WAIMAMAKU SETTLERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19891, 9 March 1928, Page 12

WAIMAMAKU SETTLERS.

Sir, —With an even closer knowledge of ' the settlers of Waimaniaku than that o£ Elsie X. Morton, I share her admiration of them as expressed in her recent supplement article, " In Waimamaku." Miss " Morton, however, appears to have been misinformed with regard to one matter, the lack of a church in Waimamaku. The original settlement called itself & " Free Thought" settlement, and contained among its leaders several men who had actually thrown off any -religious belief. This spirit has now largely died out, but under tho' circumstances, it is hardly surprising that a church has not been erected. Miss Morton refers to " an occasional Church of England service in a Maori chapel." There has beeu for some years a regular service, ones a month, in the local hall, and the Maori' " chapel" is a dedicated and rather beautiful little church with a resident Maori clergyman. This is not used for pakeha services. On Sundays a service is held within eight or ten miles of Waimamaku, at one end of the valley or the other. I should like these facts to be made public, as they go to show that. although there is as yet no church in Waimamaku, the spiritual interests of th® settlers are by no means being overlooked. A Country Churchman.