapidly, and they want to have a church, in order that Mass might be celebrated for them in a place more suilable than the one in which it is celebrated now. A meeting is to be held there shortly, which promises to be a great success. In a short time three nice little churches will be built to meet the needs of the growing and increasing Catholic population of the district of Reefton. During the past two months we have had several meetings of parishioners for the purpose of making arrangements for the holding of a bazaar and art union in aid of the liquidation of the parish debt. The ladies of the parish have been engaged for some time in working for the bazaar, and the result of their labors promises to be most successful. The arranging of the details for the bazaar does not take up all the time of our worthy pastor, the Rev. Father Galetne, for he has presided over several meetings of his parishioners at Ikamatua, where a new church is to be erected to take the place of the old one, which is too small for the increasing Catholic population. The site selected is a section given by Mr. O'Malley, a well-known and highly respected resident of the district. *