AUCKLAND PRESBYTERY

Taranaki Daily News, 15 October 1931, Page 3

AUCKLAND PRESBYTERY

NOTABLE ANNIVERSARY STORY OF ITS FORMATION. SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS’ RECORD. The Presbyterian Church has completed three-quarters of a century of fully-organised activity in the Auckland province. On the evening of October 14, 1856, a small but historic meeting of ministers and elders, held in St. Andrew’s Church, then commonly spoken of as “the Scots’ Kirk,” agreed to constitute the Presbytery 1 of Auckland. At that time the only other presbytery in New Zealand was that of Otago. Those who took part in that inaugural meeting were all men of note who made outstanding contribution to the life of their church and (of the community, states the New Zealand Herald. They were the Rev. David Bruce, of St. Andrew’s, the Rev. John Macky, of Papatoetoe, the Rev. Thomas Norrie, of Papakura, and the Rev. Robert McKinney, - who had just arrived a few days before from Ireland, and who was immediately appointed to the charge of Mahurangi, 30 miles north of Auckland. The two representative elders who took part were Mr. William Gorrie, of St. Andrew’s, and Mr. James Wallace, of Otahuhu. Mr. Bruce presided, and gave an exposition of the constitution of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Macky having been appointed moderator and Mr. Bruce clerk, "an address was voted to the Queen and to His Excellency the Governor, announcing according to established form the formation of the new body.” ORIGINAL RECORDS. The original minutes of the meeting, written in copper-plate hand, revealing the leisured precision of a bygone day, record in some 30 folio pages the transactions of the presbytery when it settled down to lay the foundations of its constitution and order throughout the following day. Three elders associated with it, though not officially were Mr. Archibald Clark, who not long afterwards became the first Mayor or Auckland, Mr. 'William Hay and Mr. John Nesbit. Among the subjects to which the presbytery devoted close attention in its first sessions were foreign missions and home missions. The history of Presbyterianism in the province goes back some 14 years before the formation of the Presbytery to the arrival of the Rev. William Comrie from Perthshire in 1842. Mr. Comrie was an uncle of the Rev. W. J. Comrie, now of Mount Eden, who was for many years treasurer of the Presbyterian Church. The arrival of the Duchess of Argyll and the Jane Gifford with over 500 Scottish immigrants in October of that year might have been expected to form a sound nucleus for a Presbyterian congregation, but the cause did not flourish in those first years. By permission of ■Sir William Martin, the Chief Justice, Mr. Comrie conducted services in the courthouse at the corner of Queen and Victoria Streets. The surroundings gave the wits of the day opportunity to comment on the fact that ruling elders might be seen sitting in the dock. ST. ANDREW’S CHURCH FORMED. Mr. Comrie’s services were transferred from the courthouse to the Total Abstinence Society’s Hall, and here he started a Sunday school in March,, 1844. Attend- , ance at the services dwindled, however, until Mr? Comrie decided to carry them on in a room in his own house in Swanson Street, w-hich he did for a number of years. .The early history of organised. Presbyterianism in the province is the history of St. Andrew’s Church, which took its origin from a large and influential meeting held on May 4, 1847. This meeting resolved to apply to the Free Church or Scotland for a minister, and set about with vigour to plan the erection of a worthy church. A sum of £728 was subscribed before the meeting broke up, and in a week the fund amounted to £ll2O. Eventually the building was finished and opened for divine service on April 7, 1850, at a cost of £3500. The first minister chosen for the new church was the Rev. A. G. Panton, who arrived from Scotland in January, 1849, and carried on well-attended services in the courthouse until the new church was ready. Unfortunately, Mr. Panton early became embroiled in a needlessly bitter controversy with his office-bearers and he returned to Scotland with his family in October, 1850. St. Andrew’s continued without a regular minister until the arrival of the Rev. D. Bruce —afterwards Dr. Bruce — from Scotland in 1853. He found the congregation in a very dispirited condition, but immediately woke a splendid response from them. A hampering debt of £l6OO was wiped ‘off within three months of his arrival. GROWTH AND PROGRESS.. Dr. Bruce’s arrival was followed by that of the Rev. John Macky, of Papatoetoe, in 1854 and the Rev. T. Norrie in 1855. Mr. Norrie, whose headquarters were at Papakura, had the whole of the province south of the present Manurewa under his pastoral care for many years. During a long and intensely active ministry he was directly instrumental in erecting no fewer than 19 churches. < When the Auckland Presbytery was formed by these pioneers in 1856 its bounds stretched from the North Cape to Napier and New Plymouth in the south. The first Presbyterian 'church in Auckland to branch ott from the mother church of St. Andrew’s was St. James , which became a separate charge in 1860. It was followed by St. David’s, which was established in 1864. The growth and progress of the Presbyterian Church in the province have continued steadily and it has at all times taken its full share in the social, education and religious development of the community. There are now four other presbyteri.es within the province—North Auckland, South Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty. Within the bounds of the five are 65 congregations, 26 home mission stations and 45,000 members and adherents.