Parish notes.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XIV, Issue 11, 1 May 1924, Page 395

Parish notes.

Puktftapu. There passed away rer cently m the quiet and secluded little valley :. of Puketapu Isabella Bicknell, one who will long be re£' membered by the inhabitants of the place. Though very frail physically she: nevertheless .possessed, a heart at leisure from itself to soothe and sympathise. , , „ Neve,r, did a case of need escapre her notice, and hers ,wa& not a kind of sympathy winch, spent, itself m feeling, but she never failed by word and deed to put that emotion into practice. She *. was kindness itself . Had, there, been nothing else, whereby to remember . . by, the, pipturesque- little church on the hill will ever be a, monument to the memory of one > who worked; cheerfully and : un* ceasingly that the people of Puketapu might, .possess a building invwhicli they ..might, worthily;- worship; their- . Maker. . She; herself never , missed a service, if it were at all possible to be present. ;■• ,;•.•• The. deepest sympathy is felt for „,her large number, of relations, and many friends. St. Augustine's. After a Toig struggle we managed to end the finan-f cial year with a small credit balance, for the off eringSv on the last Sunday amounted, to £25. : The offertories throughout the year averaged £13 10s a week,,, and so it .was possible to have an • assistant curate.' ■ The amount of £234 was sent away to Missions and other outside objects. The; communions < made during the year, rose from. 5700 to 7400, averaging. 143 a week, v There have been good attendances at alt the services throughout Lent. The Rev. tE. T. Hall is taking the Three. Hours' Service on Good Friday, and the Rev. B. R. Brierley is doing the same at Hastings. .. The second. Healing Service since ] the Mission. was held on March 7th and was most impressive; . about 40 patients came forward f or the layingon of hands. , There was a large, number of intercessors, consisting j chiefly of the ;members of the five prayer circles (held at,the houses of Mesdames Mace, Newbigin,, Collins and ' Peterkeri and at ".^he Vicarage) which meet we;ek)y. The next, healing service takes .place on Tuesday, April '29th, at 3 p.m. \ The^ big flood did much damage to * the electrical organ blower.; Owing to thie, self-sacrificing irprk of jiessrs SMw and Yanko it was repaired before the-next Sunday,, and at, very little cost to the, ,parish. - The annual meeting takes place on .•;the.l'V r icar leases next , day.j,V a parochial mission ajb Op6tiki, for which the prayers of the '■ Bioc.eser'jßrft asked. ... • - ,:.. '.:. '..;•?

OtMfcd fhe Church at Te Aute has be'Gh beautified : by? a beautiful: memorial window m memory -of; Douglas Williams who; made the supreme sac*rifice m the; Great War; It is a beautiful window of good art and treats of :St; Michael standing holding Sword and Banner — the youngest son unveiled , the window m the presence- of a; family gathering-^-a beautiful simple service of Dedication being taken by Canon- Williams and the Vicar. Our thanks are tendered to the i donors Mis A r Mrs D. arid Mrs G. - Williams." : • Omakere centre is also blessed with a promised, jgift by Mr George Williams m memory • of his two sbns killed: at the; " war. The Vicar has ' been planning to build a Church Hall for some time and, although/ Mr .. Williams himself prefers ; a Church likewise ; the; Vicar), still Mr Williams has splendidly fallen into line m accepting, ithe; ChurcL Hall -plan and will: build- the" Sanctuary arid head the list for .the :hall part— so this year ; ought -to ; seel the object achieved thanks- to Mr ! Williams: • Waipiro. -.-.■. Bay. ■ "The< ■■> Foundation Stone of the -riew church at Waipiro Bay was laid m the N:E. corner, on Friday Ap* 11th at 2 p.m. by the Rt. Rev; William Walmsley-D.D;, Bishop of Waiapu; -He was assisted on the platform during the ceremony by the Vicar of Waipiro the Rev. J. Pigott, acting Chaplain to the Bishop^-rthe Revs. Pirie ' Tairiahore and Poihepe Kohere, Mission Priests^— Hakopa Haerawa, Licenced Lay Reaclerr— and therHon.AA; T. Ngata; The -clergy ;robed :in the' Trading Cp.:'s;Woolshed.;. They Weather was all that could be desired and a large Crowd represeriting the European and Maori population of the countryside was present.- ' l • * The opening! hyinn^— f ' The Church's • One Foundation": —^was heartily sung and then a lesson wad read m Maori by the Rev. P. Kohere I. Cor: 3 10-17. Thetiifollowed special versicles and responses laf ter ; the reading of which the clergy left the platform and proceeded to i the foundation stone. -Immediately prior to the ceremlony „of laying this stone the Vicar of WaipirO; presented his Lordship with -a suitably; engraved silver trowel from the; Building Committee as a memento of the: occasion; The Bishop then laid the stone with due ceremony and offered; prayer for the building and all-: the builders that would be engagedV?in.- the work. The clergy then returned to the ! platform -arid ;the Bishop delivered his address which was interpreted by the Rev. Pine Tamahpre. ; : His Lordship spoke without a' text an 4' 'opened .by saying that . the foundation stone was symbolical of the whoie-, foundation^ withoufei a strong foundation the whole building must

