Original Documents on Aborigines and Law

1797-1840

Document 108

Original Document 108

Statement of the Church Missionary Society relative to the New Zealand mission

(plus five sets of further papers)

[803-804]

STATEMENT

OF THE

COMMITTEE OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY

RELATIVE TO THE

NEW-ZEALAND MISSION

ATTENTION having of late been drawn to the state of the NEW-ZEALAND MISSION, and especially to the Purchase of Land by the Missionaries and Catechists employed there, the Committee submit to the Members the following information on that and some other subjects.

PURCHASE OF LAND

In bringing before the Members of the Society the question relative to the purchase of land, it is requisite to divide it into two heads:- 1,   THE COURSE PURSUED BY THE COMMITTEE IN REFERENCE TO THE PURCHASE OF LAND IN NEW ZEALAMND; and, 2.   THAT PURSUED BY THE MISSIONARIES.

1. The Course pursued by the Committee, in reference to the Purchase of Land in New Zealand.

  The following statements will explain to what extent, and under what considerations and conditions, any purchase of land by the Missionaries had received the sanction of the Committee.

   As the children of the Missionaries grew up, it was natural and right that their parents should feel solicitude as to the future settlement of them in life.   The subject was, in consequence, brought by them under the consideration of the Committee; and they, on the 27th of July 1830, adopted the following Resolution, in reference to it: -

    “That, under the peculiar circumstances of the New-Zealand Mission, the Committee are of opinion, that purchases of land from the Natives, in a moderate extent, should be authorised, as a provision for their children after they are fifteen years of age: the nature and extent of the purchase to be in each case, referred to the Committee, for their sanction, after having been considered and approved in a Meeting of Missionaries.”

   On transmitting the above Resolution, in a Letter of the same date, it was accompanied by the following remarks: -

  “You ask what is to be done with your children, after they attain the age of fifteen years?   This question is very natural, and very reasonable.   The answer to it is contained in the Resolution included.   You will perceive that the Committee have adopted your own suggestions on the subject.   It did not escape the notice of the Committee, that the arrangement exposes you to some danger of having your minds unduly drawn to secular concerns.   The duty, however, of seeing your children provided for is manifest and paramount; and the mode in which it is intended to enable you to discharge it seems suited to your circumstances, and to involve as little risk, either to the parent or child, as the nature of the case will admit.   There is little doubt, we think, that such a body of settlers as your children will, we trust, through the blessing of God, become, will exert a very beneficial influence on the New-Zealanders, and tend in various ways to advance the objects of the Mission.   We earnestly pray that you may all be enabled to pursue this, as well as every other undertaking in which you engage, in that spirit of faith, prayer, dependence, and superiority to selfish considerations, which will surely receive blessings from God.

   “In making the contemplated purchases of land, it is very desirable that you should act on a well-considered plan, in reference to the future bearing of such purchases on each other and on the Missionary Settlements.   They should be sufficiently near the Settlements to be protected by them; and, at the same time, so far removed from them, as neither to inconvenience those Settlements, or be inconvenienced by them.   These purchases, also, should be so arranged, as eventually to form commodious villages ands communities.   You will not, of course, overlook those advantages of water, wood, soil, &c., by means of which these villages may, with the greatest facility and certainty, be made the sources of domestic comfort and productive industry.   May the Lord guide your minds, in carrying this important measure into effect; and abundantly bless both you and your children, in the event!”   

   It will be seen, that, by Resolution of the Committee, the land to be purchased by the Missionaries for each child, under their sanction, was to be of “moderate extent.”   How this was interpreted by the Missionaries will appear by the following Resolution, which they recorded, April 9th , 1833: -

  “The Committee do not deem it eligible to make a grant of a particular quantity of land to a child at fifteen years of age, as proposed in your Minute of April 9, 1833.   At present, 50£ may represent the value of 200 acres of land in New Zealand; but it is clear that the value of land will rise in proportion as civilization advances. Hence, the fixing of a land-grant to your children, as proposed in the Minute under consideration, would give a very undue advantage to the children of future Missionaries.”

   The acquisition of land by Missionaries, for the use of their children, has since remained on this footing.   By a general regulation, the Committee grant 50£ to the son of a Missionary on completing his fifteenth year, and 40£ for the daughter of a Missionary at that age, from which time all claim on the Society in behalf of a Missionary's child ceases.   In the case of New-Zealand, agriculture being almost the only pursuit open to the child of a Missionary, the purchase of land to “a moderate extent” was sanctioned by the Resolution of the 30th of July, 1830; which Resolution still forms the authorised rule of conduct to the Missionaries.[1]

   The circumstances of the Society's Missionaries are peculiar, and, in certain respects, distinguish their case from that of other Missionaries labouring in New Zealand, as they have themselves pointed out.   The distinction lies especially in this.   The Missionaries of the Wesleyan Society go to New Zealand only to sojourn there for a limited period, intending ultimately to return, with their families, to their native country.   Hence all their views for the education and settlement of their children in life have reference to their father-land.   The Society's Missionaries, on the contrary, look forward to terminating their earthly course in New Zealand, and to see their children settling around them in their adopted country.   As parents, they not only considered themselves warranted in making prospective arrangements for the welfare of their children in New Zealand, when grown up, but bound to this course by the strongest obligations as men and Christians.   Whether or not the Missionaries have, in any respect, fallen into error in the performance of this duty, is open to fair examination.

2. The Course pursued by the Missionaries in the Purchase of Land.

    Toward the close of the year 1837, reports reached the Committee, that large purchases of land in New Zealand had been made by the Missionaries.   These Reports, if not originating with, had currency given to them by Mr. John Flatt, who had formerly been employed as an Agriculturist in the Mission, and who returned to this country in October 1837.   On the publication of Mr. Flatt's statements, a copy of the Pamphlet in which they were contained was sent to the Missionaries, and they were called upon for explanation on the subject.   Various communications were received from them, in answer to these inquiries.   On considering these communications, December 4, 1838, the Committee adopted the following Resolution: -

  “That while the Committee give the Missionaries entire credit for the purity of their motives in the purchases of land which they have made in New Zealand, with a view to provide for their families as they grow up, and are not prepared, on the information now before them, to condemn the purchases so made, they very much regret that the subject was not referred to them for their consideration, previously to the Missionaries entering on such a course of proceeding; and that the nature and extent of the purchase, in each case, were not reported to them for their sanction, as directed by their Resolution of July 27, 1830.”

   The information before the Committee is still too imperfect to enable them to pronounce an opinion either justifying or condemning the purchases referred to in the foregoing Resolution.

   It appears, however, from the statements of the Missionaries, that much of the land held by them has been assigned to them by the Natives, to secure it from improvident alienation to other White Persons. Such land is still the property of the Natives, and is held by the Missionaries as their trustees.   This interposition of the Missionaries appears to the Committee, in the actual state of New Zealand, a judicious proceeding, and calculated materially to benefit the Natives.

   Other purchases of land the Missionaries and catechists have made in behalf of their children.   Considering the imperfect nature of the information which has as yet reached them, the Committee feel it their duty to abstain, for the present, from entering into further particulars respecting these purchases.   Feeling themselves unable to pronounce an opinion, they call upon their friends and the public to refrain from coming to a conclusion upon a case as yet so imperfectly understood.

   Later publications have imputed to the Missionaries that they have defrauded the Natives in their purchases of land, and have paid inadequate prices.   With regard to these charges, there has not been time to obtain any answer from the Missionaries.

   Knowing, however, the jealousy which exists - and not improperly exists - of Missionaries using their influence to acquire property from the people among whom they labour, and the difficulty of inducing the world to form a calm and impartial judgment of any proceeding on their part tending to their own secular advantage, the Committee have adopted the following Resolution: -

   I. “That with respect to the purchase of land by Missionaries, with the funds of the Society, the Resolution of the 27th July 1830, explained by the Letter of the 13th July 1835, be adhered to, as defining the limits and purposes to which all such purchases are to be confined.

   II. “That, with regard to purchases of land by Missionaries out of their private resources, or otherwise independently of the Society, while the Committee disapprove of such transactions, in general, as liable to prejudice the character and usefulness of the Missionaries, they do not feel themselves justified in assuming to lay down a prohibitory rule upon their conduct, in respect to such purchases, except so far as they may involve the above consequences; and that, in order to the Committee's exercising such a control as the interests of the Society demand, they desire that any purchase of land of this description, made by a Missionary, be entered on the Minutes of the Missionary Committee of the District, with all particulars respecting the same, and that such Minute be forwarded to the Home Committee by the earliest opportunity afterward.”

   The Missionaries are also charged with having had their minds diverted from their proper pursuits by the attention given to the cultivation of the land which they have purchased.   The Committee feel it due to the Missionaries to state, that, on the best consideration which they can give to the information before them, they believe the imputation to be unfounded.   The general testimony, indeed, borne to the character and conduct of the Missionaries by the Bishop of Australia, the Rev. S Marsden, and the Rev. F. Wilkinson, given under this and a following head, refutes the charge, as also does the testimony of other perfectly impartial persons who have visited the Mission.

   With the evidence given by Captain Fitzroy and Mr. Wilkinson bearing more particularly on the purchases made by the Missionaries, the Committee close this part of their statement.  

