1814-1853 - The Missionary Register [Sections relating to New Zealand.] - 1841 - Survey of Missionary Stations, p 232-238

Kaitaia -- Peace and general good feeling have been predominant among the tribes around us; and, as a body, they acknowledge that this outward blessing has arisen, to use their own term, "from the Word of God": we have cause to hope that many have been savingly convinced of their sins, and made to embrace the salvation offered them in Christ. Several tribes, who long refused to hear the Word, have at length lent an ear to the Gospel's joyful sound; and have not only stated Services at their own villages, but generally make it their rule to spend alternate Lord's Days at our Settlement, in order to enjoy the full Services of the day. Our Lord's-Day Congregations amount, generally, to five hundred Natives. The erection of a New Church is now in a state of forwardness: the steeple is nearly completed. Those places which we are not able to visit are supplied by Native Teachers.

Sixty adults, and twenty infants, have been admitted to Baptism during the year; and forty to the Lord's Supper. 40 men and boys, 30 women and girls, and 15 infants, are in the Schools.

Several Tribes, with their Chiefs, who formerly encouraged much wickedness, have embraced the Gospel. A tribe of 60 people at Purahara, who could not be visited by us with any degree of pleasure, have now become a well-disposed people, and manifest a desire to improve themselves in the Word of God. Four or five new Places of Worship have been erected by the Natives themselves, and at their own expense. A large body of Natives residing at Herekino have lately manifested a great desire to have the Word of God declared to them: we have many times passed through this place during the last five years, and have always returned, till lately, without any encouragement, wondering at the hardness of their hearts.

We rejoice to witness among our people increased eagerness to learn to read the New Testament: the Morning and Evening Prayers have also been sought for by most of the population within thirty miles of us.

Wangape, Oruru, Mangonui, Karikari, Mount Carmel, and the North Cape, all distant places, have been visited by us during the past year; as also by Native Teachers. May, 1841.

A few Christian Natives have departed this life during the year, leaving behind them a pleasing testimony to the power of Religion to give consolation when all other comforts fail. After it had pleased the Lord mercifully to restore both us and our Natives from the Influenza, which raged in the summer, we set apart a day for general thanksgiving to Almighty God. The Natives seemed to rejoice to make this small sacrifice: full 600 Natives were present on the occasion.

To improve the temporal condition of the people, we have stimulated them to grow wheat; both as an article of food for themselves, and also for sale, in order to procure European clothing, which they much prize. We are very glad to witness their readiness to take our advice, and we hope that the Lord may yet bless them as a people. ----- [Missionaries.

Tepuna--There seems to be a more general excitement to become acquainted with the Scriptures. The Gospel is gaining ground: amidst all hindrances, many come forward to declare themselves on the Lord's side. Waikato 1 and his family have made a profession of Christianity: he attends Divine Service on Lord's Days, and encourages his neighbours to do the same. Our Place of Worship is generally filled at Morning Service. Five have been baptized, and many more are candidates: they come twice a-week, to read and hear the Word of God, and to receive instruction in the truths and principles of the Gospel. An evident alteration has taken place for the better. ----- [Mr. King.

Kerikeri--Our congregations vary. There are but few Natives in the Station; although frequently a considerable number from the coast and the Kerikeri River have come to attend Service on the Lord's Day. On Lord's Days, the average attendance at each of three places is from 50 to 60. In December, 21 adults and 11 children were baptized. A considerable number have lately come forward as candidates for that sacred ordinance. There seems to be increasing desire for spiritual instruction: a glowing desire appears among some. The Schools are improving. We have much encouragement to persevere in the work of the Lord. ----- [Mr. Kemp.

Wangaroa--Our congregations on the Lord's Day average from 150 to 200. I have, when not prevented by rain, paid monthly visits to the Natives on the coast as far as Matauri; and have received repeated visits from them, to obtain instruction, books, and slates. The Natives and Europeans in the District of Wangaroa I have also visited; and have received

visits of a pleasing nature from the Natives. The people of this place are making considerable exertion with regard to their temporal concerns: several good native houses have been erected, and the cultivations have been much extended.