crumble; It a was also symbolical ; of the power of Christ m the land. The best answer to the man m the street who said Christianity was no good — the Church was dead and useless— was simply to point. him to buildings of this nature bearing permanent witness to Christ. His Lordship then went on to say how glad he was that it was to be built m permanent material. Around a Church grew the fruit of deep sentiment which ripened with years, it was a great pity that this sentiment . should have to perish with the rotting timbers of a wooden building, 60 or at the. most 100 years from its- birth. For this reason he was glad also that the Waipiro ' people were building on the old site on which two former churches had stood and which was hallowed by generations of prayers and Eucharists of those long, since gone to their rest. " • His Lordship next referred to the fact that it was the first Church m, the Diocese, as far as he was aware to be built jointly by Maoris and Pakehas for the combined use of both the races. He referred to the fact that until the Church was buijt, , at Tolaga Bay the Pakehas had no Church building on the Coast and he took that opportunity of thanking . the Maoris for the use of their buildings always allowed to the Pakehas. The Bishop then went on to speak of money matters. He said he wanted to thank the generous man who was giving a £ for £ subsidy on all voluntary offerings and how sorry he was that that man was not present with them. His Lordship then appealed for liberal contributions which- were to be placed on the stone.' The Hon. A. T. Ngata was the next to speak; 'he said he noticed' the Bishop had made a very strong point about' the building being m brick and he ' supposed that was a hit at him. for purposing to build a church at Tik^Tiki m wood (laughter). He said "Well/ it is not too late to alter it yet." (Loud applause). The Hon. gentleman went on to refer to the generous gift of Mr A. B. Williams of a £ for £ subsidy. He said he was very sorry that Mr Williams Was not there so that he could publicly thank him. He next gave a short history of Waipiro Bay from its beginning. He referred to the fact that the Church of "England missionaries were the first to bring the religion of Jesus Christ to • the Coast, "arid with the exception of a few little schisms they had been loyal to her ever since and intended so to remain.' He referred to the early nienibe'fs of the Williams family who came to r the Coast before the days of Maorii writing or signatures for: documents;-: They had made

agreements with the Maoris with "regard to lands without signing'documents but their word had always been their bond. . ' He concluded by issuing an invitar tion to all to be present at the laying of the foundation stone of the new Church at 11 a.m. on 1 Anzac Day at Tikitiki. After the addresses the Vicar announced the hymn "All people that on earth do dwell." During the .singing of this hymn all present filed past the stone headed by the school children under the direction of Mr Ward and laid .their offerings on the stone. The ceremony was then> concluded his Lordship pronouncing the. Blessing. . The sum of £234 2s was taken during the. day not including the subsidy, this brings the grand total with subsidy, up to £1900. , The completed building will probably cost a little over £3000. . Every/satisfaction was expressed with the quality, of the work put m on, the foundations which was carried out by Mr Frank Thompson of Tokomaru.Bay.assisted by Mr McGregor as foreman of works and six others, all of whom were present at the ceremony. Tol&gs. Bay. Since the arrival of the new vicar the Rev. X C. R. Beale the parish has been going -through a revival. The Bishop of the Diocese paid us his annual visit when there were fifteen candidates confirmed, the church being crowded at the evening service, and. it has left us all with a wonderful uplift to make our church ar-liy-ing centre for the district: The Good Friday services were; well attended and especially the " Three Hours." Some forty people remained most of the time. The .offerings on Good Friday amounted, to £6 13s, £4 .of which was sent, to the Diocesan Home ' Mission Fund. We are thankful to record a woiiderful uplift with our Easter service. The church . was. „' beautifully decorated and the; altar. "looked radiant with the new white and gold hang- ; ings kindly donated by Mrs Shelton, and the new green side ..hangings which are very much ..admired. There is now a Choral celebration at 11 every Ist Sunday. -':•« At the 7 celebration on Easter Day. there were over .50, /the total for the day being. 71. The church at night was packed even to the porch. The services, were ' bright, the anthem by Stainer, "They have taken away my Lord," being well sung. We have certainly struck a right note for an uplift for our new year's work;. The Vicar preached a forceful sermon. on the ' ™ Evidence of the Resurrection. "We ; are thankful that above half of. ;ipur congregation are now ! men coining -forward. - : The church has been much beauti-

