SOIREE.

Evening Star, Issue 6477, 19 December 1883, Page 2

SOIREE.

A ad etc fu witli tho .Qhuroh of England was held at flic Garmon Hall last evening and preyed a great success, there being a large attendance, and provision having been made for ah excellent evening’s entertainment. Tho tea-tables were furnished by,the following ladies belonging to All Habits’ pariah ;-Mrs Nevill and Mrs Chapman, Mrs Fitohefct, Mrs 0. Allen,. Mrr Finch, Mrs M’Laron and Mrs Eitohie, Mrs Coughtrcy and Mrs Simpson, Mrs Batchelor and Mrs Neill, Mrs Hackworth and Mrs Royse, Mrs Bagley and lift Longford, Mrs Petrie and Mrs Goyen, Mrs Parker liw Wimperis; Mrs Maitland and Mrs Anderson Mrs Webster and Mrs Macassey, Mrs Trapp and Mrs White, Mrs fiMhva and Mrs Low, Mrs Carvell and Miw Scales, Mrs Mansell and Mrs Hodgkins, Misr Lutterworth, M)f« UmiW'i Mrs Haggitt and Mrs tea Mr J. M, Ritchie tho chair, and several addresses were given, in temper## with some excellent musical scleetionu by M(fs Petrie, MpSSJS A. J. Barth (piano), G. H. Hchacht (violin), and % Fraser (vocalist). Bishop Nkvim, delivered an address on “ Some Peculiarities of Church Work in a Colony,” his remarks being based chitffly on his experience in New Zealand, ft was necessary to bear in mind that the work of the ChUdi was everywhere the same. The means were always Vj egmo, and tho details tho only variable part of the woik- Jn this Colony the Church had to use Its machinery w ouch a manner us to bo most applicable to the peopi* vamofi whom it was, and there was little of what might bo Jtcjrjtfjod traditional Christianity to ho found. Tim population of this Colony was drawn from very varied sources, and this constituted one of tho peauliarities of Church work here. Those who came from tlw Qkl Country had Uoeti brought up in so many different modes that there wore necessarily many who hod little real knowledge of the Church and its working and condition. Many joirr.d it here, and there exited a great heassuitv that these should do all they could to make themsdves acquainted with the condition of the Chjfyolj (o which they belonged Then tho younger portion of the community who were born jn the Colony must Jearp jtp fepl that tho success of their Church depended }n a very large measure upon themselves, upon timjr faithfulness, enterprise, and love The young men among us had to actively ally themselves with the Church, because its condition in this Colony was such that, the few clergy it could support wore almost overwhelmed with fw amount of mere machinery that they hiul to attend to. #0 the Old Country a number cf diocesan officers smrouuilet l the bishop; but in this Colony the parochial clergy had to fe? eg) led upon for this assistance. The people also, for r/iqson, should be very considerate with their clergy. Rev, \V. H. 11. Jkiivois, In giving his >f impressions ot Colonial Church," said that what had struckLbA chiefly in those dioceses which he had seen was the favorable maimer in which three of them had contrasted with the rest. These were Adelaide, Dunedin, and 'Christchurch, and the reason was that there seemed‘in each to he a very strong Church tone which was not found in tho others. Three-short a.mtogs in she Colonial Church were a lack of corpo-

rate spirit;, of individualisation, and of adaptability in worship. As regarded the first want, thoro seemed from various causes a tendency to drift into Congregationalism. This, if it grew, would be fata! to tbo well-being of the Church ; for united they were invincible, and one by one they could bo conquered easily. As regarded the second evil, individualisation, he meant that people went to church Sunday after Sunday to see their clergyman in the pulpit, hut hardly over thought it their duty to come face to face with him. Now, preaching from the pulpit without individual intercourse he always regarded as like trying to fill a number of narrow-necked bottles by pouring water over the lot indiscriminately. As regarded the third point, adaptability of worship, wo seemed,only to provide for one type of people in the services given in this town, instead of for all. For instance, there was no extremely Low Church in Dunedin, and on the other hand there was no type to suit the extremely High Church. Wo wanted types to suit all. A great deal of good might lie done by one really Ritualistic Church in Dunedin, and that simply because it would provide for the people who wanted it. He believed it would fulfil the precise wishes of many, and, under the grace of God, bo the salvation of the souls of many Rev. A. R. Fitciibtt made an address, entitled “ A Politico-Ecclesiastical View of Hard Times.” The secret of the present depression was, he deemed, easily told. Wo had been borrowing hero an enormous amount of money. Compared with Victoria our population was as five to nine, and yet wo had opened more miles of railway and telegraph lines, and contracted proportionately a far larger public debt. In Victoria every inhabitant was chargeable with only L 24 of public debt, whilst in New Zealand they were each chargeable with LSB. They were each taxed with LBlßs here, and in Victoria with only L2 12s. This would not bo so bad if wo were an economical people, but wo were not. For one instance, that enormous evil—the racing sweeps here—must take as an almost continuous fund (or their support something like LIOO.OOO from our currency. Looking at the whole case, ho was of opinion that really hard times would not bo experienced here with our present small population. We should not reap more than a very small part of the wealth of this country until our population was multiplied tenfold. The hard times we heard of in New Zealand merely meant that some people were not getting rich so fast as they used to or would like to, and that some people had no prospect of getting rich at all. This was not a very hard case. 11 e hoped we never should have a class here who could live without work.—(Applause.) Those born in high estate had high and onerous duties to discharge, and if other people were poor that was not such a very great hardship. The poor man’s son need not ho uneducated or unrefined; he might have all the essentials of a gentleman ; and, If we could thus bring the different classes closer together, there would be a more hopeful chance (or this Colony than for some of the older countries which boasted greater wealth and more titles.