OLD CHURCH BELL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 195, 17 July 1935, Page 8

OLD CHURCH BELL.

HISTORY RECOUNTED. BISHOP TELLS THE STORY. ROTORUA. July 16. The history of the old church bell which was recently unearthed from the ruins of the Tarawera eruption at Te AVairoa was recounted by Bishop Bennett at a service which was conducted in the AVhakarewarewa Mission Hall, when the bell and other relics of tim old church, named “Hiona,’ were exhibited. The Bishop referred to the early days of tho mission and the interest then taken by the people of tlie Tuhourangi tribe in the work of the church. The bell had been used at Karin, a settlement on Tarawera Lake, as far back as 1843, and had been removed to Te AVairoa in 1853, where it remained in constant use for 33 years until the eruption. As a hoy the Bishop said lie well remembered the bell, he having frequently rung it for service. The bell lias now been taken back to Te AVairoa, where it will be held by Ali- Cecil AVay, owner of the land on which it was discovered, until it and other relics of the church are handed to the Bishop of Ootearoa at a special service which will he conducted by the Bishop on the site to celebrate the jubilee of the eruption on June 10, 1936.