1 2 Contents Preface The First Generation 1897-1922 In the Beginning The Brick Church From the Records Roll of Honour The Second Generation 1922-1947 The Methodist Centenary Hall From the Records The Sunday School Movement Roll of Honour The Third Generation 1947-1972 The New Circuit The Wars Roll of Honour The Fourth Generation 1972-1997 In a Changed World The Other Dominion Road Churches Roll of Honour On Reflection What Happened to the Churches Is That All? Appendices

3 4 Preface The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden. His dominion is from generation to generation. The Methodists were evangelists; they placed the highest value on preaching. They were prepared to go wherever the people went, preach in sawpits, homes and on the streets, and even in paddocks. If a ‘cause’ did not succeed they would close it down and try elsewhere. If a building was needed it was likely to be plain and simple, a preaching place out of the weather, and a teaching place for day school or Sunday School. When more room was essential they extended - add ons, or basements or another building. As the need changed, as people moved outwards from the centre, the big decisions were taken: for example, close down Sheridan and build bigger at Franklin Rd. The Union left too many small churches and some had to go. Some struggled on for years before closing, or amalgamating, or giving buildings to other causes. If a church survived long enough it was likely to have a jubilee and a small history, usually written by the minister from the stored records and the memories of the old people. Most have a similarity: a few old photographs (the building, the founders, possibly a local scene), some groups (Sunday School, trustees, choir, picnic) and a brief history. Key people got a mention. The list of ministers was set out as a roll of honour. And likewise with key officers. The groups and organisations all got a small mention. The printing varied from passable to poor, and the layout, generally poor by today’s standards, was at about the level of the contemporary newspapers. There was the story of the years with little sense of history and the big changes in thought, education and politics that were all around. They did their best. But it was very hit and miss. High Street, the parent, got nothing; Pitt Street, the offshoot, a jubilee and a centenary. Nothing for the second Roskill, the only Sandringham and Marion Avenue. The Primitives got small booklets on Franklin Rd, Eden Terrace and Dominion Rd. Airedale St (The Mission) picked up the history of the early Primitive period, at times in passing, and generally just the beginnings. There have been many churches both Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist that have gone from memory. Pitt and Edwin, Union, Sheridan St, Newmarket, Great North Road, Morningside— all sank without a trace except for archives. Let’s put that to rights for Dominion Road at least. It has suffered a great decline. It was once the biggest Sunday School, and the most successful at least, one of) and there are many returning at this centenary and many more again who are not returning for whatever reason, including the Didn’t Knows, who have rich and

5 warming memories of their earlier days here. There are childhood memories, adolescent memories that colour the rest of a life, and adult memories. Not only did the church world change, the world itself changed too. All that deserved to be recorded, as it was, and deserves to be recalled, as it now is. The result is not a small and slight book. It has not been tossed off in a few days. It does not depend on the small present congregation, but is for the former congregations. Before existing memory is a hidden and forgotten world. All there in the books: the minutes, the events, the histories, the accounts, the brochures, pamphlets, memoirs, Church newspapers, eulogies, ‘hatched, matched, and despatched’, and the memorabilia. We have a rich archive, desperately in need of more workers to do routine organising tasks but the end result is the gathering and disentangling of a rich and rewarding social and spiritual story. There is something for everyone. It is grave, it is gay, it is intense and it can be very humdrum. Even when the boring bits are dropped, we still need to know that there were boring bits. Most of all there were music and worship. Of course the humorous and social parts stay in our minds, but so does music, and so does worship in a true spirit. The time allotted to do the book was far too short, but unavoidably so. There was no time to search all the records but whatever was delved into produced useable material. And the modern wonders helped: an archive of old records, a desk top with its own computer (and even a mouse), a gifted designer, and basic to it all, a 2B pencil and a computer inputter (or putter iner). Blessings on archivists Verna Mossong and Jill Weeks; designer Derek Olphert (grandson of good old Rev. John); typists Geraldine Riesterer and Lois (Edgewater Design), and thank God for photocopiers and computers that image. Imagine that!

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7 In the Beginning The men and women who held the first Methodist service “westward in Eden” chose to preach and worship under the spreading branches of a large tree. John Wesley had been an open-air preacher, so this group of Primitive Methodists was on familiar ground. It was 1895. A new suburb was just beginning with some houses and roads on the eastern (uphill) side of Mount Roskill Road (Dominion Road). On the western (downhill) sides there wasn’t much at all. It was paddocks from Bellwood Avenue to Epsom-Mount Albert Road (Balmoral Road). St. Alban’s Anglican Church was in place, there was a store opposite the present Methodist Church, and Renfrew’s boiling- down works (for dead animals) was down the paddock where Paice Avenue now runs. There were two gates, one at today’s Brixton Road; one at today’s Burnley Terrace (with a No Trespass notice). The only through roads nearby to Mount Eden Road were Valley and Epsom-Mount Albert. Prospect Terrace was a no-exit, and Grange and Milton under construction. Valley Road had shops; Balmoral a store and blacksmith. The tree of the first service was about where Burnley and Marlborough meet, and near the cottage of Mr and Mrs Hirst. The Hirsts were Kingsland Wesleyan. The name occurs in Gribblehirst Park, land from the two families Gribble and Hirst, father and son-in-law. A Hirst daughter had married the Primitive Methodist, Rev.J Nixon in 1881. The Hirst Cottage came to be used as a Sunday School for the Primitives. The first preachers were Rev. C E Ward and Rev. G H Mann, the Connexional evangelist. At least two of the later leaders of the Church had already moved into the new district, both very experienced men (Taylor and Watkinson) so they may have been the prime movers in planning the service. It is probable that other such services were held in the warmer weather over the next year until a church was built.

Dominion Road and corner of George Street at about 1890 - Auckland Public Library.

8 This centenary is really a year or so late: the first preaching was in 1895, the Sunday School in December 1896, and the first Church building in 1897. It is the building we are commemorating, a church open for public worship. For many decades the Sunday School anniversary in December was a special commemoration of the official opening in December 1896 in the Hirst cottage. It would be easy to believe that the Sunday School success prompted the move to build a church but the dates of decisions show otherwise. The jubilee book believed that, but on December 2 1896 the Quarterly Meeting had already set up a committee to consider erecting a church. The speed is remarkable: Sunday School, decision to buy land, and letting a contract. It was all done in weeks. At that time, before the motor car, the choice was between riding a horse and walking. For the better off there was a twice-daily horse bus with the terminus at Prospect Terrace. Ordinary people did a lot of walking, and walking distance to church was to be desired. The bicycle was still for sport and leisure. The inner city had become mainly commercial and was pushing the housing outwards. The routes south were along the top ridge of Mount Eden Road, and the lower route of Mount Roskill Road. The latter ‘westward in Eden’, the corridor to Mount Roskill, took the name Mount Roskill instead of Eden. The walker from the city Primitive Methodist Church at Alexandra Street (today’s Aotea Chapel and Mission) would go through Newton and Eden Terrace, with Cabbage Tree Swamp (now Eden and Gribblehirst Parks) on the right further along Mount Roskill Road. The Mount Eden district had its first Church service onJuly 29, 1877, in the then recently opened schoolroom at Valley and Mount Eden Roads. The room was used by Anglican, Wesleyan and Free Methodist Churches, the inaugural service a combined one, and a small combined Sunday School developed. The Wesleyans discontinued their meetings; the Anglicans had their own church in 1878, the Free Methodists continued to rent the schoolroom, and the Primitives were working elsewhere. The school moved to the present Valley Road site in 1879 and the Free Methodists bought the old room and site. The Methodist sequence in Mount Eden was Free Methodist, Primitive Methodist, and in 1900 Wesleyan - three of the four branches.

9 The Primitive Methodists The story of the Primitive branch of the Methodist Church has, very unfortunately, been almost forgotten. It deserved better. It began in the northern midlands of England in 1807, not as a break-away, but as an outreach into rural areas unreached by the Wesleyans. A camp meeting at Mow Cop, a prominent local hill, was attended by thousands flocking from afar and being swept up in a religious fervour that was seen by many as a great work of the Holy Spirit. The new group saw itself as more akin to the beginnings of the Wesley movement and reflected that in the name Primitive Methodist. It was strong on spontaneity and demonstrated great fervour, even more so than the Wesleyan ‘enthusiasm’ which conservative Anglicans had deplored.

Nelsonh Gully about 1890 looking toward Newton West showing Pitt and Edwin Street Church, now France and Dacre Streets (centre), and Kings Arms Hotel (existing). Auckland Public Library.

Detail from photograph above. 10

Detail from photograph above. The movement became a church and spread rapidly. The Primitives sent a missionary to New Zealand in 1844, Rev. Robert Ward, who began his church at New Plymouth. In Auckland a few Primitive Methodists knew each other but were not organised. James Harris, a cabinetmaker who had spent some time about 1838 with the Anglican Mission at the Bay of Islands before settling in Auckland, invited Robert Ward to visit Auckland. Ward came, organised a class meeting, and returned to New Plymouth. When a second missionary, Rev. Joseph Long, reached New Plymouth, Ward was able to move up to Auckland. The result was a church group, and a church building in 1851, at the site in Airedale Street. Governor Grey offered a half-acre site as a grant or gift, as an even-handed support of the churches. But he had another reason as he said in a speech years later at that same church. In his earlier governorship at South Australia, he had been visited by a group of earnest men who impressed him. They were the first of the Primitive Methodists in Adelaide and he never forgot them. He was kindly disposed then to Ward and the Auckland Primitives. But Ward was a reluctant recipient. The Primitives were very independent people indeed. They preferred to earn their keep, and pay their own way. From 1851 the Primitives preached the gospel earnestly in Auckland, setting to work in the suburbs as Auckland grew. The circuit split into two, then three. The number of ministers increased. The church was strong on lay preaching, on mission groups and open-air meetings, and from reports and photographs of the time it is clear that the Primitives gave women even greater prominence than the Wesleyans did. Women 11 had an important role in preaching and evangelism (though there were some Primitive men who were adamantly opposed). The Primitives had the nickname of ‘Ranters’, because of their declamatory style of preaching. Newton became an important suburb. It once had three large primary schools, east, central, and west, and a number of churches. It was no accident that the inaugural meeting that resulted in Dominion Road Church took place in Newton, at Pitt and Edwin Street Church. Pitt and Edwin was the outreach from Alexandra Street Church (Airedale Street) and became in turn head of a circuit. It planned the southward move through Roskill (i.e. Eden West) and Morningside. Eden Terrace Mission was transferred to Auckland Circuit, a logical move. How easily history is lost. It has been difficult to track down the site of Pitt and Edwin, and to find a photograph. Yet it once was head of an Auckland Station. Over the years everyone forgot Pitt and Edwin. Pitt became France Street, Edwin became Dacre, and Ian McKinnon Drive runs across it now. Rev. E Hames mentioned it in his centenary history of Pitt Street Church in 1966 but memory slipped a cog and he changed Edwin to Edmund as Pitt and Edmund.

12 Mount Roskill Church The sequence of events and the speed point clearly to the drive and the plan. A Quarterly Meeting of December 2, 1896 instructed a committee of seven to consider the erection of a building. Four members climbed Mount Eden on December 6 and chose the location, in their words for ‘its central position, its elevation, and its adjacence to the main road’. The committee was Messrs Goldie, Taylor, Herbert, Bennett, Moore and Watkinson, with Rev. C E Ward convenor. Watkinson, one of the four to choose, loved to reminisce about it in his old age. The section was bought from MrJ F Hanson. The committee resolved to build a church ‘35ft long by 22ft broad with 14ft stud’. Mr Goldie was ‘to see Messrs Herbert and Penman re sketch plans of the proposed building.’ It was all in the minister’s day’s work for Rev. Ward and two others to agree ‘to visit the ground and take the levels of same for use of Architects on the following Saturday.’ It was also in the day’s work of the Primitives that ‘the meeting closed with Devotional Exercises at 9.30’. The secretary appointed by the meeting had been David Goldie who was mayor of Auckland 1897- 1901. There was already a cause at Eden Terrace, begun in another Station and then transferred to Auckland 1 Station. But it had only temporary buildings using two houses, and in the event its own building, a large one, came a year after the Mount Roskill (Dominion Road) one. Certainly it was no accident that Pitt and Edwin was the parent. It was a strong church directing the move into the new suburb within comfortable walking distance. The First Building A sketch plan by the architects was approved and tenders called. The lowest of nine was accepted but the tenderer was allowed to withdraw as he had made an error in his calculation. The trustees returned Mr Smith’s deposit ‘suggesting to him at the same time that he ought to give a donation to the funds because of our leniency.’ They never missed a trick. The second lowest, of Messrs Sayer and Cook, £157, was accepted. Building began in April. With the dimensions given above, it was to have three windows each side, a porch and a front door facing north (but it was later changed to west). The Jubilee book said it was to be lined and varnished, but the trustees left it unlined to begin with ‘because of price’ and settled for a four-foot dado all round, a rostrum 18 inches (450cm) high at one end, and gas lighting upon the same lines as the Eden Terrace Church. The trustees were F Taylor, R Wheatley, Wm Bennett, J Herbert, W Moor, P B Cleaver, D Goldie, HJ Hawkins, A Trenwith, and T Lidiard. The total cost of the building was £191-14-6 (approximately $383), about the average cost of a house then. The trustees organised a working bee to fence the property. And ever 13 thereafter trustees were constantly attending to fences, noticeboards, paths, painting, lighting and plumbing. Concerning the last, a much later meeting reports on the night- soil collection, part of the common lot in Mount Eden until sometime between the appointment of its first engineer in 1910 and completion of sewerage in 1930. Even then flush toilets were usually outside, not inside, the houses. The church was opened on May 16, 1897. The preachers were Rev. R Wilson, Rev. D Wolfenden, and Rev. C E Ward (morning, afternoon, evening). The collections were £7. On the Tuesday evening a soiree or celebratory social evening was chaired by Mr Hirst, chairman of the Road Board (preBorough) and addressed by Rev’s Sharpe and Wilson, and by Mr Goldie. There was heavy rain, but a full church. Mr Sam Frith arranged the programme, and the ladies provided the supper. Water was boiled over an open fire and washing up was done in a galvanised iron tub. The celebrations continued the following Sunday: Sunday School sessions 10.30 and two services at 3 and 6.45 conducted by Sharpe and Wilson. The Primitive Conference appointed the team of ministers, but any individual church would have to justify having its own minister. It took Mount Roskill some time to get to that stage. One of the circuit ministers in 1898 was Rev. G P Hunt, who fifty years later was a supernumerary on the Dominion Road roll, and able to attend the jubilee celebrations of 1947. The Golden Jubilee booklet records some of the preceding events and details, then jumps ahead to 1913, the year of Union. The years 1897 to 1912, sixteen Primitive Methodist years, were critical in the growth of the church. There are only fragmentary records, as is generally true of the Primitives now in comparison with the rich archives of the Wesleyan Church. But there is one resource few know of. Kinder Library (St. John’s) has a set of The New Zealand Primitive Methodist which includes many quarterly Preaching Plans and reports of services, special events, and social life of local churches. They give an insight into the activity of the Mount Roskill Church. It worked diligently and earnestly at Sunday School, Church services, Church music, missions for local evangelism, and service to the local community. Any hall in a growing community is an important social amenity. The church had to be enlarged - giving more meeting space, and more room for Sunday School.

14 The Union of 1913 The setting for Union cannot be understood without knowing about the various branches of Methodism in New Zealand. When the settlers migrated from England they took their religion with them and planted churches in the new land. The Wesleyans had a mission to the Maoris from 1822, seven years behind the Anglicans, but still eighteen years before the Treaty of Waitangi. The addition of a settler church gave the Wesleyans a great and continuing increase. The Primitive Methodists as detailed earlier had their first missionary at New Plymouth in 1844. Rev. Robert Ward had no church building; a small group of Bible Christians (a branch of Methodism) listened to his sermon and liked it. They had a building (a cottage) but no minister. The two joined forces - as Primitives. Later came the United Methodist Free Church, or ‘Free Methodists’. In Auckland the Wesleyans who, as a Hobson Street Society, built a brick church, planned bigger and built Pitt Street Church, then sold Hobson Street to the Free Methodists in 1866. It continued Free until the first stage of union in 1896, of Bible, Free and, Wesleyan. (The Hobson Street building is still there after years as a Lodge, and now commercial - the second oldest Methodist building remaining in Auckland - and a gem). The Primitives were not persuaded in 1896. They were deeply divided on union. David Goldie, the most prominent layman, remained against, but once the decision was made to unite was steadfastly loyal. Union in 1913 was a highly emotional change. The Primitives argued that they were truer to Wesley and were growing faster than the Wesleyans. They were the ones on the move. The structures of both groups were similar - congregations joined in a Connexion, Circuits (or Stations), Quarterly Meetings, Annual Conference. The two Conferences met independently at Union, at Wellington, then joined in a Union Conference. They did it on both sides with fervour. In Auckland the two groups had Quarterly Meetings separately to wind up their affairs, then adjourned and met immediately as a united inaugural Quarterly Meeting. The Primitives felt they were giving up more, but did so with good grace for the greater good, not their own, but of the Gospel. The Pitt Street Quarterly Meeting April 2, 1913 was an enlarged one of 50 to 60. They hurried through formal business in three quarters of an hour and waited for the arrival of the Primitives. ‘There was a moment of waiting, presently relieved by the sound of voices of men and singing women. A bannerless host, comprising the Quarterly Meetings of the erstwhile Primitive Methodist Circuits of Alexandra Street and Eden Terrace (sic) marched down the Churchyard (sic) flinging on the moonless air the first verse of “Onward, Christian soldiers”... As they tramped up the flight of stairs, the 15 redoubtable Rev. J Cocker in the van, this was their song: “We are not divided, all one body we.” The company in the Parlour was in ecstatic mood ... it joined in the refrain again and again. Such greeting, such effusiveness, such tumult of welcome, such brotherliness, such general and sincere extension of the glad-hand has not been seen since John Wesley died.’ The Union Conference in Wellington had already determined the merger and the stationing: ‘Auckland Central: to include Pitt Street, Alexandra Street, Eden Terrace, Kingsland, Mount Roskill, Pitt and Edwin Street and Morningside Churches: with FOUR Married Ministers and ONE Probationer.’ Eric Hames’s comment about the years following union was that there were too many ‘little Bethels.’ The irony is that they were not little Bethels at the time of union. They were vigorous and growing churches. In the two stages of union (1896 and 1913) there was some rationalisation, as well as increase, of resources of buildings and sites; and a merging of ministers. The latter was simple. To close a church was the painful bit and was resisted. Mount Eden had a Free Church from 1878. Some of the old buildings at Valley Road- Mount Eden Road remain. The church refused union and continued independently until the 1940’s. Then it was transferred to the Baptists. The second Methodist Church for Mount Eden was the Primitive Church at ‘Mount Roskill’, i.e. Dominion Road from 1897. The third, the Wesleyan was at Mount Eden Road, from 1900. At the Union, both Methodist churches of the union, though only a kilometre apart, were to continue. They were both flourishing, there was no need to combine as they were both full, and they represented not only different histories but somewhat different social class and style. The Mount Roskill Church thus was to continue as a union church but at least changed its name - to Dominion Road. New Zealand had been a Dominion from 1907 and the historic change is recorded in the change of name of the road. For a time the church had carried its old name but though the new name for the church was late it was logical and helpful to union. The nearby former Primitive churches had been part of a different circuit and tended to be isolated from social mix with the Mount Roskill church. In the new Auckland Central Circuit the formerly strong Alexandra Street, and Pitt and Edwin declined, and any closeness between Eden Terrace and Morningside on one hand and Dominion Road did not develop. However the prominent leaders knew one another.

16 The Sunday School Hall The major event in the life of Dominion Road Church is the building of the present brick church in 1915. The decision to build bigger and handsomely is directly related to Union, to increased membership by addition of Wesleyans, and to the strategic planning by Rev. W. Ready, the superintendent minister of the new Union circuit, Auckland Central. Rev. Ready raised the idea first in May 1913, with the idea of a brick church. (Nearly all Primitive churches were wooden, even if elaborate, but Wesleyan Pitt Street was in brick). Mr A.H. White was asked not only to design the new brick church, but also to plan the ‘alteration of the present church for a suitable Sunday School’. It was to be ‘under one roof with classrooms underneath.’ The sketch plan was amended to five classrooms on one side instead of four. Mr H.C. Taylor, whose section in Herbert Road adjoined the church property was asked to sell 14 feet to ‘equalise’ the existing Church site. It is easy to miss the significance of the conversion of the first building into a Sunday School and Hall. The Trustees sought advice from ‘the City engineer’ on the best site for the new building and then planned the recycling of the existing Church building accordingly. It was to be moved back on the site intact, and a complete storey added underneath, divided into Sunday School rooms. Anyone who has taught Sunday School (fewer and fewer remain) will appreciate the significance of eleven separate rooms and it was for the first time! A working bee on Saturday March 28, 1914 excavated the basement and did all the preparatory work for the ‘understructure’. The planning included digging a drain to a cesspit, and arranging for gas connection. The Trust minutes listed the wholeday workers, the halfday workers and the ladies to provide the meals. (It was usual then, and for many years later, for people to work five and a half days, 44 hours including Saturday morning. Thus the ‘Half-day workers’.) The Trustees applied to the Borough Council for water supply. Rev. Suckling was to canvass the other Methodist churches of the District to have ‘all the labour of the understructure done in one day.’ That gives point to the detailed listing of the workers available and their organisation. The minutes and the Jubilee booklet name some of the workers. Suffice to note Messrs Chappell, Halford, Whitehead and the Uttings Snr and Jnr as whole- day; among the halfday were P. Atkinson, and three friends from Kingsland. The women had an important role. They too deserve to be noted. ‘The ladies provided meals under the convenorship of Mrs Taylor who was assisted by Mesdames Suckling, Utting, Watkinson, McKinstry, Bodley and Harris, also Misses Bain and Wilson, besides many others.’ There is no photograph of that oneday project on the lower floor. 17 The second stage was to move the church backwards on to the new foundation, to be a hall at ground level. That could not be done without some outside professional help, but we may assume that it was another one-day effort. It would be interesting to know how, technically, the building was relocated, in stage two, on the new foundation. One can only guess that it was de-roofed, dismantled into large sections, re-built and reroofed. One-day efforts were the fashion of the time. They were like ‘barn-raisings’ in the United States. From the church’s point of view they were a demonstration of strength to the community and gave a great sense of social and religious cohesion to the workers. There was a great sense of achievement as well as self-congratulation.

Moving the old Church to make way for the Brick Church 1914. The photograph of the occasion shows 24 men, 3 boys, 9 women and 2 girls. Not all were at building as there was drainage to do as well - Messrs Higgott and Watkinson laid the field tiles. The understructure is just discernible behind the men on the right of the photograph and more so on the extreme right. There is the barest hint of the complex of classrooms below. The Church was under great pressure of numbers both for Sunday School and Church services. The plan enabled the worship and the Sunday School work to continue uninterrupted, even expanded, while the new brick church was being built. That was a longer and more exacting technical job than building a simple wooden church.

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Quarterly Preaching Plan, a model of information compression. Kinder Library.

19 The Brick Church

White and Wiseman were the architects for the brick church and Mr A H White must have been something of a Methodist Church architect - as the trustees did not hesitate to ask that the architects ‘be kind enough to donate their expenses towards the building fund.’ They also sought funds from Pitt Street. Anticipating, they applied to Pitt Street for the gift of the disused pulpit, and anticipated too the new technology yet to reach the district. They resolved for ‘all material required for electricity to be put in place that at any future time it may be made use of.’ In the meantime gas would be used as previously. The usual procedure of calling for tenders was followed but before the closing date there was an emergency or extraordinary meeting to extend the closing date. War had been declared on August 4, 1914 and the minister reported uncertainty in banking circles. Everyone - Church, builders, banks - needed time to clarify events. The direct effect of wartime conditions was a rate of 6 percent on an overdraft that was subject to being called in at any moment! That was regarded as risky business. The tenders for the first Church had resulted in a glitch. History repeated itself. This time again the lowest tenderer sought permission to withdraw, and he was replaced by the second lowest. A 1913 resolution to have chairs for seating was changed to pews as the price of chairs increased ‘on account of the War raging in Europe.’ (Was the choice of chairs influenced by anniversaries at the Empire Theatre along the road?)

