SERVICE TO METHODISM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21782, 23 April 1934, Page 12

SERVICE TO METHODISM

THE REV. SAMUEL GRIFFITH

ANNIVERSARY MARKED

EARLY AUCKLAND CHARGE

The preaching at the Parnell Methodist Sunday School anniversary celebration yesterday morning of the Rev. Samuel Griffith, of Mount Eden, marked the passage of 50 years since Mr. Griffith was appointed to take charge of the Methodist Churches in Parnell and Newmarket. Next Sunday he will perform a similar service at the Newmarket Sunday School anniversary. Mr. Griffith, who is in his 75th year, has to his credit a record of pioneering achievement in the service of the Methodist Church in New Zealand. On January 2, 1880, he arrived at Wellington from London in the sailing ship Western Monarch and came immediately to Auckland to be a. private student at the Wesleyan College, conducted at Three Kings by the late Rev. Thomas Buddie. In 1881 he was accepted as a candidate for the ministry and appointed as a conference student, but was called out later in the same year as a student supply in Wellington. In 1882 he was appointed to his first circuit, in Palmerston North, and after two years there was appointed second minister in the Grafton circuit, being in charge of Parnell and Newmarket and places beyond, under iilio superintendency of the Rev. Bavin, father of the Hon. T. R. Bavin, formerly Premier of New South Wales. Among the leading office-bearers of the circuit with whom h© was associated were Mr. Thomas Buddie, Mr. J. L. Wilson, Mr. F. G. Clayton, Mr. W. Hogg and Mr. George Kent. Transferred in 18S6 to Tauranga, Mr. Griffith left Auckland in April of that year to take up his new duties. Prior to his departure he was married, his bride being the second daughter of the late Mr. James Gribble, of Auckland, who owned a farm of 100 acres in what is now Sandringham. The ministers who officiated at the ceremony were the Rev. Henry Bull and the Rev. Rainsford Bavin. Two months after reaching Tauranga Mr. Griffith was involved in the aftermath of the Tarawera eruption. Following the upheaval he set out for the scene, the pastures en route being buried under volcanic ash, and cattle in some cases seeking vainly for food. He was one of the officiating ministers at the funeral of the European victims —the Hazard family, who lost their lives when their house "was buried as a result of the eruption, and Mr. Edwin Bainbridge, in memory of whose brave conduct a monument was subsequently erected. Then followed a period of 38 years in tho ministry in many parts of Now Zealand, including Te Awamutu, Mahurnngi, Franklin, Upper Thames, Mount Albert, Devonport, Christchurch and Dunedin. In 1920, -while in Dunedin, Mr. Griffith retired from circuit work and came to settle in Auckland. Since coming to Auckland he has been actively engaged in various connectional offices, including the position of orphanage secretary, a post he has held for the past nine years. Sir. Griffith is treasurer of the Auckland Ministers' Association and a niQmber of the board of directors of the British Sailors' Society.