WAIPAWA PASTORATE.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XVII, Issue 11, 2 May 1927, Page 14

WAIPAWA PASTORATE.

The Rev. Wharetini Bangi who was trained at St. John's has now

taken charge of the work m the Waipawa Pastorate. The Native people^ have given him a very hearty and warm welcome, not only for' his own sake, but also on account of his wiiPe who is by her descent, the chief tainness of the Tuhoe people. She was a pupil of Hukarere School some 20 years ago, arid it was there mainly .that her own spiritual life was so wonderfully awakened. While still a pupil of Hukarere School she wrote a letter to the late Bishop Williams appealing for help for her own benighted people living, m the Urevvera country. The appeal was not iii vain for immediately the Bishop initiated the Ruatdki Mission work, and the work has progressed and developed ever since. The Rev. Rangi and his . family are living at Porangahaii. There is no Vicarage m this Pastorate, but £300 has already been raised by the Maoris and their pakeha friends towards a Vicarage fund. A suitable site for the Vicarage has been donated by one of the Maori 'members of the congregation, Mrs. .jHutana. . At the welcome meetings held at I Waipawa and Pukehou m honour f of Mr. Eangi and his wife Rotu, |Mr. W. T. Williams, on behalf of the "Te Wiremu" family, gave much pleasure to the visitors and the local Maori people by the splendid addresses he delivered on those occasions. . He gave a lot of very interesting information about the early history of the Mission m Hawke's Bay, and especially the beginning, of his father's work ;<,t To Aute when he had to live for quite a long time m a litle "wharepuni." He detailed the various steps which had to be taken by the late Archd. S. Williams to develop Te Aute, and now the fruits of his labours are still further developed by those who have followed on, m the remarkably fine buildings now completed, and m the splendid scholastic results of the past few years. As Rev. Rangi was an old Te Aute boy and his wife a Hukarere girl,- it gave him very special pleasure m welcoming them both to their old haunts, not as pupils, but as teachers. He hoped that much spiritual blessing would result from the work that they had been called to undertake m this Pastorate. He had the best interests of the Maori people very much at heart, and as far as he could, he would act towards them very much as his father would have acted had he been spared to be with

them. He wished them God's blessing and every success and encouragement m their work.