ANNUAL PARISH MEETINGS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXI, Issue 7224, 25 April 1884, Page 3

ANNUAL PARISH MEETINGS.

ST MICHAEL’S.

The annual meeting of the parishioners of St Michael and All Angels was held in the pariah schoolroom at 8 p.m. yesterday. The Incumbent, the Rev W. Harper, occupied the chair, and there was a fairly numerous attendance.

The annual report of the churchwardens was presented as follows : “ The churchwardens have pleasure in submitting a statement of accounts, which shows that for the past twelve months the receipts from ordinary sources have been in excess of the expenditure, leaving a small balance to the credit of the parish account, besides about .£2O still due for seat rents. All accounts have been paid, and there are no outstanding liabilities, except the fixed loan of .£IOOO which the sinking fund is steadily extinguishing. During the past year it has been reduced by about .£SO. Upon comparing the receipts for the past year with those of the previous year, it will be seen that there is only a difference of .£1 in the total amount. The offertories have been £lO more, and the subscriptions £l2 more than in the preceding year, but seat rents show £2O less. This apparent falling off is, however, due to the fact that they have not been paid up so closely as in last year. The churchwardens would take this opportunity of reminding seat holders that a great amount of trouble would be saved if seat rents were paid promptly in advance each half year. 'The offertories show an average of rather more than £ll per week, including the special offertories, or £lO per week for the 44 Sundays on which the offertories were collected for the general expenses of the church. The offertory for the Benevolent Aid Association (£39' 3s 4d) is not quite as good as that of the previous year, which was £47 6s lOd. The total offertories for special Diocesan purposes have been "£2 in excess of the previous year, the amount paid over to the Diocesan Treasurer having been £73 as compared with £7l of the previous year. Several fresh names have been added to the list of subscribers to the stipend and general expenses fund; but it will be necessary to raise at least £SO more next year towards the stipend of the assistant Curate. The churchwardens believe, however, that if the parishioners are made aware of this requirement the necessary amount will be readily subscribed. There is nothing calling for any special mention under the head of expenditure, which, as will be seen from the accompanying statement, has been kept as low as possible, the only extra item having been £lO for new gates, certainly not before they were needed. It will be necessary before long to expend a considerable sum in re-shingling or covering with iron the roof of the church and parsonage, neither of which are now weathertight. Congregations during the past year have decidedly increased, both at morning and evening services. The average attendance at Holy Communion also shows an increase. The Sunday school is still increasing, the number being now considerably over 300, with an average attendance of about 230; there are 19 teachers, all of whom attend very regularly. The schoolrooms are becoming inconveniently crowded, and it will be necessary before long to provide more accommodation, The offertories at the children's services, which are held once a month on Sunday afternoons, have averaged rather more than £l, besides which the children have contributed more than £lO towards the support of the Melanesian mission, this is in addition to the £l9 11s 9d shown as paid to the Diocesan Treasurer. The Parish Day School which was established in May last has been an unqualified success, the numbers have increased from 30 up to 70, which is the number now on the roll. The fees paid for 10£ months amount to very nearly £9O; and this sum, together with subscriptions from two or three parishioners, and a grant from the Diocesan Education Fund towards cost of material, has been sufficient to meet the necessary expenditure. The parish may be considered fortunate in having secured the services of so excellent a head mistress. The school has been inspected by the Government Inspector, who gives a very favourable report. Several ladies of the parish have undertaken to give instruction in needlework to the girls, and have attended regularly on two afternoons in every week for that purpose. The thanks of the parish are again due to the members of the Ladies’ Working Society, who have provided a pulpit for the church at a cost of £4O. Our thanks are also due to Mr E. J. Cotterill for having audited the parish accounts.”

The Incumbent congratulated the meeting on the satisfactory state of affairs revealed by the report. He mentioned that the congregations at both morning Mid evening services were steadily on the increase, that the number of communicants had been larger than in the previous year, that 46 candidates had offered themselves for confirmation, and that 141 children had been baptised during the year, a number larger than that of the preceding year.

The report and balance-sheet were adopted. The Incumbent nominated Mr Guise Brittan as his churchwarden, and Mr F. S, Eimbell was elected parishioners' churchwarden, The following were elected vestrymen : —Messrs Harman, Palmer, Vincent, ■Bridges, Pox, Lane, Parkerson, Hawley, Evans, and Poster. The Incumbent, the churchwardens, and Messrs Hawley and Evans were elected the School Committee.

Votes of thanks were passed to the members of the Ladies’ Working Society, to the Superintendent and teachers of the Sunday School, to the Organist and Choir, and to the ladies who had given instruction in needlework to the girls of the parish school.

The meeting was then closed with the Benediction,

AYONSIDE. TheJ annual Easter meeting of the parishioners of Holy Trinity, Avonside, was held last evening. The attendance was numerous. The Bev W. A, Poacoe, Incum-

