CHURCH MEETINGS.

Evening Star, Issue 12870, 20 July 1906, Page 3

CHURCH MEETINGS.

.;■'■' -ST. MARY'S. . - The annnal meeting of the parishioners of St. Mary's Church, Morniugton, held last evening in the schoolroom, was preyed over by Mr C. H. Statham, vicar's churchwarden. The Chairman moved the adoption of the annual report of the Vestry and the balance-sheet. He called attention to the leading features in the report, and stated that about £l6O was in band for altering the present church or erecting a new one—all voluntary subscriptions, towards which the.Ladies' Guild bad donated £9O. Mrs George Burnett had also raised Cll foT the same purpose by means of a i rawing room fade. The enlargement of She church, or its rebuilding, and the oreoti'ja of a parsonage would require the early (iteration of paaisbioners. Tlie Vestry had laken far twelve months a house that was wax the school and church, and therefore suitable for a vicarage; amd the stipend bad been fixed ait £250 per year. Referring to tho school attendance, the Chairman pointed out that the attendance, though showing a slight falling-off, was as satisfactory as that connected with other churches, ail of which showed decreases. The motion was seconded by Mr Monson *nd carried. The following office-bearers for the current ycttT were elected:—Vicar's churchwarden (on the nomination of the bishop, no vicar being in charge), Mr C. H. Riaibatn; people's churchwarden, Mr G. Joachim; vestrymen—Messrs Minims, Ash, Bcntbam, Kerr, Monson. A. C. Birt, "White, Dickson, W. Holmes, and W. Kingston. The Chairman sa.id that a motion would have to be framed and submitted to the parishioners referring to the sendees of their "fate vicar, bat he suggested that wuch motion should be postponed until the meeting was held to welcome the new vicar, when no doubt there would be a very large gathering. This suggestion was agreed to. and the meeting was adjourned to August 9, when ;i sodaf will be held to introduce the new vicar to the parishioners. HOLT TRINITY CHURCH. The annual meeting of parishioners of Holy Trinity Church, Port Chalmers, was brM in the Sunday School Hall, adjoining the. obureh, lae>t evening. There was a jjood attendance of parishioners, and the vicar (the Rev. G. W. Christian) presided. In moving the adoption of the annual re]>ort and financial srtatemenit of the affair of the parish, the Rev. Mr Christian said there were a number of matters in connection with a chu;-ch and its work which always escaped mention in the formal statements. There was, for instance, no mention in the report of the good work done by Mir Sanders in raising funds and doing much-needed painting work, the graining of chtrrch doors by amother of thetr members, hangdog of bells by Mx Batey, and other matters of a similar kind, which, although not officia'ly mentioned, were highly appreciated both for tfbe value of tie work done and the spirit shown in doing it. It was a matter for congratuiation that in a small community such as theirs a sum of £440 or £450 had been contributed during the year for church purposes. He found it difficult to find words of commendation KumcSent to express the gratitude of the parish to the Ladies' GuiM for tho work the members had done in assisting the finances. The Grrfld, in addition to paying in £IOO in hard cash in twelve months, hoped to pay a further sum. of £2O in a short time, and the Guild had also provided interest and assisted financially in otheT ways. One of the lady membero of the church., whose name he was not at liberty to divulge, had generously offered to advance a sufficient sum to place the title of the vicarage in a more satisfactory position in the meantime, and the parish were nrach indebted to that ladv for ber generous action.—(Applause.) The work and attendance at the Sunday school dm-rng the year had been most satisfactory, and in regard to tlie teachers he desired to Gay that it bad never before been his privilege to work with a bebter staff or a staff more reliable awl consistent in attending to the duties which they had undertaken. r rhe report and biJance-sheet were adopted. Office-bearers for the ensuing year were unaranronsly elected as follow: —Minister's churchwarden. Mr Wylie; people's churchwarden, Mr J. D. Fisher; vestrymen— Messrs A. Cable. W. Mitchell, W. A. Smith, G. Sanders, R. MTtennell. P. Rose-, H. Batey, F. Dorrington, G. Ch&hman, E. Smith, "W. Driver, and J. P. Mimes; hon. verger. Mr D. Marr ; auditor, Mx P. Lights bourne. Instrumental and vocal selections were contributed by Mesdaroes WvHe, Howarth, Dorrington, Basire, Miss Casmnun, and the Rev. G. Christian. During the evening a, Eberal supply of •r»!freshments was dispensed by tho ladies of the Gmld. ALL SAINTS'. 'JTie annual parish meeting in connection with All Saints' Church was held last evening. The Very Rev. Dean Fitchett presided. Hie annual report and balancesheet (already published) were taken as readAii the commencement of the proceedings tie Dean made reference to the death of Mr P. Tresider. The late Mr Tresider, said the speaker, had been a vestryman for a very long time—how long he could scarcely remember. He had served the parish faithfully and well, and the sym[»thy of the parishioners had gone out to him in bis last illness. A suitable memorial in brass had been erected in the church, and a letter of condolence to the family had been sent by the Vestry. Continuing, the Dean said that the statement of receipts and expenditure for tho parish had been already approved of, afl the accounts were in good order, and there were no burning questions in the parish. The business before them was chiefly to elect office-bearers for the year. At the name time it was open to anyone present to raise any question concerning tho accounts or concerning the affairs of tie parish generally. During the past year a considerable amount of money had been rbllected, and all without much effort, and they might fairly claim that the expenditure of the year had been fairly met. He regretted the absence that evening of the minister's churchwarden, Mr James Allen, M-H.R., who was absent in Wellington, Mr J. M. Ritchie, who had left that day for Sydney, and Mr S. T. Mirams. Mr (j. E. Bray, in moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet, said tnat it was to be noted that there was a debit ! due to the bank of £34. As, however, they had begun the year with a debit of £l7, the debit for tire year was only half as great as it seemed. Some considerable portion of the expenditure had been incurred in connection with the new organ. This expenditure had been well repaid, as the organ had proved a great encouragement to the choir and the organist. Looking forward to the coming year, the church buildings required painting/but the finances were so sensitive that possibly it was nof? safe to mention these without coupling that mention with some reference to a special effort. At the same time he thought that the collection of £1,602 during the year was a very good record for the parish. Mr E. Herbert, in seconding the motion, pointed out that £l5O had been cleared off the mortgage on the parsonage, and this fact, combined with the fact that certain expenditure on the organ had been met out of ordinary revenue, indicated that their debit for the year was more nominal than reaL Mr G. R Ritchie said: The balancesheet sets out matters very clearly. I would like to mention that the general result must be considered very satisfactory. The gift from the Ladies' Guild was £l4O or £l5O, and that, I think, may fairly be considered as part of the ordinary church re'verttte. We also paid more money for the organ than we received, so that, on tho whole, we come out well. As regards subscriptions—-annual-subscriptions, that is —-our income might be increased if we, could get someone to take the matter in hand. I know of several new members wtho have come into the parish who would i

