THE NEW BISHOP OF AUCKLAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 162, 13 July 1869, Page 3

THE NEW BISHOP OF AUCKLAND.

The following interesting account of the lately appointed Bishop of Auckland is taken from the Guardian of March 31, 1869:— The Rev. William Garden Cowie, rector of Stafford, has been appointed by Bishop Selwyn to succeed him in New Zealand as Bishop of Auckland. Mr. Cowie was presented to Stafford rectory by Lord Chancellor Chelmsford, and was before tbat time chaplain to the late Bishop of Calcutta (Cotton), and was several times with our troops io action during the Indian mutiny. The new Bishop is the second son of Alexander Cowie, Esq., formerly of Auchterless, Aberdeenshire, and of London, and was born in 1831 . At Cambridge he obtained a Scholarship, and the English and Latin essay prizes at his college, and afterwards took the second place in the first class of the Civil Law Tripos in 1854. j- He was ordained by the late Bishop Turton in November, 1854, and was successively curate of St. Clement's, Cambridge, and of Moulton, near Newmarket. In the autumn of 1867 he was appointed chaplain on the. Bengal establishment. On arriving in India, he at once proceeded to join the army in the field, and served throughout the campaign ending in the final siege and capture of Luckhow. He was then attached to the flying column under the command of Sir Robert Wai pole, and was present at the actions of Rooyeah, Allyguuge, and Bareilly. When the war was over he was stationed for some years at Bareilly, near which place he founded the Christian village known' as Cowie-guage. In the autumu of 1363, having volunteered to serve as chaplain with ihe field force engaged on the north-western frontier under Sir Neville Chamberlain, he went through the Umbeyla campaign, and was present at the assault and capture of Lalloo by Sir John Garvock. He was then appointed domestic chaplain to Bishop Cotton, of Calcutta. In 1866 he returned to England to recruit his health, and while on leave for that purpose he was presented by Lord Chelmsford to tbe rectory of St. Mary's, Stafford, which he has held up to the present time. The Staffordshire Advertiser of May 7tb, 1867, in announcing Mr. Cowie's appointment to Stafford, and speaking of his previous services in India, said: — In these various exciting fields of labor, in which he was present in no less than ten engagements, we are informed that Mr. Cowie so discharged the duties of his office as a Christisn minister as to establish a very considerable influence over both officers and men, which he turned to good account by many successful efforts for the improvement of the physical, moral, and religious condition of the troops. It is further stated that he extended his labors to the native converts, who were then undergoing considerable persecution, and a very striking proof of tbe estimation in which they held him is to be found in the fact that a Christian village, with a missionary school under native teachers, bas been named after him by the inhabitants as * l Cowiehabad." From the field he was summoned by Bishop Cotton, of Calcutta to assume the duties bf domestic chaplain, and this association only ceased with the lamented death of that able and highly esteemed Bishop. The hardships he had to endure in so trying a climate led Mr Cowie to return to England on sick leave, at the beginning of last year, and since then he has been, engaged as curate to Dr. Vaughan, vicar of Doncaster. His selection by so distinguished and so excellent a clergyman affords strong testimony to Mr Cowie's worth, but we further learn from a member of the Doctors'-s congregation that Mr Cowie _is a very eloquent, persuasive,and. strictly Scriptural preacher, that he is most devoted to his work, and that he enjoys in a high degree the confidence of Dr Vaughan.