PIONEER MISSIONARY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 24 April 1937, Page 23 (Supplement)

PIONEER MISSIONARY

The Rev. S. Ironside, pioneer Methodist missionary who arrived in New Zealand in 1839 and Nelson in 1842, in writing of Nelson, said: “For those who love a quiet and peaceable life, out of the hurly-burly which generally prevails in great cities, Nelson is one of the most favoured places in the world.

“The stormy winds of the Strait seldom find their way to the bottom of Blind Bay. On the eastern side of this, embosomed in the hills, which surround it on all sides, save that which looks out on the still .waters of the bay, Nelson sits in queenly indifference to outside worries.

“Its climate is ever calm and equable. Summers are enjoyable and winters mild, the range of the thermometer being less by far than any of the other parts of New Zealand. Its scenery is most lovely.” The first Methodist services in this favoured City were held by Mr Ironside. From his station in Cloudy Bay he visited the infant settlement early in 1842. On the Sunday he preached three times to the Maoris in the morning and afternono, and evening to the newly-arrived settlers, all the services being conducted in the open air. Most of the settlers were then living in the immigrants cottages erected by the New Zealand Company. These formed three sides of a square, almost immediately opposite the site of the present church in Hardy street, and it was in this square that Mr Ironside preached.

Mr Edward Green subsequently for several years a local preacher and officer-bearer, stood by his side, and found lodging for the missionary in his bachelor quarters near the Post Office.

On another visit Mr Ironside ed on the banks of the Maitai

preach-