Secretary's Report.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume II, Issue 2, 1 August 1911, Page 35

Secretary's Report.

The Preliminary Stages.— .-When the Wellington Diocesan Synod met m July, 1906, the Eev. T. H. Sprott, Vicar of S. Paul's (now Bishop of Wellington), was asked by the Bishop (Dr. Wallis) to preach the Synod sermon. Mr Sprott preached a very powerful sermon, inspired by reading the account of the Mission of Help to South Africa, and advocating something of the same nature m this country. The matter was considered, and was unanimously agreed .to by the Synod, and the resolution forwarded to the other Diocesan Synods. Each Synod m turn considered and adopted the proposal, and it was referred to the General Synod, which met m Dunedin m January, 1907. Once more it was debated by the representatives of the whole Province, and the Bishops were asked to take the matter m hand, and to associate with themselves for advice and assistance, a committee representing all the Dioceses. As an outcome of the decision of the General Synod, a meeting of clergy, representing all the New Zealand Dioceses, was held m Wellington m 1907. This meeting decided that the Church at Home be asked to send out twelve men m the latter part of the year 1909, and two men to prepare the way for the Mission m Lent of the same year; that the Mission should endeavour to touch every parish m the Province ; that the funds should be collected and administered on a provincial rather than a diocesan basis; and that no steps should be taken to approach the Home authorities unless at least £2000 be guaranteed, promised, or subscribed by May, 1908. Before the Committee separated, an Executive Committee was appointed, consisting of Archdeacon Cole (chairman), Archdeacon Ruddock, the Rev. (now Archdeacon) O. O. Harper (secretary), the Rev. T. H, Sprott (now Bishop of Wellington), , Mr W. F. Jacob, and Mr W. Birch (each of whom acted for

a time as treasurer). There Svoro other names proposed!, but the men did nbt accept office, and the work of carrying put the general arrangements for the Mission rested with this Oonimittee and the Bishops. - ( Tlie Work of Preparation.— Tlie Executive Committee set to worl? atlonce' and asked each Diocese to set up committees to assist m raising funds, which was done m all the Dioceses except Christchurch. The. Executive decided that the Bishops whp went tp England for tlie Pan- Anglican Clonf gress of 1908 should be asked to, approach the authorities at Home, .set up an English committee, and do all that was necessary to prepare lor the Missioners coming out, provided the £2000 stipulated were promised, sub : scribed, or guaranteed by the required, date. The Diocese of Christchurch, however, took a • different attitude, and the authorities considered it would be wiser not to take any steps to raise money until after the Bishops had found whether there was any possibility of getting the required number of men. The result of this decision was that the £2000 was not secured by the date decided upon ; but m spite of this, the Bishops of Wellington/ Nelson, and Auckland took all necessary steps when at Home, and appointed a committee, of which Bishop Montgomery was chairman, and the Eev. Harold Anson, secretary. In the meantime all the Bishops of New Zealand had issued a joint pastoral letter to the whole Church' about the proposed Mission, and a special prayer for use m Church, the executive having also issued a short Litany and a pamphlet explaining the origin, purport, and plan of the Mission. From the time of the issue of these, prayers began to be offered, which steadily increased m volume and persistency until the Mission, and it was this which caused the MissiPners to feel that the Church was quite ready for their message when they arrived. It had been originally intended to hold the Mission m 1909, but it was found necessary to postpone it till 1910, owing to the Pan- Anglican Congress making it difficult to complete arrangements by the earlier date. Finance.— The work of financing a movement , of this magnitude seemed, at first to present some difficulty, but faith and prayer were so strong ihat although so much money was required it was secured without much difficulty. Every penny required was subscribed, by New Zealand Church people, and the greater amount, m some dioceses the whole amount, was found before

the Mission arrived. The, Executive originally: estimated tjie , cost of thie Mission at £3500 ; this was afterward s increased to^ J^^OpO, owing to four more mis|ionew, three from England and one from' New Zealand, and assistants from.New Zealand, having been decided .upon. In the end the cost as far as the .Province was concerned was £4085. / Added to this, of course, there were local expenses, diocesan and! ; parbchial, so that at least £6000 must have been raised by the Church for the Mission. In two of the dioceses all, or nearly all, the offerings at the time of the Mission went to a thankbfferihg fund, whilst m the other four some part or all of these was required to make up the final cost. The method of financing was changed at a meeting m May, 1909. Prior to that the attempt had been made to collect money from the Province as a whole, and pay it all to the General Treasurer. This, however, was abandoned, and each diocese was assessed at a certain amount : Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch at £700 each, and Waiapu, Nelson, and Dunedin at £400 each, to be paid by December 31st, 1909. Finally an extra amount of £700 was guaranteed, only £350 of which was called up. The balance sheet will show how the money was expended. The English Committee was authorised to give every Missioner the amount of a second-class return passage by a direct steamer (£66), and if the Missioners wished to travel by other routes they had to pay the extra cost themselves. In addition, they were allowed £10 for extras, and whatever was required to find men to take their work at Home, Then on arrival m New Zealand each Missioner received £10, and subsequently whatever he found he required for travelling expenses. The cost of journeys and hotel expenses for rest periods was also allowed, and m the end the total amount did not equal that estimated. Whenever Missioners asked for. an assistant amongst the New Zealand clergy, which happened far more often than had been : anticipated, the travelling expenses were paid from the central funds. Literature and Hymn Booh, — The question of literature presented some difficulty, and. eventually the Forerunners were asked to bring out samples with them- At, the- General Synod m 1910, the Bishops, m consultation with the Executive, appointed the General Secretary to draw up a report, on literature, m conjunction with the Forerunners ; This was pre-

