FIRST SOUTH ISLAND MISSION

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 129, 24 February 1939, Page 11

FIRST SOUTH ISLAND MISSION

New Methodist Church To Mark Centenary i By Telegraph—Press Association. i CHRISTCHURCH, February 23. A proposal to erect a new church, in Otakou, Otago, to mark the centenary next February of the establishment in Otago of the first Maori mission in the South Island by the Alethodist Church, was heartily supported at the Dominion conference of the Church today. It is proposed to replace the existing 90-year-old church with a brick structure costing about £2OOO. The district Maoris have given the land and the interior of the building will be decorated with carving. Provision is also made for a museum to house tribal relics and photographs of the chiefs and early missionaries in the Otago district. The Rev. T. A. Pybus initiated the scheme and said Methodists should give more support as the new church was urgently needed, and it was fitting to mark an important anniversary. The Rev. A. H. Schrivin, foreign mission secretary, reviewed the year's work in the Solomon Islands, saying the increased membership, the ordination of the first Native minister in full connexion and the re-establishment of the medical unit indicated the progress made. Estimates for the coming year provided an income of £ll,OOO from New Zealand, and £2060 from the Solomon Islands. Greetings were sent to the Solomon Islands Church by the conference. The Rev. B. Gina was congratulated on bis ordination. The women’s Missionary Union was thanked for its assistance and Mr. S. Gorman, INelson, for benefactions totalling £SSOO to the cause. The Revs. S. Keen, C. W. Brown and T. W. Featherstone, home missionaries, were placed on the retired list. The Rev. M. A. McDowell, youth director, will lie stationed in Christchurch and Mr. A. E. Bate in Auckland. Tribute was paid to the Rev. E. P. Blamires, retiring Dominion youth director, for his 17 years’ service, delegates saying he was acknowledged throughout New Zealand and Australia by all the churches as a leader in young people’s work.