N.Z. METHODIST CONFERENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 58, 7 March 1912, Page 8

N.Z. METHODIST CONFERENCE.

SIXTH DAY'S PROCEEDINGS. The address on the spiritual work of *fhe church delivered by the Rev. C. H. Laws in committee at the annual conference of the X.Z. Methodist Conference yesterday was followed by a discussion in which Mr G. Sheat, Mr J. C. Trounsell, Rev. ,1. W. Burton, Mr .T. W. Shackelford, Rev. J. .1. Lewis Rev. S. La wry, Rev. T. G. Brooke, Mr J."C. Allen, Rev. C. E. Beecroft and Rev. S. Griffith took part. At the close of the discussion Mr Laws proposed the following resolution, which was carried: —''That a committee be set up from year to year, to be known as fhc 'Welfare of the Church Committee,' the duties of which shajl be to collect information as to the spiritual state of the Church, the difficulties with which it is confronted in the present day. and the most effective modes of meeting tftiem. This committee shall also review the statistics for the year and present a report to the Conference, and the conversation on the «ork of God shall take the form of a discussion based upon this report,'" FRATERNAL GREETINGS. During the afternoon the read a message conveying fraternal greetings from the Western Australian Conference. MINISTERIAL SESSION.

At a ministerial session held in the afternoon the Rev. W. H. Speer was received into the ministry and Mr W. J. Evans was accepted as a probationer. PROPAGATING THK GOSPEL

i The Mission of Inspiration and Appeal iCommittee reported that, emanating ont of the resolutions of the previous Conference, it hud early in the year communicated with Gipsy Smith with a view to his visiting New Zealand this year. In September a letter was received from the Rev. V. B. Meyer, D.D. intimating that owing to present engagements there was no prospect of Gipsy Smith being able to visit New Zealand for a Jong time, and that as he laboured' under the Free Church Council, he could only come for an inter-denominational mission.

The Committee, in a supplementary report recommended the engagement ot the Rev. and Mr.- Vallance Cook, of England, two well known evangelists, for a series of missions extending over six months, from May to October. 1913. the time to be devoted to four missions of fourteen days each, one in each of the chief centres, and nine missions of ten days in the snialler towns, making a total of 176 davs, commencing at Invereargill about May Ist 1913. The estimated expenditure was £460. to be raised by four longer missions at £65 (£260), and nine shorter missions at £2O (£234), providing a margin of £34. As this plan provided for only 27 circuits, including adjacent city circuits, the committee further recommended that efforts lie made to secure the services of two suitable an issi oners from Australia for three months each to conduct missions simultaneously in the North and South Islands—the Thames. Hamilton. Wlian«arei, Hawera, Feildinjr. Masterttm, olsborne, Rangiora, Kaiapoi. Lyttelton Ashburton, Waimate and Gore. The estimated expenditure was £206. As the plan left 63 circuits still untouched, it was recommended that a committee be set up in each district, who shonM, with the central committee, prepare a scheme for the holding of missions, in every circuit and home mission station, including tihose of the Primitive Methodist Church. The Rev. C. H. Laws, chairman of the committee, who presented the report, moved that the recommendations be approved and that the proposed financial arrangements be endorsed. The motion was seconded. The Rev. Lew'is Hudson, who wan one of the New Zealand delegates at the recent Methodist Conference in Toronto, suggested that the Conference should not lose sizbt of the proposal to invite Gipsy Smith to visit New Zealand

Those who had heard the evangelist were convinced that he was the best evangelist in the world to-day. His Misefon in San Francisco had been attended with great success, notwithstanding the fact that the environments had been most unfavourable. The motion was carried nnanimously. The Kev. W. J. Williams suggested that a professional singer be engaged to acconrpanied the evangelists. The Rev. G. Bond said -it would not be wise to engage a vocalist without the approval of Mr. Cook. The suggestion was left to the coin mittee to deal with. The draft of district committees to co-operate with the Central Committer in regard to lh« mission was referred back to the latter committee for revision. FOREIGN MISSION WORK. The Rev. J. Newman Buttle, Foreign Mission secretary, reported that the work in connection with Foreign Mia sUjus had l>een steadily maintained during the year. The financial returns showed another record —the ninth in Buceession—-the amount raised, cxerudin«» "Missionary Review" subscriptions being £3,303 9/11, an increase of £3s* 16/2, as compared with the previous year, Later subscriptions had augmented this increase. The ladies' auxiliaries were pushing forward their -work. During the year two additional Sisters bad* joined the Mission staff. Information fcad been received that the Rev J. T. Field had been selected for deputation work in New Zealand for 1912 and wouid commence his itinerary immediately after the conference. The conferenct adopted the report. Some time wis spent in debating the question of exteading the scope of foreign missions, aad it. was decided to refer the matter to the committee for special consideration. On the motion of the Rev. J. W. Burton, the committeewas requested to negotiate with the Board of Missions, and a resotation was carried suggesting that the work in Tonga, Samoa, Fiji (native and Indian) was the most suitable sphtre of activity. The committee was instructed to confer with the Ilome Executive a> to the advisability of treating the Maori work under the scheme as part of the work of the foreign- missions. MINISTERS ORDAINED.

At « session of the conference, held last evening, the Revs. Edwin Cox, 0. BJordan, 8.A., J. F. Martin, F. Rands, Wm. H- Speer, R. B. Tinsley, and N. Turner were ordained.

The President, the Rev. W. Read?, was in the-chair. After the lessons had been read by the Rev. C. H. Laws, the candidates were presented by the Rev. S. Lawry for ordination. Many of the leading ministers were present, and the ceremony was solemn and impressive. After Holy Communion, the Rev. G. W. J. Spate*, who is an ex-President of the Conference, in the course of an appropriate address, tendered some timely advice to the newly-ordained ministers, and exhorted them to do their -utmost to -uphold the traditions of therfresponaible calling they bad adopted.