20 The stonelaying was arranged. That was a feature then of church building. It was an occasion: speeches, hymns, celebration, dedication, fund- raising, and publicity in the papers. Parkinson and Bouskill, Monumental Masons, were involved: Parkinson did the engraving, as well as a course of 26 white stones resembling bricks. The minutes propose initials of Sunday School boys; a later report states that it was the initials of Sunday School scholars who fund-raised one pound or more. The trustees, if the latter is correct, used every opportunity to raise funds. Mr Bouskill donated the marble baptismal font and Mr John Bouskill’s name is in Church news reports. It was decided to transfer the Warburton memorial to the new church; and Mr Page quoted for pews at 7 shillings and 8 pence per foot, or 7 and twopence with an upright back. The Trust approved the purchase of an organ by the choir, at its own expense (£11) with the old one to remain in what would be the Sunday School. A series of minutes is from ‘The Endeavour Room’, so Christian Endeavour was a feature of the youth work. Fund-raising events included a bazaar opened by Mrs Caughey: £161.4.6; and the stonelaying £161.19.5 including new donations for the day £45. 19.5. In the Methodist Times there is a plan that shows that an enlargement was intended at a further stage. It never happened and was forgotten. It is easier to add to wooden structures; brick is more difficult; and it is easier to add separate buildings, as happened. But the question of the seating limitation has not gone away. The architect was instructed to provide seating for 350 but the plan supplied was for 299 and Mr White was asked to explain. The Trustees Today Methodist property is under the centralised legal control of the headquarters office of the Methodist Church in Christchurch. That is relatively recent. Great weight was given earlier, backed by legislation, for individual Church Trusts. The local men (women trustees came much later) took their work seriously, often continuing even after moving to a distance and another church. But progressively that earnestness changed and there was a continuing turnover of members for various reasons - mainly death and change of district. There was always great honour in foundation membership or long service. On August 24, 1914 while tenders were still awaited, the names of trustees were sorted out and everything done to be legally correct. That required a meeting of the original trustees still available and a careful methodical procedure to declare the original list of (Primitive) trustees, the removal of names from it (1 not found, 4 by resignation, 1 by distance, 1 by death). Then a further set of names to be added was 21 approved, and finally the surviving originals and the new names were combined as ‘the list of Trustees at the present date.’ The originals had been 10; 7 of those were ‘removed’, 21 names were added; the final list was 24 when those were added to the original 3. And the original three? David Goldie, Alfred Trenwith, and Francis Taylor. The original trustees of 1897 were – Mr David Goldie Timber Merchant William Moor Builder Alfred Trenwith Boot Manufacturer John Thomas Lediard Saddler William Bennett Contractor John Herbert Builder Thomas McDowell Cleaver Tailor Robert Joseph Hawkins Yard Foreman Robert Wheatley Clicker Francis Collingwood Taylor Store Foreman The new declared list was – David Goldie Timber Merchant Alfred Trenwith Boot Manufacturer Francis Collingwood Taylor Store Foreman Lewis Thomas Collins Wire Worker Robert John Faulkner Wire Worker George Higgott Warehouseman Andrew Messer Accountant Reginald Thomas Sando Linotype Engineer Roy Arthur Neal Postal Officer Arthur Cartwright Boot Manufacturer Henry Smith Chambers Boot Manufacturer Samuel John Crawford Company Secretary Edward Trelawney Harris Shipping Clerk John Manson Builder Edward David Molesworth King Insurance Agent William Taylor Warehouseman George Lovegrove Shipping Agent Fredric Clement Utting Warehouseman David Millie Arnott Bodley Sign Writer John Wisdom Shackelford Manufacturers Agent Henry Joseph Buckley Bricklayer Samuel Edward Whiter Bricklayer 22 (Onehunga near Auckland) ,Joseph Watkinson Tailor William Samuel Meek Clothing Manufacturer In the original list, whether by design or accident, only David Goldie is Mr. The requirement to declare occupation as well as place (Auckland) is illuminating as social history. The twenty-one added names included some who had already served a short or long period, but not legally registered, and presumably others were part of the new mix of Union, such as John Shackelford later to become the senior trustee of Pitt Street. Some occupations still exist, some are rare, some gone. Linotype did not exist in 1897, was important in 1914, and was displaced by computers. The building industry and boot manufacture figure strongly and overall the list is one of trade and business life. Well, that makes sense in a Trust that handles the property and the money. There are strong signs of fairly ordinary jobs and working class life to show that Dominion Road was a church of the common man and woman. But there were also signs that the church people were very respectable, many of them successful business people with social aspirations. The divisions in society were beginning to show. The Morningside trustees were clearly of a lower social class. Their houses there were smaller, on smaller sections, and no trustee was higher on the social scale than builder. They were mainly tradesmen, not business people in a broader sense. Fundraising The Trust minutes always show how methodical the Methodists were about their finances, and about raising money for their buildings. The leaders know their income from offerings, what is realistic by special appeals, what can be obtained by grants and from whom, what can be borrowed to become The Debt and what can be raised by combined efforts. The various church groups all do their bit and of course many people do it over and over again with various church organisations. Here is the ladies’ bazaar - November 1914: ‘In fulfilment of an undertaking on the part of the ladies of Dominion Road Church to raise £100 to enable building operations to commence at once, a Bazaar was held on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 3rd and 4th. On the section adjoining the church, a huge marquee was erected, in which the stalls were placed, while the old church was used for tea-rooms and a Christmas Tree. The whole of the decorations were in the hands of Mr D.M.A. Bodley, and the general effect was light and charming. Lattice and rustic wood were used extensively, which lent itself to the dainty colourings of the flowers which were interspersed. Each stall was decorated with one kind of flower, and the appearance of the whole was very pleasing. A busy party of ladies supplied the thirsty ones with tea and fruit salads; the Christmas Tree and bran tub provided the children with new delights, and competitions of cookery, skipping, bun eating, nail driving, etc., kept everyone interested. A printing machine supplied visiting cards to 23 numerous customers, and in rooms under the school were a fine museum, comprising a magnificent collection of N.Z. gum and Maori axes; also an exhibition of;the latest electrical appliances, which was an education in itself. The Bazaar was opened by Mrs AC. Caughey, the Rev. C.H. Laws, B.A. presiding. Music was supplied by the Temperance Guards Band, and everyone seemed enthusiastic. The financial results exceeded expectations; the aim was £100, but when the net results were totalled up, it was found that, after paying all expenses and returning £10 which the Trustees had advanced the ladies, about £160 could be handed to the Treasurer. The good results were not confined to the financial, for the social harmony, the happy enthusiasm, the new friendships, and the spirit of co-operation will prove a great asset to our Church life.’ The Opening The Trust minutes detail the planning for the opening. An order for a thousand postcards with a picture of the church was followed now by a thousand programmes and three hundred copies of the dedicatory service. The details of the extended programme are in the Jubilee Booklet and the Methodist Times. Is that all? A small note on the seating: the trustees chose vertical instead of diagonal boarding for the backs of the seats. Saved 16 pounds! (There are upright backed pews in the Hall that may have come from Pitt and Edwin. A 1916 minute expresses thanks for some.) The Union Church faced another issue. Alexandra Street had had “applications for sittings’, presumably charges and Pitt Street had had a system of Pew Rents. Pitt Street Church has a pew rent sign among its memorabilia. Mt Eden Church abolished pew rents in 1916. Hames commented that ‘They were a survival of the Victorian boom in religion, when every established citizen had a seat in church, a mark of respectability.’ The Trust decided that all seats would be free. The Methodist Times gave a full account of the opening and dedication of the new church. There is a saying that ‘If it isn’t broken, don’t mend it.’ The same goes for writing! The local reporter did a workmanlike job. ‘On Wednesday, March 24, the new church at Dominion Road, Auckland Central Circuit, was opened. A very large congregation gathered at 3.30 p.m. outside the new building, which was almost completed, a few minor finishing touches requiring to be added. The Rev. C H. Laws, B.A., Superintendent of the Circuit, presided. The hymn “Behold Thy Temple God of Grace,” was sung, after which the pastor of the Church, the Rev. J.B. Suckling, offered prayer. The Architect, Mr A.H. White, F.N.Z.I.A., then presented to Mrs F.C. Taylor, one of the oldest members of the Church, a golden key, who, after a few choice words, opened the door and declared the building open for public worship, “in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.” The congregation then passed into the church, filling it to its utmost capacity, and as soon as all were within, the Doxology was sung with much fervour. The followed a brief dedicatory service, led by Rev. C.H. Laws, B.A., in which all the 24 congregation joined, after Rev. C.H. Garland offered prayer. Then came the hymn “Lord of the Worlds Above” followed by a Scriptural lesson read by the President of the Conference, who conducted the remainder of the service. Another hymn, and prayer by the Rev. W.R. Poole, of Fiji. Mr Geo. Higgot (sic) sang the solo, “Jerusalem,” and a statement of the financial position was made by the Rev. JR. Suckling. The Rev. J. Dawson, President of Conference, preached the dedicatory sermon, his text being taken from Psalm xxvi, 8, in which he referred to the importance and value of a love to God expressed in prayer and worship. It was a useful and uplifting utterance, and will have a lasting effect upon many that heard it. The Choir sang the anthem “Gloria in Excelsis.” After the service, a great “knife and fork” tea, for which the ladies of the Church had prepared most carefully, was held. So many’, however, were the people who stayed to partake of the tea, that quickly the provisions were exhausted, and further supplies had to be procured. Everybody was in a happy mood, however, and not one complained at having to wait or at receiving a smaller portion than might have otherwise been theirs. The tea tables were prettily decorated, and a large number of willing helpers made a huge task light. As soon as one sitting was over, another began, and those who had finished or were awaiting the tea remained in the church, where music was furnished till the evening meeting. Long before the time for commencing the meeting, the church was packed to its utmost capacity, many being unable to obtain admission. The chair was taken by the Rev. Geo. Bond, Chairman of the District. After the opening exercises, the Choir sang the “Hallelujah Chorus” (Handel). The Chairman was at his best, and gave a good tone to the meeting in his address, in which he congratulated the Trustees and the members upon the beautiful church they had erected for the glory of God. Miss Lilian Pickering sang the solo “Jesu, lover of my soul,” and the Rev. E.A. Kirwood, President of the Baptist Union, gave an address that was stirring and helpful. Miss L. Pickering and Mr E Dennis followed with the duet “The Lord is my Shepherd.” The President gave a fine, manly, rousing address, just suited to the occasion. The Rev. J.B. Suckling gave a brief historical account of the growth of the Church, from its beginning in the open air under a tree to the present handsome structure. It is estimated that about £1000 debt will remain upon the properties after the opening ceremonies, the structures costing £1960, or with the whole expenditure and debt £2,700, of which £1700 has been raised in cash and promises. The church, which is a handsome building of Gothic architecture, designed by Mr A.H. White, and built by Mr C. H. Page, will seat 300 people. The exterior is of purple burnt bricks, relieved by cement facings, and is ornamented by a bell turret at the left front corner, and a small spire on the roof of twenty feet in height. The interior is very pleasing being of buff brick, with (lark red tuck-pointing and cement facings. The windows are Gothic, with floral lead-lights. The pulpit is constructed from the old Pitt Street pulpit, and the seats are of kauri, with a dark stain. Many have contributed to the cost of the building, the largest donation being one of £450 from the Pitt Street Trustees. The smallest, however, a sum of 2s, from a poor widow, is not despised by our heavenly Father. All have given with good heart, and most of the promises have been honoured already. A number of gifts have been made of furniture, including an organ, valued at £27, by the Choir, a handsome marble baptismal fount, by Mr J. Briskill (sic), a communion table, by Mr Gilbert, a vestry writing table, by Mr F. Taylor, a rug for pulpit, by the children of Miss Wilson’s class, and a pulpit chair, by Mr Geo. Lovegrove. Further donations have been of floor coverings, by Messrs. j. Watkinson, G. Higgott, J. Buckley and Crowe; mats, by Mrs Hirst and Mrs Taylor; pulpit cushion, by Mrs A. Clark, and hymn board, by Mr E. Clark. After the collection. the Choir sang the anthem. “I am Alpha and Omega,” and the Rev. C. H. Laws. B.A., gave the final address. The collections for the clay’ were £29, which, with the proceeds of the tea, will probably be increased to about £45.’ 25

26 The Young Men The title is not precise, but it covers the teenagers and younger adults. The Sunday School movement was at the heart of the church, and included the Bible Classes. It was a big enterprise culminating in 400 to 500, and a very large staff. The young men were of special concern because they held the greatest potential for the church as the members to provide not only teachers but also office bearers. And realistically a man was not only better off and could give more money, but would become head. of the family. The Great War was to have a severe effect on the churches. The young men of age were conscripted for overseas service. That included teachers and Bible Class leaders. We can give no detail as the Church never kept a record, a roll of honour. One name stands out, however: Lance Corporal Percy Watkinson, 2nd Battalion, Canterbury Regiment, son of Mr and Mrs J. Watkinson. He left New Zealand for overseas service some time after May 15, 1915. That would indicate service at Gallipoli. After Gallipoli the Division went to France. Percy Watkinson was killed in action on October 12, 1917 at Passchendaele.

Lance Corporal Percy Watkinson, 2nd Battalion, Canterbury Regiment His name is among 1179 New Zealanders of that action with no known grave. Three of the five infantry regiments lost four-fifths of those on the memorial (no known grave) on that one day. It was indeed a Passion Dale. With known graves the total of the New Zealanders killed was 2700. He must have made his will in favour of his father, and expressed a wish that in the event of his death his parents give £200 of his insurance money to the Dominion Road Church ‘to start a fund for the building of a new School Hall with special provision for work among boys.’ He was 26. We lost a leader. The gift from Joseph Watkinson was the foundation for a fund to provide a larger hall. The Young Men’s Bible Class adopted the name Dominion Road Young Men’s Institute, abbreviated to DRYMI (pronounced drymy) and its building was another built-in-a-day job, June 3, 1920. The photograph shows the location in relation to the 27 rear of the brick church, and the front of the Sunday School Hall. The photograph is looking south-east. The site is that of the present parlour, which when built, incorporated some recycled materials from the early building.

Built in a day, Dominion Road Young Men’s Institute (DRYMI) 1920 –note original Church resited on left and corner of Brick Church at right The Methodist Times report gave some fascinating detail: Regrettably, we do not have the inscribed photograph presented to Mr Chappell. The print used lacks sharpness. ‘Owing to lack of accommodation for the Young Men’s Bible Class at Dominion Road, Auckland, the trustees and Sunday School met to consider the question of overcoming the difficulty. It was ultimately decided to erect a class-room to accommodate the class by a one-day effort on the King’s Birthday, and the arrangements were placed in the hands of Mr S.E. Chappell. Certain preparatory work was done prior to the day mentioned, and everything was in readiness for a busy day. The morning broke clear and cold, and as day was dawning (just about six o’clock) the workers began to gather, and all who arrived on the scene were kept too busy to think about the frost that covered the exposed timber. About forty men took part in the undertaking, and this number comprised members of many kinds of callings and professions. Tailors, coachbuilders, storemen, stonemasons, saddlers, clerks, school teachers, etc., each vied with carpenters, joiners and painters in their efforts to see the project completed before the close of the short day, and by nightfall the exterior was practically complete. As the gas lighting has been installed, a 28 few of the workers remained and completed the lining and oiling of the interior, one coat of paint having been applied to the weatherboards, etc. before the erection. The second coat was proceeded with as soon as the walls were sufficiently advanced to enable it to be done. The accompanying photograph was taken about 11 am. The ladies of the congregation played a necessary and acceptable part in providing the meals for the busy bees, three meals being provided, and afternoon tea was handed round to the workers in addition. The workers were divided into six teams, each team having a captain. The building is 3Oft long by 2Oft wide, with walls l3ft high. The whole of the interior is finished with narrow lining of oiled rimu, the lighting being so arranged as not to interfere with any gymnastic apparatus which will be suspended from the roof. The value of the building is about £350, but with the voluntary labour and special concessions received on the price of material the net cost was £230. When the project was first decided on, not one penny was in hand or in sight to meet the expense, but, thanks to the generosity of Church members and friends, coupled with the efforts of several capable canvassers, it was possible to open the building, furnished with chairs, table, etc., absolutely free of debt. On this occasion Mr Chappell was presented with an enlarged photograph of the building in course of erection, suitably inscribed. The Young Men’s Bible Class has occupied the building each Sunday since the opening, and the attendance has been twenty-five on each occasion. The class is under the leadership of Rev. P.R. Paris, assisted by Mr C. Higgott, and we are confident that Cod’s blessing will follow our efforts, and we pray that many will go forth from our class to take up definite work for our Master, and that all will be greatly blessed as the result of this undertaking.’ The Great War had an enormous impact on society and beliefs. The early idealism was followed by despair, anger, and fatalism. Rev. E. Hames describes it all in his Coming of Age, and with feeling, as he served the last six months of the war as an infantryman, with survivors of Paschendaele in the same platoon. He knew the destruction of the spirit by high explosives. The churches were set to welcome back the returned soldiers (and other services) and to begin among them again the previous pattern of evangelism. It was not to be. Moreover that generation lost meant a generation of Sunday School and Bible Class leaders lost. It is impossible now to see how Dominion Road was affected. Perhaps the fact of building the Bible Class Hall in 1920 is itself a sign that it was not affected as badly as most other churches. Moreover the Percy Watkinson bequest set the Church on a course of expansion to meet the constantly increasing numbers of Sunday School and Bible Class members. Joseph Watkinson was modest and humble in his gift. He did not want the proposed hall to be regarded as a memorial to his son. There must have been sons of others, but we have no record. He went on making generous donations but asked - for anonymity. The fact is, and it can be said now that all are gone, that it was built on Percy Watkinson, though today everyone has forgotten, or never knew that. So thumbs up to you, Percy, eighty years later! We owe you! Later the Bible Class building became a Primary Department, and later still, the church Parlour. The latter conversion was set as the fund-raising goal of the jubilee of 1947.

29 From the Records The Primitive Methodist Years The years 1897-1912 were the foundation years, and the circuit set about laying a good foundation. To the other churches, Mount Roskill was a great distance away. When Mr and Mrs Watkinson moved to Horopito St (then Sherwood) in 1894 it was ‘to live a few miles out of Auckland’. Committee meetings and rallies at the different churches must have involved a lot of physical effort just to attend. The Trust minutes gave some insight into the times, but the best insight is from reports in The New Zealand Primitive Methodist (NZPM). From the minutes of March 1908 there is ‘cutting down of the road caused by the introduction of the tram system into the district’. From the NZPM of September 1905: ‘We are still being blessed in our work here. Congregations steadily increase and enlargement is now necessary.’ There was a visit from the Wesley Young Men’s Institute Glee Party, and at ‘a mass meeting for men only’ Mr D Goldie presided and Rev. E Warburton gave an address “The Laocoön of Social Wrongs”...’There was very encouraging audience, including quite a number of non-church goers, and we trust that good was done’. The Mount Roskill Church appeared first on the published plans in January 1897, before the Church was built. It was the practice to publish quarterly plans in the NZPM. They gave lists of preachers and some key officers. Initially Mount Roskill was overseen by a team ministry. Rev. Ernest Warburton arrived in New Zealand in 1903 and stayed with the Laycocks, presumably at the Alexandra St parsonage. He regained his health and preached at the various churches, including Mount Roskill. Then in 1905 he was ‘minister in charge of the Mount Roskill Church’—the first minister. W S Potter regarded Warburton as having ‘a rare combination of gifts. Having an enquiring mind and a strong memory, his sermons were far above average. He spoke in a clear, simple, forceful language, and having a quiet, earnest style, he commanded attention. He was firm and fearless, but gentle and artless as a little child’.

Rev. Ernest Warburton 30 He was soon asked to supply monthly pages for young men for the NZPM. So he had two sermons at least for each Sunday, occasional lectures, monthly pages for the national Church paper, the usual Church meetings, circuit meetings, administration, reading, and whatever calls were made on him by other churches in the circuit and his pastoral work. A requirement of Conference was that ministers must visit: for superintendents thirty per week as a minimum; other ministers forty per week minimum. And that was defined as including prayer and biblical instruction where deemed necessary. ‘Speedily Mr Warburton was reaching a foremost position in his Church.’ By the symptoms we presume Warburton had tuberculosis, a commonly fatal disease. He died January 1908. His flock was bereft. They had marked his return to service after a trip to ‘The Islands’ for the sake of his health, by the gift of a purse of sovereigns (gold coins of one pound value), a gift that figures from time to time in Church reports then. When he died the Church could not hold all the people. (The capacity would have been about 200 to 250.) It was the typical response to death at a time of relative youth; but it was also a response to loss of considerable talent that was highly valued. David Goldie was a highly experienced speaker and debater, parliamentary, local body, and Church. When he reported at Conference he was in tears over this beloved Christian brother. No wonder there is a brass plaque. Mrs Warburton was the organist for four years and continued till the end of 1910. She had set up a small business but was called to City Mission work. The details, discovered only after the preliminary typing for this book, are given in the Profile. Whereas Ernest’s funeral filled his Church, hers required the biggest Church, and then for a memorial service, the biggest hall, available, By then it was 1915, and the preacher at the memorial service had preached at the new Dominion Road Church six months earlier. A thousand at her service. The Warburtons were without any shadow of doubt able people. And without any shadow of doubt they were good people.

Mrs Warburton 31 In 1908 the Trust bought the adjoining section ‘for extension purposes’. Primitive had another meaning: in 1908 ‘a committee [!]...to see the introduction of a better appliance for boiling water for social meetings’. In April 1908 the Church anniversary was ‘postponed until the 7th June in consequence of Mr Flanagan’s Mission’. The Flanagan Mission was New Zealand’s way of marking the centenary of Primitive Methodism. Missions were important in the evangelistic style of the period. Rev. Flanagan had the main mission in London, in a poor area. A real Salvation Army style one. It was like a Billy Graham visit. He was received in Parliament and visited the cities. At Wanganui the welcoming committee, including the mayor, awaited his arrival by train, at the station. His meetings had to have priority over a Church anniversary. Shortly after Warburton was appointed full time in 1905 the Church appears to have marked the new status with a pulpit Bible. The front page was inscribed accordingly and dated March 12th 1905— the preachers for the day being Rev. W S Potter and Rev. E Warburton. A significant occasion. The Bible was used as long as the Authorised Version was the standard. News from the Churches in Warburton’s time shows him preaching at Pitt and Edwin and Alexander [sic] Street as well as Mount Roskill. The circuit made full use of the ministers as well as, of course, local preachers. At the sale of Mount Roskill’s harvest offerings on the Monday there was a brief meeting beforehand ‘at which Rev. J E Newell, Samoan missionary and principal of the Malua Training Institute, gave a short, but interesting and highly appreciated address’. The January 1, 1908 report of end-of-year activities not only informs us of the events, but also of the times and the state of the young Church. ‘The friends at Mount Roskill held a successful bazaar on the 13th and 14th of November. The bazaar was opened by Councillor Jacka. A large quantity of useful and fancy goods. the product of the ladies of the church, were displayed for sale. Mrs Sayers, Mrs W Taylor, and Mrs H C Taylor presided over the drapery stall, Mrs Neal, Miss Simpson, and Miss Needham over the fancy goods stall, Mrs Mason and Mrs Vercoe over the blue stall, Mrs Higgot (sic) and Mrs Beck over the provision stall, Mr Mason over the jumble stall, Miss Sayers over the flower stall, and Mr Messer over the fine art gallery, and the Misses W and M Bain over the afternoon tea. Mr Higgot (sic) presided over the various competitions, which consisted of bun eating for boys, nail driving, and wood sawing for women and men, whilst Mr Taylor acted as Father Christmas in the presentation of toys to the children. The effort, including donations, gave a net result to the trust hind of about £45. The Sunday school anniversary was celebrated on Sunday, 1st December. The preachers were Mr Charteris, junr, Mr Emerson, and Rev. W S Potter. The congregation were large, and the collections in advance of previous years. The church was tastefully decorated, anti the singing by the scholars, under the leadership of Mr Bouskill, was much appreciated, Miss Neale (sic) presiding at the organ. 32 On Wednesday, 4th December, a concert was held. The Rev. W S Potter presided, and the following contributed solos, duets, etc: Mrs Teiglar and Miss Prior, anti Messrs Stone, Jeffrey, and Hoare. Mr Messer read the S.S. report, showing the school to be in a healthy state, and a good credit balance. The Rev. W S Potter delivered an address, and the ladies handed round refreshments. i Quarterly meeting passed off well, except that we missed the presence of the Rev. E Warburton, who still remains a patient sufferer at home. He is “a man greatly beloved,” and sincere sympathy was expressed for him. Mr F C Taylor and Mr A Trenwith were elected delegates to Conference.’ In the same section there is Alexandra St news. The Sunday School services were conducted in the Choral Hall by ‘The Boy Preacher’ whose title appears later in Mount Roskill minutes. The Choral Hall is now part of the University complex, at the corner of Symonds St and Alfred St. When churches and church halls were too small for an occasion it was necessary not to build bigger, but to go to those who had already built bigger. The organist on that occasion was Mr Trenwith who ‘presided...with his usual ability’. A presentation was made to Mr Alfred Trenwith ‘about to remove into the distant suburb of Mangare [sic]. ‘An illuminated address in book form’, no less, for one who had been organist for many years, and ‘for a long time.. .station [circuit] steward’. A pupil of his succeeded him at the organ. Did Trenwith go to Mangere? Dominion Road already had an Alfred Trenwith, boot manufacturer, as a foundation trustee. He too was an accomplished organist though never the Mount Roskill Church organist. In later life his eyesight troubled him and he had to play from memory. A trustee was usually a local member but not always so. A station official is just the one to be on the Trust to ensure all was done properly. If this is our Trenwith he did well—until his death in 1943 as the second last foundation trustee. It is clear that with Sunday School and Church services the facilities—space, seating, rooms—of the one building were stretched to capacity. The young Church was doing very well when the Union came. Finally a tidy up of the record and a comment on sources. In the jubilee booklet of 1947: ‘The first wedding was solemnised on l5th June, 1906, when Rev. Dr H Ranston officiated at the wedding of Mr and Mrs F Copeland, who are now residing at New Plymouth.’ The archivist has not tracked that down yet. But has located two others earlier than that date. So we revise the first wedding to 14th July 1904, Percy Frank Lawson, 25, iron moulder, bachelor to Edith Jane Collister, 22, servant, spinster. Both were born in Australia, his residence given as Mt Roskill, hers Epsom Rd [Balmoral Rd]. The minister was Ernest Warburton.

