A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973

THE AUTHOR An Honours graduate in History, and a trained teacher, the Rev. George G. Carter served as a nursing orderly in the Forces during World War II. It was this service that took him first to the Solomons thirty years ago. When he went to Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, after the war as a missionary teacher, his medical experience in the tropics was of great value. Accepted as a candidate for the ministry in 1950, he was received into full connexion in 1954. After ten years on Bougainville which had included teacher training. Scripture translation and a circuit superintendency, Mr Carter was transferred to Munda, British Solomons, as Chairman of the then Solomon Islands Methodist District. In 1963 he also became Chairman of the First Methodist United Synod. He took up his post as General Secretary of Overseas Missions (now the Overseas Division) in 1966. In this capacity he has travelled widely in the South Pacific seeing the Church in action and growth. He is currently President of the Bible Society in New Zealand. Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 1

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to acknowledge my debt to the many people who have helped me. Friends and relatives of former missionaries as well as the ex-missionaries themselves have been very helpful. The Librarian of the Mitchell Library in Sydney, the Archivist of the Fiji National Archives and the Librarian of the Western Pacific High Commission Archives, and their staff have all been most helpful. Without the patience of my family and the patience and skill of my assistant, Mrs J. Wornell, this book could hardly have seen the light of day. To all of these and many others I say thank you. I set out to lighten up the darker corners of our missionary history and to touch much more lightly on the areas which are either reasonably well known or for which there are other accessible sources of reference. C. T. J. Luxton's book, "The Isles of Solomon", must remain an indispensable source of information and R. G. Williams recent book, "The United Church in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands," is crowded with factual information. In the pre-1940 period I have concentrated on people, and sketched in events only in so far as it seemed necessary for New Zealand Methodists to understand and appreciate their work. In the last thirty years there have been so many people that it has neither been possible nor desirable to comment on each. I have therefore had to be far more selective than I would otherwise have wished to be, and I can only apologise to those whose contributions to the church overseas remain unchronicled. Through the lists at the back of the book I have endeavoured to record the names of as many people as possible. But records are incomplete and if there are any names which should appear there, and do not, I would be glad to know of them so that record can be made. I have documented my sources fairly thoroughly, because I quickly came to realise that there is scope for far more research than I have been able to do and I hope that more competent historians will take up the challenge to explore more thoroughly individual lives and incidents. The spelling of Polynesian and Melanesian names has presented problems. I have endeavoured to keep a uniform pattern, based on the standard spellings accepted for Papua New Guinea. In references to the church in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands I have used the names for the Regions of the United Church rather than their earlier very confusing names, wherever possible. Where the context required the earlier names, I have endeavoured to make clear which area is referred to. It will help if readers remember that the Methodist New Guinea District became the Papua District and then the Papuan Islands Region of the United Church; that the New Britain District became the New Guinea District and then the New Guinea Islands Region of the United Church. The quotation on the title page is from the Methodist Hymn Book, Hymn Number: 1027. — G. G. Carter

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CONTENTS A Family Affair Acknowledgements Dedication PART ONE I New Zealanders Abroad The First Adventurers II A Family Affair Chapter 1 The Day Begins in Tonga Chapter 2 A King in Israel Chapter 3 Towards Independence Chapter 4 Hesitation in Samoa Chapter 5 Pity Poor Feejee! III Tension and Expansion Chapter 1 New World — New Britain Chapter 2 The Enigma of Papua Chapter 3 To the Isles of Solomon IV A Field of Our Own Chapter 1 Mission Boards and All That Chapter 2 Finance Chapter 3 Women's Work for Women Chapter 4 Some General Secretaries

Appendix I: Copy of a Letter by Mrs Lyth BIBLIOGRAPHY

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DEDICATION They crossed the pages of history, men and women, black, brown and white, few rich and many poor, weak and strong, clever and not so clever, perceptive and obtuse, at times humble and at times arrogant, broad minded and bigoted, capable of altruism and self-sacrifice and of near knavery and trickery — a cross section of ordinary people distinguished only by a deep conviction that God called them and that they were not alone because He was with them, and by an infusion of "agape" that had nothing to do with sloppy sentimentality but was a deeply rooted "care and concern" for others — for their souls, their minds, their bodies, their societies and cultures. These distinguishing marks were at once the cause of some of their follies and the source of their highest attainments. They are the missionaries to whom this book is dedicated. Our tale tells of some of those who have gone out from the New Zealand Church family, that is called Methodism, during 150 years, but they are representative of a line which begins with the Apostles, and is not yet ended. It is their story and the story of the Church that sent them, and the Churches to which they went, that this Volume seeks, however inadequately, to tell.

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I New Zealanders Abroad The First Adventurers From the day the first "kaipuke"1 came over the New Zealand horizon and the pakeha emerged from its wooden walls, it was inevitable that the fascination of its large sails and its numerous gadgets, together with the ageless lure of faraway places would win a response from young New Zealanders. Ship's masters, with crews decimated by scurvy, and riddled with the disaffection due to long voyages, were in the mood to take the calculated risk of shipping "cannibals" before the mast. Many went willingly; some were kidnapped. The lustful sailors not only were interested in men but also in the women folk and there must have been many tragedies. These were not only individual tragedies, but also, at times, communal disasters. Just as revenge for kidnapping and murder took the lives of the Rev. John Williams, Bishop Patteson and the Rev. James Chalmers in more famous incidents, so the massacres of ship's crews inevitably resulted from such rapacity. Tribal wars could also be caused by the pakeha's crimes. Vennell tells the story of the "Venus" and her evil crew. They captured by force or guile a number of women including the sister and niece of Te Morenga and a relation of Hongi Hika, two of the most powerful Nga Puhi chiefs, and then the daughter of Te Haupa, chief of the Ngati Paoa, in the Firth of Thames. When they had finished with the women, the renegades sold them to Bay of Plenty for slaves. At least one finished her life in the cannibal oven. This occurred in 1807, and revenge was slow to come, but terrible in its results. In 1818, both Te Morenga and Hongi, and Te Haupa also mounted punitive expeditions against the Bay of Plenty people. Hongi alone is said to have burned more than 500 villages and taken hundreds of prisoners, not to mention the slain.2 It was not all evil however. One youth who had left his home in the Bay of Islands was responsible for introducing the first missionaries. Ruatara's services to Samuel Marsden are recorded in every New Zealand history book. By 1830 there must have been a considerable number of New Zealanders who had gone abroad, though probably very few returned. It was noted in that year that some Maoris had been landed on Rotuma by a whaling ship, but they had all died.3 It is probable that the numbers going abroad increased in the next decade, and it is also known that Maoris were recruited to work in Fiji, mainly in the sandalwood trade, to do work the locals would not attempt.4 In 1841 the Rev. T. J. Jagger, missionary in Fiji, records in his diary that, "A New Zealander bought a girl with a musket", and again on the 15th March 1843 he wrote, "Yesterday I certainly saved a poor New Zealander from having his head broken or life taken."5

