Our Yesteryears 1840-1950 by W. A. Chambers historical/8(3) ouryesteryears 1840 .pdfby the wayside and never recovered. Today they help mark the trails of these ceaseless Stone Age

Our Yesteryears 1840-1950 by W. A. Chambers

Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #8 (3&4) 1950 Page 1




PREFACE

To survey thoroughly the history of Methodism in Canterbury in such a small volume

as this, is an impossibility. Each chapter could be written at much greater length and

still only a fraction of the story be told. Yet it is hoped that the following pages will

give a brief panoramic view of Methodist history in the Canterbury Synodal Districts

since 1839-40, when the first Wesleyan native Christian began to preach "the

wonderful works of God" in Port Levy.

In the first three chapters the story of the Wesleyan Church can be quite fully told

from documents still in existence. Since the Wesleyan Union of 1896 however, the

Bible Christian and United Methodist Free Churches have almost lost their identity in

the larger body. With that identity has passed away a mass of Church records, much of

which will never be recovered. In these chapters I am greatly indebted to other writers

who have had documents and Minute Books at their disposal which it has not been my

good fortune to read.

Knowledge of the work since 1896 comes within the bounds of living memory. Thus

only trends have been recorded. Detailed work in individual Churches and Circuits

must be chronicled by local writers. More particularly should attention be paid to

Kaiapoi, Springston, St. Albans and Lyttelton Circuits, whose spiritual connections

penetrate back into the early days of Canterbury Methodism.

The present writer owes much particularly to the Rev. H. L. Fiebig B.A., who has

given much encouragement, read through the rough proofs and made helpful

suggestions. Miss E. R. Thomas and members of the Connexional Office Staff have

helped locate old records and many friends have supplied occasional books records

and information. The chapter on South Canterbury has been compiled from notes

kindly supplied by the Rev. W. T Blight, B.A., B.D. To all who have helped in piecing

together the following story, I wish to express my thanks.

W. A. CHAMBERS

Woodend, North Canterbury.



CONTENTS

PREFACE

THE WESLEYAN MAORI MISSION IN CANTERBURY.

Waikouaiti Mission

Cloudy Bay Mission

The System of Native Teachers

Taawao

Hoepa

at Port Levy..

The Rev. Charles Creed's Visit

The Rev. James Watkins Visit

Te Kote Ratou

The Present Policy Inaugurated

Subsequent Appointments.

THE CANTERBURY WESLEYAN CIRCUIT AND ITS DIVISIONS

Early Methodist Families and their Endeavours

The Rev. W Kirk's Visit

The Appointment and Work of the Rev. John Aldred

The High Street Church

Relations with the Anglican and Presbyterian Churches

The Rev. James Buller

The West Coast Visited and opened to Methodism

Durham Street Church

The Division of the Circuit

West Coast

Kaiapoi

Springston

Lyttelton

St Albans

Colombo Road Church

The First Sunday School Returns

East Belt Church

The Rev. Alexander Reid

Subsequent Extension.

THE WESLEYAN DAY SCHOOLS.

Education by the Church

The Wesleyan Schools

Finance and Control

The School Committees of 1864

Difficulties



Curriculum

Achievements

The Decline of the Wesleyan Schools.

THE UNITED METHODIST FREE CHURCH IN CANTERBURY

The Beginnings in Rangiora

Beginnings in Christchurch

The Rev Matthew Baxter

The Rev. Samuel Macfarlane

Prominent Laymen

Strength at time of Union.

THE BIBLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN CANTERBURY

Mr E. Reed

Early Setbacks

The Rev J. Orchard

The District Meeting

Stationing Sheet for 1892

Strength at Time of Union.

THE PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHURCH IN CANTERBURY

Early Efforts

Early Preachers

The Rev. R. Ward

Greendale District

Cambridge Terrace Church

Timaru

Circuit

Ashburton Occupied

Central Disturbances.

THE UNION PERIOD AND SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENT IN CANTERBURY.

The Reasons for Union

The Wesleyan Union of 1896

Circuit Boundaries Fixed

The General Methodist Union of 1896

The Strength of the United Church

Extension of the Union Period.

THE CONNEXIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS OF NORTH

CANTERBURY METHODISM.

The Theological College

The Connexional Fire Insurance Fund

Deaconess House

Papanui Orphanage and Children's Home

Epworth Chambers

Permanent Camp Sites.



THE DEVELOPMENT OF METHODISM IN SOUTH CANTERBURY.

Spontaneous Beginnings in Timaru, Waimate, Temuka

The First Circuit Formed

Ashburton Circuit

Willowby Circuit

Temuka Circuit

Waimate Circuit

Subsequent Development of Bank Street and Woodlands Street Circuits

Present Strength.

THE FORWARD MOVEMENT

APPENDICES.

Chairmen of the Canterbury Districts.

Methodist Churches in North Canterbury with the Dates of their Erection,

etc.

Methodist Churches in South Canterbury with the Dates of their Erection,

etc.



THE WESLEYAN MAORI MISSION DAYS IN

CANTERBURY

Now, almost a hundred years since the old Ngai-Tahus have ceased to traverse the

forested bush paths of northern Canterbury, or splash through the swamp tracks

leading to the broad tree-less plains to the south or clamber over the dry, boulder-

strewn river beds up the hills in search of the precious greenstone, a number of

European scholars are interesting themselves in the adzes and trinkets these folk lost

by the wayside and never recovered. Today they help mark the trails of these ceaseless

Stone Age travellers. Further south a number of rock drawings found in the sheltering

limestone caves mark their routes. But in the north, piles of pipi shells a day's march

distant, bear witness to customary camping places; rock-strewn fields around

Woodend mark the long undug kumara beds of the Kaiapohia Pah; and low mounds at

Omihi and Waikuku, tradition has it, cover the bleached bones of Te Rauparaha's

slaughtered enemies. Over stream and river, through swamp and bush, and over the

parched acres of Mid-Canterbury the trails led to almost every part of the South Island

Hardly a part was not traversed at some time by dusky adventurers in search of food,

or greenstone, or revenge, or perhaps the happy tears of reunion after years of

separation.

Over one of these now ill-defined trails the Gospel first came to Canterbury on the lips

of a Wesleyan Native Christian called Taawao. Later he was baptised under the name

of Rawiri Kingi by the Rev. James Watkin on January 22, 1843.

Sketch Map of Port Levy showing location of

Wesleyan and Anglican Churches.



On the West Coast, Taawao had been instructed in Christian belief and practice by a

Ngapuhi among whom Wesleyan missionaries had laboured since the year 1822. It

was while visiting the Port Levy natives and other villages along the route that he gave

the Canterbury natives their first knowledge of Christ. This happened in the year 1839

or 1840, and was part of a period of several years when "Native Missionaries. ... who

had received instruction in the Northern Island, arrived from time to time, and being

listened to wherever they went, became the medium of spreading rapidly (though

often mixed with error) the doctrines of Christianity." (Dr. Shortland, Native Affairs,

South Island Official Reports, Volume 2.)

In the latter year, the Rev. James Watkin began the first mission of any denomination

in the South Isalnd. Landing at Waikouaiti from John Jones' brig "Regia" on May 16,

1840, he set to work to counteract the evil influences of resident whalers and to win

the natives from their European vices. It was not until months of heart-breaking labour

had been put into the Mission that any considerable fruits were gathered. On June 9,

1841, the first marriages were celebrated and on January 27, 1841, the first baptism on

profession of faith was registered. In December of the same year the Rev. Samuel

Ironside, another Wesleyan Missionary, took up residence at Cloudy Bay at a place

called Ngakuta or "Pisgah Vale" as he preferred to call it. He had no John Jones to

take an interest in the Mission, nor had he any evil European influences to counteract,

for he studiously selected a site away from the whaling station established in Cloudy

Bay in 1827, preferring isolation from European companionship if thereby the work of

spreading the Gospel could flourish. This Mission met with almost Pentecostal

success and influenced most of the other hapus in the South Island.

The area missioned by Ironside extended from Cook Strait to the Waitaki River and

Watkin's field lay between Stewart Island and Ironside's southern boundary. After the

Wairau Massacre the majority of Ironside's people determined to return to the North

Island to protect TeRauparaha in the event of war being made upon him. This mass

migration of the native population wrecked the Cloudy Bay Mission. Ironside was

withdrawn to Wellington, and the Natives in the stretch of land from the Seaward

Kaikoura Mountains to the Waitaki River were transferred to James Watkins' pastoral

care.

Between the two Mission Stations of Waikouaiti and Cloudy Bay the Canterbury

Plains stretched out as a vast no-man's-land seldom visited by the clergymen resident

at either extremity of the Island. Other duties compelled them to remain nearer home.

Experience had taught them that the success of their work depen-ded on building up a

strong centre from which spiritual power could radiate out to the remoter parts. Thus

great stress was laid upon the instruction which the Missionary himself could give.

Old men and youths gathered in Watkin's kitchen on the long winter evenings, and

Watkin's young sons helped full-grown chiefs to acquire a mastery of the three R's.

The same kind of work went on at "Pisgah Vale" and within two years bands of Native



preachers were visiting and preaching in every village down the whole length of the

East Coast.

On several occasions the Rev. James Watkin records in his Journal the presence of

Cloudy Bay Native Teachers at his Station. Sometimes they brought Testaments with

them to relieve the acute shortage of these in the South. Letters were exchanged

between these two close friends by means of the Teachers, and on occasion Cloudy

Bay Teachers were lent to Watkin to help him in this uphill work. On June 19, 1843,

Watkin reports in a letter to Ironside that his natives had arrived, and on July 9 of the

same year records in his Journal:

"In the afternoon Josiah (one of Mr Ironside's people) read prayers, and

Thompson (Tamihana) a teacher connected with the Church Mission, made some

remarks on the Rich Man and and Lazarus. ....."

The coverage thus given by a system of Native Teachers was immense. Every village

in the area had some sort of connection with the Mission so that when the Rev. J. F. H

Wohlers was urged by Mr. Tuckett to establish his Mission on Banks Peninsula.

Wohlers refused simply because there was no need to compete with a work already

being done.

In the more important centres of Maori population a resident Native Teacher was

stationed. It was his duty to prepare the people among whom he worked for the

Sacrament of Baptism and to impart such elementary education as he himself

possessed In Canterbury the main Maori villages during the 1840's were Port Levy

and Te Wairuati. There were other Native communities at Waimakariri Port Cooper,

Akaroa, Wainui, Peraki, Taumutu Pigeon Bay, Rapaki, Timaru and Waitaki, but when

it is remembered that out of a total population of 638 about 300 lived at Port Levy,

some idea of the smallness of the other places can be gauged. It was to Port Levy that

Te Rauparaha honourably returned his Ngai Tahu slaves. It was in Port Levy also that

Tamihana set up a school for the benefit of his father's enemies. It was to Port Levy

also that Taawao came as the first herald of the Gospel, where also he settled after

being admitted to the status of a Native Teacher. From the same place came Hoepa

(Joseph) as a candidate for Baptism. On January 10, 1842 the sacred rite was

administered at Waikouaiti and to Port Levy he returned to join Taawao in his Mission

work. In a letter to the General Secretaries in London dated February 5, 1842, James

Watkin says of Hoepa:

"At Port Levy there is a young man whom I have baptised and provided with

books, and he is very useful as a Teacher. Numbers have learned to read or are

doing so. He has been the principal check to Popery down there, which is

certainly not in good savour in this Island. Some of the honour of which I can

claim."



The Memorial Cairn, Port Levy, dedicated on Sept 2 1950

No doubt it was through Hoepa's work that Watkin entered in his journal:

"I baptised a number of natives from the neighbourhood of Banks Peninsula."

Under the influence of Taawao and Hoepa this native village became a strong centre

of Wesleyan Methodism. By 1844 it was strong enough to make it worth the Rev.

Charles Creed's effort to reach it while the Deborah lay at anchor in Port Cooper over

the weekend. Having been invited by the natives to preach there on the Sabbath he set

out with the Rev. J. F. H. Wohlers but, being enveloped in one of the Peninsula's fast-

rising fogs was lost on the hillsides and only reached Port Cooper the following

Wednesday in a state of exhaustion and general dilapidation.

On September 29, in the following year, the Rev. Charles Creed came to Canterbury

in the course of one of his apostolic preaching tours. After preaching to the natives at

Akaroa and marrying a native couple, he crossed the bay at 9 a.m., called on the Hays

at Pigeon Bay, then tramped over the mountains between Pigeon Bay and Port Levy

arriving there a little after sunset. There he remained for six days preaching every

morning to the natives and in the evening conducting occasional services, examining

the progress of the scholars under the tuition of the Native Teacher, making



arrangements for worship, organizing classes, questioning the people and answering

their questions. In addition he buried a native woman who had died two days after his

arrival, visited the sick, and on Sunday, October 5, baptised 19 adults and ten children

married three Europeans to native women, baptised three of their children, and united

in holy wedlock, nine native couples. Before leaving the following day he baptised

one adult and one half-caste child, then set out over the mountains for Port Cooper.

Taawao, later baptized under the name of Rawiri Kingi,

and pioneer Wesleyan Christian teacher to the Canterbury Maoris.

Concerning the Peninsula at that time Creed records:—

"My mind is deeply affected by the destitute state of the people on Bank's

Peninsula and the neighbourhood. There are about 300 natives residing at Port

Levy, and from 150 to 200 at all the other villages in this part of the district, and

were it not for the more powerful claims of other places I should recommend that

a Missionary, or at least an Assistant Missionary, be stationed at Port Levy.

There are two principal Karakias at this place, that of the Wesleyans and that of

the Church of England. The cause of Pikopo (The Romish Bishop) has nearly

dwindled into nothing. At Port Cooper I called on some Europeans whom I

exhorted to return to God with the purpose of heart. At sunset the boat came

round from Port Levy with my things and my three travelling natives; we crossed

over the Port to Rapaki, a small village, where we found a few natives, with

whom I held Divine Service.”



While at Port Levy, Creed wrote to "the chief and his people at Poutini on the West

Coast, nearly in the same latitude as Banks

Peninsula." These people had been waiting for nearly two years for a missionary to

visit them. Unable to go to Poutini on this occasion, Creed wrote, sent Testaments,

and resolved that if no other missionary had gone before this time next year he himself

would undertake the seven or eight day's journey. Whether he did so or not it is

difficult to determine.

On his homeward journey Creed visited the settlements at Taumutu, Tewaiateruati, ("a

village of about 80 souls", where he baptised eleven adults and children and baptised

and married others the following day), Timaru, Makihiki and a small village on the

Waitaki river, arriving back at Waikouaiti on October 24, after an absence of 33 days.

Besides Taawao and Hoepa another Native Teacher in the Canterbury area was very

probably Merehikereka Hape, who was baptised on September 10, 1843. For a time he

witnessed at Temuka and elsewhere, and so commended himself to the Anglican

Communion.

Thus the area was covered, and considering that Native Teachers so recently won

from savagery to Christ were doing the work, it was done very efficiently. However

both Watkin and Creed recognised that Native Teachers were no substitutes for a

Missionary, and though the need was quickly seen nothing could be done as larger

centres of native population in the Northern Island had more urgent claims.

Maori Church, Rapaki, where Methodist services have long been held.



In 1851, the supervision of the Canterbury Maori Mission was transferred from

Waikouaiti to Wellington from whence the Rev. James Watkin came to resume for a

short period, the work he had done so much to establish from 1840 onwards. His visit

lasted from October 12, to October 31, during which time he baptised 69 Maoris and

11 Europeans. The Maori Baptisms may be mentioned as they show the progress of

his travels.

October 12 9 Maoris at Rapaki.

13 Maoris at Wakaori. '

19 5 Maoris at Wakaori.

4 White children of Mr Ebenezer Hay.

23 3 Maoris at Pigeon Bay

26 1 White child, Emma Nankivell at Lyttelton.

26 8 Maoris at Taumutu.

28 18 Maoris at Kaiapoi.

30 6 White children at Lyttelton.

31 4 Maoris of Port Albert.

Nearly all of these natives were Catechumens, so the work of the Native Teachers was

still being carried on at this date. However the question of Pakeha supervision was a

vexed one. Absentee Superintendents paying occasional visits, or visits from

missionaries who were passing through, were hardly enough to carry on the work, so

that when the Rev. John Aldred was appointed to the Canterbury Circuit at the urgent

request of the recently arrived Methodist Immigrants, the Maori work was also handed

over to him. In the six years of his pastorate in Canterbury, John Aldred baptized only

forty-two natives, and James Buller who followed him in 1860, baptized twenty-nine

in five years. In 1857, the Wesleyan native hearers of the Gospel numbered 180 and

rose in 1864, to 250. In the former year there were six native preaching places and

seven unpaid Local Preachers. In spite of this the number of accredited Church

Members numbered only 30. Thus the work continued until 1861, when two native

chapels were erected, and the number of "other preaching places" was consequently

reduced to five. During the same period the European membership jumped from 67 to

320 and it became obvious that with large-scale immigration in full swing, no

minister, even an itinerant such as Aldred or Buller, could cope with the requirements

of both races. Hence it was decided by the Sydney Conference of 1865 that Te Kote,

an experienced and fully qualified Native Assistant Missionary should take over the

newly created Maori Department in Christchurch and Hetaraka Warahi should follow

him in the work he had so ably begun in the Chatham Islands. Strangely enough,

although Te Kote was not appointed to the Maori Department in Christchurch until

1865, his Baptismal and Marriage records show that he performed these ceremonies at

Rapaki on January 18 and May 17, 1863; at Potiriwhi on January 4 1863; Akaroa on

September 17, 1864 and Wairewa on September 18, 1864, that is, prior to his official

appointment. To explain this, one can only suppose that he visited this area from the

Chatham's either to renew friendships, or to perform missionary duties.



Early in life, Te Kote had been taken prisoner by Te Rauparaha. With his parents he

lived in slavery at Porirua where he later became a Christian. After three years'

training at Three Kings' College under Principal Reid, he graduated in 1857 and was

appointed to the Chathams, where he remained until he removed to Rapaki to

undertake the Maori work in Canterbury and Otago.

