100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #26(1-4)
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
I BUILDING THE CHURCH
II EARLY AUCKLAND METHODISM
III THE DIFFICULT YEARS
IV MOTHER OF CHURCHES
V THE EIGHTIES AND NINETIES
VI VICTORIAN WESLEYANS
VII A FRESH OUTLOOK FOR A NEW CENTURY
VIII THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND AFTER
IX DEPRESSION AND RECOVERY
X THE CITY CHURCH TODAY
APPENDICES
Except the Lord conduct the plan,
The best concerted schemes are vain,
And never can succeed;
We spend our wretched strength for nought:
But if our works in Thee be wrought,
They shall be blest indeed.
C.Wesley
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
FOREWORD
The hundred years' life-time of Pitt Street Methodist Church has witnessed more
changes than any other thousand years of the world's history, and this centennial year
is also a time of change and development.
Human exploration of outer space continues resolutely, with the immediate target a
landing on the moon within the next decade. In the world scene, newly-independent
nations experience their political teething-troubles, and there is widespread unrest as
under-privileged peoples struggle for their share in the world's prosperity. In an
indecisive undeclared war in South-east Asia the people of South Viet Nam are
assisted against North Viet Nam by forces from the U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand
and others, in a complex military situation in which none can see the end. There is
some relief through the ending of "confrontation" between Indonesia and the
Malaysian federation of nations.
In New Zealand it is a period of temporary economic recession in the inflationary
cycle of credit expansion. The country is engaged in an election campaign. The
Methodist Conference is about to meet in Auckland under the Presidency of the Rev.
Ashleigh K. Petch.
In this historical survey of the first century in the life of Pitt Street Church the Rev. E.
W. Hames has served us well, and the historian's perspective enables the immediate
world scene to be surveyed with more
objectivity.
A popular saying, "It'll be all the same
in a hundred years' time" reminds us
that many of our immediate concerns
are extremely petty in the long view;
but a book such as this should remind
us that things never are "the same" and that human beings have a decisive,
if often unimportant, role to play.
We who live and serve in this wellloved church at the year of its centenary
are grateful for the heritage into which
we entered, and aware of our
responsibility to be the church of the
living God in the heart of a growing
city.
R. F. CLEMENT.
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CHAPTER I
Building the Church
Nov. 1865—Oct. 1866
Wednesday, 9th November, 1865 (The Prince of Wales' birthday) was a great day for
the Auckland Methodist community, for on this afternoon the cornerstone of their
important new Church at Pitt Street was laid, by the Hon. T. Russell, a prominent and
generous member of the parent High Street chapel. It was quite an occasion. A
procession formed up in High Street, led by the architect, the builder and the
carpenter, "each bearing distinct emblems of their craft," with the bearer of the Union
Jack in front. Then came the Rev. John Warren and the Rev. John Whiteley, with
Russell, and no doubt a large following of the faithful, who marched up the hill at 3
o'clock, gathering numbers as they proceeded. There is no mention of a band. (Our
information comes from the Daily Southern Cross).
When they reached Pitt Street, the stone was set in place, and congratulatory remarks
were made by Russell, who was greeted by "rapturous applause". He was followed by
sturdy Thomas Buddle, who described the growth of the community, and the efforts
the Connexion had made to keep pace. There were now eight Wesleyan Chapels in
Auckland, with 400 church members and some 1800 "hearers", and 700 Sunday
School Scholars in 7 schools, and 380 day school pupils in six schools. John Fletcher
followed with the report of the Trustees. He said that they had planned to erect a
church costing about £5000, but overall they needed to find much more. The site cost
£2000, the builder's tender was over £5000, the foundations cost £1000, and fittings,
etc. could be expected to bring the total to £9000.
This was a lot of money for the small Methodist community to find, when added to all
their other commitments. The report stated that they had subscriptions amounting to
£2700, prospects from the sale of redundant properties £1300, and hoped to raise another £1000 from the opening services and special gifts. They had allowed for a debt
of £3000, which left a deficiency for the ravens to supply. There was no going back.
The day ended with a tea and public meeting at High Street, the proceeds for the day
amounting to £400, including £110 laid on the stone in purses by four devoted lady
collectors.
Not everyone was happy. The Rev. Norman McLeod, Presbyterian minister at Waipu,
was moved to protest. In his speech Buddle had claimed for the Methodists "a
doctrinal affinity with all other orthodox churches". Later in the same speech he had
cited among other Methodist tenets the Wesleyan stress on "full salvation from all the
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pollution of sin," and "the direct witness of the Holy Spirit in their hearts." This was
too much for Norman McLeod, who hastened to dissociate himself from this "moral
turpitude and religious vagary." He wrote two stinging letters to the Herald, and when
the editor refused to print them, had them set out in a pamphlet, a copy of which is
preserved in the Trinity College Library. The Wesleyan doctrine of holiness was
"magotty and malignant, morally mad and miserable." The pretensions of Buddle and
company were "superiority and ecclesiastical pride, two points most lavishly exhibited
on the said occasion, beyond what I have ever observed about any Protestant place of
worship in the world." His last word is, "In real truth and soberness, I can-not release
my own mind from the fearful conclusion that Wesleyanism upon the whole as a
system of religion, since its first appear-ance, has ever been, and still is by a long
degree, the very saddest lure upon the souls of men of any Protestantism over the
globe." The churches have gained in mutual understanding and tolerance over the past
100 years.
So much for the stone-laying. The opening and dedication of the building took place
on Sunday, October 14th, 1866. We are indebted to the Southern Cross for a lengthy
report of the proceedings on that day, as well as for a description of the building which
was published on the Saturday preceding. This is full of technical detail, which one
presumes was supplied by the architect. Enough to say that the paper described the
church as a "handsome architectural structure". Morley, who is a contemporary, if
biased witness described it as "decidedly the noblest and most ecclesiastical building
the city yet possessed." There is no need to describe the church in detail, as it still
stands foursquare for anyone who wishes to inspect. In those days of course there
were no other high buildings about, so that the church stood prominently on the skyline.
The building is a faithful copy of the English non-conformist architecture of the day,
expressing the nostalgia of the colonist for "Home" and also the unquestioned
assumptions of the Victorian evangelical. It is a "preaching house", to use Wesley's
term; but the aspirations of the "respectable" congregation that gathered in it are
shown in the ornamentation which is restrained by taste rather than poverty, since the
architect had been authorised "to go to an additional expense of £1000 in his design,
including fittings, the object being principally to improve the front." One is surprised
by the Teutenberg heads (see A. B. Chappell: Across a Hundred Years) and many a
bored worshipper must have rested his eyes on the stone corbels, carved to represent
New Zealand plants and foliage, inserted to support the roof timbers, or upon the
quaint symbolic figures at the head of the windows.
At this stage the gallery extended across the west end of the building only, providing
accommodation for the organ and a choir of twenty persons in the centre, and room
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for a hundred and fifty children, boys on one side, girls on the other. These
presumably were children attending the morning Sunday School, whose parents were
not present at the service which followed, and who were therefore kept under
supervision in the gallery.
To return to the opening celebrations. There was "a largely attended" prayer meeting
at 7 a.m. This was the traditional time dating back to the days when the Wesleyans
were strictly forbidden to meet in Established Church hours. The Rev. John Warren
who had done so much to promote the scheme was the preacher at 11 a.m. The Rev. J.
Hill (St. James' Presbyterian) officiated at 3 p.m. and James Buller, who had come
from Christchurch to superintend the Auckland Circuit, preached in the evening. Collections taken at the door realised £87 for the day. A second opening Sunday was
almost as successful financially (£78) with visiting preachers at 11 a.m. and 6.30 p.m.
and the young man of the circuit staff, William Morley, given a chance in the
afternoon.
Rev. J. Buller
A monster tea-meeting for 1000 people was provided on the intervening Wednesday
evening, with the usual items and speeches. (In student days over fifty years later the
writer was treated to a description of this monster affair by the late Mrs Godwin
Smith, of Woodside and Remuera, who was a school girl living in Auckland at the
time. She still possessed cups belonging to the tea-set her mother purchased for the
occasion, in order to furnish her end of a table. Everyone had to help).
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Just before Christmas two months later a bazaar was held to augment the building
fund. A list of the stall holders may interest some with long memories. The
refreshments were in the hands of Mrs Hunter and Miss Johnson.
Stall 1. Mesdames Lawry, Buller and Hobbs (What a roll of the elect!)
Stall 2. Mrs Thos. Russell (Fort Street), assisted by Mrs and theMisses Heldt.
Stall 3. Mesdames Jakins and Cooke and Miss Henry.
Stall 4. Mesdames Wallis and Ewen, assisted by Mesdames Philson and C.
Arthur.
Stall 5. Mesdames W. Walters and Edson, assisted by Miss Freeman.
Stall 6. Mesdames T. Russell and R. Arthur, assisted by Miss Buttle and Miss
Philson.
So the church was built and opened.
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CHAPTER II
Early Auckland Methodism
At the time when Pitt Street Church was opened, Methodism had been at work in
Auckland for twenty-five years.
In March 1841 the seat of the N.Z. Government was moved from Russell to Auckland.
The Wesleyan Mission made its first official contact with the Waitemata on
September 19th of the same year, when the Rev. James Buller, of Tangiteroria, made
it his business to visit Governor Hobson's new capital. He arrived on a Saturday, and
on Sunday morning he met with natives in the area. In the afternoon he held a service
for Europeans in a saw-pit at Mechanics Bay, and in the evening he preached in an
auction room. At this time the infant capital was a huddle of shacks and tents along the
waterfront, housing perhaps a couple of thousand people. Delayed in Auckland for
some three weeks on other business, Buller took the opportunity to seek out and
organise the few local Methodist settlers into a class, and he secured the promise of a
building site from the Governor.
Later in the same year Buller urged the District Meeting, held at Mangungu,
December 15th, to recommend the appointment of a missionary at Auckland, as a
strategic centre both for Maori and European work. In the meantime he extended his
Kaipara Circuit to include Auckland, where a tiny society met in the cottage of one of
the members and held services in an attached carpenter's shop. This was in Chancery
Lane. Apparently also some services were held in the Courthouse, probably when the
missionary was available to officiate. In 1842 Buller was in Auckland again, reporting "societies of 13 Europeans and 150 natives." He induced the Governor to
make a grant of land in High Street, suitable for a chapel, and helped to secure
promises of £120 towards a building. In July 1843 the first Wesleyan chapel in any
European settlement in New Zealand was opened. It was a weather-board building of
40 feet by 25 feet, on brick foundations, with a 12 feet by 8 feet vestry. It cost £246, of
which £200 was raised locally.
For a few months the services were maintained chiefly by a small band of laymen,
between visits by missionaries. The names of F. Gardiner, J. A. Langsford and J.
Culpan should be remembered. Late in 1843 the Rev. George Buttle and his wife were
stationed for a short period in the little town. With ministerial oversight the cause
flourished, the membership was consolidated and the congregation filled the building.
In March 1844 Walter Lawry arrived from England to take up his appointment as
General Superintendent of the New Zealand mission. His headquarters were in
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Auckland, where his vigorous personality made itself felt at once. He was at the height
of his powers, an experienced and successful administrator and preacher. Under his
lead the membership grew from 45 to 80 within a few months, the finances were
organised, the building extended 16 feet and lined for comfort. The necessary funds
were found locally. The congregation even imported a small pipe organ from Sydney.
A year later Thomas Buddle was transferred to Auckland to take charge of the Native
Institution in Grafton Road, and to relieve the General Superintendent during his
necessary absences from the town. The congregation continued to expand, so in 1848
a rectangular brick chapel was erected, the wooden building now serving as a
schoolroom both on Sundays and week days. For eighteen years this chapel housed a
flourishing congregation and provided a headquarters for the Methodists in Auckland.
The congregation was augmented by soldiers from the barracks in what is now Albert
Park, and by students and staff from the Wesleyan Seminary in Upper Queen Street.
In the late fifties the chapel was lengthened to 86 feet, and galleries were provided,
affording altogether 1050 seats. (This is the building that now houses the Lands and
Deeds Office, to be seen at the corner of High Street and Courthouse Lane). It was the
most commodious place of worship in Auckland to date. The development of the
circuit led to the appointment of a second minister in 1860. In the 1840's the situation
was underwritten financially by the presence of the missionaries, who were supported
from England; but it is evident that by the 1860's when the emphasis had shifted to
work among the pakehas, the financial burden was growing and some of the properties
had mortgages on them. The Connexion was beginning to feel the weight of the Home
Mission problem.
At this date the young church was fortunate in the support of the missionary families,
and especially in the type of laymen that gathered around, many of them trained in
English and Irish Methodism, whose names were to be a part of early Auckland.
Among the leaders were J. Williamson, C. J. Stone, Dr. Bennett, W. C. Wilson, John
Edson and James Heron. Morley, who knew the congregation well in the years just
before Pitt Street was opened, speaks of families such as the Hedgecocks, John and
Charles Fletcher, Hobbs, Heldt, Phillipps, Somerville, H. White, Wayte, Coupland,
Wiseman, Welsman, Thorne, and Ashby.
Auckland was growing. Accurate statistics are impossible to come by, but the
population was perhaps in the neighbourhood of 12,000 people. One who arrived in
1853 recorded in his diary that shortly after his arrival he lost himself in the scrub at
Archhill. Ten years later the ridges round the town, up Symonds Street, along
Karangahape Road, and along Ponsonby Road towards the harbour, were dotted with
houses, while Freeman's Bay was full of cottages. The Wesleyans had a chapel at
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Parnell, and one planned for the Grafton area across the gully, but they needed another
principal centre of worship to cater for the growing population in Newton and to the
west of the town. The High Street chapel was still in good heart; but it was evident
that in time it would be cut off from the main residential areas. Little mission chapels
were useful; but another strong centre was required, nearer to the suburbs.
So we find in the District Minutes for 1864: "A site was purchased in Pitt Street with
the intention to build a large chapel next year." The site was an acre of land at the
corner of Pitt Street and Karangahape Road, which already carried a brick house
adequate for a residence for the Minister. It was proposed to sell part of the frontage,
but fortunately this was decided against.
At this time the European work of the Auckland Circuit was in charge of the Rev.
John Warren, with William Morley as his junior colleague. Thomas Buddle was
Chairman of District and in charge of the Native Mission. It was Warren who was
mainly responsible for raising the money and pushing the new venture along. The
body of trustees formed to hold the property under the Model Deed consisted of
Richard Arthur, Daniel Caley, Thomas Cook, John Edson, William Griffith, Richard
Hobbs, John Hosking, George Sargent Jakins, William Mears. Richard Moody, with
F. L. Prime as Treasurer and John Fletcher as Secretary.
A Mr Philip Herepath was engaged as architect, and he produced a plan. The estimate
of cost was higher than expected, so the length of the building was reduced by twelve
feet. The plan as adopted provided for a rectangular building, interior dimensions 78
feet by 48 feet, with a school room 48 feet by 45 feet underneath, partly excavated out
of the sloping site. With a gallery at the west end, it would provide 650 sittings. The
plan was accepted and Mr H. White, a member of the High Street chapel, secured the
contract for building the church in brick. A separate contract was let for the massive
basement walls, which were constructed by Robert Kaye of Parnell, at a cost of £1000.
This is the building which was opened with public rejoicing (and not a little private
misgiving) on October 14th, 1866. The diarist quoted earlier, the one who lost himself
at Archhill, writes "The Wesleyans built a great place, with fine minister's house and
schoolrooms, two floors in brick . . . which tied a millstone round their necks no
doubt."
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CHAPTER III
The Difficult Years 1866-1881
It soon became evident that the Trustees had been over-optimistic in their forecasts.
The building cost more than had been expected; and while subscribers paid up
gamely, some of the assets they had hoped to realise proved difficult to shift. They
built at the crest of a rise in prices, and took possession as things began to tumble. In
round figures they laid out altogether about £11,000, so instead of seeking a loan of
£3,000 they had to look for £5,000 in a very unfavourable market. A temporary loan
from the Auckland Savings Bank was repaid by a mortgage to the New Zealand Loan
Company, for which they paid ten per cent.
(The Wesleyans were not alone in their difficulties. There was a serious division of
opinion in All Saints, Ponsonby, which was erected at about the same time. One
churchwarden wanted to pay the vicar in full, and let the loan instalments go. The
other wanted to reduce both pro rata. The matter was ventilated in the daily paper.)
The year 1867 was a troubled one for the Treasurer, Mr F. Prime, and the new
Superintendent Minister, the Rev. James Buller. People were inclined to blame Buddle
and Warren for urging the new venture at an unfavourable moment. The report given
at the first Anniversary Soiree was mainly designed to keep up everybody's courage.
"The lesson they had learned," said Buller, "was the inexpediency of erecting churches
on borrowed money." Yes, indeed. Many debtors in the raw young country at that
time were regretting the day they had borrowed. But where would we have been if our
grandfathers had refused to take a plunge? But things were dull on the Waitemata.
People were leaving for other parts and it seemed as if nobody had any cash. It was
"common rumour" that some families retained their membership at High Street
because they were afraid of the financial burden at Pitt Street.
In their difficulties the Trustees suggested that a loan of £4000 might be raised from
connexional sources, secured on connexional property in the colony. There was
something to be said for this, since there was land in Auckland belonging to the Maori
Mission, and to educational trusts. The proposal came to nothing. The Trustees also
sought permission to ask for contributions from congregations throughout
Australasian Methodism. They did not receive much sympathy from the Conference;
other places had troubles of their own.