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By this time, some at least, of those going abroad would have had contact with the Christian faith and a number may well have been converts. There is some evidence to suggest that there may have developed a practice of a local preacher or exhorter enlisting with a group of men from his tribe when they were recruited, not only to work alongside them, but also to be their spiritual mentor. This practice, which was widely used in Papua New Guinea up till recent days by the Lutheran Church, could account for the fact that John Williams founded a chapel in Rotuma in 1839. He records that it was attended by Maoris and a Rarotongan but "No Rotuman showed any interest in it." The next year the Rev. T. Heath, also of L.M.S. recorded that this community had a Maori Wesleyan Mission teacher named Pita. These people do not seem to have made any impact on the local heathen.6 When the Rev. John Waterhouse, newly appointed General Superintendent of Wesleyan Missions in the South Seas, visited Rotuma in 1841, he noted that there were some Christian Maoris and some heathen. This suggests that there was rather a large group.7 During this period also New Zealanders had gone to Tonga. The first we know of, if family tradition is to be relied on, was Manihera (Maunsell) who was taken in 1822 by the Rev. Walter Lawry and his family as a servant. This lad, Lawry bought from Hongi Hika for a few ship's biscuits to save his life, and as they were sailing out for Tonga he went along with them. On the return trip to Sydney 18 months later, so the story goes, the Maori boy was left in charge of little Henry Lawry who was asleep in a coil of rope on the deck. An unexpected wave washed the child over-board; upon which Manihera jumped into the sea and supported the child until another wave washed them both on board again. He is later reported to have returned to New Zealand in the service of the Anglican Mission and lost his life in Rotorua in 1847 as a martyr for the Gospel. He was said to have been a great-uncle of the Rev. R. Tahupotiki Haddon.8 We are on surer ground when we come to those who accompanied the Rev. Nathaniel Turner and his family in 1827. When the Turners had fled from Wesleydale they had taken with them three New Zealanders. Two lads named Shuki (or Huki) and Tungahe (or Tungahoo)9 both of whom had been educated at Wesleydale where Shuki was the first convert. There was also a girl whose name has not survived. Because of the change of plans that is recorded elsewhere the Turners did not go back to New Zealand but went direct to Tonga.10 Shuki died there, probably in the latter part of 1830, "in a state of hope". Tungahe proved himself as a Christian and a scholar. He helped with the hand copying of manuscript material in the Tongan language for the school. It was said that he was a good advertisement for the work of Wesleydale.11 There seems no record of the fate of the girl nor is there any record as to whether Tungahe and this lass ever returned to their homeland.

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It is a pity we do not know more about their participation in the missionary enterprise but it is not unreasonable to assume that their presence with the Turner family aided the acceptance by the Tongan people of the missionary and the faith he proclaimed. There is no further record of direct Maori involvement in the overseas missions outreach for a century. In 1924 the Rev. Oliver Haddon and his wife were appointed to the Solomons but because of ill health they were unable to leave New Zealand.12 In 1963 the Rev. Lane Tauroa was appointed as a fraternal worker to the church in Indonesia where he and his family served for a term. In 1973, Mrs Rua Turner, daughter of the late Dr Maharaia Winiata accompanied her husband to Papua New Guinea in missionary service. It could be wrong to think that because no Maoris were sent out by the church their influence on other countries in the Pacific was nonexistent. In fact, as we shall see, the impact of the Maori on the Pakeha missionary was often an important factor in the development of churches overseas. This "unexpected impact" has been noted by Dr J. R. M. Owens and he illustrates it by reference to John Hobbs.13

1. The white man's ship. 2. Vennell p.22 if. 3. Eason p. 14. 4. Derrick. 5. Jaggar MSS Diary F.A.M.C. 6. Eason pp 36,45 ff. 7. op cit. 8. Hames p. 16. 9. M.M.S. letters 17 Feb. 1831. 10. see p.l3. 11. Turner, J. G. pp.78, 82, 104. 12. Minutes of N.Z. Conference 1924. 13. Owens p.27f.

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II A Family Affair One of Methodism's strengths in the South Pacific had been its deep fellowship and its strong sense of belonging. Whether in Australia or Samoa, New Guinea or New Zealand, there had been and still is, a vital sense of kinship. This has been heightened by the fact that in so many areas the life and witness of the church was literally a family affair. If we abstract from the records of the first century of Methodism in the South Pacific all mention of the Waterhouses, the Wallises, and the Watkins and those who were related to them there would not be very much left! Consider for example the death notice that appeared in the New Zealand Methodist Times for the 31st January 1925: On December 11th at Sydney, Elizabeth Reddick, widow of the Rev. W. J. Watkin, previously widow of the Rev. W. Fletcher, eldest daughter of the Rev. J. Wallis, and beloved sister of Mrs McRoberts, Asquith Ave, Mt Albert, aged 89.1 This lady was born on 23rd November 1835 at Te Horea to those fine missionaries, James and Mary Ann Wallis.2 She was related by blood or by marriage to a tremendous galaxy of missionary talent. Her younger sister, Lydia, married George Brown and together George and Lydia wrote their names across the Pacific from Samoa to Sydney by way of New Guinea: her brother James Waterhouse Wallis after service in Tonga joined Brown in Samoa: her nephew Thomas Jackson Wallis served for a number of years in Fiji: with her first husband William Fletcher she herself served in Fiji, Rotuma and Australia. William was one of three brothers who successively led Wesley College in Auckland. The Rev. Joseph Horner Fletcher first Principal made his mark on a whole generation of young people before going to Australia to serve. John Fletcher the only layman of the trio, also went later to Australia and his family included Lionel a well known Congregational Minister and Evangelist of the early twentieth century, and Ambrose, who became a Methodist Minister and who married a daughter of the Rev. Rainsford Bavin pioneered in the Papuan Islands. By marrying William J. Watkin she joined the family of a man who had after almost seven years of pioneering in Tonga, become the first white missionary of any church to reside in the South Island of New Zealand and three of his sons became Presidents of Wesleyan Conferences—Edwin Iredale in Victoria, Jabez Bunting in Tonga and William Jackson in New Zealand. Her stepson Howard Watkin, though not an official missionary served Tonga for a number of years and died in that country. John Waterhouse was the first General Superintendent of missionaries in the South Seas and his descendants and their relations by marriage linked up Methodism in many countries. Though the Waterhouse story more properly belongs to Australia than Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 8

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 to New Zealand one son was Premier of both South Australia and New Zealand. Their missionary connections included the Rev. P. M. Waterhouse (Rotuma, Fiji and Papua) the Rev's Joseph and Samuel Waterhouse (Fiji), J. H. L. Waterhouse a teacher in Fiji, the Solomons and New Britain, C. M. & S. Churchward, C. 0. and A. D. Leiean all associated with Fiji or Tonga; Miss M. Banks (New Britain), Mrs J. H. Allan (India), Mrs T. Churchward Kelly and Mrs W. L. Churchward Salter (Baptist Mission India), W. L. Waterhouse (Fiji) and Mr C. J. Waterhouse who was for many years a member of the Foreign Mission Board in Sydney.3 Even that list of names does not exhaust a family who were related also to the Lawry's and others. New Zealand's deepest links with Tonga were for almost a century through the Watkin family; its deepest involvement with Samoa when George Brown and J. W. Wallis served there; it was George Brown who took us first into the New Guinea Islands (New Britain) Papua and the Solomons. As General Secretary of the Australasian Mission Board he linked us also with that country. These stories of family involvement could be repeated over and over again. It is part of the strength of Methodism and a witness to the deeply spiritual family life which Methodism nurtured. Even when tensions were highest, sometimes because of the family connections, yet the basic affinity helped preserve the unity of the whole. We must not lose sight of the fact that there were outstanding missionaries who were not related to any other family but who made their own contribution great or small. Gilmour of Papua, Crump of New Britain and Miss Graham of Fiji are three among many New Zealanders who were not closely related with other missionary families. But even without the ties of blood and marriage, Methodism's strength has been the sense of belonging which makes even unrelated people (in the physical sense) a part of the one family.

Miss Graham (India) 1. N.Z. Methodist Times. 2. Luxton p.34. 3. Information from Mrs. Andrews of Auckland, a Waterhouse descendant.