During his residence at Rapaki, Te Kote occupied a small Parsonage which was built

on a sloping green lawn just over the creek from the Church and looking from the cliff

across the harbour to the distant hills. It was a cosy house in spite of its smallness and

on the 22 acres of land set aside as a reserve for the minister, Te Kote cultivated his

potatoes and kept his cows. Today only the neatly laid stones and the stone-faced

terraces mark the garden paths, while a small walnut tree still stands in the long-

neglected garden. From this cottage Te Kote set out to cover his wide pastoral area of

Canterbury and Otago and withal kept up correspondence with the Chatham Islanders

who, as late as 1874, still claimed to be Wesleyans although the Mission had lapsed at

the end of Hetaraka Warahi's term owing to the return of the majority of the natives to

their ancient tribal territories. While Te Kote was in residence at Rapaki the co-

operation between the Anglicans and Wesleyans in Maori work was exemplary. In

1864 St. Stephen's Anglican Church, Tuahiwi, was opened through the efforts of the

Rev. James Stack whose father had been connected with the Wesleyan Mission in

Hokianga. Te Kote and Stack were firm friends and helped each other in their

ministerial duties. When Te Kote was travelling in the South (which was once or twice

a year) Stack conducted divine worship at Rapaki, and when Stack was on pastoral

tour, Te Kote officiated at St. Stephen's. Wesleyans worshipped at St. Stephen's and

Anglicans at Rapaki and there was no barrier between them. It is a matter of regret

that the arrangement ceased with the death of the leaders. However the work went on,

and in the partial diary kept by the missionary there are recorded 248 baptisms and 23

marriages conducted by him in places as far distant as Otakou and Moerangi. Besides

this, two native Churches were opened—Rapaki on May 4, 1869 and "John Wesley"

Church, Taumutu, on March 7, 1885.

Owing to Te Kote's failing health and the deeply-mourned death of his wife, the work

became too much for him in his latter years and from 1887 the results became

apparent in his work From 1887 to 1895 the number of attendants at public worship

dropped from about 250 to 58, the number of preaching places from 5 to 1, Sunday

School teachers from 6 to 1, Sunday School scholars from 211 to 30, Sunday Schools

from 2 to 1, Local Preachers from 4 to 1, and members to as few as 8. It should be

remembered that these returns were for the Otago and Canterbury Provinces. In 1891,

Te Kote retired from the work but remained at Rapaki for some little time, and even

after returning from Wairarapa came back occasionally to conduct weddings and

baptisms among the people amongst whom he had laboured for nearly 26 years. His

latter days were spent in Greytown where he entered into rest on May 4, 1895 "after a

blameless life of seventy years, of which thirty-six were spent in the ministry". About



a fortnight before his death, Conference addressed a letter of sympathy to him in his

illness. His reply, which shows the spirit of unfailing faith is reprinted here. —

"Mr Daniel J. Murray,

To our fathers and brothers who are gathered together in one house, in the

house in which the Gospel of our Redeemer Jesus Christ, is preached. Dear

friends, dear fathers and dear brothers, greetings to you all. May the grace of

our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, be with us all. I have received your letter of

greetings to me, dated the 8th day of this month.

Dear friend, and all my beloved friends, greetings to you all who are

assembled in the preaching of the word of our Redeemer Jesus Christ. I am

very, very glad to have the pleasure of receiving such a nice letter from you

all. Yes, Jesus is my Shepherd and my Master, by day and by night, as all my

heart and soul is for my Redeemer, Jesus Christ. That is why I was so pleased

to get ^ such a loving letter from you one's. When I received you one s letter,

I felt that my Master and guide was by my side day and night. My saying

unto you one's is Turn your hearts towards our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

As he will always stay by us to show us and guide us by the right path.

These are my loving words to you all—From your aged

Te Kote Ratou."

Rev. Te Kote Ratou, Wesleyan Minister

to the Maori people of Canterbury and Otago Provinces from 1865 to 1892.



Only a fortnight later, Te Kote Ratou was gathered to his fathers, and in him passed

away "a most excellent Native Minister” as Canon Stack called him.

After Te Kote's retirement the Methodist Maori policy in the South Island was

extensively altered. The diminishing Maori population, the scattered nature of the

settlements and excessive travelling costs led to the adoption of the present system of

oversight. Each native settlement where Wesleyan influence was strong was

committed to the pastoral oversight of the neighbouring European Circuit—Rapaki, to

the Lyttelton Circuit; Taumutu to the Leeston Circuit; Kaiapoi to the Woodend

Circuit; and Arowhenua, to the Temuka Circuit. This arrangement was endorsed by

the Conference of 1892 in the following words:—

"That the Conference has heard with pleasure the proposals of the Canterbury

District to gradually incorporate the Maori Mission there with the European

work, and that the Superintendents of the Lyttelton, Temuka, Woodend and

Leeston Circuits be directed to give special attention to this.”

From 1892 until 1904 no permanent Maori appointment was made to the South Island.

At Rapaki, an aged Local Preacher named Hoani Wetere frequently occupied the

pulpit, and at Taumutu similar arrangements were probably made. In the latter year the

Rev. Neho Hemi Papakakura was appointed to Oraki his work being supervised by the

Chairman of the District through the Riverton Home Mission Station. For ten years he

remained in that area and was followed by the Rev Rakena Piripi who in 1916 was

transferred to Temuka, and in 1919 to Rapaki. By the Conference of 1921, the Rev.

Matarae Tauroa was appointed to continue the Rev. Rakena Piripi's work. From

Rapaki he travelled through the whole of the South Island and as a result of ten years'

continuous work, the Mission was flourishing. The number of members reached 215

in 1922, and the number of attendants at public worship had steadily increased to 500

people. In 1923 the Rev. Neho Hemi Papakakura was again appointed to the South

Island, but this arrangement lasted only one year, when the office of Travelling Agent

fell vacant.

Since then, the work in the South has devolved principally upon the neighbouring

European ministers, and such permanent work as has been done is largely due to their

efforts which have been supplemented by occasional visits from Maori workers in the

North. From January 23 to July 27, 1924, the Rev. W. Te R. Frazer of Taranaki visited

Glenavy, Moeraki, Otakou Heads, Temuka and Taumutu, baptizing eleven infants.

From May 17, 1925 to June 3, 1934, the Rev. Rakena P. Rakena conducted ten

baptisms in the same area. Visits have also been made by the late Rev. F. O. Haddon,

the Rev. E. Te Tuhi (the present Senior Maori Superintendent) and Sister Atawhai

Wilcox.

This policy is still in operation. At Rapaki, the Lyttelton minister conducts a monthly

service and the Deaconess House Trainees lead a Sunday School so that contact is



made every alternate Sunday. At Taumutu, the native people come under the care of

the Leeston minister who conducts a monthly service in the beautiful little church

which stands within sound of the sea and amid the tombstones of the departed faithful.

Temuka has oversight of the Arowhenua people, and Woodend, the few Methodist

folk in that area, while in Otago, a revival of the Maori work has occurred under the

thoughtful interest of the Rev. T. A. Pybus. To give cohesion to the work in the

individual Maori Churches, Sister Eleanor Dobby was stationed in Christchurch some

nine years ago. By letter and literature she has kept in close touch with 260 families

living in remote areas, and others not so distant she visits personally. Her friendly

approaches have been very welcome and many letters speak of the blessing she has

brought to the sick, crippled and worried people whom she has commended to Christ.

In spite of the increasing difficulties in the way of Maori Mission work today, the

work is still being carried on, and as long as Methodist people in Canterbury remain

true to John Wesley's dream of a 'World Parish', the Maori Mission at their very doors

will always be dear to their hearts.



THE CANTERBURY WESLEYAN CIRCUIT, AND ITS

DIVISIONS. 1853-1866.

By 1850 the Maori Mission in Canterbury was declining and it soon became apparent

that henceforth the Maori work would wane while the European work waxed in

strength as the Canterbury Settlement became established. It was the Rev. James

Watkin's belief that Port Cooper (Lyttelton) should have been occupied by a Wesleyan

missionary in 1843. This, however, did not eventuate, and the honour of being the first

resident ministers in Canterbury goes to the Pilgrim Clergy.

At the time of the promotion of the Canterbury Association in England, the cleavage

between the Church of England and Methodism was not complete. Many "Church

Methodists" received Holy Communion in the parish churches and presented their

children for Holy Baptism there also. Hence, although the Association required of all

intending emigrants a certificate of membership in the established Church, it was not

impossible for Methodists also to secure a passage in the First Four Ships. Among

those who did so were the Quaifes and Pattricks who came out on the "Cressy", Mr I.

W. Philpott and his brother and their families, the Bradleys, Howards, Cresswells,

Guilfords, Mr Broughton and Mrs Ritchie. These people soon discovered their

religious affinities and on settling in the new province requested the Rev. James

Watkin, then Superintendent of the Southern Mission in the Colony, to provide

ministerial services. When Watkin visited the settlement in October, 1851, he found

that the Wesleyans had not been inactive. On April 1, of that year in a room of their

little whare in Hagley Park, Mrs Quaife, assisted by Mr Pattrick, had opened the first

Sunday School on the Plains. Later in the year Mr Philpott rented a Maori whare for a

half crown per week, and thence the school was transferred. By the end of the year the

Hagley Park families were scattered abroad and the activities of the little school were

interrupted for a time until it was reorganized by the Quaife's at their new home in St.

Albans.

Watkin saw this work in progress. Besides visiting the Maori settlements of the

Peninsula, he held services in Dampiers Bay, Lyttelton, and also in Mr I. W. Philpott's

whare erected near the Riccarton Road. Mr Philpott's family, with Mr Broughton and

two others, constituted the first congregation. Before leaving, Mr Watkin arranged for

a Local Preacher, Mr Nankivell, to conduct an evening service in Lyttelton, which

appointment appeared for a time on the Wellington Plan. Prayer meetings were also

held in the St. Albans' area, in the houses of Messrs. Bradley, Quaife, Philpott or

Pattrick. To one of these came Mr Flavell, a Primitive Methodist. When it was

discovered that he was a Local Preacher in the Primitive Methodist Connexion he was

earnestly besought to preach, which he did in a house near the present Cashel Street

Bridge. These services were held regularly from October, 1852.



Meanwhile at the sectional District Meeting of the Southern part of New Zealand the

matter of taking up Canterbury as a centre of Wesleyan Methodism among Europeans

was being discussed. The proposal was that Mr Aldred should be appointed, and that

until a man from England arrived to take over the new Native Institution in

Wellington, Mr Creed of Waikouaiti should occupy the position and then proceed to

Canterbury to supervise the Maori Mission there. The Rev. Walter Lawry, then

Superintendent of the work in New Zealand, was hesitant to take such a step partly

because a sectional District Meeting had no power to do so, and partly because the

expense involved might prove an entire loss through the large-scale emigration from

Canterbury to the newly-discovered Australian goldfields. Consequently the matter

was left temporarily in abeyance. However, events moved more quickly than official

action. Through ill-health the Rev. Charles Creed returned to Wellington and the Rev.

William Kirk was sent to take over the Waikouaiti Mission Station. The schooner on

which Mr Kirk was travelling put into Lyttelton for repairs, and on it being known that

a Wesleyan minister was on board, the local Lyttelton and Christchurch Methodists

stressed the necessity of his remaining. James Watkin approved, and for nine months

Mr Kirk ministered to these two congregations, preaching in Lyttelton in the morning

and walking over the Bridle Path to minister in Christchurch in the evening.

During Mr Kirk's nine months residence in Christchurch. Mr Flavell was received as a

Local Preacher and was formally confirmed in his appointment as Class Leader.

Services were transferred to Mr Fergusson's carpenter's shop, built where the present

Council Chambers now stand. These two men, Kirk and Flavell, were kept continually

busy preaching in Christchurch and Lyttelton.

Soon after Mr Kirk's arrival, Mr Broughton, who had been converted through the

ministry of Messrs. Pattrick and Philpott, offered Mr Flavell a long lease of a section

in High Street for the erection of a Church. The town of 400 souls was canvassed for

subscriptions and a small weatherboard Church, 35 ft. by 20 ft. capable of seating half

the total population was erected. Mr Kirk was to have laid the foundation block, but,

owing to his ill-health, the honour was conferred upon Mr Flavell who had been

Treasurer of the Building Fund, Clerk of Works and general factotum. To celebrate

the event Mr Sutchffe offered the use of his livery stable in Cashel Street. This was

whitewashed and adorned with ferns, and used for a free tea-meeting for all-comers

About forty persons attended. Thus on August 25, 1853, Watkin was able to report to

the London Secretaries, "..... A very good work is going on at Christchurch. . . . "

In 1853 the Rev. J. Aldred was formally appointed to Canterbury but did not arrive in

Christchurch to take up his appointment until March 27, 1854. On the Easter Sunday

following his arrival that is April 16. he opened the High Street Church, reputed to be

the largest building in Christchurch at that date.



First Wesleyan Church, High Street, Christchurch in 1860.

(The building to the right, with square windows, is the original church, as enlarged) (from a sketch kindly loaned by the Canterbury Public Library)

The High Street Church and environs.

At this time the High Street Church was reputed to be the largest building in Christchurch.

For a time Mr Aldred resided at Lyttelton where a small Church costing £400 was

opened in St. David's Street, on March 4, 1855. The entire cost was met. Mr Kirk had

commenced services on Sunday afternoons at St. Albans and in the Riccarton village.

These were continued and the work extended. Kaiapol was visited, and a Sunday

School at High Street was opened, and at the end of eight months "the minister



officially reported that there were in the new Circuit, one Church and three other

preaching places four Sunday School teachers, two class leaders and thirty-eight

members. There were twenty Sunday School Scholars and 200 regular attendants on

public worship. The receipts had been: from ticket money, £5 10s. 6d., society class,

£5 17s 2d., two quarterly collections, £1 6s. 6d., making a total of £19 14s.11d

(Morley, "History of Methodism in New Zealand, page 412).

Rev. J. Aldred,

first Superintendent of the Canterbury Circuit, 1854-1859

Such progress was not made without overcoming considerable difficulties These arose

to a large extent through the clash of denominations as Wesleyans and Presbyterians

made their presence felt in a Church of England Settlement. The Deans and the Hays

had long preceeded the Canterbury Association in occupying the Plains, but one of

Godley's first actions, besides stopping work on the Lyttelton-Sumner Road, was to

call into question the validity of their land tenure at Riccarton and Pigeon Bay

respectively. Only an appeal to the Governor finally saved the situation for these

families. Clashes occured over the inclusion of an unbaptized child's grave in a

Church cemetery, and also over the question of cemeteries in general, so that in

several places a multiplicity of burial grounds exist even until today. Mrs Quaife was

threatened with citation before the Church courts because of her zeal in founding a

Sunday School. A clergyman instituted a boycott, which, however did not avail.

Under such circumstances the non-Episcopal Churches tended to befriend one another.

Thus, when the Rev. Charles Frazer landed from the Oriental he preached in the



Lyttelton Wesleyan Church, and the following Sunday preached both morning and

evening in the Christchurch Wesleyan Chapel.

The Standard newspaper reports:—

"We understand that the. Wesleyans have generously granted the

Presbyterians the use of each of their chapels in Lyttelton and Christchurch

until such time as their own Church shall be sufficiently advanced to be

available for public worship."

(St. Andrew's. Quoted from the "History of the Presbyterian Church in New

Zealand", Page 156, by Bev. J. Dickaon, M.A.)

The Presbyterian people returned the courtesy when at the opening of St. Andrew's

Church on February 1, 1857, the Rev. John Aldred was invited to assist.

In spite of these difficulties the work progressed. An extract from a letter to the Rev.

G. Osborne, dated December 17, 1856, sums up the position as Aldred saw it.

"You will be glad to know that our good work here is progressing. The close of

this year finds us in a better state in every respect than we were at its beginning.

Our receipts have increased considerably. Our number of hearers and scholars

has also increased and so have our church members. Looking at the very great

and well-known peculiarities of the place as a church settlement we have very

much to encourage.

This province is extensive, so much so that I cannot without aid work it

efficiently. We have not the shadow of an accredited Local Preacher in the

Province and our long-continued cry is still the same, let us have another man !"

The six years following 1854 were years of intense activity. Mr Aldred, being a

veteran of the Maori Mission and an itinerant of the older type, travelled extensively

visiting both Maoris and Europeans. Churches were established in Lyttelton and

Christchurch while societies operated in St. Albans, Papanui, Kaiapoi and Woodend.

Other places touched were Riccarton, Prebbleton, Heathcote, Lincoln, Pigeon Bay,

Port Levy, Rapaki, Akaroa, Lake Ellesmere, Rangiora Bush and Sumner, with natives

from as far away as Moeraki in the south and Kaikoura in the north coming to him for

baptism. In all he performed 305 Maori and European baptisms and united 63 Maori

and European couples in holy wedlock.

In 1859 additional ministerial staff was added to the Circuit when the Rev. William

Rowse took up residence at Lyttelton. Another valuable addition was that of the Rev.

Thomas Fisher, who arrived in Christchurch after having retired for health reasons

from the active work in England. For many years he gave his excellent leadership to

the Circuit in the capacity of Circuit Steward. Dr. Morley lists the Local Preachers of

this time as follows:— Messrs. Salter, Sharplin, Broughton, Connal, Dickinson, King,



Silvester, with Messrs. Treadwell, Hamilton and Hall on trial. Services were held each

Sunday morning and evening in Christchurch and Lyttelton, at Kaiapoi in the morning

and afternoon, at Papanui, Woodend and Riccarton in the afternoon and at Ellis's one

Sunday afternoon in three. The Conference returns for the Circuit in 1860 summed up

the position thus: Chapels 2; other Preaching Places 5; Native 5; Missionaries and

Assistant Missionaries 2; Day School Teachers 3; Sunday School Teachers 43; Local

Preachers 9; Native 6; Class Leaders 10; Full and Accredited Members 122; On Trial

4; Number of Sunday Schools 5; Number of Sunday School Scholars 109; Number of

Hearers 700; Native 150.

In April, 1860, the Rev. James Buller, also a veteran of the Maori Mission, followed

Aldred in the Canterbury Circuit. A man of excellent physique, superb horsemanship

and comprehensive vision, he was eminently fitted for the work to be done. Like

Aldred he itinerated widely and under his leadership the work spread like a prairie

fire. When he assumed the Superintendency the membership stood at 122; when he

left in 1865, it had soared to 588 with 75 "on trial". This rapid increase in membership

is accounted for in four ways-(1) Buller's comprehensive vision of the needs of the

Province. (2) His strongly evangelical preaching. (3) The initiative of laymen in

Church extension. (4) The absorption of immigrants as far as possible.

Rev. J. Buller who followed the Rev. J. Aldred in 1860

and pioneered the West Coast for Methodism in 1865.

Besides covering the already occupied ground by establishing regular rounds of

preaching to which he and his assistants adhered, Buller found time to visit the infant

Timaru in 1864. . . Seeing that the prospects were good, he sent the Rev. J. B.

Richardson into that area to establish a Circuit in South Canterbury. This proved to be

the beginning of the Timaru, Waimate and Temuka Circuits. In April, 1865, the needs



of the West Coast goldfields became apparent, and immediate action was again taken.

At the Quarterly Meeting on April 3 of that year, the following resolutions were

passed.

"It was resolved: that this meeting gratefully accepts the Rev. Mr Buller's offer to

visit the West Coast and to locate the Rev. G. S. Harper at Hokitika pending

arrangements to be made at the District Meeting."