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Rev. C. W. Rigg 1870-73
There was no difficulty about Circuit finance, concerned chiefly with the support of
the ministry. At this date the ministers were supported mainly by the weekly class
money. There was one collection quarterly for the Circuit Fund. In any case, during
the period under review the Circuit was understaffed. Two ministers covered the city,
apart from Onehunga, and made occasional visits to country areas further afield. The
Circuit was seeking a third appointment, but there was no man available. Routine
property liabilities, met locally, were covered by pew rents. The rent book in use at
High Street, and later at Pitt Street, is preserved. Every solid citizen had his pew. It
was part of his social back-ground, his respectability. The pew rents paid the caretaker
and the organist, the rates and the gas bill. To meet additional demands the Trustees
would either solicit subscriptions, or have a special collection taken at the church door
after service. At this date, in Methodism at any rate, church collections were strictly
supplementary sources of income. They were traditional at Chapel and Sun-day
School Anniversaries, and for Missions. Collections for the Poor Fund were taken at
Holy Communion and at Love Feasts. The odd folk who drifted into the gallery on
Sunday evenings were financial passengers. But at Pitt Street during this era there
were six collections a quarter for meeting the interest on the mortgage, and even then
they had to pass the hat round at the end of the year to make ends meet. It was not
healthy.
In spite of this uphill drag, the congregation was a working unit from the beginning.
The membership grew, and the Sunday School was soon crowded. Mr Richard Arthur
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was Superintendent from the beginning till 1883, with one short intermission. He was
strong, wise and devoted, and gathered a competent staff about him. The choir also
was a flourishing institution. Under Mr Bridson, who served in an honorary capacity
for many years, it led the hearty singing of the congregation, presented the anthems of
the day, and an occasional Service of Song.
It is difficult to be precise about church membership, since the emphasis was on the
Circuit, rather than the local congregation. No master roll was kept. To be a proper
Wesleyan it was necessary to belong to a Class, and to satisfy Class Leader and
Minister of your fitness. The class ticket admitted to Communion. The Leaders'
Meeting scanned the names quarterly, when the minister gave out the new tickets. The
aggregate of class members returned gave the effective membership of the Circuit and
the Connexion. Unfortunately the only rolls were the class books, which were small
and easily destroyed when discarded. There is a remarkable collection of early records
at Pitt Street, but no early membership roll. For names we have to go to Baptismal and
Marriage Registers, and the rent book. It is not clear which classes belonged to High
Street, which to Pitt Street. But the combined membership was 236 in 1866; 262 in
1874, and after High Street was closed it reached 333 in 1881. It is clear that the two
congregations were treated almost as one administrative unit.
Financially, the pew-holders wielded great influence. From the earliest times the
European congregations, like the Maori brethren, had used Wesley's adaptation of the
Book of Common Prayer for their Sunday morning worship. In 1871 this was
abandoned. The decision was probably right and certain inevitable, but the way the
decision was made was just as certainly wrong, though significantly enough nobody
seems to have worried at the time. (There is a report without comment in the N.Z.
Wesleyan, which had just started publication in Christchurch.) It was never a
Wesleyan — or a Christian — principle to settle a theological problem by counting
heads, but rather that matters should go to the appropriate church courts. Acts 15-V.6
(N.Z. Methodists should note the resolute refusal of the British Conference to submit
the present Anglican-Methodist proposals to a plebiscite). But if these Victorian
Methodists were determined to count heads, they should have taken a vote of the
members. In fact they took a vote of the seat-holders. He who paid the piper called the
tune. The pew-holders voted in favour of the change by 151 to 56, and that was that.
For two or three years the position of the Trustees was precarious. Seat rents dropped
significantly in 1869, but recovered in 1870. A year later the outlook was slightly
better. John Edson, who succeeded Prime as Treasurer, reported a reduction of £470 in
the debt, mainly due to certain sums paid off on account of the redundant Hobson
Street building, which proved difficult to quit. (Later the Free Methodists acquired it).
Edson also reported that £700 had been lent privately at 7 instead of the 10 paid to the
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Loan Company. A group of leading members undertook responsibility for the interest
bill, so that anything the congregation contributed might go directly to reduce the
principal, a sound public relations move.
In the same year "side galleries" were erected. These were wings carried out at an
angle from the back gallery. This was to increase accommodation and to improve the
accoustics. For this work both materials and labour were donated, so the debt was not
affected. In 1874 the High Street chapel was finally closed and sold to the City
Improvement Commissioners. It was now hem-med in by commercial premises and
quite unsuitable for its original purpose. Pitt Street benefited indirectly by the transfer
of certain families and directly by the sum of £700 paid to the Circuit to free the
ministers' houses from mortgage. One has the impression that John Edson's strong
hand was just what was needed at this stage.
We are fortunate in possessing the printed annual reports presented to the Church
Anniversary Soiree, copies of which were pasted into the Treasurer's Account Book.
One can watch the progress of the congregation step by step. In 1872 an agitation
began to provide better facilities for the Sunday School, which packed the basement
hall. Morley says that at this time they had 470 Sunday School scholars, and might
have gathered 600 if they had known where to put them. Richard Arthur pressed for
extensions, but the Trustees firmly refused to accept any more debt. By 1874 the
mood was quite cheerful. The interest bill was down to £236. Pew rents were lowered,
with the result that so many new sittings were let that the income from this source was
doubled. Attendances were good, and the place was full of life.
So plans and specifications were obtained for an extension at the rear of the church to
meet the needs of the Sunday School, and provide for group meetings of various
kinds. Money was gathered, and the Church took out Building Society shares to the
amount of 30/- per week. Two years later the Trustees sought alternative prices for
(1) an extension to the church as suggested above,
and
(2) a separate wooden building to be placed on the corner of Pitt Street and
Karangahape Road.
(It is worth noting that through all their anxieties these responsible men resisted the
temptation to sell this potentially valuable corner. A reference in one of Thomas
Buddle's speeches makes it clear that the suggestion was made).
It became clear that the one-story wooden building offered the most for their money,
so it was put in hand. It relieved the pressure on the School and resulted in better
methods of teaching, as juniors and seniors could be separated. For a long time Pitt
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Street was regarded as a model school. The new building was known as Wesley Hall.
Twice shifted it now serves as schoolroom at Mission Bay.
In 1877 Edson reported that Wesley Hall had been built to everyone's satisfaction at a
cost of £1281, including furnishings. In the same year the old brick parsonage
originally acquired with the property was cleared away and a new wooden house
placed on the site. The cost of this was covered by subsidies from connexional
properties. A new organ was ordered. Wesley's Hymns and New Supplement arrived,
replacing the standard collection left by John Wesley, which had served for 100 years.
The people were told that a million copies had already been sold in Britain. Work was
put in hand completing the side galleries with a new rostrum. This was costly as it
demanded skilled workmanship. The accommodation now reached its maximum of
850.
During this period the church was served by a group of really strong laymen. They
carried the weight of financial anxiety, with-out losing heart. Men like the brothers
Arthur, John Edson, Thomas Buddle (son of the missionary), F. L. Prime and the
Wilson Brothers and J. Gittos, to mention only the names that occur most frequently.
It is not possible accurately to compare the value of money, then and now. But some
figures may be of interest. In 1872 the chapel keeper (Wilkinson) was given £17:10:0
per quarter, the organ blower £1:0:0. A few years later the organist received £50 per
year, and the choirmaster a like amount, while the organ blower had risen to £2/0/0 a
quarter.
In 1879 Rev. George Brown gave an address at the Missionary Anniversary,
describing pioneer work in New Britain. He was one of their own, a product of High
Street, candidate for the Minis-try in 1859. A Presbyterian minister came to the
Anniversary Soiree, to give an address on "Female Beauty". I wonder if any-body
smiled. The Rev. Shirley Baker, missionary from Tonga, preached at the church. He
was destined to upset the South Pacific. The Auckland Wesleyans were a closely-knit
group. They loved to combine for Watch-night and Covenant Services, and to feel
their connexional strength. They inter-married and associated in business.
At the Anniversary Social in 1878, there was "an excellent spread" in the schoolroom,
presided over by the following ladies at tables: Mesdames W. S. Wilson, J. Craig, T.
McMaster, W. Kirk, D. Goldie, F. Phillipps, J. Hosking, J. Burton, T. Buddle, J.
Buttle, R. French, Blackburn and Henderson, and Misses Craig, Garrett and Winstone.
Afterwards the secretary, Mr T. Buddle, gave the report. Galleries and rostrum had
been completed, and the new organ installed, the latter costing £568:8:0. They had
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
gone further into debt by £900, but increased their assets by £3725 spent on
improvements. Optimism was abroad once more.
A year later William Morley returned as Superintendent to the Circuit where he had
been junior colleague at the time the church was built. Morley was a determined and
vigorous man with a good head for business. He put it to the leaders of the church that
they had paid away more than the principal of the original loan in interest over the
past twelve or thirteen years. He produced a scheme whereby the whole debt could be
paid off by direct contributions over two or three years. The Trustees themselves
offered £900. A canvass of the congregation produced a further £1400. That was more
than half the remaining debt. Then a friend came forward with an offer of £500
conditional on clearing the whole amount. Within a matter of months the debt was
cleared.
Of necessity the emphasis is on ministerial leadership, without which no congregation
is likely to be effective. But it is clear that at this date and for long afterwards the real
strength of the church was in its wealth of competent and devoted laymen.
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CHAPTER IV
Mother of Churches
We have explained that Methodist work among the Europeans in Auckland was
commenced and carried on for years by Wesleyan Missionaries. The new church at
Pitt Street was erected under the auspices of Warren and Buddle, two very unselfish
men, with notable records for their work among the Maoris. It has been said that a
congregation tends to take on and retain for many years the outlook and attitudes of its
first minister. The first minister at Pitt Street was James Buller. Others with
missionary experience who followed Buller were Alexander Reid and William Kirk.
The place was steeped in missionary zeal from the beginning, and has never in its
history succumbed to the narrow outlook of some congregations. It has always known
that it belonged to the city and not to itself.
Rev A Reid 1873-76
Rev. W. Kirk 1876-79
Because of the connexional and circuit organisation of Methodism, every
congregation is intimately related to its neighbours. It is impossible to give an
adequate account of any strong Methodist church merely by describing its domestic
fortunes. For many years the Pitt Street Church was at the head of a circuit which was
responsible for the developing pattern of Methodism in and around the city. It
provided the planning and the ministerial oversight, much of the money and most of
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the workers for opening new causes. To put the life of the church into focus it seems
necessary to see it in relation to the whole of Auckland Methodism at that date.
Among the relics of early days preserved in the library of Trinity Theological College,
there is a copy of the Preachers' Plan for the Auckland Circuit, 1851. It is yellow with
age and eaten by silverfish, having been literally scraped off the wall of a cottage in
Freeman's Bay some years ago. Apart from the Native services, the plan included
High Street, Epsom, Kauau, Onehunga, Otahuhu, Howick, Freeman's Bay and Kirk(?)
The earliest of these outposts was apparently Kawau, where a party of Cornish miners
had been imported to work the copper-mine. A class was started among them in 1846,
and the next year there were three classes including 45 members. The services would
be conducted by a local preacher, in this case almost certainly William Rowe. The
preaching station collapsed (along with the mines) in 1852, and Rowe appears in
Auckland, making himself heard in the Quarterly Meeting.
A year later Epsom was taken on the plan. We are fortunate in holding what is called
the "Circuit Book" started by Lawry in 1845. Epsom (not to be confused with the
present church at Greenwoods Corner) was a tiny place where a class was formed in
1847, to be followed by a small chapel. The congregation were mostly folk from
Devon and Cornwall, the leaders Thomas Somervill and Mr Barriball.
The Manukau area was separated from the rest of Auckland almost from the
beginning. A small church had been built there in 1850, on land provided by the
Government, to serve the military pensioners. (There were many Methodists in the
army of those days). A class was formed in 1853. At the same time there was a
vigorous work going on among the Maoris at Pehiakura and elsewhere on the
Manukau Harbour, and then at Ihumatua and Waikowhai. It was sensible to put both
Maori and pakeha work under one head, to save travelling. So in 1855 Onehunga was
made the head of a circuit, under Thomas Buddle, and from there Methodist work at
Otahuhu, Waiuku, Papakura and Pukekohe was started. From this time the Auckland
circuit was separated from the immediate South Auckland area. The first parsonage
was the house brought from Mangungu, Hokianga, still to be seen at 135 Grey Street,
Onehunga. It was built in 1840.
The next outpost was at Parnell, where a class was started in 1851, with John
Williamson as leader. Services were held in cottages and halls as available, until a
church was erected in 1856. In early times Parnell was regarded as a model of
Wesleyan piety and propriety. It had aristocratic connections.
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Another pensioner settlement was at Howick. The men were given a cottage and a plot
of land on condition that they were available for defence when required. A class was
started in 1852, the leader Mr W. McCauley, and a small chapel was erected.
Later a Mr Qualtrough settled in the district. He acted as father-in-God to the isolated
congregation for many years.
Whau Road, subsequently known as New North Road, and later again as Kingsland,
began its career in 1853. The leader for many years was a Mr Walters. The little
church was situated on what is now the other side of the railway station, and was built
of stone. Judging from the quarterly returns, the congregation stood still for a long
time.
By 1855 thirteen preaching places were reported, including Matakana and Whareora,
Shoal Bay, and North Head on the North Shore. In the same year a suburban outpost
was attempted at Hobson Street, a pilot scheme for the Pitt Street Church that
followed. The next year Three Kings appeared on the preachers' plan (at the College)
and Titirangi, and a class began meeting at Remuera, the leader being Mr Overton.
In 1857 a second minister was appointed to the circuit, making further advances
practicable. Work was begun at the Wade, and for a short time the Great Barrier
appeared on the plan (copper mining again). In '59 the Hobson Street Society was
housed in a new chapel built at the corner of what is now Pitt Street and Vincent
Street. The building may still be seen there.
The following year Whangarei was visited, and the circuit reached to Mahurangi,
where a British Local Preacher with some training for the ministry, J. H. Hudson, had
settled. These isolated settlements would be fortunate to see a minister once a quarter.
They depended on at least one strong local leader. In 1865 the work on the North
Shore, which had apparently been sporadic, was consolidated by the establishment of
a class at what is now Devonport, under a Mr Brown, who was to father the cause for
years to come.
1866 was to register other important advances, besides the building of Pitt Street itself.
Mt. Albert was put on the plan, the earliest services being held in the farm kitchen of
Mr and Mrs B. Alien. The following year the first church was built. Also in '66 a small
cause was started in Union Street, Freeman's Bay, and the first church at Grafton was
opened. According to Morley, it had been intended to build at the top of Symonds
Street, and a section of land was purchased which was actually the site on which the
first St. David's Presbyterian Church was built a year or so later. When the Pitt Street
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section was bought, it was evident that the Symonds Street site was too near for a
second church, and in its place a lease was taken of part of the Wesleyan Native
Institution property at the corner of Grafton and Carlton Gore Roads. In those days the
Grafton Gully was an effective barrier to all but foot traffic, and the Grafton area was
a very attractive suburb. Soon afterwards the little Epsom property was disposed of,
some of the people joining Grafton Road.
The following year Rev. G. S. Harper was added to the circuit staff. He came from the
West Coast of the South Island, where the gold rush was at its height, and arrived just
in time to open Methodist work at the Thames, where gold was discovered in 1867.
William Rowe was soon on the spot. He championed the Thames in the Auckland
Quarterly Meeting, helped to secure a worthy church at Shortland, and sponsored the
separate Thames Circuit which was set up in 1870. Later he became the local member
of the House of Representatives.
In the early period Wellesley Hughes, Henry White, J. Williamson, Wm. Phillipps and
C. J. Stone acted as Circuit Stewards. In the sixties we find T. Somervill, Henry
Smith, F. Prime, W. Griffith, J. Heron, J. Fletcher and Wm. Rowe.
To one who can just remember being taken as a small child to the tiny settlers' church
in the Northcote Road, it is interesting to find a reference to the Lake (Takapuna)
Church and a soiree held there by the Methodists in April 1868. According to the
report, the place was built two years earlier (N.Z. Southern Cross). It was not used
regularly by the Methodists till 1883, after which date they seem to have monopolised
it.
It is about this time that we find constant references to horse hire for Local Preachers
going to Titirangi. An older and tougher generation would have walked. There was
also a proposal to sell Union Street because of lack of support. Epsom was disposed of
in '71 (see above) and authority was asked to sell the North Shore property. Morning
services were discontinued at High Street in 1869. Evidently the writing was on the
wall. In 1871 the officials decided that they would sell High Street, and resolved "to
close with any reasonable offer."
We see that by this time Pitt Street was the undisputed head of the circuit, surrounded
by a number of small chapels, some of which acted as feeders to the centre. The
circuit supported three ministers, and found it so difficult that in 1873 they reduced the
Superintendent's stipend from £280 to £250, the second minister's from £250 to £220,
and the Probationer's from £150 to £140. Class monies were declining in importance
in comparison with church collections, which were actually held every Sunday at
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Grafton Road from the beginning. Remuera services did not prosper, so the building
was shifted to Grafton as a school room.
At an earlier date the Quarterly Meeting was held in the evening, following a tea at the
church. It was now held at 3 p.m. for the convenience of distant members. At the
meeting on April 1st 1874 there was discussion on the decline of the class meeting,
and the need for a revival of experimental religion. The meeting was concerned for a
few members still living in the lower part of the town. Later in the year arrangements
were made to shift the Howick chapel to Pakuranga (it is still there) and a house was
purchased for the use of the second minister. Titirangi drops out as a preaching centre,
but its place is taken by Waikomiti, so the horse hire goes on. There is some idea of
special services, more attractive services. These were the days when Alexander Reid
was thundering in the Pitt Street pulpit, so that he could be heard for a distance along
the main road. He was more than a little like a Hebrew prophet, a Boanerges of a man.