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CHAPTER 1: THE DAY BEGINS IN TONGA Through an artificial convention, the Kingdom of Tonga is the first country in the world to enter each new day. By a combination of the power of the gospel and the capacity of its people, Tonga is regarded by many in the Pacific as the place where the "Lotu" began, where the light first shone in the darkness. In Samoa as in Fiji, Lotu Wesley and Lotu Tonga were synonymous and in the South West Pacific, as well as in Northern Australia, Tongan missionaries have been associated with the coming of the light of the Gospel. New Zealand was closely linked with Tonga in the early days of their Methodism, and each helped the other. Wesleyan witness began in each country in 1822 and they were jointly made a separate district in 1826. Each experienced a period of setback, when the workers had to be withdrawn—Tonga in 1823 and New Zealand in 1827. Both suffered because of the incomprehension of a Missionary Society on the other side of the globe: and when in 1855 control was transferred to Sydney, each found the problem of misunderstanding continued and each, at one time or another, rebelled against Australian rule. Each church achieved independence at a cost, and in these latter days when a reunited Tongan Church elected to continue within the General Conference of Australasia, New Zealand has sought to deepen and strengthen its fraternal relationship with Australia. When British Methodism was being talked into missionary expansion in the Pacific by Samuel Leigh, it was facing difficult days at home. The autocratic tradition of John Wesley was continued by men who lacked his grace and charm and so divisions emerged in the body of the Church. Jabez Bunting, principal secretary of the Missionary Society, was a very capable autocrat towards whom there could be no neutrality. Men either loved him, and named their sons after him,1 or hated him and failed to support the missionary cause of which he was the symbol. It must also be remembered that, to those who never left England, the problems and opportunities of the Pacific were incomprehensible. They simply could not grasp the vast distances, the hopelessly inadequate transport and the lack of local resources on which to call. They tried to solve the problem of the world's biggest ocean in ways that had been worked out for England's close-knit, well populated counties. The combination of authoritarian attitudes, real shortages of finance and lack of understanding caused the mission secretaries to attempt to control every move made ten thousand miles away. They were quick to censor anything that did not have their prior approval. When the answer to a letter took at least ten months to reach the original sender this was an impossible position and the men on the spot, again and again, had to take Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 10

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 things into their own hands. For this they were censored and held financially accountable, even if at a later stage the wisdom of what they did was recognised. Walter Lawry joined Samuel Leigh as missionary to New South Wales in 1817. This young, vigorous man, shortly made two acquaintances who were to affect not only the course of his life, but also the development of Methodism in the Pacific. They were Mary Cover Hassall and William Shelley. Mary Hassall he courted and won. They were married on the 22nd November, 1819. Their first born son, Henry Hassall Lawry became a New Zealand Wesleyan Minister, as did their grandson Albert Charles Lawry, providing a continuous family ministry of 123 years to the Methodist Church. Linked through marriage with other notable Methodist families, including the Waterhouses, the Lawry family have continued in several countries, to render outstanding service to church and community. William Shelley was a friend and sometime colleague of Mary's father, Roland Hassall. At 21, Shelley had been with Mr and Mrs Hassall among the pioneer party on the missionary ship "Duff". Sent out by the London Missionary Society they and 33 others were the first Protestant missionaries to the Pacific. They sailed from England on the 10th September, 1796, from Southampton and arrived at Tahiti on the 5th March, 1797. The Hassall family were among those who landed. William Shelley continued on to Tonga where, with 9 others, he landed on the 12th April, 1797. Hassall, together with a number of others, had withdrawn from Tahiti a year later and settled in N.S.W. William Shelley's stay in Tonga had been scarcely longer than this. After three of his colleagues had been murdered and one had deserted, he and the others withdrew to Sydney. But William Shelley was still deeply concerned for missionary work and in July, 1801, he arrived in Tahiti to assist with the task. There he remained for 5 years before he settled permanently in N.S.W.2 It is not hard to imagine that Shelley, whose love for Tonga and for Tahiti was still great, together with the Hassall family, did much to develop a concern in young Walter Lawry for the Tongan people. One can understand that this interest would be reflected in his letters to the Missionary Committee in London. It is known that Samuel Marsden also thought the Wesleyans should go to Tonga. Therefore, though Samuel Leigh was determined to go to New Zealand himself, it was not difficult to get him to support the claims of Tonga also. As a result of this advocacy, the missionary committee in London in 1821, appointed Samuel Leigh to New Zealand and Walter Lawry to Tonga. Leigh was eager for his adventure but Lawry did not want to go. Though it was later claimed that he had offered, this does not seem to be borne out by the fact that he had strongly resisted an attempt to send him to New Zealand a little earlier saying that he had no call to be a missionary.3 In some ways Tonga was even less attractive than New Zealand. He must have known by heart the stories that Shelley and others had told about difficulties and

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 suffering encountered by the L.M.S. missionaries in their brief stay in that country. Had Lawry wanted an alibi, he would easily have found it in the fact that the Missionary Committee had made no provision for finance for the new mission nor had they considered the problem of transport. Unwilling though he may have been, Lawry was, however, a good son of the church, and made of stern stuff. When he found that the master of the brig "Tonga" on whom he had been relying for transport, absolutely refused to make another journey to the not very "friendly islands" he went ahead and bought a ship, the "St Michael" of 150 tons, and equipped her as he had bought her, from his own purse, sharing the expense with his brother-in-law and with Captain Beveridge. The Governor was favourable and gave cattle and other gifts. No doubt the small Christian community also added their share. This may be claimed to be the first Australian Missionary Expedition, and it is well to remember that the greatest cost and trouble were borne by Walter Lawry himself. Lawry was a realist. He knew that he not only needed transport to go to the station to which he was appointed, but also it was essential to keep his lines of communication open—something the Committee in London had not even thought of. To achieve this end he put himself in serious financial trouble and for his pains he was censored by the same Committee. All this meant delay added to delay and it was not until August 16th, 1822, that Walter Lawry and his party landed in Mu'a, Tongatapu. The venture began bravely, but in little over a year the situation had deteriorated to the point where he could see no value in remaining. With his wife unwell and without a sense of calling to this special task, faced with the practical need to gain the support of the Committee in London, and to discharge his own debts, he decided that the proper course was to leave. He left behind him two of the party, George Lilley, a carpenter. and Charles Tindall, a blacksmith. Lilley returned to Australia a year later and Tindall was still in Tonga when Thomas and Hutchinson arrived in 1826. Lawry's mission had hardly been a success, but it was by no means a complete failure. He had demonstrated that a mission to Tonga was practicable and that the door was open. He had experienced at first hand some of the immense practical problems of communication and supply that were to be important to every Pacific mission field, including New Zealand. In 1844, after some years in England he was reappointed to the South Seas as General Superintendent. He brought back a mature judgment based on the sense of reality which his Tongan experience had given him. As General Superintendent, Walter Lawry made a tremendous contribution to the church in New Zealand as well as to the church in Fiji and Tonga. Though his health began to fail after 1847 and his judgement and ability were then impaired4 he left a lasting mark on many aspects of Christian life and witness in several countries. New Zealand's next link with Tonga was the much more direct one of the Turner family. The Rev. Nathaniel Turner was appointed to New Zealand in 1822 and with Rev. William White and others sailed from Britain that year, but Turner remained in