"Resolved that this meeting sanctions the erection of a new Church at Hokitika

and one at Kanieri—West Coast."

To meet such needs, the Superintendent's absence was acquiesced in, a minister from

the Circuit was forfeited, and funds provided for the erection of two Churches. Under

the Rev. G. S Harper the work prospered considerably and the Canterbury Circuit

which formerly had included the West Coast, was divided into two Circuits,

Canterbury and Hokitika, in 1866.

Deep concern for the spiritual welfare of both men and Church is written on almost

every page of the Quarterly Meeting Minute Book. When a decrease from 409

members to 382 was reported in 1865 this concern is revealed in the following entry.

"This decrease was in part accounted for by the fact that several members

hitherto meeting with the Wesleyan Methodist Church had preferred joining the

"Methodist Free Church", which had been organised in Christchurch during the

Quarter '; but in some cases the meeting had to sorrow over backsliders from

God."

The following Quarter, the membership returns were 431 members with 105 on trial.

Furthermore, these increases were not confined to any particular society, but the

schedule revealed that the increase was made up by additions in almost all the

societies throughout the Circuit.

Throughout Buller's ministry, devoted laymen were keeping their eyes directed

towards the spiritual requirements of the South and East Town Belts, and Mr Jebson

was greatly concerned because immigrants from England became lost to the New

Zealand Wesleyan Church and the Church of God through lack of some means of

making contact with them upon arrival in the Colony. During this ministry permission

was granted for the erection of Churches on lower Lincoln Road, on land given by Mr

Rhodes; on Ferry Road; and in the Heathcote Valley (April 6, 1863); at St Albans and

Woodend (July 4, 1864); at Hokitika and Kanieri (April 3 1865); at Rangiora; at

Prebbleton on land offered by Mr Hodgsori (July 3, 1865); and at the Springs Station

on the Coal Track.

Buller's monument in the city is the present Durham Street Church, built during his

pastorate in Canterbury. The Foundation Stone was laid on January 28, 1864, by the

Superintendent of the Province, S. Bealy Esq. and on December 25 of the same year



the Rev. C. Frazer of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, and the Rev. James Buller

himself preached the opening sermons.

The present Durham Street Methodist Church

opened on Christmas Day 1864.

The old High Street Church had been advantageously sold, the proceeds thus forming

the nucleus of the £12,000 required for the land and buildings. After the opening, a

debt of £3,000 remained, which was liquidated in several years after paying interest at

the rate of 15—the then current rate. Another memorial also stands to his name, but it

is seldom seen because hidden in a dusty Quarterly Meeting Minute Book, on October

2, 1865, the following resolution was passed:—

"This meeting desires to convey to the Rev. James Buller its grateful recognition

of his pastorate during the periods of his labours among us, trusts that God will

continue to bless his further stay among us to the good of the Church, and that

wherever he may be called to labour in the future, he may be honoured of God in

turning many unto righteousness and in building up the Church in the faith and

knowledge of the Son of God."

Thus ended Buller's first ministry in Christchurch.



THE DIVISION OF THE CANTERBURY CIRCUIT—

1866—1895

James Buller extended the work which John Aldred pioneered. James Buller's

successor, the Rev. Thomas Buddle, also a veteran of the Maori Mission, consolidated

and organised the work accomplished by his predecessor. Even towards the end of

Buller's ministry it was being realized that the field of activity was too large for

intensive work to be carried on, and in Buddle's time the Canterbury Circuit was

divided into several Circuits, each with possibilities of further development.

The first division came in Buller's own time when the Hokitika Circuit was formed

and separated from Canterbury. This was in 1866, the year that Rolleston was taken

up as a preaching place. Permission was also granted for Churches to be erected at

West Melton and Raithby and the Springston Church was opened. The following year

the same permission was given to the Methodist people at Church Bush.

By this time the societies in the northern part of the Canterbury Circuit were

beginning to feel sufficiently strong to undertake the responsibility of spreading

Wesleyan influence north of the Waimakariri River. Thus the formation of a separate

Kaiapoi Circuit was mooted. The first proposal, that a Home Missionary should be

appointed to Kaiapoi, was decidedly rejected, but agreement was finally reached that,

when a minister was available, he should superintend the work in the proposed area.

This condition was fulfilled in 1868, when the Rev. J. B. Richardson was available.

With 167 members and five preaching places to take care of, and a grant of £60 to

commence the work, he began with abundant zeal and quickly laid the foundations of

practically all the Circuits north of the Waimakariri River.

It was the Kaiapoi Circuit that mothered the Woodend-Sefton, Rangiora and Ohoka

Circuits and to some extent the Hawarden Home Mission Station.

For the Canterbury Circuit Officials, separation did not mean loss of vision. To send

Kaiapoi on its way a fully-fledged, self-governing Circuit only meant that energy

hitherto directed to this part of the Province could be directed more to the city area

and the countryside south of Christchurch. The membership was cut back to 453 with

18 on trial, but progress was being made. In 1868, permission to erect Churches at St.

Albans and South-bridge was given, land was donated in the Malcolm District for a

Church and school, and eyes were kept on the Independent Methodist Church for

possible purchase, while Churches were opened at West Melton and Shirley. Mr Opie

came up as a candidate for the ministry, and the membership soared to 613 members

with 26 on trial in the Christchurch Circuit. Again the work was beginning to assume

too large proportions, and in April, 1869, a special committee was appointed by the

Quarterly Meeting "to consider the state of the Circuit generally as to its present and

future welfare." Nothing was done hurriedly. The present situation was carefully

reviewed especially in relation to Springston, Lyttelton and St. Albans. After mature



thought it was agreed on October 4, 1869, that Springston, Broadfields, Rolleston

West Melton, Templeton, Tai Tapu, Irwell, Southbridge, South Selwyn and Malvern

Hills should be constituted a separate Circuit. This was accordingly recommended to

the District Meeting and Conference, and took effect in 1870. This Circuit, now

known as Springston Circuit, has been the Kaiapoi of the South, for its Local

Preachers penetrated as far down as Seafield, where they commenced worship in part

of the present Ashburton Circuit, besides mothering the present Leeston Circuit and

the Tai Tapu Home Mission Station.

Such difficult years needed a man of supreme administrative gifts to control the

situation. Such gifts were Thomas Buddle's dedicated possession, and each Circuit he

sent on its way has played an honourable role in the subsequent development of

Methodism in Canterbury. Although these divisions left Christ-church Methodism

much weakened in numbers, yet under Mr Buddy's quiet evangelical preaching the

membership continued to increase so much that the Christchurch membership at the

time of his leaving the Circuit was only 78 members short of what the total Canterbury

Circuit membership had been when he assumed the Superintendency—and two

independent Circuits had been created in the meantime!

In such a work Mr Buddle was assisted by such laymen as Messrs. Garrick, Gould,

Turner, Cumberworth, Armitage, Salter and others who were no less devoted to Christ

and his Church than was their Pastor. Such men figure in the pages of the early

Quarterly Meeting Minute Books as men of great faith, wide vision liberality and

holiness of life. An example of their vision is recorded in the Minutes of July 4, 1870.

"Mr Harris reported that several gentlemen had purchased the property known

as the Independent Methodist Church,

Montreal Street, to be used either as a Lecture Hall or Church as the Quarterly

Meeting might decide, the Lay Preachers

Meeting having already decided to occupy it as a preaching station. The

Meeting almost unanimously decided that the

Church should hereafter be known as St. James Wesleyan Church."

This is only one example of their far-sighted vision and liberality.

Strong as the Circuit now undoubtedly was, there were still internal tensions that made

further sub-division desirable. Under the Rev. William Kirk, Lyttelton, which had

oversight of the Peninsula work, and St. Albans Circuit comprising St. Albans,

Papanui, Harewood Road, Knights Town and Shirley, both separated from the

Christchurch Circuit in 1871. Under the Revs. Kirk and Fitchett, the work was carried

on faithfully until the Rev. James Buller entered upon his second term in the Durham

Street Circuit. Having the rare ability to see the position in the town strategically,

Buller set about planning the work to meet the then apparent needs of the city. Thus



St. James Church was moved to Harper Street, New Town and re-opened on April 18,

1875. Two sections of land for a Church on the East side of the Town were purchased

by March in the same year, and by July it had been proposed in the Quarterly Meeting

that ":—

"This Meeting is of the opinion that some definite steps are necessary in order to

consolidate and extend our work on the South side of the town."

The Proposal was that the Waltham and Harper Street congregations should be united

in one central Church to be erected "near Mr Cumberworth's School"; that the second

minister should reside in the neighbourhood of Colombo Road, and that division of

the Circuit take place when the new Church was opened.

This work was not completed during Mr Buller's second ministry. The plans were laid

and the Church was prepared for the step.

The membership rose from 271 to 339, a system of lay pastoral visitation had been

established, and the responsibility of carrying a second married minister had been

accepted.

By 1876, the Rev. William Morley was Superintendent of the Christchurch Circuit. In

July of that year it was definitely decided to erect a new Church and parsonage on

Colombo Road at an estimated cost of £3,500, and when the building was complete

the proposed division of the Circuit was to be effected. Durham Street undertook to

make grants of £75 for the first year, £50 for the second, and £25 for the third year,

when it was considered that the Christchurch South Circuit should be securely

established. Thus the present Sydenham Church began its honourable history as a

separate Circuit. When this was complete, Durham Street, East Belt and Woolston

Church remained as the parent Circuit. A new Church extension Committee was set

up. In 1878 a section was acquired at Halswell while in the following year Woolston

was given permission to rebuild on Ferry Road. The present East Belt Church site,

with two houses on it was bought for £700. A better site for a Church was secured in

Heathcote Valley and land was purchased in Bingsland (Richmond). (Church Services

and a Sunday School were conducted in Methodist buildings at Avonside for many

years prior to the erection of the present East Belt Church in 1881—82. These

buildings were sold in 1870, but the right to continue using them for religious

purposes was generously granted by the purchaser.)

About this time the first Sunday School returns were reported to the Circuit Quarterly

Meeting. In 1874 the Denominational Day School system went out of existence, and it

was seen clearly that a compulsory system of secular education had to be off-set by a

much more thorough religious instruction of the young through the Sunday Schools. It

speaks well for the zeal of ministers and laymen that in 1887 there were over a

thousand children on the rolls of the Circuit. Durham Street had 440 scholars; Harper

Street 120; Waltham 220; Woolston 67; East Belt 160. This was not the peak period as



several years previously Durham Street had boasted over 500 scholars with 55

teachers conducting the School.

At the beginning of the eighth decade the East Belt Church was a flourishing society.

A proposal for a "new and enlarged Church" was mooted in 1880; in 1881 permission

was given to "enlarge the schoolroom at once"; and in December of the same year the

East Belt Trust was "requested and empowered to build a parsonage on the property

adjoining the Church." Progressiveness was reflected in other ways also. The Local

Preachers were complaining that they lacked preaching places in Addington and on

the Ferry Road. Woolston was seeking the appointment of a Home Missionary if a

suitable one were available. Special services were held in every preaching place in the

Circuit. The Church was taking stock of its spiritual resources and reaching out to win

men for Christ. Behind all this and giving inspiration to the Officers of each society,

was the Rev. Alexander Reid. "In the pulpit he was a veritable Boanerges. Never

losing the perfervid manner of his country's best orators, his utterances were strong

and vehement. While in private and in the sick room, he was tender and sympathetic,

his public denunciations of evil-doing, and his scorn of meanness or lack of principle

were most impressive" Thus Dr Morley describes the man who came out to New

Zealand to be the first Principal of the Three Kings Native Institution, and who soon

became one of the most powerful preachers of the Dominion in his day and

generation.

After his departure from the Durham Street Circuit in 1882, the strength of Durham

Street temporarily waned, but under the leadership of Revs. John J. Lewis, William

Morley and H. R. Dewsbury steady progress was sustained. In 1887 the Waltham

Church was reopened as a Mission; New Brighton was taken over from the St. Albans

Circuit and a Church opened there on January 1, 1889; Heathcote Valley School was

enlarged in 1890, Sumner services were commenced in 1891 through a generous

monetary grant of Messrs. Bowron Bros., Woolston secured the Services of a minister

in 1892; cottage meetings recommended in the Fendalton and Linwood areas in 1895,

in which year also Messrs. H. L. Blamires and W. Christian were recommended as

candidates for the ministry.

So the work grew. Yet as the years passed, more and more of the early ministers and

laymen of Canterbury Wesleyan Methodism passed away also. Mr E. Connal was

drowned in the "Tararua" in 1881. The Rev. Thomas Buddle died after a short illness

in 1883 and the Rev. James Buller a year later. Mr Dewsbury senior passed away in

1889 while Mr George Gould and the Rev. Alexander Reid went to receive the reward

of their labours in 1892. These men, with many others, had laboured together well not

only in bricks and mortar, but also in building their children and their neighbour's

children into the Church of Jesus Christ. The heritage they left was a Church well

governed spiritually aggressive and possessed of the conviction that God had even

greater things for her to do in the years yet unborn than had been accomplished in the

past.



These passing years brought strengthening to the Wesleyan Church to Canterbury.

They brought other Methodist Communions also to spread their witness in the new

land. Among them were the Bible Christian Church and the United Methodist Free

Church (both of which had their headquarters in Canterbury) and the Primitive

Methodist Connexion. As the four branches of Methodism worked side by side there

grew up the conviction that in New Zealand there should be but one Methodist

Church. This was partially effected in 1895 when the Wesleyans, Bible Christians and

United Free Methodists united under the name of the Wesleyan Church. It was

consummated in 1913 when the Primitive Methodists joined The Union and the united

Church became known as the Methodist Church of New Zealand. Attention will later

be given to the other Methodist Communions then working along with the Wesleyans.

In the meantime another phase of Wesleyan activity will be considered.

THE WESLEYAN DAY SCHOOLS

As Canterbury was to be a Church of England Settlement and the aim of the

Canterbury Association was to transplant into the colony a cross-section of English

life, it was only to be expected that for a time at least English institutions should

prevail in the new land. Thus from the beginning of the settlement until 1874 the

education of the young was in the hands either of private people or of the Churches. In

fact during this period, the Churches were encouraged by the Provincial Government

to undertake this work, and the major denominations. . . Anglican, Presbyterian,

Wesleyan and Roman Catholic. .. all had schools in the Province and received

Government Grants.

At the first Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Conference held in Sydney, 1855, the

following was put on record for the guidance of its ministers:—

"As the system of Day School Education varies in every colony, the Conference

recommends the Brethren and our Members in each District to avail themselves

to the utmost of all the means placed at their disposal, whether by the liberality

of our friends, or by grants from the Colonial Government to carry out Day

School Education on the principles of the Denomination to which they belong,

principles which we believe to be truly Scriptural, and so liberal as not

necessarily to exclude any of the Protestant community from the benefit of our

schools.

But in the case where the Legislature has established schools of a more general

character, in which to meet the objections of the other classes of the population,

mere extracts from the Holy Scriptures are permitted to be used, we recommend

our Brethren and friends to co-operate heartily with the Legislature in rendering

this less perfect mode of Education (so far as the religious element is concerned)

as efficient as possible. Much as we should prefer schools of a denominational

character, yet, considering the scattered conditions of the population and other



practical difficulties in the way of the Denominational system, we feel it our duty

to assist, to the utmost of our power, any system of Education which may be

established by the Colonial Legislatures."

But the Christchurch Wesleyans needed no such resolution of Conference to assist

matters. By 1853 a school-room 36ft. by 20ft. had already been built. By 1857, two

other rooms each 12ft. by 20ft. had been added. The cost of the whole undertaking

was in the vicinity of £800 or £900 of which £300 was apportioned from the

Government Grant, and the remainder was raised principally by private subscription,

the deficiency being made up from school fees. In other places of considerable

population other Wesleyan schools were commenced. St. Albans built m 1859 and

extended in 1862, Kaiapoi and Woodend followed suit in 1860 Upper Heathcote in

1862, while Lyttelton Wesleyan scholars first assembled in the Immigration Barracks

with other schools In all, seven Wesleyan Schools received Government Grants but

besides these, others (as at Rangiora) flourished for a time then died through lack of

finance. Unfortunately, nearly all trace of them has been lost. By 1864, besides these

seven Wesleyan Day Schools, there were nine Presbyterian schools, twenty-one

Church of England Schools, and twenty-two private Schools. These institutions were

charged with the educational responsibilities of the Province.

Mr John Cumberworth,

for many years headmaster of the Christchurch Wesleyan Day School.

In those days the financing of a school was no mean undertaking Sometimes a site was

donated by a devoted layman and on occasion the school buildings were erected by

residents of the district. But such arrangements were at most temporary, as some sites

were too small, and two at least of these district-built schools were unlined and thus

very cold m winter time. In any such undertaking the Provincial Government was



prepared to grant one third of the cost and the remainder had to be raised as easily as

possible. Tea meetings, collections and voluntary contributions all helped, but the

heaviness of the load can best be judged by the fact that in 1864 when all these

schools were operating the Methodist Church Membership, upon whom the bulk of

the responsibility rested, was only 320. Yet the work was willingly undertaken.

When the buildings were in order, they were vested in Trustees according to the

provisions of the model Deed and school Committees were elected, the

Superintendent of the Circuit being Chairman. This Local Committee received from

the Chnstchurch Committee (which acted as the Executive Committee) its allocation

of the Government Grant which, together with the fees of a shilling per scholar per

week and such moneys as were raised by local enterprise constituted the school's

receipts. When the schools were first opened it appears that all matters were handled

by the Central Committee known as the Educational Committee of the Canterbury

Circuit Quarterly Meeting. But after the Rev. J. Buller had waited upon the Chairman

of the Education Commission of 1864 it was agreed that the Wesleyans should receive

£156 per quarter plus the school fees and that the Church in its turn should appoint

sub-committees in each district in which the schools were placed. It is a matter for

regret that these sub-committees did not always function and became a subject of

complaint by the Board.



In 1864 the personnel of these sub-committees was as follows:-

CHRISTCHURCH

Rev. J. Buller, Messrs. Lane, Philpott, Hislop, King, Jebson, Rutland, Free,

Gould, Cowlishaw, Calvert, Garrick, Turner and Dewsbury.

LYTTELTON

Rev. J. Crump, Messrs. Alien, Reed, Tucker, England, K. England, May,

Olliver and Newnham.

ST. ALBANS

Rev. J. Buller, Messrs. Philpott, Salter, Cameron, Garrick, Quaife, Stewart and

Turner.

PAPANUI

Rev. J. Buller, Mersss. W. Reese, I. Reese, James Reece and I. W. Philpott.

