THE CHURCH IN TARANAKI.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 23, 5 October 1894, Page 11

THE CHURCH IN TARANAKI.

TO THE EDITOR N.Z. TABLET.

Sir,— l was glad to see in the last issue of tbe Tablet, the account of the establishment of the Church in Taranaki, and I read it with great pleasure, for it reminded me of old times. On the whole, this account is f lirly good, but there are a few details that do not coincuia with the truth. The first thing that I fiad incorrect was tha arrival of Father Tre*allet in Taranaki in 1861, or, aa the account says, after the yeir IS6J. Now lam sure Father Tresallet waa there ia 1869 ; for the wir having broken o^ on the 17th of March, 1860 I went to Plymouth from the upper Waitora where I was among the Maori?, and found there Father Tresallet. The next thing I have to correct is the removal of the old chape) by the soldiers in Father Tresallet's time Father Tresailet, finding tbs old church tao small, an d unactable for the congregation, built a temporary one on the newlypurchased ground in Devon street, and this was, not in 18G2 but in 1861, for I was then sent myself to assist Father Tresalle f , t-ni arrived there before the building wag commenced. Father Tresillet having been removed to Nelson, I took charge of the parish, and thej it was that the old church in Courtnay street was removed to the back of the temporary church, and this was done, not by the soldier", but at my own expense. This old church or chapel became then my own residence or the presbytery, but was removed again by Father Rolland to Kuru. Now looking over the diary I was in the habit of keeping at the time— and I wish I had continued it,— l fiad that I was sent to Taranaki on the 17th of March, 1861, the third anniversary of my ordination, and that peace had been made with the Maoris on tha next day, tbe 18th. This peace, however, did not last long, for ]ÜBt twelve months after, on tbe 17th of March, 1862, some MaoriP, hying I thick, at the Stoney river, having attacked and massacred ten out of eleven men conveying an escort on their way to Totoraimaka, where some of the troops were stationed on Maori ground, the hostilities began afresh. The bodies of the murdered men were brought to town, and I remember well having seen them lying clo3e to oue another with their heads off. You set", then, that the date of my arrival in Taranaki in 1863 is quite wrong. The same account says also that Father Lampila, who took Either Holland's place, began to rebuild the old chapel that had been removed, bn*, as I stated before, that chapel had been taken away by Father Rolland to Kuru.. The Ilirald also mak^s the late Bishop Viard die in 1873, and B shop Redwood arrive in Wellington in the same year, but the truth is that Bishop Viard died in 1872, and Bisrop Redwood arrived in Wellington in 1874— for I was there' my. self at that time.

Now, apart from these slight mistake?, tbe account given of the Establishment of the Church ia Tarpnaki is, as I said before, fairly good. If similar accounts could be given of all the Catholic stations in New Zealand, and they were all collected together, they would

form a very usef nl and interesting volume. I think the best, and perhaps the only way, to do this would be for the authorities to appoint someone to go round each station and get all the information possible from the living witnesses. — I ana, eto, B, Pertuis, B.M.