THE DAYS OF GOLD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22365, 12 September 1934, Page 18

THE DAYS OF GOLD

OLD WESTLAND CHURCH LINK WITH WEST COAST RUSH. The little old Anglican Church at Stafford, Westland, believed to be one of the first six churches built on the West Coast, was recently removed to a new site to allow the operations of a gold dredge to proceed. The Church News states that the church dates from the hectic days of the gold rush to the West Coast. “ The Australian company working the auriferous deposits near the church has gradually been approaching the section, and recently made an attractive offer to the vestry for it,” says the Church News. “The company undertook to provide a good section in a better situation, to deliver the church in good condition, or to rebuild it if it came to pieces, to repaint and repair it, to provide electric light free, and so on. The offer was accepted, and the transfer of the church has been safely made. “In the early days Stafford _ was attached to Hokitika. The first resident clergvman at Stafford was the Rev. H. J. Congdon Gilbert as curate-in-charge, A house was rented for some months; but in 1875 a parsonage was built, the tender being for £l6O 10s. The Rev. A. E. Scott (afterwards archdeacon) followed; then came the Rev. John Holland. Since those early days of the gold rush Stafford has dwindled from a population of many hundreds to a tiny handful.”