KAIAPOI

Rev. J. Buller, Rev. J. Cannell, Messrs. Hall, Weston, Hills, Wyatt, Hayman, Wm.

Hall and Kite.

WOODEND

Rev. J. Buller, Rev. J. Cannell, Messrs. Booth, Atkinson, Wilson, Ayers and

Skevington.

In the same year the distribution of the Government Grant was:—

Christchurch £40 per Quarter.

Lyttelton £25 per Quarter.

Kaiapoi £25 per Quarter.

Woodend £20 per Quarter.

St. Albans £30 per Quarter.

Papanui £15 per Quarter.

Besides considering finance, the powers of the Central Committee were considerable.

It acquired the site of the Lyttelton school, controlled the erection of the school house,

and investigated the possibility of the introduction of masters from England. Later

these powers were in part delegated to the local committees but owing to the loss of

the Education Committee's Minute Book the relationship between the Central and

Local Committees will always be somewhat uncertain.

In spite of the enterprise and devotion that saw these schools erected, the troubles of

the promoters did not end when the buildings were opened. First there was the

difficulty of finding a suitable teacher. In 1864, only 7 out of the 46 teachers



employed in schools receiving Government Grants held any certificate. Then there

was the upkeep and equipment of the school, another purely local responsibility, and

as time went on and educational ideas changed, the expense of keeping abreast of the

times became an increasingly heavy burden. The need for education within the

Province was great. In some districts as many as 33 of the population could not read,

in others 10 could not write while in 1864 about one thousand six hundred children of

school age were not attending any school either because they were too poor to pay the

fees or their parents did not care. A restricted income meant that there was only a

small salary to offer any teacher, that a limited number of teachers could be employed,

there was deficient equipment in the school, that there was no reserve to keep

adjusting the school to new educational developments and no reserve to extend school

buildings. Under such circumstances the teacher's task was not easy, often being

complicated in other ways also. In some districts the harvest interrupted the school

routine. Sometimes there were schools of other denominations in the same locality and

this led to denominational rivalry. Occasionally a school building served as class

room, preaching place, Sunday School and teacher's lodgings. Such conditions would

not be tolerated today, but in spite of them the teaching generally was of a high

standard.

All of the Wesleyan Schools were classified as "Ordinary Schools" i.e. "those in

which there are children above the age of seven, fairly proficient in reading, writing

and arithmetic." The other types of schools then operating in the Province were

"Superior Schools" where the "ordinary branches of a liberal and commercial

education in the case of boys, and, in that of girls, modern languages, music and other

accomplishments form part of the regular course, and in which a higher scale of fees is

charged." and "Elementary Schools" "such as consist mainly of children below the age

of seven, and of the class generally called dame's or infant schools."

This illustrates the emphasis so far as secular instruction was concerned which was the

Board's main concern. But from the denominational point of view the emphasis was

religious. The Schools were for the children of Wesleyan parents although any

children were welcome to attend, and ample provision was made in the curriculum for

instruction in the Catechism, and Bible knowledge. The aim was not so much to

produce cleverness, as to develop Christian character. Hence we find the curriculum

weighted in this direction. In a survey of school curricula in the Province it was found

that 95.8% of the scholars received religious instruction, 94.7% were taught reading,

78.2% writing, 68% arithmetic, 66.4% Needlework, 44.5% Geography, 38.27%

Grammar, and English History 38.8%. These figures are not to be interpreted to mean

that denominationalism opposed virtue to knowledge. Both were recognised as

belonging to a well-balanced personality, and both showed in the achievements of the

schools. Christchurch Wesleyan, for example, the largest "Ordinary" school in

Christchurch, was constantly winning the admiration of Inspector Restell for both the

cleanliness and good conduct of its scholars and their scholastic attainments.



In 1866 the Provincial Government introduced a system of scholarships to encourage

teaching efficiency as well as to provide opportunities for a higher grade of education

for able scholars. In all there were six scholarships each to the value of £40; two were

open to all boys in the Province attending public and private schools, and four to all

boys below the age of eleven years attending District schools aided by the Board. In

the former examination the subjects examined were Classics, Mathematics, History

Sacred and Profane, Geography, English and English Composition. The latter was in

Reading, Spelling, Writing large texts and small hands, Arithmetic as far as compound

rules and reductions, English Grammar, English Composition, History, Sacred and

Profane and Geography.

Some of the questions in the preliminary Examination to the latter were:—

Bible (18 Questions)

1. Give an account of the taking of Jericho.

16. Why was Elymas struck blind?

18. What was the first miracle of healing performed by any of the apostles

after Christ's ascension?

English History (18 Questions)

1. What Roman General first determined Britain to be an island?

6. What Dane defeated Edmund Ironsides?

16. In what reign lived Commodore Anson?

Geography.

4. What river drains Lake Constance ?

5. And into what sea? 13. Kherson. . . Where is it? Where near? What is it

famous for?

In this particular examination the Wesleyan scholars secured eight places out of thirty-

eight entrants, the eighth scholar being twenty-third on the list. In 1869 out of thirty-

three to qualify six were Wesleyans and although none won the scholarship, George

Wedge was only seven marks behind the third boy and was awarded a prize of books

by the Board. In 1867, both John A. Caygill and Arthur J. Parson gained scholarships

for Christ College Grammar School. So the tradition continued down to the time when

Henry Kitchingman also took his place among scholarship holders at the Grammar

School.

The Christchurch Wesleyan School was not the only Wesleyan School to participate

in these examinations. Some from Kaiapoi, Lyttelton and Woodend in particular did

well, and although no scholarships came their way many of the scholars are mentioned

as recipients of Government prizes of books for diligence and progress.

By 1867 the denominational schools were at the height of their power, and foremost

among them was Christchurch Wesleyan under the Headmastership of Mr John

Cumberworth and the Chairmanship of the Rev. James Buller. After the school



examination of April 9, 1867, Inspector Restell reported to the Provincial

Government:—

"This is now the largest and most efficiently conducted of the Ordinary Schools.

The Master, Mr Cumberworth, is devoted to his work. He is assisted by his

daughter and another female assistant. The School excels in Bible Knowledge

and in general knowledge; the average throughout the school in arithmetic and

spelling is very fair. Several good papers were done during the examination.

Creditable copy books, satisfactory registers, a good time-table and a sufficiency

of books and apparatus make up the complement of this model school."

Shortly after, however, the same gentleman was writing:—

"A model school in each of the large towns is still a desideratum. ...With fewer

drawbacks than the rest, and with an organization of a more permanent and less

shifty character, the Christchurch Wesleyan School, perhaps, more nearly

approximates to this standard. It is certainly the one in which, in addition to the

liberality of its friends, the energy of successive teachers has helped to make it a

good example of a school well stocked with apparatus, maps, diagrams and

charts. But the newer schools in Country Education Districts, mostly offered the

best examples of good internal arrangements, and of a liberal supply of suitable

requisites at the cost of the residents."

This was the turn of the tide away from denominational schools. By this time the

Board had adopted the policy of establishing District Schools in country areas. These

gradually supplanted the denominational schools first in the country and finally in the

city itself. Abuses of the older system, its uneconomical nature from the Board's point

of view, and the inability of the Church schools to educate the increasing number of

children led to this action being taken. The following table illustrates the decline of the

denominational system and the establishment of the District Schools from the year

1863 to the year 1873.

Total No. Denominational No. of

Year Number of and Special Grant District

Schools Schools Schools

1863 32 28 4

1864 36 30 6

1865 31 21 10

1866 40 27 13

1867 46 29 16

1868 61 31 20

1869 66 30 26

1870 61 33 28

1871 69 32 37

1872 77 16 62

1873 79 8 71



At the last the collapse was rapid. Denominational competition with the Board schools

became impossible on a voluntary financial basis as all Board Grants were withdrawn.

The smaller school committees were the first to seek relief from their burdens. St.

Albans ceased to be a denominational school on September 30, 1872; Papanui was

reopened in the old building under Board control in the same year; Kaiapoi was paid

as a special grant school until March 14, 1873 and then taken over by the Board;

Christchurch Wesleyan went out of existence on March 31, 1873; Woodend moved

into the new Board school at the beginning of 1874. The day-school doors were shut

and its teachers sought employment elsewhere. So ended one of Canterbury

Methodism's first public ventures. Other denominations retained some of their

schools, though not without serious financial difficulties. Later some that were closed

have been re-opened, and the question still remains. ... Were we justified in closing

down entirely the Christchurch Wesleyan School? Should not Methodism then have

provided a higher education for its promising young men and women?



THE UNITED METHODIST FREE CHURCH IN

CANTERBURY 1860—1896

About the middle of last century there was a good deal of unrest amongst those who

were concerned about the constitutional reform of Methodism. The result was a

considerable secession of members from the Wesleyan Societies, and the formation of

the United Methodist Free Church.

The first meetings were held in the Baillie Street Chapel, Rochdale, on July 29, 1867.

In the years preceeding the uniting the Rev. Matthew Baxter had been President of the

Association and had used his versatility, tact and editorial power to establish the

Church through the following critical years. At that time the strength of the Church in

England was 39,968 members, 110 preachers, and 769 chapels. From this company of

Methodists Mr. George Booth came to New Zealand in the year 1860.

Settling in Rangiora, Mr Booth fell into company with Mr J. Cumberworth, a Local

Preacher, and with him formed the first Class Meeting. Several years later business

interests took Mr Booth to Christchurch where again his zeal led to the establishment

and opening of the first United Methodist Free Church in the Dominion on November

13, 1864. A week later the Sabbath School commenced in the Church situated in

Addington. The establishment of this cause led some families previously connected

with the Durham Street Church to withdraw from the Wesleyan fellowship as the

Minutes of the Quarterly Meeting read:—

"This decrease (in membership) was in part accounted for by the fact that several

members hitherto meeting with the Wesleyan Methodist Church had preferred

The Rev. M. Baxter,

first United

Methodist Free

Church Minister in

Canterbury,

1868-1874.



joining the "Methodist Free Church" which Church had been organized in

Christchurch during the Quarter."

There was room for both Churches in Christchurch, and each flourished. Shortly

afterwards the first minister arrived from England. He preached in Lyttelton where

two classes had been formed, but in spite of talent, unpopularity made his retirement

essential if the work was to prosper. On May 1, 1868, the Rev. Matthew Baxter, who

previously had been a Missionary in the West Indies, and later a prominent reformer

in the Methodist Church in England, arrived in Christchurch to superintend the work

of the Christchurch Circuit. This he did for six years. He gathered around him suitable

young men in a training class for the ministry, and, as opportunities arose, planned

extension work. Soon after, the Rev. J. White arrived in the Colony where he

established a circuit in the mining centre of Charlestown. Four years later the Rev. R.

Taylor established the work in Waipawa, the same year that Mr Redstone opened a

Church in Napier. Two years later again the Rev. G. H. Turner commenced in

Auckland to be followed by Mr Pendray's arrival in Christchurch to extend the work

to Oxford, Sheffield and other nearby places. In 1873 Westport was occupied and

services extended to Reefton, and all seemed well with the infant Connexion. But in

1874, Mr Baxter, suffering from a relaxed throat was forced to resign from the

ministry, and for nineteen years lived in retirement at Oxford helping the work as he

washable.

In the same year that Mr Baxter retired, his successor as Connexional Representative

and Superintendent of the Christ-church Circuit, the Rev. Samuel MacFarlane arrived.

Being a man at the height of his powers, and having twenty years' active ministry to

his credit in England, Mr MacFarlane sought to extend the work still further. During

his Superintendency a new Church was built in Courtney Place, Wellington. In 1876

the Grey Valley was opened up for preaching services. In 1877 Rangiora and Ashley

Bank were constituted a separate Circuit. In 1879, Addington, where a new school

was opened two years later, reached the same status, while in 1884, Richmond was

constituted a self-governing society. In 1886, Woodville was made a separate Circuit,

and in 1894 the Pahiatua Circuit was established. On June 1, 1884, a Sunday School

was opened at Ashley Bank on land given by Mr John Peach. The congregation

supplied the timber and Mr Thwaites turned the timber into a furnished building.

By the devoted labour of such laymen the work grew. Among the outstanding laymen

of the Connexion were Mr George Booth the pioneer founder "a man of deep piety, an

excellent class leader, and an enthusiastic Sunday School worker": Mr William

Bowron "one of the most fluent and eloquent local preachers the colony has ever

known": the Scott brothers, who materially aided the work of the Addington Circuit:

and Mr W. Flesher, a man of strong, independent views who was one of the earliest

organizers of the Richmond society. Besides such men in New Zealand, there was a

devoted benefactor in Liskeard, Cornwall, who, seeing the needs of the Colonial



Church, gave liberally to help building programmes in Christchurch, Wellington and

Napier.

n 1876, New Zealand was constituted a separate District. Mr MacFarlane was elected

Chairman for the first six years and remained the Connexional Representative until the

Wesleyan Union was consummated in 1896. At the 1896 District Meeting the

statistics were reported as follows: Churches 23: Other Preaching Places 6; Ministers

14; Local Preachers 34; Church Members 941; Sunday Schools 9; Sunday School

Teachers 208; Sunday School Scholars 1880; Attendants at Worship 2,143.

The Rev. S. MacFarlane,

who superintended the United Methodist Free Church work

in New Zealand from 1875-1896.

The first high hopes of the Rev. Matthew Baxter were not realized. Trust debts,

damage by storms and floods, the scattered nature of the places occupied, and the

overshadowing-influence of the Wesleyan Connexion all tended to make the work

difficult. Some of the ministers returned to England. Others joined larger Methodist

bodies. Still others remained devoted to the work lying at hand and were occasionally

refreshed by the arrival of new workers from England. In spite of the difficulties and

the slow progress, the work was well done and the Union of 1896 was stronger for the

years of patient work done by Ministers and laymen of this Connexion.



THE BIBLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN CANTERBURY

1877—1896

The first official representative of the Bible Christian Church arrived in Christchurch

in 1877, in the person of Mr Edward Reed, who had been commissioned by the British

Conference to locate Bible Christian families who had migrated to these shores. At the

request of friends he commenced services in the home of Mr Tregeagle, Conference

Street, and, as the numbers increased, later moved into a small, rented hall in

Worcester Street where services were held for the next twelve months. Not satisfied

with this Mr Reed extended the work to Addington and Templeton where small

Churches were erected.

As the work grew the members felt the need of a fully qualified minister, and

Conference, greatly heartened by Mr Reed's success, appointed the Rev. W. H. Keast

to the work. Unfortunately Mr Keast was of a consumptive tendency and the rigours

of colonial life proved too much for him. He passed to rest after only twelve months'

residence in New Zealand, during which time he had greatly endeared himself to his

people by his kindly and genial nature.

Mr Keast was followed by the Rev. John Crewes, an able and well informed speaker,

who set about the consolidation of the work already done. A site in Lower High Street

was purchased and the first Bible Christian Church in Christchurch was erected upon

it. Services were continued at Addington and Templeton while Prebbleton and

Kaiapoi were added to the list of preaching places. The Kaiapoi work was soon

discontinued and not taken up again until 1891. Ill health attended Mr Crewes also and

he was forced to resign temporarily from the work at Lower High Street.

All this was very vexing and discouraging for those who had set their hearts upon

establishing their mother Church in this country. Attempts in other parts of the country

were meeting with similar disappointments. For some time prior to Mr Crewes'

resignation the Rev. J. Wilson had been attempting to establish a Bible Christian cause

in Dunedin, but when Christchurch became vacant this very unprosperous work was

abandoned and Mr Wilson came to Christchurch. The Lower High Street Church was

embarrassed by financial difficulties and the Rev. F. W. Bourne's diary reveals how

this English Bible Christian Leader was grieved by the state of affairs then existing.

"I am much pained and am going to bed with rather a sad heart. When I think of

what the cause might be if all were thoroughly united, I am so distressed that my

only comfort and refuge is in prayer. Help, Lord!"

Help soon came. In 1886 a pastorate commenced in Christ-church which established

solidly the Bible Christian cause in Canterbury. In that year the Rev. John Orchard

was sent from Victoria to work the Christchurch Circuit and Superintend the Mission.

Mr Orchard was a forceful, genial character, quick to seize opportunities, utterly



without hesitation in seeking help, and possessed of a manner that gave his people a

personal interest through service in the work of the Church. Aided by a grant of £200

from the English Conference, Mr Orchard set about building a new Church on the

Lower High Street site. The cost was £1,080, the greater part of which was quickly

raised. In October of the same year a parsonage attached to the Church was opened at

a cost of about £600. During the same year the Bible Christian Magazine from which

most of the information herein contained has been indirectly derived, was

commenced.

The Rev. J. Orchard, whose energetic pastorate from 1886 to 1896,

did much to establish the Bible Christian Church in Canterbury.

The following year, 1887, when the Bible Christian population for New Zealand stood

at only 639, the Rev. Wm. Ready landed in Lyttelton. For ten months he assisted the

Rev J. Orchard in Christchurch with some considerable success, and in March, 1887

was sent out to Banks Peninsula to commence a mission there. The first night he spent

under the hedges and found shelter the following day with a kindly Roman Catholic

family whom he met as they went to Mass. The first services were to have been held

in the school but as no one arrived for worship on the first three Sundays when the bell

was rung, he took to the open road and to house-to-house visiting, meeting with

amazing success, and the year closed with the opening of the Little River Church on

December 30.

While Mr Ready was engaged in this work, Churches were opened at Belfast on

October 23, on land given by the Loan and Mercantile Agency Co. and at Halswell on

September 26. At both functions the Circuit Brass Band appeared as a very vocal

department of Church life. During 1888 a new Church was opened in Addington

where the Rev. J. Crewes had resumed his ministry, at Christchurch the foundation



stone of a new Church was laid on December 12, while on November 14 the Rev. W.

Grigg arrived from England to take up duties in Christchurch, which released Rev. J.

G. W. Ellis for the establishment of the Courtenay Mission.

Rev. W. Ready,

who founded the Bible Christian Church on Banks Peninsula.

During the following year further outposts were established. The Rev W Grigg was

stationed at Waikari, and services were commenced at Marshlands and Islington. The

new Lower High Street Church was completed during the same year the Rev. F

Quintrell (later Canon Quintrell) was appointed to Belfast where he was welcomed at

a coffee supper after the Quarterly Meeting, and the Rev. J. Orchard left New Zealand

to attend the 71st Conference of the Bible Christian Church in England. Tremendous

progress had been made in the establishment of the work in New Zealand, and amid

great applause he reported to the Conference that in the 26 years of his ministry he had

"never been laid aside for a single Sunday" and that during the same time "he had

superintended on the average the erection of one chapel, schoolroom or other building

every six months." Such was the drive of the man appointed from Victoria to establish

the work in New Zealand. Before this notable year closed the Rev. B. H. Ginger was

set aside by the British Conference for work in New Zealand, a new Church was

opened in Marshlands and the work resumed in Kaiapoi.