   [805-806] (2) Capt. Fitzroy, R.N., who was employed by H.M. Government in surveying the coasts of the Peninsula of South America, and who visited the Missions at the end of 1835, and who must be regarded as a perfectly impartial witness, thus writes: -

   “I will ask for attention to the too-little-considered fact, that these unjustly-blamed individuals have, by their engagements, divided that tie which once held them to a country whose inestimable value can only be fully felt by those who have long been wanderers in other lands.   New Zealand, or Otaheite, or a less-known island, is now their home; and there are around them a host of little children, whose smiling healthy looks would interest even strangers in their behalf, whose country is that adopted by their parents, and to whom every good father would anxiously desire to leave a sufficient maintenance, such as his own honourable exertions could procure.    Shall the Missionaries be debarred from providing in a proper manner for the future welfare of their own children?   If a Missionary and a more recent settler are each in treaty for a particular piece of land, is it not a natural consequence of the good-will entertained towards him by the Natives, many of whom understand and appreciate his motives, and are themselves very fond of the little white children, considering them as belonging to their country?   The Missionaries have bought land, as opportunities offered; and they, of course, from their residence upon the spot, have had better opportunities than occasional visitors, or late settlers.”[2]

   The Committee quote the whole passage, not thinking it right to suppress any part of it.   But they deem it necessary to remark, that, in their opinion, a Missionary would not be justified in availing himself of the good-will entertained toward him by the Natives, to obtain land for any thing short of a fair and full consideration.   The Committee conceive that Capt. Fitzroy did not intend to impute such conduct to the Missionaries, and that in his deliberate judgement he would not approve of purchases so made, for he adds: -

  “In opposition to such an idea as that of their eagerly grasping at territory, and using undue means to procure it, I know with certainty, that the Rev. Henry Williams, and his brother William, exerted all their real influence – that of advice – in pointing out the consequences which would result to some tribes who were inclined to part hastily with extensive tracts of valuable pine forests.   The real value of those trees was explained to the Natives; and they were shown distinctly how a careful management of such stores of spars would ensure a future property, and sufficient maintenance for the native children, who would otherwise be deprived of their birthright.   Did this show a desire to monopolize?”[3]

    Captain Fitzroy thus considerately reviews the difficulties in which the Missionaries have been involved by that influx of White Persons into New Zealand, which has been the consequence of the comparative safety of residing there resulting from the labours of the Missionaries: -

   “Embarrassments of many kinds are rising: one, jealousy of that influence which has enabled even those who are jealous to approach the spot upon which they now stand, and oppose the Missionary as he exerts himself to suppress licentious habits and the use of ardent spirits.   While assisting their early settlement, the Missionaries were the best friends of those adventurers who sought a livelihood among the Islands of the Pacific, in New Zealand especially.   But when once established, ingratitude, and utter want of reflection, became too prevalent among the worst sort of settlers, whose only occupation was that of publicans and especial sinners.”[4]

  The following testimony is borne by Captain Fitzroy to the character of the Missionaries under these difficult circumstances: -

  “Surrounded by those who are engaged, in a commerce annually increasing; unavoidably involved in local dissensions; referred to on all occasions, as interpreters or as peace-makers; and, I may say, as the consular agents of White Men of all nations; it argues very favourably for the Missionaries, that they have as yet upheld the character of their sacred office, though sneered at by nominal friends, censured by enemies, and always struggling against opposition.”[5]

  Captain Fitzroy further remarks: -

  “By such men as those, who are jealous of the influence of the Missionaries, an outcry has been raised against their ‘attempts to monopolize the lands'.”[6]

  The Rev. Frederick Wilkinson, a New South Wales Chaplain, who visited New Zealand with the Rev. S. Marsden, in 1837, thus expresses himself in his evidence before the Lords' Committee on the Islands of New Zealand: -

“Do the Missionaries possess much land?

“I do not think the Wesleyans possess much land, the Church Missionaries do, I know.

“Do you think the possession of that land, to the extent to which it goes, impedes the full success that might be given to their labours?

“No; I do not think that it does.   I think they are a very conscientious set of men, and that they would not allow their attention to be diverted from their proper employment.”[7]

PRINCIPLE ON WHICH THE MISSION WAS ESTABLISHED, AND HAS BEEN CONDUCTED.

   It has been stated, that the Mission was originally established, and, for a long time, systematically conducted, on the principle of first civilizing, and then Christianizing, the Natives.   This is wholly a mistake.   The agents employed in establishing the Mission were Laymen, because Clergyman could not be had; and the instructions given to them necessarily corresponded with their lay characters.   The foremost object of the Mission has, from the first, been to bring the Natives, by the use of all suitable means, under the saving influences of the grace of the Gospel; adding, indeed, the communication to them of such useful arts and knowledge as might improve their social conditions.   The proof of this is found in the Committee's instructions to the Missionaries.

   The first Agents in the Mission were two Laymen - Mr. William Hall, and Mr. John King.   They left this country in 1809; and were thus instructed by the Committee respecting their duties: -

  “Ever bear in mind, that the only object of the Society in sending you to New Zealand is, to introduce the knowledge of Christ among the Natives; and, in order to this, the arts of civilized life.”

  After directing Messrs Hall and King “to respect the Sabbath Day;” to “establish Family Worship;” “at any favourable opportunity to converse with the Natives on the great subject of Religion; and to instruct the children in the knowledge of Christianity;” the instructions said: -

  “Thus, in your religious conduct, you must observe the Sabbath, and keep it holy; attend regularly to Family Worship; talk to the Natives about Religion when you walk by the way, when you labour in the field, and on all occasions when you can gain their attention; and lay yourselves out for the education of the young.”

  Mr. Thomas Kendall, also a Layman, went out in 1813.   By arrangements with His Majesty's Government, he was to remain for a time in New South Wales, as a Government Schoolmaster.   No detailed instructions were therefore given to him, in reference to the Mission; but he was directed to follow those previously delivered to other Missionaries, so far as applicable to his own situation.

   In December 1818, the Rev. John Butler, Mr. Francis Hall, and Mr. James Kemp, left this country, to enter on their labours in New Zealand.   After referring to the establishment of Public Worship, and the erection of a church, their instructions proceed-

  “The Committee would observe, that they wish, in all the Missions of the Society, that the Missionaries should give their time as much as possible, and wholly if practicable, first to the acquisition of the Native Language, and then to the faithful and constant preaching of the Gospel to the Natives, in such ways as may be found most advisable.”

  It is subsequently added in their instructions-

  “Do not mistake civilization for conversion.   Do not imagine when heathens are raised in intellect, in the knowledge of the arts, in dress and outward decency, above their fellow countrymen, that therefore they are Christians; and so rest content, as if your proper work were accomplished.   Our great aim is far higher: it is, to make them children of God, and heirs of his glory.   Let this be your desire, and prayer, and labour among them.   And while you rejoice in communicating every other good, think little or nothing done till you see those who were dead in trespasses and sins quickened together with Christ.”

  These passages fully exhibit what have been the views of the Committee as to the principles on which the Mission should be conducted from the first moment of its establishment.

  But, while the conversion and moral improvement of the Natives have ever been the chief objects of the Missionaries, great and important progress has been made through their means in the civilization of the Natives. In reference to this bearing of the subject it may be sufficient to state, that the arts of agriculture and gardening have been introduced by the persons sent out by the Society for the purpose – the plough also, and cattle, sheep, and horses. Roads have been formed, and bridges built.   And a country once inaccessible to Europeans, as a subsequent passage in this Paper will prove, has been rendered, by the salutary influence of the Missionaries, under the blessing of God on their labours, habitable to settlers of all classes.

RESULTS OF THE MISSION

  Statements have been put forth depreciating the progress of the Mission.   Doubtless its advancement, both as it respects religion and civilization, is far short of what both the Missionaries and the Committee desire.   At the same time, the evidence of the cheering progress, in both these respects, is, through the blessing of the God of grace, manifest and unequivocal.   Let one fact speak.   When the Mission was projected by the late Rev. S Marsden, he states, that “he waited for more than three years and no master of a vessel would venture from fear of his ship and crew falling a sacrifice to the Natives.”   How widely different the present state of New Zealand is, will be seen from the following communication from the Missionaries, dated Aug. 9, 1838-

  “It must be obvious to every person who claims any acquaintance with the history of New Zealand and its inhabitants, that they are, in many respects, an altered people; and have become, from atrocious and savage cannibals, a partially civilized race of men.   It is equally observable, that this great change of character is confined to those parts of the island brought under the influence of the Missionary exertions, even where the Natives remain heathen; and make no profession of Christianity. We mean, those in the precincts of our labours are not what they once were; they lay claim to different views and feelings to what they once had; there is something like compassion for suffering humanity, with some desire that their children should be better instructed and informed.   It may, we think, be clearly shown, that the line of conduct pursued by the principal part of the settlers has effected nothing to their present state, but rather tended to impede the work of civilization.   The example generally set them by settlers has had a tendency to make the Natives, more heathenish than they were previous to their taking up residence among them.   To what, then, but to the labours of the Missionaries, can we attribute the change that has taken place?   Where there are no Missionaries, but only traders, settled, the New Zealander is still a cannibal, and a terror to those who live among them; whereas a stranger travels as peaceably and as securely on this part of the island as in civilized countries.”

  But there is direct evidence of the effect of the Missionaries' labours, which place the results of the Mission on a very different footing from that on which they have by some, been represented.   Writing in August 1838, they state-

  “The number of adults admitted to the rite of Baptism, since the formation of the Mission, has been 305, making a total of 635.   The attendants on Public Worship are about 4070; the Communicants, being the average number of those only who attend, 213.   Schools about 50, and Scholars 1600.”

  The following is the testimony of Mr. Marsden, given on his last visit to New Zealand in the early part of 1837.   He thus reviews the Mission, twenty-three years after its commencement, in a Letter dated April 1837-

  “When I left Hokianga, a number [of Natives] accompanied me- upward of seventy.   Some met us from Waimata.   We had to travel about forty miles, by land and water.   The road lay through a very thick wood.   The Natives carried me, on something like a hammock, for twenty miles.   We reached Waimata as the sun went down; where we were kindly received by the Rev. W. Williams and his colleagues.   One principal Chief, who has embraced the Gospel, and has been baptised, accompanied us all the way.   He told me he was so unhappy at Hokianga, that he could not get to converse with me, from the crowd that attended; and that he had come to Waimata to speak with me.   I found him to be a very intelligent man, and anxious to know the way to Heaven.   I met with numbers, wherever I went, who were anxious after the knowledge of God.   I was much pleased to find, that wherever [807-808] (3) I went I found someone who could read and write.   The Church Service has been translated into the native language, with the Catechism, Hymns, and other useful pieces.   They are all found of reading; and there are many who have not had an opportunity of attending the Schools, who nevertheless can read.   They teach one another in all parts of the country, from the North to the East Cape.   The prospect of success to the Mission is very great.   Since my arrival at the Missionary Station I have not heard one oath spoken, either by European or Native. The Schools and Church are well attended; and the greatest order is observed among all classes.

