PRESBYTERIAN EVENING

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 10027, 19 July 1918, Page 2

PRESBYTERIAN EVENING

"SOCIAL" EST HONOUR OF MODERATOR.

At the invitation of tho office-bearers of St. Andrew's Church a large number of the ministers and elders of the Wellington Presbyterian Churches, together with' their wives, attendod a "social" at St. Andrews Hall on Tuesday evening to do honour toThe Hon. J. G. W. Aitken, Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly. Notwithstanding, the inclement weather large contingents came from, as far afield as Khandallah and Lower Hutt to join in expressing their esteem for the principal guest of ( the evening. After the meeting had been opened by tho singing of the Doxology and .prayer, the Rev. S. Robertson Orr, in a brief speech welcomed the visitors, and stated that the objeots of the gathering were to express pleasure at the election of Mr Aitken to the position of Moderator and, incideiitally, : to afford that gentleman an opportunity of bringing forward the need of the Elders' Association for additional lay preachers. Mr Orr threw out a suggestion that a conference of laymen should be held to consider how best the churches can seize the opportunity provided by the war for enlarging their influence and usefulness.

Mr C. S. Falconer conveyed to Mr Aitken the congratulations of his fellow office-bearers and voiced their great pleasure that he had been called to tLo highest office in the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand. Incidentally Mr Falconer maintained that Mr Aitken vas, in fact and also ecclesiastically, a bifchop in that he was veritably an overseer oi the Church. Mr Falconer related many incidents to illustrate Mr Aitken's great services to the church and the community, and his jvprds of appreciation met with the hearty approval gf the audience. .jir Aitken. in reply, thanked those present for.the expressions of goodwill extended to him and stated that he had only acoepted the Moderalorship because there was no ministerial candidate for the office and he was therefore faced with the unanimous wish of tho General Assembly Ithat he should occupy tne position. Having done so he had striven to discharge the duties' entailed to the best of his ability and would continue to do so. He shtjssed the valuable work done by the Elders' Association in finding " lay' preachers to assist the ministers in suburban charges where services have to bo carried on at more than one centre, and stated, that the control and oreanisation of this work for many years past has been at>lv carried on bv Mr Armour Thompson.; an elder of St. Andrew's Church, It that additional preachinor stations would shortly be opened in both Island Bay and Seatoun charges and he asked all those able to assist to hand in their names to Mr Thompson. Mr Aitken stated that recent statistics showed that in the past ten years the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand had its oom- : munioant . members-., by 16,000. The Sundav schools. and all other branches of .the ohiirch" work had likewise progressed, except the Young Men's Bible Classes, whioh had fallen back to about the level of ten years ago. This falling off was due to the war and he thought the church should bo proud that its young men had enlisted in such numbers.

"During the eveninc refreshments were handed- round. Musical items, given by Miss Jennings and Messrs Gilmora and MncDonald, were interspersed ,-imongst vthe.speeches,.-,:Mr Thomas presiding at ;the. piano. The meeting closed with the '•M*'Biritr''or"t-he''Nat'idrial 'Anthem and the Benediction, nronmmrpd by Mr Aitken.