be willing to grvo ,one, two, or three guineas in addition to ordinary contributions. . As to the abolition of "pew rents, we derive £240 a year from these, and that is & sum which we could hardly do without at present. The only debt on the church now has been reduced to £7OO. If I remember rightly, it was about £1,600 four or five years ago. If an effort were made there would probably not be much trouble in clearing off that £7OO without begging. Also, I do not think that there would bo much trouble in raising the- £IOO required for repairing and painting the parsonage and schoolroom. The Dean remarked that daring the year the congregation had raised £1,402, and irardly a word said. That could not be considered a bad result. In reply to a question put "by a. parishioner, the Rev. H. H. Bedford, curate, gave particulars relating to tha St. Andrew Brotherhood—one of the Church iistitn.tions. Tbe brotherhood bad their stecial field in connection with the Sunday rooming Bible class, door duty, and other n.atlers, and they preferred to work with a limited membership. They were in need of some assistance m the matter of establishing a reference library. Tbe report and balance-sheet were adopted. The following omce-beareis were elected : —Minister's churchwarden, Mr James Allen, M.H.R ; parishionere' churchwarden, Mr G. K. Bray; vestrymen—Messrs J. Angu3, F O. Bridgeman, "a Grater. E. Herbert, S. T. Mirams. F. R. Manning, J. P. Ridings, J. M. Ritchie, N. Smith,, and C. Txrnbull; hon. treasurer, Mr G. R. Ritchie: hon. auditor, Mr J. H. Lusk. A vote of thanks for services rendered was accorded to the Ladies' Gtuid (Mrs Longford, preadent), the Junior Guild (Mrs Sinclair-Thomson, president), the Sunday school teachers, the All Saints' Association (Mis 6 Haggitt, president), the organist and choristers, the Vestry Guild, the St. Barnabas Association (president. Miss Howli6on, assisted by Miss Ronaldson), the lay readers, the coLlectois of monthly subscriptions (Mrs Dunkley, Miss Hopcrnit, Miss, Hitchcock. Mr F. Peake), tie Church secretary (Mr C Grater), and to Messrs J. Richardson &nd Haggitt for services in connection with the new organ. At a subsequent meeting of the Votoy, Mr C. Grater was re-elecTtd Church secretary, and Messrs J. Allen, M.H.R., G. E. Bray, J. Angus, and C. G. Graiain parishioners' nominators.