33 Ministers had their own book usually and conducted weddings in different churches or in private homes. The latter give added information: such as at the residence of Rev. W S Potter at Wakefield St (the parsonage). The private homes are in Hobson St, Vincent St, Union St, etc and one at Grundy St. Where was Frank Taylor married? The certificate shows that he was married in a private home in DunDonald St. The day was unusual: Christmas Day 1878. His obituary recorded that he married Mary E Hebden. He married Mary Ellen Spencer, presumably daughter of Mrs Hebden, and half sister of Annie Elizabeth Hebden. We have the certificate for Annie Elizabeth, married at the dwelling house of Mr Francis Collingwod Taylor, Grundy St, Newton, in 1885, with Taylor’s signature and details as witness. And the signature of the minister, William S Potter in a beautiful hand with style and flourish. It was quite common for weddings of Church members to be held in private homes. On April 27 1880, in the dwelling house of Mr E Spragg, New North Rd, Joseph Watkinson, 24, tailor, bachelor married Sarah Ann Freer, 22, spinster, minister Joseph Long (the second Primitive Methodist missionary minister to New Zealand). The witnesses were John E Johnson, labourer, of Union St, Mary Williams of Kyber (sic) pass (sic) and Nelly Spragg of Eden Terrace. All those streets long gone commercial. Watkinson would have enjoyed seeing a copy at the Jubilee—but photocopies were still to come. If we leave nothing else in this world there is a registration of birth and death. And until quite recently a registration of marriage, either church or civil. The other resources are the early Trust minutes, and the copies of Church newspapers. When news reporters were seeking information recently on the name behind Nora on a gravestone at Westney Rd Methodist cemetery near the airport the information was not lost. It was in Methodist Archives with the story behind the death. Or if the reporters want it, the story of eighteen-year-old Emily Keeling, a member of Mr Watkinson’s Bible Class, shot fatally by her suitor in 1886—the story is in Guy and Potter. She, gentle, unassuming, remembered by ‘a beautiful monument’ in the Symonds St Cemetery, and a framed photograph (lost?) in the Alexandra Street vestry. Long ago the Connexion realised that records would be safer if gathered together in an archive. There are gaps but there are also rich stores of records and the whole is probably the best of any of the churches. All those many meetings did leave a trace.

34 Roll of Honour Ministers and People: MEET THE PRIMS Rev. Charles Ward 1897-1903

In 1897, as superintendent, directed the move west to the present area of the Church. Born New Plymouth 1846; educated at Wesley College (Queen St, Auckland); entered Primitive Methodist ministry, serving seven years in New South Wales; returned to New Zealand. Diligent and painstaking pastor; had a statesman’s grasp of Church and national problems; a notable and original preacher. An ardent Temperance reformer. An editor of the NZ Primitive Methodist. Three times president of Conference 1884, 1894, 1907. Rev. George Mann

President of Conference 1911. Rev. Cocker, Editor of The NZ Primitive Methodist and after Union, The NZ Methodist Times, a talented writer, provided an obituary incorporating his profile on Mann in 1911. It is worth reproducing:

35 ‘The new president is a Yorkshire man...reared in a Primitive Methodist atmosphere...Daily the family gathered for worship, and thus amidst an atmosphere of worship and devotion the children were trained and have risen up to bless the names of their parents—blood tells. It is good to be well born. It is a blessing to be well trained. A good start is a great help on the journey. Mr Mann’s eldest sister, Miss F Mann, was the first district evangelist in the Leeds and York district, and was afterwards the first sister of the people at the Leeds Central Mission, and two brothers and two sisters became preachers. ‘The new president went to work in a factory when he was nine years of age as a half- timer, and attended a night school until he had passed the necessary standards. When barely thirteen years of age he was converted in a mission conducted by the Rev. E Dalton, the president-elect of the British Conference, who was of considerable help to him in later clays, as was also the Rev. John Ellis, father of Mrs Varney, of Wanganui, and Rev. M Knowlson. Within a week after his conversion he accompanied a local preacher on his appointment, and took part in the service, and the next quarterly meeting gave him a “note” to take services in company with a local preacher. He was then thirteen years of age. At this age he was apprenticed as an engineer. When twenty years of age he was recommended as a candidate for the ministry, lie was then working from 6.30 a.m. to 9.30 p.m., and his hours of study were from 2.30 to 5.30 am., and then off to work. This was gaining knowledge under difficulties, and we are not surprised to find that he failed to pass the first time he sat as a candidate for the ministry, though he only failed by two marks. For nine months he laboured as a hired local preacher at Poplar, London. Resisting the strivings of the Spirit, he went back to his trade, but was unhappy, and ultimately he gave himself unreservedly up to the work of preaching the Gospel. For three months he worked as an evangelist on the Bournemouth Station. He then labourecl for a year at Croydon and another year at Upton Park. He passed the necessary examinations. At the request of the English Conference he came out to New Zealand in 1894. In this land, in addition to spending a year as connexional evangelist, he has laboured upon Auckland I, Wellington I, Ashburton, Timaru and Geraldine circuits. In all his stations he has done excellent work and has left all his Circuits in a healthy state, but on no station has he clone more useful work than he is doing on his present Circuit.. .The President works in a methodical manner and organises his forces. He has a strong personality and much force of character. He works hard and he works to win. 1-Ic lives to preach the Gospel; he delights in making new its message. He is happy in the pulpit; his style is deeply impressive, quiet, calm, and forceful, and very tightly does he grip his hearers. He gives his best to the pulpit; his sermons are fresh and striking, and he receives his reward in the blessings his hearers receive under his preaching. He is an able minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.’ He was of imposing appearance, 6 foot 2 inches (1.85 m). He visited England 1912 as representative to the British Conference. In 1918, died at Gore after a short illness. Accorded a military funeral—he had served as Army Chaplain.

36 Rev. William Laycock 1903-1905

Came from England 1878, as a lay preacher. Entered Three King College to train as minister at his own expense. Minister from 1884. Team minister when Dominion Rd founded. President of Conference 189.5. Held several important offices. A faithful pastor and a good preacher; a lover of books. Business and organising ability— associated with erection of several substantial buildings in Circuits. Rev. Ernest Warburton 1905-1908

Born Bradford, England, of ‘pious parents’. Early conversion; and strong call to ministry. Trained at Manchester; probation and nine years ministry in England, and a short time Glasgow and Guernsey. Married 1894, daughter of Rev. L E Ellis. Failing health; came to New Zealand 1903, his wife and only child Elsie, a year later. Then resided in Mt Roskill, ‘as minister in charge of the Mt Roskill Church’. ‘In 1906 health failing, took a trip to the Pacific Islands. After a year health failed again. Died January 1908, aged 38. ‘He possessed a rare combination of gifts. Having an enquiring mind his sermons were far above average. He spoke in clear, simple, forceful language, and having a quiet, earnest style, he commanded attention. He was firm and fearless.. .He read much and thought more.. .A most painstaking worker’.

37 The Church placed a brass plaque to him, their first full-time minister, in the original wooden building, transferring it to the brick Church in 1915. Rev. William S Potter 1908

Came to Auckland from England as a small child. Sunday School scholar Alexandra St, later Secretary of the Sunday School. Converted at 16; guided to lay preaching by Rev. W Tinsley and Mr David Goldie, Probationer (minister) 1876. Three times minister in Auckland, including Alexandra St (his old school). Honorary ministry Richmond Rd eight years as supernumerary. Twice President of Conference 1891, 1901. ‘Wherever he laboured properties were improved, debts vanished, congregations increased and conserved, and the spiritual life was intensified.., a diligent pastor, a clear expounder of the Word of God, and in all things a faithful Minister of Jesus Christ. Gifted with executive ability. ..Book Steward...editor of the Connexional paper.’ Co-author of Fiftv Years of Primitive Methodism in NZ. Ardent advocate of Union. ‘It was a benediction to visit and converse with him.’ Rev. Harry Cottom 1909-1910

Born Birmingham, England, 1879. Both parents died; he worked at market gardening from age 11; lifelong interest in horticulture. Attracted at open-air preaching; local

38 preacher; two years at Training Home for Evangelists; appointed to Connexional Mission Van, in London and south of England. Two years’ Supply (in one, received 63 into Church membership). To NZ 1909 as first year probationer (at Dominion Rd), then two years at Petone, marrying there. ‘Always studious in habit... kept himself informed on social, political and moral questions’. An able advocate of good causes, such as Prohibition.’ Rev. Hedley White 1910-1913

Born England 1883, emigrating to NZ 1906, entering ministry; ordained 1910. Participated in Union 1913. Short break during War, when he was denied appointment for his convictions about war, then active ministry till 1948. ‘His was a ministry of gTeat fidelity. Blessed with ready utterance and a detailed knowledge of the Scriptures he gave his congregations detailed expositions of the teachings of Christ and reinforced them by his own life and example.... sympathy and understanding... .Aided by his gracious wife and a loyal family he gave to the community an exemplary pattern of a Christian home.’ Father in Christ to a Japanese from the Featherston Prisoner of War camp. Rev. Joseph B Suckling 1913-16

39 Came to New Zealand 1909, as Primitive Methodist Probationer for four years. Then three years here. After a year each at two other churches he entered Foreign Mission Field in Fiji under the New South Wales Conference, and died there only a year later from influenza (the great epidemic?). A plaque was planned in conjunction with the Church’s plaque for Rev. Potter, but did not eventuate. Rev. Percy Paris 1916-1921

Born at Dunedin 1882, converted at Central Mission at fifteen, local preacher at seventeen. Candidate, entered Prince Albert College 1903 for three years. Ordained 1910. During five-year ministry at Dominion Rd served six months as Chaplain at Featherston Camp. While superintendent at Christchurch, a vigorous ministry, appointed 1921 as Associate Editor, Methodist Times, and established the young people’s page, League of Young Methodists (LYMS). Conducted lively, contemporary Christian socialism missions annually— avoiding the old evangelical style. Special services were followed by open forum for questions and discussion. President of Conference 1939. Rev. John J Lewis 1918 (6 months)

40 Wesleyan candidate, England, 1868, aiming at Foreign Mission work. One of four notable men who responded to a call from New Zealand, arriving late 1870. Faithful and successful ministry in almost every part of New Zealand. Often a district chairman; President of Conference 1890. A great speaker and debater. Several times representative to the General Conference of Australasia. Debating skills highly regarded. Superb expositor of the Word, an able scholar, passionate for preaching, aiming at salvation. A shining example of an evangelist. ‘Tirelessly diligent, exact in his attention to circuit details, punctual to the second, serious in purpose, yet not without a sparkle of wit.’ The Connexion took its most experienced minister to supply Dominion Rd just before his retirement in 1919 after forty-nine years of strenuous service. (His grandson is Rev. J J Lewis who was Principal of Trinity College.) Rev. Fred Copeland 1921-1924

Born 1880 near Tuakau, father and son converted at a Tent Mission in Tauranga. Joined Helping Hand Mission at Freemans Bay, Auckland: Always retained evangelical urge. Home Missionary 1900, candidate 1902; trained at Prince Albert College; Taihape Circuit appointment. After death of first wife 1913, served four years in Samoa, at first a German colony. (Met N.Z. force that took Samoa in 1914 as it landed, the troops with heavy uniforms.) Served in ten N.Z. circuits on return. District Chairman 17 years, President 1937. ‘Business ability, spiritual vision, and warm understanding.’ A widower three times. ‘Personal courage and fortitude… an outstanding ministry’. Died 1970.

41 Rev. John Nixon

As the son-in-law of Mr Hirst he merits a place in the list of biographies. The Wesleyan Hirst was well disposed to the Primitives, as was Kingsland Wesleyan Church. Born 1851, Scotland. Attended village school ‘and at an early age burned “the penny dips” (candles) well into the night in his endeavour to gain knowledge’. Mother died 862, father and the two boys came to NZ. Father returned to Scotland, John was left with aunt who influenced him to ministry. Encouraged by Robert Ward, had some training, probationer 1875, to Thames, goldmining town. Then to Franklin Rd; married Miss Hirst in 1881, ‘a sweet singer in the Kingsland Wesleyan Methodist Church’. At Wellington a close friend of the Governor, Sir George Grey. When Mr Ballance was summoned to form a Government, Mr Nixon walked with him to Government House. ‘As the parsonage was close to Parliament House, many an unofficial committee meeting was held in his study’. His wife died 1907. He later remarried. ‘He was the last ministerial contemporary colleague of the Rev. Robert Ward. founder of Primitive Methodism in New Zealand.’ ‘In Sydney St Wellington, attended in those days by members of Parliament, his forceful utterances attracted widespread attention.’ He took part in the centenary celebrations of Mr Ward’s landing in New Plymouth in 1844’... the lives of the two.., spanned more than a century of Christian activities in the Dominion.’

42 Rev. William Ready

Born 1859, orphaned at nine, and in an orphanage. Converted at 17, called to ministry at 22. Trained at Bible Christian College. To New Zealand 1887. Founded Dunedin Central Mission 1890. President of Conference 1912. Pitt Street 1909-1914. Hospital ship Chaplain 1917. A strong preacher, popular with the young. He proposed the Dominion Road brick building for the expanding church. Died 1927. Rev. George Bond

As the District Superintendent who played a prominent role in the opening services of the present brick church he deserves a biography. Born Northern England 1848, preacher in teens. Candidated at 21, trained at London. Volunteered for service abroad; to NZ 1873 along with Re T G Carr [see Allon Carr profile]; exercising an influential ministry of58 years, first under Rev. James Buller [missionary, first Methodist ministry to Auckland. 1841] at Christchurch. President Wesieyan Conference 1892. Seventeen years chairman of districts. Attended 46 annual conferences in NZ. and represented in Australia. Retired from active circuit work 1915 [thus addressed Dominion Road in final year, as Chairman of District].

43 Continued as supernumerary—clerical treasurer Home Mission Fund, nursed Home Mission Department. Supported Bible Society. Died at 83, still active in Church work. ‘His preaching was vigorous, earnest, awakening, evangelical, and richly fruitful in conversions.. .His pastoral work was diligent, sympathetic, and acceptable among every class of people. He was a true shepherd of his flock.’ Rev. John Dawson 1941

Born Yorkshire 1859. Fatherless early, went to work while young. Moulded by Primitive Methodist Sunday School and Church. Local preacher at 17, evangelist at 21. Trained for ministry: In 1888 sent to N.Z. as married probationer. Served three Circuits. From Webb St (Wellington) 1909 he became General Secretary N.Z. Alliance; died 1925 a leader of Prohibition movement. ‘Evangelical; his sermons were practical and devotional. As a pastor he was greatly loved and trusted... He was kindly, tactful, genial, sanguine, and spiritual.’ The conference report ‘omits that he administered the most important Primitive Methodist connexional funds, was president (Primitive) in 1898, and Methodist President 1915. He preached at the opening of the brick church at Dominion Road March 1915 and at Sister Alice Warburton’s memorial service in September 1915.

44 LAY PEOPLE Sister Alice Warburton

Daughter of Rev. L. E. Ellis, Primitive Methodist. England. Chose nursing; sister-in- charge of a children’s hospital in Bradford. Sister [Deaconess] at East London Mission; married Rev. E. Warburton. Dominion Road Church, organist, widowed 1908, resigned as organist, 1911. Widowed, she had ‘entered into business’; but the old work called. She accepted appointment with the Helping Hand Mission, Wellington, under ‘Rev. G. Knowles Smith (an old Home fellow worker) and.. .became a duly recognised Sister of the Methodist Conference. During the last two and a half years she has done faithful work there, endearing herself to the hearts of the poor and needy and receiving the fullest confidence of the authorities of the Charitable Aid and Hospital Boards’. She died, after a short illness, in September 1915. ‘The funeral was conducted from Taranaki Street Methodist Church.. .by the President of Conference’ assisted by five ministers and the Missioner. ‘A very large assembly included the various Sisters at work in connection with all the churches of the city, and was preceded by the Silver Band, playing the usual funeral marches... On Sunday the memorial service was held in Everybody’s Theatre, when nearly 1000 people gathered to evidence their love and esteem for a departed worker. Rev. J. Dawson, President, gave an eloquent and sympathetic address, basing his remarks on the story of Dorcas’. She left an only child, Miss Elsie Warburton, and a sister, Mrs A. Varney, Wellington.

45 Mr David Goldie 1842-1926

Came to Auckland from Tasmania, aged 25, and joined Alexandra St Primitive Methodist. From a carpenter he rose to timber merchant, one of the most prosperous businessmen in Auckland. Member Provincial Council (Auckland West 1873-6, M.P. Auckland West 1879, 1887-90, and Newton 1890-91. Auckland City Councillor 1876-8, 1879-82, 1884-91, Mayor November 1898- 1901. On Harbour, Hospital and Education Boards and Licensing Committee. Sunday School teacher and Superintendent for 60 years till he died, Circuit Steward, Trust Treasurer, Society Steward, local preacher, Conference Secretary and first lay President 1885. Secretary of the meetings that founded Dominion Rd Church, and a preacher. Strongly opposed to Union, but loyal to it. A gifted and highly experienced speaker and writer. Fostered Sunday School libraries. A giant among Christians. His painter son Charles is well known, though David largely forgotten! Francis Collingwood Taylor 1848-1933

Frank Taylor, born at Sunderland, England in 1848, emigrated to NZ at 11 years of age and attended Alexandra St Sunday School. Quite young he was ‘in seafarer pursuits’ for several years then employed at a Kauri gum store, rejoining Alexandra St 46 as Sunday School teacher and Church officer. ‘One of the leading workers of the Circuit [1893]’Circuit Steward 1893. Married at 30 on Dec. 25, 1878. Moved to Brixton Rd [? Area] 1896, in a sparsely populated district. Distance prevented attendance at Alexandra St, he organised a local cause. Taylor family so largely involved, the Church for some time known as Taylor’s Church. Seventeen years superintendent Sunday School; a daughter played organ, Mrs Taylor and a daughter taught Sunday School. Twenty years Secretary and Treasurer of Trust, forty years in Sunday School work. Dominion Road became ‘one of the strongest of our Auckland suburban churches’ Suffered deafness later. Lived at Takapuna from about 1923. Died 1933. ‘On the way to the cemetery we tarried at the Church he had done so much to build and.. paid our last tribute...’ Rev. Dr H Ranston, an old friend, gave the address. The Taylor house was where services were held prior to building of a Church. The house at 2 Herbert Rd was later The Taylor home. It has since been replaced by units. There is a plaque to Frank Taylor as father of the church’. Mrs Mary E Taylor née Spencer 1854-1925 Bright, happy, enthusiastic as a girl. Entered Edwardes St (Alexandra St) Sunday School at age 11. Her husband spoke with pride of her industry as wife and mother. Family of three sons and three daughters—all ‘have risen up to call her blessed’. One son, Frank, diligent student, held ‘a high position in Christchurch [?Christ Church] Oxford University’. She joined her husband in Sunday School teaching. She had the pleasure of declaring [the brick church] open for public worship. Resided at Takapuna for some time. Rev. W S Potter, who had known her from boyhood, gave the address at the funeral service at Dominion Rd Church.

47 48 The Methodist Centenary Hall After the War the fund-raising continued. The existing Sunday School premises must have been severely over-strained. With nearly two and a half thousand pounds the Trustees set about their next move. A new hall and Sunday School was to go on the site of the existing one. During 1922, the Sunday School officers made their proposal for more up-to-date accommodation for their work. That was the Centenary Year of Methodism in New Zealand, a big celebration. When the hall was completed in 1925 it was named after the commemoration of 1922. There was a kind of logic in it: 1922 was when the plan began. The first job was to plan, the second to clear the site, the third to build. There are gaps in our knowledge now but they can be filled by imagination. The plan is not quite so striking now as it was then. The building was custom-made for Sunday School and Bible Class, and youth activities. It was regarded as a model Sunday School building, state of the art. Plenty of classrooms and plenty of assembly hall. It was customary for boys and girls to sit on separate sides of the assembly. The hall had separate entrances for boys and girls. With the roll over four hundred the premises had to be ambitiously large. There was nothing to match it for miles, either among churches or similar buildings. A long list of organisations, over the years, wanted to use it in any spare slot. The decisions were made in December 1924. The understructure was removed and further excavation done. The old church hall on top was moved to a parking position and extended. The new understructure was built, the lower hall. The next stage was the stone-laying of 5 September 1925. The southern stone near the main entrance was laid by Mr and Mrs Watkinson. The bare names, no other wording. The fuller inscription is on the northern side, on the stone laid by Rev. W.S. Potter. The chairman of the district, Rev. Dr. Laws assisted as did Mr J.W. Shackelford, Circuit Steward as well as local trustee. And then the wooden building was removed to Waterview to become the Sunday School there. The writer was a very small child at the time, but the new hall was in use when he began Sunday School at about three years of age. The hall is still in use at Waterview. The opening on Saturday 12 December 1925 was attended by senior ministers of the Methodist Church including Rev. E.P. Blamires, General Secretary of the Young People’s Department, and by the Secretary of the Sunday School Union. ‘The majority of Methodist ministers in Auckland were present, also representatives of

49 the Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist and Congregational Churches, and the Salvation Army.’ Rev. F. Copeland who had been involved in the early discussions, travelled up from Hastings at the invitation and expense of the Church. Mr S.E. Chappell, the Sunday School Superintendent, expressed thanks and congratulations and officially opened the building he had been largely responsible for overseeing. Rev. Copeland ‘commended the work of the Sunday School as the greatest work of God’s service’, and conducted two of the three services on the following Sunday. The following Tuesday the celebrations continued: ‘an old-fashioned tea meeting was held, over 200 sitting down to tea in the commodious Bible Class rooms, to a repast that had been provided by members of the Ladies Guild and friends. A public celebration followed.’ And there is more! On the Thursday ‘with the assistance of Sunday School teachers, a most enjoyable programme...for the 400 friends who had braved the elements.’ (This was the only wet night.) And more! On Saturday 19th, a plain and fancy dress social. ‘This proved the largest social gathering that had been held in connection with the school. Almost every Methodist Bible Class in Auckland and surrounding districts was represented.’ The choir must have been sung out and the organisers done to a frazzle. The Methodist Times report included a description of the building. ‘The building has been erected without contract, under control of a special committee of trustees, and the personal supervision of Mr S. E. Chappell. The total cost, including furnishing and lighting, will not exceed the estimate of £4950. The main construction is of brick and concrete. The main hall, 70ft by 42ft, with a platform 25ft by 12ft, is finished in white plaster, with grey dado and oak-stained mouldings, doors and furnishings, and provided with comfortable seating for over 450 people. Across the front of the main hall is a large junior room, with a removable panel wall which, when required, can be thrown open to the main hall, providing additional accommodation for 150. Classrooms are provided off the main hall, along the northern side, so that the maximum of light and comfort is obtained. A Superintendent’s room is also provided. Entrance to the main building is made through a vestibule 7ft by 8ft, off which is situated rooms for the secretary and library. Separate entrances are provided for boys and girls on each side of the building, both upper and lower floors. The senior grade of the school has been allotted the lower floor. Here is provided an assembly room 32ft by 25ft, and a club room 30ft by 25ft. These rooms are separated by a sliding wall which, when opened, gives unbroken seating accommodation for 300. Six large class-rooms are situated off the larger rooms on this floor. The building is also provided with an up-to-date kitchen, storeroom and cloakrooms, for both boys and girls. The funds available for the cost of erection of the building were, on November30 last, £3357; a further £826 is still to be collected, leaving a deficiency of over £700 still to be raised. Towards this the proceeds of the opening celebrations realised £130.’