After consideration, the High Street classes were transferred to Parliament Street,
where the church still held mission house property.
1875 saw a number of changes. It was decided to make collections at every service in
the churches, an indication of further decline in class meeting attendance. An effort
was made to re-open at North Shore, and there was a proposal to divide the circuit,
making Grafton Road the head of the area to the East of the city. The Quarterly
Meeting agreed to offer £150 p.a. towards the cost of reopening Three Kings, on
condition that Staff and Students should assist with services. Finally and most important, a committee consisting of Messrs Prime, Thome and Welsman, was set up to look
for a site for a place of worship in Ponsonby.
In those days the rule about changing Circuit Stewards every two years was taken
seriously. We find Fletcher and Rowe succeeded by Griffiths and R. Hobbs, then
Coupland and Prime, Edson and Griffith again. Stone and J. L. Wilson, Richard
Arthur, Welsman, T. Buddle Jnr., T. McMaster, F. A. White and W. Thorne. At the
beginning of the '70's the class leaders at Pitt Street were Messrs French, Caley,
Wilson, Hosking, Arthur, Wykes, with Sisters Otway and Lawry.
In 1876 the membership for the circuit was 273, with 20 catechumens and 19 on trial.
North Shore appealed for assistance in building a chapel on the water-front. There was
a mounting irritation with the strict three-year limit imposed at that date on any circuit
ministry. Mr J. L. Wilson spoke very appreciatively at the valedictory service to
Alexander Reid, and the young men of the Mutual Improvement Assn. presented him
with a gold watch. Reid was followed by William Kirk. In Ponsonby the schoolroom
was hired for Sunday services. "The Whau Road" had changed its name to "New
North Road." Later in the year the North Shore Trustees were given permission to
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
build as soon as they had collected enough to comply with Conference regulations. In
Ponsonby a site (part of the present property) was purchased for £262, and plans were
prepared for a building. Meanwhile successful meetings were held in the school.
Joseph Buttle was nominated as a candidate for the Ministry.
The following year Ponsonby returned seven members in class, a very modest
beginning. Mr J. L. Wilson offered the use of a building on his own property at
Remuera for evening services. The Parliament Street classes finally ended, but Mt.
Eden enters the picture for the first time. Application was made for the use of the
schoolroom. Buildings were put up on both the North Shore and the Ponsonby
sections. In October a debt appeared on the Circuit account, because of a "long
succession of wet Sabbaths." Ponsonby takes the stage as the most promising area to
develop and urged the appointment of a third preacher to reside among them.
A year later the membership was up to 290. Mt. Eden was on the plan, and
Henderson's Mill, represented at Quarterly Meeting by Mr Henderson himself.
Churches were urged to acquire the new hymn book. A series of special services was
held, and presumably as a result the membership mounted to 309, with a large
catechumen class and 44 on trial. The meeting recorded that "Methodism in Auckland
was better than it had been for some time past." The Conference was asked for a
young man to reside at Ponsonby. A gallery was built in the little church there, and
improvements were affected at Parnell. New North Road was advised to erect a new
chapel, rather than try to improve the old one. At Remuera Thomas Buddle and J. L.
Wilson waited on Mr Thos. Morrin to ask for a piece of land to put up a chapel. He
replied that they could have one if they undertook to put up a "decent" place. He knew
his Wesleyans. All parts gathered together for the annual Covenant Service, held at
Pitt Street at 3 o'clock, for the circuit spirit was strong. The Quarterly Meeting
demanded a uniform code of Sunday School lessons. A local Circuit Temperance
Society was formed.
1879 saw a further increase in circuit membership, to 361. Kirk was farewelled with
generous recognition of his leadership, and Morley welcomed. The new
Superintendent not only led in clearing the old debt, but pushed the work vigorously in
all directions. A congregation was gathered in a hired room at Newmarket. One day's
collection throughout the circuit was given to the congregation at Manners Street,
Wellington, whose church had been destroyed by fire. There were extensions at
Parnell, and Grafton Road altered and enlarged the Sunday School. There were 1152
children in the Sunday Schools of the circuit.
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Rev W Morley 1879-82
At the October Quarterly Meeting it was agreed to recommend the division of the
circuit; Auckland (Grafton Road) to include Parnell, Newmarket, Remuera and
Howick. An "eligible site" was on offer at Newmarket, "nearly opposite the junction
of Remuera and Newmarket roads." It was valued at £270, nearly £6 per foot.
Permission was sought to sell the site at Stokes's Point (Northcote) with a view to
acquiring one more suitably placed. Application was made to the Home Mission Fund
for a grant of £50 towards furnishing the preacher's house at Ponsonby. Before the end
of the year New North Road were asking to sell their property, the money to be used
for a new site and building; and the Grafton Road people wanted to erect a chapel
keeper's house, to cost £130. Mr A. C. Caughey, a recent arrival from Belfast "with
excellent references from several ministers in that city," was recommended as a
candidate for the ministry. There was movement in all directions.
In March 1880 at the end of the connexional year a membership of 388 was reported.
The Rev. Shirley Baker, of Tonga, was introduced to the meeting. A Mr Girling had
been appointed Home Missionary to serve Parnell. At Ponsonby the Trustees had
bought a site on which to build a home for Mr Dewsbury, their new minister. At
Newmarket a cheaper site was bought. New North Road had permission to go ahead
with their plans. There were to be fortnightly services at Stoke's Point and Henderson's
Mill. Circuit Stewards were elected for the divided circuit, Wilson and Thorne for Pitt
Street, White and Laybourne for Grafton. Three months later, after Grafton had hived
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off, there were 310 members left. High Street still had 60 Sunday School pupils,
housed in some hired place, and Pitt Street had 459. A minister's house was bought at
Ponsonby for £750. Morley urged extensions in several directions. The services at
Northcote and at Henderson's Mill were promising, and he wanted an opening at
Archhill.
Before the end of the year the membership had grown again to 324, with 1068
children in the schools. Samuel Griffith was sent forward as a candidate for the
ministry. W. H. Smith (senior partner in the firm of Smith and Caughey) was
concerned about the people left behind in the cottages near the waterfront. Archhill
was to be entered if the schoolroom was available. The September Quarterly Meeting
expressed itself in favour of extending the limit on pastorates from three to five years,
and of appointing laymen to the Stationing Committee.
The same sort of pressure was on the circuit, which for purposes of support meant Pitt
Street, in 1881. Mr Smith and Mr McMaster wanted to start mission work on a site "at
the foot of Drake Street". What was to be the effect on Union Street so near at hand is
not explained. Apparently Union Street was too "respectable" for a mission
congregation at that date. The Ponsonby folk were going ahead with their plans for the
new church. They bought a piece of land, 37 ft. by 220 ft. with a seven-roomed house
on it adjoining the church. The other house was sold, and they began to canvass for
funds for a new place of worship. At Northcote they put up their first little chapel, the
prime mover being Mr R. J. Souster. After due consideration the Quarterly Meeting
decided to ask Conference
(1) to make Devonport, Northcote and adjacent districts a separate circuit;
(2) to grant a subsidy of £25 for the first year;
(3) to invite G. W. Spence to be the first minister of the new circuit.
Morley referred to a revival at Mount Albert which had brought great prosperity there.
The people were seeking permission to build a new church to cost £400, which was
agreed to. The circuit agreed to invite another minister to live at Mt. Albert.
In June 1881 Morley reported that there were prospects in Mt. Eden, Archhill and
Mason's Gardens, and that sites should be secured. The meeting decided that since the
Free Methodists had discontinued services at Archhill, they might occupy the place
with a good conscience. Therefore they appointed the usual committee to seek a site,
and another for Mount Eden, the Pitt Street Trustees to be responsible for the cost. It
proved difficult to find anything at Archhill, but a section was purchased at Mt. Eden
for £200. Richmond was pioneered in the usual way, with Sunday evening services in
a hired room. During the year, the meeting urged support for the N.Z. Wesleyan,
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
which flourished in every way except financially; condemned "purely secular"
entertainments in the smaller churches (a real problem where the little chapel was the
only public building); raised the stipends to £330 and £280; and recommended another
candidate for the ministry. G. T. Marshall. At the end of the year a site was in prospect
at Archhill (Bond Street). Mr Hodgson said that there was an attendance of 30 to 40 at
the services, with a growing school. Joseph Wilson and James Buttle were to represent
the Circuit at Conference, and Wilson and Thorne remained Circuit Stewards.
Morley's term as Superintendent ended in April 1882. By this time Archhill had a site
costing £80. Messrs Hodgson, Wakerley and Radcliffe were active there. A site at
Richmond had been purchased for £95. Mt. Albert reported accepting a tender for
their church, overall cost about £500. Conference had agreed to the North Shore
Circuit. No wonder Messrs Hanson, Wilson and Souster spoke appreciatively of the
"untiring energy and zeal" of William Morley. He and Kirk between them had got the
connexion on the march, in Auckland.
Most of the new churches, or chapels, as many still preferred to call them, were small
and humble places, just four walls and a roof, with perhaps a lean-to at the back. Only
Grafton Road, and the projected St. John's, Ponsonby, with perhaps Parnell, had any
pretensions at all. The nearer places were to some extent feeders to the centre. Their
services were for the most part conducted by Local Preachers, some of whom were
able as well as devoted men. Most of the pastoral care fell to the laymen also, if it was
done at all. More distant places such as Mount Albert or Henderson or Devonport over
the water would grow more slowly, but enter into their kingdom later on. The long list
above is tedious, but it seems necessary to give the story in detail in order to make
clear the pattern of expansion, and the hive of activity at the centre which made it
possible. Pitt Street provided the initiative, and most of the money and the workers,
even while it was still loaded with debt. There is not a Methodist Church in Auckland
which is not directly or indirectly indebted to the Auckland Circuit of the 1870's and
1880's.
New names appear in the Quarterly Meeting membership. We find Caradus, Carr,
Newbold, Rose, Rosser, J. Burton, Clayton, Randerson, Pinfold, Astley, James Buttle,
G. Winstone, R. J. Souster.
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CHAPTER V
The Eighties and Nineties
The church and Karangahape Road in 1881,
looking from Partinton’s Windmill (now Seabrook Foulds Ltd property.
After the vigorous and progressive ministries of Kirk and Morley, the pattern changes
somewhat. One has the impression that the officials were glad of a rest, when Morley's
driving personality was removed. At any rate the emphasis is now a little more on the
life of the congregation rather than upon the work of the church in the city. Of course
there was no longer the same need. Within twelve years six new Circuits had been
established in the District: Thames, Cambridge, Hamilton, and Te Awamutu in the
South, and Auckland (Grafton Road), and North Shore in the city area. Pitt Street
could now afford to concentrate a little.
A few years earlier a somewhat critical correspondent had written to the N.Z.
Wesleyan as follows: "There is a vast machinery in Auckland Methodism; but it is
needed to be kept bright with holiness and Christian effort. Our chapels are well filled;
our people look as if Methodism had blessed them; from our pulpits ring out no
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uncertain sound; nevertheless, men and women are quiet, and unmoved. It has been
said — and not perhaps without some reason — that Methodism has made her people
too respectable and fastidious. In most of our big chapels seldomly would a very poor
person be seen entering. It has been said — and I fear it is too true — that most of our
people pray in the public sanctuary, with a "softness of voice" which is never audible.
The old "amen" has become obsolete ..." and so on. This would be more true a decade
later. We must not make too much of it. It was largely a change in education and
social habit. The same re-port which carried the above criticism also told of a most
impressive Covenant Service, and 200 people at the Sacrament.
The congregation was very strong in lay leadership at this time. The sons of
missionary families took their full share of responsibility. For a long time Thos.
Buddle was Secretary of the Trust, and James Buttle and Richard Hobbs were active
in the Quarterly Meeting. Among the Circuit Stewards in this era we notice James
Buttle, Prime, White, Gittos, G. A. Buttle, G. Winstone, W. Thorne, Alien,
Shackelford, Gunson and Hodgson. Others in office of one kind or another are
Ambury, Bottrill, Crago, Martin, Corkill, Brakenrig, H. Field, McElwain, Joynt,
Blomfield, Hutchinson, Phillipps, Probert, Souster, Hosking, Nicholson, Craig,
Wiseman, and the Wilson brothers. It was about 1885 that the women of the
congregation organised themselves into a sewing guild, and undertook responsibility
for the parsonage furnishings. Henry Field and A. C. Brown formed a Local Preachers'
Association which had its headquarters in the central church.
Opinion generally was in favour of longer ministerial terms, but the change had to
wait on a decision of the General Conference. Alexander Reid followed Morley, and
he in turn was succeeded by Henry Bull, who was later to follow Morley in the office
of Connexional Secretary. Then came Edward Best, a very emotional Irishman.
Rev. H. Bull 1885-88
Rev E Best 1888-91
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Joseph Berry followed Best. It was Berry who had pioneered the Waikato circuits, and
he was highly regarded in Auckland. He preached in the grand dramatic manner, and
lectured as ministers did in those days. One of his popular lectures had the title "Then
and Now — Or Nuts for Pessimists to Crack." S. F. Prior held the pulpit from '93 to
'96. He was an intellectual, a very able man, but hardly appreciated by the majority of
the congregation. Bull filled in a year in '96, and then W. J. Williams was transferred
within the circuit from St. John's to Pitt Street. We can see that it was no easy matter
to staff a church the size of Pitt Street in those days. It seems as if the officials made a
practice of trying out the bright young men at St. John's, and moving them up when
they proved suitable. The leading laymen kept an eye on the minister's family, and it is
pleasant to notice that in the days before free secondary education, a number of bright
parsonage lads were helped privately with school fees by well-to-do parishioners.
Rev. J. Berry 1891-93
Rev. S. F. Prior 1893-1896
The congregation was very content. The members sat in the family pew, their relations
and friends around them. It was rather an enclosed world, but it was familiar and much
of it was very dear. The regular weekly worship was broken by special days, such as
the Sunday School Anniversary, when the floral decorations would excite everybody's
admiration, or the Missionary Meeting when one of the Maori brethren might make a
speech. At the Church Anniversary there would be a long report full of figures, and
items by the choir, with at least four or five speeches. From time to time a visitor from
abroad would occupy the pulpit. A Dr. Kelynack came on tour from England, but as
he began his lecture, the fire bell rang, and the audience slipped away. Mark Guy
Pearce was more fortunate. Thomas Cook conducted a highly successful mission in
1895. At a very explosive moment in the Tongan Church controversy, Moulton,
Shirley Baker and Watkin were all in Auckland at the same time. One rash brother
suggested a meeting but wiser counsels prevailed.
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From a Preachers’ Plan 1882
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About the time Morley left, the congregation lost one of its most faithful and valuable
servants. Mr Bridson was transferred to Wellington. From the time the church opened
he had been honorary choirmaster. Both in his person and in his work Mr Bridson was
well liked, and the congregation showed their appreciation in a practical way by
presenting him with a purse of 100 sovereigns. His work was taken over by Professor
Lambert, organist.
Readers may remember that when the church was planned it was reduced in length for
reasons of economy. It now became possible to improve the amenities of the building
and also its appearance, by pushing out an extension at the back, two stories high,
providing a church "parlour", with choir vestry and other rooms; and Primary
Department room and other Sunday School accommodation underneath. This work,
together with some repairs, was put in hand in 1887 at a cost of £2380. Part of the
money was provided by a legacy from Mrs Hodges, part by subscription, and part by
loan. The church now had the external appearance it was to retain till 1962. The work
was done by James Heron. When funds were available, the parlour was completed and
furnished, complete with aspidistras. A few years earlier memorial brasses to Hobbs,
Buddle and Warren were placed on the walls of the church, joining the memorials to
Bumby and Skivington brought from High Street.
The Sunday School reached its peak attendance in the 80's. Richard Arthur resigned in
1883. Thomas Buddle carried on till 1887, when he removed to Remuera. George
Winstone now began his notable term of 25 years in charge of the school. He had able
assistants. The school was divided into Junior and Senior Dept., and reached a high
degree of efficiency. In 1887 there were 554 scholars on the roll, with a further 136
meeting in the morning school under Mr Shackelford. The scholars were entertained
by magic lantern views at the annual treat.
At about this time the church began holding evening service at 7 p.m. instead of 6-30
in the summer months.
In 1884 the Sunday School which had been maintained in High Street was finally
abandoned, and mission work was transferred to new premises in Drake Street,
Freeman's Bay, where "there was a large population composed of the class for whose
welfare the mission has been undertaken." Smith and McMaster were the leading
spirits in this venture, which developed into the Helping Hand Mission. The old Union
Street cause, practically contemporary with Pitt Street, which had never really
flourished, was closed. It should be remembered chiefly because there James Tyler
was converted.
Kingsland languished for years. It did not seem to get under way. They hoped to
inherit Wesley Hall when the church parlour was built, but were disappointed.
However, they got a new building on the present site in 1887. In January 1890 H. E.
Bellhouse was received as a Local Preacher. James Buttle was transferred to Sydney
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
by the N.Z. Insurance Coy. He had worshipped at Pitt Street from the day it was
opened. In 1892 George Buttle took his family to Kingsland, in a deliberate attempt to
stiffen the cause. He kept his membership there till 1897, when the opening of the
present church began an era of comparative prosperity. He then returned to Pitt Street.
