METHODIST CIRCUIT.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIV, Issue 4, 6 January 1910, Page 8

METHODIST CIRCUIT.

! The quarterly meeting of the Blenheim Methodist circuit was held in the church parlour, Wesley Hall, last | evening. The Revs. T. R. Richards 1 and E. P. Blamires and about 40 j members were present, and the Rev. T. R. Richards was in the chair. ! The cir6uitr stewards reported contributions to be well sustained, but as several Sundays' collections had been appropriated to -other than. circuit funds there was a small -. debit ■ shown on;the balance-sheet. ,Arrangements were made for the annual harvest thanksgiving and ■ gift sale for the purpose of clearing off this debt. The chairman intimated an increase of church membership throughout the circuit, the numbers how approximating to 300. Satisfactory reports were also given -of Sunday-school, Christian Endeavour ,_ and Bible-class attendances and activities. ~ Messrs W. B. Parker and W. D. Pike were re-elected senior and "junior stewards, and returned thanks for Continued confidence. A motion reaffirming the desirability of placing a probationer at the Pictonend of the circuit was unanimously carried, and the Conference representatives were requested to urge the matter. The deaconess committee . recommended the appointment of Miss Hunter (of the Christchurch Training Home) as deaconess in succession to Sister Catherine, and the recommendation was adopted with permission to make a retiring collection once a quarter in aid of the fund. Messrs W. D. Pike and E. H. Penny were elected representatives to Conference, and Messrs W. B. Parker and Donald McCallum substitutes. A hearty welcome was extended to the Rev. M. Letcher, a South . African visiting minister, and to Mr Bryant, who has settled in Picton after retiring from home mission work in Havelock. Several routine matters were dealt with, and hearty thanks were tendered to Miss Davies and Mr C. Davies for hospitality. The meeting closed with the Benediction.

A visitor from Wellington experienced a narrow escape from drowning in the Maitai River on Monday afternoon, states the Nelson Colonist. He thought that he could swim a little, and entered Denne's bathing hole from the shallow side, and was soon out of his depth and in trouble. Three of his companions on the bank, who were fully clothed, were watching him, and did not at first realise that the struggles were other than a little larking, but when the man went down his brother, fully clothed as he was, pluckily dashed forward ,with.the idea of.rendering assistance, when. Mr Ernest Richards came the scene, and on swimming out was able to catch the man as he rose to the surface and swim ashore with him. Mr Richards was the only one of the party who could swim, and but for his so quickly realising the state of affairs, and his prompt action, there would undoubtedly have been a fatality to record, perhaps a double one, as the plucky brother was not able to swim a stroke; he fortunately stopped in shallow water when Mr Richards-appeared. .

, A ( Wellington telegram states that the result of the preliminary inquiry regarding the grounding of the Warrimoo in Bluff Harbour last month is that the Marine Department has decided to take no further action.