50 But that gap between 1922, the Centenary, and 1925 must still seem odd. There is an answer. There is nearly always a reason. For the celebrations at Kaeo in 1922, where Samuel Leigh established the first Wesleyan Mission, the S.S. Ngapuhi took the Methodist party north, to two events: the dedication of the stone cairn on the site of the original mission, and the laying of the foundation stone of the Leigh Memorial Church at Kaeo (though the building was already half built). And the architect? Mr S.E. Chappell! He incorporated features of the Dominion Rd Church such as the ventilators at the base of the windows. And the style is Gothic. The architect was a builder using his well developed skills and extensive knowledge. No wonder that a couple of years later the Dominion Road Hall turned down the names Epworth and Wesley in favour of the Methodist Centenary. It was a late-in-the-day memorial to the centenary of New Zealand Methodism.

Methodist Centenary Hall (built 1925).

51 From the Records Still Growing The whole point of the building programme was to ease the pressure of people. The Church members were stretching both the Church building and the Sunday School. As the suburbs moved outwards the process that was applied to ‘Mount Roskill’ in 1895 to 1897 was applied to the next suburbs. Today’s district of Mt Roskill dates from 1930’ and sometime about 1930 Sandringham was chosen for the next Church site. Some Building Committee minutes (undated for year) plan the ‘Edendale Extension’. The secretary was ‘to write to the ministers at Mt Eden, Epsom, Onehunga, Pitt Street, and Mt Albert’ requesting assistance of carpenters etc from the various congregations. Of course, even a telephone call would have needed a confirming letter—but telephones were uncommon in homes then. And probably in parsonages. There were carpenters in the congregations, which still were well supported by men. And the Church was intent on extension. This was to be another one-dayer. Shortly after the dedication service there was to be a reunion of workers. That, of course, was plainly a service and a celebration, an expression of the religious solidarity of the workers, proud of their skills, their strength, and their commitment. It was their Christian witness. The same section of minutes solves the question of how the transition was effected at the time of the building of the Methodist Centenary Hall. The DRYMI building was moved south on the site to what is now the south east corner of the car park. The old wooden church was placed between it and the roadway, on the rest of what is now the car park, ready for removal. That left a clear space between the Church building and the new hall with its two entrances. The northern ramp was designated as the vehicle way in, the path looped between the two buildings, and then to the parking area, with the one-way exit to Dominion Road. That system was necessary because of the narrowness of the exit, and the fact of a tram stop close by. In the photograph of the clearing away of debris after the old Parlour (formerly the DRYMI building) burned down, the permanent foundation and steps can be seen. There was heavy demand for use of the hall. The charges were set, the exemptions sorted out, and the hungry in many cases sent unwillingly away. The Church needs of course must come first. Any fragments from the table were snapped up quickly. The Church was well aware of its ability and its need to serve the local community.

52 There has not been time to research whether stipends were local or national. Probably the former, as the Ministers were concerned over low stipends and the ministers at times drew the matter to the Trust’s attention, sometimes with response, sometimes not. There was a cleaner to pay, and an organist. But the main problem was a constant shortage of money. The Church got by, but only just. It was not wealthy. Its people were mainly not well off. That may be hard to believe when today we are greatly disturbed by the increasing gap between rich and poor. How poor is poor? The Social Welfare system is the major cost of the Government today. Expectations are higher. Robert Muldoon’s autobiography records how he and his mother walked about one kilometre to the Kingsland tram section to save a penny fare (three pence return to Auckland saved between them) when he was a boy in the early thirties. In 1940 the tram from Auckland to Three Kings emptied out its full load of Teachers’ College students at Lovelock Ave. the end of the penny section, and students walked the extra from Lovelock Ave to Stokes Rd to save the penny. That was invariable. It does give perspective to the apparent penny-pinching in the minutes, the multiplicity of schemes and methods of collecting money and the pride in the results. If there had been an easier and better way surely Andrew Messer, accountant, Church Treasurer 1927-1935, would have been exactly the person to find it. If we have the right man, he was Auckland City Treasurer 1922-1937. The City was having exactly the same problems, particularly in the Depression years. The original layout of the interior in the brick church was, as usual then, with the pulpit in the centre front, the choir in front, tiered, and the organ facing the congregation. In 1921 the old church organ was replaced, with funds raised by the choir, and Mr R T Sando led the cantata ‘From Olivet to Calvary’ on Good Friday evening. In 1942 the organ position was reversed so that the choir could see the conductor better. Music was a feature of worship and the Church culture, and was to be so for a very long time. In 1923 the Methodist Times reports on Dominion Road’s Children’s Year building campaign. ‘The school roll has now touched the 400 mark, and the present building is totally inadequate for its purpose. It is impossible to assemble all the scholars who attend on Sunday afternoons in the hall, making it necessary to conduct the school in three divisions.’ A fundraising effort to provide the Centenary Hall was called ‘The Poppyland Fair’. The name was used for subsequent ones too. This 1923 one was October 23, 24 and 25 indication in itself that it was huge. A large marquee was erected to give more space. ‘From early morning on Labour Day an army of workers was set the task of erection, installation of electric light, and decoration before nightfall, and by 6 p.m.

53 everything was complete in readiness for the stocking of the stalls. The stallholders were busy early the following morning and before the hour for opening a veritable fairyland had been created. The effect of electric lights among the red poppies and lycopodium was, as expressed by those present, wonderful.’ This was the new electricity. Miss Winstone, superintendent of Pitt Street Sunday School was the dignitary to declare it open. The choir in 1925 had reached a peak: under Mr Harry Duke it won the Championship Shield at a musical carnival in the Auckland Town Hall. The choir put on a local performance afterwards— a social evening for friends and Church officials, in the Zealandia Hall—attended by one hundred and fifty. ‘Several American sailors were welcomed, and fully enjoyed themselves.’ Music? Yes. In 1926 Mr R T Sando’s choir in the Methodist Centenary Hall had nearly 300 voices assisted by an orchestra. The Church thought that ‘in many ways it constituted a record’. Extension work again in 1930 at Mt Roskill. This was to be a one-day effort but rain interrupted— ‘by mid-day heavy rain had set in, and put an end.. .for that day at least’. A number worked the following Saturday and it took a third to finish it off. It was ‘well situated in a growing district where there are at present no other services or Sunday School’. The worker net was cast wide: ‘A large number connected with the Dominion Road Methodist Church and a number of men of all denominations living in the district, as well as from other churches and circuits in and around the City of Auckland, willingly gave their services.’ Two of the ministers pitched in, and the ladies from Dominion Road, Kingsland, Eden Terrace and Pitt Street did their part. In 1930 there was a reunion of ‘old folks’ associated with Dominion Road Church. A focus was the 82nd birthday of Frank Taylor. The cake was in the shape of the Church. Mrs S Warren was the only other foundation member remaining. The two oldest ladies were Mrs Smith and Mrs Frame, 89 and 88; there were 25 over 70. A number claimed 50 or 60 years of membership ‘either in the Homeland or in the Dominions’. With a very large Church a large number of elderly did not mean any sort of imbalance. It was indeed an honouring of age. The Church always had some elderly, even in the beginning, but it had then been primarily a younger part of society. Over thirty years later, there were bound to be ‘old folks’. The Depression hastened changes in society. In 1936 the Men’s Fellowship took the initiative in calling together representatives of the neighbouring churches. ‘At Balmoral.. .in the centre of a large population, there is a larrikin element which is causing concern to residents’. A committee was ‘to investigate the possibility of establishing a branch of the YMCA or other similar organisation’.

54 When Rev. Tinsley came in 1931 he expressed concern at the size of the church debt and deficit—£1147. With special thanksgiving offering and entertainments with large audiences that was wiped off. In 1939 Rev. Hames oversaw a fundraising for a Memorial Pipe Organ. The name was subject to haggling but stayed—it was not specific; but to the ‘sacred memories’ that attached to the Church. The ‘new’ Methodist hymn-book had been in place for a couple of years and was thought to be the best thing that could have happened in the Church’s musical life. The paces of social change in the war years was dramatic. The Church was in danger of losing touch with its own young people on some issues. The Youth Social Committee in 1943 sought permission to use the Hall for dancing. The Trust reply was that it was against the rule of the Church but that a number of trustees favoured their request. The next meeting reversed the decision: Pitt Street, Northcote, Birkenhead allowed it and the Badminton and Tennis Clubs had simply used another hall ‘where dancing can be indulged in’. The approval was ‘subject to sanction of the Church Steward and governed by conditions to be drawn up’ by a committee. The result of that was: application to the Church Steward in writing (with names of two chaperones and a trustee for the function) who will approve of the programme. And that grew to five rules, a framed copy in the Hall and fifty for distribution. In 1946 the ‘in writing’ rule was dropped. The times were changing. The Ladies Guild spoke up for a Parlour in 1944 but the Trust held out no hope— wartime restrictions precluded any chance of a permit to build between Church and Hall as desired. The DRYMI building had become a Primary room and the Guild opted for using that instead. Presumably the Sunday School work was not as large as earlier, and the peak had passed. A Jubilee Committee was set up 18 months before the event. It was accepted that 1947 would be the year and commemorate the first building. It could just as easily have been 1945 to commemorate the first preaching or 1946 to commemorate the first Sunday School. There was no big deal—the war had everyone too busy and too burdened to work for an earlier date. The Horopito St parsonage was being sold (it was an Eden Terrace Church property) and the hunt was on for one nearer the Church. Wartime restrictions continued, and the rules were tight. Housing was in great demand. A number of houses came up for sale, were possibilities, but nothing proceeded. It was a frustrating search. Reading between the lines, we may guess that any vendor wanted an illegal backhander, a payment under the table on top of the controlled sale price. And that the Church would not play.

55 Mr Gaulton, a trustee, offered a tenanted house he owned. Unfortunately the tenant was Mr Wills, another trustee, who would have had great difficulty getting another rented house nearby. The Property Committee inspected; and the vote was 4 for and 6 against, Mr Wills wanting his vote recorded against. Three Property Committee members resigned as they took it as vote of no confidence, and would not retract. There could not be a Property Committee if the Church Steward stayed resigned, so the Trust simply resolved to have no Property Committee. The whole matter had been very messy. It remains an obscure and somewhat cryptic episode. Mr Gaulton was the father-in-law of Mr Wells and they were on good terms. The present parsonage came up for sale just before the Jubilee. In preparation for the Jubilee the Trust got together photographs of nearly all the ministers to date and they were to be framed. The project fell down somehow. The Church has no set of the photographs to the time of the jubilee. Regrettably. Rev. Hardy became minister in 1947, with the Jubilee preparations nearly complete. The programme was comprehensive and much enjoyed. The Trust view was mixed: ‘I think we Trustees in our planning anticipated a certain response and felt that the celebrations were a failure when events did not match our expectations... However, if we judge the services and the other gatherings by their appeal to those who attended I am sure we would find that our Jubilee, was fittingly celebrated.. .The choir and Mr Letcher deserved the praise showered on them.’ The target of 200 pounds was missed. Result 11 pounds. The sales of the Jubilee booklet were disappointing—a large stock was surplus. The charge was 2 shillings— about $10.00 today. At the reunion there was A Pageant of Fifty Years written by Mr S E Chappell. Unfortunately the script was compiled late and the timing was out, It proved disappointingly short—which would have shown up with adequate rehearsal time. It is also, for 1947, dated material and does not include notes on material from memory between the scenes. Times were indeed changing. There were power cuts. A letter requested the Trust to put a lantern at each door to light early comers into Church during the cuts. The Church came through the war fairly well but the strains were showing. People were tired, austerity continued, the young adults were relatively fewer than before, and while the teenage numbers were holding, there was pressure on leadership. The Church had peaked and would not peak a second time in the same way.

56

Reception into Membership card 1942 and reverse side of card.

57 The Sunday School Movement The greatest source of nostalgia is the big events of the Sunday School, the large Sunday School, with large anniversaries. Dominion Road began in one sense with a Sunday School (in Mrs Hirst’s cottage) in December 1876. That was commemorated annually. A platform of tiered seats was erected on the stage of the Centenary Hall, the topmost almost to the ceiling An orchestra accompanied as well as the piano. It was a musical festival, with Church members and parents packing the Hall for two or three services. But the Hall was not big enough. It was necessary at the peak of the Sunday School to go to a bigger hall, the Empire Theatre (built 1912), later renamed the Astor, hall and cinema. (Sir Donald McIntyre recalls his mother Hermyn McIntyre’s work with an orchestra at the Astor.) Dominion Road took its opportunity promptly as its own 500 capacity was not big enough. ‘Willing helpers erected the stage after the pictures on Saturday evening and then did the dismantling on Monday morning before leaving for work.’ Mr Reg Sando who was choirmaster for two different periods, 1916-22 and 1930-35, was Sunday School Anniversary choirmaster for twenty-seven years. ‘His influence on Sunday School singing over those years is impossible to estimate.’ He placed a silver ring on his baton each year as a commemoration. His daughter still has the baton.

Sunday School staff 1947

58 The Sunday School movement is an historical phenomenon of great significance. It links with the Ragged Schools of England, and its place in education has not been adequately acknowledged. Rev. Frank Hanson addressed the Wesley Historical Society on the theme at the 1996 Conference at Avondale, using an overhead projector and illustrating profusely from academic histories and from the small church histories of New Zealand. Members were there who saw pictures of their own Sunday Schools when they were children, or teachers, and there was plenty of reminiscing. Rev. Hanson is now to undertake study for a doctorate from Melbourne University on the Sunday School Movement. The fact is that it had its day, a very, very long day, but that day is over. He gave some reasons; he will study more. It is important, in his view, that we should not carry a load of guilt for failure It was not our fault. It is right and proper to see it in its historical perspective and rejoice in its good times. The reminiscences supplied for this centenary make it crystal clear that in memory they were great times that coloured people’s lives. In 1956, at the Sunday School anniversary someone collected together an address from the records and oral history. A copy, unsigned, is among the Sunday School reports (incomplete, and even fragmentary) at Methodist Archives. Some statistics are included: 1917 Roll 321 Average attendance 210 Teachers 22 Average attendance 19 1918 Roll 359 Average attendance 244 Teachers 36 Average attendance 23 There is a section on Sunday School picnics: ‘In the very early days it was the custom for all the schools around the city to assemble at certain points and march in well regulated groups to the Auckland Domain on New Year’s Day, under a marshal who for some years was Mr Enoch Wood, a prominent city butcher. He was regularly mounted on a white charger and we are told looked most impressive. Each school party marched behind its own banner. I wonder how the modern child would respond to a long march on lst January to the Auckland Domain for the Sunday School Picnic! An old record states— ”Most of the scholars walked the whole distance while the younger ones were assisted with a buggy ride”. The first picnic was held in Mr Hirst’s paddock in conjunction with Eden Terrace School. This would most likely be somewhere in the Burnley Terrace area. In 1906, New Year’s Day, Pullan Armitage carried the scholars by bus to and from the Domain for £2. By 1st Jan. 1913 the picnic site had been changed to Kohimarama, Mr Utting being given the task of ordering provisions and firewood while Mr E Chambers (later 59 Rev. E B Chambers recently superannuated) had to arrange for milk and water. On Jan 1st 1914, a suitable paddock at Cornwall Park was arranged for and the scholars travelled by electric tram. In recent years we have favoured Camp Wesley, Henderson travelling by bus, but no longer horse-drawn.’ The address listed the outstanding helpers over the years: F C Taylor: superintendent for first 15 years. R T Sando: over 30 years as conductor. S E Chappell: superintendent 12 years; 14 years on staff. J C Chappell: scholar, Bible Class member, teacher, conductor—his whole life. A Messer: secretary 1907, and treasurer for many years. J Watkinson: Long-service diploma from Auckland Sunday School Union for 60 years’ service. He specialised in the Primary department. [And his wife was ‘irresistible’ to the small ones. She also conducted the children’s choir.] Mr and Mrs G Higgott: ‘I think they were two of our original members.. .and among our steadiest workers.’ Miss Hilda Marter: grew up in the school; for a very long time ‘a most painstaking and conscientious Sunday School secretary and treasurer’. Others names were Miss Henley, Miss Gould, the Misses Harding and Mr Bennett who initiated the [then] Boys Brigade Company. He missed Mr Dan Moore. Mis-filed with the address was another also unsigned, but dating from ? 1942. It is likely to have been by Mr Moore. There were calculations of the service given by the teachers. (In today’s language he quantified.) ‘Mr Watkinson during his 60 years’ service gave up over 3000 Sundays. Mrs Higgott must have taught over 50 years as I have a testament at home given by her to me in 1891. Fifty years represent over 2500 Sundays. Some members of the present staff have over 40 years’ teaching to their credit which represents over 2000 Sundays. Why do they do it? For the sake of the child? Yes. For the Church? Yes. But above all for Jesus Christ. To win young life for Him. We believe He gave Himself for us.’ Long service went with the Sunday School movement. David Goldie was another in point: teaching until only a couple of weeks before his death at 84.

60 Both Goldie and Watkinson were heavily involved, emotionally and financially, in providing libraries for their Sunday Schools. Rev. Eric Hames acknowledges his own indebtedness to that. So does this writer. Long before libraries were readily available, long before day schools had libraries, there were books in abundance for children attending their Sunday School. While it is true that Christians are, or used to be, people of the book, it is also true that Methodists were lovers of education. For many it had, in a formal sense, been denied them. They educated themselves. They were readers and they intended the children, theirs and other people’s, Church members’ and nonmembers’, hearers’, to have access to books. When the only age-level reading was The School Journal, a Sunday School library was Aladin’s Cave. The strategy for Church growth was by evangelism to children. Then to adolescents and young adults. Dominion Road had a Bible Class from 1899, Cradle Roll, Infants, Primary Department, Sunday School, Bible Classes, junior and senior, Christian Endeavour, Band of Hope, Young Worshippers League, League of Young Methodists (LYMS), Girls’ Club, DRYMI, sports clubs, harriers, and later Boys Brigade (with Life Boys) and Girls Life Brigade (with Cadets), and Scripture Union examinations. The Primitive Methodist mission to New Zealand was based on a pledge by the Sunday School teachers of one area in England to fund a missionary—and no doubt followed by children’s giving too. That paid for Rev. Robert Ward and family in 1844 to go to New Plymouth and get to work. The Solomon Island mission was heavily supported likewise from the pennies of the Sunday School scholars Methodist. They got news at their level from Lotu magazine. (Adults got The Open Door.) Children supported special projects. The penny: how difficult it is now to understand the value it once had. Penny postage was the communications miracle that lasted about a hundred years (though being a late starter in New Zealand makes it less here). The penny section. The penny drops. Penny wise, pound foolish. The largest of the Dominion Road Fairs, fund raisers, included a copper trail, a standard way of raising modest amounts in hard times. Sunday School teachers were recruited from the Bible Classes and instruction, advice, curriculum and organisation sorted out in teachers meetings. The largest schools were as large as small state schools today. All voluntary, and needing a lot of organisation to keep the school going and succeeding. Hence the Sunday School Unions, with resources across a range of denominations. The first Trust Book of our Mount Roskill Church is in a Primitive Methodist book specially printed for Sunday School minutes. The advice and rules are a full page at the front. It was regarded as a valuable historical record. It listed in simple steps how to run a meeting, and who does what and why. Good advice. The Trust did it. Regrettably Mount Roskill Church Sunday School record did not survive. The Sunday

61 Schools records are late and incomplete— mainly some annual reports. And by that time the main concern was ‘leakage’, the loss of children from the roll, the not knowing where they were, and the increase, even if it were bigger in the end, not making up for those who had simply dropped out, lost to the system. Christian Endeavour was another way of involving the young. There appears to be no history of that, important though it once was. It used valuable principles of involvement, participation and responsibility. It must have been at different levels, young and adult. Senior children ran meetings, prepared prayers, even prayed, chose and read Bible passages, chose hymns, and gave talks. A wonderful learning experience for young adolescents. But it died too, along with Sunday Schools. A world-wide movement of four million, of scores of nationalities, deserves a history, even a belated one. Band of Hope, with children taking the pledge to abstain from alcohol, was a response to a social evil, and another social opportunity for children. Olive Hart (Pitt Street now) remembers going as a child by cart with the Eden Terrace Band of Hope down Khyber Pass to sing Band of Hope songs outside the pub at the Newmarket corner. The men responded by raising their glasses. It must have been the time of the 1919 referendum which voted Prohibition in New Zealand by a narrow majority abd reversed it when the soldiers’ votes came in from Europe. But the Band of Hope lived on for many years—the Trust Book shows Mrs McIntyre in charge and allows signs and posters at appropriate times. The Bible Class Movement was initially rather segregated: Conferences for the Young Men and the Young Women in separate localities. There was a national president of each. The grandmother of Sir Michael Hardy Boys, Governor General, was president of the YWBC Union in 1915. There is no record of any delegate from Dominion Road, but it would be surprising if local young people never became involved nationally. The Easter Camp movement developed. The Methodist Boys Camp was at Motutapu in 1921, in tents. Again we have no record of our own Church’s involvement. Mr R T Sando, after 32 years at the Church, moved to Dunedin in 1943. He was invited to come back to the Jubilee in 1947 but was unable to do so. He sent a full and moving letter which was kept on file. He remembered and honoured a number of the stalwarts beginning with Mr Taylor ‘the first superintendent with whom I was associated, Mr Messer and Mr Higgott and their splendid wives...’ and then focuses on his relations with the children. ‘When I think of the 27 years in which I was privileged to conduct the Anniversary festivals, what a joy it is to call to mind one after another of the girls and boys who shared those great occasions with me and now as I sit here writing they seem to crowd around me as they so often did years ago and they are so numerous that I dare not start to mention them by name. The girls always helped me most loyally and 62 I never had to fear failure with anything they undertook to do but sometimes the boys seemed most difficult and two occasions stand out in my memory when I had to be thankful for the assistance of Alton Higgott and Seph Chappell in their respective periods of leadership amongst their mates. I recall how when we had a week night practice, groups of the little ones would run to meet me along the road and offer their bunches of flowers— generally the commonest of marigolds or daisies with hardly any stems, but I accepted them all as though they were orchids, because of the love they signified. Sometimes the big chair which served as the pulpit chair in the old Church, later removed to Waterview, was well filled with flowers which I had to carry away and dispose of in some convenient hiding place on my way home. I have heard that during the preparations for your Jubilee celebrations some very kind things have been said about the part I had in the work of the School, but I would ask those who have thought thus to stop a moment and pay heed while I assure them that the advantages were not all on one side. I cannot measure what an influence for good in my life came to me from the affection and trust which those children showed to me and, though there were many hours of hard work and some discouragements entailed, the deep satisfaction of heart and soul far outweighed every other consideration. Just think for a moment what it means to have children recall to me considerable portions of addresses or illustrations I had given months and even years before in Church, School or Band of Hope. That was repayment indeed. I think often of the regular ministers who were stationed at Dominion Road during my time there and of dozens of others who assisted at other times and I say—Thank God for such a succession. Believe me I was never more sincere than at this moment when I say that to have been associated with such men as the Rev. Percy Paris, the Rev. Fred Copeland and the Rev. R B Tinsley, rank in my life as God-given privileges of inestimable worth.’ The whole Sunday School movement held up for a remarkably long time in the place of pressure of a changing society. Rev. Hames commented on the movement and the problems in Coming of Age. He testified ‘that the most fruitful evangelistic efforts in his ministry were the weary hours devoted to keeping in touch with the parents of Sunday School andJunior Bible Class members. If one could secure their interest one had the family.’ He probably had his Dominion Road experiences in mind when he wrote that. It will be better to hold over consideration of the uniformed groups to the next generation.

