MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 10, 13 January 1939, Page 10

MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN

WHITE MISSIONARIES

WESLEY CHURCH GIFT

A memorial fountain, of the bubble type, is to be erected on the Manners Street reserve to commemorate the first Christian service conducted by white missionaries, the Rev. J. H. Bumby and the Rev. John Hobbs, on June 9, 1839, at Te Aro pa. The trustees of Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, are providing the fountain as a gift to the city.

Te Aro pa was situated almost on the spot now known as Manners Street reserve, which is but a short distance from Wesley Church. The arrangements provide for the fountain being ready for handing over to the city at a service which is to be held at the reserve on the afternoon of Sunday, June 11, to mark the hundredth anniversary of the service conducted there by the Revs. J. H. Bumby and John Hobbs. The Rev. Angus Mcßean, Ashburton, president of the Methodist Conference, is to hand over the fountain, which will be received on behalf of the city by the Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop). There will be a short religious service, and there will be present a Methodist Maori party. In the evening Mr. Mcßean will preach in the Wesley Church, and the service will be broadcast.

The proposal to present the fountain to the city and for its erection in the Manners Street reserve has been approved by the City Council.