AN EARLY MISSIONARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20426, 30 November 1929, Page 10

AN EARLY MISSIONARY.

A NOTABLE CENTENARY,

ARCHDEACON BROWN'S WOR|s

TAKING GOSPEL TO TAURANGA,

PASSAGES FROM HIS JOURNALS,

The centenary of the arrival in N ev/ Zealand of Archdeacon Alfred N. Brown first archdeacon of .Tauranga, will bo com! memorated by a special service to-morrow on the site of the original mission at Tauranga. It was at Tauranga that Archdeacon Brown died in 1384 after ovej 60 years of notable service in that di s . trict.

From journals in the possession of the archdeacon's nieces, the Misses Maxwell of Tauranga, are gleaned a wealth of interesting passages, telling of his first arrival in the Bay of Plenty and his subsequent work there. , Archdeacon Brown landed in New Zealand at Paihia, in the Bay of on November 29, 1829 a hundred years ago yesterday, and first visited the Tauranga district in 183-1.

The first entry in the journal directly | connecting -the beloved missionary with Tauranga was made on "July 19, 1834 He wrote: "It having been proposed by the council of missionaries that tha Rev. W, Williams and myself should visit Waikato and Tauranga for the purposa of fixing upon desirable situations for tha formation of mission stations and givirr" directions for the erection of rush houses" etc." They journeyed by schooner to the Firth of Thames, and left Matamata on September 4, 1834, to walk to Tauranga.'

Indifference of Natives. Writing on September 7, 16134, the clay after his arrival at Otumoetai " the principal of the Tauranga pas," Mr. Brown statedHikaia, Tupaia, and some other of the chiefs came to pay their respects to us this rno,rning, but they were very taciturn and seemed very indifferent as to the establishment of a missionary st.atien among them. We pro. posed holding divine service to which •they agreed, and upwards of 500 assembled for that purpose, and paid consider, able attention both during the 1 reading of the prayers and while Mr. Williains addressed them.

"In the afternoon different'little groups were learning parts of the catechism and, in the evening the natives, to the num. ber of 300, again assembled for worship., Another principal, chief, Takarangi, was present, but he seemed as little disposed as Hikaia and Tupaia to enter into conversation. Their indifference certainly forms a striking contrast to the anxiety manifested by Waharoa, as well as the Waipa chiefs, for the residence of teachers with their tribes."' * Timber for Mission Station.

The preliminary business of setting about the establishment of a missionary station was soon begun, for on September 10 Mr. Brown wrote:—"After prayers with the natives we left Maungatapu for the Papa, and, as there did not appear to us any other place so suitable in this district for a new station, we staked out dimensions for two raupo houses and returned in the morning to Otumoetai."

However, there were difficulties in securing timber. Writing-six days Inter Mr. Brown stated:—" It was mentioned to us at Otumoetai that some persons, belonging to the pa had said that if tine people belonging to the Papa went into their •woods to procure timber to build the missionary houses with that they would strip the missionaries as a payment. We parted on very friendly terms with tho principal chiefs, who denied that the language mentioned above proceeded from them, but I wish that our call to "form a missionary station at this place were rendered more distinct by the united wish of the natives to receive instruction." Waikato's First Chimney.

Earlv in 1855 Mr. and Sirs. Brown and child left the Bay of Islands to take charge of the mission station at Matamata. The house was not ready , for. them so Mrs. Brown stopped at Puriri. Difficulties and dangers were many. The track from the Waihou River ito Matamata was declared tapu, and Mr. Brown's things were taken from a party of carriers.

" A chimney would be a great ] UXV ) rv to us. but we must dispense with it until I can collect materials and build one." he wrote. Ultimately shells were carried over from Tauranga and burnt to provide the necessary lime. That was the first chimney erected in the Waikato. There is.-an entry in the journal dated August 23. 1855:—" My spirits have been much cheered by the news of the arrival of some missionary brethren at Tauranga to be stationed at'that place and at Rotorua."

Owing to hostility in the Thames Valley the station at Matamata was abandoned in 1836. On October 23 Mr. Brown, with a heavy heart, addressed the natives at Matamata for the last "time. It looked like defeat, but this courageous missionary would not admit that. "We shall leave with the consoling thought that our labours have not been in vain in the Lord," he wrote. " Our Master has not left Himself without witnesses even here.'S

Return to Tauranga. Early in the morning of November 10* 1856, Mr. Brown, in company with' : Messrs. H. Williams, Chapman and Wilson, landed at Te Papa station. A few days later he was at Puriri, where <it was decided that, as it was unsafe for the mission families to return to Tauranga and Rotorua until the establishment of peace, the members of those stations should reside without their familiesat_ Te Papa to preserve the station from being destroyed, and to watch any opening for making peace. January 1, 1837,® found him back at Tauranga fighting an outbreak of influenza and using his influence to establish pdhce. On January 30 a stand ,was mad# "-levelling the ground where my rush dwelling-house is to be erected," but on February 1 the workers, fearing attack from a Rotorua war party, left for safer quarters. Later in the year Mr. Brown visited the Bav of Islands and went south again on H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Captain Hobson, having Mr. Marsden as a companion. In August of the same year Mr. Brown was again at the Bay of Islands " packing np trees, etc., to recommence a garden at the southward." After journeying, on one occasion, as far as the. South Island, the day came, with his wife ;Tnd family, and accompanied by missionaries who were to go to Rotorua, Mr. Brown left the Bay of Islands for Tauranga. The vessel anchored in this harbour on January 4. Wages o! Christians. The first chapel erected was made of raupo and, because they claimed to be Christians, the Maoris who built it also claimed double pay. The average attendance at services at Maungatapu was" 70, and at Otumoetai 45, "small numbers considering the body of natives in those two pas." And so, gradually, this pioneer built this station, not sparing himself in the work of ministering to Maori and pakeba. At the same time he steadily proceeded with the work of erecting this station. «In journevings over a wide area lending to the spiritual'and physical needs of the people committed to his; charge, the years of this pioneer passed. Later his home was to become a place of rest for many whose names arc writ large .;ii the history of the Dominion. The little chapel he built has disappeared, but the faith that he proclaimed is still preachod there. What he found a wilderness hafi been made a thing of beauty.