   “In the midst of all the miseries of war, God is prospering the Mission.   Since my arrival, I have visited many of the Stations within the compass of a hundred miles, and have observed that a wonderful change has taken place within the last seven years.   The portions of the Sacred Scriptures which have been printed have had a most astonishing effect.   They are read by the Natives at every place where I have been.   The Natives teach one another, and find great pleasure in the Word of God, and carry that sacred treasure with them wherever they go.   Great numbers have been baptized, both Chiefs and their people.   I have met with some very pious chiefs, who have been invited by Pomare and Titore to join them in their present war; but they have refused.   I met with one pious Chief who had been a great warrior school, and was severely wounded in action the very day I arrived in New Zealand on my last visit, who informed me that Titore had sent for him, but that he would fight no more.   I visited his Station: he has built a nice clean Place of Public Worship, which is visited by the Missionaries; in this he teaches school as well as his son.   I am at present at Waimata, which was formerly one of the most warlike districts on the island; and I could not learn that one individual had joined the contending parties.   Waimata is the most moral and orderly place I ever was in.   A great number of the inhabitants, for some miles, have been baptized, and live like Christians.   There are neither riots nor drunkenness, neither swearing nor quarrels, but all is order and peace.   The same effects I have observed to be produced by the Scriptures, and labours of the Missionaries, in other districts.   My own mind has been exceedingly gratified with what I have seen and heard; and I have no doubt that New Zealand will become a civilized nation.   I consider the Missionaries, as a body, very pious, prudent, and laborious men; and that they and their children are walking in the admonition of the Lord, so as to make them a national blessing, when they have finished their labours.”

  It has already been stated, that the Rev. F. Wilkinson visited New Zealand, with Mr. Marsden, in 1837.   Mr. Wilkinson afterwards came to England.   On his arrival in London, he called at the Church Missionary House, in reference to this visit.   He said that he had gone thither with the impression that the progress of the Mission had been exaggerated, and that he had therefore closely scrutinized its state; but that, having thus personally investigated its circumstances with these views and feelings, he found that its actual advancement exceeded what had been represented in New South-Wales.

   The following passage from Mr. Wilkinson's evidence before the Lords' Committee on the Islands of New Zealand illustrate the progress of the Mission:-

  “Do you think that the Missionaries have been of great service in New Zealand?”

  “Of very great service; immense service.   I look upon the northern part of the island as a Christian People.   There are individuals who are not Christian; but they are, generally, Christian.   They observe the Sunday very strictly.”

  “Do you think the Missionaries have much influence with the Natives?”

  “Very great.”

  “They are willing to exercise it at all times, to make peace between the Natives?”

  “I think so, entirely.”

  “Your answer applies both to the Church Missionary Society and the Wesleyans?”

  “Both of them.”

  “Had you an opportunity of visiting any Schools which had been formed by the Missionaries?”

  “Yes; I lived with Mr. Williams at Waimata, one of the Missions; his lady had a school which I witnessed almost every day.”[8]

  “Your opinion is, that the labour of the Missionaries has effected a great deal of good in Christianizing the country?”

  “A very great deal.   I was quite astonished, though I had been so near them.   I did not believe the extent to which it had gone.”[9]

  “Had you an opportunity of observing whether, among the Natives who had not had the advantage of being visited at all by the Missionaries, there was any notion of religion?”

  “The second night that I slept in the bush, in New Zealand, I came to a native's house, and was exceedingly tired.   He begged of me to stop there, and made me very comfortable indeed.   They gave me a clean blanket and plenty of fern to sleep on; which I did.   After their supper (which was potatoes) they got their Book down (Their Testament) – the most of them had A testament – and read a chapter out of the Testament, and the family collected round, and afterward they knelt and prayed, and then we retired to rest.   In the same way they began the day the next morning.   That man was not a baptized Christian, but he was a Christian.   I have seen him at the Service afterward; but he had not yet been baptized, nor any of his family.   He belonged to the Church Missionary Station at Waimata.”[10]

  The Lord Bishop of Australia visited the Mission at the end of last year, at the instance of the Committee.   On his departure from New Zealand he delivered an Address to the Missionaries, and one to the Christian Natives.

  To the Missionaries he thus addressed-

  “Through the blessing of its Great Head upon your Missionary labours, and by the operation of the Holy Ghost giving the increase, a visible body of believers is here collected out of the dark places of heathenism, to whom none of the outward ordinances and means of grace are now wanting.”

The Christian Natives he thus addressed-

  “Though you are sprung from a different family, and your fore-fathers long continued strangers to us, and we to them, it affords me great satisfaction to call you brethren, because you have entered into the fellowship of the same Gospel with ourselves.   Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.   For as many of you have been baptized in to Christ have put on Christ.   There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.   It is with a perpetual cause of joy, and a sufficient reward for all the labour that has been bestowed among you, that you are become partakers of the common salvation through faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by those ministers through whom ye believed.

   It is my duty, and a principal part of my office, to remind you, that in your baptism you made a solemn promise that you would renounce the world, and the flesh, and the devil; and by the laying on of my hands upon such of you as were suitably prepared and disposed, according to the custom practised buy the Apostles of our Lord, I have endeavoured to stablish, strengthen, and settle you in this faith; praying on behalf of every one of you, that God will defend you with his heavenly grace, that you may continue His for ever, and daily increase in his Holy Spirit more and more, until you come to his everlasting kingdom.”

  After the return of the Bishop of Australia to Sydney, he addressed to the Committee a Letter, March 28th , 1839, detailing his proceedings in New Zealand, relative to the Mission; and fully stating his views as to its state, and the measures which its present circumstances call for.   From that very important and valuable communication the Committee extract the following passage, illustrative of his Lordship's candid judgement, both of the progress of the Mission, and of the character of the Missionaries.

  His Lordship states-

  “It is in my power, I think, effectually to contradict the assertions of the adversary and the scoffer, who have sometimes gone the length of affirming, that the attempt to Christianize the people of this nation has been a failure: that nothing has been done.   On the other hand, I shall not suffer my admiration of that which has really been effected to hurry me into an unqualified approval of every thing connected with the establishment of the Mission, or the operations of the Missionaries; nor to deter me from pointing out any particulars in which I think there is room for improvement.”

  Accordingly, in the Letter of the Bishop, which will appear as early as possible in the Church Missionary Record, it will be seen that he has pointed out a want of due regard, on the part of the Missionaries, to the improvement of the personal habits of the Christian Natives, and adverted to their yet imperfect character; while the following passages bear ample testimony to the favourable impression of the general state of the Mission produced on his Lordship's mind by his visit.

  “They [the Native Candidates for Confirmation] were carefully and perseveringly examined by the Clergyman, as to their degree of acquaintance with the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Commandments. –   They were living in all apparent godliness and honesty, under the constant observation, it may be said, of the entire Mission; and no evil heart of unbelief had betrayed itself among them.   They draw near in a very earnest and humble spirit, desiring to partake of this rite, as a means of grace; the nature of it having previously been explained to them in the fullest terms.   I therefore, with, I trust, not a misplaced confidence, laid my hands on them, receiving from them a ratification of the promises made in their baptism; and I regard the day on which this full admission of them into the folds of Christ took place, as marking a very memorable era, both in my own life, and in the annals of the New Zealand Church.   God grant that they may indeed daily increase in His Holy Spirit more and more, until they come to His everlasting kingdom!”

  Again:-

  “At every Station which I personally visited, the converts were so numerous, as to bear a very visible and considerable proportion to the entire population; and I had sufficient testimony to convince me that the same state of things prevailed at other places, which it was not in my power to reach.

   “As the result of my inspection, I should state, that in most of the native villages, called Pas, in which the Missionaries have a footing, there is a building, containing one room, superior in fabric and dimensions to the native residences, which appears to be set apart as their place for religious worship, or to read the Scriptures, or to receive the exhortations of the Missionaries.   In these buildings generally, but sometimes in the open air, the Christian classes were assembled before me.   The gray-haired man, and the aged woman, took their places, to read, and to undergo examination, among their descendants, among their descendants of the second and third generations.   The Chief and the Slave stood side by side, with the same holy volume in their hands, and exerted their endeavours each to surpass the other in returning proper answers to the questions put to them concerning what they had been reading.   These assemblages I encouraged on all occasions, not only from the pleasure which the exhibition itself afforded, but because I was thus enabled, in the most certain and satisfactory way, to probe the extent of their attainments and improvements.

   “The experience thus acquired has induced me to adopt the habit of applying the term ‘converts‘ to those alone – for many such I found there were – who, in the apparent sincerity of their convictions, and in the sufficiency of their in formation, compared with their opportunities of acquiring it, may be considered Christians indeed.”

  With regard to the Missionaries and Catechists, the Bishop writes-

  “I must offer a very sincere and willing testimony of their maintaining a conversation such as becomes the Gospel of Christ, and the relation in which they stand to it, as the professed guides and instructors of those who are, by their agency, to be retrieved from the service of sin.   Their habits of life are devotional, they are not puffed up with self-estimation; but appeared to me willing to learn, as well as apt to teach: and among themselves, they appear to be drawn together by a spirit of harmony, which is, I hope, the sincere effusion of their hearts, prompted by that Spirit, of which love, gentleness, and goodness, are among the most delightful fruits.   It is upon the continuance of this spirit among themselves that I raise my principal expectations of their continued success among the Natives.   Without unanimity, there can be no successful combination of their exertions; nor is any blessing upon them to be hoped for, such as has hitherto visible attended them, and in a very ample measure.”

  The Bishop thus concludes his Letter-

  “I am happy in thinking, that, by my late visit to the Mission, a foundation of regard and confidence has been laid between the members of it and myself, which, through the Divine Blessing, may tend much to facilitate and future proceedings connected with its extension.   Upon any subject, concerning which the Society may be anxious to consult me, I shall always be prepared to offer the most candid opinion, and to give the best advice in my power.   My heart and hope are fixed earnestly upon the success of this holy undertaking; the fruit of which, I trust, will be, to spread abroad the knowledge of the Truth, and to bring many souls to eternal salvation, happiness, and glory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

VIEW OF THRE BRITISH GOVERNMENT RESPECTING NEW ZEALAND – PROPOSED CHURCH-MISSIONARY DEPUTATION TO THE MISSION

  In the present state of things in New Zealand, the Committee see much cause for solicitude.   Her Majesty's Government has come to the determination to interpose the British Sovereignty in New Zealand, and to acquire the cession of portions of the island, [809] (4) by treaty with the Chiefs, with the especial view of affording protection to the Natives against wrongs and aggressions on the part of British subjects.

   In reply to an inquiry of Sir Robert H. Inglis, the Right Hon. H. Labouchere, then Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, made the following official statement on the subject:-

  “In answer to the question of the Hon. Member, I beg to state, that, in consequence of various circumstances, Government has come to the determination of taking steps which will probably lead to the establishment of a British Colony in that country, as the number of British subjects there renders the establishment of some Authority absolutely necessary; but, as those measures are still incomplete, I trust the Hon. Baronet will excuse me from entering further into them.   A number of persons have gone out to New Zealand; and in order to protect the Aborigines, and for the maintenance of good order, it has been thought fir that measures should be taken to establish Legal Authority in the island.