Some of the Christian Natives act with much propriety: their simple and pious behaviour exemplifies, with much clearness, the power of grace on their hearts. There are at the Station, ten, who have come forward to express a wish to receive the Lord Jesus Christ into their hearts, and to forsake all their old practices: there are also eight at Matauri. I trust that it is not too much to say, that the great work is advancing, though the emissaries of Satan are increasing. ----- [Mr. Shepherd.

Paihia--The Native Service commences at eight in the morning; the English Service at eleven: and in the evening, Native Service at six o'clock. During the week, a Lecture has been given every Tuesday and Thursday Evening: the Natives are assembled every morning and evening at the Chapel, to attend Prayers. In the Schools, there arc 30 males, 29 females, and 12 infants. Numerous applications have been made for books and slates, by persons living at a considerable distance, who have come for Christian Instruction: they have been supplied, according to our abilities.

At Kororarika there have been, as usual, two Services in the afternoon: the attendance latterly has been more regular, both among the Europeans and Natives. At the Kauakaua, the congregation consists of about 200, who are regular in their attendance: from this place, several Christian Natives proceed to the outposts, every Lord's-Day Morning, as Teachers. At Waikare, Service is held twice on the Lord's Day: the congregation consists of about 50: there are also two Weekly Lectures, with Morning and Evening Service. Otuihu is a place of extreme wretchedness: no attention is as yet paid to Scriptural Instruction; but the seed of eternal life is continually scattered: a great number of Tracts have been distributed here during the past year, among the seamen and others. Owai is becoming a very interesting place: there is here a small Christian Party.

Wangai, Waikini, Waiorunio, Waitangi, Paroa, Tirohango, and Wangaruru have been occasionally visited by ourselves and Christian Natives; and we are not without a hope that a blessing has attended our labours. ----- [Rev. H. Williams.

Waimate--The year has been signalized by the steady progress of the great work. It is manifest that the hand of our God is with us. In most of the Villages connected with the Station, there is a steady attendance on Public Worship. During the last half year, 140 persons have been baptized: the number of candidates for baptism is large, and among them there is an evident work of grace. Many visit the Settlement every week, for the purpose of seeking religious instruction. The average attendance at the Lord's Supper is about 140. At the Native Schools, generally, there has been an increased desire shewn to receive instruction. Early in the summer, a party of our Christian Natives, with their wives, went from this Station, with three others, as Teachers to their own tribes at the East Cape and Poverty Bay; and a large party is now preparing for departure thither, and to the Bay of Plenty. During the autumn, a visit was paid by the Rev. Wm. Williams, in company with the Rev. Richard Taylor, to those districts; and it was with feelings of much thankfulness that they witnessed the beneficial results of this measure.

The Farm continues to afford a good return; and the Mill has yielded a supply of 48,000 lb. of flour. The erection of a Church has proceeded steadily. ----- [. Missionaries.

Waikato and Manukau--Surely goodness and mercy have followed us! would the Missionaries of Manukau and Waikato thankfully exclaim, while taking a survey of the past year. On the commencement of it we were engaged in establishing ourselves--Mr. Hamlin at Manukau Heads, and Messrs. Maunsell and Ashwell at the mouth of the Waikato. These two sites have answered our expectations.

At Manukau, distant about 25 miles from Waikato, knowledge increases--the Meetings are well attended--the baptized, with few exceptions, maintain a consistent walk--and a very great desire prevails for the Word of Life.

At Waikato Heads, also, which is comparatively a new Station, there is much for which we desire to be thankful.

Our Station was formed and occupied amidst considerable opposition and discouragement; but the opposition has died away. Our Settlement Congregations average between 250 and 300; sometimes amounting to 500: our Outdoor Congregations also consist of considerable numbers; embracing, exclusively of those of Manukau, about 1500.

