TO RAISE £300,000.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 270, 13 November 1937, Page 10

TO RAISE £300,000.

PRESBYTERIAN PLAN.

CENTENARY RECOGNITION.

CHURCH'S URGENT NEEDS. The launching of a scheme to raise £300,000 as a fitting recognition of the centenary of the "fresbyterian Church of New Zealand was put forward by the centenary fund committee in a report presented by the convener, Mr. S. J. Harbutt, at the session of the General Assembly of the New Zealand Presbyterian Church, held in St. David's Church this morning.

In the event of the objective being achieved, the report stated, £200,000 would go to liquidate the debts of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, £50,000 would be devoted to work in the

home, foreign and Maori mission fields, £25,000 to the beneficiary fund, and £25,000 for a special centenary fund to be used for sites and buildings.

The report stated that the committee had found that the financial.demands for development had been greater than the available resources had been forthcoming. The real work of the Church, the evangelising of the land, was hampered, progress retarded, and development halted. The Presbyterian Church had a membership of 54,417, and Presbyterians represented 25 per cent of the population of the Dominion. Were there not 40,000 who would, or could, contribute 1/ per week for three years, a contribution which would see the committee's objective accomplished?

It was suggested that .the fund be inaugurated and called the Presbyterian centenary thanksgiving fund, that every charge and station should organise its resources during the coming three years and endeavour to pay off liabilities and debts. There were 200 charges and stations, which between them had a total debt of £187,217, after extracting £26,495, which was a debt upon property and was returning income and was outside the ordinary indebtedness.

The report proposed that in the event of the scheme receiving the support hoped for, a board of trustees should be set up to control the funds.

The report was received,

Next Assembly.

The Presbyterian Assembly decided today that the Assembly next year be held n Dunedin in the first week of November.