A POOR PARSON.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1134, 23 May 1911, Page 3

A POOR PARSON.

FROM PULPIT TO PICK. A MINISTER BREAKING STONES. Tho following letter appears in the C'hristchurcli "I'rcis" oil Saturday Sir,-Members of the Presbyterian Church at Oxford were shocked oil teeing their ex-minister in dunearet*, ' working with ;i gang oi won tuppoI in<f the insatiable maw* ot a &l y^ in fctonc-cruslicr with lingo boulders, liic minister states that with a young family, who.se wants he is unable to supply on his meagre .stipend, he has cliuicu to join the ranks* of unskilled labourer?, whose work is less arduous and better paid than that of a pastor. —Yours, etc., r TT . ri . T> CHARLES M. LIGAR. A "Press" reporter visited est Oxford, and found that the statements contained in the letter were correct. On the railway platform lie asked tho first man ho met where he would find Mr. Parfitt. ine Rev. Parfitt? I don't know, exactly. Ale left the church a week ago, and is working on tho roads. You'll find him the stone-crusher. AVhat sort of chap i \ Well, I don't belong to his church, but I I know that he's a decent sort of hardI working fellow. I The reporter met the ex-parson riding homewards in a cart. In his working clothes hp looked much lik© any other ' labourer; only the bandages on two or I three fingers suggested that perhaps he I was new to his business. Back at his i own house, in the midst of his family lof five—all little children-lie told the story of how he camo to exchange tho ■ pulpit for the pick. Mr. Parfitt's Story. Mr. G. C. .T. Parfitt is by no means ashamed of the change ho has made. In fact, ho says that he has done the ministers a service, in that he has shown men that years spent in the service of the Church do not prevent his doing a day's work as exacting as that asked of any navvy. Mr. Parfitt served for two years in the Motueka charge "as missionary, leading thero only when his health broke down. Ho was entertained before lie loft. From there he went to West Oxford, and that' was the beginning of his troubles—of tho series of events that led him to seek work on the roads. His engagement resulted, he says, from a piece of unconscious misrepresentation on the part of the authorities of the Presbvterian Church. Those at the head of affairs evidently believed that the local church had sufficient funds m "and to permit it' to proceed at onco with the building of a manse. In the Blue Book, the work of reference as to the position of tho various charges open to ™ 1 ? ls 1 t l er ? in different districts, it v.-as stated that the annual revenue of the es^p.xfo [ d charge amounted to <£410 during 1909. in reality, that was tho value of tho assets of the church. On his arrival, lie found that the amount in hand was only £17. A little later the proceeds of_a concert brought' this amount up to moment, lie believes, the fund holds JJHO. Onco in Oxford, Mr. Parfitt had to buy a horse, as without it he would been unable to get about the district. At that time there were no uianso paddocks available (though afterwards lie was given permission to use them), and' he had to rent "razing, paving per annum. Jto had to rent a house, paying j£2G per annum. It had been arranged beiore lie airived that tho New Century 1-und should advance the sum.ol <S2oOtor tlio erection of a manse, subjcct to tho land on which it was to be built being vested in the trustees of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. It was made clear to him that the local committee had decided that the building of a manse should bo deferred until the money required was actually in hand; thev passed a resolution to the effect that'the commencement of the building should be deferred until the summer. -.Obstacles in the Way. Mr.: Parfitt wrote to tho secretary _ of the Church Extension Committee, pointing out the slate of affairs. The result was a grant of .£lO per annum as rent allowance, bringing his stipend up to 4J130 per annum. The payments for rent and grazing, together with the cost of the upkeep of the horse, brought his net income down to .£IOO per year. Respite the fact that he had so many depending upon him, ho says that ho would have struggled on had he seen a prospect of a manse being built. lie'pushed on with his work, confident still that a manso would be built, gratified by tho prosperity that he saw about him. Always; ho says, he found obstacles placed in his way; perhaps because some of tho members of tho church commit tee were elderly men. And ho found Jiiraseli drifting into debt. With tho decision of tho committee before him, and the prospect of having to pay rent for another twelve months staring linn 111 the face, he decided that, considering the needs ot his family, ho Could not face it. Small as was the amount of the stipend, it was paid only at intervals of three months. Ho had not the use of tho money that he had earned, and was forced to make terms as to crcdit with the tradesmen. Having given the matter due thought, Mr. Parfitt tendered his resignation. It was accepted, he says, almost unanimously. The Moderator was invited, and consulted with, the committee on two occasions, both meetings being held in camera. Mr. Parfitt was given 110 opportunity of hearing let alone answering, any charges that might have been brought against him. The Moderator was able to induce the committee to give him threo months' notice. Two Offers. Mr. Parfitt's case went before the authorities of the church. lie received a letter from the Moderator at Waverley, offering him tho Patea charge, a temporary appointment, for three months. The Moderator stated in his letter that the students who had held this charge had been (paid .£2 10s. per week, and out of that had had to pay their board; there was a manse, but it was let at a rental of 10s. per week, and if it were required by whoever took the chargo his stipend would suffer a consequent decrease. Ho had received a letter from the Church Extension Committee, offering him a charge at Uhura, on the Stratiord-Ongarue line. Mr. Parfitt wrote to the Moderator at Waverley, but up to yesterday had received no reply. Ohura, he said, was^ really one of the worst stations that the Chureli had—it had no church, no manse, not even a whare. He had also been ofTeied the station at Okato, in the New Plymouth district; as, he says, (he last man holding that chargo had received ,too for the last six mouths, it did not seem promising. It was because of these tilings and tho smallness of the movm:; allowance made, X'lo, that h? had con:e to the conclusion that he could not afford > to consider an offer from the North lv land unless the conditions were favourable and tho station likely to be a perinanent one. . The Oxford district, he fays. &uit> him well, and he has no desire to leave it. He made application to the foreman in charge of the si one-crushing plant, and received his present billet, at which he has been working for rather.more Han •a: week. Ho is confident that he will make good at the work, and looks forward hopefully to the day when he will bo able to obtain a piece of land of his own, as he was in the King Country before he entered the ministry. . Mr. Parfitt detailed tho course o study that had to bo undergone, am (lie 'examinations that lnd to bo uefjire f. missionary could become a tn.lj ordained minister. In his own case, ana Oxford . is nat a large chargo as. charges go, the boundaries of his district we,e twenty miles from his home. On Mmdnvs he luid to preach at Oxford at 11 am and, at Kiriri, four miles away, on two Sundays in a month, a semce l-eing held on one of the oilier ill each month at citner Rockford u Yicwhill, respectively at twelve and se\on miles from West Oxford. Ho had also to superintend the .Sunday schools at West Oxford and kirm. Much of I he week was devoted to visiting, work requiring constant attention '-'ftPraclicallv he had no time left for study.And for all this he received a stipend ot, roughlv, ,£IOO per year.