sented to a committee consisting of the Bishops and one representative from each diocese, and ;the General Secretary was ordered to procure the literature specified from England. The hymn book was. selected by the English Committee, and 40,000 copies of words only and 1 2, 000 of . words and music were ordered. It was decided to sell as much of the penny Ibooklets as possible, and of the hymn books with music, the other literature being supplied free, and the hymn books with words only being used m one diocese and passed on for use m another. The free literature consisted of litanies, questions, resolution cards, prayer paper, self-examination questions, etc. Any money received from sales was considered to belong to the central funds, and was so treated m all the dioceses except Christchurch, which preferred to pay a lump sum irrespective of the amount received for sales. The Mission. — The Mission began with the arrival m January, 1910, of Canon Pollock and the Rev. H. A. Kennedy as Forerunners. Their arrival coincided fortunately with the meeting of the General Synod m Wellington, and they were asked to address the Synod after having been formerly received by the Primate, and were accorded seats m Synod. From the moment they arrived till their departure m April, they were busily engaged travelling all over the Dominion, arranging for the Missions which were to be held. They very soon were able to convince the authorities that it was quite impossible to do what had originally been hoped for and hold Missions m every parish ; m fact, it was found impossible to hold them m more than half the number. At first great disappointment was experienced, but it was bravely and faithfully met, as it was soon realised that the Forerunners were quite right. In the Wellington Diocese the response to the call for subscriptions had been so good that a special Missioner was cabled for, and so hardly any parishes were left out m that diocese. And m order to secure as many Missions m all the dioceses as possible it was agreed to ask for fifteen men from Home, instead of twelve, and to add the Eev. A. H. Colvile, of Auckland, to the band. It is impossible to speak too highly of the energy, firmness, tact, . and judgment shown by the Forerunners, and the remarkable success of . the Mission must be considered to be due m a very great measure to their work. In nothing did they show their fitness for the work and the guidance of the

Holy Sipirit more than m their selection of. 'individual Missioners: for the different parishes, a duty which they took upon themselves from the first; Whether his arduous labour m New Zealand had anything to do with Canon Pollock's death or not, this proved to, be the last work he was to do, and the whole of the Church m New Zealand wa.B grieved to hear how soon after leaving her shores he was called away from this spere of work, for God. The Mission itself.— The Missioners, coming by different routes, did not all arrive together ; but were m time to begin work m Auckland on Sept. 3rd, 1910. It is not possible to give here a full account of the Mission, but it is safe to say it exceeded all anticipations m the' fervour and earnestness shown, and the manifest proofs of the Holy Spirit's presence. Most of the Missioners themselves stated it was a unique experience m their life and work. Throughout there was not a single instance of a breakdown m health, every man taking the work allotted to him, and m many instances extending the time m a parish. As a rule the larger parishes received visits of from eight to ten" days, and the smaller four days. Most of the Missioners had left New Zealand by the third week m December, and all except a few isolated Missions had been held. This short outline of the General Mission will help to show how a work of great magnitude and considerable difficulty was carried through without let or hindrance under the guidance and by the power of the Holy Spirit, and it will be a very long time before the Church people of New Zealand will forget the Great Mission of 1910. Names of the Missioners: — The Rev. Canon Stewart, the Rev. Canon Tupper Carey, the Rev. Canon Ivens, the Rev. J. C. Fitzgerald, the Rev. T. Rees, the Rev. C. de Cartaret, the Rev. Cyril Hepher, the Rev. C. T. Horan, the Rev. H. P. Parrer, the Rev. Prebendary H. V. Stuart, the Rev. A. B. Liilingston, the Rev. H. Jones, the Rev. E. D. Evans, the Rev. H. C. Bell, the Rev. J. H. Darby, the Rev, A. H. Colville, and Mr J. Harris accompanied the Rev. Canon Tupper Carey. The Rev. M. Kinlochwas the special Missioner for Wellington Diocese.