A MISSION CENTENARY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 270, 15 November 1933, Page 6

A MISSION CENTENARY.

The two Selwyn-period churches in the Waikato, those at Tβ Awa-mutu and Rangiaowhia, are sanctuaries of history on which a good deal of interest will be focused presently, when the centenary of missionary enterprise in the Waipa country comes to be observed. Those churches of antique build, each set in its burying ground of soldiers and pioneers, do not date back quite a century, but their founder, John Morgan, the missionary, was in the Waipa a hundred years ago, on "Kongo Pai" reconnaissance duty. He and two other fearless scouts of the army of peace saw the Waipa Valley when it was the abode of conquering warriors, who every now and again made raids on the tribes to the south, as far is Taranaki. The first mission station established was Mangapouri, on the Waipa River, Founded in 1834, aflter a preliminary visit.the previous vear. The present vicar of the storied 3hurch of St. John at Tβ Awamutu, the Rev. Stephen Wareing, is making researches into ,he history of the Waipa mission, preparatory :o the centenarv celebration next year, and s also interesting himself in the proposed •estoration of the two churches. The church at Te Awamutu is more than lighty years old; both it and the fine- old rhurch on the Rangiaowhia battleground of SC4 are shrines of many memories. Once vholly Maori churches, the pre-war centres if tribal life in the "Garden of the Waikato," iot a Maori enters them now; they are the •akeha's parish churches. It is scarcely to >e wondered at that after the war and the wholesale confiscations the dispersed Maoris turned away to another religion. It is well that the stories of the churches should be collected, and that the necessary restoration should be carried out. Well also that an effort should be made to interest the.descendants of John Morgan's flock in the places in which their forefathers worshipped in the era of Selwyn and Governor Grey. There are still just one or two ofi the old folk of Morgan's time surviving; one is that ancient henchman of Rewi Maniapoto, the veteran Te Huia Raureti, who had his share in the events at Te Awamutu which immediately preceded the war. Any existing notes or journals of the missionaries who were Morgan's companions at various times in the pioneering efforts, Archdeacon A. N. Brown, the Rev. B. Y. Ashwell and Mr. Hamlin, might toe useful in the effort to obtain facts about the Mangapouri station. Useful, too, would be definite information about the origin of the two stained-glass windows in the pioneer churches, which have excited so much interest and inquiry. They ■were sent out from England in the early days, gifts to the mission, but the exact story has still to be established to the satisfaction of the vicar, who deserves- assistance in these little details of history from any Aucklander who may possess the information, —J.C