WAIROA.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 25, Issue 8, 1 August 1935, Page 4

WAIROA.

Our annual meeting (July 24th) will have been held before these notes have appeared m the Gazette, a report will be sent m next month. The vestry Save done their best during the year to straighten up parish finances, but we shall close the year with a debit of nearly two hundred pounds. A further attempt is being made to secure more envelope subscribers m Wairoa, but very much greater support must be given by the country districts if we are to make any headway m reducing our indebtedness. We have done our best to raise our quota for missions, but those who are lukewarm about the church m their ,i mi dst are not the people to give to the work outside, and those who are keen churchmen are already doing their utmost to provide for local

needs and have nothing left over. The Ladies' Guild has given £5 arid the Sunday School £5, a private donation of £5 has been received, •other donations from children and the usual Good Friday and Whitsuntide collections have been given; but we are still short. Our Mothers' Union holds together well, but Mrs. Fletcher, our secretary, finds great difficulty m obtaining speakers to give the addresses. We are probably the most isolated parish m the diocese. Our nearest neighbours are about seventy miles away, and we have no railway communication, so that we have to depend upon our own resources. Our Sunday schools are doing their best. That at Nuhaka, under Miss Tautau, is combined Maori and pakeha — chiefly Maori — with two enthusiastic teachers. At Frasertown Mrs. Stacey and Miss Unwin carry •on m spite of Mrs Stacey's ill-health. The Sunday school at Wairoa has in-creased-in numbers, but there is a .great lack of teachers. Miss Deighton and her assistant young teachers In charge of the kindergarten (of -about sixty pupils) are most enthusiastic. Mrs. Moles has the senior -school of about sixty pupils, boys and girls, with no one to help her. She "has a very difficult task. Unfortunately the vicar is quite unable to help -or take any part m the Sunday schools as his time is occupied with the country services. Confirmation classes have been postponed until the weather improves. They will start m August. The Vicar conducts Bible classes m the secondary department of the District. High School on two mornings of the week. Mr. W. T. Mist, who is working m ;the Maori parish, Has a large Scout troop, of which many of our boys are members. The officers of the Girl Guides and Brownies' at Wairoa and Frasertown are Anglican girls, but the companies are open companies. The Vicar celebrated Holy Com•munion at Mohaka on the fifth Sunday m June for both Maori and pakeha. There was a large attendance of Maoris, and more than twenty 'Of them made their Communion; but the only pakehas present were Pres-

byterians. . . : .:.,..' There are about a hundred P.W.D. men at Waikaremoana preparing the way for the installation of the second unit m the hydro-electric scheme. A large number more will be at work m the near future and for several years to come, but it is quite impossible to do anything for them. If the construction of the East Coast Railway is resumed the provision of an assistant will be absolutely necessary.