POOR PORT CHALMERS.

Evening Star, Issue 7160, 14 March 1887, Page 3

POOR PORT CHALMERS.

TO THK EDITOB. Sir,—The enclosed circular has been extensively distributed amongst the clergy at Home, and will no doubt be read with interest by churchpeople here. As I have already trespassed on your apaoa I refrain from sending copy of the bishop's letter referred to, but it is merely a formal letter of recommendation. The italics in the circular are my own. The reference to the people of the Church at Port Chalmers as being in a state of " general bankruptcy " ia nothing less than a deliberate insult, and is most extraordinary language for a clergyman tu use with reference to his congregation. Further comment is needless.—l am, etc., Churchman. Dunedin, March 14. fi Park Crescent, Oxford, 15th January, 188 T. Rev Sir —I venture to preM on yoar goodwill the accnm'panj inß»ppe»' ' rom th * M ' h W '•'puwdln, V-.w Z tinni). in b»h» f of Its senport, whtnh has bean win,, iiir-rrlillr ruined through «hj« removal of the Milk of ihu t,o lh« wtarvefl a* DaiMiin, and tho raoKiauont 'mural bm!,rui>ley <>f tht iiiemb*,-H oj the A,wlic-j„i immunity there. By dint 0! enrn««t conHunt «onerous oxuttions tustnined over the paat twenty years tho Church mombcrs have orcoteu & substantial church, vlcwige, and school-house, on which tho wim of 1,3,000, etitircly raised from subscriptions, lias been expended, whils »n auditional sum of L1.f.06 ne«ded for the completion djttvv fabrics, was raised by means of a loan advaaoecron the mortgage of the obief portion of this property. Through the paralysis ot the shipping business and traffic which used to be parried on at Port Chalmers, and the consequent utter incapacity of Um ohurob member) to relieve the

property hi question of the mortgage encumbrance existing on It, it is unhappily exposed at the present time to the grave risk of being confiscated and sold. The Bishop Is, therefore, compelled to appeal, through the urgency of the circumstances, to the generosity of the members of the Mother Church, for the purpose of averting an event which would not only be a calamity lo Port Chalmers, but to tbe Church at la'ge also, in a dtoaese bo new and weak. I have most thankfully to acknowledge the receipt of donations to date amounting in th'j aggregate to LBSO towards the sum of L 1,200 needed to aooomplish the objeot in view. . . . Respectfully pressing the appeal of tbo BUhopou your kindliness— I am, etc., (Signed) F. C. Putts.