  “I feel it better to give this explanation, because I perceive by the Newspapers, that various schemes have been projected relative to the island.   In the event of a British Colony being established in New Zealand, the Government would by no means discourage emigration to it, which would be conducted in a manner not to interfere with the rights of the Aboriginal in habitants, or with any titles to land which shall have been fairly acquired; yet, at the same time, it is necessary that parties should understand, that, in the case of land acquired from the Aborigines – a class quite unable to protect, properly, their own interest – it is the duty of Government to protect them; and to see that no title to land be set up, which, as I before said, should appear either fraudulent or excessive.”[11]

  The Committee having long pressed on Government the obligation to take measures on behalf of the Natives of New Zealand, feel strong satisfaction that this has at length been done.   While it will be the duty of the Missionaries to limit themselves more cautiously then ever to their appropriate work, the Committee will rejoice to find their legitimate influence rendered subservient to the social and religious welfare of the Natives in the new circumstances in which they are about to be placed.

  The steps taken to locate large bodies of Settlers in New Zealand must likewise have an important bearing on the Mission.   Towards these parties it will be the duty of the Missionaries to conduct themselves in a kind and friendly manner, at the same time that they rigidly abstain from mixing themselves up with their plans and proceedings.

   The progressive enlargement of the mission to its present extent – especially in the new circumstances in which it must hereafter be carried on – and the arrangements of an ecclesiastical nature to which the Committee look forward as the result of the Bishop's visit, call for modification in the administration of the Mission, answerable to its advanced state and altered circumstances.

   The amount, too, to which the expenditure of the Mission has of late risen, demands investigation, especially in the actual state of the Society's finances, without any imputation on the Missionaries by whom its affairs have been locally administered.

   The Committee have, therefore, come to the determination to send a Deputation to New Zealand, composed of one Clergyman and one Layman, in order to a thorough investigation of its whole state and circumstances, and with a view to such arrangements, both secular and ecclesiastical, as its situation and that of the island may demand.   The Missionaries themselves feel the need of such a measure, and call for its adoption.

   In these circumstances, the Committee are most solicitous to engage the services of two suitable persons for the objects above specified, with as little delay as possible.

   The Committee, in conclusion, earnestly solicits the prayers of their friends, that the great Head of the Church may be pleased to provide for the wants of the Mission, in its present critical situation, as that its future operations may prove eminently conducive to His glory, in promoting both the temporal and eternal welfare of this interesting people in the momentous change which they are about to pass through.

            WILLIAM JOWETT.]

                                       THOMAS VORES.]           Secretaries.

                  DANDESON COATES.]

CHURCH MISSONARY HOUSE,

November 29, 1839.

[810-811] FURTHER STATEMENT

OF THE

COMMITTEE OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY

RELATIVE TO THE

NEW-ZEALAND MISSION

THE COMMITTEE of the CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY being in a situation to communicate to the Members further information on their Proceedings relative to the NEW-ZEALAND MISSION, and particularly as to the acquisition of land by the Missionaries[12], proceed to do so, in continuation of the “Statement” circulated under date of the 29 th of November last.

The Proceedings referred to may be stated as follows:-

   I.   THE REQUIREMENT OF SPECIFIC AND DETAILED INFORMATION AS TO EVERY PURCHASE OF LAND BY A MISSIONARY OR CATECHIST, FOR WHATEVER OBJECT THE PURCHASE MAY HAVE BEEN MADE.

  II.    THE COURSE PURSUED BY THE COMMITTEE IN DEALING WITH THE CASE OF MR. FAIRBURN.

  III.   THE GENERAL INTRODUCTION OF MONEY-PAYMENTS INTO THE MISSION, IN LIEU OF PAYMENTS PARTLY BY MONEY AND PARTLY BY RATIONS.

  IV.   FURTHER MEASURES RELATING TO THE PURCHASE OF LAND BY ANY MEMBERS OF THE MISSION, WITH THE ENTIRE PROHIBITION OF THEIR DOING SO WITH THEIR PRIVATE MEANS, WHILE CONNECTED WITH THE SOCIETY.

I. The requirement of specific and detailed information as to every Purchase of Land by a Missionary or Catechist, for whatever object the purchase may have been made.

   I. In the statement of the 29 th of November, the Committee remarked, that notwithstanding their previous correspondence with the Missionaries, relative to the acquisition of land by some members of the Mission, the information obtained by the Committee was too imperfect to justify a decision as to the conduct of the parties concerned; and they besought the friends of the Society to suspend their judgement till satisfactory grounds were obtained for a just and equitable decision.

    Feeling the deep importance of the subject to the character of the Missionaries – a body of men, according to every testimony to which the Committee could attach consideration, entitled to the confidence and sympathy of the Society – and having failed in their endeavours to send out a deputation to make inquiries on the spot, the Committee, in December last, transmitted a Form of Return, calculated to obtain full and explicit information as to the quantity and nature of the land acquired by each individual, without precluding themselves from dealing with any case with which communications might in the meantime make them sufficiently acquainted   to admit of their forming a correct judgement upon it.   Accordingly, on the 14 th of December the Committee wrote to the Missionaries to the following effect: -

  “In order to secure uniformity and completeness in the information required respecting purchases of land under each head, a Form of Return in inclosed, agreeably to which the Committee direct that each purchase of land by any Member of the Mission should be reported to them.   In cases where the same individual has purchased land, both with the funds of the Society [13] and with his own private means, a separate Return is to be made of each, distinguishing the class to which it belongs.   The Committee therefore direct that the Form of Return should be immediately printed at the Society's Press, and four copies forwarded to each member of the Mission.   Of these copies, two of each class are to be filled up: one of these is to be sent to the Secretary of the District, to be forwarded to the Parent Committee by him; and the other is to be transmitted to them by the Individual himself.   The District Committee will also fix an early date for the Returns being made by each Individual in the District; and you will transmit the same to us, as already stated, by the very earliest opportunity afterwards.   It is almost superfluous to observe, that this Form of Return is to be adhered to in all purchases of land which may hereafter be made by any member of the Mission, either with the Society's money or his own means.”

  The Form of Returns referred to in the above Letter is given below.[14]

  II. The Course pursued by the Committee in dealing with the case of Mr. Fairburn.

     II.   Almost simultaneously with the above-mentioned communication to the Missionaries, the Committee received such further information, relative to acquisition of land made by Mr. Fairburn, a Lay-member of the Mission, as appeared to them to warrant and to call for the special consideration of his case.   Having deliberately weighed all the circumstances connected with it, the Committee, on the 7 th of January, adopted the following Minute, and Resolutions thereupon:-

   Read the following Despatches from the Southern District Committee, received since the publication of the Committee's Statement relative to the Mission; namely, Mr. T. Chapman's Letter to the Secretaries, May 27, 1839; Minutes of Missionary Committee, May 3, 1839; and Mr. Fairburn's Letter to Mr. Chapman, May 4, 1839.

   The Committee consider that the arrival of these Despatches, in addition to the information previously possessed, relative to Mr. Fairburn's purchase of land, enable and require them to come to an immediate decision upon his case.

   The tract of land acquired by Mr. Fairburn is described by the Rev. H. Williams, in his Letter of Jan.11, 1839, as “about eight miles in extent.”   Mr. Fairburn, in his Letter of the 27th of Nov. 1838, calls it about “eleven miles in length;” and in that to Mr. Chapman of May 4, 1839, he says, “It may contain, including good and bad, about 40,000 acres,” and that “about one-twentieth of the land is timbered.”

   Admitting the force of the reasons which induced Mr. H. Williams and Mr. Fairburn to accept of this tract of land from the Natives, whose respective claims were a source of contention and warfare,[15] it is impossible to contemplate the fact of such an acquisition of land by any Member of the Mission without its being reported to the Committee, or some recognition of other than personal advantage from its acquisition, without equal surprise and regret.

   Additional reasons for requiring the Committee to deal immediately with Mr. Fairburn's case are furnished by the circumstances of the Local Committee having proposed Mr. Fairburn's being placed on a superannuation allowance, in consequence of his application to be permitted, on account of his declining health, to retire from the effective service of the Mission, and to settle upon his land; and by Mr. Fairburn's refusal to sell to the Society, on application of that Committee, a piece of his land, containing 500 acres, for the purpose of forming a Missionary Station thereon.”[16]

   Mr. Fairburn's position, relatively to his land and to the Society, as represented by the various documents before the Committee, having been fully considered, it was Resolved:-  

  I.  That the Committee are of opinion, that Mr. Fairburn's retaining, for his own private advantage, the large tract of land above referred to, is incompatible with his office and connexion with the Church Missionary Society.

  II.  That it is incumbent on the Committee, in order to vindicate their own character, as implicated in the acts of the Missionaries, to assert the right of dealing with such a transaction, as that under consideration, in such a manner as under the circumstances of the case, shall appear to be just and equitable.

  III.  That if this right be denied by Mr. Fairburn, the Committee must adopt the painful alternative of declaring his connexion with the Society terminated.

  IV.  That if, however, as they will not permit themselves to doubt, Mr. Fairburn shall recognize the justification of the principle laid down in the Second Resolution, the Committee direct that the circumstances connected with the land in question, in all their bearings, be immediately taken into consideration by a Special Committee, to be formed of five Members of the Mission, not being holders of land beyond the limit recognised by the Committee's Resolution of July 27, 1830, and the 29 th of November last; of which Committee three members shall be Clergymen.

  V.  That such Committee be instructed-

    (1) To determine what portion of the land ought fairly and reasonably to be retained by Mr. Fairburn for his own use and the benefit of his family.

    (2) That the circumstances, out of which the acquisition of the land originated, precluding its restoration, the remainder of it be placed in Trust, in the name of the Society, either for some object of a public nature, for the benefit of the Natives, whether for the purpose of locating Christian Converts, endowing some Public Institution, or in some other manner which shall divest the Missionaries and the Society from all imputation of personal interest in its retention.

    (3) That Mr. Fairburn be compensated equitably for any pecuniary loss in respect to the proportion of land to be surrendered by him: - the amount of compensation being fixed in reference to the price or other compensation given to the Natives for the acquisition of the whole.

  VI.  That the proceedings of such Special Committee be laid before both District Committees of the Mission, and transmitted to the Society as early as possible; [812] (2) and that the report of the same be submitted to His Majesty's chief authority in the island.

