AUCKLAND PRESBYTERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13303, 9 October 1906, Page 6

AUCKLAND PRESBYTERY.

THE rev. DR. BRUOE interVIEWED. The jubilee of the Auckland Presbytery will be celebrated next week. With a view to giving the people an opportunity of hearing something of the early Church work in New Zealand, the Rev Dr. Bruce, one of the founders of the Auckland Presbytery, I has, by invitation come to Auckland from Sydney. Dr. Bruce, whose birthplace is near Edinburgh, studied at the Edinburgh University, also at the Theological Hall of the Free Church of Scotland. After concluding his course there, lie spent a year at Aberdeen, assisting the J late Rev. Dr. Adams, of the South Church. Subsequently he was selected by the Colonial Committee of the Free Church to come out to Auckland. For that purpose he was ordained by the Presbytery of Aberdeen. ',i/'/'.^ In conversation with a Herald" reporter yesterday Dr. Bruce said that he arrived in Auckland in June, 1853. St. Andrews Church had already been built, but at that time ', it did not have a tower. - When the Californiaii diggings broke out, and people flocked there, the finances of the Church became .disorganised./! Conse-

quently when he arrived there was a large debt on the church, and high interest was being paid. "The first thing I did," said Dr. Bruce, "was to set to work to wipe out the debt, and in three months I was successful in doing so." The doctor next set about' extending the work in the country districts, and getting but from the Old Country ministers to help him to carry it out.. This led to the, introduction of ministers in such numbers ,! as to enable them to constitute a presbytery." * " Did you have any particular drawbacks in your work in the early days?" "Only the war; then, of course, the congregations were__broken up, and the minis- | ters had to act as chaplains in the army. Afterwards, however, everything settled down again, and the Church work went on I in the usual way, and' all we had to :do was to follow up the spreading population. Sometimes we <lid get a steamer or a horse, but we often had to walk, and even at times to swim, 'to.get to places." ' . Continuing, Dr. Bruce said it was in 1850 that a presbytery was formed. The Rev. Mr. Mackywas^he' first moderator. A church was established at Napier, and others at places both north and south of Auckland;, A church had been- established at Dunedin before that in v Auckland. :In 1861, measures were taken to bring the churches all over ; the colony under one organisation. A conference was held at Dunedin, and a constitution drawn up, and a General Assembly for all the colony' was formed. Subsequently the Church in Otago drew'off, and remained as a distinct synod, until about; four years ago. Dr. Bruce said he was successively clerk, moderater, and agent," organising the work of the Church, in r the colony. Subsequently he resigned this position, and ultimately, "> in 1899, went to New : South Wales, settling down in North Sydney, in North St. Leonard's parish, Of which he is still senior minister. He was Moderator of the Presbyterian Assembly of New South Wales, and in ; 1904-5, was Moderator of the Commonwealth Assembly. ■..'.■.:'■. * Concluding, Dr. Bruce said that nearly all the ministers and elders of the early days had gone. _ He would be in New Zealand about six* weeks, during which time he would visit Mangapai to reopen a new church built there by the congrega- : tion which he first organised in the early years. The jubilee of the Auckland Presbyterian Church will be celebrated on the 14th and 17th inst. Dr. Bruce will preach in/ St. ": Andrew's Church on the first-men-tioned date, and on the 17tb he will give some reminiscences at a social gathering to be held in connection with the jubilee.