A KUMARA CLERICAL INCIDENT IN 1885

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33609, 10 August 1974, Page 11

A KUMARA CLERICAL INCIDENT IN 1885

(By

P. J. TAYLOR)

The unseating of a clergyman, and the manhandling of another who arrived to “preach vacant” the church would be sufficient to make headlines today. Not so in 1885.

In fact, after allegations of a possible dynamiting of the Kumara Presbyterian Church, and letters from both the clergymen involved, the issue was closed by the newspapers, leaving the matter unresolved for readers. The editor of the "Grey River Argus,” wrote on May 8, 1885: “We have a decided objection to being

made to find a battle ground for the combatants in this church shindy." In a column of miscellaneous items, without headings, the “Argus” had given, on May 2, the first indication of something unusual in the affairs of the Kumara Presbyterian Church. “The Rev. B. J. Westbrooke, by appointment of the Presbytery of Westland, proceeds to Kumara tomorrow, to preach at the St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church there vacant. As a large number of the congregation are against this course it is probable that there may be some opposition to it.” The Monday issue of the paper — the day after Mr Westbrooke’s visit —

gave no further information, but buried away in Tuesday’s issue was the heading in modest type: “The Kumara Church squabble.” The report “from a co--respondent” in Kumara began: “As indicated in your report on Saturday, some resistance was offered.” It went on to say that, some time previously, the Rev. George Hay, of the Kumara church, had sent' in his resignation to the presbytery to take effect from a date to be decided upon by the presbytery and the congregation. The presbytery, apparently, accepted the resignation and set the date for the end of April. However, according to the correspondent, the congregation was not consulted. “This action ... has caused much dissatisfaction on the part of a large number of the Kumara congregation, who requested the trustees to refuse the use of the church building for ' the purpose of it being preached Vacant by the Rev. Mr Westbrooke until the congregation should have had an opportunity of laying the whole affair of the Kumara Church before the General Assembly for review by that court.” , The correspondent said that three of the four trustees told Mr Westbrooke he could not use the church. “Intimation of this having got abroad, the greatest excitement prevailed all over the town on Saturday, and rumours were afloat that the small faction supporting the decision of the presbytery were prepared to blow up the church, should entrance to the church .be refused. This caused the building to be strictly guarded during Saturday night.” . At midnight, the guards observed a man under the church “as if in the act of placing dynamite for the purpose of mischief. He was quickly seized, and discovered to be a wellknown member of the church, taking a prominant part in the conflict in church matters. After receiving some rather rough handling, he was sent home.”

Sunday morning apparently stirred the populace, and there was a large congregation at 11 a.m. Mr Westbrooke arrived “as soon as the bells ceased ringing,” accompanied, said the correspondent, by some half dozen of Mr Hay's opponents.

No admission Two of the trustees of the church met him, and told him that he was refused admission. Mr Westbrooke "intimated that he had an edict to read and proceeded to pull a paper from his pocket. He was immediately/ pushed from the steps of the church, and forcibly moved off the church ground. Great efforts to induce the police to effect forcible entrance were made by the Rev. Mr Westbrooke but, while promising to prevent any breach of the peace, they declined to interfere with the dispute.” Another large crowd gathered in the evening, but no second attempt was made to enter the church. “Thus passed off one of the red letter day! in Kumara.” “Mr Westbrooke’s Version of the . Kumara Squabble” headed a Letter to the Editor the next day. Mr Westbrooke said that the correspondent’s report should be taken with a grain of salt. The report, he said, should have gone further back than the time of Mr Hay’s resignation, to the consideration of four petitions by the pre'sbytery the previous December. Evidence in support of these, said Mr Westbrooke, showed that four out of the five elders were dissatisfied with Mr Hay’s conduct, and that it was necessary for the minister to send out apologies to satisfy the treasurer of the church. The adult teachers in the Sunday school were also not satisfied with Mr Hay, as were several communicants and adherents. The presbytery, said Mr Westbrooke, who was its clerk, had sat from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. without a break to consider the petitions before coming to a decision that "Mr Hay’s usefulness has been so greatly injured

by the injudicious conduct as to necessitate an early resignation of his charge.” Mr Westbrooke proceeded to throw a new light on the man who was found “as if in the act of placing dynamite.” He was Mr John Garvin, an elder and session clerk, who held a key of the church. Mr Garvin had gone to see if the church windows were secured. “When there, three men fell upon him, beat and kicked him until the police came and found him covered with blood and bruises.” Mr Westbrooke said that because of this “it would not he a surprise to the readers," that the police were asked to be present next morning when he arrived — accompanied only by his brother and not by a number of Mr Hay’s opponents. He said he did not ask the police to make a forcible entrance.

There was no edict.- "The magic piece of paper which I pulled from my pocket was simply an extract minute of the presbytery referring to the resignation of Mr Hay. There is no edict read in preaching a charge vacant. The congregation is simply informed, after sermon, what the presbytery had done and that they are without a regular pastor.” Unsuccessful Apparently the efforts of the Kumara group to stop the parish being preached vacant were unsuccessful. Mr Hay replied in the “Argus” tre next day. “The Rev. Mr Westbrooke corrected” was the line over Mr Hay’s letter on May 8. He said the evidence in the petitions did not show four of the elders were against him. “Mr William Court’s name was not mentioned, Mr John Pirrie was a witness in my favour; Mr John Bain said nothing against my conduct. “The leading petitioner against me was Mr John Garvin, elder, who was on Sunday morning found under the church without reasonable excuse.” Mr Hay was obviously in the hunt against Mr» Garvin. It was not true, Mr Hay said, that Mr Garvin held a key to the church

lawfully. He had acted stove and lamp cleaner t a time, but had resigns his office as door-keepei "and three months ago, on the unanimous vote of the congregation, requested tc resign his eldership.” In addition, Mr Garvin was not a teacher of the Sab bath school. The petition sent by on!} five of the 10 teachers “was ruled by the Moder ator to have no referent < to me,” said Mr Hay. About 250 persons had signed his call to the par ish, and only 19 had coni' plained to the presbytery. “The suggestion to re sign was made to me bv the presbytery, which J had not the slightest hesitation to do, for the obvious reason that the conduct of the presbytery made it no longer possible for me to hold a seat among them,” said Mr Hay. The church law said that the congregation had to be consulted on the resignation. The presbytery had not done this, “hence Mr Westbrooke’s rather unkind removal from church grounds on Sunday." Mr Hay, however, said he sympathised with Mr Westbrooke and he had done all he could to procure entry into the church for him. While the good folk of those days would have been readily awaiting the next round, there would be no more. In a footnote to the letter, the editor closed the subject in his columns. “Short as has been the discussion, we have already a number of letters on the subject that would encroach on our limited space to a greater extent than we can permit, and they are therefore shut out, ’ said the editor, Florence Romuald McCarthy, who had begun his newspaper career selling newspapers on the streets of New York.

McCarthy, who was editor of the “Argus" for 34 years until 1914, ended by saying: “The dispute is not particularly calculated to elevate or instruct anyone, and no good purpose will be served by allowing it to continue. Dirty linen should be washed at home."