  VII.  That the way being cleared, by these measures, for considering Mr. Fairburn's application for a retiring allowance, the Southern Committee be authorised, subject to the approval of the Parent Committee, to grant Mr. Fairburn such retiring allowance as they may deem eligible, to be enjoyed by him until the culture of his land shall afford him the means of independent support.  

  The Committee trust, that, on a calm review of the scope and intention of the foregoing Resolutions, and of all the circumstances under which they have been passed, the Members of the Mission at large, and Mr. Fairburn in particular, will perceive that they are indispensable, in order to clear the Mission and the Society from imputations seriously affecting the interests of both; and to remedy a state of things in the Mission, which, if suffered to remain, must impair that purity of purpose in its proceedings, without which the Divine Favour cannot be expected upon its Members or their undertaking.

  The Committee assure themselves, that, viewed in these lights, the measures now directed will meet with the cordial and zealous co-operation of all the Members of the Mission, in order to their prompt and effective execution.

  The foregoing document is a pledge of the determination of the Committee to exercise an impartial judgment upon any similar case - if such there be - which may come before them. Though deeply deploring the imputations to which the invesments in land by some of the Missionaries have exposed the body, the Committee have thought it right, on principles of common justice - as well as in consideration to the testimony borne to their character by the Bishop of Australia, and by other persons of high reputation who have visited the island - to suspend their judgment till further information shall be received; but they are prepared, upon sufficient information, to deal with each case as its merits, when fully before them, shall demand. The principles laid down in Mr. Fairburn's case would guide the decision of the Committee in every other, to which they were justly applicable.

III. The general introduction of Money-payments into the Mission, in lieu of payments partly by money and partly by rations.

  The Committee have adopted other measures having respect to the new state of things arising in the island, consequent on the progress of commerce and colonization.   One of them is, to direct the introduction, as early as possible, of a money-salary to the various classes of persons in the Mission, as in the other Missions of the Society, in m lieu of the mixed support hitherto assigned, consisting partly of money and partly of rations.   This course was also desired by the Missionaries.   It could not, however, be adopted, until the progress of commerce and civilization should have introduced a money circulation.   The colonization of the island, following the gradual advance of the Natives in social improvement, under the influence of the Missionaries, prepared the way to the attainment of the object which the Committee had in view.   The rapid influx into New Zealand of Settlers from New South Wales, of which the Committee have recently been informed, combined with the activity of the movements in this country for the colonization of New Zealand, led the Committee to conclude that the period had arrived, or was near at hand, when this arrangement would be practicable.   The effect of it will be, both to define the expenditure of the Mission – possibly to reduce its amount – and to relieve the Missionaries from a portion of the secular employment in which they have hitherto been unavoidably engaged for the subsistence of themselves and their families.   As the formation of colonies in the island will facilitate the general introduction of money-payments into the Mission, so it may be expected to open employments suitable for the children of the Missionaries, which have not previously existed, and in the absence of which the cultivation of the land was the only resource of the Missionaries, as a means of provision for their children.   The Committee therefore addressed a Letter to the Missionaries on the 17 th of February last, which is printed as an Appendix, fully explaining the grounds on which the Committee proceeded in taking this step. *

IV.-  Further measures relating to the Purchase of Land by any Member of the Mission, with the entire prohibition of their doing so with their private means, while connected with the Society.

  The general introduction of money-payments into the Mission placed the Committee in a situation to adopt other measures respecting the purchase of land by the Missionaries. One of these is directed to define and limit, and ultimately to discontinue altogether, purchases of land with the Society's allowance on account of children, under the Resolution of July 27th, 1830. Another prohibits henceforward all purchases of land by Members of the Mission, with their private means.  The Committee give entire a Letter to the Missionaries of the 18th of February, conveying their instructions on these points.

TO MR. GEORGE CLARKE AND THE MISSIONARIES

DEAR SIR,                                                                      Church Missionary House, Feb. 18, 1840.

  1.   In our Letter of yesterday's date[17] we conveyed to you the directions of the Committee, respecting the Introduction of money-payments into the Mission.   There are, however, other important bearings of the general introduction of money-payments into New Zealand, which we will now explain.

  2.   The serious embarrassment and difficulty in which both the Missionaries and the Committee have been involved, by the purchase of land in New Zealand by Members of the Mission, render it obligatory upon the Committee to terminate, at the earliest possible moment, a course of proceeding which has been attended with such consequences.   The grounds on which the Committee sanctioned purchase of land to “a moderate extent” in behalf of your children, as they respectively [ part missing from the text on line] explained in our Letter of July 27, 1830.   Of the expediency of sanctioning such a course, in your then circumstances, the Committee see no reason to doubt.   It was, however, a deviation from the uniform practice of the Society in its other Missions, and was called for and justified only by the peculiar situation in which you were placed in New Zealand.   There was then no social state in the country, into which your children could possibly enter with a view to their future settlement in life.   There was no trade no profession to which they could betake themselves for a livelihood.   There was, in fact, no means of providing for them, as they successively grew up, but by the cultivation of the soil.   Hence the Missionaries, anxious for the future welfare of their children, naturally turned their eyes in this direction; and hence the Committee felt themselves fully justified in sanctioning the purchase of land in their behalf, to “a moderate extent,” as stated in the Resolution of July 27, 1830.

  3.   The same considerations which led the Committee to conclude that money-payments may now be introduced generally into the Mission, as explained in our Letter of yesterday's date, induce them to believe that the time is approaching when such a change as no longer to render it necessary to provide for your children in the manner above mentioned.   For as soon as the state of New Zealand will admit of your children being provided for, as in other Missions, the necessity for providing for them by purchase of land will cease.

  4.    A reference to our Letter of July 27, 1830, will show, that while the Committee consented to your making purchases of land in New Zealand as a provision for your children, they were not unmindful that “the arrangement exposed you to some danger of having your minds unduly drawn to secular conduct.”   Nothing, indeed, but the necessity of the case could have warranted you in placing yourselves, or the Committee, in sanctioning your being placed, in such circumstances.

  5.    Abstaining, in the imperfect state of their Information, from expressing an opinion on the manner in which you have acted on the Resolution of July 27, 1830,   - except, which the Committee greatly regret, your not having referred to them, for their sanction, the nature and extend of each purchase, as required by that Resolution – they are most solicitous, no less on your account than on general grounds, to terminate a mode of providing for your children unavoidably carrying along with it some danger of withdrawing you from your duties in the Mission, and of secularising your minds.  

  6.   Under the impression, that the period, if not actually arrived, is not far distant, when the mode of providing for your children, sanctioned by the Resolution of July 27, 1830, may be defined and limited, if not discontinued altogether, the Committee request that you will without delay submit to their consideration such other plans of providing for them as may be feasible, and a statement of the means by which it may best be carried into effect.

  7.   The question of other land-purchases by your own private means stands on different grounds, and has, as you are aware, engaged the anxious attention of the Committee.   While the Committee, In their Reso9lution of the 29 th November last, abstained from laying down a prohibitory rule as to your conduct in this respect, it expressed their disapproval of such transactions in general, as liable to prejudice the character and usefulness of the Missionary, and to operate injuriously both to the Mission and to the Society. Still, not calling into question the abstract right of the Missionaries in this respect, they are of opinion that purchases of land of this description should be altogether discontinued by the Missionaries.   The progress of colonization in New Zealand will probably be rapid; and will thus place the Missionary in the same situation, as to the temporal interests of his family, as the missionaries of the Society in other quarters.   Under such circumstances, it would unquestionably be unwarrantable in the Missionary to make large acquisitions of landed property in New Zealand.   Beside the bearing of such acquisitions on his own character and duties, and the character of the Society with which he is connected, it could scarcely fail to awaken the jealousy of the Colonists, and thus to create a state of feeling between them and the Missionaries highly prejudicial to the Mission.   It may occur too – and it is even very probable that in some cases it will occur – that tracts of land purchased by the Missionaries, originally barren and unprofitable, would acquire, by the progress of colonization, a value far beyond any thing calculated upon when the purchase was made; and which, on that account, it would be altogether incompatible with the character and office of a missionary that he should possess.

  8.   At the same time, therefore, that the Committee admits the abstract right of the Missionaries to employ their private property in such a manner as they may think proper, they must assert, on the other hand, that the exercise of this right is limited and controlled by the nature of the relation into which the Missionaries have entered with the Society for the promotion of its spiritual objects.   The due discharge of the duties of this relation render it impracticable for the Missionary to occupy his mind or employ his time, to any considerable extent, in the management of landed property, the cultivation of the soil, or in commerce.   The only ground, the Committee conceive, on which these purchases of land could at any period be defended or extenuated, is rapidly passing away, by the altered circumstances of New Zealand, in consequence of the introduction of colonization, and the prospect of its rapid advance.

  9.   The Committee, therefore, feel themselves called upon to require that all purchases of land, except those under the Resolution of July 27, 1830, shall be discontinued by the Members of the Mission, after the arrival of this Letter.   Such as may have been made previously to the receipt of it will, of course be reported to the Committee, in the manner required by the From of Return transmitted under cover of our Letter of December 14, 1839.

  10.   The course which the Committee may judge it right to take with regard to purchases already made by the Missionaries with their private means will depend on the facts connected with each transaction.   The Missionaries may, however, rest assured that the Committee have no wish to interfere in reference to these purchases, unless, as in Mr. Fairburn's case, such interference is demanded by the facts connected with it; nor to carry that interference one step further than the obligation to watch over the state of the Mission and the proceedings of the Missionaries absolutely require at their hands, as the Administrators of the Society's affairs.

  11.  With regard to purchases of land made under the terms of the Resolution of July 1830, the Committee have already adduced their reasons for wishing this permission to be most cautiously exercised.   They hope that the necessity for its exercise at all will be of short duration; but in every instance, where the circumstances of the country and of the Missionary may still seem to justify its continuance, they wish it distinctly to be understood, that no such purchases of land should be considered as complete, until the Society had had an opportunity of considering and approving it.

We remain, Dear Sir, very truly yours,

                            W. JOWETT.         )

                                                  T. VORES.             )    Secretaries

                                                          D. COATES.          )                               

  [813] (3) From the foregoing statement of the proceedings of the Committee, since the 29th of November, it will be seen that they have steadily pursued such a course as was calculated to place its secular arrangements on a sound footing, as well as to remedy whatever might have taken place in the Mission inconsistent with its Missionary character.

