MARSDEN CENTENARY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16744, 28 December 1914, Page 6

MARSDEN CENTENARY.

CELEBRATION AT BAY OF ISLANDS. GATHERING ON HISTORC SPOT. [From Ocb Correspondent.] KAWAKAWA, December 26. The Marsden Centenary was celebrated yesterday on the exact spot where Samuel Marsden, the pioneer of the Christian missions to New Zealand, held on Christmas Day, 1814, the first church service of which history has any record in this country. Between four and five hundred people, of whom Maoris composed about one-third, came from the surrounding settlements and from Whangarei and Auckland to attend the celebrations, and, by the way, to enjoy a delightful picnic along the foothills running down to the little cove. Launches and sailing craft brought visitors from all parts of the Bay of Islands, and at one o'clock the Bishop of Auckland, assisted by Maori and European clergy and a surpliced choir, held an impressive service, appropriate to the occasion, at the base of the memorial cross erected seven years ago. Then the visitors turned their attention to tho congenial business of lunch, picnicking parties being dotted all over the valley leading down to the cove till shortly before »hree, when the company again gathered at the base of the monument to listen to speeches by Bishop Averill. Maori chiefs and other prominent figures in the day's proceedings. The burden of the speeches was mainly tlie Marsden Memorial Church to be erected at Russell, for which it is hoped to gather funds from all parts of the Dominion. A granddaughter and a grandson of Samuel Marsden were present as guests of tho Bishop, and the grandson, a gentleman well on towards the allotted span, took part in tho celebrations. Dr Averill, who was wearing a most unclerical panama hat, and.looking the very picture of health, greeted the representative of the "Lyttelton Times" who happened to be present, and begged to havo his warmest greetiugs corn-eyed to the people of Canterbury. The day was an ideal one for the outing, and for the ceremony, and the Bay of Islands wa,s looking its best. A SYDNEY COMMENT. By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright. SYDNEY, December 24.

Tlie " Sydney Morning Herald," in an appreciative leading article on the" centenary of Samuel Marsden's introduction of Christianity into New Zealand, says that never did a man labour more strenuously for the Gospel.