BUSY, BUT HAPPY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 169, 20 July 1939, Page 6

BUSY, BUT HAPPY.

PILLAR OF CHURCH.

EX-MODERATOR'S LIFE.

MEMORIES OF PIONEER BATS.

"There's always plenty of work for those willing to work, and I think I've taken mv share."

The Very Rev. William James Comrie leaned back in his ohair and thousrht of the past. "Aye, it has been a busy time, all riirht," he said, "and there have been tips and downs, hut on the whole it has been a happy time."

One of the pillars of the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand for manv years, Mr. Comrie also had memories of the pioneering days, of life in lonely backblock; settlements, of floods and snowstorms, of sweltering summer days, of the freshness of spring in far-off places, and of the stillness of autumn on unfrequented roads.

As lie >at in his study at 3. Bourne Street, Mount Eden, yesterday, he talked of his experiences of fifty years. Away buck. 011 May 15, 1899, he was

ordained and inducted at Waiuku. and for his first charge he had a spattered flock. Those were the davs when Wain ku was the head of the portage l across from the Manukau to tlie Waikato River, and in trade the town was a place of some importance. There were four churches in the district, and the sandhill* on the west coast marked the limit of settlement. At the Manukau Heads were the cottages of the lighthouse keepers, and Mr. C'omrie recalled services held in one of those homes where a few families were the congregation. Raced a Maori Horseman. He produced a piece of polished heart of teak, washed up from the wreck of H.M.S. Orpheus, which foundered on the bar on February 7, ISO 3. and pointed to a picture frame made from a part of the vessel's hull, thrown up on the shore in a storm after being more than 25 years under the waves. Like many other ministers of that time he was an experienced horseman, and covered long distances on horseback. His usual route from Awhitu, near the heads, to Waiuku, was partly along the coast, where the black iron sand was pounded hard by the Tasman. On one occasion, as lie cantered along easily with several Maoris, he noticed that one, who was riding ahead, continually beckoned to him to come on. Mounted on a big bay mare, which had won the high jump at the first Pukekohe show and later followed the hounds at Paku--ranga, he accepted the challenge. "I let my mare have her head," he said, "and we raced along the beach. After a mile or so he was well behind, and I reined in. His mates chaffed him roundly for his failure." Huge Mortality Among Sheep. Some years later, when he was at Kelso, Otago. Mr. C'omrie had a hnr.se which had won show honours against the picked hacks of Southland. "I drove |it 62 miles one day," he recalled, "and the day afterwards it was galloping around the paddock with another horse. Yes, it had great stamina." For nearly four years, in the early 'nineties, he was in the heart of Otago, and on one occasion took part in rescue efforts in a big flood, when he found a woman and child marooned in their •home, and took them away in his gig. In 1894 lie was the principal speaker in a prohibition campaign at C.'lutlia. which ended in the abolition of the licensed trade. "They have never gone back on that victory," he added, with much satisfaction. Next Mr. Comrie went to Fairlie, in South Canterbury, a scattered district, with the whole of the Mackenzie country thrown in, ancl Mount Cook as the most conspicuous landmark. "A good place for snowstorms?" it was suggested. "Aye, it was. We had the biggest snowstorm in history, in 1805," he said. "Tens of thousands of sheep were lost and it took years for the settlers to recover. There was four feet of snow on the ground on the high levels of the Mackenzie station, and when the thaw came in the spring sheep were found dead in heaps of hundreds. First Teachers* Salary Scale. In his five years at Fairlie he found the winters more trying than anywhere else in New Zealand, and the summers at times almost unbearably hot. Besides his other work he was a member of the South Canterbury Education Board, and he claims to have drawn up the first scale of national salaries for teachers. The national scale introduced in the late 'nineties was based, he said, on his Timaru scale. His last charge was at Hastings, where he also served on the Education Board and again had experiences in flooded areas, and travelled extensively in a horse-drawn gig. In February, 190R, he took up the work which was j to occupy him for the next 23 years— I that of treasurer of the Presbyterian I Church of New Zealand, secretary of the ! church property trust ancl secretary of the new century fund committee. "It was a period of steady growth," he said, in summing uf> those years, "interrupted by the war." When he became Moderator of the General Assembly in 1922, the church recognised the value of Ills services in many capacities. Besides his other activities, in the war years he was a chaplain, and in this capacity visited j Somes Island, Trentham Camp and j Featherston. I Hi 3 earliest memories are of Auck- ( land, and when he retired nearly 11 years ago he came back here. He sees • a decline in church-going, but says there has been an improvement lately; and considering the counter-attractions, l motor cars, radios, an abundance of I literature, and week-end excursions, he j thinks the position is "not bad." 1