John Probert was a foundation member of Pitt Street Church and a regular attendant
till his death in 1890. In his will he left a sum of about £12,000 "in or towards the
benefit, advancement and support of any Wesleyan Theological Training Institution in
the Provincial District of Auckland." Over the years the Trust has increased in value to
such an extent that it now provides a substantial part of the income of Trinity
Theological College. The same trustees administer the Emsly Bequest, which has
substantially the same objects.
In 1892 the Local Preachers' Association called to special remembrance all those of
their order who had served in Auckland over the past 50 years, and died here. They
were brothers Culpan, F. A. White, C. Arthur, John Wrigley, James Qualtrough, R.
Garter, H. Smith, Harris, Grady, R. Jessop, Thomas Gunson, Wykes, David Olphert, J.
Caley.
The summarised Trust accounts for 1890 may interest modern economists. The church
spent £62 on the churchkeeper, £81 on choir and organist, £57 on gas, £50 on repairs,
£16 on rates, £10 for advertising, and £11 on insurance. Interest amounted to £84.
Organist and caretaker were paid about the same salary. Forbes replaced Professor
Lambert as organist towards the end of the 90's.
At this time Methodist Union was very much under discussion. The Primitive
Methodists withdrew to a later occasion, but the two very small denominations, the
Free Methodists and the Bible Christians, merged their fortunes with the Wesleyans in
1896. By decision of the Conference the Auckland Circuit was re-arranged. Freeman's
Bay was made a separate Mission, but the Free Methodist congregation known as "Pitt
and Vincent Street" was included in the Auckland (Pitt Street) Circuit. Very wisely the
congregation decided to amalgamate with the larger church without delay. They
closed on the last day of the year, when the Sunday School marched up the road to
their new home. It was a fully successful union. The minister, the Rev. Alfred Peters,
was taken on the circuit staff, and the members settled down without difficulty. The
names of Higgott, Chapman, Booth, Adlington, Dumper, Horsley, Platt, Service,
Tattershall, Dent and S. Parker will serve to remind older Auckland Methodists of the
Free Methodist inheritance.
To end this chapter we make one reference which will be a pointer to things to come.
In was in 1887 that Sir William Fox gave an address on a Sunday evening in the
church, on the subject: "The responsibility of the Christian Church in relation to the
liquor traffic." Methodism in this country was to be pre-occupied with this issue for a
generation to come.
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CHAPTER VI
Victorian Wesleyans
What were they like, these men and women who filled the pews at Pitt Street during
the closing decades of the 19th century? We may see their likeness in the old family
album. The photographs of those days required a long exposure, which helps to explain the characteristic wooden expression. But they were a serious lot in any case, the
men with their heavy suits and starched shirt fronts, the women in high-necked dresses
and sober colours. Their mental outlook is a little more difficult to assess. They are a
generation too far away to examine directly, and yet a little too near to focus easily.
One hesitates to dissect one's grandparents with clinical detachment.
Auckland was still a young, raw place. The church was hardly out of the missionary
phase. A bright-eyed young girl in her teens, visiting Auckland for the first time in the
'70's, was taken to Pitt Street on Sunday. The preacher was Thomas Buddle, who
arrived in the service of the Wesleyan Maori Mission in 1840, a trusted administrator
and guide for many years. In the gallery was John Hobbs, old and deaf, with his eartrumpet. John Hobbs came to Whangaroa with Turner in 1823. The place was full of
history from the beginning.
Only a few years before, the same girl might have seen the gallows set up at the corner
of Queen and Victoria Streets. Soldiers in scarlet uniforms occupied the Albert
Barracks, and were paraded to church through the streets. In the '60's a "young lad"
was sent to gaol for two months for stealing goods valued at six shillings. The
propriety of such things would be discussed by daring young radicals at the Young
Men's Institute. The gallows had disappeared by this time, and the law was growing
more humane, but it was still a hard world for the widow and orphan. She needed the
charity of the church, and of the good citizen's wife, who employed her at the washtub, and gave her old clothes to cut so down. The good citizen himself was perhaps a
little smug, secure in his own superior virtue. Not all were like that, but some were. It
was a hard world by our standards, in spite of its piety.
Life was serious for these people. They had few pleasures. They worked hard for long
hours. They didn't expect anything else. It was the great Moral Age. To be frivolous
was to be sinful. Even the free-thinkers and the atheists were actuated by the highest
moral principles. Most of the Methodists had sobriety and thrift drubbed into them.
They had a holiday now and again, when they went to the Domain or to the beach.
They walked to work. Their creed made them sober and honest, industrious and
reliable, so that they tended to get on in life. Temperance propaganda appealed to
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them. A man was a fool to drink away his chances. If he had a little money and was
lucky he might soon make a lot. It was taken for granted that a man should want to
make money.
They were ambitious. That is why they came to the colony. Colonies were places
where men went to better themselves. Younger sons of a higher social grade might sail
around the world for fun, and end by acquiring a sheep run. The Wesleyans did not
belong to that company. There were a few professional people among them, but for
the most part they were little people, artisans and shopkeepers and farmers' sons, who
were prepared to sail to the ends of the earth to find independence for themselves and
their families. Some were labourers driven out by unemployment, glad to find a
patron. At home they were trapped by a static social order. In New Zealand they
intended to make their way. We can only admire.
Their religion was intense and sincere, for the most part, though naive and narrow by
20th century standards. They worked hard at it and gave generously to it. It filled
many hours in the week for them, provided friendship and often a job with a congenial master, and was indeed almost the only cultural influence in their lives. Some
of them from time to time knew what it was to find themselves at the gates of heaven.
There were saints among them. No man who knows his Bible is mentally sterile. If he
thinks about it at all, it will open windows in his mind. They had the choir and the
hymns, and class meeting for the more devout, the Institute for young men who
wished to improve themselves, and occasional tea meetings with interminable
speeches, and missionary meetings where tough merchants put their hands in their
pockets for the sake of poor Fiji, and all the comings and goings and holy excitements
of a large congregation. The young men sat in the gallery on Sunday nights, deciding
which of the girls in the choir they wanted to marry. If lucky, or elect, they were
invited home to supper, where they sang hymns round the harmonium. It does not
sound wildly exciting to us, but at least boy met girl, and the world went on. Sunday
began with an early morning prayer meeting. In the morning there was Sunday School
followed by morning worship. In the afternoon school again. Some of the poor little
mites had to go twice; but in any case they were overcrowded and needed two
sessions. In the evening there would be another prayer meeting, and an evangelistic
service, which might occasionally warm up to revival heat. Every few years a
distinguished preacher from abroad would come and stir the congregation up.
They needed it. There is some evidence that as the financial hurdle was surmounted,
the congregation settled down into a complacent prosperity. The young man who was
destined to marry the bright-eyed girl mentioned earlier in the chapter, came to the
city in the early 80's, training to be a teacher. He joined a class meeting in Pitt Street,
but found it conventional and lifeless, so stayed away. He had an alert and enquiring,
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not to say radical, intelligence, and needed fresh ideas to bite on, not stale platitudes.
He criticised much of the preaching as theatrical. The leading preachers were able and
sincere men, but one suspects that some of them had a very good opinion of
themselves. The same young man after his marriage took his wife to the theatre.
(Bowdlerized Shakespeare of course). Upon mature consideration and with regret he
gave it up, for the sake of example. Led astray by conscience once more.
Lest we should be inclined to take the critical young school teacher too seriously, we
go on to quote another witness, who described herself as "a Victorian teenager." She
was a regular attendant at Pitt Street for several years in the 1890's, and is now a very
alert 90 herself. She remembers Joseph Berry with great appreciation. "He had the
goods". She could recall certain of his texts, and the peculiar stress and emphasis of
his voice. He made a great impression on the girl. Her family belonged to Archhill,
where she went to Sunday School; but she outgrew what the little place had to offer,
and a wise father allowed her to walk in to the centre for Bible Class and Church.
Here she delighted in the company of the other young people, and was thrilled —
generally — with the services. They always had something to offer a bright young
spirit, even if the preacher was old Edward Best, one of the weeping prophets, who
would make an appeal with the tears streaming down his cheeks. Then there was Mr
Prior, father of a very able family. Mr Prior was too clever for the congregation, and
he insisted on preaching very long sermons, whatever anybody said. (But only the
other day the writer spoke to an elderly woman who recalled Mr Prior's ministry in
Invercargill with warm appreciation. He taught her to think about God.) Anyway the
bright young things said that Mr Prior's lecture
on "Some minor poets" should have been
entitled "Prior, and some minor poets." One
feels sorry for the man, floundering among
philistines, only one in ten of the congregation
understanding him. If he had not preached such
long sermons he might have got away with it.
Henry Bull seems not to have made much
impression on this bright young lady; but W. J.
Williams who came to the Circuit in '96 and to
Pitt Street in '97 was a blessing to the young
folk of the Literary Society. He was an able
man who had been properly trained in England.
She found him a welcome change from the
rather ponderous old boys.
Rev. W. J. Williams
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So much for the pulpit. The congregation was large (crowded on occasion) and varied.
"Every sort of people belonged to it, except perhaps the labourers." (alas for John
Wesley's sons!) There were a few well-to-do families whom "we did not know. We
never spoke to them. We never aspired to anything so grand." There was a gulf
between the carriage people and those who walked to church. But happily the gulf was
bridged without difficulty by the young people, who went together to Sunday School
and Bible Class, and judged one another by different standards.
She gave sharp vignettes of leading laymen. Concerning one who shall be nameless,
"He was very short and very fat, with a heavy gold watch chain deployed across a
very large corporation. I used to think he had the right watch for the right stomach.
There was "masher" Forbes, the organist, who was rather a dandy with his gloves and
cane. There was another "whom father described as 'a bog-trotting Irishman' because
of the bouncing way he walked up the aisle with the collection." (Father was a
Yorkshireman and critical of lesser breeds). Mr McMaster was a very friendly person.
He taught in the Sunday School and held the affection and respect of the younger
people. And there was George Winstone. "I can't think of Pitt Street without George
Winstone. In his day he was always for the young people, always their champion, and
they loved him. At the church door stood Richard Arthur. He came in a carriage and
pair, but he was friendly all the same. He was a good-looking man. It was lovely to go
to Church just to shake hands with Richard Arthur at the door." So said susceptible
seventeen.
On Sunday afternoon they went to Bible Class. The leader of the young women was
Miss Elsie Reid. She was "lovely". The Misses Reid, daughters of the redoubtable
Alexander, were un-conventional in dress. It was not worthy of serious attention. "At a
time when all females wore high collars, they wore low ones, so we could see all their
white necks." Then there was the Literary Society once a week, with papers and
lectures and de-bates. Occasionally they debated with a team from the Atheneum. A
lively young minister who could enter into their questions and excitements was a great
help. So we hope was the friendly critic from another denomination who said "You go
to church to worship a man called John Wesley." Touche!
Every now and again, at Anniversaries and so on, there was a "bun-scuffle". The great
event of the year was the school feast, traditional to New Year's Day, when the
Sunday Schools of the city turned out and marched behind their banners to the
domain, where there were sports and feasting. There was the Sunday School
Anniversary when the children occupied the gallery, boys on one side and girls on the
other, with the Choir between. Three services for the children, and a packed assembly.
The opening of Prince Albert College in 1896 brought further interest from the
boarders, and especially from the theological students housed there. One Jack Crump
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seems to have fluttered many hearts. Another event always looked forward to was the
annual picnic to Motuihi on the 9th November (the then Prince of Wales's Birthday).
"This to the female population marked the beginning of summer, and the first
appearance of such summer apparel as white muslin blouses, with discreet hints of
lacy underwear. How it all comes back to me! Generally too the weather was kind,
and what with that and picnic fare, and much singing on the ship both there and back,
it was a good start for the summer." Another outdoor affair was the picnic organised
by the Bible Classes, held at the Waitakeres. They travelled by brake, leaving early in
the morning and returning in the early evening. They sang along the way. "The youths
of the sterner sex distinguished themselves in such items as 'On the ball', and we all
joined heartily in 'John Brown's Body', etc. So home, tired, sunburnt and not a little
mosquito bitten but happy. One noticeable difference between "then" and "now" is
that girls did their best to avoid getting sunburnt, whereas today they do their best to
get as burnt as possible. Other times, other manners!" It is all very familiar to one old
enough to remember Church life in the first decade of the century, and not so very
different in essentials from what happens today.
So the story draws on to the end of the century, the end of the old Queen's reign, the
end of an era. The Pitt Street congregation, "nervously genteel", is a little irritated by
Father Hanson, who prays long and loud, and will ejaculate "Hallelujah! Praise the
Lord!" at moments of excitement, bless him. Not far away sits the young woman we
have been quoting, storing up impressions in her alert mind. The new century belongs
to her.
PITT STREET CHURCH TRUSTEES, 1898.
Front Row: J. Rosser, H. Booth, T. W. Jones. Centre Row: P. Crowe, T. McMaster, J. Hosking, Rev.
W. J. Williams, T. Buddle, G. Winstone, R. Peak. Back Row: W. White, J. Manson, G. Knight, W.
Gunson, W. D Buttle, J. W. Shackelford, W. Parkinson, T. Caley.
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CHAPTER VII
A Fresh Outlook for a New Century
The congregation was fortunate in its ministers at the turn of the century. The Rev. W.
J. Williams (1896-1901) has been mentioned. After him came C. H. Garland (19011906). It was in Garland's time that the church reached its maximum strength and
usefulness. In many ways his was the ideal ministry.
Rev. C. H. Garland
Williams was an evangelist who developed into a rather more than competent
religious journalist. At this distance he does not give the impression of theological
depth, although he was undoubtedly able, and the father of some brainy sons. He took
an interest in the sporting activities of the young men. He had a passion for
Temperance reform and Prohibition. A revealing criticism from a young parishioner
of the time says, "He was down on everything, especially the Herald and the brewers."
Here we come in sight of a movement that was to preoccupy New Zealand Methodism
for a generation, not altogether for good.
None knew better than the Methodists that drink could work havoc in a poor man's
home, and that the only answer for many was the "teetotal" one. In the "hungry
forties" in many a home it was a choice between the public house, and bread, or it
might be boots for the children. A generation later it might be drink, or butter on the
bread instead of dripping, or perhaps school fees for a bright child. It is difficult for
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this affluent generation to realise the stark alternatives, strong drink or food. It was
one or the other for many in Victorian times. The writer's grandfather was converted
in a Temperance Mission. The name is faintly absurd to us, but it made sense in 1840.
The decision to make one-self ridiculous by becoming an abstainer was difficult, but it
could be floated on a wave of religious feeling, and sustained in the chapel fellowship.
(By human perversity, it might even engender a comfortable self-righteousness). For a
couple of generations there was a vigorous temperance propaganda in the chapels. The
Band of Hope flourished. As time went on, a gospel hardened into a dogma.
The next step followed the new concept of State responsibility for the welfare of
citizens which captured New Zealand politics to-wards the end of the century. Readers
will remember the reference to Fox and his appeal to the Christian churches. The
argument ran something like this:—"If the democratic state was responsible for its
people in matters of fair wages, employment and old age pensions, it was also
responsible for their protection from the admitted evils of strong drink." So we find
men as widely different as Sir Robert Stout and T. E. Taylor campaigning for Local
Option and Prohibition. The movement caught up the crusading idealism of a
generation. It was of course very active in the United States and Canada, and to a
lesser degree in Scotland. The passion it aroused is difficult to explain to a young
person today. Perhaps the closest analogy lies with the idealist pacifism that was so
wide-spread between the world wars. It was all or nothing. The movement sought to
deal with a real problem which is still with us, unsolved, and there was a great deal of
good in it; but somewhere it went off the rails.
Methodism with its usual enthusiasm was deeply involved from the beginning. For a
generation it allowed a great part of its energy to be diverted into a movement that was
pre-destined to fail. It supplied the popular leadership in men like T. E. Taylor, the
Isitt brothers, and John Dawson. The campaign muddied the waters for a generation. It
is remarkable what a lot of damage good people can do when they set their minds to it.
It must have been in Williams's time that Pitt Street began to employ a deaconess. The
Helping Hand Mission had used Sister Blakeley (later Mrs A. C. Brown) to work
among the poor, and with the women and children, in Freeman's Bay, about 1888. It
was an obvious development, so much so that one is surprised it was so long delayed.
After the separation of the Mission from the Circuit, we find Sister Howard working
among the women, and especially the young women, at Pitt Street. As she grew older
she was assisted, especially in the Sunday School visiting, by Sister Moore. There was
plenty for them to do.
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Sister Howard
C. H. Garland became Superintendent Minister in 1901. He was a great gift to N.Z.
Methodism. He was brought up in London, where his father was what we would call a
Home Missionary in charge of the Seamen's Mission. After theological training in
Eng-land he came to this country in 1881, and was sent immediately to the Northern
Wairoa. I remember an old timer on the Wairoa describing how on his first Sunday
Garland tucked up his long black coat before stepping into the row boat and taking up
the oars to travel his new Circuit. After a few months in that rough school he was
transferred to St. Albans, Christchurch.
Garland was alert, intelligent, and well abreast of the times. He was a born teacher. He
was also warm-hearted, sympathetic and evangelical. It would be hard to find a more
suitable teacher to lead the younger generation into the 20th century. For the times
were changing. At the turn of the century nobody had heard of Freud, and not many
New Zealanders were very knowledgable about Karl Marx, but everybody had heard
about Darwin, and intelligent young people were beginning to be very concerned
about the Bible. If Darwin was right, then the Bible was wrong . . . or perhaps not?
Honest people could no longer push such questions aside with a few pious platitudes.