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Tasmania for a time and did not reach New Zealand until the 3rd August, 1823. Leaving his family at Rangihoua, he walked overland to Whangaroa to find the brethren fully engaged in constructing the station which they had commenced 8 weeks earlier. Samuel Leigh's health was already failing, and he soon had to leave for Sydney. The new men, William White, James Hobbs, James Stack, and Luke Wade with Mr and Mrs Turner and the children and the young nurse girl, Betsy, who had been engaged in Sydney, comprised the whole staff of Wesleydale at this stage. The weeks and months that followed were times of tremendous strains and stress from outside and tension within. Until the destruction of the station three and a half years later, Nathaniel Turner laboured on, learning to speak Maori fluently and to understand something of the Maori mind and attitude. When the final blow fell and it became necessary to evacuate the station, the only course was to retreat to Sydney. On arrival there Turner was informed that, William White being absent in England, he had been appointed chairman of the recently created New Zealand and Friendly Islands district. The brethren in Sydney had chosen a layman, Mr I. V. M. Weiss to go to Tonga to assist the Rev's John Thomas and John Hutchinson who had been appointed there by the British Conference of 1825. They and their families had arrived in Tonga in 1826. Turner recognised that the brethren in Tonga would not only need the assistance of Weiss but that by this time they were probable in considerable need of supplies. Faced with this situation, he arranged to charter a small vessel to take the family and the goods to Tonga. When the ship arrived at Mu'a, Weiss found Thomas and Hutchinson beaten men who only wanted to get away again. They would not allow him to land and would have travel led back themselves on the ship had there been room. As it was they put some of their luggage on board for Sydney. While this was happening, new staff arrived in Sydney from Britain and among them were the Rev. and Mrs William Cross for the New Zealand Mission. The Turners and the newly married John Hobbs prepared to accompany the Cross family to New Zealand, in order to make a new start in Hokianga. Just as they were about to board their vessel the brig arrived back from Tonga with the Weiss family and the gloomy letters of Thomas and Hutchinson. Turner was immediately faced with the need to make vital decisions. The future of the work in both Tonga and New Zealand hung in the balance, and whatever was done would have to be done quickly. There was no time to contact London. To act without them was to invite censor. It was a fateful moment. After consulting the New South Wales brethren it was decided that Turner, Cross and Weiss would go to Tonga and even if the others left they would persist in the work. Hobbs was given the responsibility of leading the New Zealand party. Had Turner and his colleagues decided to adhere to their original instructions, New Zealand would certainly have been the gainer and the story of the next twenty years there might well have been different. But Tonga would almost certainly have been

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 abandoned and that would have changed the whole pattern of Pacific Methodism. Cross would not have pioneered in Fiji and found a grave there. Samoa would never have known "Lotu Tonga", and the southwest Pacific might never have been won. Perhaps from a New Zealand point of view it was a loss, but surely the right decision was made and God's hand was in it. Let us spare a thought for courage and dedication. No one had heard of "Culture Shock" in the Nineteenth Century. Missionaries were usually sent without any training and little resources but courage and faith. John Thomas, for example, lacked education and it took him many years to develop a sensitivity to other people. Though later he was to become known as the father of the Tongan church, he gained his position more by his depth of commitment and his long service than his real ability. Mr and Mrs Weiss were now taking their three children back across the stormy ocean in a cockle shell of a boat to face a still unknown people and a land of which they had heard the worst. It is not surprising that Thomas and Hutchinson became downhearted and determined to leave Tonga. It is astonishing that Mr and Mrs Weiss were willing to go back. Were there not giants of faith in those days? At least this time the Weiss family were not alone. They had with them Mr and Mrs Cross, Mr and Mrs Turner and three children, two New Zealand boys, one girl and two European servants. The arrival of the new party in Tonga gave renewed strength to the mission and enabled advantage to be taken of the opportunities there. It happened that two Tahitian L.M.S. teachers on their way to Fiji had been stranded in Nukualofa, a short time before. These men, Haepe and Tafita, had been holding services in the Tahitian language and had attracted more than 200 people to worship including the chief Tupou. This represented an opportunity for the proclamation of the gospel which Turner was well equipped to grasp. Nathaniel Turner was one of the outstanding figures of Pacific Methodism. His capacity to seize the opportunities presented to him and to learn quickly from experience were marks of his quality. His years in New Zealand had given him not only a knowledge of the Maori language but also an understanding of the Polynesian habits of mind. More, as others were to find later, the contrast between the grim and disheartening conditions in war-torn New Zealand, where the inflowing tide of settlement was making the task of the missionary more difficult, and the situation in Tonga, where the comparative freedom from unscrupulous and white rascality, and a much less vicious approach to tribal fighting, made the task even of mere existence easier, was startling. It gave Turner a sense of perspective that had been denied to Thomas and Hutchinson. Later it was said of him, "His four years experience in New Zealand proved a great advantage, in so much as his knowledge of Maori assisted him in acquiring the Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 14

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Tongan and in reducing it for the advantage of others."5 This was not his only advantage. It did the missionary cause no harm at all, that Turner had brought three Maori Christians with him as part of his family circle. All in all, the decision Turner had made in Sydney was one of the most critical made during the early years of Wesleyan work, and was not only bold but right. One is glad to know that after the passage of almost a decade the Missionary Committee in London acknowledged this. In a little over three years the whole aspect of mission work in Tonga was transformed. The first converts were made, the Lotu was accepted by a growing number of people, and the missionaries improved daily in their power to communicate. Before Turner was compelled to retire to Australia because of ill health in 1831, he had set the mission on a firm well organised foundation and welcomed valuable reinforcements—Peter Turner (who was later to serve in Samoa), James Watkin and William Woon, the printer. Though appointed to Hobart Town for the time being, Turner was later to return to New Zealand in May 1836, where he brought to bear his previous experience in New Zealand, Tonga and Australia. The following comment by another outstanding missionary, the Rev. James Wallis, sums it up. "The state of the New Zealand mission requiring the immediate inspection and oversite of someone, who, regardless of human favour or power, and indifferent to any degree of obloquy that might be cast on him in the discharge of his duty, would prove himself a servant of God, Mr Turner was appointed by the Missionary Committee in London to the Superintendancy of the mission. At the sacrifice of much personal and family inconvenience, he cheerfully returned to this country and was welcomed by the missionaries already in the land as the very man they needed to counsel and guide them in the circumstances of difficulty and complexity by which they found themselves overtaken. The confidence they reposed in him was not misplaced; but, on the contrary, was soon rewarded with all their hearts could desire in the improved position of the mission, and in the cheering prospect of increasing usefulness in various directions."6 Turner finally returned to Tasmania in 1839, having left his mark on both Tonga and New Zealand and used the experience he gained in each to aid the other. William Woon's career in Tonga as a missionary printer was cut short by ill health also and he left in January 1834. As he passed through New Zealand, the brethren there asked him to stay, and so he did, serving faithfully and well until in 1853^ when his health having failed, he became a supernumerary. His place as printer in Tonga was taken by the Rev. John Hobbs who had been in New Zealand as layman and minister since 1823. Though actually appointed in 1832, he did not reach Tonga until June 1833. While he went unwillingly, he had made up his mind to do the best he could. He, like Turner before him, was surprised at the different aspect both of the church and of the people. Here was enthusiasm and optimism, and a church where the

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 winds of the Spirit had begun to blow freely. There is no doubt that Hobbs' ten years in New Zealand gave him valuable experience that prepared him for learning the language and for the work he was required to do, but one is left wondering if he did not bring more back to New Zealand when he was reappointed there in 1838, than he took to Tonga. T. G. M. Spooner, after reading Hobbs' journal, comments on this: "Hobbs must, I think, have felt not a little sad as he took up work here again. He was very conscious of the small numbers of people compared with the populous islands of the Pacific. Three times within ten days of his landing at Paihia he comments on it, and he voices the opinion, held in common with others, that the increasing number of European settlers spells the ultimate extinction of the Maori people. There is in the entries of his journal at this time a despondent note. He was doubtless seeing New Zealand conditions more clearly now. His experience in Tonga gave him a wider background against which to evaluate the position here. The dwindling population has been referred to above. The health of the Maori people caused him great concern. He thought of the way the people of Tonga had so eagerly accepted medical aid, but here he says many of the people 'seem to remain careless about their health or rather about the means which we know would contribute to their health!' He became freshly conscious of how difficult it was to persuade the Maori to change and to improve his method of living. He comments—again a comparison with conditions in Tonga—on a most striking want of reverence and order in the House of God or anywhere else. All these things serve but to emphasise how difficult was the task of the early missionary to the Maori people."7 So through Huki and Tungahe, and their girl companion, through Turner and Lawry, Hobbs and Woon, New Zealand and Tonga were linked in their proclamation of the Gospel and their response to its demands, from the very beginning.