    It should be understood, that the measures now explained have not been willingly deferred till the present period.   It was stated, in the Statement of the 29th of November, that the Committee had determined to send a Deputation to New Zealand, to investigate and report on the whole of the Mission, with a view to its improved organization; of which its own growth, and the gradual changes in the state of the country, had rendered it susceptible.   This determination was taken as early as December 1838; and means were used to engage suitable persons for the undertaking, both privately and through the Annual Report and Church Missionary Record[18].   The land investments, and the new system of supporting the Mission, would have been among the principal objects of investigation and improvement to be referred to the Deputation.   But, notwithstanding all the endeavours of the Committee to procure the services of suitable persons, they were not obtained; and thus a design failed, which would in the speediest and most satisfactory manner have placed the Mission on a sound and unimpeachable footing.   It was not till the Committee lost the hope of effecting, by this method, the objects which they had in view, that they felt warranted in adopting the less eligible, but the only practicable measure now explained, for attaining, as it is hoped they may attain, the settlement of the affairs of this important Mission, on a footing adapted to its present circumstances.

   It is with no intention to justify what may have been blameworthy in the conduct of any one connected with the Mission that the Committee suggest to the consideration of the Members of the Society the hardships and perils under which the New-Zealand Mission was formed, and under which it has grown to its present magnitude; and remind them, that it is chiefly by the labours of its devoted members, in every department of their Mission-life – combining with their sacred duties, as it necessarily has, a great variety of secular occupation – that New Zealand has become what it is.   They found it a barbarous, inhospitable shore, dreaded and avoided by the mariner, abandoned to its native wretchedness.   Patient toil, for many years, sustained by simple faith and un ceasing prayer, have, under the divine blessing, rendered the island an attractive field for emigration, as well as one of the most encouraging scenes of Missionary labour.

   The Committee close this Paper with the following Extract of a Letter from the Rev. W. Williams, dated August 28, 1839: from which the Members of the Society will learn, with lively interest, and gratitude to the God of all grace, that the Divine Blessing continues to rest on the labours of the Missionaries in behalf of the benighted Natives:-

  “I learnt today, that at Opotiki, where no Missionary has yet been, the Natives assemble for Christian Worship in a regular and orderly manner.   As I stated in my last, the whole line of coast from Wakatane, a little to the east of Tauranga, round the East Cape to Table Cape, requires immediate occupation.   The way is, I trust, opening for a movement shortly.   I hope to take twenty Native Teachers from among our most hopeful Christians; and may it please the Lord, by means of them, to carry on His work!

   “The Papists are on the alert. Their establishment now is, one Bishop, eight Priests, and two Catechists; and a French ship of war is expected to bring, it is said, ten more ………… But they have not, as yet, done much mischief.   The Natives who have received instruction from us remain steadfast; and many who hitherto have kept aloof, seeming now to think that they must join one or the other, have declared themselves in favour of us. The Testaments and Prayer-Books are eagerly sought after, and the truth will be rooted deeply.

   “There are those here who think that the Mission is in a most unhealthy state; and that, with the want of faith which has been manifested, particularly in seeking a provision for the children, we cannot prosper.   I think, however, the Mission Body was never in so healthy a state.   There may be excrescences and tumours, which require the knife; and where is the body which is not subject to these?   But whether I look at the work in our old Stations – not superficial work, but sound and solid, based on the Word of God; or whether I look mat the more recent Stations of the Northern District, and the regular Increase in the Congregations and Schools; or again, I look still further, beyond our labours, where Natives will have Christianity whether we will give it or no; I am constrained to say, that the body was never in so healthy a state; that we in New Zealand never had greater cause for encouragement, nor the Church at home stronger ground for thankfulness.   I, therefore, will thank God, and take courage."

(By Order of the Committee)

CHURCH MISSIONARY HOUSE,

   March 31, 1840.

                                                                                                        W. JOWETT.   )

                                                                                                        T. VORES.     )           Secretaries.

                                                                                                        D. COATES. )

[Empty tables headed "Return of Land Purchased in New Zealand" omitted]

[814] (4)

APPENDIX II.

TO MR. GEORGE CLARKE AND THE MISSIONARIES

(NORTHERN DISTRICT)

Church Missionary House, Feb. 17, 1840.

DEAR SIR-

   1. No communication from the Mission has reached us since the despatch of our Letter of the 11 th instant.

   2. In that Letter we informed you that the general introduction of money-payments into the New-Zealand Mission was under the consideration of the Committee.   We now communicate the result of their deliberations.

   3.   The Committee have always felt, that to provide for all payments in a Mission by a fixed amount in money, so far as it was practicable to reduce them to a fixed amount, was the soundest principle in itself, and most satisfactory at once to the Committee and to the Missionary.   At the commencement of a Mission – and, in some cases, for a considerable period afterwards – it has not been practicable to take this course.   Until sufficient information has been gained of the cost of the necessities of life, and of various other incidents of Missionary Expenditure, the necessary data are wanting for fixing the annual amount of the different heads of the expenditure in money.   So soon as the progress of things has supplied the needful information, fixed-payments have been uniformly introduced into all the Society's Missions.

   4.   In the case of New Zealand, this exception to the general rule has been most unequivocal, and has operated for the longest period.   When the Mission was commenced in 1814, the Natives were in a state of unmitigated barbarism; and there was no alternative, but to provide for the Mission by supplies in kind, and such articles for legitimate barter as were valued by the Natives: and for the acquisition of which, they gave in return to the Missionaries, food for their support, land for the settlements, timber for buildings, labour, and other means of establishing and extending the Mission.

   5.   As the Mission advanced, and, under the Divine Blessing, the Natives were gradually brought more or less under the influence of Christianity, as approach was made to a more settled and regular social state.   The process, though slow, was sure.   One of the effects of this melioration of the native character was the access of Europeans to the island.   In the first instance, it was chiefly limited to visits of whalers, which resorted to the coasts of New Zealand, especially to the Bay of Islands, for water and provisions.   As the influence of the Gospel, preached by the Missionary, controlled the fierce and savage dispositions of the New-Zealander, and rendered intercourse with him safe and practicable, other Europeans resorted to his shores.   The value, for commercial purposes, of the New-Zealand timber and flax became known; and the importation of these articles into Sydney, and afterwards into Great Britain, gradually increased.   The timber was deemed an object of importance to the British Navy; and ships, chartered by Her Majesty's Government, have for many years visited New Zealand, to supply the royal dock-yards with spars.

   6.   As a further consequence of this gradual change in the circum stances of New Zealand, and the diffusion of information in this country respecting its climate, water, soil, and productions, the attention of many persons was turned toward that country for the purposes of colonization .   This led first to the location of many individuals on the islands, and then to the sending out from hence of a considerable number of colonists.   To meet this state of things, and to guard the interests of the Aborigines, Her Majesty's Government have sent out a Mission to New Zealand, under the direction of Capt. Hobson, R.N., to acquire, progressively, the sovereignty of the entire island, by treaty with the [part of text illegible]

   7.   ………………………………………………………………..which, in this respect, is found practicable and convenient to Colonists, will prove no less so to the Missionaries.

   8.   The Committee are therefore of opinion, that the time is arrived when this system may be generally adopted in the Mission.   They are aware, from your communications, that this course of proceeding falls in, entirely, with your own views and wishes.   They therefore do not doubt that all connected with the Mission, in both Districts, will address themselves earnestly to the subject, and take immediate steps to carry the directions of the Committee into effect.

   9.   In adjusting the payments of different descriptions which are new to be reduced to a fixed annual amount of money, so far as the actual state of the island may admit of it being done at present, you will be governed by these principles: -

      (1) That with regard to salaries to Missionaries, Catechists, and others on the establishment of the Mission, the amount is to be regulated by the general rule which is acted on in all the Society's Missions; viz. the assignment of such a salary as may be found requisite to provide for their necessary expenses in prosecuting the objects of the Society at the stations where they may be severally placed.   Present healthy maintenance is all for which provision is to be made by the salary assigned to each agent.   The amount, as is now the case, will vary according to the class to which the individual may belong; as, Missionary, Catechist, Lay Assistant (as Mr. Wade)¸ Printer, or Artisan; and as he may be married or unmarried.   A specific amount is also to be assigned, as heretofore, for the maintenance of each child under fifteen.   The income of the individual will consequently always range with the claim of his family upon it.   At present, the money-salary is for a part of the Missionary's maintenance; hereafter, it is to be for the whole.

      (2) With regard to other heads of charge – for the salaries of Native Teachers, native labour, and other miscellaneous expenses – the Missionaries must well consider what the several cases require, and fix the payment accordingly; always exercising the strictest economy that is consistent with justice to the party, and efficient service to the Mission.

   10.   In order that these instructions may be most speedily and effectually acted on, the Committee direct, that a Special Committee of seven persons, including four Clergymen, be immediately formed, to whom this Letter shall be referred.   This Committee should be composed of persons of the best information and most extensive experience, selected from both Districts; of whom three should be a quorum.   They will keep minutes of their proceedings, and record their conclusions and the grounds of them, with any additional remarks or explanations which they may think proper.    The Committee request that no time may be lost in the formation of the Special Committee, and the prosecution to completion of the business referred to them.   So soon as this shall be done, you will transmit to us the whole of that Committee's proceedings, through the Lord Bishop of Australia, as President of the Corresponding Committee in Sydney.   The strong interest taken by his Lordship in that Mission, the information which he gained in New Zealand, and his personal acquaintance with many of the Missionary body, render the Committee very solicitous to be aided by the Bishop's judgement in making these important changes in the internal affairs of the mission, to which this Letter is directed.

   11.   The Committee further beg, that, in considering the matters hereby referred to a Special Committee, they will also report their views as to the most safe and advantageous mode of negociating Bills on the Colony and on England, in providing for the payments in money intended to be introduced into the Mission.

We remain, Dear Sir, Very truly yours,

                                                                            W.JOWETT.    )

                                                                            T.VORES.     )    S ecretaries

                                                                             D.COATES.   )

[Cover page]

1840

Statements of the Church Missionary Society

relative to the

New Zealand Mission.

No. 108

[815] Wednesday Morng.

My dear Sir,

   I have just received another parcel of papers from Glendon.   Among them you will find some bearing out many of my assertions & opinions upon the Black question.

   Pray put the other documents with these.

   It will afford me much pleasure to make comments on these documents to comment and illustrate them.

   There is no doubt that similar Papers, bearing [817] out the same state of things could be produced from every District in the Colony – if the same pains were taken to search the By Gone records of the Benches, by influential men, who have access to them.

