ST. MARTIN’S CHURCH.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20089, 4 May 1927, Page 10

ST. MARTIN’S CHURCH.

ANNUAL MEETING OP PARISHIONERS. The annual meeting of. St. Martin’s Anglican Church was held in the Church Hall, Millar street, last night, and was attended by about 100 parishioners. The Rev. K. D. Audrews-Baxter, vicar of the parish, presided, and Archdeacon CurzonSiggcrs and the Rev, W. A, Hamblett were also in attendance. Mr H. C. Jones (vicar’s churchwarden) said that in the vicar’s report all had been thanked for carrying on the work of the church, with the exception of the vicar himself. In Mr Baxter they had what is popularly called a “live wire.” He had the qualifications and the energy for church work, and had used those qualifications successfully. They all appreciated very highly the efforts put forth by Mr Baxter to keep the church’s organisations together, and as a result these were making for effectivepess.— (Loud applause.) The churchwardens’ report stated that “The vestry has had a very anxious time in regard to finance during the year, and two appeals have been made, but, thanks to those who responded, the balance sheet as now presented shows that the parish has made progress during the past year. The most noticeable feature is the welcome increase in the collections of £B9. The subscriptions show an increase of £9 and, considering that until late in the year very little had been paid in, the vestry’s personal canvass bore a fine response. The mission payment shows only £8 odd. Usually when the vestry is calling for money at the end of the year the mission secretary is also calling for finance for mission work, and to improve matters for both parties the mission financial year has been altered to June 30. This necessitates making up the balance of our quota before this time. As the cassocks of the men and boys were in a very bad state at the beginning of the year, we felt justified in spending £l9 8s 2d on boys’ cassocks. Against this £ls 13s was received in special donations, and the making of the articles was undertaken by the Ladies’ Guild. The bazaar total of £217 against £162 speaks well for everybody’s effort in this direction. This account has been augmented by the jumble sale and operetta. By Miss Drake’s effort, with the help of the children, the creditable amount of £lO was received from this source. With regard to the vicarage account, the largest item is interest on the mortgage, but against this the repayment fund shows a credit of £llO, and at any time wa may be fortunate enough to receive a free loan from the Starr-Bowkett Society. In this case we should have no more to pay than at present, but the vicarage would be free in a few years. Regarding the Sunday school building, the only amount requiring comment hero is the debit balance. Last year it was £872, and this vear it is £846.”

Mr Jones, in moving the adoption of the report, said the collections had increased by £B9. which indicated that the church services had been better attended than hitherto. The parish had been called on several times during the year to contribute to special collections, and the vestry had thus been able to build up a stronger financial statement than hitherto. Probably tho members of the parish would again be called on to make special efforts to assist the financial position, and he was sure the appeal would not be in vain. The motion was seconded by Mr R. R. carried. Mr Kofoed then moved the adoption of the balance sheet, which was carried without discussion, a motion that the deficit on the Messenger account be transferred to general account being lost. The election of office-bearers resulted ns follows:—Vicar’s churchwarden, Mr H. C. Jones (re-elected) ; parishioners’ churchwarden, Mr R. R. Kofoed (reelected) ; vestrymen—Captain Freeman Green and Messrs W. Reilly. Hartmann, Fowler, W. Boulton, Bennett, Hardy, Boulton, sen., Robinson, and Dean; junior vestry—vicar’s warden, Mr Rodney Russell; people’s warden, Mr Geo. Macdonald: vestry—Messrs Harold Tattersfield, lan Robertson, Page, Rive, Burtenshaw, Nelson, Len Harris, Reilly, Henry Moffett, and Pope. At the invitation of the chairman, the Rev. W. A. Hamblett explained the duplex envelope system. He prefaced his remarks by stating that there was evidence of plenty of life in the parish. He said that finance entered very largely into the life of the church, and asked them to bear in mind St. Paul’s exhortation, which was, “Give as the Lord has prospered you.” The speaker said that Captain Watson, who had expounded the duplex envelope system of collection, explained that the basis of the system was that each and, everyone should give a portion of his or her income for church work. Archdeacon Curzon-Siggers supplemented Mr Hamblett’s remarks. He said the - whole basis of modern church finance was based on the report of the International Board of Finance, which was representative of all classes in Christendom, with the exception of the Roman Catholics. Mr Robinson then moved, and Mr Boulton seconded—" That in tho opinion of this annual meeting of parishioners of St. Martin’s, the duplex envelope system of collections should be inaugurated.” The motion was carried unanimously. The meeting closed with prayer led by Archdeacon Curzon-Siggers. A social followed. Tight refreshments being handed round. The following contributed items:—Overture, Master and' Miss Fowler; songs—Captain Green, Messrs H. Drake and Robinson; recitations, Miss Ngata Buswell and Mr Russell.