1814-1853 - The Missionary Register [Sections relating to New Zealand.] - 1847 - Survey of missionary stations, p 217-220

       
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  1814-1853 - The Missionary Register [Sections relating to New Zealand.] - 1847 - Survey of missionary stations, p 217-220
 
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Survey of missionary stations.

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New Zealand.

The B F Bible Society has placed 5000 additional copies of the New-Zealand Testament at the disposal of the Church Missionary Society--The Christian - Knowledge Society has voted Books to the Rev. Robert Cole for distribution at Wellington--The Religious-Tract Society has voted 2780 Tracts, and a 5l Library at half price, for the Wesleyan Mission at New Plymouth. The Rev. H. H. Turton, in a Letter to the B F School Society, says--

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B F School Society--

Very few indeed of the Missionaries have ever had to teach them their letters, and yet most of the New Zealanders, between the ages of ten and forty or fifty, are able to read the Testament with fluency, while most of the young men can write a legible, some of them a superior hand, either on the slate or on paper: and you would be surprised at the degree of correspondence which is carried on among them from one end of the island to the other. The fact is, they have taught each other.

GOSPEL-PROPAGATION SOCIETY.

The Society has made a further grant of 500l., making in all 4000l., toward meeting the original gift of 7500l. by the New-Zealand Company for the endowment of the Church in this Colony. The annual allowance by the Society toward the support of the Church in the Colony is now 1150l.; and in the persuasion that, under the peculiar circumstances of the diocese, it would be more economically employed if placed entirely at the disposal of the Bishop, than if restricted to definite objects, the whole sum has been placed under his Lordship's controul. Independently of the support of the Missionaries on the Society's list, part has been expended in opening new Missions, and part in supporting candidates for Holy Orders at St. John's College, Auckland.

The following is an account of the objects for which the College was founded:--

The general condition on which, all Students and Scholars are received into St. John's College is, that they shall employ a definite portion of their time in some useful occupation in aid of the purposes of the Institution. The hours of study, and of all other employments, will be fixed by the Visitor and Tutors. No member of the body is at liberty to consider any portion of his time as his own, except such intervals of relaxation as are allowed by the rules of the College.

In reminding the members of St. John's College of the original condition on which they were admitted, the Visitor feels it to be his duty to lay before them some of the reasons which now, more than ever, oblige him to require a strict and zealous fulfilment of this obligation.

The foundation of St. John's College was designed-- 1. As a place of religious and useful education for all classes of the community, and especially for Candidates for Holy Orders. 2. As a temporary hostelry for young settlers on their first arrival in the country. 3. As a refuge for the sick, the aged, and the poor. The expenses of those branches of the Institution which are now open already exceed the means available for their support; and a further extension will be necessary to complete the system. The state of the Colony has made it necessary to receive a larger number of foundation Scholars than was at first intended. The general desire of the Maori People for instruction will require an enlargement of the Native Schools for children and adults. The rapid increase of the half-caste population, in places remote from all the means of instruction, must be provided for by a separate School for their benefit. The care of the sick of both races, and the relief of the poor, will throw a large and increasing charge upon the funds of the College.

The only regular provision for the support of the Institution is, an annual grant of 300l. for the maintenance of Students, from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. It is the intention of the Visitor and Tutor to devote the whole of their available income to the general purposes of the College; but as the sources from which the greater portion of their funds is derived are in some measure precarious, and as this supply must cease with their lives, it is the bounden duty of every one to bear always in mind, that the only real endowment of St. John's College is the industry and self-denial of all its members.

Even if industry were not in itself honourable, the purposes of the Institution would be enough to hallow every useful art and manual labour by which its resources might be augmented. No rule of life can be so suitable to the character of a Missionary College, as that laid down by the great Apostle of the Gentiles, and recommended by his practice-- Let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

It will therefore be sufficient to state, once for all, that any unwillingness in a Theological Student to follow the rule and

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practice of St. Paul, will be considered as a proof of his unfitness for the ministry; and that incorrigible idleness or vicious habits in any Student or Scholar will lead to his dismissal from the College.

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. One Missionary resides at Nelson, in the Middle Island.

NORTHERN DISTRICT --Kaitaia: 1834: Joseph Matthews: W. G. Puckey, Cat. -- Tepuna: 1815: John King, Cat. -- Kerikeri, with an Out-Station at Wangaroa: 1839: James Kemp, James Shepherd, Cat. -- Paihia: 1823: and Waikare: Henry Williams: Marianne Williams, Teacher -- Waimate: 1831: and Kaikohe: Richard Davis, Robert Burrows, Christopher P. Davies: Edward Williams, Schoolmaster; W. King, As.; Serena Davis, Schoolmistress; Wm. Davis, Candidate for Holy Orders. 99 Nat. As. --Communicants, 1484 --Schools, 68: Scholars, 2689. There are 10 Churches built with boards, and between 30 and 40 native-built rush Chapels.

