Books In Review Preslyterian Church In New Zealand

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 237, 5 October 1940, Page 4 (Supplement)

Books In Review Preslyterian Church In New Zealand

THE Presbyterian Church has signalised the centenary of Presbyterianism in the Dominion by publishing, through its Book- J room (in Christchurch), under the auspices of its Life and Work Committee, the story of the founding of the Church, its growth and its achievements. "The History of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand" is a handsome volume of well on to 500 pages; the work of a number of contributors, collaborating under the editorship of Dr. J. R. Elder, professor of history in the University of Otago, it is divided into three sections, the first dealing with the beginnings of the Church, the second with the period of growth, which started in 1860, and the third with the Church and .the people. As is fitting, the opening pages give the background of the Church in a brief account of the origins, principles and early history of Presby- I terianism on the Continent, and in Scotland, on to the "Disruption" in 1843, and the institution of the Free Church. It was from the Free Church that the ministerial personnel in New Zealand was at first and long afterwards mainly , recruited. Until 1901 the Church was made up of two separate bodies, the one ( operating in Otago and Southland, and . the other northwards from the Waitaki [ River to the Auckland Province, and several chapters are devoted to their inception, their work among the white ' settlers in their scattered and tiny ! settlements, and their ultimate union. * The succeeding chapters deal with such subjects as. pakeha and Maori, the backblocks, the Church's mission fields abroad, its colleges and social services, and the part played by its women in the colonisation and development of the country, and in the stimulating of interest in and raising of money for local 1 needs and missionary requirements.' I There is much in the book that will ' interest readers in general. They will learn, among other things, that the " Presbyterians and the Roman Catholics '• have increased at a rate slightly higher r than the general rate of increase of the population, and that they and the Angli--1 cans and 'Methodists embrace 86 per i» cent of the people of New Zealand. They will learn, too, that the Presbye terians are the only Church that hac - a bigger proportion of followers in the n country districts than in the towns. , 8 t , * *