The visit to England marked the end of the Rev. John Orchard's Superintendency of

the Mission in New Zealand. By 1892 there were a number of agents in the field and it

was considered that the Superintendent's powers should be vested in a District

Meeting, and that the District should be divided into a number of Circuits! Thus the

first District Meeting was held in the Lower High Street Church on January 28, 1892,

when the Rev. J. Orchard was elected President. The first Stationing Sheet, printed

below shows how the stronghold of this Methodist denomination was in Canterbury

itself.



Christchurch, Rev. J. Orchard:

Addington, Rev. F. T. Read

Templeton, Rev. W. Grigg:

Belfast, Rev. F. Quintrell

Dunedin, Rev. W. Ready:

Wellington, Rev. J. Crewes

Cromwell, Rev. B. H. Ginger:

Palmerston North, Rev. J. G. W. Ellis:

Banks Peninsula, Supply:

Waikari, worked from Christchurch.

Six of the ten appointments were within the Canterbury Province.

The Stationing Sheet and Officers of Conference remained unchanged at the next

District Meeting. Mr Laurence Ryan was received as a candidate for the ministry and

sent to Way College, Adelaide, for theological training, the Rev. Arthur Mitchell was

received into the New Zealand work from Australia, and parsonages at Belfast,

Templeton and Waikari were opened. . . the latter on land given by Mr G. H. Moore

of Glenmark.

Meanwhile the feeling towards Methodist Union was gaining vocal expression. By

1894 the Rev. W. Ready's work in Dunedin had brought him to the forefront of

Methodist work in New Zealand and his own Communion elected him to the

Presidential chair in that year. Messrs. Beggs and Steven were accepted as candidates

for the ministry and several alterations were made in the Stationing Sheet. The

following year Mr Ready again occupied the Presidential Chair, and among his duties

welcomed deputations from the United Free Methodist and Wesleyan Communions

which declared their readiness for union. A Federal Council was set up to prepare the

basis of union, and at the District Meeting of 1896, representatives to the Uniting

Conference were appointed, viz. Revs. J. Orchard, W. Ready and W. Grigg, together

with Messrs. E. Read, J. Smith and J. Cock. An address to the Bible Christian

Conference in England was prepared, and Union in New Zealand effected. To this

Union the Bible Christian Church contributed 13 Churches, 29 other preaching places,

11 ordained ministers, 26 Local Preachers, 609 members, 872 Sunday School

Scholars, and 4,836 adherents. .. the work of only 19 years.



THE PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHURCH IN

CANTERBURY. 1860—1913

Primitive Methodism, like Wesleyan Methodism, began in Christchurch through

families discovering their religious affinities and banding together for Christian

fellowship. During the year 1860 Christchurch was brought under the notice of the

Primitive Methodist Connexion by such a group of people applying for ministerial

services. Owing to the unsettled conditions following the outbreak of the Taranaki

Maori War, the Mission Committee made no appointment, but the Rev. Joshua Smith

stationed in Wellington, took the Christchurch Society upon the Wellington Plan

under the heading "Wellington and Canterbury Mission, I860". The Christchurch

preachers listed on the plan were Messrs. Flavel and Lewis who were planned

alternately to conduct the Christchurch service on Sunday afternoons. During the same

year Mr Hugh Bennetts also arrived in Christchurch. Being a preacher from the

Brinkworth District in England and having a burning desire to see Primitive

Methodism established in Christchurch, he soon became the centre of a group of men

comprising Messrs De La Mare, Clarke and Cooper who formed themselves into a

society called "The Independent Methodist Church." For approximately twelve

months, services were held in a building in Market Place; Mr Bennetts being the chief

preacher. For a time the venture flourished, but as land became available in the

country districts, many of the members of the "Independent Methodist Church" left

the town to take up their holdings. For this reason the first attempt to establish

Primitive Methodism in Canterbury ended after twelve months' duration, yet,

wherever many of those first families settled they formed the nucleus of a society

from which a church later grew.

During the eight years which followed this first attempt to establish Primitive

Methodism in Canterbury, many immigrants were pouring into the country amongst

whom were several Primitive Methodist Preachers. These, with others, made the

second and more successful attempt to form a Primitive Methodist Church in the city

of their adoption. A small hall was rented in Manchester Street where the assembled

congregation was built up in faith and love by such preachers as Messrs. T. Cooper, H.

Bennetts, W. Leggott, E. Watkins, T. De La Mare, W. Thomas and J. Davidson. With

such preaching strength the infant society undertook extension work with comparative

ease, the first fields of labour being Papanui and Knights Town, which were missioned

with some success. At the latter place a Camp Meeting attended by 500 persons was

held and the prospects of establishing a society in that locality seemed bright.

The expectation of success was turned to bitter disappointment when the Wesleyans

opened a Church in Knights Town and gathered in the fruits of their labours.

Nothing daunted, the Primitive Methodist workers abandoned that field to commence

cottage meetings in the Colombo Road and Montreal Street areas. A Sunday School



was opened, the sacraments duly administered, and a plan of appointments published.

The non-appointment of a minister at this stage of the missions's development again

brought disappointment to the members of the society. Some left to join other

denominations.

Others moved out into the country areas. The mission again languished.

Meanwhile the stream of immigrants continued to flow into the Province. Messrs. J.

M. Bourne and C. Gamble arrived from the hearty fellowship of the Primitive Church

at Home, in December 1870 and brought new strength and hope to the fainting hearts

of the disappointed members in Christchurch. Soon the Manchester Street Hall was

too small to house the growing congregation, and new, larger premises were sought in

the Gloucester Street Temperance Hall. A sum of £60 was then collected to pay for

bringing out a minister from England, and a request was then forwarded for an

appointment to be made.

By the Conference of 1871, the Rev. R. Ward, then on a visit to England, was

appointed to Christchurch, which appointment he took up on his arrival from England

in November, 1872.

The Rev. R. Ward,

Superintendent of the Canterbury Primitive Methodist Church, 1871-1873

At the first Quarterly Meeting held on December 16, 1872, an extensive programme of

development was agreed upon. East Malvern, Kowai, Hororata, Kaiapoi, Addington,

Papanui, Avondale and Prebbleton appeared on the plan as under the care of the Rev.

Josiah Ward who has been called the "apostle of those distant places". At that same

Quarterly Meeting, it was reported that the membership in the society was twenty-five

with ten on trial; and that the Local Preachers were Messrs. T. Cooper T. De La Mare,



W. Thomas, E. Watkins, G. Rudd, W. Maidens, G. Newsome, H. Williams, and J. M.

Bourne with W. Parker as an Auxiliary.

Shortly before this first Quarterly Meeting at which it was agreed to mission outlying

places, Mr George Rudd had left Christchurch to live in Greendale. Within a week of

the Rev. R. Ward's arrival in Christchurch, however, Mr Rudd had interviewed his

minister to solicit ministerial services in that distant part of the Province. At first the

Rev. Josiah Ward visited the area monthly, then later extended his travels to

Waddington, Hororata and Kowai. Services were held mainly in schoolrooms, but

occasionally a sod whare or a blacksmith's shop had to be used as a meeting place.

The venture was fully justified.

The Rev.J. Ward, commonly known as “apostle of those distant places” who pioneered Primitive

Methodist country work in Canterbury.

Part of Mr. G. Rudd’s sod house, Greendale, in which the Rev. J. Ward preached in 1872.

In January, 1873 a hired Local Preacher, Mr Philip Hall, was appointed to the district

where he laboured zealously for one year during which time the membership rose



from 2 to 127. Such a congregation needed a separate place of worship. On April 17,

1873, permission to erect churches at Greendale and Waddington was granted. At

Waddington, Mr Gregory gave the use of 30 acres of land, Messrs. Gamble and

Gregory gave the seed, friends laboured, and the proceeds from the crop went into the

building fund. In such a spirit of glad co-operation these two churches were built.

During the same year two other forward movements were made. In the city itself the

Primitive Methodist Membership was still growing. When the Temperance Hall was

overcrowded, the theatre was hired and eventually the Oddfellow's Hall. Meanwhile a

section of land on Cambridge Terrace was purchased for £460 and upon it a church

was opened on June 8, 1873. Friends from Greendale and other country stations

contributed to the £906 cost, but even so, the remaining debt amounted to £699. Since

its erection, Cambridge Terrace Church has remained the centre of Primitive

Methodism in Canterbury and, from this scene of so many labours, spiritual power has

radiated out to the remotest parts of the extensive Circuit.

The present Cambridge Terrace Church,

until 1913 the headquarters of Primitive Methodism in Canterbury.

As this eventful year for Primitive Methodism drew to a close an application for the

Rev. J. Ward to visit Timaru for a month's mission, was granted. The mission month

extended into seven weeks; a society of 26 members was formed; a Sunday School

was organized; £180 was subscribed towards a Church building. All expenses of the

mission were easily defrayed as had been previously promised, and an application

went forward to Christchurch that Mr Ward be stationed in their midst. The December

Quarterly Meeting resolved:—



"That Mr Ward should return to Timaru; that Timaru should be made a separate

branch, with the following officers:_Branch

Steward, Mr Gibson; Superintendent of the Sunday School, Mr Leggott; and

that a branch Quarterly Meeting should be held in Timaru on March 2, 1874."

Never before in the history of Primitive Methodism had a station been so quickly

formed at so little cost to the Mission Fund!

The year closed with two Local Preachers being called out to supply Greendale and to

mission Kaiapoi at the request of Mr and Mrs Ellen who had recently arrived from

England.

As the Main Trunk Line pushed across the broad, tree-less plains to the south, so the

population drifted in that direction too. In 1874, Mr E. Watkins arrived in the

Ashburton Settlement where as yet no religious body held regular services. Meeting

with Mr Aston in the Immigration Barracks, Mr Watkins and his newly found friend

held the first Methodist Prayer Meeting among the tussocks and subsequently decided

to form a Primitive Methodist Society. Through the labours of these two men, services

in charge of a hired Local Preacher were commenced in the public school-room. Later

a section of the land was purchased and a place of worship erected upon it. The Rev.

B. J. Westbrook opened the building on November 14, 1876. This event was one of

great rejoicing, as the Primitive Methodist Church was the first sanctuary erected in

the township.

As the last quarter of the century dawned, all these places, namely, Greendale, Timaru

and Ashburton, were beginning to feel their strength. Greendale and Waddington

applied in 1876 to be constituted a separate station. In the same year the Rev. J. Sharp

was appointed to Ashburton-Geraldine, and the Rev. B. J. Westbrook to Christchurch.

Encouraging as these aspects of the work there, troubles within the town society led to

weakness and consequent reorganization. Kaiapoi, with other country preaching

places, had to be abandoned and not until peace reigned within the borders of the city

work, was it possible to venture farther afield. Mr Westbrook removed to Auckland,

being replaced by the Rev. W. Harris who, after a brief ministry in Christchurch,

returned to England. The Rev. W. Tinsley was appointed to Christchurch. Fresh

ground was broken in Phillipstown which after an early chequered career gained in

stability. The year 1878, however, ended with the Rev. W. Tinsley severing his

connection with the Primitive Methodist Church and joining the ranks of the

Wesleyan Ministry.

Such broken ministerial services did not make for satisfaction within the Church, yet

when the Rev. J. Glover was appointed to the station in 1879 there were three places

(Cambridge Terrace, Phillipstown and Bingsland) upon the plan, and during the

following year, Ashbourne and Sydenham took their places with the others. Following

this, it was found possible to re-open the work in Kaiapoi, and the year closed with the



erection of the Cambridge Terrace Parsonage on a section of land adjoining the

Church.

During 1883, Cambridge Terrace Church was blessed with a revival of interest in, and

devotion to the work of the Church. Meetings for prayer were convened each mid-day

and special services were conducted for several weeks. On Sunday afternoons open-

air services, which were attended by from 600 to 1,000 persons, were held.

Throughout the year the gracious work went on and its influence was felt in

Phillipstown, Kaiapoi Island and Belfast where the use of a room was generously

granted by the manager of the Freezing Works. By 1889, the Christchurch Circuit was

again reduced to two preaching places—Cambridge Terrace and Phillipstown. For a

time Kaiapoi and Belfast had flourished under the ministry of the Rev. J. Guy, then

the withdrawal of the main families so weakened the societies that it was deemed

advisable to discontinue the work. In September, 1890, the suburb of Newmarket

appeared on the plan with afternoon Sunday School and service, with a week-night

preaching service as well. This also, was discontinued after a year.

Later, extension work took place at Madras Street and Battersea Street, Sydenham, the

latter being closed and the congregation merging with that of the Wesleyan Church on

Colombo Road when union eventually took place in 1913.39



THE UNION PERIODS AND SUBSEQUENT

DEVELOPMENT. 1896—1913

The establishment of four different branches of the Methodist Church in New Zealand,

three of them having strong followings in Canterbury, often led to embarrasment.

Points of policy could not easily be explained; staff was wasted; local rivalries

developed, the common cause was weakened. Thus thoughtful minds m each of the

Communions turned towards the Union of Methodism in New Zealand. Being the

largest, and most firmly established body, Wesleyan Methodism was looked to for a

lead. In 1883, ministerial and lay representatives met in Christchurch to outline,

discuss and adopt a Basis of Union. Agreement was reached by the contracting bodies,

but as the plan included the secession of New Zealand Wesleyan Methodism from the

Australian General Conference, the scheme was vetoed by that body, and the

negotiations were discontinued. About a decade later the Primitive Methodists sought

to consummate a Union with the two smaller Methodist groups, the Bible Christians

and the United Free Methodists. But this also failed. In the meantime suggestions

made by New Zealand delegates in the General Wesleyan Conference were gradually

finding favour and a sentiment towards General Methodist Union in the Southern

hemisphere grew. Still the Wesleyans were looked to for a lead in the matter. In 1894,

the New Zealand Wesleyan Church was free to continue negotiations on a more

hopeful basis. The Primitive Methodists declined to associate themselves with the

movement but the other Churches met with the Wesleyans in a Federal Council where

full details of Trusts, Circuit and other Funds were tabled by the three Churches, and it

was resolved that there was no existing reason why Union could not be consummated.

At the New Zealand Conference of 1895, the matter was carried by 54 votes to 11. As

the United Free Methodist Annual Assembly and the Bible Christian Conference also

approved of the basis of Union, addresses to the parent bodies were prepared,

separation effected and Union in New Zealand ratified by an Act of the New Zealand

Legislature taking effect from April 1, 1896. The name of the United Church was to

remain Wesleyan until the Union became general in New Zealand by the inclusion of

the Primitive Branch of the Methodist Church.

The matter of the adjustment of local Circuit boundaries remained. The proposal of

the Federal Council was that the Durham Street Circuit should include the St. Asaph

Street Free Methodist and the Richmond Free Methodist Churches. This was agreed

to, but there followed an era in which the re-adjustment of Circuit boundaries was a

burning question. Commissions were set up in 1906, 1908, 1910 and 1912 when

something like a permanent settlement was arrived at. Finally it was decided that four

independent Circuits should be constituted, viz.

(1) Christchurch Central Mission, comprising Durham St.South, and High Street

Churches to which one minister should be appointed.



(2) Durham St. staffed by one minister.

(3) Christchurch East Circuit, composed of East Belt, Linwood, Richmond,

Windsor, Marshlands and New Brighton, to be staffed by one minister, two

Probationers, One Home Missionary.

(4) Woolston Circuit, comprising Woolston, Opawa, Heathcote, Sumner and

Redcliffs Churches, and staffed by one married Minister and one other agent.

This was adopted by the Conference. Thus three new Circuits were established each

Circuit separating "with the earnest desire to carry the spirit and devotion of the past

into the new conditions of the future." (Quarterly Meeting Minutes, April 10, 1913).

Unsettled as conditions undoubtedly were after the first Act of Union within the

borders of New Zealand Methodism, no false ideas as to the nature and purpose of the

Union were entertained.

"We must not expect in any blending of two forces immunity from the cares and

labours incident to life in this world and to aggressive work for Christ. We

combine not for rest but for work."

ran the 1896 Conference citation. So it was that even amidst the re-adjustment of

Circuit boundaries, extension work went forward and the internal efficiency of the

local Churches was fostered.

With a view to making the smaller Churches more efficient it was moved by the Rev.

H. R. Dewsbury that Messrs. A. F. Drayton, W. H. Seed and M. S. Brown form an

Inspection Commitee "to visit the Churches in the Circuit with a view to meeting the

officials and discussing with them ways and means for the more efficient working of

the respective Churches." This Committee had under its care especially, the growing

Churches such as Richmond, Linwood, Woolston and Windsor, and served the very

useful incidental purpose of acquainting the officials of the central Churches with the

problems of the small, growing Churches.

Several years prior to the Wesleyan Union of 1896, the Wesleyan Sunday School

Union came into existence, on March 10,1890. This body also had at its heart the

spiritual welfare of the Sunday Schools in the district. On December 3, 1911, it held a

census to discover what the attendances were in the Sunday Schools, and to enquire

into the relationship of Sunday School to Church attendance. It revealed that in 25

Sunday Schools 615 scholars had attended Church, that in 22 out of 25 a children's

hymn had been sung, and in 16 a children's address had been delivered. About this

time there were 1,456 scholars in the schools taught by about 140 teachers in the

Durham Street Circuit.

Other Census figures also caused some concern. The 1911 Census figures showed that

during the previous five years there had been an increase of 8 in the population and



during the same period a decrease of 1 in the number of adherents to Methodism. This

caused great concern, being possibly the first decline in member-ship and adherency

since the inception of the work in 1854. Like the Liverpool Conference the Brethren

went to prayer and followed with an examination of the spiritual condition of the

Churches, paying special attention to the "extension Churches" at Linwood and

Windsor. The result was that many changes were made in the internal working of the

Societies. A League of Worshipping Children and a League of Prayer were formed; a

system of Lay Pastors was established; Young People's Day was commenced;

attendance at Holy Communion was urged; Men's Meetings, along the lines of the

Brotherhood Movement in England, were fostered. Many of these are still in operation

today and through the years have served a very useful purpose in the work of the

Church.

In 1905 interest in the Union of Methodism in New Zealand again revived. Never was

the Act of Union of 1896 regarded as the end of the matter. Rather, the consummation

of the work begun then was always hoped for. Overtures towards this end were made

from time to time, even although a certain amount of rivalry existed between the two

branches of Methodism. Once, when the Wesleyans suggested friendly co-operation,

the Primitive Methodists replied "that it was friendly co-operation they sought but

were waiting for some evidences of it." Nevertheless, progress was made. When the

vote was taken the Cambridge Terrace Quarterly Meeting vote was 35 against Union

and 28 in favour of it. This was contrary to the Dominion Primitive Methodist result

which was much more favourable. . . the popular vote being 6 to 1 in favour.

