CENTENNIAL FUND.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 38, 24 November 1938, Page 6

CENTENNIAL FUND.

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. ASHBURTON* CANVASS COMPLETED. The canvass within the bounds of the Ashburton Presbytery in connection with the Centenary thanksgiving fund, arranged by the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, has (icon completed, and all donations and promises of donations have been received. The aim of the fund is the raising within the next three years of £300,000; of this amount £200,000 is to be used in liquidating congregational debts; £25,000 is to be devoted to work in the home, foreign, and Maori mission fields; £25,000 is to be furided, and the annual income used for augmenting the stipends of under-paid ministers and home missionaries; £25.000 is to he devoted to the beneficiary fund for aged and infirm ministers, and £25,000 is to he used as a special Centenary fund for sites and buildings. The amount so far collected locally in cash and promises is £2163 12s. This was announced recently by the Rev. R. S. Watson, and it will be some months before any further figure is available. Under the general scheme, the Ashburton Presbyterian Church will clear its own debt of £750, which remains on the St. Andrew’s Sunday School and Hall, while the balance will be added to the general fund. Those who have taken part in the canvassing work were entertained at a congregational social last evening, when Mr Watson thanked all the helpers of the scheme.

An enjoyable concert programme was presented as follows.—Song, Mr E. C. Norrish ; duet, Mrs I. Jamieson and Mrs J. Reid; song. Miss Violet Harwood ; song. Mrs J. Reid ; violin duet, Robin Wfood and Gordon Harwood; songs, Mr D. Ross and Mrs Jamieson.

the tour continued. Then, also in the distance, wore two notable mining claims, Tinker’s 'Failings and The Dry Bread. The whole day’s trip was through this gold-bearing country, and though its heyday has long since passed, there is still tin* memory of the doings of the early days, a page of history that will never become with reading; and now there are to be seen the shades of the lonely prospectors tucked away in odd corners of the mountains, where a. few men cling to the hope that they may light on some rich seam that has been missed by those who have gone before.