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Some Yesterdays of Motueka Methodism by C.B.Jordan Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication # 10(2) Page 1 Some Yesterdays of Motueka Methodism by C.B.Jordan THE AUTHOR'S FOREWORD. When asked by the Motueka Methodist Trustees to write a brochure to commemorate their 110th Anniversary, I consented for several reasons: (1) Being both a native of Motueka and one of its past ministers, I recognised the reasonableness of the request. (2) I am conscious of no "thorn in the flesh" militating against my penmanship comparable to that which militates against my effective speaking. (3) I wanted to help my friend the Rev. Hubert Brown, who as District Chairman in addition to being the Motueka minister, had his hands more than full. (4) I have still many good friends among Motueka Methodists, from whom I have never received anything but kind treatment. (5) In sending forth this brochure, I am hoping to serve Christ's Kingdom no less than His Church. In writing the brochure I hereby acknowledge with gratitude my indebtedness to the following, whom I name here in alphabetical order without comment. They reside at Motueka unless otherwise stated:- Mr and Mrs G. Allcott, Mrs Bruce and Miss Shirley Bruce (all of Stoke), the Rev. H. G. Brown, the Rev. H. L. Fiebig, B.A. (Christchurch), Mr Hollis Hill (Brightwater), Mrs M. Hulbert, Miss F. S. Jordan, the Rev. R. P. and Mrs Keall (Lower Hutt), the Rev. J. D. McArthur (Blenheim), Mr M. H. McGlashen (Mayor of Richmond), Miss Doris Parker, Mr and Mrs W. Quayle, the Rev. C. M. Roberts (New Plymouth), Mr Warren Stevens, Mrs J. Thorne (nee Alexander, Palmerston N.), and Mr and Mrs E. S. Wratt. Although baptized, brought up, and confirmed in the Church of England, I knew as a boy some of the former Methodist pastors in Motueka, particularly those with whose sons I attended school. C. B. JORDAN. Stoke, January 1, 1952. Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication # 10(2) Page 2 Some Yesterdays of Motueka Methodism by C.B.Jordan The Present Church (opened 1921) YESTERDAYS OF MOTUEKA METHODISM CHAPTER I THE GENESIS OF METHODISM We mean by this the beginning of Methodism in Motueka. The late Rev. William Morley, D.D. ("History of Methodism in New Zealand," Page 382) writes: "Motueka circuit has a history which goes back to the early Mission period." The great missionary name connected with both Marlborough and Nelson Methodism is that of the Rev. Samuel Ironside, who is second to none among N.Z. pioneer missionaries. His headquarters were at Cloudy Bay. The date of Mr Ironside's first visit to Motueka is unknown but on May 8, 1842 he baptised ten Maoris there. This was before his first visit to Nelson, which occurred in June, 1842. His voyage to Motueka and Nelson was in a whale boat, manned by a Maori crew. Mr Ironside had native teachers who travelled about, and it is likely enough that they had previously been to Motueka, and having instructed these Maori catechumens, had prepared them for baptism. Mr Ironside made another visit to Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication # 10(2) Page 3 Some Yesterdays of Motueka Methodism by C.B.Jordan Motueka on September 25, 1842, when he baptised 46 Maoris and married ten couples. On January 15, 1843 he baptised six individuals and married two couples. Rev Samuel Ironsides A NOTED MAORI LADY Doubtless some pakeha residents of Motueka will still remember Mrs Rei, who slipped away into paradise some time during the author's boyhood. Mrs Rei attended with almost unfailing regularity at St. Thomas's church on Sunday mornings, her home being only one mile away. Her own native Anglican church was close by her home But what so greatly interests us as Methodists is the gift of a Prayer Book to Mrs Rei in 1842 by the Rev. Samuel Ironside, apparently either on his first or second visit to Motueka. This beautiful little incident so aptly indicates the type of man Mr Ironside was. He was always more zealous to secure converts to Christianity than converts to Methodism in particular. THE REV. JOHN ALDRED The Rev. John Aldred came to Nelson as resident minister early in 1843, and paid regular visits to Motueka. According to Dr Morley, on his first visit he paid a settler £1 to act as guide, but would have lost his way on his return journey but for the sagacity of his horse and dog. Twenty Maoris were baptised into the Christian faith on Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication # 10(2) Page 4 Some Yesterdays of Motueka Methodism by C.B.Jordan that occasion. One of these twenty was a Maori, well known in after