63

Ladies Guild 1943.

64 Roll of Honour MINISTERS Rev. George E Brown 1924-1927

Never ceased to pay tribute to his respected parents and Christian home (in Dunedin). Candidated 1914 student at Dunholme Theological College under Rev. C H Garland, with a group drawn into active service in the first World War. Served two and a half years in New Zealand and overseas, and was with Army of Occupation after the war’s end. Ordained 1920, and served forty years, to 1955. He gave most significant leadership in the restoration period of the Young Men’s Bible Class Movement in the Wellington district after the war, becoming the Y.M.B.C. Division President in 1923. He had a gift of friendship and attracted the trust and confidence of young men—and he played senior hockey for Wellington’s Wesley Club. At Whangarei established Northland sub-District Executive which later led to a Northland District. Secietary for Nelson and Otago-Southland Districts, and Statistical Secretary of Conference for six years. ‘A good exponent of the Scriptures, a leader of young men, patient with the elderly— a good Methodist minister.’

65 Rev. William Rowe 1927-1931

Born in England 1885, emigrating with his parents early to Northern Queensland, then to New Zealand at 12 years, to Waihi where he came to faith. Offered for Home Mission service, and from there for ministry training at Pukekawa Theological College in 1909. Ordained 1915. A wise planner and capable administrator. At Lower Hutt he carried through an extensive building scheme—a church centre and shops. Examiner for many years in Old Testament English for probationers. Commissioned as a Chaplain in World War II serving chiefly with the RNZAF for nearly five years, travelling extensively on duty in the South-West Pacific as well as Air Stations in New Zealand. He was ably supported by his wife Mabel for sixty-five years of marriage. He retired prematurely because of illness but had thirty years of retirement and became the Father of the Conference. Rev. Robert B Tinsley 1931-1936

Born in 1880. His mother was daughter of Rev. John Moore, Primitive Methodist minister from 1828 in England, who retired in 1869, the year his son-in-law, Rev. William Tinsley entered the Primitive Methodist Ministry. William came to New Zealand (see the Watkinsons’ profiles) and the sequence covers 121 years of continuous ministry to 1949. Robert was converted in 1900, beginning teaching and 66 preaching. He was a candidate in 1905 and became ‘a forthright, able preacher, an understanding pastor, and a wise administrator’. ‘His abilities marked him out for Connexional work. Seven years as Synod secretary, thirteen years on Conference secretarial staff, two as assistant secretary, three years as secretary of Deaconess Institute, [three] as Minute Secretary of the Foreign Mission Board, Chairman of the South Auckland District for four years, Hawkes Bay- Manawatu for two years, and President of Conference in 1944, is a most impressive record and reveals his calibre.’ He was one of the Primitives who entered the Union. He had a rare understanding of men, sound in judgment sharpened by respect for plain common sense; forthright in utterance, impatient of cant or humbug, devoid of sentimentality, he was a rocklike character upon whom men could utterly depend’. He declared himself greatiy indebted to the support of his wife, Jessie. Rev. Eric W Hames, MA, 1936-1939

Born 1897 of parents of old Albertland stock. Volunteered at 20 for service in World War I, serving in France. A candidate in 1919, training at Dunholme. He graduated MA with first class honours after his first probationer year and married Mary Wilson during his next probation period at Cashmere. His three circuit appointments concluded with Dominion Road after which he moved to tutoring at Theological College. He had been an able administrator, preacher, pastor and historian; the College side brought out his impish humour, down-to-earth pastoral caring, his scholarship ‘which though disciplined, never lost the common touch, and a deep spirituality’. There were many challenge there in the post-war years: married students more common, the first women candidates, the School for Christian Workers, and a modernising of curriculum. He taught most subjects. He built up ‘a remarkably efficient staff’. At retirement he wrote: ‘I have given the College what it is in me to give, and found great happiness in that service’. 67 He was secretary, North Canterbury district, and twelve years Chairman or Deputy of the Auckland district; Chairman of the Home and Maori Mission and Overseas Mission Board. He helped the Church ‘develop a worthy theology of ministry and was able to pursue his interest in liturgical revision’. President of Conference [1951]. In retirement he continued with lecturing at College and university and exercised his gifts in historical research and writing. He was an early member of the Wesley Historical Society and then President. Four of six small booklets were historical; two of the three full books were sesquicentennial volumes. He used his gifts to the full, in a long life. Rev. Frank Gardner Brown 1939-1941

Born Dunedin 1895; went with parents to England, and had his schooling there. Converted at 16, and preaching soon after. Trained at Cliffe College, the last of a group recruited as Home Missionaries for here, in 1913. Two years as Home Missionary; volunteered for overseas service in First World War; wounded. Farmed for a time then trained for ministry at Dunholme College. Entered ministry 1925; married 1926. Volunteered, from Dominion Road, at the outbreak of Second World War; a Senior Chaplain, Middle East, mainly hospital work. On return too unsettled to continue long ministry. Took up flower market gardening. Continued with preaching as required. ‘A fine gift of eloquence, and an unmistakeable message. He mixed praise with thanksgiving. His faith found expression in acts of kindness and thoughtfulness.’ He had ‘a burning love for Christ and a desire to give God the glory for the great things He has done’. He and Eileen were married 61 years.

68 Rev. Howard Edwin Harkness MA, BD 1941

Born Tonga 1914 (father served Free Wesleyan Church 10 years). To N.Z. aged 7. Trinity College 1935; probationer at three places including Dominion Road. Served five Circuits. Secretary of two Synods, Conference Secretary 3 years, later Assistant Conference Secretary. Administrative ability with courtesy, anticipation, resourcefulness; ‘concerned to teach the faith. An evangelist.. .within the context of solid teaching’; as a pastor ‘very effective in care.. Maintained a special interest in overseas mission outreach’. Died 1982. Rev. Harold Kilford Brown 1941-1943

Born Hawkes Bay, 1914; died 1987. Motor mechanic; declined pharmacist training for ministry. Bible Class leader, lay preacher. Home Missionary 1936, candidate 1937; Trinity College 1938. First appointment Dominion Road 1941, then six other Circuits. District Secretary 19 years, Chairman 5 years. Responsible for Nelson Lifeline Service. ‘A faithful and effective interpreter of the Gospel. He was sensitive in his leadership of worship... and a caring pastor.. .the Grace of humility and the gift of humour.. .He loved music.. .valuable contribution through organ, piano and choir.’

69 Rev. Victor Roy Jamieson 1944-1947

Born 1904 Lower Hutt, died Lower Hutt Hospital 1968, while acting Chairman of District. Married Aileen Morrow 1925; entered Home Mission Service 1927, in five places including Whangaroa [which has the Leigh Memorial Church, Kaeo] and then as ordained minister in another five, including Dominion Road. At Raglan was first minister of a Union parish. Thirteen years at Fitzgerald Ave Christchurch and superintendent. In 1939 Army Chaplain, serving three years in Middle East. Awarded MBE for heroic service during evacuation of Greece. 1947-1962 senior chaplain to the Armed Services; secured chaplaincy for units of Air and Army training. Awarded Efficiency Decoration in recognition of chaplain services. Served on important Connexional committees; Chairman of two districts. Initiated the present position of Christchurch Central Mission in Methodism. ‘A straight forward and honest man, he held no grudge against those who differed from him. As a preacher he was an eloquent expositor, as an administrator he was sound and practical... an impressive record for a Minister who had not the benefit of College training.., an untiring servant of the Church and a staunch advocate of the Gospel.’

70 LAY PEOPLE Mrs Sarah Ann Watkinson née Freer Born Worcestershire, England 1857. Emigrated 1863 in the Annie Wilson. Joined Edwardes St Sunday School aged 6, continuing to womanhood. She (17) andJoseph W present to welcome Rev. W Tinsley to Auckland in 1874 on appointment to Alexandra St. Married 1880. Transferred 1882 to Pitt and Union—the Watkinsons prime movers in erection of Church there. Nineteen years there she taught Sunday School. Transferred to Dominion Rd 1912 and continued. Excelled in Primary Department. ‘With the little ones she was irresistible and they were fortunate who received their first impression of religion at her hands.’ Failing health at about 73. At the funeral ‘the dominant note was one of triumph, for truly her life was a triumph of grace in its beauty and service’. George Higgott

Died 1942. ‘Was one of the foundation members. As Sunday School teacher, and Minister’s Steward over a long period, his work was characterised by zeal and faithfulness unequalled. As a singer of outstanding merit his association with the choir was valuable. In every good work he undertook, there was always that loyal co-operation with others that made it such a pleasure to work with him. We know that throughout his life he was a Christian gentleman—one of God’s Good Men.’ Trust minutes 15.9.1942 His memorial is the Communion Table.

71 Reg Sando

Transferred to Dunedin in 1943, after 32 years (from 1911). Choirmaster, Sunday School Anniversary choir leader, teacher, superintendent, Bible Class leader, trustee. See 1947 letter in text. Died 1957. John W Shackelford

Born in England in 1857, came to New Zealand in 1879 and Auckland early 1880s. A devoted Pitt Street member for over seventy years, lay preacher for sixty-two, Vice- President of Conference —, and representative at several overseas conferences. Long-term secretary of Pitt Street Trust and Prince Albert Board. Notably for Dominion Road, trustee 1914-1942. Named on foundation stone of Pitt Street Bicentennial Hall (senior trustee). He held almost every possible Church office. He was keenly interested in civic affairs: last mayor of Borough of Newton, first mayor of Grey Lynn when the district was renamed. He was also a councillor in Mt Albert Borough. Later going to live in Mt Eden, he served as councillor and was Mayor in 1919. (The Mt Eden history of 1990 spelled his name wrongly!) In business life he was known for utmost integrity. His name was a front name in a Connexional fund raising Appeal in the Methodist Times. The Dominion Road Trust minutes show his constant attendance, but he, like Goldie, was a Church leader whose interest and influence were directed to district and connexions. The Methodist Times said, ‘A man of God has passed from our midst.. .a continual inspiration.’

72

73 The New Circuit The 5 Paice Avenue purchase was completed at the Land Court (controlled) price of £1225. The necessary renovation was substantial and faced difficulties of post-war restrictions and shortages.

Amy Leadley outside the Parsonage, 7 Plaice Avenue, early 1960’s. (Purchased 1947) The Ladies Guild was not at all happy about the Trust’s refusal to proceed with the permanent parlour scheme. The Primary Hall was to be converted into a parlour, but the Guild pressed for two representatives on the Trust. The strain was showing. The post-war austerity involved power restrictions including a voluntary blackout for 6.30 to 7.30 Friday evening, which would cut across Life Boys. The Church could not get an exemption. Moreover it had trouble getting the Hall tenants to co-operate in achieving the reductions required by the Power Board. The new parsonage needed a telephone. The application received a classic response: ‘Owing to lack of cabling accommodation it would be impossible to provide telephone service. ..in the meantime. Only when cable vacancies become available 74 through relinquishments could a telephonic connection be made.’ The Church got the President of Conference (Rev. E T Olds, superintendent of the Circuit) to lean on the Postmaster-General, and he did. A new subscriber had got a telephone and the Church wanted to know why it had been turned down. The Church’s grounds were minister’s need for hospital to be able to contact over sickness or death, and for the minister to be able to contact the undertaker. It got its telephone before long. The Parcel Fund was finally closed down at the end of 1950. Not only did the Church collect for general Patriotic Funds during the war (including from the Thanksgiving Day) but sent parcels to its members and adherents, looking after its own. It also gave for the special appeal to help the war- damaged British churches; and then continued with parcels for Britain in the post-war period of great need. That was the time of clothing coupons and food rationing there and here. The Trust even wrote to Mr Virtue, butcher, Dominion Rd in appreciation of the dripping supplied. The Parcel Fund closed at the end of 1950—a period as long as the war itself. In one year 1946-7 the Church sent 136 parcels at a cost of over £71 . Well done. The signs of a changing world caused worries over both the present and the future. The Trust wanted a ginger group ‘to increase attendance, the root of financial problems’. There was an expressed need to be seen to be lively, to update notice boards and to get sermon topics early for publicity. The cinema screen advertising continued for some years and publicity was given plenty of attention. The evening services were declining and the slide could not be halted. The Church Parlour burned down 21 February 1950, and though that made difficulties for the Church’s hospitality it hastened the project that had been put off. When Rev. Carr came in 1951 he sensed that the Church needed prompt action to help its morale. The Memorial Organ Fund of 1939 had not progressed well—no organs in the war period, and then years of austerity. It was only in 1950 that a determined effort was made to clinch the deal and to purchase a pipe organ. The electric type (as at Balmoral Presbyterian) had been studied too. With a sum in hand the Trust needed 180 people to pledge £10 each, in the present or at subsequent dates. The pledge was not small—close to a week’s wages. Rev. Carr combined the organ that he was to inherit from Rev. Hardy with a development project for the Church interior. The central pulpit went, the conventional exposed organ pipes (in themselves a cost, and decorative only) were to go behind a grille (as at St David’s Presbyterian) and the whole east wall redesigned. Technically, according to Rev. Carr, the grille was a reredos. The work was Mr S E Chappell’s, as was the present pulpit at one side, recycled from the central one, in its turn a relic of a former Pitt Street pulpit. The tongue and groove

75 vertical boarding was covered with pinex panels, expected to be better for acoustics as well as easier on the eye. When the organ was dedicated—a full Church that day—a number of members were overcome with emotion. They had waited this for so long, and they had made great sacrifices. They sat and wept with joy. Marion Reader played one verse on the old organ, closed it, crossed to the new pipe organ console and gave it a blast for the next verse. It was too much for some. Old organs never die. In 1948 Rev. H Kilford Brown at Wanganui sought a harmonium he knew was spare. He got it: sent to Wanganui North ‘for any donation they wish’. In 1953 the old organ went to Kaitaia for £120. The Pipe Organ (the memorial tag did not survive, even though there is a pre-war fundraising pamphlet with the name) cost £2050 , with other costs for the redesign of the Church interior. Not long after, a section at White Swan/Richardson Rd cost £1050 . In due course the Church did get an electronic organ. That was when the maintenance cost was becoming exorbitant, and the organ needed $30,000 work on it! The Church bit the bullet and purchased a replacement in 1989, an Allen electronic 530k the old pipes in due course going to St Matthew’s, where one could reasonably expect them to be going to a good home. In sum, pipe organ 1951, electric organ 1990. Rev. Carr [see profile] helped on several occasions with fundraising as Cigam (magic in reverse). To put that in perspective, we can refer to 1953 AGM figures: Fair £169, Thanksgiving £169, Cigam night £30. There are indications that a new system of connexionally determined stipends was in place. Earlier some ministers had expressed concern over the inadequacy of the stipend. Rev. Hawes makes several comments in Coming of Age. The Trust never had money to spare. It decided on adding a travel allowance. An earlier ambiguous and inadequate minute of 1943 reported an increase of stipend that we hope was legal. Either Rev. Kilford Brown asked, or the Trust wished to offer. He was asked to withdraw while the Trust discussed. ‘The Secretary informed...that £13 per year increase was the Government order in regard to all wages and salaries up to £5 per week [wage control] and mentioned that in the opinion of the Circuit Stewards the stipend might be raised from the £50 returned to the Trust from the Circuit... It was agreed to grant... an increase of £50, members all feeling that we were being well served.’ (A private’s pay then was 8 shillings a day on active service, under £3 per week.) Cars were still hard to get in the early fifties: two members lent cars to Rev. Carr until the Church was able to buy one for the minister with an anonymous loan. The present writer missed by one meeting the chance as secretary to head the minute

76 item as Car for Carr. The current joke was that the three local Methodist ministers were Carr, Ford and Parker. With the change of minister to Carr in 1951 there was also a reorganisation that had been considered and declined as early as 1938. Dominion Road separated from Pitt Street after 38 years. It headed Auckland South Circuit and planned extension work in the corridor to the Manukau, an area subject to an explosion of new housing, mainly State housing, and the accompanying population surge. At one stage Allan Carr indicated that he was under great stress. He certainly was, as superintendent; but so was the Trust. The Dominion Road Trust did the main planning, then the Quarterly Meeting checked on it. Hillsborough section bought then sold; White Swan Road corner, with a Keith Hay prefab church put on it; Tyler Crescent, with the White Swan building moved to it, and later Rev. Doug Burt in charge. The Church was pioneering again, but in a changed world. Eric and Helen Laurenson had their family out south and helped Tyler Crescent. (When Eric became lay president, the highest office a layman could attain to in S E Chappell’s Vice- Presidency had gone higher.) Grafton Road Church, at Trinity College, became redundant when a chapel was to be built. It went to Marion Avenue (1957) despite some ill- will from residents who wanted modern buildings for new housing surroundings. But it was a grand old dame, with its own modern parsonage alongside in due course. The demands on the Dominion Road Trust in planning, in acting until a local Trust could be established, and in arranging finances, were heavy. On individuals like S E Chappell, and the superintendent minister, even more so. To complete the story, and to jump ahead, we should add the Lynfield cause. In a time of church unions, it made sense to show a united Christian front, and share the cost. The number of Christians on the ground and wanting a church was alarmingly small compared with generations before. They had to be sought out and encouraged. In this case, on the second attempt, it went to Methodist-Anglican Union. The danger sign for Dominion Road was when there was clearly reluctance to take office. The Church was running out of leaders, both men and women. The original Church had been young. Now it was old. Or ageing. There was a simple explanation. The Church had for years renewed itself from the young. The young grew up, became leaders, married, and the only way to get a house was to go to the outer suburbs. Banks would not lend on old houses. The young leaders had to move on. And people’s lives and careers moved on. Donald McIntyre, a young teacher, was a choir member; then led the choir for a short time. He went to England to further a career in opera. As did his friend Noel Mangin, who practised with Donald in the hall. One of Donald’s first flings, just after beginning 77 voice training, was the Hallelujah Chorus as he painted the Bible Class room in the evening. Another fling was while painting the roof of his family home in Paice Avenue, to the delight of the neighbours. Pat Irving and Heather Ogilvie ran a Young People’s Choir; both became deputy organists. Heather completed a music degree and trained as a secondary school music teacher. Pat went to Wellington to train as a Commercial teacher. Heather married an Australian and became one herself. The message that no-one could get was that an inner suburban church could not renew its leadership from the ranks of the young. Not only didn’t, but couldn’t. But Dominion Road sent some wonderful people to serve other churches!

With organ and Church interior attended to, now it was the turn of the people. The Parlour. So desired by the ladies. Mr S E Chappell, retired, took it on. He needed a helper. Mr D V Moore took him up. They were both strong characters who were bound to clash. Rita Carr says it was astonishing how they did the work for months without a cross word. She regards it as one of the minor miracles. The opening ran to three services, as in the old days The Parlour itself is their monument, but there is a plaque too. Miss Marter, near retirement, decided to do even more than before for the Church. She offered three days per week for a year. Miss Great Heart. The piano in the Parlour was on loan through Mrs Frith, who was a 78 stalwart of the Women’s Missionary Auxiliary. A Miss Frith had been a young leader at Eden Terrace, and then a missionary to India (the Zenana Mission). There must be a connection there. The piano was finally bought, partly with a gift from her son and daughter in memory of the late Mrs Frith.

Miss Marter Rev. Allon Carr was a serious and dedicated preacher, when preaching still was the most highly regarded virtue, along with being a good pastor. He had flair. His successor, Rev. Clarrie Leadley [see Profile] had a quite different background but he too could preach well. His most memorable talent to many was his children’s talks. (His son Frank collected them for family and posterity.) Clarrie had the Solomon Islands on his heart as well as his lips. And his family were fully involved in youth leadership. On his way home from the World Conference after his Presidential year, he saw the Rennie’s Mill project for destitute children in Hong Kong. It was later supported by Dominion Road for years. The economic change and growth in Hong Kong are a world away from the late 60s. Then it was not a society that did very well by its very poor. We hope it does better now.

Rev. David Taylor at Rennie’s Mill in Hong Kong. 79 Clarrie was asked to help a leader from the Solomon Island field who wished to write to the President of the United States. He translated the letter and sent it under South Auckland letterhead with the original and dealt with the reply. A few years later a pictorial history of President John F Kennedy’s life and death included a facsimile. The ‘native’ had rescued Kennedy and his men after their PT boat was sunk. Early in Rev. Harry Moore’s ministry a Milton Rd property adjoining the Church was offered but ‘not contemplating any extension of the Church property’, the Church declined. The future is unpredictable. The late sixties were times of great social upheaval in Europe and the US. Social reaction here was milder but real. A CYMM (Youth Movement) dance organised at Dominion Road had to request Mt Albert police to patrol because of earlier troubles. Gatecrashers could wreak havoc at a Church dance. Another sign of change was a series of break- ins, over several years. On one occasion the keys were stolen—an expensive theft to counter by lock changes. And in 1970 the silver communion plate was stolen. The open door policy of the Church had to change too as vandalism could not be prevented. Harry Moore gave handsome Bible markers for the pulpit Bible on his return from a retirement trip overseas. They too were eventually stolen. The area between the Church and Milton Road was subject to an application to go commercial. The Church put in a pro forma objection so that it would be informed of what was happening. It finally became a used car and tyre lot. In 1968 Donald McIntyre honoured his parents and the Church of his youth—’the distinguished New Zealand bass singer, formerly of the Church, who returned with his family for a brief season with Festival Society. There was a large gathering at which Mr McIntyre and other artists gave items and the function resulted in an amount of £185 being received, which at Mr McIntyre’s suggestion, has been placed to the credit of the re-carpeting fund.’ Rev. Gordon Cornwell was given to believe that the decline at Dominion Road was so rapid that he would be presiding at its funeral. The traditional youth work had largely collapsed. Evening services were closing all over the churches and the uniformed groups went into recess, a word to express a hope that they had not closed for good. But they had. Gordon Cornwell laid up the flags and that explains the present display. There was a lot of sentiment, naturally, about an era that had passed. The re-flooring of the Hall became a 75th anniversary project. The third generation ended with some changes in Trustees that were in one sense routine, but in another marked the change of generations. Ernie Whyte retired as Treasurer after ten years of able service and in other offices as well. Max Butler took over, an Australian sent here by his firm, with young family and part of the new economic world. He and his

80 wife, Ros, had a different perspective from Australian Methodism, which New Zealand had said goodbye to in 1913 in preparation for Union. Boys Brigade The 19th Auckland Company was formed in 1935, Life Boys in 1937. Records are not available, but it was a very important part of the Church’s work among boys. It was specifically a church organisation, unlike Scouts, but served other denominations as well. The Company had close relations with the companies of other churches in the district and also at regional and national camps. Ian Morris attended an international meeting in England; John Mannall got himself to a South Island meeting at a time of a national transport strike. The impact on the members of the 19th Auckland Company has in many cases been profound—the best time of their lives.

Rev. Allon Carr inspects the Boys Brigade, 1950’s. Former Parlour in background. Girls Life Brigade This was formed in 1943, the 42nd Auckland Company, the Cadet section in 1945. It was modelled on the Boys Brigade but had a quite different style appropriate to the girls. The Brigade and Cadets were served by dedicated officers whose work was appreciated by many parents over the years.

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Girls Life Brigade Cadets, 1950’s, with leaders Val Irving and Noelene Shaw. Women’s Fellowship The women’s groups - Missionary Auxiliary and raising for missions and the maintenance of the Guild - amalgamated in 1963. The Church Trust church buildings. The fund raising continues with depended heavily on financial support from the annual Fellowship projects in the new style of women’s groups, which were focused on fund mission and development.

