ANNUAL ASSEMBLY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23182, 31 October 1938, Page 13

ANNUAL ASSEMBLY

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH DOMINION GATHERING MEETING IN DUNEDIN The annual Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand will open in First Church, Dunedin, on Wednesday night. Of, the numerous delegates from Auckland, some went south last week, others left last night and the remainder will leave to-night. The Assembly will be composed of about 300 representative ministers and elders from all parts of the Dominion. The opening exercises will bp conducted by the retiring moderator, the Right Rev. W. H. Ho wes, after which the moderator-elect, the Rev. T. E. Riddle, of the Punjab, India, will be inducted to office and will deliver the inaugural address. Among the chiel matters for discussion at the sessions of the Assembly will be arrangements for the celebration of the centenary of the church in 1940, and reports from the thanksgiving fund committee which has been charged with the task of raising £300,000 as a memorial to the occasion. Nearly half that amount is now in sight in cash or promises.

An unusual feature of the Assembly will be the presence of two accredited commissioners from the Church of Scotland, the Very Rev. Dr. Dugald Macfarlane, last year's moderator, and Mr. A. Stewart, an Edinburgh elder. Matters that will give the Assembly some concern are the position of its mission, which has been carried on near Canton for almost 40 years, and also the whole position of its mission finances. It has been necessary to draw heavily upon reserves for a number of years past. Considerable interest will attach to the election of moderator to hold office during the centenary year. At least five nominations, including an Auckland layman, have been made by Presbyteries. A feature of the report of the temperance committee is a proposal to establish' a total abstinence society within the church. It is expected that the Assembly will conclude its business on the evening of Wednesday, November 9, or possibly on tho following morning. Simultaneously with the Assembly there will be held in Dunedin the annual conference of the Presbyterian Women's Missionary Union, attended by about 150 delegates. It is probable that the Dominion executive of the union will be transferred by the conference from Dunedin to Auckland.