Ten years before coming to Pitt Street Garland had been involved in a heresy hunt at
Cam-bridge, when he defended himself in a vigorous pamphlet on The Authority of
the Bible. An Auckland Observer cartoon showed him burning at the stake as a
heretic, but he survived intact. This was the man who ministered in the Pitt Street
Church for the full term of five years then allowed, from 1901 to 1905 inclusive.
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The INTERIOR 1905
– Looking towards the
pulpit.
Notice the gas lamps.
Mizpah refers to
Genesis 31:49: “The
Lord watch between
me and thee.”
The INTERIOR 1905
– Looking west to the
organ and choir in the
back gallery. The
instrument ended its
days at Epson. The
motto is theologically
suspect.
His pulpit work was outstanding. On Sunday evenings the church was thronged with
men, who hung upon his words. But he could hold the children enthralled (he was
supposed to know the name of every child in the huge Sunday School) and he could
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
preach to the broken-hearted, as one grateful hearer testifies. "This surprised the
young, happy and eager, because it reached them too." At every service Pitt Street was
full to capacity, galleries and ground floor. On any special occasion, chairs were set
down the aisles. Those were great days. The "new" hymn book which came in 1904
was a help. As one who was young in those days puts it now, "We got rid of those
morbid old hymns."
The Sunday School became a lively and interesting place. Mr Winstone, who was still
in charge, was assisted by a group of eager and competent young men and women
who made things go. Tom Garland, the minister's nephew (later well known as "Uncle
Tom" of the Friendly Road) was in charge of the music, which was led by an
orchestra. There was no lack of enthusiastic helpers. Besides Garland there were Bert
Whitehead and Joe Stanton (well known to a later generation as Mr Justice and Sir
Joseph Stanton), Archie Peak, the Winstone brothers, Charlie Poole, and H. E. Pacey,
J. McElwain, Miss Winstone, and Miss Gunson, T. B. Arthur and many more. There
was plenty of real leadership.
Two widely different developments under Garland's ministry deserve special mention.
The first is the foundation of W.Y.M.I. the Wesley Young Men's Institute. During his
first year at Pitt Street Garland was approached by four young men (Bob Clarke,
George Eyre. Jim Muldoon and Bert Whitehead) with a view to combining the
existing activities for young men into one organisation. Garland drew their attention to
the set-up at Trinity Church, Wanganui, and with this as a model the new organisation
got under way. Garland was President, Vice-Presidents were S. J. Ambury, T. W.
Jones, J. W. Shackelford. G. Winstone, T. McMaster, W. Gunson; Secretaries, T. R.
Martin and R. Clarke; Treasurer, E. B. Gunson, First Committee, F. M. Winstone, Sid.
Harvey, J. H. Gunson (later replaced by S. M. Barry), A. Wilson and E. Preston.
The Institute played a large part in the lives of the members for many years to come.
On Wednesday night there was a gymnasium, held in the Wesley Hall under the
instruction of Prof. Potter. There was a Literary and Debating Society in full swing,
and football and cricket according to season. Other activities were a "Lookout
Committee" appointed "to welcome young men to the church," a tennis club, a glee
club with T. T. Garland as conductor. It was all very lively and satisfying to the
members. The Institute won the approval of the trustees, being assigned a room to
itself in 1912, and eventually taking over half of Wesley Hall. It began with 20
members, but the numbers soon ran up to several times that number. W.Y.M.I. was to
play an important part in the church for two generations. At this stage Pitt Street was
most notably a young man's church.
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The other development was the erection of shops on the Karangahape Road frontage.
When the church was built the street was almost entirely residential. There was one
shop between Symonds Street and the Pitt Street corner. But by the end of the century
the shops were coming in fast. After anxious deliberation it was decided to shift the
parsonage to a section leased from the City Council in Hopetoun Street, and to bring
Wesley Hall down beside the church. This left the main Karangahape Road frontage
admired his quality, though he was a very strict disciplinarian. In his time one great
excitement was the visit of the American fleet. The chaplain preached at Pitt Street.
Rev. J. A. Luxford
The Church and Wesley Hall in 1906, with a glimpse of the Parsonage behind.
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While the congregation as a family affair was as solid as a rock, it did not enjoy the
abounding prosperity it had known under Garland. There were reasons for this, apart
from the fact that Luxford had not Garland's public appeal. Conditions were becoming
harder. For one thing the central congregation felt the closing of Prince Albert
College, which had contributed firm support to the church in the attachment of both
boarders and staff. This came at the end of 1906. Even more significant as a pointer to
the future, the city was growing and the suburbs were beginning to rob the centre.
Numbers of good families were joining the outlying suburban churches. Mount Eden,
for example, which opened in 1901 was rapidly filling at the expense of Pitt Street and
Grafton Road.
Luxford was followed in 1909 by William Ready. Ready was a complete contrast to
his predecessor. He was an Irish cockney, who had been left orphaned at nine years of
age, and was subsequently reared at Muller's Orphanage in Bristol. Converted at
seventeen, he was nurtured in the Bible Christian branch of Methodism in England,
and after entering their ministry, he came to New Zealand in 1887. In 1890 he
launched the Dunedin Central Mission, where he remained for nine years. After a term
at St. John's, Ponsonby, and another at Durham Street, Christchurch, he came to
Auckland in his forties. "Virile, joyous, charming", is one description. "A most
loveable character." It is true that some of the more conservative Wesleyans lifted
their eyebrows at times. He was unconventional and unpredictable. He must have been
comic to watch. He would laboriously control his aspirates throughout a carefully
prepared sermon, and fling them joyously away in the last sentence, or as he cried the
last hymn, '"ymn 99". "The aspirate was missing, but God was present."
Rev. W. Ready
Ready was an evangelist first, last and always. He left his young people in no doubt of
their needs and their calling. Nor did he allow them to be bored with stale pieties. He
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brought a whole generation of young men and women into active service in the
Church. He represented a type common enough in 19th century Methodism, which has
died out with improved social conditions and better educational advantages. He was a
man of the people, packed with personality, shrewd and homely, never to be despised,
though he might drop his aitches. (One imagines that Peter was like that. He got by in
spite of his Galilean accent, and the smell of fish. Few of the twelve apostles had
better credentials, so far as we know.) Mrs Ready was a help to him. She was a
"motherly" woman, who made the young people welcome at the parsonage. Which
reminds us of the fire, in which the Hopetoun Street house was destroyed. This
occurred in 1912. Mrs Ready was trapped upstairs, and saved her life at the cost of a
couple of broken ankles, as she leaped from an upstairs window. The house was
replaced on the same site.
In 1911 the present large organ was installed, at a cost of £2500, £500 of which was
given by George Winstone Senr. From the beginning the organ had been situated with
the choir in the gallery at the west end of the church; but the new instrument with its
console and the new seating for the choir were placed behind the pulpit. The total cost
of the alterations was £3000. At the same time certain memorial windows were given,
and additions were made to the memorial tablets commemorating pioneer
missionaries. No further substantial alterations were made till the ministry of the Rev.
E. T. Olds.
N./. Bible Class Union Dominion Camp, Wanganui, 1910.
In the middle row:
E. T. Olds (5th), K. J. Rosser (8th), K. DeUow (9th), Rev. Richards (12th) and Rev. Lawry (13th).
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
The interior of the Church after the new organ was installed at the East End in 1911.
In 1912 the Sunday School celebrated its Jubilee. (It will be remembered that the work
in Pitt Street was begun at the little chapel down the road, before the present edifice
was erected.) A jubilee booklet was published giving the history of the school in
detail. We are indebted to Mr A. D. Whitehead for a full description of the school at
this date. Mr Winstone was in charge of the afternoon school. Sister Moore the
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
morning. The morning school was taking on the character of a Junior Endeavour at
this date. The treasurer was Geo. Winstone Jnr. The school owned a huge lending
library. As one who was devouring Sunday School Library books a few years before,
the writer approves. They were a real boon to youngsters starved of print before Public
Libraries provided for children. The Librarian was Mr A. H. White. Organist: Miss V.
Ellis. Pianiste: Miss Winstone; Conductor: Mr T. T. Garland. One sees that Miss
Gunson led the Young Women's Bible Class, Miss Fordham the juniors. Mr T. B.
Arthur led the Young Men, Mr Houghton the juniors. Mr Bycroft had the Infant class
in a fully graded school. There was a strong missionary impulse behind this work.
Many of the children came from homes where little regard was paid to Christian
things. At one stage, some years earlier, we are told. Miss Gunson had a large class of
"Auckland Star" boys, eleven year olds, little ragamuffins some of them. One would
like to know what happened to them afterwards.
Something should be said about the part played by Pitt Street in Bible Class Union
affairs. It was in this first decade of the new century that the N.Z.B.C. Unions came
into being. The strength and vigour of the youth work at the central church made it the
natural centre for Bible Class Union activities up to the time of the First World War.
From the beginning the Church had celebrated its Sunday School Anniversary at
Easter; but as the Bible Class Movement got under way, and began holding its large
Easter Camps, the anniversary date was altered to allow the young men and young
women to attend camp without any disloyalty to the youth work of their own
congregation.
In 1910 Sister Douglas arrived, the first trained deaconess to serve the congregation.
She was "a very nice person," less severe than the older generation of woman workers,
though they were well regarded. Later she was to marry a Mr Patterson. In the same
year Mr Nicholas followed Mr Light at the organ.
Sister Douglas Hunter (later Mrs Patterson)
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We must not forget that at this date Pitt Street Church was still the head of a large
circuit, covering half of Auckland Method-ism. The second minister was stationed at
St. John's, the third at Mt. Albert, a fourth at Kingsland. In 1900 Mr T. Bell presented
a site for a church building at Henderson. 1901 saw several important property moves.
The balance of the Pitt and Vincent Street property was sold, thus terminating interest
in a building that had been used first by the Wesleyans, and then by the Free
Methodists. At Mt. Albert Mr A. C. Caughey presented the church with an acre of
land for a parsonage site, and a suitable house was erected. A new site was purchased
at Mt. Eden (Miss Nora Buttle remembers walking across with her father to approve
the purchase) and a church and schoolroom erected thereon. The following year
Kings-land sold some of their old property, the proceeds (£385) going in reduction of
debt. In 1904 as we have seen, Pitt Street acquired a leasehold site for their parsonage
in Hopetoun St. at £14:15:0 per annum. A church site was purchased at Avondale for
£66, and a parsonage site at Kingsland for £220. A year later the little church building
at Avondale was put up for £300, and a parsonage erected at Kingsland according to
plan, at a cost of £600. St. John's added to its Sunday School, and put up a new infant
room. Mt. Albert Methodists acquired an additional acre at the parsonage (for the use
of the horse, one imagines).
Mr. A. C. Caughley
There was also a readjustment of boundaries between Auckland (Pitt St.) and
Auckland (Grafton Road) Circuits. To facilitate this the Circuits were temporarily
reunited in 1905, in a very unwieldy group. Two years later on the recommendation of
Synod the Conference divided the area into three circuits, in addition to the Mission,
which had been set up in 1895. Auckland (Pitt Street) included the central church,
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
under the Superintendent with Mt. Albert, Avondale, Waikumete and Henderson
under one colleague, and Kingsland and Archhill under another. Auckland West
included St. John's and Bayfield. Auckland East was made up of Grafton Road, Mt.
Eden, Newmarket, Parnell, Pakuranga, and a slight alteration of boundaries transferred
Epsom from Onehunga to the new circuit. This fresh alignment of forces enabled
Auckland East to spread out over Mt. Eden and Epsom, and to enjoy great prosperity
for a generation. The mother circuit was restricted east and west, and from this time
direct home mission activity was diminished. A church was built at Waikumete (Glen
Eden) in 1911. The land cost £150 and the building £450. Costs were going up. The
circuit also had its eye on Mt. Roskill (now Dominion Road), but as there was a lively
Primitive Metho-dist congregation established there already, and Methodist Union
was very near, they urged their people to anticipate the Union, and throw in their lot
with the Primitive Methodists.
The Union of 1913 necessitated further adjustments, to avoid the impossible situation
of having two circuits covering the same ground. The Auckland Central Circuit was
created, to include Pitt St. and Kingsland, with Alexandra St. (now the Mission), Pitt
and Edmund St., Eden Tce., Dominion Rd., and Morningside, with five ministers
(soon reduced to three). A new Circuit, Auckland (Avondale) was created, taking in
Mt. Albert, Avondale, Waikumete and Henderson, with the ex-Primitive cause at
Waterview, all under two ministers. Archhill was put into Auckland West, together
with Great North Rd., Franklin Rd., Hobsonville and Brigham's Creek. (Two
Ministers). The Central Circuit thus took over the boundaries she was to keep till
1947. It was to take forty years or so to sort out the over-lapping left by the union. The
united church had far too many little bethels scattered round the inner belt of suburbs,
too close together, too small to get under way. But they were all precious to a handful
of people supporting them, who were almost always unwilling to see them close. This
situation hindered the efficient working of Auckland Methodism for a generation.
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CHAPTER VIII
The First World War and After
In 1914 Ready was succeeded as Superintendent Minister by the Rev. C. H. Laws.
Rev. C. H. Laws
One could hardly imagine a greater contrast between the mercurial Irishman and the
reserved and scholarly preacher and administrator who succeeded him. Laws was born
in Newcastle-on-Tyne, a son of devoted Wesleyan parents, who emigrated to New
Zealand in the 1870's and settled in Napier. His father was a rugged, independent and
exceedingly strong willed northerner, a noted lay preacher; his mother "a gentle
refined soul, who ruled the home with dignity and grace." The legacy of each parent
was plain to see in the son. In his earlier ministry he was an evangelist. He gathered
young men around him and inspired them with his own passion for Christ. As he grew
older the Connexion recognised and used his remarkable administrative abilities. He
was able, clear sighted and determined. He was President of the Wesleyan Conference
in 1910, and played a decisive part in the negotiations that led to the separation of
New Zealand from the Australasian General Conference in 1913. This made possible
the union with Primitive Methodism in this country. One of the first benefits of the
union was the well-placed brick church in Dominion Road.
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Laws at Pitt Street was pre-eminently the preacher. In his mid-ministry he lost his
earlier capacity to make easy contact with young men. He was distant, largely
preoccupied with grave affairs. Moreover, he would have his own way, and that was
not the way of the W.Y.M.I. But in the pulpit he was a master. The writer will never
forget the impact of a few war-time sermons, heard as a teenage visitor to the gallery
on rare Sunday evenings. "Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth unto
life." His words fell like hammer-blows on heart and conscience. His ministry was, of
course, overshadowed by the war. The young men who should have lined the galleries
were in the armed forces. Congregations were large, all the larger because of the
alarms and anxieties of the times.
But war or no war, Pitt Street was changing, and could never be quite the same again.
Few of the men who returned from the war came back to the old church. They married
and went to live in the suburbs, where they might or might not find a new spiritual
home. By the 1920's the old church had passed its peak as a family centre. It still had a
large membership, and many very devoted supporters; but in the nature of things these
declined in numbers, as old folk died, and younger ones married and moved further
out. The Church became more dependent on hearers drawn from the suburbs by good
preaching and good music. The Sunday School continued to decline in numbers. The
morning Sunday School, a relic of Victorianism, was given up in 1922. (It came back
a generation later). In view of the growth of the city, these changes were inevitable;
but they were none the less painful to those who remained.
The congregation sent eighty young men to the war. Of these eighteen lost their lives.
Some bore names as well known in the city as in the church. They were
commemorated in 1919 at a special service when a memorial brass and a Roll of
Honour were unveiled.
"These in the glorious morning of their days
For England's sake lost all but England's praise."
In 1920 C. H. Laws moved to the Theological College, and for the next six years the
Rev. P. N. Knight was in charge. Knight was a South Australian, a son of the manse.
Both he and his wife belonged to families well known in that State. He was an able
man, unconventional and "very refreshing". On his memorial tablet in the church we
read: "He loved to preach the Gospel." That is true. He had a "wonderful" wife, and a
family that supported him, and the young people of the church were very happy with
their minister, and at home in the parsonage.
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Rev. P. N. Knight B.A.
W.Y.M.I. flourished in the between-war years. During the 1914-1918 period Harry
Halstead very wisely concentrated on the juniors. In 1918 the Trustees put up the
money to send twelve young fellows to the Reconstruction Camp of the N.Z.B.C.
Union at Seatoun. It was repaid a hundred fold. A very lively group of young men,
some of whom had no close family connection with church life, set out to gather
recruits to Bible Class and Club. They asked all and sundry, of whom a surprising
number responded to the offer of fellowship. This was a bright feature of the church.
The growth of suburban congregations served to emphasise the importance of the
central church as their representative and head. It was her privilege to give hospitality
to important visitors, and to offer her pulpit to distinguished preachers. On Knight's
second Sunday the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) attended. Among visiting
preachers at this time were S. J. Hoban of Sydney; F. German, known as "The Singing
Parson"; Irving Benson (now Sir Irving) of Melbourne; Herbert Booth of the Salvation
Army; "Pussyfoot Johnston" of Prohibition fame; Rev. J. H. Ritson, from British
Methodism and the B. & F. Bible Society; Chaplains from the British Fleet in 1924
and the American Fleet in 1925.
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N.Z. B.C.U. Camp at Motutapu, Easter, 1921. The Pitt Street contingent.
Seated:
G. C. Riddcll (4th from left). Kneeling: Mr Pattcrson (1st), H. Halstead (2nd). Standing: J. Halstead
(1st) L. Knight (5th).
In 1922 the Conference celebrated the Centenary of Methodism in New Zealand.
