VETERAN MINISTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19736, 8 September 1927, Page 12

VETERAN MINISTER.

| DEATH OF REV. W. READY. END OF REMARKABLE CAREER. OVER 40 YEARS ACTIVE SERVICE. Throughout the city and province, | where many years of the Rev. W. Ready's later ministry were spent, there will be j both surprise and sorrow at the news of his death. It occurred suddenly early yesterday morning at Palmerston North. He went there recently on a visit, to take a lending part in an evangelistic mission. On Tuesday evening he was returning from one of the special services to the house of a friend, when he became suddenly ill. Medical ' aid was at once sought, but was unavailing, and he passed away within a few hours. For over forty years a minister of the Methodist Church, Mr. Ready became known, through its itinerant system of appointments, practically everywhere in New Zealand. He was born in London in 1860, and, as thousands know through his lecture entitled "From London Streets to City Pulpit," was rescued as a boy from the wild life of a street arab. In George Muller's famous orphanage at Bristol he received his early Christian then, having served an apprenticeship to a flourmiller, he became a candidate for the ministry in the Bible Christian section of Methodism. A term at Shebbeer Theological College in Devonshire was followed by appointment to the Hatherleigh circuit in that county. The Rev. John Orchard, who had been sent to New Zealand to begin work here for the Bible Christians, was in need of ministers, and Mr. Ready was sent, arriving in Canterbury in 1887. His first appointment was to Little River, Banks Peninsula, in a pioneering cause. In 1890 he was appointed to a more exacting venture: —the opening of a city mission in Dunedin. Many still remember his plunge into that task, almost alone, as he took his stand in a busy street one evening and sang "Where is My Wandering Boy To-night?" From that courageous beginning came the well-establisned Central .Mission, now doing a great and muchappreciated evangelistic and social work in Dunedin. After many years in it, Mr. Ready took up ordinary pastoral duty in the united Methodist Church, which included the Bible Christians. He had city appointments in Cbristchurch and Auckland, ten years being spent here, Pitt Street Church enjoying his ministry after a term at St. John's, Ponsonbv. , In 1912 Mr. Ready was president of the Methodist Conference. He was stationed at Invercargill when the war broke out, and took a chaplaincy on the transport Maheno.' His ministrations are gratefully remembered by New Zealand soldiers. All his three sons served in the Dominion's expeditionary forces, one being killed on the battlefield and both the others beintj wounded. Ministerial duty in Kf>iapoi, Christchurch and Hamilton followed the war period. In the last-named place he laid down pastoral responsibilities in March, 1926, receiving a public presentation to mark his retirement. He then came to Auckland, his home being in Remuera. Although out of the regular pastorate, Mr. R«ady continued in ministerial work as a supernumerary with much acceptance. It was expected that, on his return from his mission visit to the South, he would relieve the Rev. H. Ryan, of the Remuera Methodist Church, whose state of health compels a period of rest. Mr. Ready is survived by his wife and two sons. Mr. W. H. Ready and Mr. W. j L. Ready, both of Remuera. There are three grandchildren.