BISHOP OF AOTEAROA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3884, 21 August 1928, Page 79

BISHOP OF AOTEAROA.

FIRST APPOINTMENT MADE.

REV. F A. BENNETT ACCEPTS OFFICE. ...

mu -n WELLLNLTON, August 15. lh e Rev. Frederick Augustus Bennett of Hastings, has been offered, and ha intimated acceptance of th e office o* the first bishop of Aoteoroa. He wil be the first representative Of the Nativ ( . race to become, a bishop, and will hole his. office as a suffragan bishop to th« oishop of Waiapii, whose diocese con tains a.very.considerable . Maori popuk tion. He will hav e episcopal supervision Oyer members of the ..aori race in tho. diocese of Waiapu and in the diocese, of those other . bishop 3 who wish , him to exercise such supervision. Born in 1872 at Ohinemutu, Rotorua, ra^v7J a h- pUni ’! the Rey * F ’ A - Benneu received his early primary education at the native school at Ohinemutu and at bt. .Stephen’s in Auckland. His mother was a chieftaines s of high ranlwT° n f R he tribes ’ and hi « fathe r M D n"n° th £ late Ur John Bennett, xu.v., D.D., who edited the Auckland newspaper known as the New land P H tCU m° r of > the P resen t New Zea-dc?nrald\-and ater was appointed by tor George Gre,y as the first Registrar °* New Zealand. About two months before the Tarawera eruption a distinguished visitor to Wairoa to view the world-famed White and Pink Tearaces was Bishop Suter,, of Nelson, who Irc S hd C ea° ,npa, r/ by Mr Chatterton, now Archdeacon of lauranga. Struck with a leXe S to Sl hnth f , tl,e hy,nns and his knowat a b an S ua ff e s a s interpreter bov if h R the b,shop as ked the & “ h°m“- ‘ “b J* Bennett « t Ret , urn ’P« to Nelson the Rev Mr Bennett was ordained to the diatheatollowing 9f iear d “ L.Th. diSia in tS’sal” was appointed curate to the Rev. F W and toTV AU e Saints ’ Church?Nelsom S to °k yharge of the Maori work of the orjaffised 1 thT’h • I P Uring this period organised the building of the Minri church at Motueka and the Maori Mission pJs°s a A ftp ?7 lXelleS ’ the French Satoto’ d r y - Cars curaey at All bamts he was appointed missionary to the Maoris of Taranaki in 1899, a position which he held for six years Ms stipend during the whole of this period beuig arranged for by the lato Archdeacon S Williams. During this period he appealed successfully to the Government to establish a Maori hostelry in New Plymouth on account, of finding difficulty in securing accommodation. Owing to terrible brawls in the Maori kiangas during tangis he took a leading part in petitioning the Government that a clause should be inserted in the Licensing Bill making it an offence for liquor to be supplied to any Maori for consumption off licensed premises. That law still holds good. For the purpose of getting proper treatment for the Maoris at the hotels he was returned top of the poll at one of the New Plymouth licensing elections, and was the proposer of the resolution closing the hotels at 10 p.nri instead 'of 11 p.m. In 1905 Mr Bennett was appointed to the charge of the Maori work in the Rotorua district. One ..of the first steps in the work of reformation among his people was the raising to a high level of the class of entertainment given by the Maori people at Rotorua. In his scheme of organisation Mr Bennett set before his pedple the task of erecting small chiirches in every fair-sized village, and having the “Mother Church” at Ohinemutu as’the recognised centre of the Arawa people. years he laboured in the Rotorua district. Ten years ago Mr Bennett went .-to Hawke’s Bay . as. superintendent of the: Maori mission work, and he. has filled .-that office ever since. He has been commissary for thb diocese of Aotearoa since.it'was formed. He was, and-is, an elected member of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Waiapu, and has represented the diocese on the General Synod for the past 10 years. Mr Bennett hfis also edited the Maori magazine, To Toa. ,