KAWHAI METHODIST CENTENARY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 4413, 3 November 1934, Page 4

KAWHAI METHODIST CENTENARY.

THE “CRADLE” OF MAORIS AND METHODISM.

Great preparations are being made by both Maoris ancl Europeans for the celebrations at Kawhia on the 23rd and 24tli of next month in connection with - the Methodist South Auckland Centenary.

Additional historic interest attaches to the Kawhia district in that it is not only the South Auckland “cradle” of Methodism, but it i=s also the New Zealand “cradle” of the Maori tribes now resident throughout Waikato, King Country, and Taranaki, indeed of nearly all the Maoris resident in the western half of the North Island, south o£ Auckland city. It was at Kawhia that their fathers finally disembarked from their great canoes. Aotea and Tainui, and took tip permanent residence in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Local Maoris very proudly guide pakehas to the spot where the Tainui Canoe was buried to prevent it falling into the hands of enemies and with equal pride others take favoured visitors in their boats at low tide to where the Aotea Canoe was sunk for the same reason in the adjacent Aotea Harbour and point out what they claim are the petrified remains of the great Aotea Canoe, vaguely discernable many fathoms below. • The Methodist Church officially commenced its work in New Zealand in 1822 in North Auckland. The Pioneer Missionary, Rev. Samuel Leigh, who took up his residence there at that time, had visited New Zealand, at the request of the Rev. Samuel Marsden at an earlier date before there was any resident clergyman in these Islands, and on that occasion had accomplished some very valuable work. The Rev. Samuel Marsden’s mother was a Methodist, and the two Samuels, Marsden and Leigh, were great friends and strong evangelicals. This, no doubt, was one of the chief factors which caused the very close co-operation between the (wo Missions in North Auckland in the pioneer days. After long consultation, it was agreed between the leaders of the Missions that the Methodist iChurch should concentrate its efforts chiefly on the western side of the North Auckland peninsula, and a very vigorous work was carried on in Ilokianga. In the meantime the Anglican Mission, which had been established by the Rev. Samuel Marsden’s band of lay missionary pioneers eight years before the commencenient of Leigh’s official residence in New Zealan,d developed rapidly on the Eastern side, wielding a great influence in those areas. The Anglican and Methodist were the only two Churches represented in New Zealand in those days. By 1830 overtures were being made to both these pioneer Missions to extend their operations further south, and by 1834 both had established themselves in the South Auckland District, the Methodist Appointees to their Western area being Revs. John Whiteley, James Wallis, and William Woon, who settled at Lemon Point, Aotea, and Waingaro. Revs. Wallis and Whiteley were delayed through Church building and exploration worjki in the North, and did not arrive in South Auckland until early in 1835, but Rev. William Woon took up his residence at Kawhia in November, 1834. The Rev. Mr Whiteley had visited in detail this western area of South Auckland n 1833, and found that the desire of the Maoris to have Methodist Missionaries arose from the teaching of Christianity they had received from. Taranaki warriors, who had been previously held as prisoners of war in Hokianga but had been liberated through the influence of the Methodist Mission, and who, as they journeyed back to Taranaki, spread the story of “The Religion of Love.” Some of the .Kawhia Maori leaders had so far accepted Christianity under the teaching of these released prisoners that they themselves had established, as best they knew how, Christian sendees of worship. Thus it has always been said that the Wlestern South Auckland chiefs themselves laid the foundations of Christianity in that area, foundations upon which the Missionaries were able to build rapidly. Therefore, in spite of the. fact that Mission organisation .in that area was almost utterly destroyed by the tragic quarrels between European and Maori in the period 18611871, it is most fitting, in commemorating the Centenary of the formal establishment of the Mission, that- the Maori leaders should again lay the foundations.

A beautifully designed Church (reinforced ferro-concrete) and a Parsonage are to be erected, on ideal sites centrally situated in the Kawhia township, as the Centenary Memorial, and at 10.30 a.m. on November 24th, the Maori King, Koroki Tawhiao To Tuarima, will lay the foundation stone of the Church, and his spouse, Kuini Te Ata, will at 11.30 the same day lay the foundation stoneof the Parsonage.

Generous contributions from Church funds, as well as from individuals, are be frig made toward this project, and tenders for the erection of the Church are to be called immediately. The Parsonage will be erected by day labour under the direction of the Revs. C. Strand and Piko Hikuroa.