1. e.g. Jabez Bunting Waterhouse, Jabez Bunting Wallis, Jabez Bunting Watkin. 2. Hames p. 12 & Carnachan passim. 3. Hames p. 12. 4. Hames p.47. 5. Turner p.95. 6. Turner p. 163 7. Spooner p.24 f.

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CHAPTER 2: A KING IN ISRAEL In all the history of the Pacific there is no more remarkable man than he whom we now refer to as King George Tupou I of Tonga. His life spanned the whole of the 19th Century but for 7 years; by his ability and strength he was not only able to unite the three parts of the Tongan group, Ha'apai, Vava'u’ and Tongatapu, under his rule, but he was able to keep his country out of the greedy clutches of the Colonial powers. More, he was able to guide his people in such a way that after his death they were able to continue to meet the challenges' of the new century.8 Born in 1797 he became at the age of 23 years ruler of his native Ha'apai. Thirteen years later on the death of Finau Ulukalala IV he became ruler of Vava'au; and in 1845 he became Tui Kanokupolu and thus ruler of "Sacred Tonga" (Tongatapu). Although another seven years were to elapse before all chiefs had acknowledged his rule, unity for Tonga as a country had been achieved. That the king achieved this was basically due to the man himself, but he was what he was, in part, because of his conversion to the Christian faith. He was an adroit manager of people and events, but those people and those events were also shaped by the coming of the Gospel of Jesus Christ among them. Had the bloodshed and internecine strife of the 18th Century Tonga persisted, it seems unlikely that this man would have reached his 90th year, and it is most improbable that he would have been able to unite Vava'u with the rest. But it is equally true that the spread of the Christian faith among the people owed a great deal to the King. Sir Harry Luke who called him "perhaps the most remarkable man the Pacific Islands had hitherto produced" said of him "He not only accepted Christianity for himself and his family; he made himself the champion of the church militant against those chiefs with whom hostility to the new religion and to Tupou himself were allied sentiments. More, he was the prime mover in bringing about the conversion of Cakombau the leading chief of Fiji and hitherto a bloodthirsty warrior and a notorious cannibal."9 We could also add that this George Tupou had more to do with the continuing Methodist presence in Samoa than is usually recognised. It is not surprising that the monarch who kept his people independent should also seek to make the church within his borders independent. While mission boards at a distance are easy targets for dissidents, they are equally liable to be misunderstood. By the 1870's, the Tonga church was thriving and its contribution to the funds of the Mission Board in Sydney were considerable. In 1869 for example they are reported to have amounted to £4,489.16s.2d. ($8,979). When King George began to view with misgivings the departure of this money from his kingdom and seek at the same time a greater measure of self control for the local church, the Australian authorities were slow to respond. They could not conceive a self-governing local church being possible. Even George Brown who had more experience, and a wider knowledge than Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 17

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 most, did not think they were ready for such a step and was only prepared to accept it as "The lesser of two evils". (We must remember that a century later some of us still feel strongly that unless the Gospel is clothed in Western organisations and Western cultural trappings it is not the Gospel.) The King had continued to enjoy good personal relations with the missionaries, but he was far from dependent on them. He had many non-missionary European contacts, including men like Sir George Grey in New Zealand. While he never wavered in his recognition of what the Lotu had done for Tonga, it is probably also true that he had cause to resent the blatant paternalism of some of the older missionaries. More it seems clear that some of them at least, had hoped to make Tonga a British Protectorate10 and this was very close to treason in the King's eyes. One of the painful stories that come out of the period, is the rift between the King and Dr J. E. Moulton. Moulton's strong personality, his identification with the missionary attitudes of paternalism, and the suspicion that he was trying to bring about annexation to Britain (his daughter was the wife of F. H. Symonds, the British Consul) does account; in part for the King's coolness to one whom he probably still liked as a person. But it is difficult to judge how the matter would have turned out if it had not been for the Rev. Shirley Baker. This remarkable man was in turn chairman of the Methodist Mission in Tonga, prime minister, exile, and Anglican Layreader. At the height of his fame (or infamy) he was the most controversial figure in the Pacific, yet he died and was buried in obscurity in Tonga, by a travelling Seventh Day Adventist Pastor. His career had recently been the subject of research by Dr N. Rutherford and we should note his summing up ... "It is difficult to make an unequivocal assessment of Baker's work as a missionary. On the one hand, he made the Tongan mission self-supporting and brought solvency to the Australasian Wesleyan Missionary Society; on the other, his methods of achieving this worthy objective caused a scandal that still embarrasses the Methodist Church and provides ammunition for its critics. Again, Baker gave Tonga its own self-governing church, but in doing so he provoked bitter internal conflicts and brutal religious persecution. But perhaps, in the long view, Baker has been vindicated. Today Tongans are among the most devout people on earth, a state of affairs for which the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga is largely responsible. Liberated from outside control, and closely in touch with the needs of the people, the Free Church had kept the loyalty of the Tongans as no fakaongo (dependent) church could. But, in the final analysis, it is as a statesman and politician that Baker must be judged. Baker wrought a revolution of tremendous significance in Tonga. Under his guidance a tribal, quasi-feudal society was transformed into a modern constitutional state; government by the whim of the powerful was replaced by the rule of law; and from dependence on subsistence agriculture the country was enabled to progress to a money Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 18

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 economy based on trade. At the same time the kingdom's independence was maintained against powerful adversaries and the alienation of native lands effectively and permanently prevented. Changes as profound as these have seldom occurred in other places within so short a space of time, and when they have taken place they have usually been accomplished by violence or accompanied by widespread distress. But in Tonga a combined social, economic and political revolution was accomplished swiftly and smoothly, with a minimum of distress and with the loss of only six lives, those of Baker's would-be assassins. The magnitude of this achievement has been obscured by the writings of one man, at least for Europeans. Polynesians perhaps know better: in 1946 New Zealand granted independence to Western Samoa and on that important occasion the new Samoan Head of State, Tamasese, paid the New Zealand Premier the highest compliment he could think of—he compared him to the Reverend Shirley Baker."11 Though we should be grateful to Rutherford for putting Baker into perspective and restoring the balance after the very unfavourable image projected by Basil Thompson and those who followed him,12 he does scant justice to the King. It was the King who gave Baker his chance, it was the King who sought and gained help from outside Tonga with legal problems, it was the King who, except perhaps for the last few years of his life, retained final control in all things. As far as New Zealand is concerned the public heard much of the voice of Shirley Baker through the Auckland Press with whom he had very close relationships. He acted as special correspondent for several papers, and indeed spent an increasing amount of time in New Zealand. It is interesting to note however, that Church journals seem to be uniformly silent. The remarkable career of Shirley Baker remains unchronicled in them. Yet it is hard to believe that New Zealand Methodists were not affected to some extent by what was published in their papers, whether they knew it was attributed to one who had been a Wesleyan Minister or not. In the 1880's, when things moved to their climax, both Tonga and New Zealand were restive in their relationship with Australia and were seeking autonomy. At the General Conference of 1881, in the wake of the "Tararua" disaster the General Conference came very close to granting independence to New Zealand Methodism and did in fact make Tonga a separate district, taking it from the control of the Mission board and placing it under the New South Wales and Queensland conference. No one was satisfied. For Tonga it was too little, too late, and for New Zealand no solution at all. In addition there seems to have been some maladroitness in communicating the Conference decisions to Tonga. At the next General Conference which was held in 1884 in Christchurch, the demands from New Zealand and from Tonga received very little sympathy.

