MEMORIAL SERVICE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 256, 30 October 1939, Page 6

MEMORIAL SERVICE

MRS. ELIZA ROCKEL PRESBYTERIANS’ TRIBUTE t A memorial service for lhe late Mrs. Eliza Rockel was held at St. Andrew's , Presbyterian Church, Glasgow Street, ; yesterday morning by the Rev. Alan A. Brash. Mrs. Rockel was a worshipper at St. Andrew’s for many years. Mrs. Rockel was baptised by the Rev. James Macfarlane 97 years ago. The Rev. James Macfarlane was the first Presbyterian minister in New Zealand, arriving from Scotland in 1840 and returning in 1844. He conducted his first service on the beach at Petone and it is from that service that the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand is taking its centennial. Mrs. Rockel was the oldest New Zealand-born woman. Supreme Court Session. A lengthy list of criminal and civil cases has been set down for hearing at the quarterly session of the Supreme Court which opens in Wanganui this morning. Mr. .Justice Smith will be the presiding Judge. Rowing Season. Although the training of new members and training for club trophy events has been in progress for several weeks, the official opening of the rowing season will not take place until next Saturday afternoon. The ceremony will be performed by Mr. R. J. McDonald, president of the Wanganui Rowing Association, at the Union Boat Club’s boathouse, and the opening will | be followed by a series of sprint fours races. Presbyterian Calendar. The New Zealand Presbyterian . Orphanage and Social Service Association has issued an unusual and attractive centennial calendar. Black and white sketches have been used to illustrate the progress of the church and its orphanage and social services from 1840, when the first Presbyterian minister, Rev. McFarlane, preached on Petone beach under a karaka tree, to the present day. Each month on the calendar has an appropriate sketch, i The month of September is of most interest to Wanganui, in that on it is recalled the fact that in 1880 the Rev. , ’ A. Honore and Mrs. G. Milson ex- ‘ ! tended the field of Maori missions for ; the church to the upper reaches of ! the Whanganui and Whangaehu rivers, and that the mission was further extended to Taupo by the Rev. I H. J. Fletcher in 1893. The mission, the calendar records, now has 16 stations with 30 works operating over ’ a wide area, and also maintains a ’ girls’ college at Marton, and a print--1 ing establishment at. Taupo. Some 4000 of the calendars have been sold and 2000 are available.