NEW ZEALAND CHURCH GENERAL MISSION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2928, 27 April 1910, Page 89

NEW ZEALAND CHURCH GENERAL MISSION.

PRELIMINARY PREPARATIONS

The inception of this mission sprang from a sermon preached by Canon Sprott, in St. Paul's, Wellington, some two or three years ago. The proposal to hold a mission throughout the whole of New Zealand appealed to the bishops and clergy, and it was decided in General Synod that the mission should take place in 1910. Two or three of the New Zealand bishops attending the Pan-Anglican Congress were deputed to consult the heads of the Church in England, and ultimately, with their sanction, 12 of the English clergy, who had had wide experience in mission work, were invited to come out to New Zealand towards the end >f this year and undertake the responsible work of preaching missions in the chief town® and other selected places. According to this arrangement, it will be seen that rather more than 12 missions will be preached in each diocese. In order that the missioners might have some knowledge of the places so selected, two of fhe English clergy were invited to come out at an earlier date to put the matter before the cieigy and laity in the principal centres, to do what they could to familiarise them with what was necessary to prepare for the mission, _ and to gather from them the necessary information.

Canon Pollock, of Rochester Cathedral, and the Rev. H. A. Kennedy, Vioar of Horbury, Yorkshire, were chosen for this work. They arrived in time for the General Synod, held in Wellington, and, after consultation with the bishops and their advisers, started or. a tour through the dioceses. They have now visited all the dioceses, including .Dunedin, except Auckland, and on Monday Canon Pollock and Mr Kennedy left Dunedin for the northern diocese. Besides preaching and addressing conferences in the cathedral cities, these two gentlemen, the forerunners of the missionexis, have visited some 50 or 60 towns. As soon as they were in a position to form some estimate of the work which was required, they applied, with the consent of the New Zealand bishops, to England for three 'more missioners, and it is hoped that these will be forthcoming before the mission commences. "A feature ot the undertaking,"' says Canon Pollock, " which it is hoped will have a lasting effect in Ibe Church's work in New Zealand is that several of our own clergy will accompany the missioners in their work, and in that way gain experience which will enable them the better to undertake similar woik later on in several of.the.smaller parishes, which could not be included in the present scheme owing to the number of the missioners being limited. We have' been much impressed with the devotion and self-siaorificing work which is being done by the New Zealand clergy, ©specially by those called upon, as many are, to serve vast and widely-scattered districts and to travel so many miles in order to hold simple services for the people under their care. We have also been much impressed with the equally self-denying work of the lay readers. But for them much of the Church work which is being don© so ably could not possibly be accomplished." The" missionera. will pay their visits to the respective dioceses on the under-men-tioned dates Wafa.pu, September 17 to September 29; Wellington, October 2 to October 16; Christcburch, October 25 to November 6; Dunedin, November 9 to November 23; Nelson, November 27 to December 11. The following are the names ot the missioners already secured:—Rev. Canon E. A. Stuart, Rev H. V. Stuart, Rev. J C Fitzgerald, Rev. T. Rees, Rev. Canon Tup-per-Carev, Rev. C. T. Koran, Rev. Cyril Hepter, Rev. H W. Jones Rev. A. P. G. Liliingstoti, P.ev. Canon Ivans, Rev. h. Carteret, and Rev. M. Farrer. In Dunedin on Thursday the Primate and the clergy met the forerunners in consultation. In the evening an address was given by Canon Pollock in St. Paul's to the church workers, followed by e, conference in the schoolroom, when the Rev. H. A. Kennedy put before them some of the ways and means by which those interested in the mission, could prepare for it. ( Perhaps ihe most important point to > which he- alluded was that if a real blessing was to come to Dunedin the missioners must find the congregations in a spirit of expectation, the result of eax»«st prayer between now

and then. It was trusted that the mission would tend to the general .uplifting of tho spiritual life of the Church. Canon Pollock was a prominent missioner in the Mission of Help to the Church of South Africa after the Boer war. He won high encomiums for his straight-out speaking and intense earnestness. He was especially acceptable to men who appreciated his quiet humour and transparent sincerity and keen devotion to his high calling. He leaves Dunedin next week, but all who desire to hear this prominent preacher will have an opportunity to do so, as he preaches to-morrow at St. Paul's in the morning, and at St. Matthew's Church in the evening.