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New Zealand sought complete independence, unity with other Methodist churches and the right to retain ministers in circuits more than three years. Tonga sought independence or, at the very least, to become a district of the New Zealand Conference. But the General Conference was adamant. Of it the Rev. W. J. Williams, editor of the New Zealand Methodist wrote: "The Conference was certainly more remarkable for what it was prevented from doing than for what was done. The dominant spirit of the Conference was that of rigid conservatism; there was a dogged determination made manifest to err if at all, on the side of maintaining the existing order of things intact. In the opinion of a great many in the conference, judging from their utterances and actions, in the constitution of Methodism the point of finality has been reached; it is perfect and entire, lacking nothing; fully adapted to meet the requirements of this and all succeeding ages. Any change must be a change for the worst, or at the most but an attempt 'to paint the lily, or to gild refined gold.' The power of origination is exhausted the creative instinct is no more; all idea of progress otherwise and along the lines already laid down must be abandoned, and the most ambitious spirit must not presume upon a wider sweep than the well marked circle of routine . . . The irony of fate is, perhaps, nowhere more singularly indicated than in the fact that the latest followers of a thorough paced reformer like John Wesley should be found stubbornly resisting every proposal to deviate in the slightest degree from the beaten track marked out for them by their predecessors."13 Perhaps the linking of the Tongan and New Zealand requests did not help either cause to find acceptance from Australia. People outside the church certainly saw a connection. The New Zealand Herald wrote:— "Explain as we may, there can be no doubt of the fact that there is in New Zealand a general and growing conviction that the destiny of this colony is to become the head of an affiliated Polynesia and that, in so far as it becomes closely allied with Australia, its mission and influence among the Pacific Islands will be both impeded and impaired . . . Like the New Zealand colonists, therefore, the Wesleyans in New Zealand will have to wait until circumstances conspire to realise for them that separate autonomy which will became the centre of a fresh religious coalition."14 New Zealand's hopes for early Methodist union, like the hopes of independence were dealt a severe blow. But her people were prepared to live with it. The Tongans were not. "By some mischance," said Morley, "that letter (from King George) was not acknowledged properly but a deputation appointed to visit Tonga. Before its arrival ... the church had seceded and formed the Free Church of Tonga."15 This clumsy failure,

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 for the second time, to make sure of adequate communication, was a breach of courtesy and it added insult to injury in the King's eyes. Perhaps it was the fellow feeling which now united many in New Zealand and in Tonga that caused the last desperate proposals to be made to avoid secession in Tonga. In a letter dated the 1st August, 1884, Tubou Malohi A.D.C. to the King, wrote to the President of the General Conference saying that he was unhappy because the charges against Moulton had not been pressed and asking for the transfer to the New Zealand Conference on the grounds that the New South Wales and Queensland Conferences was no longer trusted, the New Zealanders had experience with Polynesians that could help and New Zealand was not hampered by any previous decision. But it was all to no avail. The point of no return had been reached and the secession which had in reality begun, became a fact. However, the deputation sent by the General Conference consisted of the Rev's J. J. Watsford, F. Langham and S. Rabone. Langham was still serving in Fiji, and the others were both ex-missionaries. When the deputation was on its way the Rev. Lorimer Fison wrote saying, "To those who know the Tongan characteristics, and who are acquainted with the history of the case, the movement which has resulted in secession is a perfectly natural one, and not necessarily disastrous if it be prudently dealt with."16 Either the deputation lacked the clarity of vision or were too hampered by their instructions. They were politely received and a compromise was proposed. It was that the Tonga district be transferred from the hated New South Wales and Queensland Conference to the Victoria-Tasmania Conference, and both the Rev. J. B. Watkin who was at the King's side as the chairman of the newly formed Free Church, and the Rev. J. E. Moulton be removed to colonial circuits and be replaced by new men. Any hope that compromise would be acceptable was slight but even that slight hope was destroyed because the King would not part with Jabez Bunting Watkin. The Free Church had been formed, storms of recrimination and persecution were to follow. In this tragic situation, the chief New Zealand interest is in the enigmatic figure of the Rev. Jabez Bunting Watkin. Why did this man, so bitterly opposed to Shirley Baker, as his letters reveal him to be, so close on several occasions in those years to retirement from Tonga on health grounds, a man not noted for bitterness and one with considerable experience, why did this man stay with the Free Church and cut himself off from his own family and from both Australia and New Zealand?

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8. Latukefu p.70. 9. Luke p.52. 10. WPHC 43/40 letter from Moulton to Baker dated 31 August 1885 says that England must interfere "to protect the Christian Religion" see also Latukefu passim. 11. Rutherford p.177. 12. Thompson passim. 13. N.Z. Methodist 6 December 1884 editorial. 14. N.Z. Herald 10th January, 1885 p.5. 15. Morley p.402. 16. N.Z. Methodist 4 April 1885 p.6.

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CHAPTER 3: TOWARD INDEPENDENCE Jabez was born in Tonga on 31st March, 1837, just a few months before his parents, the Rev. James Watkin and his wife Hannah left for Australia. Indeed it could well be that the arrival of young J.B. precipitated the withdrawal on health grounds. He was barely three when the family came to New Zealand and his father took up his post as the first white missionary in the South Island at Waikouaiti. For the next four years James Watkin laboured there in what must have been one of the most difficult of all missionary stations in the Pacific. After seven years in tropical Tonga amid a responsive and easy going people, the bitter climate of Otago and the hostile traders and whalers and their mixed race offspring, of whom it was said "some of them brought the Maori few virtues but outrivalled them in evil conduct", must have made a contrast to which it was not easy to adjust.17 Like the rest of the family, young Jabez acquired a facility in Maori, and a deep understanding of Maori ways. When the family moved to Wellington in 1844 he did not lose his contact with the Maori people and no doubt his father preached in Maori as often as he did in English. James and Hannah Watkin must have been remarkable parents. They were people of deep Christian commitment and sustaining faith which not only supported them in all their trials but also radically influenced the upbringing of their family. It is hard to think of any other family who sent three sons into the ministry each of whom became president of a Wesleyan Conference in a different country! Another son became Mayor of Ashfield (in Sydney) and a daughter married a minister. Yet in James there was a humility which amounted at times to a complete self-distrust. Though he could be stubborn and tenacious to a degree he was never quite sure of himself. An old friend, Samuel Ironside, is reputed to have said of him, "Long before I saw him, I formed the opinion that he was about the best-read man, the closest observer of men and things I had ever known, and withal a man of utter self-abnegation."18 This diffidence was reflected in at least some of the family. It was said, for example, of the Rev. William J. Watkin, the eldest of the three sons to enter the ministry, that while he became President of the Wesleyan Conference in 1889, "He was an excessively modest man, which perhaps accounts for the fact which although possessed with more than average ability, he was found often in hard and country circuits."19 The other brother who became a minister, Edwin Iredale Watkin D.D., became president of the Victorian and Tasmanian Conference and it was said of him, that had he lived, he would have almost certainly become president of the General Conference. He seems to have been a man of much more forceful character. He certainly engaged in some fierce verbal battles in the General Conference on behalf of his brother and the missionaries in Tonga.

