THE METHODIST CONFERENCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14924, 23 February 1912, Page 9

THE METHODIST CONFERENCE

j TO BE HELP IN AUCKLAND. Tiik 39th conference of the Methodist Church of New Zealand will open in the Pitt-street Church on Thursday evening of next week. Nearly 200 representatives will be in attendance from all parts of the Dominion, the ministerial and lay representatives being about equal in number. For the first time in the history of the New Zealand Methodist Church a lady will take her place as a duly elected member of the conference. This honour fulls to Mrs. Dellow, the widow of the j late Rev. J. Dellow, and the daughter of [ the late Rev. Thomas Buddie, one of the j pioneer missionaries of the church. There will also be in attendance eight Maori ministers and two. lay representatives. Seven young men having completed their course of seven years' literary and theological training will be ordained to the full work of the ministry. No less than 20 candidates for the ministry presented themselves to the synods. This number has, by various tests, been reduced to 12, and from these the conference will select those who are to be trained in the theological college. A pleasing feature of the candidates this year is the number of them who have matriculated. Perhaps the most important question .to bo dealt with by the conference is the establishment of a fully-equipped theological institution. An Auckland committee lias been engaged upon this scheme during the year, and has purchased a splendid site of 10 acres at Epsom, upon which it is proposed to erect a brick college of modern design. Several large donations have already been promised, and a banquet is to be held in the concert chamber of the Town Hall next week, when it is fully expected that a very large sum will be raised for the new college. Mr. A. C. Caughey will preside, and among the speakers will bo the president of the conference (the Rev. C. H. Garland, the new principal of the college) and Mr. L. M. Isitt, M.P. Another important matter which will receive the attention of the conference is that of Methodist union. The two Churches 1 interested, through their committees, have agreed with practical unanimity upon a basis of union, and this basis has already been sanctioned by the Primitive Methodist Conference. There is no doubt that the larger Church will also agree to the. union proposals, and a united Methodist Church will probably be an accomplished fact in New Zealand within the next year or two. Arrangements will also be made for tho complete independence of the .Methodist Church of New Zealand, and its separation from Australia. All the Australian legislatures have passed the Rill legalising this separation, and all the Australian Slate conferences have given their sanc- ! tion. Provision will now have to be made for the government of the New Zealand Methodist Church by its own conference, The retiring president is the Rev. G. W. .1. pence, of Palmerston North. There is considerable speculation as to his successor. The choice will probably lie between the minister of the lending Auckland Methodist Church and the editor of tin' New Zealand Methodist Times. Several public functions of an interesting character will be held during tho conference. Two of these will take place in the Town Hall. The oratorio, "Judas Maecabseus," will be rendered by the united Methodist choirs of the city, under the baton of Mr. E. J. ("Jutland. * A conversazione will also be held in the same place, at which tho Mayor of the city will be one of the speakers. There will also be a young people's rally and a missionary demonstration. A harbour excursion has been arranged, so that Southern visitors may see the beauties of the Waitemata., and a recep- ! tion will also be tendered to the rcpre- I sentatives and their hosts at ! Remuera, the present location of the theo- j logical college. Some of the Southern members of the conference have already arrived, and the Rev. C. H. Garland will occupy the pulpits of St. John's and Pitt-street on Sunday next.