Ladies Gui1d 1947 82 The Wars The only way to put some flesh on the bones of the minutes of meetings is to take some themes and see what the Church thought or did. The events that had the greatest effect on the Churches and organised Christianity here and elsewhere were the wars. During the Land Wars there was conscription into the militia. A now lost letter from a Wesleyan missionary to the Government at the time of the war in the Waikato has its contents noted in a book that survived the fire in Parliament that destroyed many records early this century. The letter requested exemption for a son because of the missionary cause and relationship and the harm from association with active service. The Primitive Methodists reacted differently. Three sons of Rev. Robert Ward, the founder at Taranaki, were involved in the Land Wars. Charles was educated at the then Wesley College in Auckland and later in Taranaki, together with two brothers, joined the forces. He ‘served with The Taranaki Bushrangers under Major (later Sir) Harry Atkinson’, who admired him enough to offer him a commission as an officer’. Charles later entered the Primitive ministry and served in New South Wales for seven years, before returning to New Zealand. While stationed in Auckland, he was a prime mover in establishing the Dominion Rd Church. With Union, Wesleyans were added to Dominion Rd Church. A former superintendent at Pitt St, Lt Col Rev. J.A. Luxford, had a long service as a chaplain, in the Boer War in 1902, to the militia 1905-1910. He enlisted in 1914 at the age of sixty, losing a leg after being wounded at Chunuk Bair at Gallipoli, and served on as chaplain at the Walton-on-Thames military hospital in England. ‘During this time 35,000 men passed through the wards, and at the end he could say he had spoke to every one of them.’ He never recovered his earlier vigour, and died in 1921. He was renowned and greatly mourned. With former Wesleyans added to Dominion Rd, and with Pitt St. men among the trustees the story would be well known. But there were differences of opinion about military service: a Defence Act of 1913 was the subject of great concern, and of a plea for preparation for peace, not war. After World War I, there was a revulsion for many. Rev. E. Hames gives an excellent overview in Coming of Age(1972). He served as an infantryman for the last six months of the war and his few personal experiences he includes are very revealing. He acknowledges that the New Zealand Churches gave almost uncritical support to the war; but that they accepted ‘the right of the conscientious objector to recognition as a human being.. . We are always Christians before we are anything else, and the Christian obligation of consideration even for our enemies must not be over-ruled by any other relationship.’ He concluded that the war ‘brought home to the Churches the extent to which they had become alienated from the common people. They were no longer interested. The Victorian boom in religion was over’.

83 It is hard to get a clear view of Dominion Rd’s reponse to the war. The only specific connection is the death of Percy Watkinson. Mr J.H. Muldoon, a trustee had two sons serving, one of whom was later to be father of Robert Muldoon, the Prime Minister. There must have been many others from a flourishing Church with many young men members and many former Sunday School and Bible Class members. We shall never know. We do know that the outbreak of war in 1914 raised immediate problems for the building being advertised for tender. The Trust minutes of 6 September 1939, a couple of days after the declaration of that later war, made no direct reference to note an historic occasion, but ‘in view of benzine restrictions it was decided to pay the tram fare of Miss England, the organist’. The wartime juggle of ministers must have accentuated the sense of emergency. Rev. F Gardner Brown had been appointed early in 1939. He enlisted as a chaplain at the outbreak, and only just managed leave to attend the Silver Jubilee commemoration of the opening of the brick Church in March 1941 before going overseas. A student supplied early in 1941, Selwyn Dawson, followed by Rev. H E Harkness as supply. He served only briefly before going to the YMCA at Trentham Camp. (In World War I there had been a large Methodist hut there, with a chaplain.) Mid-1941 Rev. Kilford Brown was appointed as supply for Major Rev. F Gardner Brown on active service. (There had already been another Brown 1924-27. We have to work at it to distinguish our three Brown ministers!) The congregation must have had some concern at the Annual Meeting of the Church in October 1940 when no minister or student was available and the meeting was chaired by Mr A Trenwith, an original trustee, one of Only two lay chairmen in the history of the Church’s Annual Meetings. In 1941 the city organised blackouts and the Trust had the front steps painted white because of that, for evening meetings. The screw tightened in 1942. J C Chappell [1960’s], a stalwart of Trust, choir and Sunday School, was ‘in camp’ for home defence. The Ladies Guild arranged for donation boxes for parcels for members of the Fighting Services (‘agreed, providing they were emptied after each service’). There were also Patriotic Fund collections. Arrangements were made over War Risk insurance. That was prudent. Two years after the blitz in London the Trust decided to secure shovel, rake and sand for the Church; also pump and hose. The threat was now from Japan, but in fact the worst was already over, with the Americans occupying local camps, displacing 1st Brigade (NZ) to the Northland area, mainly Whangarei.

84

J C Chappell When it was known that Rev. F Gardner Brown was returning from the Middle East he was invited to return to Dominion Road when available. He resumed in mid-1943. The Trust extended congratulations to Mr J O Sims (Treasurer 1935-1947) ‘on account of his son, G O Sims, having gained his Commission in the Army in the field’. There had been a special donation to place a brass cross on the communion table. It was anonymous, but in appreciation of Rev. Kilroy Brown’s work, especially with young people. That required, once the cross was approved, and the 18 inch model preferred to the 24 inch one, application to ‘the Factory Controller. ..for 25 pounds of brass.’ There is a Rehabilitation Fund mentioned but its purpose is not explained. A special letter went to the beloved J C Chappell in camp, and preparation made in 1945 for a Peace Thanksgiving Service whenever peace came. The 2nd Division in Italy, training for the Spring attack would have appreciated the sentiment if not the timing. There was to be a 10 foot by 3 foot calico sign for the Peace Thanksgiving but no Trust record of the event, VE and VJ Days were big, spontaneous and not very religious celebrations for most people. And unlike the Anglicans the Methodists had no bells to make loud noise with. Running through the record from early 1941 there is a touch of Dad’s Army: The Trust granted use of the Hall to the Home Guard every Thursday night, free of charge initially, subject to revision, and under conditions. They were: no smoking in the hall, the premises to be left clean, and consideration for the Thursday night Church service (7.30 pm - 8.30 pm). By mid-1943 the Trust was concerned that the Home Guard was not making an adequate donation to cover expenses — ‘received only 5 pounds 5 shillings ($10.50) for 2½ years’ use’. The electricity for one year’s use was costing more than that. The Church had a point; and behind the Home Guard was government funding. The Trust resolved that every organisation using be asked to contribute to repairs and maintenance. The Home Guard asked for a lead. They were to get it and at the same time get a mention of the effect of heavy traffic on the ramp. The Home Guard sent 5 pounds 5 shillings when 10 pounds at least, yearly, had been ‘mentioned’. 85 Clearly the Church was being very short changed. The Home Guard cheque had not been endorsed correctly, so it was returned with a ‘please explain’ added. It came back correctly endorsed, without the extra sum! The Church got a similar run around over a room used by the Emergency Precautions Service (EPS). The EPS had a room for Red Cross that the Church wanted released once the emergency had lessened, in June 1944. EPS ‘asked to retain the room in case of an outbreak of any epidemic’, thinking obviously of the great Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, after the First World War. The Church declined but would help if there were an epidemic. Six months later it was pressing the Red Cross—it was urgent for the Church to have the room back for its own needs. Six more months and it was going to take it up with the Mayor. The Red Cross then said it needed the room for a clinic, and was again refused. In March 1946, the secretary was to see Mr Harker, ‘and if nothing was done within a week Mr Whitehead was to take further action to clear the EPS rooms’. The Church did its bit, as did others. In July 1940 the Trust approved the use of the Bible Class Assembly Hall on alternate Thursdays by the Happiness Club for the purpose of sewing for Patriotic and War work. At no charge. Those on service were not forgotten: Mr Wills, trustee and printer, wanted special cards with the names of men on active service. But the record has not survived. In Sunday School annual reports there is a sentence (1943) stating that three teachers are on active service and one in detention camp. Alan Graham was a conscientious objector but such objectors were rarely treated as genuine and were sent to detention camps for the duration as military defaulters. It was harsh, more so as a number of Labour Government leaders had themselves been conscientious objectors in World War I. Man’s wife, Rita, had been part of the Girls’ Club and a loyal member of the Church too. After the war there was ‘no vacancy on the teaching staff’ for him and he taught at Kingsland. After a time he led the senior boys’ Bible Class at Dominion Rd. But the mood of society was unwelcoming to former objectors and the family moved to the Middle East in refugee relief work. As an accountant, Man served there, including Palestine, for many years before returning to New Zealand and Dominion Road.

Alan Graham 86 The personal details were to come to light only a few years ago in the Jane Campion film, War Stories Our Mothers Never Told Us, and the associated book. The Church had the occasional supportive person, but there was deep hurt. A more Christian spirit was shown by Man’s former colleagues who pitched in with financial aid for years for Rita and family. Alan had been a bank manager—many respected his sincere views without necessarily agreeing. And that’s how it should be. The Methodist Church had had great difficulty coping with its Rev. Ormond Burton who would not accept the discipline of the decisions of Conferences. He too was detained and he was a thorn in the side of the Government. He had been a highly regarded infantry NCO at the Somme in the First World War and had written a popular history of the NZ Division. His bravery had been demonstrated—totally. He had become a leader of the peace movement. There again was a hurt that divided the Methodist Church deeply. The 1939 Annual Trust Report referred only mildly to ‘the problems ahead that only time will resolve’. In 1945: ‘the greatest war in world’s history is at last over.. .We should do well to seriously consider what special steps we can take to capture again the young men who have returned from overseas’. The suggestion of ‘a club along the lines of a first-class gymnasium’ showed a deep gulf between the Church and those it hoped to attract and teach. For many reasons, personal, religious and social, most did not come back. One who did was a trustee for some years before moving on. There have been just a small number of members and Church officers who served in war, including (‘carve her name with pride’) one woman! Rev. E Hames implied that the Church did not understand the mind of those like him who had served—experience that could not be shared—and it might be fair to say the Church never has understood. As it has never been able to understand the mind of the objector either. Old soldiers do, contrary to the song, die. We remember George McIntyre with his one arm, veteran of Gallipoli and one of four rugby brothers, father of Donald who put opera ahead of his rugby opportunities. Mr Harold Fawcett served with the Australians at Gallipoli and survived the infamous ‘Daisy Patch’. There was a representative of the Australian Returned Services League at his funeral to honour him. Tom Davis, from England, served in the Fire Service in World War 2. He had a George medal for saving children during the Blitz.

87 Roll of Honour MINISTERS Rev. Francis Joshua Handy 1947-1950

Born Birmingham, England, 1900. Came to Auckland area at 12. Entered Home Mission work in Masterton circuit. Entered Dunholme for ministry training. Served in a number of important Circuits. ‘He was a preacher of unusual ability, anxious always to secure a most effective medium and expression. ..he preached constantly on the great themes of the Gospel’. In 1949 published Jesus the Preacher. His book...his preaching revealed his intellectual honesty... friend and critic alike testify to his Christian interest... ‘a capacity to meet people helpfully and creatively in their need’.. He gathered ‘groups of people, some from outside the Church, in study and discussion’. Married Moira Burgess 1932—’a devoted wife and mother’. Rev. William Ernest Allon Carr 1951-1959

Born 1906, died 1992. Parents Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, members. Grandfather Rev. T G Carr, uncle Rev. Clyde Carr. The three contributed over 100 years’ service. Trained at Dunholme and Trinity. Attended Auckland University three years. Married Rita Vance 1933—they served together throughout his ministry. Ordained 1935. Served in six circuits. Dominion Road became Auckland South 88 Circuit—which he superintended. From 1948- 50 Allon served as Senior Director Youth Department in a time of major change. Represented NZ Methodist Church at World Methodist Conference and Council at Junaluska, North Carolina, followed by a period of study at Boston School of Theology, and he visited England. Europe and the Middle and Far East on the return home. At Dominion Road on several Boards of the Church and Chairman of Publications Board and Auckland Orphanage Board; on Synod Secretarial staff, thirteen years Corresponding Secretary of Conference, many years examiner in Pastoral Theology. He had musical ability. His special hobby was as a magician [CIGAM — MAGIC reversed] which gave opportunity for witness. and helped greatly in fundraising. ‘He gave much time and thought in his work with children and young people...he was a quiet and persuasive evangelist.’ In his twenty years of retirement he continued ministry in new and varied fields— hospital chaplaincy, St David’s Presbyterian, World Vision, Green Bay Community Church, supply ministry at various churches, Methodist and other, ‘active as a servant and minister.. Someone said he was sure of God. He was also committed to love people in the spirit of his Master and Lord. This commitment was nourished by a disciplined devotional life’. Rev. Ernest Clarence Leadley 1960-1965

Born England 1905, son of Rev. Frank E Leadley, grandson of Rev Francis Leadley. Boyhood and schooling in Australia. Family moved to New Zealand 1920; he became apprentice carpenter. Called to Mission work, aiming at lay missionary. Met Amy Coombridge, also planning overseas service. They looked to the Solomon Islands. Rev. J F Goldie strongly advised full ministry— meaning seven years’ preparation. Candidate 1926, Dunholme and Trinity, probationer at Whakatane, then Auckland West. Permitted to marry during last six months of probation. Ordained 1934 and appointed to Roviana, Solomons. As acting headmaster taught pupils who became leaders in church and state. He and Amy (pharmacist and nurse) served eight years,

89 had three children born there, and were evacuated separately as the War erupted. Clarrie and his group made an epic three-week voyage, scraping across the Barrier Reef to reach Mackay to rejoin Amy. Served in three NZ Circuits, superintendent of two. President 1962; four years Chairman of Auckland District. Represented NZ Methodist Church at World Council of Churches in Delhi. Formed relationship with Rennies Mill mission Hong Kong on way home—a link continued for years. Maintained close contact with the Solomon Islands Mission, visiting for Golden Jubilee in 1953, in 1961 to mediate during a time of secessionist movement as President and New Zealand representative to the Diamond Jubilee in 1962. In 1964 designated Chairman of Solomon Islands District, serving 1966-1968, assisting in establishment of the United Church of Melanesia. Continued with supply work on return. One son Frank was first president of CYMM (Christian Youth Movement Methodist), son Alan is a fourth generation Methodist Minister. A Solomon Island minister said: ‘He is gracious, he has a smiling face, he always speaks first.. .he is a happy person, he is a hard worker, and one thing stands out in his life, that he is very friendly to all people’. The writer’s family adore him. He could not always remember names and greeted men as ‘mate’ and the women as ‘ducks’. Successfully. At his 90th birthday Solomon Islands’ students and leaders feted him with Solomons dance and feast. He is revered. And now 91 not out. Rev. Harry Moore 1966-1969

Born England 1914; family came to Auckland in 1922. Began work at 13, shortly after in Post and Telegraph in Auckland and Northland. Entered Home Mission work 1941, began studying prior to candidating. Became first married student in training, was student supply at Henderson. Served in six churches, five in the North Island including Glen Eden twice, and a third time as short supply after retirement. Recurring laryngitis forced early retirement at end of 1969. He took secular employment but did short supply on occasion. 90 During his student supply he started a youth club the first night that grew to the point of hiring the Glen Eden Town Hall. In the early 60s he started from scratch again at Glen Eden and started a youth centre in an old house the Church had purchased. Married Elsie Carey in 1939. In retirement wrote devotional material for The Upper Room and promoted the publication. ‘He became a lay preacher at 16.. .and felt the urgency of proclaiming the Christian message...by sharing his spiritual experience with others and by being a most diligent pastor. His utter honesty made him constantly assess his continuing effectiveness.’ LAY PEOPLE S.E. Chappell

His work was not adequately recorded in the Trust minutes: Rev. Carr paid tribute ‘as a counsellor of wisdom, a sound guide, and a Christian gentleman... his record of service not only to Dominion Road Church but also the church as a whole, having filled the highest position to which a layman can attain. [He was Vice President in 1951, with his President his old colleague Rev. Hames.] His work in connection with the alterations to the Church at the time of the installation of the organ and the provision of the Church Parlour is an outstanding memorial to him and his work for the Circuit as a whole is evidenced in the extension work which has resulted in the establishment of churches at Marion Avenue and Tyler Crescent.’ He was an early trustee of Balmoral Presbyterian Church and transferred to Dominion Road about 1917. He was a Circuit Steward, architect of the Leigh Memorial Church at Kaeo, was largely responsible for the Methodist Centenary Hall of 1925, Sunday School Superintendent and Bible Class leader. As Frank Taylor aged S.E. assumed his mantle. Died 1959.

91 Joseph Watkinson

Born 1856. Aged 91 at time of Jubilee year. Attended Alexandra Street Church. A prime mover in establishing Pitt and Edwin Street Church in Newton. Married Sarah Ann Freer 1880. He was a stalwart of Pitt and Edwin, including Sunday School Superintendent and preacher. He was treasurer of important Primitive Methodist Connexional Funds, and highly acclaimed for that at the last Conference at time of Union in 1913. He moved to the newer district and was at Sherwood Road (Horopito Street) during the early Mount Roskill Church years. He transferred at about the time of Union and was a mainstay, with his wife, at the Dominion Road Church as trustee, preacher, and leader in the Primary Department of the Sunday School. Sunday School worker 60 years, and preacher 56 years. His son Percy’s gift was a foundation for fund raising for the Hall, but the Watkinsons gave large sums on many occasions, anonymously. Their names are on the Hall Foundation Stone. Mr Watkinson was a prosperous tailor: and he made trousers for the orphanage boys in his old age. His deafness led the Church to get hearing aids installed - a series as technology developed. He was a modest self-effacing man, with obviously great devotion and talent. Dan V. Moore

92 The Trust recorded appreciation: ‘of the services rendered...in his capacity as Secretary and Treasurer of the Trust.., and as a member. His energy, devotion, and untiring service in many spheres of the Church’s activities have been a splendid example to all....’ Died 1958.

Dominion Road Methodist Church, interior. (end 1997)

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94 In a Changed World The story of the decline of the Church is like that of many churches of the period. Auckland had many such churches that were once full and have now closed, or have a small congregation of mainly elderly people, in fact mainly of elderly women. It is true of Auckland’s traditional Methodism, but also of other mainline churches, though to a lesser degree. Methodism had focused on the preaching places in quantity, and while that was fine in the times of growth, it was vulnerable in time of decline. Even in the early growth period Methodists, Primitive or Wesleyan, had been quite ready to make the adjustment of closing down the weak and backing the strong. The story that follows is to record, not to complain. Here are the facts: the membership declined, the children and young people’s work was in serious difficulty both in numbers of either and in providing teachers, the income reduced, the maintenance of property began to absorb most of people’s additional giving and energy, the musical life of the services suffered, there was an increasing shortage of leaders to fill the necessary positions, and the middle-aged aged. It became clear that Dominion Road was not able to pay for full-time ministry and reduced itself to half- time, then found even that beyond it. However, the Church coped with its traditional role and form reasonably well for the first half of this era; the problems of decline then escalated all too quickly in the second half. Rev. Cornwell determined on faithful teaching and preaching of the Gospel, and ensured adequate time for his preparation of services. The effects were apparent. His loyalty ensured the congregation’s loyalty. But the Boys Brigade closure was followed in a few years by the Girls Life Brigade closure too. While there were enough Sunday School children for an effective Sunday School, the teachers were hard to find. The lesson material did not match the needs of the children—the borough was changing, its social need was changing, and there was a challenge to provide appropriate teaching and content for the children that did come. Many were now Pacific Islanders, with language needs. Mr Taoa represented Samoan policy and Island community interests on the Leaders Meeting. Various Island groups were represented in the congregation: Samoan, Fijian, Tongan. The young leaders of the Church school meeting at Church time were doing one task of the Church for the Church, but themselves missing Church. That was not a perfect solution. Instead of the young of the Church, strong in faith, passing on that faith, the Church sometimes asked the too young to teach the very young, but before they themselves had reached a mature faith, and made it very difficult for them to develop a mature faith. The Sunday School system ended up defeating its own purposes. In the later period the children were inconsistent in attendance; it became

95 harder and harder to cope with the provision of teaching. But those who try, like Hulita Fakasi’i’eiki, have been self sacrificing. In 1975, just after the Annual Meeting, Rev. Cornwell suffered a heart attack, and Rev. Wesley Parker supplied. His three months stretched to about nine. Rev. Cornwell’s health gave concern and he took early retirement (see Profile). The Cornwells had done well in running three Women’s Fellowship activities, including younger mothers as a group. The friendships made there were an enduring bond for Eileen Cornwell, Elaine Hughes, Ros Butler and Naomi Lange. The Leaders Meeting appreciated Gordon’s ministry ‘as one of vigour. . .his concern for the people of the City as, well as Dominion Road.’ Of Wesley Parker, they appreciated ‘his great capacity for friendship, his breezy manner, and the way he unlocked many portions of Scripture through his sermons’. As early as 1974 there were concerns in the Auckland community at the large immigration from the Pacific. The Leaders Meeting commented: advising Synod ‘that it cannot support the sponsoring of Island people if their aim in coming to New Zealand was to raise money for Church buildings, but if their aim was to raise money to better the living conditions of themselves and other families in the villages, then the meeting would support it’. It was a plea for balance. In 1978 a Congregational Dialogue revealed that nearly a third were attending out of loyalty. The congregation had concern, but no answers. The leaders too were changing from time to time. In 1978 Miss Bette Brooke, a stalwart for years, resigned to transfer, and Miss Marion Hope replaced her. Derek Thompson, a young organist, also took on a variety of leadership roles, endearing himself to his older friends. And in time members of the Island communities joined the Leaders. The Tongan Fellowship made a request in October 1976 for ‘the use of Dominion Road Church for services of worship and for the use of the other facilities for recreation and fellowship’ at a combined meeting of Trust and Leaders. Rev. Taniela Moala spoke briefly ‘for use of the Church and lower Hall facilities.. .From time to time the larger upstairs Hall might be needed’. There had been earlier overtures. The Dominion Road response was warm: ‘It is with the greatest pleasure that the approach by the Tongan Community...for use of the Church for services of worship, and other facilities as required, be approved’. The Tongan connection had proved increasingly mutually helpful and a source of Christian joy. In 1979 at the time of the Tongan Easter Camp the Rev. Dr. S.A. Havea preached in the Church. Possibly Rev. Dr. Harry Ranston may have been the only previous D.D. in that pulpit. That was impressive. A Tongan Centre opened 28 October 1978 was coming into its own.

