METHODIST CONFERENCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 February 1937, Page 5

METHODIST CONFERENCE

ORPHANAGE WORK REVIEWED. [PEB PBESB ASSOCIATION.] AUCKLAND, February 19. The first business session of the annual conference of the Methodist Church of New Zealand opened this morning. Lay representatives to the stationing committee from various districts were appointed as follows: —Auckland, Messrs S. E. Chappell and L. E. R. Rhodes; South Auckland, Messrs J. C. Tietjens and P. Rushton; Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu, Messrs C. E. Bellringer and F. Webb Jones; Taranaki and Wanganui, Messrs C. E. Bellringer and F. Webb Jones; Wellington, Messrs R. Hampton and J. M. Thompson; Nelson, Messrs M. F. H. Southgate and Miss Avery; North Canterbury, Messrs W. C. Francis and H. Chapman; South Canterbury, Messrs H. H. Brown and H. Oldham; Otago and' Southland, Messrs J. F. Barclay

and G. Crossbie; Solomon Islands, Mr T. L. Hames. Orphanage work was reviewed at the evening session. It was reported that more than 170 children were being cared for in the three homes operated by the church, two in the North Island and one in the South Island. There had been a noticeable decline in the number of applications for admission in Auckland, this probably being due to the gradual improvement in economic conditions throughout the Dominion. A similar tendency was noticed at the Masterton orphanage, but at the Christchurch home applications tended to increase.