Church Missionary Society, Wesleyan Missionary Society.
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New Zealand.
The B F Bible Society has received, in the whole, the sum of 152l. 13s. from the Natives of New Zealand, in return for their first grant of 10,000 Testaments to the Wesleyan Missionary Society. The Society has
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put to press a third edition of 20,000 copies of the New-Zealand Testament--The Christian-Knowledge Society has made a grant of Books to Mr. John Dale, on his going to New Zealand to be employed in Missionary Labour--The Religious-Tract Society has received an encouraging account of the distribution of the Society's publications.
CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
Stations and Labourers.
The Stations are taken in their order from north to south. Kaitaia lies in the north-west of the Northern Island: the five which follow are connected with the Bay of Islands. At a considerable distance to the southward lie Waikato, at the mouth of the river of that name, on the west coast, and Manukau, 25 miles inland: east of Manukau lies Hauraki: and further eastward, on the coast, Tauranga. Rotorua is in the centre of the Island -- Poverty Bay, or Turanga, nearly in the same latitude, on the east coast--and Entry Island, or Kapati, off the south-west coast, and is the head-quarters of a district extending along the coast, from Port Nicholson on the south to the River Wanganui on the north.
NORTHERN DISTRICt--Kaitaia: 1834 : W. G. Puckey, Joseph Matthews, Cat.; 21 Nat. As.--Tepuna 1815: John King, Cat.--Kerikeri, with an Out-Station at Wangaroa : 1839: James Kemp, James Shepherd, Cat.; the number of Nat. As. not reported; 1 Nat. Schoolmistress-- Paihia: 1823: and Waikare: Henry Williams: John Telford. Printer; Marianne Williams,Teacher; 35 Nat. As.; 7 Nat. Schoolmistresses-- Kororarika : Robert Burrows : Waimate: 1831: Richard Davis, Wm. C. Dudley : Wm. King, As.; Serena Davis, Teacher; Christopher P. Davis, Wm. Colenso, Wm. Davis, Candidates for Holy Orders; 34 Nat. As. There are 10 Churches, built with boards, and between 30 and 40 Native-built rush Chapels.
MIDDLE DISTRICT--Waikato and Manukau: Robert Maunsell: James Hamlin, Cat.; 30 Nat. As.--Kaitotehe: 1843: Benj. Yate Ashwell, Cat.--Otawao: 1843: John Morgan, Cat.--Hauraki: James Preece, Cat. -- Opotiki : John A. Wilson, Cat. ; 10 Nat. As. --Tauranga: 1835: Alfred N. Brown,Seymour M. Spencer: Sophia Baker, As.; 17 Nat. As.; 21 Nat. Schoolmasters --Rotorua: Thomas Chapman, Cat.; 6 Nat. As. There are nearly 100 Native-built Chapels, and nearly 10,000 attendants at Public Worship.
EASTERN DISTRICT--Poverty Bay, or Turanga : Wm. Williams, George Adam Kissling: Charles Baker, James Stack, Cat.; 33 Nat. As.; 19 Nat. Schoolmistresses. This district contains five Stations, viz. Turanga, in Poverty Bay, at which Archdeacon Williams resides -- Uwawa, 36 miles north of Turanga, where Mr. C. Baker has commenced a new Station --Rangitukia, near Waiapu, where another new Station has been commenced by Mr. J. Stack --Kauakaua, in Hicks' Bay, where the Rev. G. A. Kissling is stationed --and Opotiki, under the care of Mr. J. A, Wilson, which has been transferred from the Middle District, in consequence of its more immediate connection with this district.
WESTERN DISTRICT--Entry Island : Richard Taylor, Octavius Hadfield, Charles L. Reay: 60 Nat. As.
The new house of the Ven. Archdeacon Williams, which had been twelve months in the course of erection, caught fire and was entirely destroyed, with many copies of the New-Zealand New Testament. Mrs. Mason reached England on the 10th of October--Pp. 223,229,456, 496 ; see, at pp. 56,107-109, 156-158, 203,407,486-496; and see, at pp. 105-108 of our present Volume many particulars of the Mission, with
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details of the principal transactions, as given in extracts from the Reports of the several Stations.
