THE DAYS OF GOLD

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19363, 17 September 1934, Page 9

THE DAYS OF GOLD

OLD WESTLAND CHURCH. LINK WITH WEST COAST RUSH The little old Anglican Church at Stafford. Westland, believed lo be one of tile first six churches jnllit on the West Coast, was recently rbmoved to a new site lo allow the operations of a gold dredge to proceed. The Church News states that the church dates from the hectic days of the gold rush to the West Coast. "The Australian company working the auriferous deposits near tho church has gradually been approaching the section, and recently made an attractive offer to the vestry for it," says tho Church News. "The company undertook to provide a good section in a belter situation, to deliver the church in good condition, or to rebuild it if it came to p'eces, to repaint and repair It, to provide electric light free, and so on. The offer was accepted, and the transfer of the church has been safely made. “In the early days Stafford was attached to Hokitika. The first resident clergyman at Stafford was the Rev. <H. J. Congdon Gilbert as curate-in-charge. A house was rented for some months; but in 1875 a parsonage was built, the tender being for £169 10s. The Rev. A. E. Scott (afterwards archdeacon) lollowed; then came the Rev. John Holland. Since those early days of the gold rush Stafford has dwindled from a popu’n,!nn of many hundreds lo a tiny handfull. ”