OTAGO BIBLE SOCIETY

Otago Witness, Issue 3212, 6 October 1915, Page 52

OTAGO BIBLE SOCIETY

FIFTIETH ANNUAL REPORT.

From this report wo extract the following items:

The Otago Bible Society was established on September 20, 1864. It has, therefore, now completed 50 years of existence. The lirst office-bearers of tho society wore: — President, his Honor John Hyde Harris, esq., Superintendent; vice-president, Mr A. C, Strode; secretary, Mr Thomas Dick; treasurer, Mr J. Bathgate; committee— Messrs W. H. Reynolds, E. B. Cargill, John Duncan, R. B. Martin, James Paterson, Alexander Livingstone, George Hopburn, C. 11. Street, and Dr "Purdie. The earliest printed report, covering the year from March 1, 1869, to April 30, 1870, shows a total revenue of £145 0s 2d. As time went on it became clear that it was not sufficient to- ensure tho circulation of the Scriptures in the rural and mining districts; that the society’s stocks should bo placed in the hands of ministers and other Christian workers, and it was determined to appoint “a competent colporteur, by whose services tho Holy Scriptures would be more widely circulated, and their vital truths inculcated.” For a number of years this good work was carried on through the agency of the Bible Depot, which acted on behalf of the Otago Bible Society in importing and selling- tho Scriptures at their central depot, and by then- colporteurs with horse vans. It was with regret that this work had to be abandoned owing to diminishing sales. The pi-esent secretary, the Rev. PI. 11. Barton, M.A., of Maori Hill, undertook tho duties of the office in July, 1912. For many years tho presidents usually hold office for a year at a time, but in 1889 Mr William Brown, who had been treasurer for seven or eight years previously, and who had been more or less closely associated with the society from within a few years of its inception, was elected president, and has been re-elected to this honourable position year by year since that time. Among tho treasurers who have hold office for considerable periods might bo mentioned, in addition to Mr Brown, Mr R S. Nicolson, Mr R. J. Gairdner, and tho present treasurer (Mr E. Roscvoar). Besides giving gifts of Bibles and Testaments whore needed, and aiding in distributing Bibles by the thousand every year, it has raised in the 50 years of its existence over £16,000. has spent over £IOOO for colportago in Otago and Southland, has sent as free contributions £6761 to the British and Foreign Bible Society, and £5155 to the National Bible Society, and Scotland. We had hoped-to commemorate the jubilee in some fitting manner, and especially by a free contribution to tho parent societies, totalling £IOOO for the year. But the great and disastrous war into which the world has been plunged seemed to make a modification of these plans inevitable. We ha vs raised no special Jubilee Fund, though individuals here and there have increased their annual gifts by way of thankofferings. At tho close of tiro financial year in 1914 there remained a balance of £176 19s 3d in the hands of tho treasurer. From this sum tho board allocated the following amounts: —To the British and Foreign Bible Society (free contributions), £6O; to tho British and Foreign Bible Society (bequest from the family of Mrs A. Herbert), £SO; to the National Bible Society 7, not receipts Mr W. E. Souter’s lectures, £64; —total, £174. Deducting the cost of remitting, this left a balance of £1 3s lid to bo carried forward. Exclusive of this balance and the Hawley bequest, the treasurer has received £783 4s 3d from all sources. The treasurer has also received from the executors of the Hawley Estate the sum of £4189 6s 6d, being a bequest of Miss Catherine S. Hawley, of Lcithfield, Canterbury, for the British and Foreign Bible Society. This sum was one of a number of large missionary legacies left by Miss Hawley some years ago. Again the New Zealand Bible, Tract, and Book Society, so familiarly known for over 40 years as “The Bible Depot,” reports a favourable year in its circulation of theScriptures, totalling in round figures 10,000 copies. Since the present war began the Bible Society has done its utmost to meet the great emergency with the Gospel of peace. For sick and wounded sailors and soldiers of all nations, it undertakes to present as many Testaments, Gospels, and Psalters as are needed to all Red Cross organisations, field and base hospitals, etc., in this country and abroad.