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Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 138, 2 March 1877, Page 6

Db, Stuart to Bishop Nevill. (To the Editor of the Otago Guardian.) Sir,— As Bishop Nevill has considerately informed me of his intention to publish his letter to me, I take the opportunity of replying- through your columns. [ ma} 7 - begin by stating' I never intended charging- the Bishop with intentional discourtesy either to myself or the Church of which he is good enough to call me a recognised leader. There are in this matter three points on which I lay some stress : (1.) That though 'Mr Baker, the missionary teacher, was a deacon of the Anglican communion, he was appointed, supervised, and paid by an association consisting- of ministers and members of all denominations, and not by the Church of England. (2.) That the first regular missionary at the Kaik was Mr Riemenschneider, who, although retaining his connection with aad being- supported by the Bremen Society, was at his own request recognised by the Presbytery, and that it was at the earnest entreaty of the Bre* men Society that the Presbyterian Church undertook the charge of the station after Mr Riemenschneider's death. (3.) That since then the mission has. been under the entire charge of the Presbyterian Church of Otago, which for some years supported Mr Blake, and supported and still supports Mr Bartholomew, the native catechist, expending on his salary, and other matters connected with the mission, a sum of £40 per annum. In support of these three positions T need only refer your readers and the Bishop to the historical sketch which appeared in your columns of this morning. • The Bishop says that he understood " that Mr Blake's mission had not been a success." As far as I know, Mr Blake was fairly . successful in his labours for the spiritual welfare of the Maoris ; and in addition to this, it was mainly through his instrumentality that the natives at present enjoy their present educational advantages. It was not (as the Bishops-l etter-w ould seem to imply) on account of dissatisfaction, either among the natives or his brother ministers, that Mr Blake was. withdrawn, but solely on account of illhealth in his family. I must say that I am surprised at that passage in the Bishop's letter in which he endeavours to extenuate his not having communicated with the Presbyterian Church, on the ground that that Church did not communicate with the denomination of which he is the recognised leader " when Mr Blake was appointed, when Paratomu was engaged, or when the Presbyterian Synod proposed to grant .money towards the restoration of the Maori Church, an offer which I doubt not was properly meant, but which was,. I think, as properly declined by the natives, in order to show that they intended to manage their own aflairs themselves." By-the-way, I may say that this is the first time I have heard of this " offer" or its " refusal." The natives some months ago applied through Bartholomew to the JDunedin Presbytery, for a grant in aid of their restoration fund, and were informed that the matter would be brought before the Synod of 1877. It did not come before that body, for the reasons mentioned in the historical sketch. And now for the Bishop's extenuation. I think, Sir, both you and your readers. will, allow that there was but little reason why the Anglican Church should have been notified of Mr Blake's appointment, &c., &c, as that Church had no at the mission, unless the occasional use' of the Liturgy and the fact of a few of the natives having been baptized by Bishop Selwyn can be held. to.give, them such a position. And

surely the Presbyterian Church, which even during Mr Reimenschneider's incumbency :had expended money on the station, to. which =the Bremen Society had formally handed the mission,- which had appointed and ! supported a misfionary for some years, which: since Mr Blake's •- resignation had appointed and supported a catechist, which ■ had qnarterly sent Mr Blake: to administer the Church ordinances, and which has for the last ;two or .three years spent £100 a year on Maori missions at the Kaik and Stewart's Island, was entitled to some notice before the manse which they had assisted to build and twice repaired, and the church which they had occupied for year?, which had been transferred: to them by the Bremen Society, its builders, and to the restoration of which they had been asked to contribute, were taken possession of and handed to a minister o another denomination. — I. am, &c, D. M. Stuart. 24th February, 1877.