Within the Wesleyan ranks the Quarterly Meeting votes recorded for the Union

numbered 1,411 with 11 against, and 42 neutral. Thus Union became a practical issue.

The Wesleyan Church separated from Australia on January 1, 1913. The Primitive

Methodist Connexion severed its overseas connections also and the Deed of Union

was signed in the Wellington Hall on Thursday evening, February 6, 1913, with His

Excellency the Governor General as chief witness. The statistics of the United Church

then were Members 22,000, Sunday School Scholars 30,000, Adherents 100,000,

Congregations 1,100.

Union celebrations were commenced in New Plymouth where the first Primitive

Methodist services in New Zealand were held. Then in each District, local

celebrations were organized. In Christchurch, on Sunday, May 11, an interchange of

pulpits among the ministers took place. The following Thursday, a united Tea Meeting

was held, followed by addresses from the President of Conference, the Rev. Samuel

Lawry, on "The Call to Evangelism in the United Church", by the Rev. C. H. Laws,

B.A. "On the Contribution of Methodism to the Life and Thought of the World", by

the Rev. J. Cocker "Methodism and Social Reform" and by Mr H. Holland, Mayor of

Christchurch, "The Layman's Place in the United Church." The choir was led by Mr E.

Firth, F.R.C.O. and an illuminated address was presented to Mr J. A. Flesher, for legal

services connected with the drawing up of the Deed of Union.



To meet the problems arising from the Union in Christchurch, the Rev. C. H. Laws,

B.A., organised a "School on Union" at which the Connexional Secretary, the Rev. S.

Lawry, outlined the various Circuit adjustments necessary in the District, and what

steps needed to be taken in the future for the expansion of the Church in the city and

suburbs of Christchurch. Many of the problems created by these acts of union even yet

are not completely solved, but the Union has worked well and the object of its

inception has been amply fulfilled.

Since then the work of the Church has proceeded quietly. Just after the turn of the

century, Methodist Foreign Mission work commenced in the Solomon Islands. To it

North Canterbury gave the first Missionary Doctor, Mr E. G. Sayers who was

dedicated to his work in the Sydenham Church on June 12, 1927. Through the years

Foreign Missions have been liberally supported by Canterbury and this year, 1949, the

Executive of the Methodist Women's Missionary Union is located in Christchurch.

From North Canterbury also, came the giants of the Temperance Movement, viz. The

Rev. L. M. Isitt and Mr T. E. Taylor, among others. Through the years a number of

new causes have been established as at Sumner (1900), Waikuku (1900), Durham

Street South (1901), Opawa (1907), Edgeware Road (1909), Dunsandel (1912),

Ellesmere (1911), Hawarden (1918), Cashmere (1922), Bryndwr (1925), Redcliffs

(1926), Beckenham (1929), Somerfield Street (1932), Wainoni (1937), Sockburn

(1943). Other places have been rebuilt in more durable materials. So the work has

continued, until today the District Statistics are:

Churches . . 63

Other Preaching Places. . 14

Schoolrooms . . 37

Parsonages. . 29

Ministers and Probationers. . 38

Home Missionaries. . 3

Deaconesses. . 2

Local Preachers . . 77

Members on the Roll. . 3952

Sunday School Scholars. . 3088

A casual observer, however, may be alarmed by the following survey of new causes

established, grouped according to the decades into which they fall.



Number of Churches established

Years. in Decades in North Canterbury Methodism

1850—59 3

1860—69 16

1870—79 31

1880—89 13

1890—99 8

1900—09 5

1910—19 3

1920—29 4

1930—39 2

1940—49 1

(These figures are compiled chiefly from the Wesley Historical Society (New

Zealand Branch) list of Significant Anniversaries. While these figure's may not

be complete, they do indicate the decades in which building expansion was

rapidly taking place.)

One might hastily draw the conclusion that Methodism is dying. But the facts show

that from 1880 onwards an internal consolidation was taking place in the Church to fit

it for further expansion. This consolidation took the form of Connexional and

Institutional progress, which is the subject of the next chapter.



THE CONNEXIONAL AND INSTITUTIONAL

PROGRESS OF CANTERBURY METHODISM

The Bible Christians, United Free Methodists, and the Primitive Methodists were still

busily establishing themselves in Canterbury when the Wesleyan Communion was

turning its thoughts to Connexional and Institutional matters. Being as old as the

Canterbury settlement itself, Wesleyan Methodism had a time lead of at least a decade

over any other Methodist body in the Province. This in turn meant that the Wesleyan

Societies were growing out of the problems of establishing themselves in particular

districts but were confronted with other and larger problems belonging to the whole

Church in New Zealand. Hence Institutional and Connexional advances were almost

wholly Wesleyan in origin but through the Unions of 1896 and 1913 their progress has

become the heritage of the Methodist Church of New Zealand.

The first venture was an experiment—and a failure. To such a Connexionally-minded

man as the Rev. James Buller the need for a Theological College for the training of the

ministry had long been apparent. The matter was to be discussed at the Conference of

1876. To bring the matter to Conference in practical form, the Durham Street

Quarterly Meeting resolved:-

"That this meeting is of the opinion that it is imperatively necessary that

provision should be made without any further delay for the systematic training of

the Ministry.

That for the purpose of enabling the Conference appointed to assemble in

January next, to take the initial steps towards the establishment of a Training

Institution within the Colony of New Zealand, by the appointment of a

Theological Professor, this meeting will make liberal grants in aid, provided one

half of the Sunday labours of such minister should be given to Christchurch First

Circuit."

Estimated Cost £ Estimated Receipts £

Stipend of Tutor 300 Furniture from

Connexional Funds 30 Invested Funds 200

Rent 80 Christchurch 150

Taxes 8 St. Albans 150

Travelling 20 Jubilee Money 12

Incidental for House 20 Collections once in each year

Sundries 42 throughout the Colony

Furniture 200 Subscriptions the balance

(From the Quarterly Meeting Minutes dated October 22, 1875).



This virtually meant that the Theological College was to be in Christchurch. Other

counsels prevailed however, and today Trinity Methodist Theological College stands

on the corner of Grafton and Carlton-Gore Roads, Auckland.

THE CONNEXIONAL FIRE INSURANCE FUND

The second venture had a stormier progress but a happier ending. The Waimate of

1877 was a thriving district in which five steam sawmills were operated by some of

the 1,400 people residing in the area. Many of these people were Wesleyans who had

built a Church there in 1865 and were now planning the erection of a parsonage and

seeking means to prevent loss through fire which was an ever present danger. The idea

of establishing a New Zealand Methodist Connexional Fire Insurance Department was

first introduced into the Conference of 1877 by Mr John Manchester of Waimate. It

was decided that the President, the Rev. John Crump, and the sponsor should confer

on the practicability of the matter. Recommendation was made that a Connexional

Fire Insurance Company be formed, a Board of Directors appointed and business

commence when guarantees of £3000 had been secured. The Provisional Directors

were the Revs John Crump (President of the Conference) William Morley (Secretary

of the Conference), Captain R. Wood, Messrs. John Manchester, George Gould, John

Ballantyne, Charles Welsey Turner J Wilford Smith, George H. Blackwell and John

Jackson. Before the Committee met on August 13, 1878, the great bush fire of that

year had destroyed the bush, the mills and the township of Waimate.

Mr. John Manchester, J.P.

whose foresight and courage largely contributed to the establishment of the Wesleyan Connexional

Fire Insurance Fund.

Meanwhile hopes for the realization of Mr Manchester's dream were high By

September, 1878, guarantees to the amount of £4035 had been secured. Then legal

difficulties arose. The matter halted. Through fourteen years Mr Manchester clung to

his vision showed its advantages, demonstrated its practicability and in 1892 had the



satisfaction of seeing Conference appoint another committee to investigate the whole

matter. The workings of such an enterprise in England were investigated, the legal

position was enquired into, and all being satisfactory, Conference empowered the

Committee to issue a provisional prospectus, and if the response was adequate to

proceed with an Act of Parliament in 1895 providing for an Connexional Fire

Insurance Company. Provision was made for the eventuality of Methodist Union.

(The Primitive Methodist Church possessed a Fire Insurance Fund which came

into operation in 1890. The Rev. C. E. Ward, Messrs. C. M. SX D Goldie, J

Bellringer, G. Froggatt and J. C. Thompson were the first Trustees, with Mr D.

Goldie acting as Secretary and Manager After Paying £1,000 to assist Primitive

Methodist Ministers to secure full benefits Fn the Superannuation Fund of the

United Church, the sum of £2 325 was transferred to the Fire Insurance Fund of

the United Church in 1913.)

In 1897 Conference adopted the proposal to form a Company with a capital of

£10,000 divided into 2,000 five pound shares. Once again the Committee appointed to

carry out the proposal, found it impracticable, so it presented to the 1898 Conference

an alternative plan which proved satisfactory, but to ensure the success of which,

Conference ruled that continuing guarantees amounting to not less than £4,000 be

obtained from Church members and adherents and that £2,000 be lent by the Church

Building and Loan Fund. By Conference time, 1899, guarantees amounting to £13,260

had been secured. The Rules and Regulations were then drafted. Today these remain

practically the same as on the day of the Fund's inception.

The first requests for insurance cover came from New Ply-mouth and Westport in

April, 1899. As the Company was not ready to commence business until May 1, in

that year, temporary local cover was arranged. The first Churches to actually transact

business were Blenheim, St. Albans and Oamaru. The initial Committee of

management consisted of the following:—the Revs. William Morley, D.D., William

Lee, Henry Bull, Messrs. William Harris, J. C. Prudhoe, G. J. Smith M.H.R., John

Jackson and John Manchester. By February, 1900, 175 Trusts had effected insurances.

Revenue amounted to £239 and after meeting incidental expenses there was a credit

balance of £114-18-6. Since then the Fund has grown until today the Annual Income

is approximately £3,600 and the assets almost £45,000. Through the years substantial

grants have been made to various Connexional Departments—the Deaconess

Institution, Church Sites Fund, Youth Department Trinity Theological College and

many other institutions to the extent of some £30,000. All these and many local

churches have benefited by the foresight of Mr John Manchester and his fellow

workers who laboured to make the dream come true.



CHURCH BUILDING AND LOAN FUND

Meanwhile, another fund had been quickly established to meet a more urgent need, the

relief of burdened Trusts. Although Wesleyan Law stipulated that no building could

be erected until two-thirds of the cost had been raised, nevertheless the rapidly

increasing population of the 1860's and 1870's seems to have induced many Trusts to

neglect the law in order to meet the spiritual needs of nearby communities. Several

rather alarming facts soon appeared. From Church Statistics Methodism possessed

more preaching places than Churches. Consolidation was needed but embarrassed

Trusts were now no longer prepared to add to their financial burdens. In addition,

those districts where Methodism was weakest were the districts in which debts were

heaviest, the total debt upon the Methodist Church of New Zealand being 26½% of

the whole cost. Further, to the embarrassment of the debt was added the burden of a

high rate of interest (e.g. Pitt Street Church, Auckland, set out to liquidate a debt of

£4,000 and realized that in twelve years the interest alone had amounted to more than

the mortgage.) Clearly, to relieve the Trusts of financial burdens was the only way to

facilitate the consolidation and extension of Methodism.

In 1872 a suggestion was made that a Church Building and Loan Fund should be

formed, but not until ten years later was any definite action taken. In that year the

following resolutions were passed by the Conference.

"That for the relief of burdened Trusts and to aid in new erections it is expedient

that a Church Building and Loan Fund be established with a capital of not less

than ten thousand pounds.

"That from this Fund, loans shall be granted to Trusts, repayable by instalments,

upon condition hereafter to be agreed upon, but no loan shall be granted until

two thousand pounds has been paid into the Fund.

"That the management of the Fund be entrusted to a committee of Ministers and

Laymen resident in the Canterbury district, such committee to be appointed

annually by the Conference."

The Interim Committee consisted of the Rev. W. Morley, Secretary of the Conference,

Messrs. W. Harris, J. Wilford Smith, H. Overton and Isaac Wilson. Convener, Rev.

W. Morley.

The obiect of the Committee was twofold. (1) To investigate the Rules of other

Building and Loan Funds and formulate Rules for the New Zealand Church, and (2)

To raise the stipulated capital of Ten Thousand Pounds.

With regard to the former duty, the English and various Australian models were

investigated, and the New Zealand Rules and Regulations were drafted and adopted by

the Conference of 1883 These remain today much as when originally drafted. In

connection with the latter, the Rev. William Morley threw himself into the work with



commendable zeal. Through the New Zealand "Wesleyan" the aims and advantages of

the Fund were widely circulated. This was followed by a visitation of nearly all

Circuits in the Auckland, Wanganui, Wellington and, Canterbury Otago Districts,

where public meetings were held, sermons preached and a personal canvass made. To

such effect was this work done that by the Conference of 1883, the subscriptions paid

or promised amounted to £6,657-16-0. Encouraged by this news the first Building and

Loan Fund Committee was appointed, viz., the General Secretary (the Rev W.

Morley), the Rev. J Crump, W J Williams, E. Best, Messrs. C. W. Turner, W. Harris,

J. Mouldey and W. Smith, with the General Secretary as Convener.

Since the original canvass, further amounts have been added to the capital of the Fund

from such sources as the Wesleyan Jubilee Fund (1892—1903) £3,678-6-9; The

Century Fund (1906— 1926) £6,144-11-1; the Primitive Methodist Jubilee Fund

(1913) £208-5-4 together with bequests from T. Emsley (1887) £1,500; H. Herbet

Wake (1904) £50; D. Graham (1918) £50; W. H. Duke (1931) £100; S. Lawry £50; G.

Winstone £1,000; T. Fee £50; W. G. Andrews £100; Donations £710.

The first loan was for £450 to the Ashburton Circuit to help in the erection of the

Parsonage. Subsequent early loans were arranged for Amberley, Gore, Paparoa and

Port Chalmers. Since the inception of the Fund, loans amounting to £182,817 have

been granted. Needless to say many burdened Trusts availed themselves of the relief

offered by the Church Building and Loan Fund, and the paralysis which threatened to

halt the Methodist witness in this country was remedied. While the New Zealand Fund

has not reached such proportions that, like its English counterpart, it can afford to

make free gifts as well as loans, such an ideal may yet one day be realized. In the

meantime the need for gift payments to establish Methodism in new housing areas has

been partially met through the Peace Thanksgiving Fund.

DEACONESS HOUSE

Shortly before the turn of the century, the Deaconess work was commenced. In 1897,

Conference asked that a Deaconess should be appointed to Durham Street for the

purpose of establishing a Deaconess Training House. To this work Sister Christian

Hughes was appointed. Gradually the work in Christchurch developed and other

Deaconesses were appointed to Wellington, Auckland and Dunedin. At the end of

1900 a small house situated in Barbadoes Street was taken, and Sister Christian and

one Probationer (Sister Elsie of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church) went into residence.

Two years later, Sister Christian returned to England and the work was discontinued

until 1906 when Sister Mabel Morley was appointed Deaconess to Durham Street. The

work that might be done by trained Christian women seeking a vocation in the Church

was only gradually realized. The vision had not yet caught the Methodist imagination.

At the Conference Missionary Breakfast of 1908, Sister Olive (Mrs W. J. Williams)

showed what had already been done, and what further opportunities lay at hand to be

seized by trained women. Realizing the worth of Sister Mabel Morley's work, a group



of Durham Street laymen led by Messrs. George Bowron and G. J. Smith, acquired a

St. Asaph Street property at a cost of £1,000, equipped it as a Deaconess Training

Institution, and handed over the Deed of Trust to the Durham Street Trust Board.

Difficult years followed. Caution was necessary. Yet the worth of the early

Deaconess's work was soon recognised.

"I don't think it is possible," wrote one layman, "to rightly assess the worth of our

Deaconess. As Sunday School Superintendent, I cannot too highly write of her

work as our visitor. The increase in our roll, and also average attendance, is

largely due to her. Our Cradle Roll is a monument to her untiring energy, and her

work among the poor and sick has won for her the affection and esteem of all

who know her."

In 1914 the policy was changed. Hitherto the Durham Street Deaconess had also been

Superintendent of the Training Institution. In the above year, when only six

Deaconesses had been trained, the dual position was dissolved, and application was

made to Wesley Deaconess College in England for a suitable person to take over the

work of the Training Institution and to be the official Methodist representative on the

public and philanthropic bodies in the city. On the recommendation of the warden of

Wesley Deaconess College, Sister Grace Crump was appointed to the position. Prior

to her arrival, ideas had been entertained for the extension of the buildings and

facilities already possessed in St. Asaph Street, but owing to their condition and the

unsuitability of the site the scheme was abandoned. Not until 1923 was any radical

change made, when the present larger premises in Latimer Square were acquired. The

Durham Street Trustees who provided the St. Asaph Street house, waived their claims

and donated the proceeds of the sale to the purchase of the new property. To this

building, dedicated on June 16, 1923, a new wing was added and opened on May 28,

1927.



Methodist Deaconess House, Latimer Square.

Since its inception, 66 young women have passed through the house 55 having been

dedicated to the work of God among the Maoris and Europeans of this Dominion or to

the Foreign Mission Field. In the training of these Sisters many able women such as

Sisters Christian Hughes, Mabel Morley, Grace Crump, Ruth Fawcett, Annie Tocker,

Mesdames Bowie, W. J. Williams, Misses E. Sewell, and D. Fairweather, have

assisted. Today, Mrs E. A. Linyard, M A. continues the work. Tutors have been drawn

from the ranks of ministers stationed in the city. The present lecturers being the Rev.

A. H. Fowles, H. E. Harkness M.A., B.D., J. S. Waite B.A., E. S. Hodinott and W. A.

Chambers B.A.

PAPANUI ORPHANAGE AND CHILDREN'S HOME

About the same time that the first Deaconess House was opened, the first Methodist

Orphanage in the city was also acquired. But the first steps were taken in 1899, when

from the "Century Fund" £400 was set aside to help solve the pressing problem of

needy children in the South Island. In 1901 a Wellington Committee was set up to

investigate ways and means of inaugurating such work. Not until 1912 was the matter

strenuously taken in hand. In that year a committee composed of the ministers, drawn

from Christchurch Circuits together with Messrs. G. Bowron, G. H. Blackwell, G.

Barrell, R. M. Cresswell, W. H. Down, J. A Flesher, L. M. Isitt M.P., J. C. Prudhoe, T.