Very sincerely Yours,

                                Robt. Scott

[816] 1838 Judge Burton

R. Scott, Esq.

Burton J with parcel of papers relative to the Black question.

[818] To Rev. Mr Ellis

Report &c. 7 August 1838.

Dear B[rothe]r,

Congregations, &c.

   Thro' the tender mercy of our heavenly father, I am permitted to address you to report the goodness of God to us, and our people thro' another year.

   Nearly twenty years have elapsed since a kind providence directed us to this sphere of labour, & the same kind providence has continued to attend us; thro' the years that are past.   Many have been the attempts of the enemy to thwart the progress of truth and piety, and sometimes we have been led to regret deeply the declension of many from the house and ordinances of God, but during the last year the attendance on the means of grace has been uniformly good particularly on the Lord's day and we are persuaded that with regard to most it is a growing attachment to the work and ordinances of God which draw them to his house.    The Wednesday morning & Friday evening lectures have been regularly attended particularly the latter which in addition to the lecture may be called a Meeting of An Experience when Church members & candidates are encouraged to exhort each other to become followers of Abraham in faith & patience.

2nd of April, the Chapel at Maira was opened by our esteemed brethren Williams, Pritchard & Rodgerson, who visited Wahini in the Camden.  Since the above comfortable place of worship was opened the congregation has been larger than formerly.   The Deacons & I visit them in turn, Except on the Sacrament Sabbath when they all come to Hare.

Church

The Church members generally continue to adorn? there.  In profession by a walk & conversation becoming the gospel [819] to live together in love as heirs of the grace of life.   The return of the ordinance Sabbath is anticipated as a feast to the soul.   Those received to communion during the past year have evinced a desire to give themselves to the Lord as living sacrifices.   The Lord has been merciful to these Islands during the past year while the influenza and an epidemic have been carrying off many on the Navigators and Hervey group our people generally have been blessed with health.   Those church members who have been removed were long pining away under a hereditary consumption and evinced much patience and a desire to depart and be with Ht?  Church discipline has been needed in a few instances and has been attended with the happy consequence of repentance in most cases.

   Having now a considerable number of young people in Church fellowship we formed a Juvenile class, and meet them once a month to exhort them to constancy and energy in seeking salvation. The morning prayer meeting for the Deacons and their families, when an appropriate lecture is delivered, is held at each other's houses.   The object of it is the increase of true piety, love & harmony among us, and to keep before them the duties of their office.    The deacons and myself continue to visit the Church members at their houses to urge them to press forward to the prise[sic] of their high calling of God in Ht? Jesus and to seek after those lawful improvements in their temporal condition which divine providence has placed within their reach.

Schools

Schools continue to receive individual attention both for adults and children.   The attendance has been good particularly the children; most of the children can read & write a tolerable good hand, and some of them have advanced as far as the Rule of three in Arithmetic.   I constantly meet the children at the Sabbath School between services to catechise them in the leading Scripture doctrines, &c.   The Maira school is superintended by Panana, a Deacon, a very active and exemplary Xn.  The congregation & school at Maira have flourished much under his care.   Panana & one Terepae have been selected to accompany Mr Williams to the westward to be located under the blessing of God on some one of the New Hebrides.

Itinerating

I have made several visits to Borabora & one to Maira during the past year to preach to the people administer the sacrament, &c.    At Borabora in [820] particular they appeared a great revival, Mr Rodgerson being now located there these visits will not be requisite in future.   Much to our regret we have been prevented during the past year from paying our usual visits to the Hervey & Navigators Islands.   A vessel was chartered for the purpose but the owner of the vessel disappointed us by disposing of his vessel just as we were ready to start.   We regretted our disappointment most on account of our brethren at the Navigators who were quite destitute of supplies whilst their stores at Tahiti had been laying there years for want of a conveyance.

Temporal Improvement

It is gratifying to be able to announce that the people continue to improve in temporal comforts.   Most of our people have got comfortable & substantial habitations and others are in various stages of forwardness.   Vessels which came to trade for arrowroot, oil, &c. bring them a constant supply of European clothing.   They begin to taste the sweets of civilized comforts and to desire them, and to strive to obtain them, without being constantly urged by the Missionary as was the case formerly.   The Huahinians continue steady in their attachment to temperance, & I may truly say they have a rich reward, health instead of sickness, Plenty instead of rags & poverty, Harmony and good order instead of disorder, fightings & sometimes murder.

Printing

The Press has not been so extensively employed this year as formerly.   The tract appeared to us just able to state to our people the Scripture reasons of dissent? from the Church at Rome.   The Arithmetic tables are in progress, after completing which it is proposed to rebuild the Printing Office on a larger scale. Our son Charles after having obtained a good knowledge of printing has come down to the Islands to offer his services to the Society. He is now employed in completing the Series of Tables above mentioned. He intends writing to the Society thro' the medium of the [821] Revd? John Williams.   The wishes of the directors will now I trust be realized & the printing department carried on in a superior manner.

Translation

   I have got several small publications nearly ready to submit to the Brethren for their Catechism Tracts, on faith, on the Keeping of the Sabbath, on obedience to Parents, a memoir in Tahitian of my greatly esteemed friend Mahine & I sincerely hope we shall be able to carry into effect a popular periodical under that Impression I am making selections.

   Mrs Banff and her daughter continue to use their best efforts to promote the temporal and spiritual welfare of the females.

Maiaoite

   This little station has not prospered as formerly since the death of Anna.   They continue to perform as formerly the round of services but there is want of that life & lively interest in the exercise of Divine Worship which reached the people when Anna was their teacher.

   In the midst of many mercies and much to encourage us to perseverance in the duties of our station the storm appears to be gathering. 60 gun frigates have been reportedly at Tahiti to enforce the reception of Roman Catholic Priests.

   Our trust in the Living god Intreating our Intreating an interest in the fervent prayers of the Directors, & British Christians in general that God may give grace to help in time of need.

Yours Affect[ionatel]y,

Charles Banff.

[822] No 38/285.

Colonial Secretary's Office,

Sydney, 16 June 1838.

Sir,

     To obviate the necessity of obtaining a special authority every time that the Reverend Mr Threlkeld attends the Supreme Court as Interpreter to the Aborigines, I do myself the honor to convey to you the Sanction of His Excellency the Governor to you including that Gentleman's name in your Contingent abstract for the sum of Five Pounds, for every case in which he may produce the Crown Solicitor's Certificate of his having been subpoena'd and duly attended in the above capacity.

                                                I have the honor to be,

                                                      Sir,

                                                Your c[onsta]nt? & obedient Servant

                                                 for the Colonial Secretary,

                                                 T.S.? Harington

The Registrar

of the Supreme Court

Encl. &c.

[823]

Colonial Secretary

16th June 1838

Authority for paying the

Revd Mr Threlkeld as

Interpreter to the

Aborigines.  

Sanction to pay all cases in future.

[824][19] upon the second writ, I am of opinion that the money realized upon the sale of that land, should be applied towards that writ.

Judgment of Mr Justice Burton in the case of Jack Congo Morral on a charge of Murder.

Inasmuch as the Court is unanimous in overruling the plea which has been filed, for the prisoner, denying the jurisdiction of this Court, over him, for the offence stated upon the Record, to have been committed by him, thereby deciding that the aboriginal natives of this Colony are amesnable to the laws of the Colony for offences committed within it, against the persons of each other and against the peace of our Lord the[20] I do not consider[21] the reasons upon which I have founded my individual opinions.   But I think it right to state briefly the grounds of my opinion which are as follows: -

[825] 1st .   Although it be granted that the aboriginal natives of New Holland are entitled to be regarded by Civilized nations, as a free & independent people, and are entitled to the possession of those rights which as such are so valuable to them, yet the various tribes had not attained at the first settlement of the English people amongst them, to such a position in point of numbers and Civilization, and to such a form of Government and laws, as to be entitled to be recognized, as so many sovereign states governed by laws of their own.

2nd .   That a tract of country, unappropriated by any one has been taken into active possession by the King of England, under the Sanction of Parliament, comprehended within the following limits, as contained in a proclamation of His Excellency the Governor 26 August 1835, Government Gazette 9th Sept. following viz. "extending from the Northern Cape or[22] York, on latitude 10^o 37' S to the Southern extremity of the said Territory of New South Wales or Wilson's Promontory in the latitude of [826] 39^o 12' S. and embracing all the Country inland to the Westward as far as 129 East longitude reckoned from the Meridian of Greenwich including all the Islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean, within the latitude aforesaid, and including also Norfolk Island."

3rd .   That the English nation has obtained and exercised for many years the right of domain and empire over the Country thus possessed and particularly it is designated by an act of the Imperial Parliament, 9 Geo. IV c:83, as His Majesty's Settlement and Colony of New South Wales, and Courts of Judicature have been established and the laws of England declared to be those which shall be administered, within it, and a local legislature is given to it.

4th .    An offence is stated upon the Record to have been committed by the Prisoner within this Colony, a place where by the Common Law and by the Stat. 9 Geo: IV c 83 the law of England is the Law of the Land, which if committed by him at Westminster in England, would render him amenable to the jurisdiction of His Majesty's Court of Kings Bench, and by 9 Geo. IV c 83 it is enacted that this Court [827] "shall be cognisant of all pleas civil, criminal or mixed in all cases whatsoever, as fully and amply, to all intents and purposes, in New South Wales and all and every the Islands and territories which now are or hereafter may be subject to or dependent upon the Government thereof as His Majesty's Court of Kings Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer at Westminster, or either of them lawfully have or hath in England" and that this Court shall be at all times a Court of Oyer and Terminer and gaol delivery in and for New South Wales and the dependencies thereof, and that "the Judges shall have & exercise such and the like jurisdictions and authority in New South Wales and the dependencies thereof as the Judges of the Court of Kings Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer in England or any of them lawfully have and exercise and as shall be necessary for carrying into effect the several jurisdictions, powers and authorities committed to it.

5thly.   This Court has repeatedly tried and even executed aboriginal natives of this Colony, [828] for offences committed by them upon subjects of the King, ever since the opening of the Court in May 1824 and there is no distinction in law, in respect to the protection due to the person between a subject living in the Colony under the King's Peace and an alien living therein under the King's Peace.

The authorities for this position are, Vattel's Treatise on the law of nations B1. Ch. 18 sec 203. 204. 205.  Ib. Bl. C7. §.81. Ch 18. sec 209. C 19. 213.  B2. Ch 7 sec 94. Ib. Ch 8. sec 100 & 101. 103 104. 108.