fied.by the .sanctuary hayingjbeeii ;ehf ibKed by '& memorial .to i'i'lie^'.' late Miss" Weeks, and has .'taken '^cie i; £oi'm of a beautiful brass ..pair "of- candlesticks and, vases., $his; -was her express wish and we ar,e iglad .the parishioners gave so liberally to the vicar's appeal. The working bee on the church grounds have made a wonderful difference and will look quite nice m the spring with the beds ; which have been made, and planted. The vicar thanks the workers. The carnival is going strong and everyone is working hard for our hall for Sunday School and Boys' Club. Our Guild numbers about 40 now, so it is absolutely needed. Who says it. will be 300? Why not? Well done, Tolaga! The vicar would like to express his thanks to the parishioners for their ready co-operation with, him m the work and for the welcome to Mrs Beale and daughter.--Ortnondvilte. I am sorry to have been too late for your last month's issue for "Intercession Paper. " We desired to place on record . m your thanksgivig column our thankfulness for the parochial mission conducted m our parish by Canon Arthur Williams from March 9th till 16th, a mission that was all.. top short.. One who had attended a Plymouth Brethren mission here shortly before said he was extremely glad for ours, it. had indicated the Church of England teaching and practice m the , eyes of. several who had listened , to otW teachers.; There has been a lantern service each night (luring Holy Week except on- Monday, the congregations have been large and the services reverently listened to as each slide representing '-' Our Lord 's Life" on earth was explained. -The collections and the Good -Friday offerings are for the Jerusalem and- the East Mission.- • ' : -\ On Palm -Sunday a - copper y alms dish that had been made by disabled .soldiers, who are cared for by the Church Army. in England, was dedicated to the service of God, 'to- be used m the Whetukura Church room until the Church is built. ■-. ■ . On Easter Day a similar alms dish is to be dedicated for the service of „GQd m the Church of the : Blessed Saviour, Makotuku. ' In future there will be a fortnightly service m Norsewood, the vicar having been requested to arrange it so, instead of Monday. The cmireh was crowded on Wednesday of Holy Week. Except on one wet night a lorry load of our .people o 6ame,. : daily to the Mission m OrmondvilleT 1 from Norsewood. r Holy Trinity, r Oisbomo. An-; old and. respected churcbinan> Mr CJ. P. Davies^ passed away on March; 28th. 1 Past and present members of ' the vestry attended his funeral, Mr cG. P. Dayies havißg been a bhurchwarr.

den, for:, a good many years ,iv, the ;TKe Mothers ' Union held ia meeting bh- April Ist, the subject tiemg 11 Children 's Prayers. " i {The annual meeting of Holy TrinityV QniW <Club was held on April > Bth ; -Instead of the usual evensong on April 13th the choir rendered the sacred cantata ' f Penitence, Pardon and Peace.", The choir is much to be congratulated on the reverent and dignified rendering. of this beautiful

coropo^jitipn; •■■- vwasi%itoge^c|mgregatibn. . ... On April 16th a healing service was held, about 60 ehjldren . and adults receiving the laying on of hands. The service was conducted b ; y the Bishop, who also gave a most impressive address. • The services were well attended on Good Friday. A large" .number,-, of people attended the Three Hours' service which was conducted by our vicar, ma jmost devotional manner.

Many remarked on the helpfulness of the addresses. Our -Bishop was/pre-. sent and pronounced the benediction at the close of the service. Tai'adale. Canon Clarke desires to thank ; most warmly all those: clergy and laymen wno so kindly attended^ t6 the work of the Taradale parish ing his two months' sojjourn in;'' a private hospital. It was most %ihf fortihg to know that the work ,^as being so efficiently carried on during the whole of the time. He is ; i|lso most grateful for the constant prayer, including the supplications of the lambs of the flock. Whilst 'he feels that he owes much to the Skill of the doctors and the devoted care of the sisters and nurses, he was 'sustained throughout by the knowledge that prayer never ceased to be offered.. . . • '■':." : '.- i : . We grieve to have to record , ; th« passing away of Edith Ellen Wak|lii^ who had been over two years m Ithe papier Hospital, during the whole, of whicj^. time she bore her suiferpigs with the most exemplary patience'; also of George R. Kay, of Prior P|rk, who loved his church, and ever J4id all m his power to further its-int-erests. . ■. i-C .■ Te Karaka. The Harvest Thai^agiving services . were held on Qtjiinquagesima at ' Kaiteratahi and 'the Parish Church. - '".'.. The Rev. L. H. Fenn preached" an