MANGAPAI DISTRICT. OPENING OF WESLEYAN SCHOOL ROOM AT MANGAPAI. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVIII, Issue 1633, 15 October 1862, Page 3

MANGAPAI DISTRICT. OPENING OF WESLEYAN SCHOOL ROOM AT MANGAPAI. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

On Sunday and Monday, September 28th and 29th, the above school room was opened for public service on Sundays and for educational purposes on week days. Before giving a lepoit of the proceedings which took place on the occasion, yom leadeis would be pleased to hear some account of the general state of religious matteis in the district. In 1861 there was a neat chinch erected for the nso of the Presbyterian body, costing about £70, and five acres of land given by Mr. \V. Harrison, of Mangapu, which luia been jointly used by that and the Wesleyun body, until the building was piepaitd, the opening of which it is my present busincbs to clnomcle. The Presbytenan body are ministered to by the Rev. Mi. Gome every third Sunday, and that gentleman also pieachos the «arne day to tho settlets at MautSgakaramea in the house of Mr. Donaldson. The llev. Mr. Bui ton also takes his turn with Mi. Gorrie in piea.cb.ing to the Maungakatamea, settleid. No othei denomination h.is any place of meeting in this district, though the Bishop of tho colony (Di. Selwyn) is the ownei of forty aciea of land on Maungiikaiainea block, bought by him I believe foi ecclesiastical purposes. It i-> to be hoped that no gi eat tune will be suffered to elapse eie the light revet end gentleman takes measures to erect a small chinch on this land. The settleis theie aie guile prepared to suppoit any movement winch may kad to the erection of a building where religious services can be tegularly earned on. It is also I believe in contemplation to erect a Roman Catholic chinch at Mangapni, though the paiticulars of the movement have not yet been made public. The building, the opening of which has been the cause of my sending you this statement, is 26 feet long by ](3foet bioad, and is <i very neat weather-board election, fctauJing on an elevation commanding a hue view of Wangarei River, and the countiy adjacent. It does gieat credit to both the architect, Mr. Smith, and the contractor, Mr. James Gimson, of Ruaiangi. I have been requested to state that the education to be given in this building will lie strictly unsectanan in its chaiacter, and although'the building has been erected principally I>y membeis of the Wesleyan body, and will bo used on Suudays for the piomulgation of the peculiai doctrines of Methodism, yet nothing denoniin.ition.il will be allowed to interfere with, or intrude into the teaching of the very able instructor (Mr. Hewlett), appointed to take charge of the youth of both sexes, who may be committed to his caie. The school wis opened on Wednesday October Ist : a considerable numbei of chtlJien of the -settleis attending On Sunday the 28th, the Rev Mr Wairen, Wesleyan minister of Aucklind, preached an eloquent and appiopnate «eiinon, after which a collection was made ton aids defiaying the- cost of the building The attendance was not so good as it would have been had the weathei been moie f.ivouiable On Monday, the 29th, a sonee was held at 1 pm ; the meeting was veiv numeiously attended as the weathei was fine The leheshments were provided by a few of the ladies of the distuct and Wangaiei, and undei then supenntendence tho loom was piettily deeoiated— in shoit nothing was kft undone which would contubute to the comfoit of the paity Among the many who wet e there, we noticed the following H Walton, E*q , J P, Maungat.ipeie, J G Johnstone, Esq .J P , Wangaiei , also Rev Messrs Wai ton, Auckland, Messie. dome, Button, Rust, John Dwjei, Ivav, Fciguson, D Wilson, James, Hewlett, Shand, Onniston, Caitei, Knaygs, Hunter, James Gunson, Shaip, Ot inanely, \c The clian was m copied b> Ilenrv Walton, E=q , J P . who evpiessed the gi ltification he felt in taking tho chau on such an mteiesting occasion, and contta^ted the distuet mns piesent state, with what it was when ho camp over it siv yeais ago as government commissiouet, pteviotih to its puichaae by the Ciown. A llu ling to the teason foi then having been called togethe'i, he '•aid, the> hist duty of tveiy man after getting a ioof to covet himself and family, was to as-i-it in piovidmg a place for the public woiship of God, .and foi the 1 education of his o.vn clnldien Theie was no gieatei need in the colony thin education, and ho compile 1 the condition of the natives, sa\age and uiuducate'd, with that of an educated, will tiained w Ink population — they wei p inei e animals in comparison lie advised all those who h id not had the advantages of .i fini'-hud edueition not on that account, totefuse it to then childiin, but l ithei foi tint ie\son to give them mmc instiuetum than they would otheiwi'-e have obtained Not to lot any f ilse notion of economy lead puentb to detain their clnldien fiom school, but lathei to put themselves to peisonal tumble and nicoiivtuifiice than koip fiom then f umlies, that « Inch is of the- hiylß-1, lmpoitinee, not oulv foi their temporal vvilfau, but foi then spiritual mtpicst as well He concluded bv, eongi Unlating hw audience on the hi.anci il position of th n undei taking, and uiged them nut to leave a blulling of debt on thi building, but to ek uit all oft at th it meeting He then called on the honoiaiy societal}, Mi. Knaggs to pteient a statement of u counts Mi Kn vgg->' statement was to tho effect, that the building cost £11G , £S7 of which b id been subset ibed, leu ing a, bal nice of £30 Mi Knaggs also stated that II R \uhicj, Esq, Resident Mngi&tiate, had sent an apology for nnti-attend mcc, covering