METHODIST CONFERENCE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIII, Issue 70, 6 March 1923, Page 2

METHODIST CONFERENCE.

OFFICIAL REPORT. Dunedin, March 3. It was proposed at the Methodist Conforonco in the young people's movement that the income for 1923 for running the department be apportioned to circuits pro rata on the basis of membership, and that the Bible Class Councils use their local organisations to stir Bible classes to renewed efforts to liii- I ancc the department. An amendment! to place the department on the Coutiu- * gent Fund was lost and the motion car-1 lied. | Representatives of the Women’s Mis-1 sionary Union were welcomed in tiio j persons of Mesdames AV. H. Duke and 1 R. Raine. Mrs Duke presented the j report which showed that the AV.M.U. j developed the connexional spirit among the women of the church. The AV.M.U. j now has 27 auxiliaries with a total mem- j bership of 1890, being an increase of j 296 during the year. The union was ; maintaining six sisters on the field and ■’ was sending out this year Sisters Com-' mou and Saunders. The visit of Mrs Goldie from the Solomons was a great inspiration to of the Dominion. The headquarters which had been in Christchurch has now been removed to Auckland. The conference thanked the deputation amidst applause. In connection with the Contingent Funu, Mr E. Rosevear presented the balance-sheet, which showed an income of £3730 9s lOd, and expenditure £2714 I 12s, thus leaving a credit of £lOl5 17s 10d. It was decided that the levy for tho ensuing year be 8 -per cent. Rose I vear made the statement that this was • the 49th balance-sheet. The first en- 1 try in the first balance-sheet was for a cash book at’a cost of 4s 6d. There had been only four treasurers during! the whole history of the fund. Rev M. A. Prutt informed the conference that Mr Rosevear had held cqn tiniious office in the New Zealand Conference for 25 years, and he had served the connexion for 19 years, first in tho Supernumerary Fund and for the last 12 years iii the Contingent Fund. ' The appointment of a successor to Mr Rosevear was then considered. At tho earnest wish of the conference Mr liosovear agreed to hold office for one more year cn the definite understanding that a successor should be nominated during the year, and a hearty vote of appreciation and thanks was carried with acclamation. The Rev M. A. Pratt was thanked for his work as clerical treasurer to the fund. The Rev AV. A. Sinclair presented the report on foreign missions and the oatiMiates -for next year. It is expected that the Dominion will raise £13,000, J . and the Solomon Islands £2500. The 1 estimated expenditure is £13,000 for work in ths Solomons, working expenses in New Zealand £1622, sundries and repayments to Australia £930, making a *total of £15,552. It was agreed that an , appeal to every member be made for tho fund during the year. This appeal will be made in the North Island on June ■ 17th and 24th, in the South Island on October 21st and 28th. j At the evening session on Thursday, while the Stationing Committee was j preparing the final draft of stations an attenuated conference dealt with the, report on connexional literature, the I central missions and prohibition. The Rev. J. Napier Milne was rc-i appointed editor of the “Methodist Timos” and the Rev P. R. Paris as associate editor. Very complimentary remarks were made with regard to the editors especially in connection with tho work of the Rev. P. R. Paris and his League of Young Methodists which was now approaching a membership of 4000. Reference was also made to the ability with which the Rev S. Lawry ( discharged his duties as business manager. Tho circulation of the paper has now reached 4000 and the financial position had considerably improved. AVhen 1 dealing with the position of central missions special mention was made of the work of the Rev. Clarence Eaton,, who is relinquishing the Dunedin mis-1 sion after a splendid service spreading over a period of eight years. The rest of the session was spent in an aimuted debate on the prohibition question. A Small section 'indulged in some trenchhut criticism of the method of campaign. Eventually the following resolution was carried: “That this conferference while profoundly regretting that prohibition was not carried at the poll in December last, expresses its unaltered ■ conviction that prohibition is the only true solution of the liquor problem j that the conference emphatically protests against the continuance of the State control issue and demands that it be removed from the ballot paper, and in order that Methodism may be organised for victory the conference appoint u prohibition propagandist council in each district. The Rev. E. Drake was elected the conference representative to tho New Zealand Alliance. The Foreign Mission business was then resumed under the direction of Rev AV. A. Sinclair. It was agreed that a medical students’ training fund be established and that £5O be placed on the estimates for this fund with Rev AV. B. Beckett as treasurer. A good many machinery clauses were carried and the Rev T. G. Marshall and Mr J. AV. Court were thanked as the treasurers of the fund. “The conference congratulates the Rev and Mrs J. F. Goldie on the completion of 21 years’ service in the’ Solomon Islands and places on record the wonderful achievements and selfsacrifice of the missionaries and hopes that they will long be spared to carry on their labours. ’-’ This motion was carj Tied with enthusiasm. A very long statement was given ot I the system of Chinese indentured labour in Samoa. Among other things n I stated that some kind of labour must be imported into Samoa but as population increased the supply of labour would increase. If labour were not found now much wealth will be lost and the Government will face the problem of an insupportable burden in governing the country. The plantations would be destroyed and as cocoanuts were currency the natives would have next to no income. The requisite labour cannot be obtained from the Samoans. The question therefore resolved itself into one of safeguards so that the system x# imported labour might not be open to objection especially from a humanitarian point of view. There were serious criticisms of tho system. These were recognised and certain suggestions to meet and rectify the weaknesses of tho system were formulated and the conference decided to send the whole report to the Prime Minister, the Minister of External Affairs and the Administrator of AVestcrn Samoa. A special vote of thanks amidst loud applause was carried to the general secretary for foreign missions (Rev AV. A. Sinclair.)