PRESBYTERIAN MIGRANTS

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 62, 7 December 1926, Page 9

PRESBYTERIAN MIGRANTS

ORGANISATION TO KEEP IN

Dominion Special. Auckland, December 6. “Our ideal is that not one of our people will fail to be linked up with the land of their fathers,” said the Rev. R. S. Porter, convener of the Colonial Board of the Presbyterian Church, Ireland, who arrived by the Niagara this afternoon. Mr. Porter said that the object , of his visit was to endeavour to bring together all overseas Presbvterian Churches, and his work was purelv voluntary He had left home in September last, and had visited Canada, seeing all the churches working from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coasts, and from the international boundary to the northern territory. “During the last seven years,” said Mr. Porter, “the board has sent fortytwo ministers and missionaries overseas. My visit is to gain further information so that we might carry on the work The board has set up machinery to appoint port chaplains who will interview all outgoing Presbyterians, giving them letters to correspondents who will meet them on arrival at their destinations in new lands Last year we sent 3000 Presbyterian immigrants from Belfast alone, and this year 4000 will leave our city for the Dominions.” Ater a month spent in New Zealand Mr Porter will go to Australia and South Africa, and he hopes to get back home on March 31 next year. Mr Porter is the minister at the Albert Street Church in Belfast, and prior to that was stationed in Armagh Touching on church matters in Canada the visitor observed that they were somewhat complicated. A union of the churches took nlace on June 10, 1925, and the Methodists and Congregationalists went into that union unanimously A strong minority showed early opposition among the Presbvterian Churches, and it was anticipated that 200 congregations would refuse to join As a matter of fact, there were now 1310 continuing Presbvterian Churches, representing 41 ner cent of the original membership of flie Presbvterian Church The present commiinicant membership of those churches amounted to about 174,000 members Those in the union were verv hopeful about the future, and were convinced that unionism was the onlv solution of the situation.