96 The Conference was struggling with change. A Making Disciples programme called together leaders from churches from Waiuku to north of Auckland. The training programme prepared teams of two to go to another Leaders Meeting or two and work through issues and strategy. Those experiences were invaluable for all—the team, the Church leaders and others, and for Dominion Road when it received a team in its turn. The programme itself lacked a long-term strategy. The Committee of Conference stayed in place for twenty years. It was clear about what it was against; but not so good on what it was for. The Methodist Church was finding it hard to make disciples. Rev. Brian Eagle in November 1977 reported on a Vietnamese refugee family sponsored by the Church. A committee had authority to ‘use any Church furniture.. .until sufficient.. .had been donated or purchased...to assist with three months’ rental [in an A.R.A. house] to cover Christmas and holidays, during which time difficulty could be experienced in finding employment...and a cash loan of $300 for 12 months. ‘The Lys, unfamiliar with church, attended the Church. The three children learned English, and have graduated from university. The Lys developed the Mekong Restaurant from nothing and helped develop the Oriental Market, in the process providing employment for many other New Zealanders. It was help given with no tags, and rightly so. The Lys turned disaster into success. In 1979, seventeen other family members arrived. The Church delivered a trailer load of gifts. Church Union had been studied and discussed for years. Another vote came in 1982 but nothing ever eventuated. The Union went ahead by Union Parishes, or Cooperative Ventures in the new Church speak. Now there are more Methodists (traditional church) in Cooperative Ventures than in Methodist Churches. They are getting restive with Conference which is focused strongly on the minority. In 1978 Rev. Grounds succeeded Rev. Brian Eagle. He developed the Tongan connection carefully. Although Dominion Road would have no part of a Circuit shop in 1974, the mood changed. It was prepared to take over the management by 1981 and thereafter Mrs Audrey Grounds made her mark on it. The funds were in a separate Trust and management, with stated goals of outreach, social service, and ability to respond to Church requests for specific projects. The Springbok tour of 1981 had the Methodist Church firmly and officially on one side, but not all members were happy with the Conference view. Dominion Road took the contrary view (though divided). It sent off to President and Quarterly Meeting its request ‘that the Methodist Church of New Zealand dissociate itself from the Springbok Tour Protest Movement’. It drew a reply in due course. History sides now with the Conference view—but New Zealand was divided then and the wounds have not fully healed. This Church that is one of the nearest to Eden Park saw the riots on television, the barricades round the park perimeter, the debris in the streets

97 the day after, and seemed to be paralysed. It was in a state of shock. The action was on its doorstep but could have been a world away. In 1982 Rev. Grounds was President of Conference—the highest honour. It fitted neatly into the local context that he was able to visit the Samoan Conference, Tonga and Fiji. But in due course the desire to keep closer links with the Samoan Church in Auckland was frustrated. They built anew and drew the Samoans from mixed churches to serve in the Samoan ones. We lost Simi Elia and family in time. The sad thing in the Church family is that it was easier for Samoan, Fijian or Tongan to work with Europeans than to work comfortably with each other. They all needed to pull their own people together to draw on the strength of their own culture. The need for their own language is a powerful need and in the nature of things the groups have been separated by language and culture. Death is part of life; and the minutes over the years record the passing of various beloved members and officers. Some in the early years were relatively young. As medicine advanced the deaths were mainly in old age. But in this generation in a relatively short period, the Church suffered the loss of some relatively young people: Mr Laurie Duurloo, Trust Secretary, by drowning; his wife shortly after, a long-term invalid but using her mental and spiritual gifts in ‘Dorothy’s Corner’ of the Church bulletin; Derek Thompson, organist and office bearer; Mrs Helen Bennett, former deputy-organist; Mrs Elaine Hughes, supporter of Welsh culture and Cradle Roll secretary. The end of Rev. Ted Grounds’s ministry was near and the next step had to be planned. The gap1 between the Budget Allocation and reality was widening. The outcome was a half-time appointment (Rev. Barry Neal) and for a year continuing ministry supply by Rev. Grounds to enable him to complete some projects he had under way. It had become clear that the Church was managing to continue with the coming and going of people of various cultures wanting an English language service. A Fijian- Indian group developed; the coup brought more, and returned others who would not now return to Fiji. John Sami was a foundation member, Michael Anand another early supporter whose wife Mariam soon joined him. The group set up a mid-week prayer and study group again. At the time of Rev. Neal’s appointment there was tension over relations with Synod. It would be fair to say that the local Church leaders were less than understanding of the problems of Stationing Committee and their own local predicament, and the administrators were less than understanding of the frailty (and frailties) of the local small church and members. In 1989 Rev. Tavake Tupou wished to preach again at Dominion Road before leaving his Mangere Church. His career was of great significance to the Tongans: ministering

98 at a Palangi Church at Otumoetai and then as President of Conference 1995. Such events forged stronger links.

John Sami In 1941 Rev. A.B. Chappell did one of the Methodist Church’s better small booklets: Across a Hundred Years, on Auckland’s Methodist beginnings and story. There was an on-site ceremony at Mechanics Bay and a Town Hall pageant. In 1991, the sesquicentennial, Synod did not have the strength or the will. But it did get a prod from Dominion Road, small though that Church was and is. In 1990 Dominion Road gave the best support of any to a Rev. John Bumby commemoration— John Bumby drowned in the Hauraki Gulf, just before Auckland was founded, along with twelve others including a Tongan, Joel. What a treasured Auckland link for our Tongan brothers and sisters! In 1991 the writer, Dominion Road member, sent a reminder of the sesqui of Auckland Methodism to all Auckland Methodist Congregations. In 1994, again with good local support, the opening of the first Wesleyan chapel at High Street was commemorated—the first Wesleyan settler church in New Zealand. About two hundred commemorated on the site. The Primitive Methodist sesquicentennial fell later in 1994. There was a commemoration at New Plymouth, and a notable gathering in Auckland at the Aotea Chapel. What would the Auckland Church do without Dominion Road to remind it and to prod it? In 1986 some English visitors attending at Dominion Road for a short time brought a Candle for Peace from their congregation in Bolton. It had it from a United States church that got it from a service in Russia. The candle was being duplicated and passed on from church to church, country to country. People had prayed for so long. The change did come, just as the Wall had come down. We light it each Communion service—the story needs to be told more or we inherit a ritual instead of an idea. In 1990, the commercial property next door, No 424, the Bos International Design building, was bought by the Tongan Methodist Trust for the Fellowship. There was a 99 lease-back arrangement until September 1992; but it has been mutually convenient to both parties to extended that. The 1990 minute said ‘The $150,000...Misinali Thank Offering last Saturday is one expression of faith and confidence in the Living God.. In the church, strength for one means strength for all’. In 1990 the Conference was grievously divided on the issue of the supply appointment of a practising homosexual minister in Dunedin; and in 1991 over his application for acceptance in Full Connexion. For Dominion Road, against, the immediate effect of the report of the 1991 Conference was that a key leader and his family resigned from Methodism. They now do their own evangelising effectively. Another was persuaded not to resign. The issue has entailed a loss of support, and a deep hurt. The hurt too is on the other side as well. Other churches, as well as in other countries, are working through the same issue of human sexuality. The Conference was working at a style that avoided voting and emphasised consensus. The effect when translated to local meetings has both good and bad aspects. It has not produced better and quicker decision or action. One bright and happy victory of 1992 was a project supervised by Rev. Grounds to stop the ‘flooding’ of the lower Hall that had started in a small way shortly after the opening of the Hall in 1925. Councils listened, consulted, inspected, evaluated, pontificated and the water always came again. Never better, always worse. The A team dug a deep ditch in the right place, at the boundary of No 4 Herbert Road (Tongan property) and the Church land. Solved. Hard work. No experts. Only it was seventy-five years after asking Council. In 1993 Synod and Central Parish which had been supporting Dominion Road financially wished to move Dominion Road to Central. The Leaders and congregation would, at first, not have a bar of it. At last it was, reluctantly, persuaded. The change was made. The number of meetings for the two ministers (Rev. Neal and Rev. Audrey Ancrum at Wesley), was greatly reduced. Dominion Road got better secretarial service and better financial administration. Problems of income remained unchanged. In 1993 Rev.Jone Langi was appointed Minister at Large for the Fijian congregations (Mt Eden, Dominion Road, Wellington, Rotuman) based on the Dominion Road Parsonage. After three years he continues for a year as minister to the Rotuman congregation. His preaching has been a solid support at Dominion Road. The pew Bible (Revised Standard Version) was not the Bible of choice of the non- European members. After twenty years it had passed its use- by date. The preferred version was The Good News Bible. It has a restricted vocabulary and thus has weaknesses, but though not a new version, is very widely used and meets the needs of those with English as a second language. A fragment of the long-supplanted Authorised Version remains in the continuing use of that form of the Lord’s Prayer. 100 The District was looking at strategy, to prepare for a somewhat predictable future. The finances of the Church called the tune. Changes had to be made. There were clearly no simple and obvious answers. Change would mean pain. No change would also mean pain. At various meetings new combinations, cooperations, and amalgamations were discussed. Finally Dominion Road decided to stay put. But it made one major change. It negotiated to transfer the property and the care and maintenance of the property, to the Tongan Church. The management task had become burdensome to Rev. Grounds. The financial burden on the Church was crippling, and would have been fatal if there had not been grants from all over, mainly Tongan gifts for specific projects. Dominion Road goes on paying just as before for a time—but the Tongans will gain real knowledge of the real costs very quickly. It will be worth it to them to have such a large and useful complex, and to be able to call it their own. Providing ministry In the Roman Catholic Church the greatest honour for family or parish has been to provide from its own, priest, nun, bishop or even Pope. The Methodist equivalent has been to approve one of its members as a candidate for ministry. Karori Church Wellington, had a roll of honour of such. Dominion Road appears not to have supplied candidates directly but has influenced some who have entered the ministry. Rev. Bruce Gordon attended a service at Dominion Road by accident and continued to attend. He was influenced towards ministry by Rev. Jamieson. Rev. Ian Grant was from a Presbyterian family. He became closely associated with Dominion Road Boys Brigade, and served as an officer there. He was called to ministry years later, gives a lot of credit to his Boys Brigade times, and his ministry is as a Methodist. Rev. Alan Leadley was a teenager when his father was minister at Dominion Road. He candidated from Dominion Road. There is strong family tradition of ministry but because the Leadley family is so beloved by the Dominion Road Church, there is a continuing pride in having had a share in Alan’s Christian nurturing in his Dominion Road years. Bob Mannall served in the Solomon Islands Mission as a lay missionary. That was a link in a chain of missionary service for Dominion Road: Clarrie Leadley, Gordon Cornwell, but long before that the missionary service of Rev. Suckling (Fiji) and Rev. Copeland (Samoa). The formal closing of the Solomon Islands Mission left a gap that has not been adequately bridged by the new forms that followed. 101 At a different level, the late Patricia Irving served the Connexion well through her secular fields of commercial teaching and tertiary education. She was a member of a committee that reported on new schemes for training for ministry. She had moved on from Dominion Road to enter teacher training but her formative years were important both for her and the Church here where she was a member and valued youth leader and organist. The Other Dominion Road Churches Rev. E Grounds has recorded the development of the Tongan Dominion Fellowship and the Fiji Indian Fellowship. The following are edited reports: TONGAN DOMINION FELLOWSHIP The establishment of various Pacific Island Methodist Fellowships in Auckland led to requests from Samoans and then Tongans for cultural and community centres. When a suggestion that the Samoan Centre being set up at St John’s (Ponsonby) incorporate both groups proved unacceptable, Dominion Road Church was invited to consider a development of facilities for Tongans on the largely disused lower floor of the Hall. The Centre was to serve both the Tongan Parish and the local Fellowship. The Church agreed on condition that the cost of alterations (kitchen, showers, toilets) be met by the Tongans, who were to have use of those facilities at all times and other facilities (Church, Upper Hall etc) by arrangement. The Centre was opened by the Vice President of Conference, Mr T.G.M. Spooner, in 1978. Initially the Tongans made gifts towards the cost of utilities, but later paid two-thirds of actual cost of services. They have made grants towards insurance, and always contributed to costs of subsequent re-development programmes. Many major events—Easter and Labour Weekend Camps, weddings, funerals, family gatherings— have been held. While the development of other Centres has reduced the pressure, the growth of the Dominion Kingsland Fellowship within the Auckland-Manukau Tongan Parish has meant little or no reduction in total use. In 1980 the Tongan Parish purchased No 4 Herbert Road which has a 3 metre common boundary with the Church property (426 Dominion Road). Earlier a maternity home, 4 Herbert Road had become a collection of nine more-or-less self- contained units. Turned into four flats it was reopened as Maka Mo’ui (Living Rock) by Princess ‘Ofeina on 2 April 1982. It has provided reasonable accommodation for many families and individuals. The back of the property is frequently used for the Umu (or native cooking). In 1986 the Tongan Parish had to act urgently to secure the St Paul’s Methodist Church properties in Northcote as a base for the Tongan Fellowship there. To finance the purchase involved the Dominion Tongan Fellowship in assuming responsibility for

102 Maka Mo’ui and making a payment to the Tongan Parish which then in turn paid the Northcote Methodist Parish building the new St Luke’s Church. The small Northcote Tongan Fellowship repays the Tongan Parish. In 1991 the Dominion Fellowship purchased Bos Design International at 424 Dominion Road for $1.1 million, with the help of loans from other Tongan Fellowships, the Methodist Church of New Zealand and the Bank of New Zealand. The original lease back arrangement was for three years but continues. To the Tongans it is Fale Bos. It has a common boundary with the Church property. The Kingsland Tongan services transferred to Dominion Road. In 1996 the properties were passed to the Tongan Church. Legal titles, by Conference resolution of several years ago, are vested in the Board of Administration in Christchurch and held on behalf of the Methodist Church of New Zealand. The local Church is responsible for care, use, and fun ding.

The inauguration of the Auckland Manukau Tongan Parish. Centre, Rev Taniela Moala. THE AUCKLAND METHODIST FIJIAN-INDIAN FELLOWSHIP The Auckland Fellowship has held monthly services at Dominion Road since 1988. Preachers are from within the Fellowship, or visitors from New Zealand or overseas. Others share in leading the worship, which is partly in Hindi, partly in English. A service is followed by afternoon tea, sharing, and prayer. By 1996 reduced attendance, and changed circumstances, prompted a careful look at the services and future activity of the Fellowship.

103 The Fellowship responds to individual or family special needs—as in sickness, death, marriage, house blessing and home groups. The Committee Convenor represents on the Fiji Advisory Committee of the Methodist Church. Kushma Narayan represented at the Women Journeying Together seminar in Christchurch in 1995, attended by 120 women. The Rev. Jone Langi completed his three-year term as Fijian Pastor-at-large at the beginning of 1997. He has been based at the Paice Avenue parsonage. The Fellowship publishes a monthly bulletin, sending four copies overseas. However it has received inadequate news in return and is dependent on occasional visitors for news. The group hosted a Consultation, and in 1996 passed the Consultation Banner to the Third Consultation held in Sydney.

At Consultation of International Fellowship of Hindi-speaking congregations, 1994. Left to right, Rev. Dr Daniel Mustapha, Ren Jione Langi and choir of Mount Eden Fijian Church. 104

RECEIVED: ONE CHURCH The following was written for family after the transfer of the Church property. It will stand as a record: ‘On Sunday 7 July 1996 the buildings were passed to the control of the Tongan Church. The English language service will continue as usual. After 99 years we had to relinquish control. A sad time; but not all sad. We had a special combined service and ceremony. It was a well-prepared, printed service, with dignity. A full church. I presented the Lawry portrait as a gift to the Tongans. Their first minister missionary (in 1822). Not a successful mission. But a further wave succeeded. Now a strong Tongan Church outnumbers the Palangis. By far. The gift was from Eric Laursenson, regional chairman, and his wife; an anonymous Lawry descendant and family; and Ivan and Betty Whyle as a Golden Wedding gift. The Tongans value the gift highly— their missionary. He was also the Wesleyan foundation layer for Auckland. The Tongan Choir sang the Hallelujah Chorus in Tongan, with organ and small brass band. Another Lawry’s wife said she cried throughout, and so did her husband. Ted Grounds presented symbolic keys—to the Church and the kitchen. Kitchen is important. A feast in the Hall followed. A pig on each table. The food was hardly dented. Speeches throughout... It was an occasion. We don’t have occasions of this order very often. They don’t come much better. I’ll always have a memory of the Hallelujah Chorus with wonderful harmony. Full on. We stand as is the custom for that piece. (I attended a Christmas Concert at Christchurch and the Auckland conductor mocked the custom. He knows the music, knows it too well, but doesn’t know the Messiah.) I think of when I joined this Church congregation—end of 1950. I remember doubling three-year old Alison on the bar of my bike, to get to Church. The baptism there of John and later Eleanor, I was so proud of my children. The family always with us—as a family. Life Boys, Boys Brigade; Cadets; Girls Brigade. We’ve done our best; we have served it well. And we’ll go on serving it. And you can be the ones to carry us out!’

105

Rev Ted Grounds hands the keys to the Secretary-Treasurer of the Dominion Road Tongan Church, Tomasi Tapueluelu Finau.

The Tongan feast celebrating the transfer of the Church property with Rev. Taniela Moala at right.

106 Roll of Honour MINISTERS Rev. Gordon A.R. Cornwell 1971-1975

Born 1922, to a Christian family, near Kaitaia. Early years South Island high country; first educated by his school teacher mother, then Southland Boys and Auckland Grammar—a good scholar and sportsman. Worked in engineering for Dairy Company hoping for marine engineering later. Military service 1940, Engineers; transferred to RNZ Navy as an officer cadet. Trained with Fleet Air Arm in England; qualified as Naval Airman. He served in E-Boats in the English Channel and was badly wounded. Candidated 1946; did short training at Trinity College, aiming at appointment to the Mission Field. Ordained 1948, did short supply Masterton, then to Buka Mission Station 1949. Fifteen years’ mission service was extremely varied: repair and engineering work on boats, plantation management, hospital and village medical work, education, supervision of the Reconstruction Scheme in trades and domestic duties, budgets and book-keeping, as well as translating it into the main language of his Circuit. He covered 1500 to 2000 miles (2400 to 3200 km) annually. Health and education needs of the four children necessitated return to New Zealand—served in four churches, the last Dominion Road. Had serious heart problem necessitating early retirement. Then he took up engineering work with Auckland University.

107 Rev.J. Wesley Parker MA, BD 1976 (in part)

Born 1907; trained Dunholme 1927, at 19; ordained 1934. Circuit work, and Army Chaplaincy. Kingsland 12 years; Henderson 3 years. Various supply ministry. Notable in Chaplaincy service; and writing. ‘Marked ability; excellent intellect; deep, warm, personal interest in people.. .utter devotion to his Lord and the Church’. Awarded Efficiency Decoration. Chaplain 36 Battalion 3rd Division, Pacific. Weekly columnist N.Z. Herald—widely appreciated. Wrote history of Auckland Central Mission. Rev. Edmund David Grounds 1979-1985-1989

Born, Ted had a farming background in Broadwood, Hokianga. He was strongly influenced by Christian Endeavour and Bible Class as well as several Home Missionaries. Hostel student at Trinity College 1939 prior to candidating. After two years at College (1940-41) entered army service, and served as YMCA secretary in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands with the Fiji Military Force. Married Audrey Rogers and completed final year of ministry training 1946. Served in seven churches, superannuating from Dominion Road, then continuing to supply there. Chairman, Auckland District 1973-81, President of Conference 1982. Deeply involved in multi-racial ministry with Fijiian, Samoan, and Tongan Fellowships—

108 attended Conferences in those islands. Represented Church at a British Methodist Conference and at World Council of Churches Assembly at Uppsala. His wife was a loyal supporter and diligent worker and lay preacher. Their two sons were also active workers. David died tragically, and Audrey’s recent death was marked by a service at Pitt Street to enable the many friends to be able to assemble to honour her and Ted. Ted has continued a retirement ministry at Dominion Road, managing the heavily used Church complex, organising funding for development projects and ensuring essential maintenance. And being Church Treasurer, and preacher where required. ‘There are hundreds of people throughout New Zealand who remember [him] with thanks to God for [his] loving care’. Ted is a battler. Rev. Barry W. Neal MA Dip Ed 1990-

Early life at Port Albert. Grandfather, father, brother lay preachers; as well, relatives active members. Sporting ability—athletics, rugby. Farmed and did shearing. Involved in youth activities, Easter Camps, Sunday School teaching, lay preaching. Attended School for Christian Workers, Trinity, 1960. Then 3 years Trinity College, including part-time university study. Continued in Social Sciences, to MA in Education. In 1963 married Moira Foley, from Edinburgh, working in Deaf Education. Has 34 years’ experience in ministry: Murchison, Ngaruawahia, Army Chaplaincy, Raumanga (Whangarei), Te Awamutu, and 8 years Dominion Road. Seeks to show relevance of the Gospel in many different circumstances; the challenges of pastoral care and ministry in crisis situations are an important concern. He stresses Moira’s part in his ministry—skills of ‘personal relationships, music, and teaching’.

109 LAY PEOPLE Alfred H. Gorringe

Came with family from Timaru in 1962. Served in various ways for 25 years. Property Registrar at Auckland University—served District and Methodist Mission Office with his skills. Bible Class and Youth Work leader, Trust, Property Steward, financial adviser, Leaders’ Meeting. Loved music; choir, soloist, leader. Guided, instructed, cajoled Tongans in use and development of the property. Died 1987.

110 On Reflection What happened to the churches? When Rev. Hames wrote the history of the Methodist Church from the Union to 1972 he knew he had painted a gloomy picture, and ‘approached the end of Ihisi story with some apprehension’. His chapter heading was Honest to God and all that. The very title would puzzle many people now. It refers to a well-known book of that period—forgotten so soon. He detailed the changes in the Church, and in society. We can afford to focus on the latter. They explain some of the former. Education has made a difference. It was not until the late 1940s that everyone got a secondary school education. It was much later that university degrees became proportionately more frequent. People have learned to think for themselves— even children are quick to argue. People are independent and want their rights. The message used to be suited to its world. How do we suit it to this new world? The God of our first generation and a half was unchanging, the message eternal, and the workers were to get on with zealously proclaiming it. They had a sense of achievement as their Church grew. Horses went out, electricity came in. It did what gas could not; it powered trams. The tramline to Valley Road went in in 1908; to Balmoral in 1920. The effect was to grow houses like mushrooms—the suburb quickly filled up. The motor car displaced the horse. The Church could not know everyone as it did in a small semi-rural community. Before long the community lost even its sense of community. People did not need their neighbours; they did not even need to know their neighbours. Neighbours without neighbourliness. The world of ideas fed this isolation and independence. Even by 1897 the writings of Darwin and Marx and the Higher Critics had changed the course of the Church. The great events of a world war, a great Depression, and another world war had a profound effect. Rev. Hames identified those facts. He himself had served in the infantry in France in 1918. He knew that men would never see their world, or the Church, in the old light again. The Depression focused the Church on social justice just as war had. The book title later, Honest to God, expressed the intention to think again, to be true to oneself, to oppose hypocrisy and traditional ‘received’ truth. It has not necessarily been as honest as intended, nor as successful as hoped. By the 1960s signs of a new affluence were beginning to show. The Prims had been closer to the poor, and were proud of that. The Wesleyan movement had done wonders among the poor but became more respectable as time went on. The Prims

111 got a touch of that too. They were louder, nicknamed ‘Ranters’, and remained keen on open-air preaching for a long time. People were no longer poor—they did not need the Church or Church welfare. They did not need religion, they thought. The luxuries of one generation became the necessities of the next; when the children grew up and married, they started where the parents had left off, in terms of possessions and furnishings. There have been many revolutions: transport, communications, music, even sex. How did some of these affect the Church? The social structure of the local community changed. Prospect Terrace, for example changed from family homes to two- or three-unit flats in the 1960s, and now goes back to homes again, some with children, most without, but double-income couples, married or ‘partners’. People expect to make a series of housing moves. It will be rare to live in one community for long. The Church itself then is on the move—its members are transient. Those of the young who became leaders in the forties and fifties had to do their leading elsewhere—in the outer suburbs. The Church bled. The Church once was a centre of entertainment: the choral performances were events. Radio gave people instant music, television gave them radio with pictures— and almost killed the cinema. Films, videos, cassette music—and a generation gap. The Church could not cope. It had invested most of its energy in the children and adolescents. It finally lost them. Rev. Hames stressed the importance of men— and that it had failed to hold the men. It failed to win them; then it failed to win the young. The Church has agonised over it. It did not adapt. Communication of various forms changed. Books changed, radio changed, films changed. The rate of change was too great— not just for the Church. The old hymn book was the best event of its year (late thirties). Soon it was out of date, and the supplements too, quickly died. The charismatics avoid hymns and use overhead projectors— even their songs date but there is no denying their popularity with their own crowd. The music gap is one of the most difficult ones to bridge. Printing has gone from handcompositing when Mr Wills’s firm printed flyers and programmes and tickets, and the Jubilee booklet, to computer setting at the Parish office. Computer to print out and a photocopier to multiply the copies. The order of service is tailor-made and a professional job. The Church has not worked out a way of winning adults. Its structures that were once suited to winning the young have not adapted. The Church that once was the best at winning adults lost the art. Some Methodist Churches are successful but not many. Some are liberal, some conservative. There is no one way. Charismatic churches still win adults, but not enough, even they would agree. 112 The committees and organisations of the Church no longer suit. At Dominion Road they have been simplified. The Trust became a property committee and the Leaders’ Meeting became the main committee. Once committees were people’s whole life it seems, but in today’s world we want a bigger world than that. Preaching was once the central function of the Church. The local preacher was important as there were more places than ministers, and at that time at least two services each Sunday. There is training and retraining available but it was too little and too late. The Church has taken a somewhat perverse pride in valuing length of service in Sunday School work and in preaching—long-service diplomas. That is at odds with the needs of the task. The Church did not develop a method of redeploying its people. Even ministers could not let go of a solo performance to build team ministry. It is immensely difficult to come up with answers. It is almost impossible to predict the future. Rev. Hames, who had headed the theological college envisaged a united church of the future, and of theology said ‘One of the first tasks of a united Christendom must be a Statement of Faith for modern man’. That was just a generation ago! Well, we aren’t united, the Methodist Church is more divided and been hanging in there for several years, and there is no sign of a Statement of Faith. In fact there is a crisis of faith. When a President, a former principal of the theological college, was asked to address the question: ‘Is Jesus Christ the only Son of God and saviour of the world?’ he treated it as a trick question, and wrote a Presidential Ruling on another question not asked, to the effect that Wesley’s teaching was not to be treated in a juridical sense. That meant, in effect, that there is to be no minimum Statement of Faith, a form of words is not to be used as a test. And Hames’s phrase ‘modern man’ does not get to first base. It is bad language, if not bad form. Language has become a problem. Evangelism becomes ‘making disciples’. Ministers become ‘presbyters’. The Church becomes a ‘community of faith’, and that in turn is shortened to a ‘faith community’. Faith, however, cannot be put into agreed words, as we have seen. The Church has never been so educated, nor so inarticulate. Never so many degrees and so much difficulty in communicating. The Conference Book, reports of committees, is turgid, obscure and at times incomprehensible. Church- speak favours acronyms like MINESCO and TELM or vegetable soup like PAC, EYY, NZCCSS, CCANZ. The Church newspapers died, Crosslink has a different purpose (and wins awards for it), and the people remain in the dark about their national Church, the nation being called Aotearoa as often as New Zealand. We jump about between two languages.