Blackstone's Commentaries 1 Vol. page 254 sec 4. Christian Edition and page 370.

Hawk. P.C. B.l. ch. 2. sec 5.-

Fosters Crown Law Disc. 1. p.188.

Stat: 28 Edw. 3. c 13. sec 2

Lord Coke in Calvin's Case 4 Coke 10 & 11 and the cases of Shirly 3 & 4 W. & M. and Stephens Farrara de Gamo and Emanuel Lewis Finoca 36 Eliz. therein mentioned.-

     Respecting those difficulties and inconveniences and hardships which have been referred to, as likely to arise from this decision, I will briefly say that I think [829] they have been much overrated.   Some which have been stated, as for example the probability of multiplied business to Magistrates and others concerned in the administration of justice, I look upon as little likely to occur, but if occurring, certain to produce the best results as to the Natives themselves difficulties, it is the business of the local legislature to remove any burden.   I doubt not His Majesty, or those vested with the exercise of His Royal prerogative of Mercy, will be ready in every case, and may justly call forth, to extend to people so circumscribed as they.   But I am of opinion that the greatest possible inconvenience and scandal to this Community would be consequent if it were to be holden by this Court, that it has no jurisdiction in such a case as this present – to be holden in fact that the crime of Murder, and others of almost equal enormity may be committed by those people, in our streets, without restraint so they be committed only upon one another! & that our laws are no sanctuary to them.

[830]

Visit to Maiavite April 10 1839.

10 Lectured in the morning from the Psalms, in the afternoon left for Maiavite,  The wind was slack during the night so that we did not make the progress we could wish.

11. The wind ahead so that we did not reach the Island till the Evening and could not anchor in the Night in such an intricate place outside the reef.   Lay off and on during the night.

12 Early in the morning cast anchor & landed & was happy to learn that the Island was in a flourishing condition.   At our last visit the Island was destitute of almost all kinds of provision & burned up with the sun.   In the evening met the Church Members & addressed them from 1 Cori. 30:   two candidates were received to communion & many spoke to Edification.   Engaged to a late hour teaching Sacred Music, &c.

13 Employed in visiting the sick, studying, &c. Met the Parents in the Evening who have children to baptize and addressed them prepatory to the Ordinance.

14 Lords day.   Attended the early prayer meeting & was much edified with the spirit of devotion prevalent.   Preached in the forenoon from 1 Cor 1. 22 to a full congregation & afterwards administered the sacrament to the Church and visiting members.   Preached[23] in the afternoon from Ezek. XV111:20 and baptized some dear Infants.   May the Lord give his blessing. Amen.

15 School in the morning adults & children, visiting sick & aged members at their homes during the day to administer to their temporal & spiritual relief.

16 Schools as usual in the morning.   Engaged during the day in preparing for the May Meeting.

17 Early in the morning a prayer meeting was held for the spread of the gospel.   At noon we had a full congregation.   Jeremia read & prayed & I afterwards preached from Isaiah 27:6.   One of the deacons of xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [831] with prayer.   In the afternoon assembled again to read the report.   Massi was chosen president on the occasion and manifested much life and energy in the office. The meeting was begun & concluded with prayer.   More than thirty speakers addressed the meeting with much life and energy.   Such periods excite much Interest in insolated Islands, like this, and may they ever find delight in contributing their mite towards the spread of the gospel as a small token of gratitude for the invaluable blessings they have received with the blessed gospel.

18 Thursday.   The school children assembled to hold the annual examination about 100 boys & girls.   I addressed them from John 3.8 and examined them as to their progress during the pas year & was much gratified to learn that a great number of them could read very well.   Several also repeated chapters from the Bible committed to memory.   Rewards of books were given to those who excelled to stimulate them in their future exertions.   The children, with the flags flying, walked thro' the settlement to the evident delight of their parents, and afterwards we all sat down to a May feast.   The table was loaded with such delicacies as the Island afforded.

A number spoke to Edification during the feast, expaciating? in particular on the advantages all classes enjoy under the gospel dispensation.   The feast concluded eith singing a hymn & prayer. Towards evening when we took our leave of our kind, Xn & generous friends & commenced our voyage to Enneo?

20 Early in the morning came up to the reef at Enneo? but did not get to anchor till the afternoon the current & winds were so strong against us, were rejoiced to find all our friends well at Enneo?, & the children all enjoying good health.

Huahine, May 18, 1838.   A day set apart by the London Miss[ ionar ]y Soc[ iet ]y for commencing their annual May Meeting and which all their Missionaries follow as far as circumstances will allow them.   A Prayer Meeting was held early in the morning for the spread of the gospel.   At Noon a large Congregation assembled notwithstanding it was rainy and rather tempestuous.   One of the deacons read & prayed & I [832] preached from Ps. 97.1.   One of the deacons concluded with prayer.   The Chiefs & Mission family sat down to a plentiful dinner in the Chief Mahine's house.

7 About 10AM our large chapel was crowded.   The people assembled to read the report.   Arihe? was chosen president.   After the meeting had been commenced with prayer, the report of the subscription of the children was read.   30$ and 13 measures of arrowroot with 60 bamboes of oil.   The money was brought by the children in classes each his Mite, and thrown on the table before the president.   The ten districts came up next, each with their governor at their head and threw their mite on the table to the amount of $112, the whole amount of subscription here and Maiaviti was 37 measures of arrowroot, 603 bamboes of oil and 142 dollars. The speakers were many and energetic and a deeply interesting feeling pervaded the meeting, Gratitude for the blessings of the gospel, & a desire to spread its blessings to other lands.   Mr Charter addressed the meeting in a very interesting speech and a translation of an interesting letter from the Hon. Secy of the Parent. Socy was read acknowledging the receipt of the subscription on a former occasion.   It was proposed by proposed by themselves at the close of the meeting that the King should for the future give 4$ and the little governors 2$ each and the little Raatira ? Each ½$ which will more than double the subscription.   The meeting closed with prayer & praise and all returned home, much rejoiced at the goodness of God to us.

10 About 10AM the children assembled to the amount of about 400 all neatly dressed in European clothing.   The meeting[24] commenced with prayer & an address. About 140 boys & girls repeated chapters they had learned by art (sic).   And for the above and their Improvement in reading & writing, &c., [833] received some rewards.   They walked thro' the settlement to the evident delight of their Parents, the chiefs, &. Nearly all the people on the settlement sat down to a plentiful feast. While the people were dining some were speaking to edification, exhorting each other to perseverance in seeking their own salvation and in promoting the salvation of the heathen. The feast closed a little before sunset with singing & prayer. This is the twenty-first meeting of the kind we have held at Huahine. How wonderful the change effected in the Pacific in those twenty years past. We would thank God & take courage. Amen.

11 Visiting the sick & preparing for the Lords day.

12 Lords day.   In the morning preached from Exod XVIII.9 and baptized three dear Infants.   Catechized the children at Noon on the Sermon.   Preached in the Evening from Isaiah XXXII.9 on the Importance of a Right Improvement & time, talent, &c.

19 Duties of the week, schools, &c., both for adults & children; composing a tract on the reason why we separate from the Church of Rome.   Lectured on Wednesday & Friday.   Lords day, preached in the forenoon from & in the afternoon catechised the children as usual.

20 Left with Mr & Mrs Charter for Tahaa, their appointed station.   Reached Raiatea about 8 in the evening and were happy to find all well.

21. Took Mr Charter property to Tahaa and landed and sailed for Tipeahapa Raiatea.

22. In the Evening preached to the people in the settlement.

24 Employed in attending the sick and writing to England & the Colony.   Attended the meeting in the Evening & Lectured from 1 Isaiah? ii.    In? about 50 females present: the men having gone to Tahaa [834] to be present at the opening of the Chapel, &c.  

26 Lords day.   In the forenoon preached to a larger congregation than I expected from Jno II.7.   In the evening preached again from Rom.XIII.6 on the witness of the spirit.

27. Monday.   Left for Tahaa and held a meeting to arrange the speakers, and afterwards went with Mr Charter to look at a proper site for his house.   He preferred the valley directly inland from the Chapel.

28. A day set apart for the opening of the Chapel at Tahaa .   Mr Platt addressed the[25] people early in the morning & I read & prayed.   At noon the Chapel was well filled with a large congregation, very decent & dressed in European clothing.   Mr Platt read & prayed & I preached from Ps. 26.8.   May the Lord add his blessing. Amen. Soon after the noon service the feeding commenced 14 baked pigs and an ox with a proportionate quantity of food was presented to the visitors. 29th. The May Meeting held waiting for the arrival of the chiefs occasioned the delay.   Early in the morning Mr Platt read & prayed & I preached from Prov. 24.11.12 to a good congregation.   In the afternoon I read & prayed & Mr Platt preached from Luke XXII.26.   The Chapel was crowded to Excess.   After dinner assembled in the chapel to read the report.   Tapoa was chosen chairman for the occasion and conducted the meeting with great ability.   More than twenty spoke on the occasion.   The subscription of Tahaa were 608 bamboes of oil, and Raiatea 434; only however a list of names; it is to be feared a number of them will not bring their subscriptions.   The meeting closed [835] near sun down.   I presented Mr & Mrs Charter to the Tahaans , & requested them to receive them in love & treat them kindly, to give up one of their houses to them for a temporary residence and to build them a good house in the valley behind the chapel as soon as possible, all which they agreed to do.

  Left about sun down for Raiatea in a whale boat.   Our schooner arrived about 9 o'clock at night, the wind being favourable & the Moon shining bright we left about 10 for Huahine and reached there the next morning.   Prayer, breakfast, &c. FINIS.

Huahine and Maiai

Outlines of report for 1839

Te Perese a Maeruharia ca

Te Tarana rahi I raro ae o Mahine ca

Te Papai parau rahi c Pai ca

Te mau & taoa o Vaitahue ca

Farecki

Te Tarana ra o Mahine ca

Te Papai parau o Teherura ca

Te taoa c aufau hia'e Fraro ihi C ? Faito pea

e $14.37 1/2

Faretou

Te Tarana ra o Terainano ca.   Te papair parau o Hope raa ca.

Te taoa aufau hea'a to Farehou $18.37

Tauraimua

Te tarana ra o Terainmoia .   Te Papai para o Rana ca

Ta to Tauraimua taoa c aufau $5.25

Tauraimuu

Te Tarana ra o Hani ca.   Te Papai parau o Torea ca

Te Ta