PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AHURIRI.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 1, Issue 53, 25 September 1858, Page 4

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AHURIRI.

"We have much pleasure in appending extract from a letter received by the hon. sec. per "Eliezer,'' from the Bey. D. Brace, containing the gratifying announcement that a gentleman well known as a scholar and as an excellent preacher had accepted the office of Free Church, minister of Ahuriri, and might be expected to leave Scotland for this colony in course of August last. It may therefore be assumed that he is now on hi 3 passage out The arrival of Mr. Barclay will prove a great blessing — not merely to thosa who may connect themselves with the church over which he will be pastor, but to tlie district — shall we say province — as a. whole. We trust, therefore, that the meeting which, as will be seen from our advertising columns, na3 been convened by the hon. sec, will be well attended ; and that the result of its delibei'ations will be such as to do honor to those immediately interested, as well as to the public generally of the new province. Following is the extract above referred to : — By the last mail I have received a letter from the convener of the colonial committee in Scotland intimating to me that a minister for Napier and Ahuriri had been definitely appointed. In communicating this to you I cannot do better than quote Dr. Bonar's own words, 'I am still much engaged,' he says, 'with Assembly work, but I cannot let the mail leave without announcing to you the good news that Mr. Poter Barclay has agreed to go to Ahuriri or Port Napier. I know of no one we could send with greater hope that he would prove suitable — eminently suitable.' The letter from which these words are taken is dated loth June, and in a postscript Dr. Bonar expresses his hope that Mr. Barclay would be able to leave Scotland in August. Along with this communication from the convener, I have had another from Professor Lumsden, of Aberdeen, also a member of the colonial committee, in which he says, 'you will be glad to he.ar that Mr. Barclay has very cheerfully consented to go to Ahuriri ; this I look on as a great gain to you and a loss to us. Most sincerely do I congratulate the Presbyterian church of Ahuriri on this appointment.' The Bey. Mr. Barclay is well known to me. He was my companion at college ; was a favourite among the students, and held a higli standing as a scholar. He has seen much of the world ; is an excellent preacher, and is at once a good and an able man. I may add that he is an excellent horseman — an important qualification in any colonial minister and especially in one for Aliuriri. This intelligence will I earnestly hope encourage you to go forward without delay with the movement which you have so auspiciously commenced ; and that with the prospect of an excellent minister soon arriving amongst them, the liberality of the people, already great, will experience a fresh and hearty impulse. I have been much delighted with the cheering accounts which you have given me at intervals and have a pleasing conviction that when Mr. Barclay arrives at his important field of labour he will find mucli that will greatly encourage his heart.