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The achievement of James Watkin, the father, is very impressive. He was in Ha'apai, in Tonga, at the time when a great revival broke out in the early thirties. Some thousands of local people joined the church at that time. In the South Island of New Zealand he did a tremendous job. Pvbus reported of him "In order to make full proof of his ministry this intrepid missionary toiled to gather the ethnology, the history and tribal life of the people that he might be the better able to meet the intellectual and spiritual needs. Seldom has a missionary accomplished so much in one year as Watkin accomplished in 1840. His classes for the training of native pastors and teachers stand out as a marvellous achievement." A tribute to his work has been paid by many of his contemporaries including Dr D. Monro who wrote in July, 1844, and many histories of that period. It is certain that his work did a great deal to prepare the area for European settlement. His whole ministry in Tonga, New Zealand and Australia was of a piece. Pybus says that he was a man whose "loving gentle spirit extended its full force in his relations with his children"20 but it was the same man who dealt in the same way with his fellows everywhere. J. H. Fletcher, who knew him well over many years, and taught his sons at Wesley College, Auckland, said he was "Lovable and unselfish and an ardent lover of Methodism."21 We should not forget that it was his deep compassion for people which led him to write in 1836, the pamphlet "Pity Poor Feejee" which stirred the conscience of British Methodism and ensured that not only the newly begun work in Fiji was supported, but that the other Pacific areas also gained more help. We cannot doubt that James Watkin's experience in Tonga made him a better equipped missionary for his subsequent service in New Zealand and Australia. But that debt to Tonga was fully paid in the services of the family to that country. Jabez Watkin served her for 61 years, and William Watkin's son Howard was for a period Collector of Customs and Associate Minister of Finance in the Tongan Government. J. B. Watkin went with his parents to Australia in 1855 having spent 15 of the most formative years of his life in New Zealand. He was accepted as a candidate for the ministry in 1863 and went to Queensland to train. In 1866 he was appointed to Tonga. He married a Miss Slade on the 26th March in Sydney, with his father officiating, and the young couple departed for Tonga on the 14th April. During the next 10 years he served in a number of posts, going to his father's old station at Ha'apai in 1870. In these years his life and work followed a predictable pattern. Health was a major concern and several times he contemplated withdrawal because of the health of Mrs Watkin or the children. He had his moments of tension with his brethren, and with the Mission Board. For example, his father records in his diary on the 21st November, 1870, "Heard from Jabez. He writes in a fury, highly indignant at the brethren's conduct towards the Chairman, but he says nothing to the charges made at the conclusion of the meeting. I am afraid envy had something to do with these proceedings. It is a sad state of things from whatever source. I am sorry my son seems Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 24

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 such a partisan. I hope he will not carry his threat into execution if the action of the Conference should be what he thinks it ought not to be."22 This kind of tension could, of course, be paralleled over and over again in the life of virtually every missionary from the beginning of time to the present day. The present writer recalls some of his colleagues sending the chairman of the district an asbestos envelope to "consign his inflammatory epistles in." However in the mid 1870’s things began to take on a different aspect. The chairman, Rev. S. W. Baker, to whom Watkin says with justification, he had always been loyal, was really becoming unbearable. On the 2nd February, 1876, Watkin wrote, "I have always been loyal to the chairman, but I think he is getting out of his depth. His zeal outruns his judgment." Within a year the situation was so much worse Watkin was asking to return to the colonies for he can no longer trust the chairman. "It will be a relief to get out of the district. I am perfectly weary of the perpetual charges and counter-charges which seem to have become chronic with us."23 As the controversy over independence for the Tongan Church became more acute, Watkin, who first replaced Baker as chairman and was then suspended, cast in his lot with the Free Church and finally resigned in 1885 following the 1884 General Conference. Was it friendship for Shirley Baker? His known letters give no evidence of it. Was it ambition? Ambition was certainly not a family characteristic. Why? The evidence available does not give us much guide and since all his own family are dead, we must conjecture. First there was the personal link with the king. One can understand that the old king would be readily attached to the son of the man who had ministered to him and his beloved Ha'apai. If Jabez Watkin did have a special place in the Royal affections, this would account for George Tupou's refusal to allow Watkin to be sacrificed for the sake of a compromise solution to the problem in 1885. Second it seems reasonable that a man who probably spoke fluent Maori and who had gained a great facility in the Tongan language, and who had spent the most formative 15 years of his life in New Zealand among Polynesian people, understood more clearly than anyone else the real aspirations of king and people. For, if we are honest, looking back through 90 years, would we not say that George Tupou, Shirley Baker and J. B. Watkin were right? Complete autonomy and control of its own life and witness was a natural and right development of a Church as advanced as Tongan Methodism in the latter part of the last century. It was the Australian Church and its mision board which we would now judge to be wrong, though we can understand why they acted as they did. Is not the proof of this in the judgment which Dr Rutherford gives in his book? "Today Tongans are one of the most devout people on earth, a state of affairs for which the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga is largely responsible. Liberated from outside control, and closely in touch with the needs of the people, the

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Free Church had kept the loyalty of the Tongans as no "fakaongo" (dependent) Church could."24 If this is so, then Tonga owes more to New Zealand than is usually realised. J. B. Watkin, who became the first chairman and then President of the Free Wesleyan Church, guided it through the remaining years of his life. It is sad that the final chapter must be one of human weakness. The movement Howards reunion of the church in Tonga grew in strength after Queen Salote came to the throne. The Rev. Roger Page as leader of the Tongan branch of Australian Methodism commended himself to the Queen and her subjects and helped to create the climate in which reunion became possible. The financial affairs of the Free Church had become chaotic and the ageing president was no longer capable of keeping things in check. The new world with its new temptations and challenges needed unity. Even Watkin himself saw the need, and did not oppose union until it was almost complete. Then in 1924 when the decisive acts were to be taken he refused to go along with the wish of the Queen and that of the majority of the church leaders. In April he was dismissed by her Majesty. On the 23rd April, 1924, he wrote: "To J. M. Masterton, Esquire, British Consul, Tonga. "I have received a letter from the Conference with a command that I must give up all belonging to the Church without delay. So I request; your advice and protection as British Consul as I am a British subject, Yours respectfully, J. B. Watkin."25 The old man, who for 61 years had served Tonga so well, now went out of the church in bitterness and took with him over 2,000 people to maintain a continuing Free Church. The sensitivity to people which had led him out of the Australian Methodism in 1885 had failed him in his 87th year. He died in, the following January. New Zealand by this time, had another link with the Free Church. In Victoria a young married home missionary, Edwin Scaife Harkness became a candidate for the ministry. When he was rejected on health grounds, he was approached by the Rev. Dr E. I. Watkin to go and assist brother Jabez in Tonga. Early in 1910 Mr and Mrs Harkness with two small daughters moved to Tonga and were appointed to Ha'apai. The next ten years they laboured faithfully among the people. Mr Harkness shared with Mr Watkin the coronation ceremony of Queen Salote and was highly thought of by the young Queen, as he. was by all the people. Mr Harkness transferred to the New Zealand Conference in 1921 and after 26 years of ministry in this country, retired in 1947. He died in 1966. His Tongan-born son Howard serves in the New Zealand ministry, his daughter Effie served for many years in the Solomons and now two grand-daughters are serving one in Papua New Guinea

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 and another in Tonga. Once again Tonga has enriched the lives of those who served her and through them New Zealand and the Pacific.