Great gatherings were held both in Auckland and at Kaeo, where the first mission
station stood. The occasion was commemorated by a brass tablet carrying the names
of distinguished visitors; the Rev. Grainger Hargreaves from Great Britain, the Rev.
A. McCallum from Australia, and Bishop Locke from the U.S.A.
It was a sign of the times that pew rents were finally abandoned in 1923. The whole
idea of a rented pew in the House of God seems incongruous to our age, and it is true
that seat-holders sometimes abused their privileges; but the system had its own logic
and the "family pew" was a Victorian institution. It belonged to the stable times when
every solid and dependable citizen had his place in the church as in the community.
One looked round and saw friends, relations and all just where one expected to find
them. In those days the pew rents were the main source of income for the upkeep of
the building and the maintenance of its standards. The church collections supported
the ministry. The maintenance of the fabric, together with salaries of organist and
caretaker, etc. would be derived from Anniversary collections and the pew rents.
When in 1923 the Trustees decided to cease renting pews, they were forced to take a
subsidy from the Shops Trust.
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When the shops were erected in 1906, there was some uneasiness over the principle of
such an investment by the Church. It was contended that the living Church should
depend on the freewill offerings of its people, and not at all on rents and investments.
The answer given by the promoters of the scheme was that the profits available, after
servicing debt charges, should go entirely to extension work. In Laws' time, to his
great annoyance, the Trustees refused firmly to take a penny from the special fund to
help with the installation of electric light. In the annual report for 1915, in support of
their appeal for generous giving on Church Anniversary Sunday, they stated: "It must
not be thought that the rents derived from the block of shops adjoining are available
for carrying on the ordinary work of the church. On the contrary, the rent fund is
especially set apart for the extension of the work of God in the District of Auckland
and elsewhere, and already the sum of over £1000 has been voted for this purpose." It
was this principle that was abandoned under the stress of new and un-foreseen
difficulties; so that while Pitt Street congregation has always supported its minister
and contributed generously to the Circuit and to various Connexional and Mission
Funds from its freewill offerings, in recent years it has leaned heavily on the Shops
Trust in meeting other commitments.
This did not mean that nothing was left for church extension. The new causes at
Roskill (1925) and Sandringham (1928) were very much in debt to the Trust, as were
other forward ventures in places widely scattered throughout the Province. Although
the in-come from rents was comparatively modest during most of the period we are
reviewing, altogether about £14,000 had been distributed by 1936, and very
considerable sums since that date.
To return to Pitt Street in the nineteen-twenties. The
leading families that come to mind are the Winstones
and Butties, Mr Ambury, the Fred Wilsons, the
Stantons, Whiteheads, Halsteads, Maginesses,
Parkinsons, Crowes, Steinerts, Rossers, Chapmans,
Shackelfords and T. W. Jones. Blakey and
Shackelford were Circuit stewards. Mr and Mrs
Steinert gave a generation of loving devoted service
as sacramental stewards. Herbert Crowe was Trust
Treasurer for a time, and Church Steward. Mr
Shackelford had his busy hand on a lot of things.
Though the congregations were good and the
membership loyal, Mr Knight found the Pitt Street
Superintendency a strain, especially when, in addition
to his other duties, he was made District Chairman.
This necessitated periodical trips through Northland,
and endless committee work in the city. Towards the
Sister Winfred Beaumont
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end of his term he suffered a breakdown; but at the Conference of 1925, in his
absence, he was made President-Elect for 1926. This very unusual mark of confidence
by his brethren had a tonic effect, and helped him through his last months at the old
mother church.
It was during Mr Knight's time that Edgar Randal moved on to St. Mary's Cathedral,
Mr Webster coming from Hamilton to take his place at the organ. Sister Winifred
Beaumont continued to serve as Deaconess, with the entire confidence of the
congregation.
Mr Scott, the caretaker, died in 1924. He kept the church with loving care for many
years. After his death his widow carried on for a time.
In 1926 Knight was succeeded by Leonard Dalby, who was brought from England, in
the hope that a distinguished preacher from abroad might succeed in filling the church
once more. The policy was mainly Mr Shackelford's, while Dalby himself was the
nominee of C. H. Laws, who had recently been overseas.
Rev. L. B. Dalby
The experiment was not a success. Mr Dalby was a fine preacher. He left nothing to
be desired there. "Those who worked with him, liked him. He was most adept at the
conduct of business meetings, and was at his best at the week-night service." (No
small praise). "Mr and Mrs Dalby were a very gracious couple, but they came to New
Zealand 15 years too late." That is fair enough. His ministry was wholly successful at
the official level, but he could not make contact with the average colonial. Therefore
he did nothing to arrest the drift. It was a depressed congregation he left behind him
on his return to England in 1929.
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There were further changes among the officials of course. Mr G. C. Riddell, who had
been Sunday School Secretary for a number of years, was Superintendent for a short
time. He was followed by Mr K. J. Rosser, who was in charge of the school for eleven
years. Sister Winifred left, and her place as Deaconess was taken by Sister Margaret
Jeffreys. In 1928 Blakey and Maginess were Circuit Stewards, in 1929 Maginess and
Leonard Rhodes. Mr Bickerton was at the organ for a time. The Ellisons became
caretakers in 1927, at a wage of £255 per annum.
Sister Margaret Jeffries
Pitt Street was still the head of a large circuit, which covered a wide belt of suburban
or potentially suburban land running south across the isthmus to the Manukau. A site
was purchased at Edendale (Sandringham) in 1916, but nothing was done to develop it
at the time, probably because the Baptists were already active in the vicinity. In 1925 a
beginning was made at Roskill, when a hall costing £600 was built by voluntary
labour. Three years later Sandringham was occupied at a building cost in the first
place of £400. These very modest beginnings owed a great deal to Pitt Street money.
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CHAPTER IX
Depression and Recovery
Dalby was succeeded in 1929 by another Englishman, William Walker; but Mr
Walker was fully at home in his adopted land. He came to New Zealand in 1908, was
persuaded to enter the Home Mission service, and was accepted into the ministry in
1912. He knew his Diggers, after serving as a Chaplain for three years, two of which
were spent in France with the Rifle Brigade. Mr and Mrs Walker came to Pitt Street
after serving six years at the Dunedin Central Mission, and they carried the weight of
this down-town congregation through the worst of the depression years. They are still
living in retirement, and we have no wish to embarrass them by personal comments;
but it is necessary to say that this devoted couple really put the congregation on its feet
again. They restored its morale.
Rev. W. Walker
For the church was really depressed. Some of the senior officials, men who had
known the place in its most prosperous days, were seriously wondering whether it
should not be sold, and the money used for development work nearer to the homes of
the people. It is sad to see things going downhill when one is too old to do anything
about it. The Walkers set themselves to show that something could be done about it,
and that plenty of people were ready to help. The result is that the congregation rallied
strongly as a working unit, and the Walkers themselves will always be held in
affection. Says one woman, "The Walkers were pure gold." A man says, "We all loved
Willie Walker". There was social and relief work to be done, beside the care of
families scattered all over the suburbs, and young people away from home. It was hard
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gruelling toil, with no car, when there were parishioners living beyond every tram
terminus in the city. Those were the days when a rise in tram fares could hit the
Sunday attendances. The 1/6 family ticket was a boon. Through it all Mr Walker
watched over the Circuit, fostered W.Y.M.I. and maintained a worthy and dignified
pulpit ministry. Mrs Walker organised the women's work, including a regular Ladies'
Guild, and kept open house at the parsonage. Her Sunday teas for young men and
women away from home were famous. "They both made themselves available to all
young people at any time." The young folk responded by lining the gallery faithfully
on Sunday evenings.
Those were the days of angry mobs and hunger marches. Mr Walker says that the
happiest day in his ministry was the day when he opened his mail to find a cheque for
£200 from the Bank of New Zealand towards the social work of the church, in
recognition of what he and Sister Margaret Jeffreys were doing among the poor in the
drab streets not far from the church. It was manna from heaven. He also loves to tell of
the afternoon in 1934 when it percolated through to him that there was likely to be
violence. He called a hurried emergency meeting of the Trust. The shop windows
were insured at 4 o'clock, and at 8 o'clock they were all shattered in Auckland's
famous riot. (The insurance company paid up). That was a great night for the boys.
Wesley Hall was turned into an emergency casualty station, and the St. John
Ambulance cadets had real cracked heads and cut limbs to practise on.
The response was not overwhelming by any means, but it was real and substantial.
The congregation accepted its role as a down-town church, which had to change its
thinking in some ways. During this period almost all the older leaders, men like
George Win-stone and S. J. Ambury who had held office in Victorian times, died.
Henry Field who had helped to found the Local Preachers' Association in 1880, and
moved away, returned in his old age, the church celebrating his jubilee as a preacher
before he went to his reward. The membership which was 253 in 1930, after some
vigorous pruning, went up again to 270, and the Sunday School roll rose from 150 to
209. The congregation began to put out its own little paper, the Messenger.
A number of visitors from abroad were given the hospitality of the Pitt Street pulpit
during these years. They include chaplains from the British and American Fleets, Rev
C. W. Chandler, Rev. Raymond Preston, Mr Priestley of the Sudan United Mission,
Dr H. Guinness, the Hon. L. M. Isitt, Dr Bruce Thornton (Canada) and Dr Ross
(California).
It was in Mr Walker's time that the Trustees discovered, during an inspection for
damp, that the walls of the church were spreading in a most dangerous way. Nothing
was said to alarm the congregation; but the main wooden trusses were replaced with
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steel, and tie rods put in for extra support. The back wall had to be tied in to the main
building. Everything was done to ensure that the fabric would be safe for the future. It
was an anxious time while it lasted, and the whole business was expensive, of course.
With interior redecoration it cost £4000.
The following are the principal laymen who carried the burden of administration in Mr
Walker's time. Messrs G. Winstone, J. W. Shackelford, J. Stanton, H. S. Crowe, F.
Prior, H. B. Halstead, K. J. Rosser, R. Clarke, C. W. Payne. H. Field, J. Maginness, S.
J. Atwell, R. Malton, J. Malton, W. Lewis, D. Reid, G. Riddell, D. Payne, J. Joiner
and F. Steinert. Among the women we should mention are Mrs J. H. Blackwell (Edith
Winstone), Mrs T. H. Chapman, Mrs Steinert and Miss Tidd, Mrs Joiner, Mrs Thrift,
Mrs Bertha Rosser, Mrs Ashworth, Mrs Heighway, Mrs Halstead, Mrs Woods and
Mrs Jeffreys. During most of this period Leonard Rhodes and Harry Halstead were the
Circuit Stewards.
Messrs Thornley and Gregory were sent forward as candicates for the ministry.
Like Mr Knight before him, Mr Walker paid the penalty of overwork by breaking
down in his final year. The Conference gave him a Probationer Assistant in 1934. The
young man was George Goodman.
For a time the choir was in difficulties. Mr Webster asked to be relieved of his duties,
and a Professor Moor Karoly was appointed. He was a brilliant organist, but too
temperamental for some of his choir members. He moved on to St. Patrick's cathedral.
The Trustees were fortunate in securing the services of Albert Bryant. He understood
Methodist singing, and built up a very sound standard in the choir. As mentioned
above, Margaret Jeffreys was the deaconess. In those difficult times she did a notable
piece of work among the women and children. There was a lot of poverty and misery
within range of Pitt Street in those days. Mention should also be made of Sister Ivy
Jones, who shepherded a group of Maori girls and brought them to Church on Sunday
evenings.
In 1935 Mr Walker moved on, and E. T. Olds followed him immediately, in Methodist
itinerant fashion. Mrs Olds is still with us although Mr Olds died this year. It is
necessary to tread warily and to avoid the superlatives. But it must be said that their
fifteen year term at the central church was a remarkable achievement. Mr Olds was a
member of a family well known in New Zealand Methodism. His father was a Cornish
lay preacher very respected in his day, and there are five ministers of the church
among his sons and grandsons. "Tom" served upwards of three years overseas, was
wounded and given a commission on the field. His wound was within a hairsbreadth
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of being fatal. " 'My God, Olds.' the quack said to me at Rouen, 'You must have been
born to be hanged.'" He was born to be an evangelist.
Rev. E. T. Olds
He never had any difficulty in meeting men on their own ground, and possessed a
considerable gift of blarney. He had the orator's ability to feed on his audience, to
establish rapport in such a way that the hearers sustained him. He came to Pitt Street
while still in his early forties, and at once his gay and lively personality made its
impact. Young people gathered round, the galleries filled up, and the church was
thronged, on Sunday evenings at least. The Bible Classes prospered. In some ways it
was like the days of William Ready over again, but of course the dependable resident
families were comparatively few in number. It was a precarious prosperity in the
nature of things, resting on a shifting population and much too dependent on the
personality of one man. But it was good to see the place thronged once more.
From 1935 to 1946 the membership grew steadily. It reached the highest level for
modem times in '46, with 438 members. At the same time the Sunday School declined
from nearly 200 to 117. It is clear that most of the new members came from a
distance. Mr Olds was eager to make contact with the "outsider". To this end he
greatly valued his frequent appearances on the radio, where he was popular with his
audiences, because of his easy natural style, and his manly outlook. All over New
Zealand people waited for his broadcasts. He also established his "Open Forum"
outside the church on Friday evenings, in an effort to make con-tact with the crowd.
They were lively affairs, at times, those open-air meetings.
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Church Interior in the Forties.
This shows the “quarter-deck” pulpit built for the Rev. E. T. Olds.
PITT STREET CHURCH TRUSTEES, 1941.
From left, front row: H. S. Crowc, J. W. Shackelford, Rev. E. T. Olds, H. B. Halstcad, J Stanton
Middle row: J. W. McElwain, W. C. H. Elliott, F. G. Steinhart, C. W. Payne, A. Y. Richardson
Back row: C.. H. Boyce, O. S. West, A. E. Freeman, J. Knowlcs.
Inset: Left, G. C:. Riddell (overseas); right, K. J. Rosser.
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One effect of the flow of young life about the place was to reveal the inadequacy of
old Wesley Hall, by modern standards, for work among adolescents. After due
consideration the Trustees decided to replace the one-story wooden building with a
modern three-storied block, providing a main hall with cinema projector on the ground
floor, a girls' floor above, and a gymnasium with class rooms at the top for the boys.
In 1939 the work was put in hand, the twin stones being laid by the President of
Conference, the Rev. P. R. Paris and Mr J. W. Shackelford, the Senior Trustee. The
total cost was £21,000, most of which went to swell the overdraft on the Shops Trust.
It was not a favourable moment for a building appeal. Wesley Hall, which was still a
sound building, was given to the Auckland East Circuit and removed to Mission Bay.
Later, in order to increase the seating capacity of the church, the arrangement of
pulpit, organ and choir was altered, so that the minister occupied a "quarter-deck" at
the back, with choir and organ console beneath him. The change did not really
commend itself, especially when congregations fell off somewhat.
Distinguished visitors who preached at Pitt Street about this time included the
following: Dr W. M. Horton from the U.S.A., Dr. Russell Maltby, Dr. Ferrier Hulme,
Dr. J. H. Litten and Rev. J. W. Fielding from Britain, Dr. Hudson Taylor from China,
Rev. C. Irving Benson from Melbourne, and the Rev. Belshazzar Gina and Dr. "Ted"
Sayers from the Solomons.
The Second World War affected the congregation much as the first had done, except
that the loss of life was not so great. The young men vanished one by one, till the
senior group almost disappeared. In 1943 Mr Olds was made Chairman of the
Auckland District, which at that time extended from Tuakau to the North Cape. He
took his duties very seriously and tried to carry inspiration as well as some practical
help to the more isolated places. The Rev. R. J. Liddell, a Supernumerary, was
employed to assist with pastoral oversight. Two years later Liddell was followed by
Rev. B. H. Riseley, a student-pastor, who gave some assistance at the central church,
as well as trying to establish a new cause at Point Chevalier. But the double task was
too much for one man, even one with the resilience of E. T. Olds, so in 1950 he and
Mrs Olds moved on to New Plymouth, after fifteen crowded years at the centre of
New Zealand's largest city. Few ministers have been better known to the public.
"Tom" Olds was always a man's man, with the gift of easy contact among all classes,
while the parsonage at Hopetoun Street was a meeting place for a generation of young
folk.
One special link will always bind Pitt street to Mr and Mrs Olds. Nearly as many men
went to the second world war as to the first, but only two lost their lives on active
service. One of the two was Lieutenant David Olds, of the Fleet Air Arm, age 23
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years. He was the only son. After the conflict was over, the congregation installed as a
memorial the great west window, and under it the names:
W. J. Dunlevey
David Olds
"They gave their all"
Just after the news about David came through, the writer was in Karangahape Road
one evening, and overheard a conversation between two tough looking customers who
had just emerged from the Caledonia Hotel. "I see Tommy Olds has lost his boy" said
one. "Aye" said the other. "It's a b... shame." Tom had more parishioners than he knew
the names of in those days. He belonged to them all.
Albert Bryant moved to the Anglican Cathedral in Wellington in 1944. His work was
very much appreciated. He was followed by Arthur Reid, who retained the organ for
twenty years Under these men the choir reached a very high standard, with good
music adequately rendered. For a number of years in Arthur Reid's time it won awards
at the Auckland Festival, and did quite a bit of broadcasting. In the early fifties the
choir was described by Mr Walmsley as "a credit to the church and to Auckland. The
choir is a very beautiful one, well balanced in all sections and singing very good
music."
During the earlier part of his ministry at Pitt Street Mr Olds had the assistance of a
deaconess. Margaret Kippenberger followed Margaret Jeffreys for a three year term.