MIDDLE DISTRICT --Bishop's Auckland: Wm. C. Dudley: John Telford, Printer -- Waikato and Manukau: Robert Maunsell: James Hamlin, Cat. -- Kaitotehe: 1843: Benj. Yate Ashwell, Cat. -- Otawao: 1843: John Morgan, Cat. -- Hauraki: James Preece, Cat. -- Tauranga: 1835: Alfred N. Brown, Christopher P. Davis: Sophia Baker, As. -- Rotorua: Thomas Chapman. 74 Nat. As. --Communicants, 621 --Schools, 93: Scholars, 5418. There are nearly 100 native-built Chapels, and about 10,000 attendants at Public Worship.

EASTERN DISTRICT--Poverty Bay, or Turanga: Wm. Williams -- Kauakaua: George Adam Kissling -- Uawa: Chas. Baker -- East Cape: James Stack, Cat. -- Opotiki: John A. Wilson, Cat. This District contains five Stations, viz. Turanga, in Poverty Bay, at which Archdeacon Williams resides -- Uawa, 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 -- Communicants, 1240 --Schools, 63: Scholars, 3473.

WESTERN DISTRICT --Entry Island: Wanganui; Richard Taylor -- Waikanae: Octavius Hadfield: 115 Nat. As. -- Nelson: Charles Lucas Reay -- Communicants, 1478 -- Schools, 74--Scholars, 3820 -- Pp. 211, 212; and see, at pp. 295, 328, 336, a Notice of the Trials of the Mission, and Hostilities with the British; and at pp. 329-335, 368-371, 408-413, 450, 451, Reports of the several Stations and many particulars of the prospects and proceedings of the Missionaries.

Summary,
(As given in the Forty-sixth Report).

Labourers in 24 Stations, 413; being 16 Missionaries, 13 European Catechists, 3 European Female Teachers, 320 Male and 61 Female Native Assistants -- Attendants on

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Public Worship not given, but in a former Report stated at 35,000--Communicants, 4823 -- Schools, 298 -- Scholars, 15,400. These returns are not complete, but are made up from such Reports as have been received.

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 Fejee, Thomas Buddle--Pehiakura: Henry H. Lawry -- Mangungu and Wangaroa: John Hobbs, William Woon --Waima and Newark: John Warren: George Stannard, As. --Wairoa and Kaipara: James Buller --Waingaroa and Waipa: James Wallis, George Battle --Aotea (Beechamdale), Kawia, and Mokau: John Whiteley, Gideon Smales -- Taranaki, North (Ngamotu): Henry H. Turton -- Taranaki, South (Waimate): Vacant --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 Sunday-School Teachers, 375--Local Preachers, 222--Members, 3571-- Scholars, 6222 -- Mr. Kirk embarked on the 21st of November, for New Zealand -- Pp. 212, 213, and p. 64 of our present Volume; and see, at p. 256, Remarks on the Recent Disturbances.

The events of the past year, instead of diminishing, have greatly increased, the feeling of painful interest with which the Committee, in their last Report, called the attention of their Friends to the state of the Society's Mission in New Zealand. The sanguinary war which has commenced between the British Forces and some of the Native Tribes in the North of the Island is exerting a very injurious effect upon most of the Stations in that District. At Auckland, the Mission-Chapel is crowded on the Sabbath with attentive hearers, several of whom have proved the Gospel to be the power of God unto salvation, and the "Native Institution" is reported to be "in full and successful operation;" but at Kaipara and the Hokianga the Missionaries are seriously interrupted in their labours, while the lives of themselves and their families are exposed to danger. The greater number of our Hokianga People are away from their homes, at the seat of war, with the Wesleyan Chiefs, Nene (or Thomas Walker) and Patuone, who have ranged themselves on the side of the British Government, against their belligerent countrymen; and the Mission Families are left exposed, without human protection, to any hostile attack.

Although interruption was experienced in the northern part of the Island, the Society's Missionaries were still vigorously carrying on their operations at the Stations in the South. The circumstances under which they are thus so laudably exerting themselves are, however, sufficiently trying and discouraging. From the occasional Letters of these excellent and devoted men, it appears that the attention of the Natives is still very much diverted from Religion by the bustle of colonization, and disputes respecting the sale and transfer of their lands.                          [Report.


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