The good providence of God was manifested toward New Zealand in the first appointment of a Governor, over the newly-formed Colony, who had the best interests of the Natives at heart. Upon his early and lamented death, another Governor has been appointed, and has sailed during the last year--Capt. Robert Fitzroy, R.N., late M.P. for Durham; who was well acquainted, by personal intercourse, with the New Zealanders, having commanded the "Beagle" sloop of war upon the South-Sea Station. Capt. Fitzroy has manifested a very deep interest in the welfare of the Natives; and in his wise and Christian Counsels the Committee will be able to repose the most entire confidence.
The Bishop has completed a Visitation of the whole island, during which he became personally acquainted with every member of the Society's Mission, with the state of the Native Population, and with the details of Missionary Operations in all the districts. And the Committee rejoice in the fulfilment of their anticipations of the benefit to be derived from the introduction of Episcopacy into New Zealand: anticipations which led them to declare, in their Forty-first Report, that "on principle, and from a deep conviction of the necessity of the measure for their Missionaries in that island," they had "undertaken to aid largely in providing the endowment from the lands held by the Society in the island."
The Committee are very thankful to say that the testimony of the Bishop enables them to speak of the state of the Mission in no less encouraging terms than they have employed on former occasions.
The Bishop, on the request of the Committee, has regarded all the Catechists of the Society as Candidates for Deacons' Orders; and determined to dispense, in their case, with a knowledge of the original languages of Scripture, and to "consider proficiency in the Native Language, and the visible signs of a blessing upon their exertions among the Natives, as a qualification for Deacons' Orders." For Priests' Orders his Lordship is not prepared to relax the usual standard of qualification required in England.
On Trinity Sunday, Mr. Richard Davis, an old and very valuable Catechist of the Society, was ordained Deacon, the Service being conducted in the Native Language, in the presence of a Congregation of 400 Natives, 300 of whom afterward received the Lord's Supper with the Bishop and Clergy.
In September last Mr. S. M. Spencer, who went to New Zealand as a Catechist three years ago, was also ordained Deacon.
The Committee are enabled also to speak with increased confidence of the extent to which the Gospel lias spread among the Natives of New Zealand, and the essential change which it has produced in al! their moral habits.
The position of every Settlement of any considerable size in the Northern Island is now known, and to all the Message of Salvation, it is believed, has been conveyed; though, of course, great difference is to be found in the degree in which it has been received. Even in many places unvisited, as yet, by Missionaries, the Gospel is read, and Divine Service regularly performed, in buildings erected by the Natives and set apart for Divine Worship.
War has almost entirely ceased; and where it has occurred lately, it has been carried on in a very mitigated form. At Oruru, near Kaitaia, where two numerous opposing bodies of warriors were collected, and hostilities had commenced, the Bishop and the Missionaries were allowed to attempt a mediation. On the Lord's Day all warfare was suspended, by mutual consent; and one of the principal Chiefs was found by the Bishop in his Pa, on the morning of that day, reading the Service to his people.
Theft and murder are of very rare occurrence: no one, in England, would think of living in houses so unprotected as those in which every Missionary lives, without the least ground of apprehension.
Wherever full opportunities of Christian Instruction and pastoral superintendence have been enjoyed, there the graces of the Spirit are often manifested as fully as in the most favoured parishes in England.
The Printing-press of the Mission is now under the sole charge of Mr. J. Telford, Mr. W. Colenso being under preparation for Holy Orders. The chief work which has occupied the press during the last year has been the printing of a Dictionary, New Zealand and English.
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which has been drawn up by the Venerable Archdeacon Williams.
The Farm at the Waimate has been rented by the Bishop; and his Lordship has commenced a Collegiate Establishment, which he has named St. John's College, for the preparation of Candidates, both English and Native, for Holy Orders. This Institution is independent of the Society, and under the sole direction of the Bishop.
In making so favourable a Report of the present state of Religion in New Zealand, the Committee would desire to guard against the impression that they consider this state of things as resting upon a foundation already secure. The sight of English Settlements without Churches, and of hundreds of Christian People who give no visible sign of their fear or love of God, is producing an evil effect.
[Report.
Summary.
As given in the Forty-fourth Report.)