Then Sister Edith Beer also served for three years. Both were competent and devoted
young women, who left a mark particularly on the youth of the church. From 1943
onward the congregation had to do without a deaconess, which was unfortunate in
view of the heavy load on the minister. Audrey Rogers (now Mrs E. D. Grounds) did a
splendid job among the young people while the men were away.
Sister Edith Beer
Sister Margaret Kippenburger (later Mrs C. Denham)
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The Ellisons retired and Mr Atkinson succeeded to the caretaker’s flat. It says
something for the Trustees and the congregation on the one hand, and their servants on
the other, that there have been only six caretakers in 100 years. Atkinson was an old
naval man. He knew how to handle the exuberant youth about the place.
During this period Len Rhodes and Harry Halstead were Circuit Stewards, then A. E.
Freeman and S. E. Chappell. Shackelford was Trust Secretary, and Stanton Trust
Treasurer. In 1941 Shackelford celebrated sixty years as a Local Preacher.
Candidates for the Ministry nominated from Pitt Street under Mr Olds included W. J.
Morrison and E. D. Grounds, A. H. Hall and David Besant.
The central church was still attached to a considerable Circuit. In 1934 the Trust
guaranteed the instalments on a house purchased at Roskill to enable the area to
employ a married minister. It should be said that the Pitt Street collections have
subsidised all the pastorates within the circuit except Dominion Road, at one time or
another. This was well-meant and in some cases quite essential; but it may fairly be
argued also that it was not good for a congregation to have a fairy godmother at hand.
In was a good thing when the Auckland South Circuit was formed in 1951, to include
the area from Dominion Road southwards. In the meantime the parent circuit had
acquired a house in Schofield Street and another in Point Chevalier, to house the
assistant minister, and had sunk over £2000 in a venture at the Point. A year later a
Congregational Church property at Western Springs was taken over for a debt of
£1125.
Demands on the shops fund were very heavy. The church fabric was ageing, so that
from time to time costly repairs were inevitable. The shops themselves needed upkeep
and occasional modernisation, so the rents were by no means all profit. One senses
that at times the Treasurer's control was not as tough as it might have been. The deficit
mounted to £30,000, with no reserves for depreciation. Finally the Trustees took
alarm. They refused to make further grants till the debt was wiped off. This decision
hit the District hard at a time just after the war when money was badly needed for
extension, but one cannot doubt that it was wise. Further, in view of the somewhat
sporadic nature of the gifts made in the past, one feels that it would be wise of the
Trustees, when they are again in a position to distribute largess, to place any sums
they can spare in the hands of the Synod Standing Committee, or the Home Mission
Board, for equitable distribution. There is not much point in discussing the matter at
the moment, since the Shops Trust is faced with a huge rebuilding problem, and will
have nothing to spare for years to come.
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CHAPTER X
The City Church Today
There was only one "Tom" Olds. Fortunately there was no attempt to find a successor
who might repeat his type of ministry. It would almost certainly have resulted in
disappointment. Wisely, the church sought a change in pattern. The next
superintendent minister, Robert Thornley, was an old boy of Pitt Street. He attended
the church during his student days, belonged to W.Y.M.I. and was received into
membership under the ministry of the Rev. William Walker, to whom he owes very
much. Mrs Thornley also spent her student days in connection with the same
congregation. She is a gifted teacher of mathematics, and interested in many good
causes. Mr and Mrs Thornley had spent a period attached to one of the London
Methodist Missions, and absorbed the ethos of the church overseas at a time when
N.Z. Methodism was still rather isolated in its thinking. This gifted young couple
guided the old church in what was to prove a decisive change of direction. Within a
short time the floating elements in the congregation were declining, but the more
permanent section was consolidating. The emphasis shifted again from the transients
(who are always present in a city church) to the family. It was possible because the
average citizen now possessed a motorcar. In Mr Walker's or Mr Knight's time,
attendance at the city church depended very much on the 1/6 family ticket issued on
the tramways, except for people living within walking distance. It was now possible
for families as far apart as Hillsborough, Avondale or Glendowie to worship regularly
at the central church.
Rev. R. Thornley, under whose ministry the congregation acquired a new look.
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Hence it was that while for a generation past success at Pitt Street had been measured
by the size of the evening congregation, the morning congregation now built up well,
while the evening tended to fall off. The central church now shows much the same
pattern as the suburban one. The morning congregation is strong and remarkably
stable, while the evening is smaller and rather fickle. Of course Pitt Street still has a
large responsibility among students, visitors and the unattached, who tend to drift in
and out on Sunday evenings.
Mr Thornley's ministry exemplified the return to churchmanship and the ideals of
worship stimulated by the ecumenical movement. The "long prayer" beloved of our
fathers (or did they merely tolerate it?) disappeared. It was replaced by carefully
prepared intercessions in which the congregation was fully involved. The appeal of the
church at this stage was not so wide, but it was certainly deeper. With Arthur Reid at
the organ, the choir contributed to the change. Its work was of a very high standard.
After considerable discussion the choir ordered gowns. Not everybody approved at the
time, but there would be no going back. Going into uniform helped the members to
realise that they were not performers but ministers of worship, dedicated to that end.
The gowns did not arrive from England till early in Mr Clement's time.
Mr Thornley's mild and conciliatory approach concealed a firm will and very strong
convictions. It may be said that during his eight years at Pitt Street the old church was
modernised in temper.
There was one serious disappointment. After the First World War, the W.Y.M.I. had
recovered itself rapidly so as to play an important part in the missionary drive of the
church. It attracted and held a large number of youths who would otherwise have
drifted away from Christian influence altogether. In this work men such as W. Elliott
and G. C. Riddell had outstanding success. But it proved much more difficult to make
the same impact on older youths in the 1950's. A promising beginning came to
nothing, and that for the time being was that. However, the junior section still
flourished while Bible Class life continued to attract and hold young people of church
families, both boys and girls. The women's work was well organised and effective.
During most of Mr Thornley's reign Sister Joyce Gribble was deaconess. She was
most effective and very popular. In harmony with the development of the family
church, the Sunday School began to meet in the morning instead of the afternoon.
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Sister Joyce Gribble
At about this time Pacific Island people began arriving in Auckland in significant
numbers. Some were students on temporary permits, others, notably those from
Samoa and the Cook Islands, had come to stay. Most of the Polynesians belonged to
the London Missionary Society, but a section came from the Methodist part of Samoa,
and others with temporary permits were from Fiji and Tonga, which are Methodist
strongholds. A few came from further afield. From the beginning many of these very
loyal Christian folk made their home in Pitt Street, where they were warmly
welcomed. The church never ceased to cherish these people, and has helped them in
many ways. In return they have given an admirable loyalty to the congregation. The
children of those who have settled permanently in New Zealand are growing up fully
integrated into our society. In the aggregate the non-European elements in the
congregation amount to something like 25 per cent of the total. They are represented
in office and take a full and satisfying part.
It may be remembered that at the end of Mr Olds' ministry Auckland West had been
drawn into the Pitt Street Circuit with a view to working out more satisfactory
boundaries. The following year, the year of Mr Thornley's arrival, the old Auckland
(Pitt Street) Circuit was divided into three sections:
AUCKLAND CENTRAL, comprising Pitt Street, Kingsland, Eden Terrace,
Great North Road, Point Chevalier, St. Jude's (Richmond Avenue) and Western
Springs churches, with three ministers.
AUCKLAND SOUTH, to consist of Dominion Road, Mount Roskill and
Sandringham churches.
AUCKLAND WEST, to include St. John's and Bayfield.
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For the first time the Central Circuit was completely hemmed in by others, with no
open frontier to exploit. But it had fallen heir to a number of small uneconomic
causes, mostly relics of Methodist Union. Whereas the times were calling for larger
units of work, set further apart, the inner belt of Auckland Methodism was cluttered
with small places which were an embarrassment, particularly when concentrated in
one circuit.
The matter was raised between the Circuit and the District Executive, and two
important steps were taken. The Eden Terrace property was sold, and the members
and assets transferred as a welcome reinforcement to Kingsland. This happy event
should have taken place 30 years earlier. Also after much heart-searching the property
at Great North Road was sold. It was too close to Pitt Street to maintain itself in any
kind of prosperity. The proceeds went chiefly to development work at Rothesay Bay.
These changes made the situation a little more manageable.
The main property development affecting Pitt Street itself at this time was the
acquisition of a new parsonage. The house at Hopetoun Street was conveniently near
the church, and adjacent to the main area within the direct bounds of the pastorate, in
Ponsonby and Grey Lynn. But it was a leasehold site, and the house itself was a
rambling place that had tried the endurance of a generation of ministers' wives. After
an interim period in a property at Point Chevalier originally provided for Mr Riseley, a
house at 130 Grafton Road was leased from the Wesley College Trust Board.
Alterations and adaptations were made, and the property has proved a suitable home
for the Pitt Street minister and his family. The freehold has since been acquired.
In 1954 Mr Thornley was away for some months of study in America. His place was
taken by the Rev H. J. Odell, a Supernumerary. Mr Odell was very much appreciated.
Among those active in the leadership of the church about this time, who have since
died or moved away, we should mention A. E. Freeman, R. S. McDonald, George
Boyce, W. H. Patterson, Mrs Joiner Clarke and Mrs Heighway.
In the late 1940's, since no deaconess was available, the church employed Miss Lynn
Fulton as a full-time Youth Secretary. She was popular and successful. Later she
married Ian Davidson, one of the Trinity College Hostel men. During the latter part of
Mr Thornley's ministry the Collegiate Church in Grafton Road was closed, which
brought the staff and students into closer association with the mother church, to their
mutual advantage. There was a very lively group of young men and women in Bible
Class life at the time. The church shared the Tennis Club with the College. These
young people are scattered far and wide today, as is the way with city churches.
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Taken when Mr. Thornley was President of Conference, 1962.
R. F. Clement, William Walker, Robert Thornley, Tom Olds.
In 1957 the Thornleys moved on to Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington, and
the Rev. F. R. Clement arrived as Superintendent of the Auckland Central Circuit and
minister of Pitt Street Church. Mr Clement is a large man, physically very vigorous,
an old Rugby player and referee, and a successful Chaplain to the Forces. He is
emphatically a man's man. He has good judgment and it is not easy to say no to him.
During the decade during which he has ministered at Pitt Street he has made himself
felt both in the congregation and in the city. More directly evangelistic in temper than
his predecessor, he has tried to forge the congregation into a working unit that will
make a direct impact on the kind of people who live within walking distance, as well
as on Methodism at large. He is a simple direct preacher, a hard-working pastor and an
exceedingly competent organiser and man of business. No one knows where he finds
the energy to carry him through his long days. Only a very strong man could do so
much. Mrs Clement supports him in all things. It must be realised that as the older
men die, and younger ones move to the suburbs, the problem of lay leadership is apt to
become acute in a central church, and this in turn throws more on the minister and his
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wife. If Pitt Street could double or treble the number of its capable and responsible lay
men and women it would prosper wonderfully.
Under Mr Clement's ministry the church has made steady but not spectacular growth.
The congregations are growing especially on the Sunday morning. The membership
remains fairly steady about the 350 mark. This is the tenth year of the pastorate, but no
slackening of interest is evident. The policy has been to build quietly on sound
foundations, and it has justified itself.
It would be fair to say that the work at Pitt Street falls into three sections. First there is
the family church. It is most in evidence on Sunday morning. It is made up of families
from the church's own pastoral area, together with numbers who come from all
quarters of the metropolitan area. A very large proportion come by car. The day
begins with the All-Age Sunday School at 10 a.m. This provides groups for the
Adults, Bible Classes and Sunday School. Morning worship follows at 11. After the
children's address the young ones file out, and a second session of Sunday School is
held, with a quite different programme to the first. About one third of the children
attend both sessions, without any pres-sure! It seems to suit them. The whole set-up is
designed to meet the convenience of various groups. A feature of the congregation is
the week-evening Fellowship meeting. After a poor start this group really got under
way following the Billy Graham Mission in 1959, and it is now one of the most valued
and valuable features in the life of the place. Another is found in the large
Communion services. The days when the Communicants could be accommodated in
alternate rows of pews are long past. The rail is used, as is proper in our tradition.
Another encouraging feature which has a special appeal to Pitt Street is the fact that
the W.Y.M.I. boys are growing up, as boys do, and there is now a group of young
fellows who may repeat the W.Y.M.I. triumphs of the past. They can if they will.
In the second place as is quite inevitable in a downtown church there are a lot of
transients for whom they must cater. Very few Sundays pass without some visitors
turning up. Often they are from overseas, and sometimes they are important and
interesting people. There are students from hostels and flats, working lads and
apprentices, nurses and trainees of one kind and another, and all the casual travelling
public. There are people who are looking for the religious equivalent of "kicks". If you
are young and must have company, the church is one place, and not the worst, to find
it. Every effort is made to cater for such people at the 7 o'clock service.
The congregation hovers between 150 and 200 on Sunday evenings. As Mr Clement
says, one can turn one's back on the morning, without ill effects; but the evening is
another matter. It has to be wooed. From his arrival in Auckland he has included a
brief interlude called "This World of Ours" in which he has tried to relate current
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events to the Gospel. It is hard slogging, but it has its moments. More recently the
minister has tried to secure well-qualified visiting speakers to say something
authoritative about contemporary issues. A recent innovation is "Soap-Box Sunday"
when from time to time at the evening service the minister comes down from the
pulpit to stand immediately before the people (his 15 stone requires a stout soap box)
to answer questions. The questions are handed in during the service and sorted into
groups by a secretary, but the minister knows nothing of their contents in advance. It
is an open-air meeting with the roof on, only just a little more decorous, of course.
Some of the questions might be predicted. "How do I join the Church? What are the
qualifications?" "Why send missionaries overseas? Have we not enough work among
our own people? Think of the money saved." "Is it in the public interest to allow
property to go on increasing in value as it is in this city?" But what do you make of
this one! "Death, we believe, should be left to God. We do not leave birth to God. We
space births, arrange births, prevent births. Should men learn to become lord of death
as well as master of birth? What do we think of euthanasia?" Few of us would wish to
answer that without notice. In such cases the minister will undertake to discuss the
topic as best he can on a date to be advertised.
The third area in which the church works is among those in trouble of one kind or
another. This work makes no immediate impression on the size of the congregation,
and is often quite overlooked by the public; but it is the most directly Christian of all.
There are people in trouble always. "If a Samoan comes to the parsonage door, and
says, 'Clement, you are my father.' He means that he is in very bad trouble, and wants
me to help him." It is still true of many Europeans also that they will turn to the
church when they are in difficulty. They turn to the man whose name they heard on
the radio or the man at the church where they were married, dredging up some old
denominational affiliation. This explains why city ministers take on extras like radio
work, or the chairmanship of committees that bring their name before the public. They
must be known, not because they want to be, but because it is a condition of their
usefulness. "I must be one of the best-known parsons in the city" says Clement. It is
part of the job. So he undertook the very heavy responsibility of chairing the Billy
Graham Crusade Committee both for Auckland and for New Zealand. So he
broadcasted for the Friendly Road, and has served lately as chairman of the continuing
committee. So he keeps a teaching contact with the Bible Training Institute in
Henderson. The doors must be open wide.
This sort of work, with failures and sinners and alcoholics and all sorts and conditions
of men, is time-consuming and utterly wearing. It brings no public credit and no
kudos. But:
It is the way the Master went
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Should not the servant tread it still.
It is possible partly because the church provides a competent secretary (Mrs Packham)
and very largely because Sister Beverley Taylor carries so much of the load. Sister
Joyce Gribble was over-seas during most of 1957, and was then transferred. Her place
was taken by Sister Beverley, who has grown into the position, so that we can hardly
imagine it without her. She is cheerful, busy and practical. In the nature of the case,
many of the parishioners in a place like Pitt Street must be elderly women. At the
other end of the scale she looks after the girls, having the largest Girls' Brigade in the
city.
Sister Beverley Taylor
Of recent years the Circuit has sent forward a number of candidates for the ministry,
including G. E. Scarr, I. H. Robertson, B. K. Rowe, R. G. Collingwood and D. R.
Curtis. In addition it has inspired and sent out lay workers in a number of fields,
including Joyce Rosser (now Mrs Dey) who gave invaluable service in the New
Guinea Highlands.
There has been very little change in the circuit situation during Mr Clement's ministry;
but there have been most important property developments. In the first place the floor
of the Bicentenary Hall, which had been built for cinema watching, was levelled to
serve for dancing and as an ordinary hall. This made it available for use nearly every
night.
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In Thornley's time the Trustees had consulted architects and tortured their own brains
in the effort to modernise the interior of the church. The galleries blocked the
windows and cluttered the place. But it is never easy to reconstruct the interior of an
old building which was erected with a different idea in mind.
Mr Clement approached the matter from a rather different angle, with a bolder
financial grasp. Finally Mr Milton Annabel, a young architect who was connected
with the congregation, came forwarded with the suggestion which was adopted. A
new vestibule was built in front of the church. The old narrow vestibule was taken into
the nave of the church. The side galleries were taken away. The organ was rebuilt and
enclosed behind a grille, and the central pulpit was lowered, with a well-proportioned
Holy Table and a generous Communion Rail beneath. The choir and organ console
were placed at the side. These alterations were carried out at the end of 1962, and the
newly furbished sanctuary opened for worship in the New Year.