113 Put the two preceding sections together—communication and faith—and we can say that when we have our order of service in our hand we can be sure of the letter, but we are not so sure of the spirit. There is nothing new in the thought that the message of the Church is being rejected by society. That is the way of secular society. It has its cost. Christian western society gave way to secular society. The new world was to be a better world but there has been a high cost. During the last few weeks the newspapers and television have had a feast: Wine box inquiry (report waited) high spending M.P.s, and the high cost of the more M.P.s, the ongoing cost of the travel of the once M.Rs, the turning of the America’s Cup into the America’s Plate by sledgehammer. A Canon Bob Lowe Herald column opened: ‘Violence on the streets. Old ladies raped. Corruption in high places. Judges on the fiddle. High-ranking, well- paid government officials charged with theft.’ And concluded: ‘There are such things as virtues and such things as vices, however skilfully we seek to disguise them. In our modern eagerness to be tolerant we have come to tolerate things which no society can tolerate and remain healthy. In our revulsion against hypocrisy and false morality we have abandoned morality itself’. Life has its little local ironies. The old Empire Theatre that used to be packed for the Sunday School Anniversary because the Church Hall was not big enough—packed for the children’s day—became the Astor Cinema, was demolished, and was replaced by a commercial block. It contains a special medical centre. You can tell it is special because an anti-abortion group pickets it regularly. The Church valued children and served them. Today most abortions are for social convenience, and the industry is lucrative. That was the sexual revolution. Is the Church focusing on a strategy for winning adults? Not so. It has been struggling for several years (and so too the Presbyterian Church) with one aspect of human sexuality—the question of whether it will accept practising homosexual men and women as ministers. That follows a wave of legislation across the western world. The issue pushes the Church to two extremes—the liberal and the orthodox. And the heterosexual can give the Church headaches too. A sexual harassment case slips past the guidelines being put in place, becomes an Employment Court case, the Church’s lips are sealed and members can read about the minister in the New Zealand Herald, not in a Church paper. The Church goes on. The members of a small church do not get to know, however, what is going on. The Church is a fellowship, but it is not a club for people who like ‘that sort of thing’, meaning whatever people do in churches. It has a gospel and must be on about sharing good news of Christ.

114 Is that all? It is absolutely pointless to feel guilty that the Church is now small whereas once it was large. The Church here was successful in growing for two generations but even by the Jubilee time it was showing its age and had lost the growth and impetus of the first forty years. The way of presenting the Gospel had suited the first generation, was adapting in the second generation, and struggling in the third and fourth. Very quickly the Christian faith came to be regarded as irrelevant, the Church even more so, Christmas came to mean gift time, feasting and drinking, and Easter chocolate eggs and bunnies and buns. The problem is a problem of the whole Church. Of all the Churches. Of New Zealand society which has its roots in the Christian tradition. That is an historical fact, with due respect to Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Confucians and a large number of non-Christian beliefs or faiths. The institutions of our society were influenced by or are derived from Christianity. Now we have a secular or non- Christian society. The Christian faith has always been strong on ethics. Christians there were who did appalling things, but the agreed view, itself derived from the Bible and particularly the New Testament, has been, always, on the side of good. It could hardly be otherwise given the two great commandments to love God, and to love other people as ourselves. It’s an unselfish life; and that’s official. The Wesley movement was explicitly moral. Even the people in a small church have to go on upholding those two rules: loving God, loving other people. The Church will go on as long as possible, open for service of worship. Anyone who supports a church, any church, knows what a church does and what this one has done. It has preached the Gospel—not even a tree is needed for that. It now preaches the Gospel in the dry, with a roof over its head. It has declared that God is God and worshipped God, read the Scriptures publicly, prayed and praised publicly. It has baptised, married, buried—all of which are public services. It has administered Communion for believers. It has kept the Faith. It has served the young with great love and care and unselfishly. The parents clearly acknowledged that they were well served. It gave children their only picnics. It served the adolescents and young adults. It gave them opportunities in sport, in social activities, and in music. It gave them the chance to meet the opposite sex, to court, to marry. And helped them to stay married. It raised money for ministry— which entails a helping hand for people other than church members. It raised money for Missions, notably the Solomon Islands, sharing the Gospel, raising living standards, preparing for nationhood and an independent

115 indigenous church. More recently it has helped specific projects in other places, usually the Pacific. It paid its share of the work of the Connexion, or national church; City Missions and all their social services such as hospitals, orphanages, retirement homes, aid, food banks, budgeting (the forms of going about doing good are legion). The Hall has been used by groups at any time the Church here did not need it for its own work. Badminton before Badminton Hall, Scouts, Guides, Home Guard, Indoor Bowls, children’s ballet, Vintage Radio, Weight Watchers, Child care, Fairs for various organisations, and a polling place. The Hall was a blessing long before the Borough and R.S.A. provided the War Memorial Hall. Church of course had first bite at the cherry—always. It was, therefore, a boon to the Tongan Methodists. It was ideal for them to have so much building available in Church and Hall years ahead of their own ability to house themselves. The same was true for the Fijian-Indian Fellowship. As one church declined another grew. It would not be possible to provide for both churches if both were equally large. It is part of worship to give thanks. We can surely give thanks for a fascinating story of a hundred years. We can give thanks for the people who served here, the leaders, the members, the old, the young, men, women, boys, girls. Even, more recently, for immigrants—Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, Indian, Asian. We have had people of many nations and many races come through our doors. We keep open house. In the long run, at the end of the day, bottom line, we keep the Faith. We declare that God is God. We come alone or we come as families. We witness to the Faith. We read the Scriptures (in whatever version) and we pray. We pray to worship, we pray to confess, we pray to give thanks, we pray for ourselves, for the Church, and for others. The others are without end. We can never finish and say ‘That’s it. I’ve done it.’ With the property already handed over to those more able to cope with the costs, the small English Language Church can decide on what it can realistically do, what it can do best, and just do its best. God is to be worshipped and we must worship God in spirit and in truth. The seed hasn’t died, but if it were to, it will bear its crop in another church in another culture. Is that all? No! ‘We’ll praise Him for all that is past. And trust Him for all that’s to come.’ Praise be to God!

116 Postscript Time was so short that only after the last minute did all the copy come together at the one time. It has been jig-saw puzzle publishing. There has been no time to fill in obvious gaps - no adequate account of women’s organisations or brigade work. There was often no record to work on. On the other hand there was always something new coming to light. I apologise for not sourcing the quotations. Most are from minutes or Methodist newspapers. Some others can be identified from context. There was no time to do an index. So much was lost, and now is found, that I am astonished. I swear on the Bible that I was not making it up. The sources are in my file notes. So have faith. I had to. But it worked. At least readers get the story straight without the distraction of reference numbers. That might be considered a blessing. The final apology is that any reference to people will always be hit and miss. Most of my long list of people of special note never got into the record. But what does that matter in the long run? There is a recording angel. His or her pen, not mine, is the one that counts. Do not feel overlooked - we can but wait.

Palu Tuipulotu leads the choir in the Hallelujah Chorus, at transfer of property. 117 Appendices The Odd Minute (Stories our mothers never told us) 22.4.1897 ‘that the building be lit with gas upon the same lines as the Eden Terrace Church’. 12.3.1908 Alteration of paths to Church because of ‘cutting down of the road, caused by the introduction of the tram system into the district’. ‘A committee to see the introduction of a better appliance for boiling water for social meetings.’ ‘That the matter of night soil services be deferred until the next leaders meeting.’ 9.10.1913 Re the default of the Choir treasurer: ‘Secretary to write ... asking for a settlement of funds forthwith.’ 20.1.1914 ‘Mr Stanton lawyer wrote two letters without receiving a reply or an interview as desired re default of funds.’ 14.3.1914 ‘an order for 1000 postcards with a copy of the [planned] church printed on them.’ 22.6.1914 ‘all material required for electricity to be put in place that at any future time it may be made use of.’ 19.1.1915 ‘approved the purchase of an organ by the Choir at its own expense (£11), the old organ to be retained in the Sunday School.’ 22.3.1915 ‘The matter of seat rents is deferred.’ 30.4.1915 ‘all seats to be free.’ ‘requesting removal of the day school, now held in the infant classroom, to the front part of the upper schoolroom, as the infant classroom is required for Sunday School purposes.’ 30.10.1916 ‘Thanks for seats from Pitt and Edwin Street Church.’ 15.2.1924 ‘Recent death of J.H. Muldoon ... the great services rendered during the number of years he was connected with the Church.’ 5.12.1925 After difficulty in getting electricity for the parsonage ‘That the secretary communicate with the Circuit Steward stating that unless the Circuit Steward undertake the installation the Trust will proceed with the work and deduct the cost from the quarterly allocation...the request to be placed before the Quarterly Meeting.’ It was installed! 118 5.10.1925 Rev. G. Brown reported ... ‘that he was satisfied that the [Scouts] organisation was a non-military one, and quoted part of the rules that distinctly forbade militarism.’ — re application to use Hall. 27.11.1925 Hall opening: ‘One thousand programmes ordered, two-colour.’ — £17. 15.4.1926 ‘It shall be a general rule that nothing contrary to Methodist Church Law shall be carried on in the Building. [Hall] Smoking, Card Playing, Raffles and Dancing (other than items approved in concert programmes) shall be prohibited in the Building.’ 13.5.1926 ‘That the matter of unpaid donations [a £50 donation unaccounted for] and Bank discrepancies be placed in the hands of [the] solicitors.’ ‘That Messrs Copping and Woodhead be requested to audit the accounts of the Campaign and Building Committees.’ 19.7.1926 Letter from the above auditors—under Income Tax Office letterhead, presumably Methodist laymen there: ‘(4.) All explanations were given to our entire satisfaction. (5.) ... overlapping in handling of funds (6.)... in future ... all ... pass through the secretary ... and the banking through the treasurer.’ And a handwritten addition ‘Donations of materials and services ... make the value of the building greater than the actual cost shown.’ 20. 12.1927 ‘Finance Committee suggesting new system of collecting offerings at Sunday Services commencing at front pews ... The Stewards were not in favour of the changes ....‘ 27.7. 1934 ‘That we raise a strong objection against the Borough Council granting permission for Sunday play on public grounds.’ 6.4.1937 ‘A proposal for a temperance sign in a permanent place was suggested by the secretary but did not receive a very inspiring reception.’ 9.11.1938 41st Annual Meeting: Credit balance of 98 pounds. ‘The first credit balance for a very long period.’ 4.10.1939 New vases and bowl ‘to be used for Church services only, excluding weddings.’ Amended to ‘including weddings.’ 11.8.1944 Letter of appreciation from Auckland Rugby Referees Association. 9.7.1945 ‘Concern ... in regard to young children who attend at our Hall at night and other children as well, owing to the recent attacks by men. It was suggested that if the situation was not bettered, Home Guard Patrols be formed to undertake the [policing].’ ‘A suggestion that a working bee be held was vetoed by a silent vote.’ 119 9.8.1946 After a complaint about ‘the whole building [hail] being left in a very bad state’ after a dance: ‘Our own young people were to blame ... they must arrange beforehand for a Trustee and a chaperon to be present.’ 14.2.1947 Parsonage copper unusable. ‘Consider installation of a concrete type, more economical than repairing the present brick one.’ 6.7.1954 ‘The three ministers have already canvassed all the district [White Swan Road] but had not found many new Methodist families.’ 19.8.1975 Opposed a proposal for a Pizza Hut on the corner of Paice Avenue. $100 solicitor fee to lodge the objection. 9.10.1977 Mr and Mrs M Butler prepared to initiate a Fruit and Vegetable Coop. 20.9.1981 The original lounge ‘to continue to be called The Parlour’. [The rash of massage parlours was causing concern about the name Parlour.] 17.9.1992 ‘Balmoral/Roskill asked Conference to 1. Reaffirm the Church’s traditional position on sexual relationships, namely celibacy in singleness, faithfulness in marriage. 2. Recognise that, under our present regulations, every person who encourages or engages in sexual relationships outside these bounds is not suitable to undertake a ministry similar to that of a presbyter or deacon nor to hold any leadership position in the Church, or be authorised to preach or participate in the leadership of any Worship Service of the Church.’ [Date withheld] ‘That we terminate the engagement of the choirmaster and Organist.’ Resignation accepted. ‘Several members of the opinion it was a better way out of the difficulty.’

120 Date Line 1895 First service 1896 Opening of a Sunday School 1897 First entry in Preaching Plan 1 January 1897 First Church building: Mount Roskill Primitive Methodist 1904 First wedding 1905 First full-time minister Pulpit Bible—Authorised Version Extension to Church building 1908 Death of first minister 1912 Last Annual Meeting as Primitive Methodist 1913 Union of Methodist Churches Name change: Dominion Road Methodist Church — in Auckland Central Circuit 1914 Wooden church moved east, with Sunday School rooms below 1915 New brick church opened 1918 Memorial gift fund for new Sunday School 1920 Girls Club founded DRYMI building for young men 1922 N.Z. Methodism Centenary 1923 First Poppyland Fair 1924 Electric light 1925 Methodist Centenary Hall DRYMI building re-sited Old church moved to Waterview Church for a Sunday School Men’s Social Club founded 1927 Pipe organ mooted 1933 Death of Frank Taylor, ‘father’ of the Church 1935 Boys Brigade founded 1940 New Zealand Centenary 1943 Girls Life Brigade founded

121 1947 ChurchJubilee—50th anniversary 1947 Parsonage purchased, 5 Paice Avenue Previously 4 Horopito Street (formerly Sherwood Road) 1950 Church Parlour burned down 1951 South Auckland Circuit established Pipe organ installed Central pulpit transferred to side 1952 New Parlour 1957 Wells Stewardship Campaign 1963 Methodist Women’s Fellowship feplaced two earlier groups 197- Revised Standard Version — pew bible 1976 Tongan request for use of buildings 1978 Tongan Centre opened 1981 Springbok Tour—Eden Park riot 1986 Fiji-Indian Fellowship established 1990 Electronic organ replaced pipe organ Candle of Peace received 1993 Return to Central Parish 1996 Change of pew bible - to Good News Bible Property transferred to control of Tongan Parish What Cost What Figures rounded. £1 = $2. Values are hard to determine. A rule of thumb is to multiply early figures by 40. 1897 Section £100 First Church £192 1915 Brick Church to seat 299 £2939 1925 Methodist Centenary Hall £5319 - new hall to seat 500 1947 Parsonage £1225 1949 Parsonage Renovation £1049 1951 Organ £2050, Church Interior £1208 1959 Allen Organ $22,050

122 Memorials PLAQUES Rev. Ernest Warburton 1908 Rev. William S. Potter 1930 Francis C. Taylor 1933 STONES - inscriptions Brick Church 1914 1. FC Taylor Nov19 1914 2. George Winstone on behalf of the Trustees of Pitt Street Methodist Church Nov 19 1914 3. AC Caughey Nov 19 1914 4. A course of 26 bricks with initials of Sunday School children Methodist Centenary Hall 1. Mr and Mrs J Watkinson Sept5 1925 2. Rev. WS Potter on behalf of the Church Trustees Sept 5 1925 OTHER George Higgott d. 1942 - Communion Table Daniel V Moore d.1958 - Sound system Mrs G. Higgott d.1958 - Memorial lectern Sydney E. Chappell d. 1959 - Foyer Table and Chair Mrs J. Watkinson d.1959 - Parlour Table Derek Thompson d.1985 - Table

123 MINISTERS Rev. C E. Ward 1897-1903 Superintendent Auckland 1st Station Rev. W. Laycock 1903-1905 Superintendent Auckland 1st Station Rev. E. Warburton 1905-1908 First Minister of Mount Roskill Church Rev. WS. Potter 1908-1909 Rev. H. Cottom 1909-1910 Rev. H. White 1910-1913 Rev. J.B. Suckling 1913- 1916 Rev. P.R. Paris 1916-1921 Rev.Jj. Lewis 1918, part. Rev. F. Copeland 1921-1924 Rev. G.E. Brown 1924-1927 Rev. W. Rowe 1927-1931 Rev. R.B. Tinsley 1931-1936 Rev. E. Hames 1936-1939 Rev. F. Gardner Brown 1939-1941, 1943-1944 Student S. Dawson 1941 - short period Rev. H.E. Harkness 1941 - part Rev. H. Kilroy Brown 1941-1943 Rev. V.R.Jamieson 1944-1947 Rev. F.J. Handy 1947-1950 Rev. A. Carr 1951-1959 First Superintendent Auckland South Circuit Rev. E.C. Leadley 1960-1965 Rev. H. Moore 1966-1969 Rev. L. Michie 1970 Rev. G. Cornwell 1971-1975 Rev. W. Parker 1976 part supply Rev. B. Eagle 1977-1978 Rev. E. Grounds 1979-1985 Rev. E. Grounds 1986-1989 supply Rev. B. Neal 1990- 124 SUNDAY SCHOOL Superintendent F. C. Taylor 1896-1912 D. M. A. Bodley 1912-1917 S. E. Chappell 1917-1929 F. Morris 1921-1923 A. D. Whitehead 1930-1935 R. T. Sando 1936-1938 J. Letcher 1939 A. D. Whitehead 1940 D. V. Moore 1941-1947 plus BOYS BRIGADE Captain 1935-1936 S.A. Bennett 1937-1940 G.O. Sims 1941-1944 A.D. Whitehead 1945-1947 R.S. Dell R Arnold* R Mannall* 1951-1957 I Morris 1959-1963 I Morris G Haig* LIFE BOYS Leader 1937-1939 E.C. Paris 1940-1945 Miss E. Lewis 1946- 1947 Miss M. Reader Mrs R Graham* Miss N Shaw* Mr J Roper* GIRLS CLUB Captain 1920-1939 no leaders names recorded 1939-1941 Miss M. Reader 1942 Mrs F.G. Brown 1943-1944 Miss M. Reader The Girls Club was then replaced by Girls Life Brigade GIRLS LIFE BRIGADE Captains 1943- 1945 Miss C. Marks 1945-1946 Miss H. Hearne 1946-1947 Miss V. Harding 1957-1972 Mrs C Doyle (later Campbell) GIRLS LIFE BRIGADE CADETS Leaders 1945-1947 Miss C. Smith L Dorman* * Years of service not listed 125 TRUST Secretary D. Goldie 4 months, 1897 F.C. Taylor 1897-1914 F.A. Smith 1920-1923 S.A. Bennett 1923-1929 J.T. Halstead 1929-1930 W. Robson 1930-1933 A.D. Whitehead 1934-1943 T.H. Brooke 1943-1945 H.C. Copping 1945-1946 R.J.F. Reid 1946-1947 H.F. Witten 1948-1950 J.S. Isbister 1950-1951 I.J. Whyle 1952 D.V. Moore 1953-? I. Jupp 1957-1969 I.J. Whyle 1970-1973 A. Gorringe 1973-? Mrs L. Henneker ?-1987 Leaders’ Meeting/Trust Miss M. Tabor 1987-1996 TRUST Treasurer F.C. Taylor 1897-1923 G. Lovegrove 1914-1915 E.T. Harris 1915-1920 F. Morris 1920-1927 A. Messer 1927-1935 J.O. Sims 1935-1947 M. Butler 1972-1978 Mrs V. Howie 1979-1980 A. Gorringe 1980-1987 Miss N. Shaw 1987-1989 Mrs L. Henneker 1989 D. Jack 1989-1991 Rev. E. Grounds 1992-1997 Church Steward F.C. Taylor 1897-1923 F. Morris 1923-1926 S.E. Chappell 1926-1928 H. Gaulton 1928-1930 126 J.T. Halstead 1930-1938 J.O. Sims 1938-1943 S.E. Chappell 1943-May 1945 A.D. Whitehead May 1945-1947 J.C. Chappell 1947-1958 T. Irving 1959-1961 L. Downing 1961-1962 G. Win 1962-1964 J.C. Chappell 1964-part E. Whyte 1964-1978 T. Watson 1978-1979 J. Maxey 1980- 1981 The records thereafter are unclear and the office did not continue. MUSIC Organist Miss Taylor 1897 Miss Cleaver 1897-1905 Mrs E. Warburton 1905-1910 Miss Neal 1911-1913 * Miss N. Collins 1913-1916 Mr Meek 1913-1916(?) Mr Lower 1916-1917 E.C. Clark 1922-1927 J.C. Chappell 1928 L. Takle 1929 B. Evans 1930-1935 Miss C. England 1936-1941 W.H. Simpson 1942 Miss M. Reader 1943-1947 G. Anderson 1947-1950 Miss M. Reader 1952(?)-1955 H. Isbister 1955-1956 B. Jamieson 1956-1963 Miss P. Irving 1959- 1961 - Deputy Miss H. Ogilvie 1961-1962 - Deputy B. Knight 1963 - Deputy B. Knight 1964-1968 Mrs H. Bennett 1964-1965 - Deputy A. Moore 1966-1967 - Deputy H. Moore 1968-1969 L. Ennor 1968 - Deputy 127 Miss Hoare 1971-1977 D. Thompson 1977- 1984 C. Waters 1985-? Mrs B. Brazendale* Mrs M. Hall* A. Jonas* Mrs M. Neal * * Amends 1947 list MUSIC Choir Leader C. Mason 1897 G. Cladding 1897 [List incomplete] R. Sando 1916-1922 H. Duke 1923-1928 L. Takle 1929 , R. Sando 1930-1935 J.W. McElwain 1936-1941 W.H. Simpson 1942 L.E. Dore 1943-1946 J. Letcher 1946-1949 J.C. Chappell 1949-1957 D. McIntyre 1957-part J.C. Chappell 1957-1964 (?) Miss S. Jamieson 1965-1982 A. Gorringe A small choir continued for some years. * Dates not recorded. LADIES GUILD President Mrs Leach 1917 Mrs West 1918 Mrs Higgott 1918-1922 Mrs Messer 1924-1929 Mrs Steele 1929-1933 Mrs Whitehead 1933-1937 Mrs Hames 1937-1938 Mrs C. Clark 1938-1940 Mrs Mills 1940-1942 128 Mrs Brown 1942-1944 Mrs Jamieson 1944-1945 Mrs Whitehead 1945-1946 Mrs C. Clark 1946-1947 Later records not available. WOMEN’S MISSIONARY AUXILIARY President Mrs Gaulton 1924-1929 Mrs Rowe 1929-1930 Mrs Tinsley 1931-1936 Mrs Lewis 1936-1947 Later records not available. METHODIST WOMEN’S FELLOWSHIP The records of the Methodist Women’s Fellowship were not available. MEN’S SOCIAL CLUB President W.G. Lange 1925 W.H. Nagel 1926-1927 F. Beck 1928 W.W. King 1929 Record of other years not available.

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