bent, presided, and opened the meeting with prayer. The Incumbent said ho was thankful that his recent journey to England had brought him all he hoped it would, .and ho thanked the parishioners for the hearty welcome they had accorded to him on his return. Ho specially thanked the church officers and Mr Dingle, who had token charge of the Sunday school. Ho was glad to say that Mr Gardiner, one of tl>e parishioners, had taken the leadership of the choir. He spoke _in favour of making the morning services of a more musical typo. Referring to a motion that would be proposed,, that the allotment of seats should be done away -with, the Chairman said his own opinion was well known. He thought that the parish would gain by the allotment of seats being done away with. Ho explained that for many years the seats had been allotted in the church without payment for them; the subscriptions to tho sustontation fund were not payments for the seats. Ho hoped tho meeting would discuss the subject in a Christian spirit. The question was whether the seats should bo appropriated to particular persons or not. He suggested that tho seats should be thrown open during the evening service, but whatever decision was come- to he would loyally abide by it. Mr H. Cotterill, Incumbent’s churchwarden, read the annual report, a a follows : —" Tho churchwardens beg to present to the parishioners the accounts for the year ending March 81,1884, and congratulate them that not only has the organ been completed and paid for, but the debt on the parish has been reduced by over £SO. It is true that the ordinary income has not been sufficient to meet the ordinary expenditure; but the fact that some .£3OO has been raised on account of the organ fund, mainly from the parish itself, should be more than sufficient to account for the deficiency. It will be seen that the total debt on the parish is now .£355 19s 3d, instead of £406 18s 7d as at the corresponding period of last year.. We may also mention that the question of the Bank overdraft will require consideration, the Bank being dissatisfied with the present arrangement.” The balance-sheet showed that the year’s expenditure had been £6BB 5s sd, or £162 Os lid in excess of the receipts. Mr E. J. Lee proposed—“ That the report and statement of accounts, as printed, bo adopted.” Mr E. Cuthbert seconded tho motion, which was carried. The Incumbent thanked Mr Cotterill for the effective way in which he had worked for the parish during the past year. Ashe knew that Mr Cotterill could not take the position again this year, he nominated Mr H. P. Hill as his churchwarden.

Mr J. T. Dingle was elected parishioners’ churchwarden.

Mr E. J. Lee asked if the meeting would proceed to elect a vestry before the important question of the abolition of the allotment of seats had been considered. Mr H. Slater had no doubt that whoever were elected vestrymen they would loyally carry out the wishes of the meeting.

The Chairman ruled that the election of a vestry should take precedence of other business. This was the invariable practice at parish meetings. The election of a vestry then took place, and resulted in the following gentlemen being chosen: —Messrs H. Cotterill, D. S. Melville, E. Denham, J. G. L. Scott, G. L. Lee, P. H. Bams, M. Gardiner, H. Slater, E. Cuthbert, and J. T. W. Wilkin. It was decided that the thanks of the parish he given to Mr P. E. Wright for his services as auditor, and he was re-elected to that position. Mr H. P. Hill proposed—“ That the whole of the sittings in the church be free and unappropriated.” He pointed out that there were only about ten chairs at the west end of the church that were not ticketed. Mr Denham seconded the motion. Mr E. J. Lee moved as an amendment—- “ That every third seat in the church he free, and that the rest be paid for at the rate of one guinea for each sitting.” Mr J. G. Davis seconded the amendment. Messrs Gardiner, Cotterill, Cuthbert, Slater and Eston spoke in support of the motion. Messrs Scott, A. Cuff and Bams opposed the motion and favoured the continuance of the present system. Mr Lee’s amendment was put and lost. A second amendment was then proposed by Mr Scott to the effect that all the seats he free but appropriated. Eleven voted for this amendment and eighteen against it. The original motion was then put and carried by a majority of seven. After discussing suggestions as to the character of the morning service, and passing the customary votes of thanks, the meeting was closed by the Chairman pronouncing the Benediction. PENDAXTON. The annual Easter meeting of parishioners was held in the public schoolroom on Monday evening, at 8 o’clock. The Incumbent (Eev J. Chaffers-Welsh) took the chair, and opened the proceedings by reading his report on church work since he had undertaken the charge of the parish.

Mr Latter read the churchwardens’ report and statement of accounts for the six months that had elapsed since the constitution of the, parish. The report alluded to the enlargement of the church as having been begun, and stated that of the £450 required £425 had been guaranteed. The accounts showed a total receipt of £22118s sd, a total payment of £189195, and a credit balance of £3119s sd. The Incumbent appointed Mr Latter as his warden, and Mr Twentyman was unanimously elected as parishioners’ warden. The following were elected as vestrymen: —Messrs Ellis, Hobday, Deacon, Martin, Bruce, J. W. Twentyman, P. Latter, W. D. Wood, and A. E, Inwood,

Votes of thanks were passed to the wardens and vestrymen, to the choir, Sunday school teachers, the ladies who had worked in connection with the church, and the verger, for their past services. The question of renting the seats was introduced, but the general expression of opinion was unfavourable to this, and no resolution was proposed.

A harvest thanksgiving service was held in St Barnabas’ Church on Thursday evening, April 17. The church, which was full, was prettily decorated with fruit, flowers, and vegetables, the latter of which were remarkably fine. Prayers were read by the incumbent, and an earnest and thoughtful sermon was preached by the Eev E. A. Lingard on the duty of recognising Almighty God in all His works, and of seeking His blessing upon all undertakings. The offertory was on behalf of the Hospital, Gaol, and Chaplaincy Fund.

HOEOEATA. The annual Easter meeting of the parishioners was held on Montoy in the Library, the Eev W. S. Bean in the chair. The balance-sheet for the past year was submitted, showing the expenditure to bo SAA 4s 7d j receipts, £4O 18s 44, On the motion of Mr Fountains, seconded by Mr Maffey, the accounts were passed The Treasurer stated that the minister's stipend teen paid up to date, upon which, and the fact that it is not in debt the church is to be congratulated, ' The election of office-bearers was then proceeded with, when Messrs Cordy and Maffey were re-elected churchwardens, and F °^ taino ’ Y* Eollet * Traflord, Griffiths, Oliver, and G. Baker as vestrvmen. J

■ The Chairman, in most eulogistic terms, proposed a vote of thanks to the choir, and people who assisted in the Christmas and Easter decorations, which was carried bv acclamation. *