St. Pater's Church, Queenstown.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 1517, 29 January 1886, Page 5

St. Pater's Church, Queenstown.

The annual me-tin,' of parishioners of abovenamed church wis held m the )>uildin_' after divine service on Sunday evening last, when there were present the Rev. I). (). Hampton (in the chair), anil about 30 panshion»r«. Minutes of previous annual meeting were read and confirmed.

The annual report and balance sheet were read and adopted, on the motion of Messrs Morgan and Bovd. Below is the rejv-rt, which also gives an outline of the financial position :

In presenting: th*ir annial balance sh»et to the parishioners of St- Peter s Church, Q ;een»town, the vestry are pleaded to b« able to state that financially the Church i* in a »atisfactorj position. If the whole of the a-sets were realised, there would tie a net credit balance of about L2O in hand. The total receipts for the year were Li#) 12s. 8d. t including, as the balance sheet now in the hands of the parishioners show*, LSO to the Parsonage Kniargen-.ent Fund and Ls donation from Mrs tyiinn for a stole The vestry hoj<e« that the balance sheet will be sufficiently explicit without fuller reference. We think that «pecia! votes of thanks are due to Capt Win? for his untiring exertion* as superintendent of the Sunday School and lay-reader, and to his staff of teachers, to the ladies who have presided at the harmonium, and to the members of the choir. Tlianks are alto due to the ladies of the ruikl, «ho throughout the year have, by ;rivir>g their tune and assistance, promoted the interests of the iTiimh generally but in which part icular direction the vestry are not in a position to -tate. The vestry cannot conclude their report without bearing testimony to ami rendering their best thanks to the incumbent fo r his continued energy in the exercise of his arduous duties. l.rww Hot'if, i Chcrehwanlea*. H. N. h iRTH, ) for selves and vestry.

The Chairman said he thought that, upon the whole, the parishioners should feel inclined to congratulate themselves upon the financial position of this pirtion of the parish, as the vestry had a small balance in hand in every account at the present time—reckoning the assets as if realized. The balance due on the parsonage—including a considerable additional outlay besides—had l>een wholly paid off. leaving a small balance to our credit there. The Sunday School ilebt had been wiped out, besides sending for ten (>ouuds worth of new books for the library, ami baviug quite four pounds of a balance on hand to !>oot— while the general halantre sheet showed .hat there were assets over liabilities amounting to twenty |»oiiuds. Personally, he had to thank the churchwardens and vestry men and all others who had co-operated with him in bringing about so desirable a result. No one knew the discouragement and difficulties which the clergyman had to meet and overcome in •tich a district as this. He did not care how far he rode or what work he did if he could only get through his work in a desirable way, but he often rode far and found but a j>oor res|K>nse tn his effort to 8"w the g*«od seeds among men. Oth«*r diflicolties and discouragem* nts arose from the ver* - nature of things, such a* w here a family lived in an isolated place, the husband lieing altsent at work, where one or two men live and work alone. In ■uch cases one felt himself in an inconvenient way at timet, but was, nevertheless, glad in f*uL to

| ao« the smallest NeHi, believing that it might tend to some but! .nod h part of God's great work in ' the world. He could quite understand a clergyman taking leave of such a district after the novelties of the tirat year were over—so great were the difficulties and so many the inconveniencies in I way of carrying on the work with satisfaction to j one's self. It was faith, and faith only that gave I one courage to hope that some good was done, if , ever so small. There was one thing he wished to I say, in reply to a remark in the vestry's report 1 respecting the aim of the ladies sewing bee. He hoped the ladies would aim at providing a horse and boggy for the parish. t was very hard on a clergyman taking charge of the parish to have to expend £IOO in providing a horse, buggy, harness, and a few months' feed, as he had himself to do shortly after coming here. Indeed, he knew that very few clergymen were in a position to do this, and had he been in the same position as others he would have been unable to do so. He hoped, therfore, that as the ladies had a small balance n their hands, they would make this a necleus towards providing this necessity, and he had thought and spoken of preparing to make some special efforts about Easter to effect the end referred to. During his address the rev. gentleman gave the following details of specific work performed by him during the past year Services held, 201 ; baptism, 19; marriages. 6; burials, 12; Holy Communion admistered, 21 ; Church work meetings, 35 ; classes held, 130 ; Sunday School attendances, 9; Choir practice services, 33; hospital visits, 19; parochial visits, 1011 ; and miles travelled, 3014.

Mr L. Hotop was re-appointed clergyman's churchwarden. Mr E. T. Wing was proposed as clergyman's churchwarden, and Mr Hotop expressed a wish to retire, but as Mr Wing was not present and his consent had not been obtained, the proposition was withdrawn.

Mr J. Bevin was elected secretary and treasurer, on the motion of Messrs Firth and Hotop. Mr W. Warren was re-elected auditor on the motion of Messrs Bevin and Hotop. It was resolved that the number of vestrymen be seven—with power to add to their number—three to constitute a quorm ; and that the second Sunday in each month, after evening service, be the period for ordinary meetings. The following gentlemen were elected on the vestry :Messrs E. T. Wing, J. Bodkin, W. Wsrren, J. Morgan, J. Bevin, V\. A. Boyd and T. Spear. Messrs L. Hotop and H. N. Firth ware re-elected parochial nominators. It was resolved, on the motion of Messrs J. Brooke and W. A. Boyd, that a hearty vote of thanks be recorded to the churchwardens and vestry for the past year. A vote of thanks was passed to the rev. chairman, and the proceedings then closed with prayer.