Our Native Teachers, 30 in number, arc posted through all parts of the district; while others travel as far as Taranake and Taupo. To Taupo one visit has been paid by Mr. Ashwell--to Waipa and Otawao, several; and numbers arc continually resorting hither, from distances of five days' journey, to hold conversation, or to seek baptism. During the past year, 275 have been admitted to that ordinance; and if we had felt inclined, we could have easily increased the number. Candidates are very numerous; and our difficulty consists, not in urging them to come forward, but to keep them

back, that we may select from those who present themselves.

We must confess, however, that there are many new features presented to us, in the survey of our sphere of labour, which cause us anxiety. Knowledge, it is true, is spreading, and the thirst for it and the Word of God is greater than our most sanguine hopes could have pictured: would, however, that we could hail Christian Feelings and Christian Character as advancing in the same proportion! Many interesting incidents might be recorded, to evince that there is some good leaven at work; but, on the whole, an attentive examination presents a strange motley of old habits and opinions, seeking to mould and rule the new principle, and too often obtaining the mastery. Under such circumstances, we cannot but look with apprehension on the great influx of Europeans into the District which has lately taken place, and on the seductions to which undisciplined minds are thereby subject. We rejoice, therefore with fear and trembling; and feel, that in the Lord alone is our hope, in the trials to which we shall be subject in the coming year.

We have succeeded in securing to the Natives, by deed, a large portion of land in the neighbourhood of the Settlement, at a very small expense.

Our Scripture Evening-Meetings, held three times a week, are regularly attended, to overflowing.

The average attendance at the Schools has been--Boys' Morning School, 36; ditto Sunday ditto, 200; Girls' Morning School, 30; ditto Sunday ditto, 80; Children's Morning School, 12; ditto Sunday ditto, 26. At our last General Examination, when about 1500 assembled, our Reading Classes amounted to 300, and the Catechism Classes to 450; making a total of 750 scholars. ----- [Rev. Rob. Maunsell.

Hauraki--While some of our Stations in this District have been involved in war, we have been mercifully kept in peace; and permitted to pursue our labours among the Natives, not only without interruption, but with much encouragement. The Word of God is now read, more or less, in every tribe in the Thames; and the only cause of regret is, that we have so few books to distribute among them. Schools have been established, conducted by Native Teachers, on both sides of the Thames; through which means, the spread of the Gospel has been considerably advanced. The Female and Children's Schools at the native villages are conducted by Female Native Teachers. Forty-six have been baptized during the last year; viz. 27 men (12 of them young and interesting Chiefs), 14 women, and 5 children: many more are coming forward as Candidates, and the fallow-ground is breaking up around us. Although the enemy has appeared on our borders, diligently sowing tares, still we are much encouraged to press forward and scatter liberally the seeds of Divine Truth. May the Lord of the Harvest continue to bless the labours of His servants; and that period soon arrive, when this moral desert shall blossom as the rose, and this thirsty land become springs of water! ----- [Mr. Fairburn.

Tauranga--The Southern War has proved, at times, a barrier to the free progress of the Gospel; but fewer have fallen victims than during any preceding year: and we still cling to the hope, that, ere long, a cessation of hostilities will be forced on the contending tribes, from the inability of their leaders to raise so large a force as they were in the habit of raising, before the spirit of inquiry, which is now abroad, had so widely spread throughout all classes of the Natives.

Our Returns shew an increase, under the heads of "Congregations" and "Schools," of more than double the number who attended last year; and the same observation will apply to those Natives in our Schools who are capable of reading the New Testament. The number of Baptisms during the year has been 65; viz. 40 adults, and 25 children: 16 of the Christian Natives are employed at our different outposts as regular Teachers; and 15 others have been engaged for three months in a Missionary Tour to Taupo and Cook's Straits. The avidity with which the New Testament is purchased by the Natives, and their attendance on the classes formed for reading and explaining the Scriptures, may also be ranked among our encouragements.