Labourers in 22 Stations, 328; being 12 Missionaries, 1 Printer, 17 European Catechists, 3 European Female Teachers, 268 Male and 27 Female Native Assistants -- Attendants on Public Worship not given, but in former Report, 35,000 -- Communicants, 2851 -- Schools, 283-- Scholars: Boys, 63; Girls, 1491; Sexes not specified, 8642; Youths and Adults, 5235: Total, 15,431. These returns are incomplete, as no statistics have been received from some of the Stations,
WESLEYAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
STATIONS AND LABOURERS--Auckland: Walter Lawry, General Superintendant of the Society's Missions in New Zealand, and Visitor of those in the Friendly Islands and Feejee-- Mangungu and Oruru: John Hobbs and William Woon--Waima and Newark: John Warren--Wairoa and Kaipara: James Buller-- Wangaroa : James Wallis--Waipa (Honipaka) : Thomas Buddle -- Aotea (Beecham-Dale) : Henry H. Turton --Kawia and Mokau: John Whiteley, Gideon Smales -- Taranaki, North (Ngamotu): George Buttle -- Taranaki, South (Waimate): John Skevington -- Middle Island: Port Nicholson and Kapiti, Cloudy Bay and Queen Charlotte Sound; James Watkin, Samuel Ironsides -- Port Nelson John Aldred -- Waikowaiti, near Otago: Charles Creed -- Gratuitous Teachers, 393 -- Members, 2651 -- Scholars, 4989. These numbers are exclusive of several Stations from which the returns which have been received are incomplete. Mr. Lawry arrived at Auckland on the 21st of March, 1844 -- Pp. 229, 230, 456; and see, at pp. 449-451, an account of the distribution of Testaments, results, and call for additional copies of the New-Zealand Testament.
The offer of the Rev. Walter Lawry to return to the Mission-field, intentionally for life, has been accepted; and he has been appointed General Superintendant of the New-Zealand Mission, and Visitor of the Missions in the Friendly Islands and Fejee.
The anxieties of the Committee have been painfully excited by the distressing events at Wairau and Cloudy Bay, by which one of the most promising of the Society's Missions has been suspended, if not entirely destroyed. This Station had not been formed more than three years; but in that short period it had been eminently successful. The Natives listened with eagerness to the instructions of the Missionaries ; they speedily acquired the art of reading ; and their regard for the Sacred Scriptures was evinced by their readiness to buy Testaments. To what extent they had been brought under the influence of the Gospel of peace may be judged, in part, from the admitted fact, that they refrained from joining their heathen countrymen in hostilities against the English, and that the Mission-Chief, Puaha, first endeavoured to prevent the effusion of blood, by going up to the English Magistrate, and, with the Testament open in his hand, saying to him, "Don't fight, don't fight; this book says it is wrong to fight; the Missionaries have made the land good--don't make it bad again;"--and, after the battle bad taken place, then exerted himself, though unhappily in vain, to save the lives of those who had surrendered themselves as prisoners. Since the lamentable affray, how-
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ever, through dread of the apprehended consequences of another visitation from the English, they have abandoned their residence in Cloudy Bay, and gone away with their heathen countrymen in search of a secure retreat. Thus has a Mission which furnished such ground for hope been at once brought to an end; the fruits of faithful Missionary Toil and self-denying effort have been scattered; and a considerable amount of the Society's funds has been, it may he justly feared, to a great extent expended in vain.
The distribution of 10,000 copies of the Bible Society's first Two Grants of 15,000 copies of the Testament, in the vernacular tongue, has powerfully tended to promote the Mission-work throughout the entire field of our operations in New Zealand. The reading of the Word of God greatly fortifies the people against the corruptions of Popery; and, as the Testament is now used in all the Mission Schools, the rising generation will grow up in acquaintance wish the great antidote to Romish superstition and error.
The Committee gratefully acknowledge a Third Grant of 5000 New-Zealand Testaments, which the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society have directed to be forwarded to our Stations without delay.
The Missionaries of the Society in New Zealand have much encouragement in the success graciously vouchsafed to their endeavours by the Great Head of the Church; but many are their difficulties. [Report.
By a recent communication we learn that Mr. Lawry has been greatly encouraged by the improved state of things among the Aborigines accomplished by means of the dissemination of the Gospel.
GOSPEL-PROPAGATlON SOCIETY.
Letters received from the Bishop of New Zealand shew the activity of the Bishop in promoting the benefit of his Diocese both in respect of the Settlers and the Natives--P. 230.