a donation of £3 tow aids the building fund A dernihd statement ol account was then lead by Rev W Bm ton showing a lather moie favo.nable state of financial matteis than that pi evented by Mi. Knaggs Rev .1 Guiinir (Piesbvterian), then addiested the meeting He sud he hail been engaged many 3'ears in tho education of \outh and he was of opinion with the iispccted chin man, tint nothing should be allowed to lutcifeie with the woik of educating the using generation He congiatulited the meeting on possessing a teichei so competent, as, he knew Mr Hewlett to be Looking at tho tompoial inteiet-ts of the district alone, no obstacle ought to be tin own m the way ol education, how much moie should it be attended to ■when the high spuitual mteiests of the young aiu concerned He was pleased at tho piesence of so matt} of the fair se\ — whenevei he saw that they took an inteiest in any object, he never despaned of success He expressed the pleasuio it would give him to v oik hatmoniously with minibteis ol all othei denominations of Chustiaiis, and concluded by depieciting all clashing of interests, md was sine fiom past expenence he should be able to woik m conceit with his Weslevan brethren Mi Rist of Wangaiei, was then called on to addict the meet ng He said the colonists of New Zealand had accomplished a settlement of that knotty question, national education ; whiek was vnoio than had been done in the old countiv, It was the inteiest he took m the question of education that led him to attend that mteting Theie weie now seven schools in the count> of Musdcn, and he gave an interesting account of them, with the attendance of chikhen at each, showing that the attendance at all is above tho generally lecognistd aveiagc. Rev W Buutov, Weslevan minister, then spoke. As the officiating minister of the place, he stated that although the piopeity was vested in tiust for the Wesleyan denomination, all othei bodies of professing Clmstians would be peifectlv welcome to the use of the pi ice when they i<quued it— tho school was fiee to all, no attempt would be made to ptoselyti&e — they did not wish to con\eit to We=lejan methodism but to the gospel of Christ Mi W altox heie left the chau, which was taken by the Rev Mr Waricn. Mr. Okmistov moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Walton, foi his kindness in taking the chair, which was seconded by Ml Marsh Mr Walton teplied in a suitable manner, again expiessing the pleasuie it hid given him to be present at such a gathering He then left the meeting. J. G Johnstoaf, Esq., J. P, said he considered the tiuemodo of founding a colony on a firm and In' tin"- basis, was the educating the children of the eaily settleis Ho had no doubt that, piovidmg that vveie done and well done, the germs of a gieat empire weie even then planted in New Zealand. Rev Mr Wvrren then spoke Tie announced that Mi Walton, befoie leaving, had handed in a donation of £5 to the building fund. He said that although preceding speakers had said so much, and said it so well, on the genoiat question of education, yet he felt the subject was not exhausted— in fact, it was inexhaustible. He would theiefoie trespass a little further on then attention Education had a two fold aspect — instiuction in general tempoial tilings, with a view to advancement in this woild, and mstiuction in religion. In oui day theie was too much attention paid to the common .accomplishments of scholastic training , if a man was fairly accomplished, had a smattering of philosophy and science, he was cnnsulcicd an edrcated man; but he believed such tiaining was not worth calling education. Looking at the ultimate high destiny of man he was of opinion that all education should be based on the word of God In this school such would be the case— the spiritual interests of the children would not be suffoied to become subsidiary to those tompoial wot Idly accomplishments of which he had hefoie spoken. After a few more temarks pertinent to the geneial question, tho rev. gentleman concluded by ui ging the meeting to clear off the small balance still owing on the building. Ho alluded to tho interest taken by the gentler sex, reminding them of the conduct of the Jewish women in ancient days, who even sold theii looking glasses foi the advancement of God'« kingdom. If we would succeed in matters of this kind now in hand, tho gentle influence and kind persuasion of

tbe softer sex must bo enlisted m the cause. He humourously alluded to the much larger space taken up by the ladies now, to that occupied by their mother, and urged them to circumscribe those wondrous lotimdities in which they envelope themselves, or it would shortly become actually impossible for the two sexes to exist in the same planet. Wore thii dono, he had no doubt tbe debts on their school rooms would soon be wiped off. A collection was then made. K«v W. BOHTON moved a vote of thanks to the Presbyterian body for the use of their church, timing the erection of the present building Mr. Cvrteh seconded tbe motion. Mr. HtiXTER moved a vote of thanks to the ladies for the excellent arrangements made, and tho satisfactory mode in which they had been earned out. Mr. ORMiSToy seconded the motion, which was car ried by acclnraation Mr Rust responded on behalf of the ladies. Mr Knvggs remaiked on the presence of some natnes, and expressed tbe pleasure it gave him to see them theie in the piesent state of the political lelatwns of tbe U\o i aces. On this being explained to them by the Chan man, one of them sud they recipioc.Ued the sentiments of Mr Knasjgs, and wished both M 101 is and Emopeans to live in haunony togethci a* one nation The meeting was then closed by the O'hiiiinian, who pionounced tbe Benediction