T. Robson, Hon. G. J. Smith M.L.C., C. F. Salter, W. H. Seed, J. L. Scott and R. H.

Turner, was set up. It met on September 13, 1912, in the Durham Street Parlour with

the Rev. C. H. Laws B.A. in the chair and the Rev. H. Bull as convenor. On October

12, it recommended to the Conference that a South Island Orphanage be established,

as soon as annual subscriptions amounting to £500 had been received. On June 16,

1913, a canvass for funds was decided upon and different committee members

undertook to visit certain districts in the Island. Early in 1914, the Christchurch

Committee purchased a home on Papanui Road for £2,750, the house having fourteen

rooms situated on five acres of land. This building was re-designed by Mr Ray Lovell-

Smith so that thirty children could be accommodated quite comfortably. Sister Mabel

Morley was appointed Sister-in-Charge and Sister Dora Cherrie her assistant. On

April 25, 1914, the House was opened by Mrs H. Holland, six children being in

residence.

By June 30, twelve children were in residence. Two years later the roll had risen to 29.

By 1916, extension work was necessary, and when it was complete at the cost of

£1,850 the Home could accommodate fifty-six children. Nine years later again, a new

wing was added at a cost of £433, and in 1930 a bungalow to accommodate eight boys

was built. At that time there were seventy-two children being cared for.

With such a rapid increase in the number of inmates, it soon became apparent that

more commodious grounds and buildings would shortly be needed. Therefore, in



1924, the present site on Harewood Road was purchased. By 1930, plans for a new

orphanage had been prepared by Messrs. G. T. Lucas A.N.Z.I.A. and W. Melville

Lawry A.N.Z.I.A. and the estimated cost was about £19,137. On August 2 of that year

the building contract was let and the tender of Mr R. C. Jamieson was accepted. The

foundation stone of the Administration Block was laid on November 10, 1933, by His

Excellency, the Governor General, Lord Bledisloe, P.O., G.C.M.G., K.B.E., D.S.C.,

while the Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt F.R., Hist. S., laid the foundation stone of the Girls'

Block and Mrs J. A. Flesher that of the Boys' apartments. The whole of the building

operations were carried through without incident and the Home opened on November

9, 1934.

"When building operations were commenced in October of last year," said Mr

Bowron on the opening day, "we had accumulated funds to the extent of

£19,942, and to this amount has been added from the building subsidy and

legacies during the current year the sum of £2,740, thus making the total of

available cash, £22,682. Against this amount our actual payments to date have

been on account of buildings £19,003, grounds £666 and furnishings £717, a

total of £20,386. This leaves a balance still available of £2,296, but against that

we have ascertained liabilities still to be paid: on the building account £1,636,

grounds £484, and furnishings £200, a total of £2,320. Thus with a total

expenditure on our twelve acres of land and improvements, buildings and

furnishings of £26,680 we enter into possession of our beautiful property free of

debt. .. a great achievement. . . attained only by the generosity of so many

friends throughout the whole of the South Island during the past twenty years."

Truly it was a great achievement, thanks to Mr Geo. Bowron and the Committee that

acted with him.



The present Methodist Orphanage and Children’s Home, Papanui

EPWORTH CHAMBERS

Epwoth Chambers, Christchurch,

administrative centre of many Connexional Funds and Departments.

There was another scheme which Mr George Bowron's financial ability also helped to

realize about this time. The lack of a suite of Connexional offices had long been felt.



When Dr William Morley was appointed as the first Connexional Secretary in 1893

the work of the office was carried out in his own home—or rather homes— as he and

his family occupied three houses in succession, namely in Colombo St. North, near the

present Roman Catholic Property; Cambridge Terrace near our present Church; and

Armagh Street. This last named parsonage was also occupied by the Rev. Henry Bull

who worked under similar conditions during his term of office, 1902-10. For some

two years the Rev. Samual Lawry did likewise. All the time the volume of work

handled by the Office was increasing so rapidly that to handle it in a private home was

impossible. Hence accommodation was obtained in Victoria Chambers in 1912 and in

1913 in Dominion Buildings. In 1930 the buildings known as Gravenor Buildings,

situated on the corner of Manchester and Hereford Streets was purchased by the

Supernumerary Fund Board, and following the plans of Mr G. T. Lucas, A.N.Z.I.A.,

two additional storeys were built while the tenants in the lower portion of the building

were still in occupation. In this way an additional forty-two rooms were added as well

as four planned for Connexional purposes. The contractors were Messrs. D. Scott and

Sons. On January 14, 1931, the building was re-opened under the name of Epworth

Chambers. Since then the Connexional Office occupying this fine city property has

been the administrative centre of many Connexional Funds and departments.

PERMANENT CAMP SITES

The most recent District developments have been the acquisition of Permanent Camp

Sites. As an aid to evangelism, camps have long been known to Methodism. Indeed,

they helped bring about the separation of Primitive from Wesleyan Methodism during

the nineteenth century. Since then their use as an aid to inspiration. fellowship and

evangelism has been amply proved. Late in the 1920's the use of regular camps on a

permanent site was begun by the North Canterbury Young Men's Bible Class Union.

The right to use the Amberley Domain each Easter was secured and over the years

permanent buildings have been erected. The sports facilities available are excellent,

and the buildings erected by the Bible Class Union have amply fitted the Domain for

its higher service. Able leadership in the Christian life and rich Christian fellowship

besides the fun and frolic of camp life have made Amberley dear to the heart of all

those who have shared the Easter experience there.

The value of such a site has long been realized by Campers and the vexation of trying

to find a site each year is well known to those who have shouldered the responsibility

of organizing this side of our youth activities. This condition led the Youth Board to

write to the District Youth Councils "to forward a statement regarding any suitable

sites in this district. . . sites at present used as military camps, or sites on Crown lands

or any other situation so that purchase may be considered by the Youth Board." Thus

the pioneer work of Amberley had become the endorsed policy of the Board.



On November 26, 1945, the first really serious propositions were made to the District

Youth Council by the Rev. M. A. McDowell, then Youth Director for the South

Island. The following resolutions were received and adopted.

(1) That the District Youth Council approve the proposal to establish a

permanent camp site in the North Canterbury District for the purpose of:—

a. Youth Camping.

b. Leadership Schools and Training purposes generally

c. Rallies.

d. Sunday School Picnics.

e. Retreats.

f. General Church Purposes, e.g. May Synods.

(2) That the District Youth Council set up a Committee to lay the matter before

the District Executive with a view to enlisting the support of North Canterbury

Methodism.

(3) That a strong Committee representing the District Youth Council, and the

District Executive be formed to promote the scheme.

(4) That the Committee be recommended to follow the investigations already

made regarding the Purau Property, and in the event of this or any other property

proving suitable the Committee be given power to act.

(5) That the District Youth Council recommend that the scheme be proceeded

with as soon as possible.

(6) That the Committee consider Military buildings as a starting-point for the

structural side of the camp and be empowered to purchase same at their own

discretion.

The District Executive appointed the following members to the Committee:—

Messrs. S. Ayers, H. W. Heslop and L. G. K. Steven. To these the District

Youth Council added the names of Miss M. Robinson and Messrs. L. J. Dale

and A. E. Lawry with the Youth Directors ex-officio.

By this Committee, sites on the Peninsula and at Woodend, Brooklands, North

Brighton and Amberley were considered, but changes in the personnel of the

Committee impeded progress. Meanwhile the Young Women's Bible Class Fellowship

was becoming perplexed how to accommodate all the campers. At least three sites had

to be found, and the total number of campers divided into three groups. On May 13,

1947, the District Youth Council asked the Young Women's Fellowship to act as a

"Prospecting Committee". With alacrity the Fellowship set about its work. Sites as far

apart as Rakaia and Leithfield, Oxford and the Peninsula were investigated, but few

proved satisfactory. Some that were satisfactory in other respects were inaccessible.



So the number was reduced. During May, 1948, a suitable site on the banks of the

Makerikeri River, Loburn, was purchased. This property was dedicated on November

27, of that year and named "Leigh Camp" in memory of Samuel Leigh, the pioneer

Wesleyan Missionary to New Zealand.

Since the date of purchase a comprehensive scheme of development has been outlined

to the District Youth Council. The grounds have been cleared, shelter belts planted, a

well sunk, and other preparatory work done. To meet the cost of this venture North

Canterbury Methodists have worked hard and given generously to provide a

permanent centre where young people may gather for fun and fellowship, but above

all for winning youth for Christ and His Kingdom.



THE DEVELOPMENT OF METHODISM IN SOUTH

CANTERBURY (Compiled from notes supplied by the Rev. W. T. Blight, B.A., B.D.)

For Methodists the South Canterbury Synodal District covers that vast tract of fertile

plain between the Rakaia and Waitaki Rivers. This area was penetrated from three

directions: from Christchurch southwards, from Otago northwards, from the sea inland

from Timaru.

Before the railway was opened the main routes to Timaru were overland by Cobb's

coaches which were somewhat irregular owing to the number of unbridged snow-fed

rivers intersecting the Plain to be crossed, and by sea which then was not a pleasant

journey. In spite of poor travelling facilities the early families pushed into this country

from the north, south or east seeking employment on the large sheep runs or perhaps

at the timber mills operating in isolated places. Among these people were a number of

Methodist families who, combined together, formed the first Methodist Societies.

These early Methodist families possessed two qualities which facilitated rapid

Methodist extension. Nothing could break their loyalty to their Church and wherever

they went they commended their faith to others who, being drawn into a spiritual

fellowship formed the nucleus of Societies which needed only direction and cohesion

to form a Circuit. Thus by June, 1863, when the Rev. James Buller, Chairman of the

North. Canterbury District, visited Timaru, he found that already Mr William Clough

had been preaching in his own house at Sanditown and that Mr John Manchester had

been conducting divine worship with his neighbours in Waimate, Wherever there were

Methodist families, Buller visited and as a result of his journeys and consultations

with the Methodist people, it was decided to form a Circuit, to which the Rev. J. B.

Richardson was appointed in 1865.

Arriving by ship at Timaru on Sunday, April 23, 1865, Mr Richardson preached that

evening in the Mechanic's Hall which had been kindly lent by the Presbyterian people

who had rented it for religious purposes. Subsequently the day school was hired and

worship conducted each Sunday morning and evening. Two Society classes were

formed. That under Mr Richardson was composed of Messrs. J. Maberley, W. Clough,

J. Shields, G. Butler, J. Wallace, J. Brown, W. Wilcox, W. H. Dickes, dark and H.

Manchester: that under Mrs Maberley consisted of Mesdames Clough, Scavar, Butler,

Fonseca, Wallace, Sim, Brown, Blackmore Chivers, Shields, Mason and Walford.

In July, 1865, a Church Building Committee was formed. Plans were drawn up by Mr

Maberley and upon land given by Messrs. Rhodes Bros. the first Methodist Church in

South Canterbury was erected. Neat and comfortable, the church housed a growing

congregation which necessitated enlarging the building in 1868, the re-opening

services being conducted by Mr Richardson on March 29, his last Sunday in the



Circuit. On the completion of the Church, the Sunday School was removed from

private to Church premises and by 1871, the scholars numbered 250 children.

Meanwhile other centres were not neglected. The Waimate class (viz. Messrs. John,

George and William Manchester, S. W. and Mrs Goldsmith, Messrs W. Day, B. M.

Tregoning and J. W. Freeman) was regularly visited during the third weekend in every

month, the minister preaching on the Sunday and Monday evenings and visiting on

Saturday and Monday. Soon a neat little church was built and opened by the Rev. W.

Cannell of Oamaru.

(While Oamaru is in the South Canterbury Synodal District it is not in the Canterbury

Province. Hence its origin is not recorded here.)

The first Wesleyan Church was opened in Oamaru on April 2, 1864. Mr Cannel was

probably the minister responsible for superintending the work of the Probationers

appointed to Timaru and so had the honour of opening these Churches.

The services commenced at Temuka by Mr Job Brown in his own house were

continued by the minister, but as the number of attendants grew it was found

expedient to remove to the day school. Four years later, in 1869, the first Church was

burnt to the ground before it was opened but with commendable zeal the congregation

set to work to rebuild in brick. This Church was duly opened by the Rev. Rainsford

Bavin on December 26, of the same year. In the same area a small sod church was

opened at Waitohi in 1865. This was replaced by a more substantial building in 1876.

At the same time Mr Job Brown's extension work at Geraldine was closely followed

up by the minister. There services were held in Mrs Maslin's Cottage until a small

Church, 20ft. by 16ft., was opened by the Rev. H. Bull on April 19, 1868.

The Rev. J. B. Richardson,

pioneer Wesleyan Methodist Minister in South Canterbury.



Ministers came and went. Following the Rev. J. B. Richardson's three year pastorate

in South Canterbury, came the Revs. H. Bull for one year, W. Lee and R. Bavin for

three years each and the Rev. W. C. Oliver. Each of these men had charge of the

whole southern part of the Province. In spite of the extensiveness of the Circuit, the

unbridged rivers and financial depressions the work prospered exceedingly. The

statistical returns at the end of the first decade were: Churches 6, Other Preaching

Places 1, Married Ministers 2, Parsonages 2, Local Preachers 12, Class Leaders 7,

Members 160, Sunday Schools 5, Sunday School Scholars over 500, Attendants at

Public Worship 1,200.

By this time the railhead had been pushed as far south as Ashburton and land in what

is now the Ashburton County was being more closely settled. Preachers from the

Springston Circuit were conducting worship at Seafield for Methodist families settling

there from Springston and Rangiora. In Ashburton itself the Primitive Methodists had

opened the first Church in the rapidly growing township. Nevertheless the Wesleyan

District Meeting of 1876 recommended that services should be commenced in the

township and a minister appointed as soon as possible. Ministers and laymen from

Christchurch volunteered help and strongly stood behind the new venture until it was

soundly established. On November 5, 1876, the Rev. J. Crump, then Chairman of the

District, conducted the first Wesleyan services in the Library, a dozen people being

present in the morning and twenty-five in the evening. The following year the Rev. W.

B. Marten was appointed to the newly constituted Circuit.

A Church site on Cameron Street and a Parsonage site in Havelock Street were

procured through the generosity of Mr George Gould of Christchurch. The Parsonage

was completed first, the Church being opened on December 30, 1877, by the Rev.

William Morley. Just a year previously a Church had been opened at Seafield on

December 22, 1876. In 1882 this little Church was removed to Wakanui. Services

were also commenced in the public school at Greenstreet where in 1893 another

Church was opened at a cost of £270. Later the Ashburton Church was removed to a

more central position in Baring Square where the present beautiful brick Church was

opened on March 13, 1926. Today the Ashburton Circuit includes what for a time was

the Rakaia-Methven Home Mission Station.

On the south side of the river other services were commenced, the first being

conducted by the Rev. W. Morley in 1877 in what was then known as the South

Ashburton School. Five years later on September 24, the Rev. W. Keall opened the

first Church at Willowby. Other Churches were built at Waterton in 1884, Hinds 1887,

Tinwald 1897, Mayfield 1904 and Lowecliffe 1909.

In 1895, Willowby was constituted a separate Circuit. For a time Mayfield and the

northern part of the Circuit was constituted a Home Mission Station, but in 1936

reverted to the Willowby Circuit.



Baring Square Methodist Church, Ashburton.

Meanwhile the southern part of the District was also progressing. In 1876, Temuka

was constituted a separate Circuit comprised of Temuka, Geraldine and Waitohi

where a new Church was opened in the same year. In Temuka itself the congregation

grew so rapidly that a new Church was urgently needed. A new site was given in 1883

and the new Church opened six years later. The services at Geraldine were

discontinued in 1884, but other preaching places were placed on the plan, viz.

Rangitata Island, Orton, Pleasant Point, Winchester, while through the years much

valuable work has been done among the Maori people at Arowhenua.

Prior to the Wesleyan withdrawal from Geraldine the Primitive Methodists had

commenced work and built a Church. The present Church was erected in 1908. Into

the Methodist Union of 1913, this Primitive Methodist Church brought 80 members,

648 attendants on Public Worship and 7 Preaching Places. Today the work is almost

confined to Geraldine itself.

Following the first division of the original South Canterbury Circuit in 1876, Waimate

was constituted a separate Circuit iin 1877 when there were only 43 members. In 1878

a series of revival services were conducted by the Rev. J. S. Smalley and as a result

the membership was doubled. Eight years later the Church and School were destroyed

by fire but the Good Templar Hall was bought, fitted for divine worship, and the work



continued. In 1888 the present Church (St. Paul's) was built and a little later a brick

parsonage situated on a considerable amount of land was purchased. This property

was sold in 1909 and land nearer the heart of the town purchased, and a fine minister's

residence built. In 1929 the present brick Sunday School was built and Waimate came

into full possession of its present fine suite of buildings. Some work has also been

done among the Maori people at Waihao. Today the only other preaching place in the

Circuit is at Nukuroa where a Church was opened on December 28, 1890.

In Timaru itself, the work continued to grow from strength to strength. The wooden

Church in Bank Street was replaced by a commodious stone building in 1874 and

enlarged in 1890. In 1913 the pipe organ was installed and in 1930 the spire erected.

The new Sunday School, Wesley Hall, was built in 1908 on land given in 1904 by the

late Mr John Jackson, while in 1942 a beautiful brick two storyed parsonage was

purchased in North Street to replace that built in Butler Street many years before. The

other preaching places in the Wesleyan Circuit were Pareora, where a Church was

built in 1870, Fair View, Claremont, Adair, Kingston and Springbank.

Side by side with the Wesleyan Church in Timaru there flourished the Primitive

Methodist Church begun in the Mechanics' Institute by the Rev. Josaiah Ward in

1873. Soon a Church was built in Barnard Street and a succession of Ministers and

"hired" Local Preachers extended the work to Waimate, Temuka, Geraldine, Gleniti,

Washdyke and Adair.

Subsequently the Church had to be enlarged and a Parsonage built in 1877. In 1909 a

decision to build a Church out of the town was reached and hastened into effect by the

summary condemnation of the Barnard Street Church in 1911. The present Woodlands

Street Church, opened in 1912, is the spiritual successor. Into the Union of 1913, the

Timaru Primitive Methodist Church brought 2 Churches, 92 members and 302

attendants at public worship, besides Sunday School scholars.

In 1919, Banks Street and Woodlands Street became one Circuit. During this period

the Woodlands Street brick parsonage was built in 1926 and today there is a useful

property consisting of Church with rooms in the rear, added in 1941, a wooden hall,

tennis court, a dwelling and section on which it is proposed to erect a new hall as soon

as funds are available.

At Waimataitai, North Timaru, the Methodists owned two small Churches, one a

Wesleyan and the other a Primitive. The latter was sold in 1913 to the Church of

England and the former is now the centre of quite a strong and progressive cause.

In 1935, Timaru Methodism was divided into three Circuits which are still operating

today. These Circuits are (1) Bank Street, composed of Bank Street, Adair and

Claremont. (2) Woodlands Street, composed of Woodlands Street and Waimataitai.