Doubtless everybody would have some criticism in detail, but the overall effect is very
fine indeed. The commodious vestibule is a meeting place for the people. The seating
of the church is hardly reduced at all, since there is additional space at the rear of the
nave to compensate for the loss of the side galleries. The general effect is of height
and space and light. The rebuilding of the organ cost £6000, the alterations and
addition of the vestibule £25,000. Some money was in hand. The balance was
borrowed from the Auckland Savings Bank. The congregation did not call on the
Shops Trust, but accepted the debt as rightly their own. They are paying it off from
Sunday offerings and gifts and legacies. The total liability at date is about £16,000,
which is being reduced steadily. The Winstone family gave £1000 towards the
scheme, and in appreciation the Trustees named the vestibule for George Winstone
Senr. It is interesting to note that of late the church has been receiving legacies. For a
long time it never occurred to anybody apparently that wealthy Pitt Street could need
money. But of course the buildings are so old that they are extremely costly to
maintain.
One result of the opening up of the church is that two memorial windows have been
presented. The Misses Buttle gave the large window on the south side, at the pulpit
end of the church, in memory of their parents, George Alfred and Ellen Buttle. It is
modern in treatment and very impressive. The rose window over the organ was
presented by Miss Buttle and Mr Keith Buttle in memory of their parents, William
Dawson and Louisa Buttle. Also in 1961 the Misses Buttle, grand-daughters of Rev
George Buttle, the first resident Wesleyan minister in Auckland, made over the family
home in Beckham Place to the Trinity College Council. The gift is especially
significant since their father was for a long time the Treasurer of the Theological
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College Committee and a member of the Probert Trust, as well as maintaining almost
a lifelong connection with Pitt Street Church.
Present Church exterior, showing the new vestibule opened in 1963.
Another improvement is the provision of a residence for the caretaker, on the site of
the old garage. This has been cleverly contrived, and it is financed from the rent of the
old flat, which was most unsuitable for residential purposes by modern standards.
In preparation for the centenary the Trustees have done a certain amount of
renovation. The old Sunday School hall in the basement has a new floor. Other things
will have to wait their turn, but the programme includes glazing of windows on the
north side of the church, sealing of the outside of the church to keep water out,
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complete painting of the property, including renovation of the parlour. If you
contemplate leaving the church some money, do not be afraid that it will lie idle.
For some years after Mr Atkinson's resignation Mrs Wood was the caretaker. She was
most assiduous in attention to her duties, but the job really required a man on the spot
in that neighbourhood. Finally Mr Len Parker was prevailed upon to accept the
position. He does his work with a sense of vocation. The church has never had a more
devoted caretaker. He can handle a truculent customer off the street who wanted to
smash something, and he can speak the Gospel to a soul in need.
In 1964 Arthur Reid resigned from the organ. He felt it was time to make a change,
after twenty years. He and the family were missed very much. Under him the choir
reached a peak of proficiency recognised in the city. He was succeeded by Ronald
Dellow, who as a great-grandson of the Rev Thomas Buddle may be trusted to serve it
faithfully, as well as with musical distinction.
The church is a major centre both for Methodist and also for ecumenical work in the
city. The church has been host to the Australasian General Conference, to upwards of
20 N.Z. Conferences, and to 100 Annual Synods. As the historic and representative
centre for Methodism in this part of the world, it is called on to receive distinguished
visitors from time to time. Now it is the Governor-General, now perhaps the
President-General of the Methodist Church of Australasia, or some distinguished
theologian from abroad, or a Cato lecturer, it may be Gordon Rupp or Eric Baker, or
Maldwyn Edwards. Some of us will never forget the intensely moving Memorial
Service for Queen Salote of Tonga, who attended Pitt Street regularly when in the
city. The renovated church is a much more worthy setting for such occasions.
But apart from special occasions, the premises are put to connexional and ecumenical
use every day of the week. The church has four halls that will each seat upwards of a
hundred people, plus a gymnasium, with at least two large committee rooms and
numbers of small ones; yet it is necessary to book a room if one wishes to be sure of
accommodation. There is always something doing. All kinds of organisations meet
there, and they are welcome. The church is glad and proud to provide this service,
both to fellow Methodists and to Christian groups of an ecumenical character, such as
the National Council of Churches.
If one of the stalwarts of the Victorian era could revisit us, no doubt he would be
surprised at many things, and some he could not approve. But on the whole I think he
would be well pleased. There is no sign of death or defeat. The people are cheerful
and forward-looking. While the building is old and expensive to maintain, and the
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
work certainly doesn't grow any easier, yet the congregation is alive, a part of the
Body. It renews itself with every generation, and in a significant sense, with every
Eucharist. "Because I live, ye shall live also," said the Master. We do not find that
hard to believe.
THESE FOLK HAVE BELONGED TO PITT STREET FOR THE PAST 35 YEARS.
Front row: Mrs Firth, Mrs Simpson, Miss Buttic, Mr Rosscr, Mrs Rosscr, Mrs B. M. Woods, Mrs
M. A. Darbyshirc, Mrs Hertzog.
Back row: Mr Firth, Miss J. Ovenden, Mrs Bellerby, Miss G. Tonkin, Mrs H. Nairn, Mr H. Ward,
Mrs C. Caddy, Mrs W. H. Elliott, Mrs A. D. Martin. Mr W. H. Elliott.
The interior of the Church in 1966.
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
APPENDICES
MINISTERS OF THE CHURCH
1866 J. Buller
1870 C. W. Rigg
1873 A. Reid
1876 W. Kirk
1879 W. Morley
1882 A. Reid
1885 H. Bull
1888 E. Best
1891 J. Berry
1893 S. F. Prior
1896 H. Bull
1897 W. J. Williams
1901 C. H. Garland
1906 J. A. Luxford
1909 W. Ready
1914 C. H. Laws. B.A.
1920 P. N. Knight. B.A.
1926 L. B. Dalby
1929 W. Walker
1935 E. T. Olds
1950 R. Thornley, M.A.
1957 R. F. Clement, M.A.
Assistants:
1934 G. Goodman
1947 B. H. Riseley
1948 B. H. Riseley
Sister Howard
Sister Moore
Sister Douglas
Sister Winifred Beaumont
Sister Margaret Jeffreys
Sister Margaret Kippenberger
Sister Edith Beer
Sister Joyce Gribble
Sister Beverley Taylor
Deaconesses:
Sunday School Superintendents:
1860 Mr Edgecumbe
1864 W. Arthur
1865 Richard Arthur
J. R. Randerson
Richard Arthur
1883 T. Buddle
1887 G. Winstone
1910 S. J. Ambury
1911 G. Winstone
1913 H. Chapman
1915 H. P. Mourant
1917 H. Chapman
1926 Miss Winstone
1927 G. C. Riddell
1928 K. J. Rosser
1939 J. Knowles
1946 W. Elliott
1956 A. D. Martin
1965 J. F. Thompson
Superintendents of the morning
school included J. W. Shackleford, Sister Moore,
T. B. Arthur, J. McElwain, H. Scott, A. D. Whitehead.
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
Circuit Stewards:
(The rule that stewards should be
changed every two years was
strictly adhered to in the early
days.)
W. Hughes
H. White
J. Williamson
W. Phillipps
C. J. Stone
T. Somerville
H. Smith
F. Prime
W. Griffith
J. Heron
J. Fletcher
W. Rowe
R. Hobbs
Mr Coupland
J. L. Wilson
R. Arthur
Mr Welsman
T. Buddle
T. McMaster
F. A. White
W. Thorne
J. Buttle
J. Gittos
S. J. Ambury
G. A. Buttle
G. Winstone
T. Allen
J. W. Shackelford
W. Gunson
T. Hodgson
T. H. Chapman
T.W.Jones
J. Maginness
H. Field
G. Blakey
L. E. Rhodes
H. Halstead
S. E. Chappell
A. E. Freeman
G. H. Parkes
J. M. Barker
Trust Secretary:
John Fletcher
T. Buddle
J. Edson
J. Buttle
J. W. Shackelford
W. D. Buttle
T. H. Chapman
J. W. Shackelford
G. Boyce
K. J. Rosser
Trust Treasurer:
F. L. Prime
J. Edson
T. W. Jones
H. S. Crowe
G. Winstone
H. Halstead
J. Stanton
H. Halstead
G. C. Riddell
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
CHURCH TRUSTEES, 1966
Front row: G. H. Parkcs, L. C. Cox, G. C. Riddell, Rev. R. F. Clement, K. J. Rosser. I. Barnes, W. C.
H. Elliott.
Standing: A. I). Martin, W. Main, M. G. H. Van de Geer, J. Sefuiva, W. M. Alexander, R. A.
Barfoote, A. D. Spence, R. H. Elliott, S. L. Rogers, R. H. Firth, R. J. F. Reid.
Organists:
Wharton Thompson
Prof. Lambert
Mr Forbes
Harold Light
E. H. Nicholas
Edgar Randal
Mr Webster
Prof. Bikerton
Prof Moor Karoly
Albert Bryant
Arthur Reid
Ronald Dellow
Chapel Keepers
Mr Wilkinson
H. Scott & Mrs Scott
W. T. Ellison
J. Atkinson
Mrs Wood
Len Parker
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
PITT STREET OFFICIALS: As at 16th August, 1966.
Minister: Rev. R. F. Clement, M.A.
Deaconess: Sister B. Taylor.
Organist: Mr R. G. Dellow, Mus.B., F.R.C.O. (Ch.M.)
Caretaker: Mr L. P. Parker.
Trust: Messrs W. M. Alexander, R. A. Barfoote, A.R.N.Z., A.C.A.L, J. Barnes, L. C.
Cox, R. H. Elliott, W. H. Elliott, R. H. Firth, C. J. MacGregor, W. Main, A. D.
Martin, G. H. Parkes, R. J. F. Reid, G. C. Riddell, J.P., F. L. Rogers, K. J.
Rosser, J. E. Sefuiva, A. D. Spence, M. G. H. van de Geer.
Leaders' Meeting: Misses J. Couper, I. M. Freeman, A. M. Graves, A. Johnson, R. E.
M. Macdonald, C. Mills, M. L. Neller, K. Noble, Mesdames W. H. Elliott, R. H.
Firth, R. B. Fraser, H. E. Gaulton, M.A., Dip.Ed., W. Main, G. H. Parkes, K. J.
Rosser, A. Tupai, B. M. Woods, Messrs W. M. Alexander, R. A Barfoote,
A.R.N.Z., A.C.A.L, J. Barnes, J. Blakelock, W. Chapman, L. C. Cox, D. R.
Curtis, W. Elia, W. H. Elliott, P. Fenwick, R. H. Firth, R. B. Fraser, H. E.
Gaulton. M.A., G. Harris, B. J. Jarvis, C. J. MacGregor, W. Main, A. D. Martin,
N. Packham, L. P. Parker. G. H. Parkes, G. C. Riddell, J.P., L. V. Riesterer, K. J.
Rosser, J. W. Schaumkel. J. Scott, R. M. Scott, J. E. Sefuiva, A. D. Spence, E. V.
Stuart, L. Swain, J. S. Thompson, F. Tugia, A. Tupai, M. G. H. van de Geer, N.
J. Wareing.
Lay Preachers: Mrs R. F. Clement, Sister B. Taylor, Messrs A. Baker, A. Beer, W.
Chapman. D. R. Curtis, N. Packham, L. P. Parker, H. S. Ratcliffe, L. V.
Riesterer, J. E. Sefuiva. Samoan Lay Preachers: Messrs F. Auvaa, J. Sefuiva, F.
Tugia.
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
YOUTH LEADERS:
Youth Leaders 1966
Bible Class Leaders: Misses J. Harris, A. Johnson, Messrs A. Baker, D. R. Curtis, L.
V. Riesterer, R. D. Tozer, M. G. H. van de Geer. Secretary: Mr R. H. Elliott.
Treasurer: Mr D. B. Clement.
Sunday School Staff: Superintendent: Mr J. S. Thompson; Misses A. Baird, L. P.
Barry, K. J. Goddard, C. E. Mills, C. Smith, Mesdames F. Auvaa, D. R. dark, B.
J. Jarvis, Messrs J. G. Adams, C. Anderson, D. R. dark, C. Hay, B. J. Jarvis, R.
Tweed.
C.Y.M.M. Council: President: Mr J. R. Clement. Secretary: Miss C. E. Mills, Sister B.
Taylor. Misses J. M. Clement, C. Herk, B. Nairn, G. A. Neller, M. L. Neller, A.
Reid, J. Walker, Mrs M. G. H. van de Geer, Messrs G. Dellow, R. H. Elliott, D.
R. Kelly, M. G. H. van de Geer.
Local Education Council: Chairman: Sister B. Taylor. Secretary: Miss M. L. Neller.
Misses A. Baird, L. P. Barry, J. Couper, K. J. Goddard, A. M. Graves, J. Harris,
A. Johnson, R. E. M. Macdonald, C. Mills, G. A. Neller, C. Smith, F. Tuia,
Mesdames F. Auvaa. D. R. dark, B. J. Jarvis; Messrs J. Adams, C. Anderson, A.
Baker, D. R. dark, D. B. Clement, J. R. Clement, D. R. Curtis, R. H. Elliott, P.
Fenwick, C. Hay. B. J. Jarvis, D. R. Kelly, L. P. Parker, L. Riesterer, J. S.
Thompson, R. D. Tozer, A. Tupu, R. Tweed, M. G. H. van de Geer.
W.Y.M.I. Boys' Club: President: Rev. R. F. Clement, M.A. Vice-Presidents: Messrs
W. H. Elliott. G. C. Riddell. J.P. General Secretary: Mr L. P. Parker. Leaders:
Messrs D. B. Clement, R. H. Elliott, B. J. Jarvis. D. R. Kelly.
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
Girls' Brigade: Captain: Sister B. Taylor; Junior Leaders: Misses G. A. Neller, M. L.
Neller.
Samoan Youth Club: President: Mr A. Tupu. Secretary: Miss F. Tuia.
Sky-Hi Youth Club: President: Mr D. R. Kelly. Secretary: Mr D. B. Clement.
Committee: Misses C. Herk, L. Main, B. Parker; Messrs R. H. Elliott, P.
Lockhead.
Methodist Women's Fellowship: President: Mrs R. F. Clement; Secretary: Miss A. M.
Graves; Treasurer: Miss M. Garland.
EXECUTIVE OF PITT STREET FELLOWSHIP; METHODIST WOMEN'S FELLOWSHIP
Front Row: Mesdarnes H E. Gaulton, M.A., Dip.Ed., R. J. F. Reid, W. H. Elliott, R. F. Clement
(President), Miss A. M. Graves, Mrs J. Scott
Middle Row: Mesdames R. B. Eraser, W. Main, Misses R. E. M. Macdonald, I. M. Freeman
Mesdames H. O. Haigh, K. J. Rosser.
Back Row: Sister B. Taylor, Mesdames A. Tupai, E. Curtis, R. H. Firth.
Day Group: Chairman: Mrs R. J. F. Reid; Secretary: Mrs H. O. Haigh; Treasurer:
Mrs R. H. Firth.
Evening Group: Chairman: Mrs J. Scott; Secretary: Mrs A. Tupai; Treasurer: Miss
M. Garland.
Sunshine Club: Leader: Sister B. Taylor; Assistant-Leader: Mrs E. Brown.
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
Methodist Men's Fellowship: President: Mr L. P. Parker; Vice-President: Mr P.
Fenwick; Secretary: Mr G. Harris; Treasurer: Mr R. J. F. Reid.
W.Y.M.I. Cricket Club: Captain: Mr A. Tupu.
Indoor Bowls Club: President: Mr K. J. Rosser; Secretary-Treasurer: Mr C. J.
MacGregor.
Badminton Club: Captain: Mr E. George; Secretary-Treasurer: Mrs A. Tupai.
Choir: Organist: Mr R. G. Dellow, Mus.B., F.R.C.O. (Ch.M.) Assistant Organist: Mrs
M. G. H. van de Geer. Secretary: Miss K. Noble; Committee: Misses G. A.
Neller, K. Noble, Mrs M. G. H. van de Geer; Messrs J. R. Clement, R. G.
Dellow, M. Greer.
The Choir 1966
Cradle Roll: Secretaries: Misses A. M. Graves, R. E. M. Macdonald.
Creche: Leaders: Misses J. Couper, I. M. Freeman.
"New Zealand Methodist": Organiser: Mrs E. Curtis.
"Open Door": Organiser: Mrs W. H. Elliott.
Office Secretary: Mrs N. Packham.
Society Stewards: Senior Steward: Mr R. B. Fraser. Messrs W. M. Alexander, J.
Blakelock. W. H. Elliott, R. H. Firth, H. E. Gaulton, M.A., G. Harris, B. J.
Parvis, W. Main, J. W. Schaumkel, J. Scott, R. M. Scott, J. E. Sefuiva, A. D.
Spence, L. Swain, F. Tugia, A. Tupai, N. J. Wareing.
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100 Years in Pitt Street by E. W. Hames
The “Society Stewards” who usher you to a seat and take the offering, 1966
Associate Society Stewards: Messrs J. G. Adams. N. S. Alexander, B. C. Bain, D. R.
Clark, J. R. Clement, D. B. Clement, W. Elia, R. H. Elliott, L. Kamu, D. R.
Kelly, P. Kelly. N. R. Lobb, E. A. Lovatt, V. Matamua, N. Packham, D. P.
Parker, F. Puletoese. M. R. Reeves, R. J. F. Reid, T. Tanielu, A. Tapu, H. Unasa,
P. Vincent. J. E. Wilson.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author is grateful for the help of a number of people, without which this volume
could not have been written or produced. They are too many to thank individually in
print. The end paper picture is reproduced by courtesy of the Auckland Public
Library.
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