years, named I Haka. This last bit of information, also that concerning Mr Ironside's gift to Mrs Rei, the author learned from Mr Warren Stevens (Warena Tiwini), an old schoolfellow. REMOVAL TO WELLINGTON After the Wairau tragedy of June 17, 1843, Mr Ironside removed to Wellington and appointed a catechist, Mr William Jenkins, to overlook the Maori work. Later on Mr Jenkins was appointed, under Mr Aldred, resident catechist at Motueka. Mr Ironside records that the natives, prior to 1843, had built a church at Motueka. CHAPEL WINDOWS Among Mr Aldred's papers, Dr Morley tells us, was an account marked "Windows for Moutawaka Chapel, £5/2/-." I understand from my friend, Mr Stevens, that the correct spelling is "Motuweka," but the point is that it furnishes fresh evidence that steps were taken at an early date to build a chapel in Motueka. This was in due course finished, but gales seem to have damaged the structure, and when the Maoris removed from the pah, they took away the chapel and paid in potatoes the amount still owing on it. The pah covered approximately the area where there lived up to a comparatively short time ago the Gray family, at the corner of two roads known today as Pah and Gray Streets. The Pah was called Te Taone (The Town). PORT UNDERWOOD During the year 1910, when the author himself was stationed in Motueka, he was given an item of information about another old chapel, the successor of the first one to which reference was made above. This was erected in 1849. At all events, that is the date entered (once only) in an old Circuit Schedule Book. In 1910 I was verbally informed by my own mother that this same 1849 church was brought over from Port Underwood to Motueka. My informant had been in intimate touch with Motueka Methodists for 40 years before 1910. Recently I asked my old schoolmate, Warena Tiwini, what he thought about that tradition. He replied that he could not say for sure, but what he knew was quite consistent with the above supposition. Many early Motueka Maoris, he told me, came thither from Port Underwood, including his own father, Rupine Tiwini, whom we children knew as "Mr Reuben." The suggestion must be that when those natives came from Port Underwood to Motueka, they brought the old Port Underwood chapel with them. There must surely be some truth about the Port Underwood tradition; yet the chapel at Port Underwood was 66 feet by 36 feet, much larger than the old chapel the author remembers as still standing in his early boyhood days. However, there had been very close to the old Motueka chapel a schoolroom wherein tea meetings were often held, and in early times it was almost certainly used not only as a Sunday school, but .as a Wesleyan day school. No living person can now tell us the exact size of it, Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication # 10(2) Page 5 Some Yesterdays of Motueka Methodism by C.B.Jordan but by all accounts it was a fairly large building. My friend, Mr Hollis Hill, an historic research student with respect to churches, agrees with the author's theory that the old chapel at Port Underwood must have been brought over to Motueka and re-erected there as a schoolroom. There is no space here for details of the evidence available to support this conclusion, but it is the only possible conclusion that fits the historic facts as I have been able to gather them. May we venture a further suggestion concerning this schoolroom? When Mr Ironside moved from his Cloudy Bay station to Wellington after the Wairau tragedy in 1843, he would not immediately think of getting the Port Underwood chapel removed; but since from that date his mission work in that district was practically at an end, sooner or later he and the Methodist authorities of those days would need to consider what should be done with the above-named chapel. He would have learned by 1849 that a great work among the natives was being done in Motueka. What thought, then, would be more natural to Mr Ironside, who early in the same year had come to Nelson as its circuit minister, than that of getting the same chapel removed to Motueka? It could well have been removed by 1849, and indeed 1849 would be the most likely year for such an event. Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication # 10(2) Page 6 Some Yesterdays of Motueka Methodism by C.B.Jordan CHAPTER II PRIOR TO THE SEVENTIES During the forties the Sunday services at Motueka were conducted by lay preachers from Nelson. One of these for almost certain would be Mr Edward Green, a fervent herald of the mighty evangel, who had conducted in the open air the first Methodist service in Nelson itself.