PIONEER MISSIONARIES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 486, 20 April 1909, Page 7

PIONEER MISSIONARIES.

EAELY DAYS IN TIIE SOUTH ISLAND. (BY TKLEQItAPHi—SPJCIAI, COimnsrONDBNT ) ' • Chrlstohurch, April 17. In tlio "Brighton Monthly Magazine" v(anAnglican. Church' paper): tho . writer' of ;'an. article on the'early days of the Churches in Canterbury,'- remarks: It must not be supposed that tho clergy ; of the Church of Eng-: land were tho first to minister to the spiritual wants of, . the scattered settlers in the Middle Island of Now Zealand. Long beforo they arrived two priests of' tho . Roman Catholic Churchi-traversed the' then dreary, plains, visiting'. the whaling settlers, and amid toil, hardship, and frequent risk, oflife, pursued'their missionary work: almost Without reward, except sticll as they received' in the shape of the; friendship, kind offices, and grateful blessings of tlibso .to whom they, ministered. A stretch of country, roughly of five hundred miles-• in length and two hundred miles in width,"'in-' ,tersected by,many dangerous drivers, divided by almost impassable mountain ranges, whose snowcapped poaks, beautiful .to' the eye, must have suggested death in fearful form to the intrepid missionaries, was the scene of the faithful wbrks of tho Rev. leathers Seon and Chataigner. On the bare plains of Canterbury, with itsi, Hliruhui, Rakaia, Ashburton, and Rangitaia Rivers, which before settlement had progressed were noted as tho graves of hundreds of our settlers, 'across the dividing ranges of the Southern Alps, through the bleak and mountainous regions of Otago, which, were almost unexplored till the excitement of the gold diggings caused diggers to force their way into the recesses of the West Coast of tho : island, where even now. the heavily arid closely,timbered country is difficult to. penetrate. These two men laboured,- beloved alike by Catholic .or Protestant, Church of England or Presbyterian, gentle or simple. Ih those early days they asked no questions as to a mate's or a woman's creed before rendering the help that was needed, or giving the kind word ,of encouragement to the sorely troubled. '