While we thus thank God for the past, and would desire to take courage for the future, we cannot, without some anxiety, look to the probable difficulties of the coming year. The tocsin of war is still sounding. The tide of colonization, and its attendant evils, are flowing in upon us with spring-tide violence; and we shall have, in addition, to contend with an enemy more insidious, more hateful, more destructive, than either the demon of war or the spirit of the world; for Popery, in the mysterious providence of God, has been permitted to erect its banner in the midst of us. Dr. Pompallier, the Roman-Catholic Bishop, has lately been on a visit to Tauranga and Matamata. Chapels are being erected at Tauranga, and Priests are promised as Teachers to both Tribes. But our eyes are unto the Lord: and if the hope of victory inspires with courage the earth-born hero, we feel that, as Soldiers of the Cross, the certainty of triumph ought to preserve us from any anxious care. Therefore will not we fear. The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. -----[Rev. Alfred N. Brown.

Rotorua--The war is still prosecuted in this

District, between Tauranga and Rotorua; and brings with it its accustomed hindrances.

We find a desire, on the part of the young men in particular, for instruction; and there are but few places in this wide District at which there are not little Chapels and Sunday Schools: but these are not, in every instance, conducted with regularity; and there is but little increase in Scriptural Knowledge, or in the elementary part of learning. The demand for books and slates is very great. Taupo is in an interesting state, so far as forming themselves willingly into school-parties, meeting in their little Chapels on Lord's Days and Week-days, holding Service, and keeping school: it has been twice visited from this Station during the year, a month each time being spent among them: the Rev. Henry Williams also passed through Taupo, on his return from Kapiti. It is to be acknowledged, however, that very little progress has been made in this district generally: the field of labour being very wide, much time is consumed in itinerating, and parties are not easily collected when you visit them: yet their numbers arc of sufficient importance to entitle them to much more attention than we have been able to give them, on account of the unsettled state of this part of New Zealand.

We would desire to record, with thankfulness to Almighty God, the general preservation, during the present war, of all connected with the Station, in a Missionary point of view, both in journeys and in the Settlement: and while we mourn over the little increase in the number of those who seem decidedly interested in the salvation of their souls, we would patiently labour on, although our patience has been most severely tried. ----- [Mr. Chapman.

On the Lord's Day I have visited alternately some of the congregations round Rotorua and Rotoiti. I have held Bible-Class Meetings on an average three or four days in a week with the Natives who have come to the Settlement for instruction; and have also occasionally visited Tarawera on the Week-days. My Natives have been employed in finishing my house on the island, getting in stores, &c. Zachariah has paid a visit to the Uriwera Tribes. Mrs. Chapman and Mrs. Morgan have had charge of the Girls' School: average attendance, 15. ----- [Mr. Morgan.

The Committee, in conclusion, remark concerning New Zealand, that its circumstances have of late years greatly varied, and may be expected to vary with increasing rapidity, by the introduction of Civil Government and Colonizing Enterprise. The Committee cannot view the past, and the probable future, without claiming, in all fairness, that tribute of respect to the Missionary Body, which, by persons who have on the spot paid a candid attention to the subject, has never been withheld from them. The course taken by the Committee, in reference to the charges made against the Missionaries on the ground of improper purchases of land, and to the present circumstances of the Mission, were explained to the Members, in two Statements on those subjects. These Papers are printed in the Appendix.

To those who would detract from the general value of the labours of the Missionary Body, it is the bounden duty of the Committee to present the fact, that to their self-denying, perilous, and persevering exertions it is owing, that New Zealand has become what it now is. To them is owing the introduction of agriculture and gardening; the use of the spade, the plough, and the mill: they brought thither cattle, sheep, and horses: they have built houses and chapels: they have cut roads through forests, and constructed bridges over

rivers: they have, in a word, been the honoured instruments of rendering New Zealand accessible and safe to emigrants and settlers.

