TRUE RECORDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 47, 25 February 1937, Page 11

TRUE RECORDS.

WESLEY SOCIETY'S WORK.

METHODIST CHURCH HISTORY

The annual meeting of the Wesley Methodist Historical Society was held on Tuesday in the Pitt Street Church. Rev. Dr. C. H. Laws presided over a good attendance. The secretary, Rev. George Frost, read the annual report, which detailed the research work carried on by the members. Reference was also made to the coming bi-centenary of John Wesley. It was pointed out that the time had arrived for Dr. Morley's history of Methodism to be brought up-to-date, as it only went as far as 1900. Dr. Laws stressed the importance of the work and the society should be careful as to who should be asked to contribute.

An address was given by Rev.- A. B. Chappell, M.A., F.R.E.S., on the building up of history, and church history in particular. To compile history correctly, he said, the historian must know the background, from political, constitutional and religious standpoints. The speaker gave several instances of well known books on New Zealand, which are historically incorrect. Captain Fitzroy's letter from H.M.S. Beagle was * quoted. Where the original letter called New Zealand a "lovely" country, the typiste who copied the letter, turned the word into "loyal." Mr. Chappell alao instanced a letter in the Hocken collection in Dunedin. "Hocken had copied the original," he said. "I copied Hocken, Mr. Buick, who wrote the Treaty of Waitangi, had a typiste who copied my copy and the printer copied the typed letter. When checking with the original there were found to be 16 mistakes." The speaker, in closing, urged that anyone who took up research work should check and recheck their work before publishing their conclusions.

The following officers were elected: President, Rev. Dr. C. H. Laws; vicepresidents, Revs. M. A. Rugby Pratt, F.R., Hist. S.; Percy Paris, A. B. Chappell, M.A.; secretary and treasurer. Rev. George Frost.