(3) Timaru South, composed of Kensington, Pareora East, Pareora West, (where

Churches are erected) and Kingsdown. It is a great pity that in a district where there is



so much need and so many loyal and faithful Methodist people, we are unable to

appoint a minister who is able to remain long enough to consolidate thoroughly the

work in Timaru South Circuit. Nevertheless the work in the South Canterbury District

is solid, the 1949 statistical returns showing 22 Churches, 11 other Preaching Places,

12 Schoolrooms, 9 Parsonages, 9 Ministers, 2 Home Missionaries, 28 Local Preachers

and 1514 Members.

The present Bank Street Methodist Church, Timaru.

THE FORWARD MOVEMENT "See how great a flame aspires,

Kindled by a spark of grace:

Jesu's love the nations fires,

Sets the kingdoms on a blaze.

To bring fire on earth He came;

Kindled in some hearts it is:

0 that all might catch the flame,

All partake the glorious bliss! "

CHARLES WESLEY, 1707—88



It appears that Methodism in North Canterbury is drawing near to the end of the

second phase of its development. The rapid expansion of the period from 1850 to 1880

has been followed by years of internal consolidation and Connexional and Institutional

progress. Just as the prophetic movement in ancient Israel was succeeded by the era of

the sages, in North Canterbury Methodism the age of the itinerant ministers was

followed by the age of the Christian business men who soundly consolidated the gains

of the earlier years. For ministers such as John Aldred, James Buller, Thomas Buddle,

Alfred R. Fitchett and John J. Lewis who gave the inspiration and impetus for rapid

territorial expansion we should continually give thanks to God. And from the example

of such laymen as have already been mentioned together with a host of others, we

should take courage. Through them we have Churches in all the important centres of

population in the District, and are insured against loss by fire and earthquake, monies

are available to assist with the erection of Churches, School-rooms and parsonages,

Camp sites are available for our youth, and a Training Institution, for those called to

the Deaconess Order. All these are a God-given heritage.

A Methodist building of later years: Bryndwr Methodist Church.

The period of Connexional and Institutional progress is now well advanced. We stand

ready to move forward again. The increasing population and rapidly developing new

housing areas, together with the growing desire on the part of many of our people to

bridge the gap between the Church and the home, are hopeful signs for further

advancement.

It is the conviction of those best qualified to judge, that God has matched the need of

our day with the means to meet it. The instrument we have been looking for, is here in

the "Crusade for Christ and His Kingdom."

"This Crusade," writes President E. T. Olds in the Preface to the Crusade

Handbook, "is no human plan devised to meet a desperate situation. It is born of



the Spirit of God to grasp a glorious opportunity. Consequently it comes to us as

a challenge that none dare evade. ... Deeply we feel that Methodism, brought into

being by the will of God to save a spiritually decaying age, is today hearing the

insistent call of her Lord to gird, herself and apply her genius to the thrilling task

of saving this generation. ... We are joining forces with our brethren across the

seas in a world offensive. Far from being dismayed by the powers of evil,

refusing to accept the cynical judgment that the Christian gospel has had its day,

we are carrying the war into the enemy's country, daring to affirm the adequacy,

the necessity of Christ to match this decisive hour."

If this be so, then ours is to continue in a tradition well-founded by the ministers and

laymen who consolidated the Methodist witness to Christ in this Province. Then,

possessed of a courage and devotion like theirs, entranced by the same vision of the

world for Christ, and with an integrity of personal character that leaves the hall-mark

of the Christ, let us by word and deed propagate the Faith as it has come down to us

from our fathers through the Apostles.



APPENDIX

WESLEYAN METHODIST CHURCH OF NEW ZEALAND

CHAIRMEN OF THE DISTRICT

The Wellington District.

1855—1862 James Buller

The Southern District.


1866—1867 Thomas Buddle

The Southern District (as distinct from the Middle District)

1868—1869 Thomas Buddle

1870—1872 Alexander Reid

The Canterbury District.


1876—1878 John Crump

1879 Alexander Reid

1880—1881 John B. Richardson

1882—1883 William Morley

1884—1885 Joseph Berry

1886 William J. Williams

1887 William Morley

1888 William J. Williams

1889 William Morley

1890 John J. Lewis

1891 William Morley

1892 George Bond

1893—1896 William Morley

1897 Paul W. Fairclough

1898 William Morley

1899 John Orchard

1900—1901 William Morley D.D.

1902 William Lee

1903 John A. Luxford

1904—1905 Samuel Lawry

1906 William Lee

1907 H. R. Dewsbury

1908 Samuel Lawry



1909 C. H. Garland

1910—1912 C. H. Laws, B.A.

The North Canterbury District

1913 Samuel Lawry

1914—1915 W. A. Sinclair

1916—1918 A. C. Lawry

1919—1922 T. A. Joughin

1923—1925 W. Arthur Hay

1926 E. D. Patchett

1927—1928 W. Greenslade

1929—1931 A. N. Scotter

1932 M. A. Rugby Pratt, F.R.Hist.S

1933—1938 Clarence Eaton

1939—1941 W. A. Burley, M.A.

1942—1944 J. H. Alien

1945—1947 A. M. Costain

1948—1950 H. J. Odell

Chairmen of the South Canterbury District.

1913 W. J. Williams

1914 T. A. Joughin

1919 Thoams W. Vealie

1921 W. Arthur Hay

1923 A. C. Lawry

1928 William Grigg

1932 Harold T. Peat

1933 John D. McArthur

1937 Angus McBean

1943 William W. Avery

1945 William T. Blight, B.A., B.D.



METHODIST CHURCHES IN NORTH CANTERBURY

WITH THE DATES OF THEIR ERECTION,

ENLARGEMENT, ETC.

ADDINGTON (Bible Christian)

stonelaying 21-2-88;

opened 24.5-88.

ADDINGTON (Free Methodist) Church

opened 13-11-64;

enlarged 1872.

Second Church opened 24-5-88;

Sunday School commenced 20-11-64.

AMBERLEY Church

opened 21-10-83.

ASHLEY (Free Methodist)

Services began 1876;

Church opened 1-6-84.

AVONSIDE (Wesleyan) Church

sold 1870.

BECKENHAM

School opened 23-3-29;

Class rooms opened 6-12-41.

BELFAST (Wesleyan Services 1883—1886);

Bible Christian Church opened 23-10-87;

Parsonage 1893.

BROADFIELDS

Church opened 1873;

Enlarged Church opened 12-6-81.

BROOKSIDE

On Christchurch Plan 1869;

Church opened 20-2-70;

Church enlarged 1880;

Sunday School opened 30.10-76

BRYNDWR

Services commenced 9-8-25;



Stonelaying of Church 3-9-27;


Sunday School opened 28-5-50.

CAMBRIDGE TERRACE (Primitive)


Parsonage opened 1881;

Second Parsonage purchased 1899;

Present Parsonage.

CASHMERE



Stonelaying of Sunday School 1-9-28.

CLARKVILLE


Second Church Stone-laying 27-2-49;

Opened 3-4-49.

CRESCENT ROAD (Knights Town)


Class rooms added 1884;

Others subsequently.

OUST DARFIELD

Services commenced 1882;

Church opened 1890;

Church improved 1892.

DEACONESS HOUSE

Barbadoes Street House opened 1900;

St. Asaph Street House opened 5-12-1907;

Latimer Square House dedicated 16-6-23;

new wing added 28-5-27.

DUNSANDEL


DURHAM STREET First Trustees appointed 11-8-63;

Foundation stone laid 28-1-64;

opened 25-12-64;

Pipe Organ opened 30-7-74;

Memorial Tablets unveiled 30-3-86;

Interior of Church damaged by fire 13-5-45;

New Pipe Organ dedicated 14-3-48.



Re-opened after renovations 2-10-49;

First New Zealand Conference 28-1-74;

First Church Union Committee met 12-7-83.

DURHAM STREET SOUTH

Stonelaying 12-12-01;

Opened 11-5-02.

DOYLESTON

Sunday School Site given 1894.

EAST BELT CHURCH

Church Hall opened 9-4-76;

Wesley Church Stonelaying 25-7-81;

opened 22-1-82;

Galleries opened 16-8-85;

Sunday School stone-laying 20-11-02.

EDGEWARE ROAD

Church Stonelaying 29-7-09;

First stone-laying of Sunday School 9-7-21;

opened 20-10-21

Second part of Sunday School Stonelaying 14-7-28;

opening of complete school 13-10-28.

ELLESMERE


opening 7-7-11.

EPWORTH CHAMBERS

Opened 14-1-31.

EYRETON

Church, March, 1875.

FRIESTON


GREENDALE (Primitive)

Permission given for erection of Church 11-4-73;

Church opened 1874;

GREENPARK

Church opened 1873.

HALSWELL (Bible Christian)




HARPER STREET

Re-opened 18-4-75.

HAWARDEN


opening 11-9-18.

HEATHCOTE VALLEY

Wesleyan Services commenced 1871; Church opened 9-3-73;

New Church opened 28-11-86.

HIGH STREET



Sold to help finance Durham Street Church.

HORRELVILLE

Church opened 26-12.80;

Vestry added 1890.

IRWELL


KAIAPOI

First Church opened Easter Sunday 1860;

Second Church Stonelaying 8-8-70; opened 25-12-70;

Third Church Stonelaying 1-9-34; 9-2-35;

Model Sunday School opened 11-1-83

Memorial Tablets unveiled 16.6-18.

KIMBERLEY (Bible Christian)

Services commenced 1888


KOWHAI BUSH

Services commenced 1864.

LEESTON


Second Church stone-laying 29-3-89;

opened 1-9-89;

First Parsonage purchased 1877;

Second Parsonage 1883

LEIGH CAMP



Dedicated 27-11-48.

LEITHFIELD

Permission to erect Church given 26-3-72

Removed to Sefton 1886.

LINCOLN ROAD

Church built in early '60's;

Closed about 1877

(Free Methodist) Removed Church from Spreydon 1886;

Schoolrooms burnt 1-5-22.

LINWOOD

First Church opened 19-7-96;

Stonelaying of brick Church 4-6-32.

LITTLE RIVER (Bible Christian)

Church Stonelaying 22-8-88


LOWER HIGH STREET

Church Stonelaying 12-12-88.

LYTTELTON

St. David's Street Church opened 4-3.55

Second Church Stonelaying 31-12-60;


Enlarged Church re-opened 14-10-77;

Parsonage site purchased 4-7-62;

Parsonage built 1862;

Second built 1881;

Sunday School built 1863;

Sunday School enlarged 1876;

Infant Room added 1892.

MARSHLANDS (Bible Christian)

Services commenced 1889


MASHAM

Church Stonelaying 1871.

MONTREAL STREET

Church opened 17.7-70.



NEW BRIGHTON

Foundation block of first Church laid 1-12.88;

opened 1-1-89;


opened 13-12-13.

OHOKA (Mandeville)

First Church opened 1865;


Parsonage built 16-10-13.

OPAWA


Church opened 18-8.07.

ORPHANAGE AND CHILDREN'S HOME

First Home opened 24-4-14;

Enlarged 17-3-16;

Aeroplane crash 17-3-26;

New Home Stonelaying 10-11-33;

opened 9-11-34.

OXFORD (Wesleyan)

services commenced 1873.

OXFORD (Free Methodist)

Built in West Oxford circa 1872;

East Oxford circa 1875;

East and West Oxford Churches destroyed by gale 9-9-78;

East Oxford Church removed to Free Methodist site in Central Oxford after

the Union of 1896.

PAPANUI


Site purchased 1858;

Stonelaying of first Church 18-11-69;

Opened 27-2-70;

Brick Church Stonelaying 14-11-12;

opened 1-5-13;

New Sunday School opened 30-1-27.

PREBBLETON (Wesleyan)

preaching place 1862;

(Bible Christian) Church opened 24-3-89;

Church sold 1949.



RAITHBY

Stonelaying 12.12.66;

opening 30-12-66

RANGIORA


Removed to Southbrook 1872;



Sunday School opened 1886;

Enlarged 1892;

Bible Class rooms opened 3-10-31;


New Parsonage opened 2-2-26;

REDCLIFFS


Sunday School opened 8-8-36.

RICCARTON

Services held in fifties then discontinued;

First service held in Riccarton Village school-house 3-5-85;


opened 17-9-86;

Second Church opening 11-5-11;

Sunday School Stonelaying 5-11-27;

Opening 4-3-28.

RICHMOND (Free Methodist)

First Church opened May,1869;


opened 12-9-86.

RUSSELL'S FLAT


ST. ALBANS

First Sunday School Anniversary celebrated 16-12-60;


Enlarged Church opened 1-6-84;

Rugby Street Stonelaying 1.11-94; opened 5-5-95;

Sunday School burnt 29-1-02;

New Sunday School Stonelaying 8-5-02;

opening 19-10-02;



First separate Quarterly Meeting 28-6-71.

ST. ALBANS LANE


ST. ASAPH STREET

New Church built 1877;


Church burnt 3-3-00.

SEFTON

Church removed from Leithfield 25-7-86;

New Church opened 31-10-31.

SELWYN STREET, LOWER

Church opened 1883;

Second Church opened 1888.

SHEFFIELD

First Services at Coalmine 1862; (Free Methodist);

Church purchased 1886;

Church enlarged 1899.

SHIRLEY


Removed and re-opened 1884;

Stonelaying of new Church 14-12-18; opening 9-3-19;

Brick Sunday School Stonelaying 19-2-28;

opening 3-6-28;

Pipe Organ opened 29-7-39;

Parsonage purchased 1946.

SOMERFIELD

Church Stonelaying 27-8-32; opened 3-12-32.

SOUTHBRIDGE

Removed from Northbridge; Re-opened 21-11.75;

Sold 1949.

SOUTHBROOK

Services began 1867;

Church opened 1872;

Larger Church opened 1873;

Sunday School enlarged 1877;

Rangiora Free Methodist Church removed to Southbrook 1896.



SPRING CREEK


SPRINGFIELD

Services commenced circa 1885;

House converted into Church and services later discontinued.

SPRINGSTON

First Service April, 1864;



Dedicated 18-4-73;

Sunday School enlarged and re-opened 21-8-90;

Parsonage site acquired 1874.

SUMNER


Opening 23-12-00;


Opening 14-10-25.

SWANNANOA


SYDENHAM


opening 3-2-78;

Galleries opened 3-8-79;

Sunday School Hall burnt 10-9-47;

New Youth Centre dedicated 18-9-49.

TAI TAPU


Enlarged 1874;


Opened 7-4-82;

Memorial Windows unveiled 9-4-14;

Sunday School enlarged 1891.

TAUMUTU, JOHN WESLEY CHURCH

Opened 7-4-85.

TEMPLETON (Wesleyan)

Services commenced 1866; later discontinued.

(Bible Christians) Services commenced 1877;

Parsonage built 1893.



UPPER RICCARTON

Church opened 1871

VIEW HILL

Church destroyed by gale 9-9-78;

services resumed 1890.

WADDINGTON

Permission granted to erect Church 17-4-73;

WALTHAM

Church opened 1870;

Reopened 17-4-87;

Later sold;

WAIKUKU


Stonelaying 7-12-99

opened 5-2-00.

WAINONI


Opened 1-5-37;

enlarged 1946.

WEEDONS

Services commenced in 1866;

Church opened 1872;

Enlarged Church opened 5-10-90.

WEST MELTON

Church opened 1869.

WILLOWBANK (Free Methodist)

Hall opened 24.10-86.

WOODEND

Services commenced 1858-9;



Brick Church Stonelaying 22-12-10;

opening 18-5-11;

Parsonage site acquired 1880;

Parsonage built 1889.

WOOLSTON

First Church opened February, 1872;



Removed to another site and enlarged 1885;

New Church Stonelaying 1-10-96;

opened 10-1-97;

Bible Class Room Stonelaying 20-5-11;

Sunday School Hall opened 26-11-11.

METHODIST CHURCHES IN SOUTH CANTERBURY

WITH THE DATES OF THEIR ERECTION,

ENLARGEMENT, ETC.

ALLENTON

Church Hall opened 1946.

ASHBURTON (Primitive)

Services commenced 1874,


Church closed 1919.

ASHBURTON (Wesleyan)

Services commenced 5-11-76;

Stonelaying of Cameron Street Church 16-10-77;

Memorial Stones laid 20-9-92;

Removed to Baring Square, 16-12-92;

Stonelaying of Baring Square Church 18-4-25;

opened 13-3-26.

GERALDINE (Primitive)

GERALDINE (Wesleyan).

GREENSTREET (Wesleyan)

Church opened 1893.

HINDS (Wesleyan)


KENSINGTON LOWCLIFFE (Wesleyan)

Church opened 1909.

MAYFIELD (Wesleyan)

Church opened 1904.

METHVEN (Wesleyan)

NUKUROA (Wesleyan)


OAMARU (Wesleyan)





Sunday School opened 12-8-87;

New Organ opened 22-12-13.

OAMARU (Primitive)


PAREORA EAST

PAREORA WEST

RAKAIA (Wesleyan)

Church Hall opened at Newtown 17-11-89;

Enlarged 1893;

Removed to Rakaia 1898.

SEAFIELD (Wesleyan)

Church opened 22-12.76;

Removed to Wakanui 1882.

TEMUKA (Wesleyan)


First Church burnt before opening May, 1869;


Third Church Stonelaying 18-10-88;

opened 28-4-89.

TEMUKA (Primitive)


Second Church opened 8-12-92.

TIMARU (Wesleyan)

First Church opened October, 1866; Enlarged Church opened 29-3-68;

Stone Church Stonelaying 28-10-74;

Enlarged Church opened 1890;

Pipe Organ installed 1913;

Stonelaying of tower 7-6-30; Re-opening after alterations 1-11-30;

New Sunday School opened 4-8-07;

First Parsonage built 1869;

Brick Parsonage purchased 1942.

TIMARU (Primitive)

First Services held 1873;





Woodlands Street Church opened 1912;

Second parsonage built 1926.

TINWALD (Wesleyan)

Church opened 1897.

WAIMATAITAI (Primitive)

Church sold 1913.

WAIMATAITAI (Wesleyan)

Church opened 29.4-06;

WAIMATE (Wesleyan)

First class constituted 1863;

First Church opened ;


Third Church (St. Paul's) opened 17-6-88;

New Sunday School opened 10-3-29.

WAITOHI (Wesleyan)

Sod Church erected about 1865;

New Church 1876.

WAKANUI (Wesleyan)


Second Church opened

WATERTON (Wesleyan)

Church opened 1885.

WILLOWBY (Wesleyan)



Transept added 19-2-93.

Documents

Our Yesteryears 1840-1950 by W. A. Chambers historical/8(3) ouryesteryears 1840 .pdfby the wayside and never recovered. Today they help mark the trails of these ceaseless Stone Age