At a Baptismal Service held at Mangungu, a few mouths previous to his departure, where not less than 1000 Natives were present, Mr. Turner was permitted to witness a scene, which afforded rich compensation for the hardships and sufferings endured by him in the first attempt made by himself and his colleagues to plant the Gospel among the tribes of Wangaroa, on the north-east coast of New Zealand. Among those who were baptized, on the occasion referred to, was the son of Te Puhi, the principal Chief, and several other Natives of that very place, from which Mr. Turner was driven in the year 1827, with the loss of every thing but life: they acknowledged that the impressions made on their minds by the Gospel, at that early period, had never been erased.

The state of the Society at Mangungu is very encouraging. The Christian Natives increase in knowledge and piety, and evince great zeal for the conversion of their heathen relatives and friends. The Public Religious Services in the native language, regularly held on the Lord's Day, at six in the morning, ten in the forenoon, and five in the evening, are well attended: the Chapel is usually crowded with hearers, who listen to the Word preached with a manifest earnest desire to be made wise unto salvation. The people are also punctual and diligent in attending to their religious duties during the week. Since the number of Missionaries has been increased, Public Worship has been regularly held in English, at three o'clock and at five, every Sabbath; and once a fortnight the Missionaries go up the Mangamuka to preach to a number of English sawyers, who live at too great a distance to attend the Ministry of the Word at Mangungu.

The Stations in the South exhibit a promising aspect. From Waingaroa, Mr. Wallis writes, that the "Baptized Natives arc making considerable advances in Scriptural Knowledge;" and that "nearly the whole of the tribes on the banks of the Waingaroa River have professedly embraced Christianity." At the Kawia Station, about 200 persons, including children, were baptized on the occasion of Mr. Bumby's visit; and several others have since become candidates for the same sacred ordinance.

A great demand exists for the Holy Scriptures: 1000 copies of the New Testament have been purchased from the Church Missionaries, but they are very insufficient to supply the wants of the people. The Missionaries earnestly apply for means to enable them to prevent the spread of the fatal errors of Popery, by a general distribution of the word of truth.

According to the latest Returns, the Members in society amount to 1263; besides 590 persons who meet in class on trial, as candidates for admission. ----- [Report.

Thousands of Tracts have been printed and

circulated during the year; and in the forthcoming year we intend to translate and print various portions of the Old Testament, which sacred canon we long to see completed in the New-Zealand Dialect. The New Testament has been circulated far and wide; which will stand as a mighty bulwark against the man of sin: as the emissaries of the Pope are exerting all their influence to bring the Natives within the pale of the Romish Church; and they have succeeded in several places. This is a source of indescribable grief to our minds; and we long to sec a Protestant Missionary in every harbour on the eastern and western coasts, to counteract this wretched system of error. ----- [Mr. Woon.

I have left five additional Missionaries, and visited most of the Stations. Much good has been done; but there arc very few thorough conversions of the soul to God. Christianity, as a system, has been embraced by multitudes: the Lord's Day is carefully observed: Public Worship is well attended; and the congregations appear very devout. Many can read and write; and an universal thirst has been excited for the Sacred Scriptures and other religious books. One Chief had come a three weeks' journey, expecting to obtain from me a copy of the New Testament, as some had been sent to England to be bound. They have given up their sanguinary wars, and the revolting scenes of cannibalism. They are remarkable for honesty, but vagrant in their habits--universal smokers--selfish--dirty--and delight to herd together. They need line upon line on experimental and practical Christianity. A person visiting the purely Heathen, as I have done, and then the nominally Christian, Natives, is filled with wonder and gratitude at what has been accomplished; but your Missionaries are grieving that so few are savingly converted. True religion, in all its parts, is rarely found; but your Labourers are valuable men, who, I trust, will be instrumental in turning many from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. It is "now or never" with them. The Devil and the Pope are at work among this interesting people. Pray that the Holy Spirit may be poured out.