Maori Mission Notes.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume V, Issue 2, 1 August 1914, Page 19

Maori Mission Notes.

The two Maori Churches,' oheat Rotorua arid the other at Ruatoki, which; were formally opened' by his lordship the Bishop during his first " visit to ; the 'Tauranga* Archdeaconry during the' months of April, have now. been completed i anh.each is a -Credit to the congregations concerned. ;: ■;.•••; . The Church at Ohihemutu is already attracting a great . deal of attention, and the beautiful specie mens of the highest works of art of the Maori people as seen m their carvings and their " tui "• (flax and reed work)' give constant^ opportunity for the passing of laudatory remarks f to visitors to the Church; The (harmonious blending together oi the Maori and Pakeha designs m the building is one of the features of this building. It was a bold scheme but the effect is ; very satisfactory. , The colour scheme (throughout has been based 1 upon the three primary Maori colours, red, black and white. The " marae " or court-yard of the building has now been concreted,, and a concrete wall around the Church is almost completed. ' L Since the opening we have, had a further gift of a piece of land which is worth from to £150. This is a small piece to the west side of the Church and has now . been included m the concrete wall. ' We hope to have an" Arbour-Day at the beginning of. August and to plant native, shrubs around the Church. Wlhile the Church itself is paid, for, the furnishings were not. included m the tender accepted. The carpenter's contract catne to £1421 7s sd, We have paid the whole of it except which is not due until August' V ,; •. But the cost of moving and repairing the old Church, the concrete work, allowances mjade to the Maoris for the carving, etc., / atad the cost of v Hui Tppu n meeting , and opening, ceremonies has landed us about X4OO on the wrong side: of the ledger. But we arb all; yirorlt' . .ing. hard and hope to _ clear ourselves of, all; liability by the. end. of the y ear . Bleanwhile we have iriade arrangements for borrowing, the ; money;', '■ L .-:- : - ;,■■;■' j;';,i,. v ,- ".i. ;';-..-

----':..'.■■. i a, ~Self-Supppri. . ,At a meeting, held m the new Church it was decided to cpnuply with a request received from the Diocesan authorities and to make our,, Rptprua district self-suipport-ing as far,, as. the salary of the, Maori curate 'was concerned. - As ;£6o per annum is received from the Te Ngae Mission property it simply means that we have to raise X,40 per annum to bring the cujrate's stipend to It was felt by all at the meeting that this was the very least that we could do. As soon as our Church Building Fund is closed we hope to work up an additional endowment. At the opening of the Church a native from Orakei offered us an acre of land there which is worth probably ,£SOO. Xhe land has not yet been partitioned but the application to the Native I^and Court has been made, and so far we are sanguine that the transaction will pass through all right. Mr Urquart, a local lawyer, has kindly offered his services free m fixing up the transaction for us. He has; already made the necessary searches and procured the plans. 3.— Whakarewarewa. We have just begun a new chapter m connection with th c work at Whakarewarewa. Miss Griffin, who has worked here for over ten years, resigned, and has left for Auckland where; she will do English work under the Bishop of Auckland. Miss Hare, who has been working at the Mission School at Putiki, Wanganui, has now taken up Miss Griffin's work. Miss Young is associated with her. Miss Hare has already made her way to the hearts of the Maoris at Whakarewarewa by her sympathy, earnestness and tact. Whaka is the hardest place m the Diocese. Will Church people remember the workers there m their prayers occasionally. 4.— Ruatoki. The, " Kahui iti " (little flock) of Ruatoki asked me to pay them a special visit as soon as their Church was completed. I made the visit oh July nth. We had a splendid time. Although there was a big Hui of the Ringatus and other forms of Hauhauism being held at a place not Very faf : away from us (July 12th is their great festival) we had our little Church

packed at both services. The The Church has seating accommodation for seventy-five people. We must have had over one hundred natives packed m. The Church cost about It is all paid for. Most of you will remember that the Christian natives camped m the bush for three months and cut out over 400 tons of firewood. This they carted to Opouriao and sold to factory. They received a cheque for £200. The building is roofed with asbestos slates, and eternit covers the walls. The Chancel is carved and ornamented with flax and reed work. It is one of the prettiest little buildings m the Diocese. The most interesting and encouraging feature, of our gathering was the baptism of Kereru's wife. Kerieru and his wife are the two leading people of the whole district. The baptism of this woman. of such, rank before all her tribe means a great deal for the work at Euatoiki. Thank God for this great encouragment to His servants labouring there. F. A. BENNETT. -