17. Pybus p.36 and passim Pratt p.76 ff. 18. Pybus p. 15. 19. N.Z. Minutes 1910. 20. Pybus p. 16 and 73. 21. M.R. 4 March 1911. 22. James Watkin Diary M.L. M.O.M. 23. M.L. M.O.M. 70,90 and 170 letters dated 11 September 1877, 12 January 1877 and February 1878. 24. Rutherford op. cit. p. 177. 25. F.A.M.C. Masterman was his son-in-law.

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CHAPTER 4: HESITATION IN SAMOA Nowhere in the Pacific did Methodism ever work with such divided mind as it did in Samoa in the nineteenth century. The establishment of official Wesleyan work in 1835, its closure in 1839, and its reopening in 1857 was not: only carried out in a state of tension with the London Missionary Society and its agents, but also created strains within Samoan and Tongan life, led to acrimonious debate in England, caused friction between the Australian Mission Board and the Parent Committee in London, and left the missionaries themselves divided and uncertain. The story is of interest to New Zealand because of the conflict between the forceful, assured George Brown and his more sensitive and much less confident brother-in-law James Waterhouse Wallis. It also is of interest and of great importance because it tells of beginnings which have cast their shadow into the twentieth century. No adequate understanding, of Samoan churchmanship, at home, or in New Zealand, is possible without this. Christianity in the Navigators' Islands (or Samoa, as we now call it) dates back to 1828, and at that date it owed nothing! to any paleface "palangi" missionaries. Tonga and Samoa had had many close links through the generations and intermarriage was common. While Christian Tongans who married Samoans must have helped to prepare the way for the Gospel, the general favourable attitude to Tonga and to all things Tongan was probably more important. In 1828 a man named Saivaaia from Savaii went on a visit to Tonga and was there converted. On his return home, he quickly began making converts and "Lotu Tonga" began to spread rapidly.1 Word of the growing number of converts soon reached the missionaries in Tonga and Nathaniel Turner wrote to the Missionary Committee in London on June 25th, 1829: "If Tonga becomes Christianized, we have good reason to believe that not only the Haapies and Vavau will receive the truth, but we will obtain access to Fiji and the Navigator's Islands. There are men from Tonga in each place and from what we can learn respecting the inhabitants, they are very numerous and very mild, excepting the Fiji people."1 In 1832-33 the Tonga district again spoke of the opportunity in Samoa, and advised the Committee that they had begun the preparation of a book of instructions for the workers who would be sent. To this the Missionary Committee responded with this advice. "The Brethren of the District will adopt the best measures their circumstances will allow for improving the favourable opportunity for introducing Christianity into the Navigators Islands."2 With this encouragement the brethren were in the mood to respond to the representations of the Samoans who sent a petition by the hand of one Tui asking for a Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 28

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 minister. They received encouragement also from Taufa'ahau of Ha'apai who had been recently converted and baptised. This man who we know best by his later title of King George Tupou I, had many traditional links with Samoa. They therefore, at the 1834 District meetings, appointed the Rev. Peter Turner to go. Mr and Mrs Turner arrived at Manono, Samoa, in June 1835, to find about two thousand people in the area professing "Lotu Tonga" and many hundreds of others clamouring for teachers. The handful of men who had come with them from Tonga were quickly deployed and still the demand grew. Turner was joined by the Rev. Mathew Wilson a year later. By the beginning of 1839 'they were surrounded by about 13,000 hearers, more than 3,000 church members, 197 schools, 487 teachers and 6,354 scholars with 80 chapels some of which were of large dimensions."3 This extraordinary achievement had not been the work of the English missionaries but of a spontaneous movement of the Spirit such as Tonga had witnessed a few years earlier. Turner and Wilson had done their best to guide and direct the movement and give it "the machinery of Methodism".4 While this was going on in the Pacific, on the other side of the world the foundations were being pulled out from under the whole structure. Without any consultation with the people on the spot, without any news of what was really happening, the Missionary Committee had accepted the contention of the Directors of the London Missionary Society that Samoa was their territory and the Wesleyans should withdraw. In 1830 the L.M.S. pioneer the Rev. John Williams and the Rev. C. Barff were journeying with a group of Tahitian missionaries seeking new opportunities to proclaim the Gospel. They came to Tongatapu and spent a pleasant time with Nathaniel Turner and his colleagues. During the course of the meetings the future plans of each mission were discussed. What was actually said we can never know. But it is certain that each side later reported a different impression. John Williams claimed that the L.M.S. was to be given a free hand in Samoa and the Wesleyans in Tonga and Fiji. Being an Independent churchman, and in any case, a very independent person, it is hardly surprising that he did not realise that the Wesleyans could not give such an undertaking, without at least consulting the District Committee, if not the Committee in England. At all events. Turner vigorously denied making any such arrangement and as the Rev. Charles Tucker pointed out in 1863 when the matter was again one of public debate, Williams did in fact both attempt to place teachers both at Vavau (and failed) and in Fiji (with success), immediately after that conversation. However, his most significant action was to place eight Tahitian teachers in Samoa under the care of the chief Malietoa. Whatever the truth of the matter, John Williams was on the spot in London to raise it and the Wesleyan men were not. Once again Methodism, which could be harsh, rigid Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 29

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 and uncompromising with its own, was perhaps too accommodating with the outsider. Just as the withdrawal from the West Coast of New Zealand later reversed, caused loss and confusion, so did the withdrawal from Samoa. At the very least, the Missionary Committee should have sought the views of the men on the spot, but they did not. Having issued the order to withdraw they resisted all pleas to rescind it. Peter Turner and Mathew Wilson were Wesleyan Ministers and though they might be heartbroken about the withdrawal, in the final analysis they obeyed orders as every one of "Mr Wesley's Preachers" must. Samoans and Tongans were under no such restraint. At one of the protest meetings held in Samoa, Mata'afa, the Wesleyan chief, pleaded for Lotu Tonga to remain, saying, "Why should we be separated with our Tongan brethren who brought us the Gospel and with whom we have had contact from ancient times." He was supported by chief Malietoa whom the L.M.S. regarded as "their King". Said Malietoa, "If you let Mr Turner and Mr Wilson leave this land there will be nothing but war".5 That there was consternation among the L.M.S. brethren is understandable, but these two statements offer a key not only to all that went before but to all that had followed. Tonga and Samoa are closely linked by ties of blood, language and culture and some Samoans at least have acknowledged the suzerainity of Tongan Chiefs in days past. Once the lotu took root in Tonga it was an easy transition to plant it in Samoa, for it was truly "Lotu Tonga" rather than Lotu Wesley (i.e. from a foreign land). Therefore a break with Methodism was seen as a break with Tonga. Malietoa recognised in his remarks that checks and balances in Samoan society, which, while making the "Irishmen of the Pacific" a contentious folk in some ways, also maintained a form of social justice. Any move to assume absolute power seems to produce a opposite reaction and a balancing authority. This tendency continues, and the multiplication of the number of Matais in recent times has adapted but not destroyed the system. It is significant that an independent Western Samoa began with joint heads of State and a Prime Minister of a different family. It is very doubtful if Methodism even unchallenged by outside forces could have taken over Samoa as completely as it did Tonga. In the next few years there were a procession of deputations to Tonga—to George Tupou, to other leading chiefs and to the missionaries, seeking the missionaries for Samoa who were the symbol of their identity as Wesleyans. Some Tongan teachers were sent. On one occasion in 1841, they went with the tacit approval of the General Superintendent, the Rev. John Waterhouse, who had been a member of the parent Committee in London when the fateful decision was made.6 But gradually the tide of Methodism receded in Tonga till by the 1850's there was only a small disreputable remnant. Would another decade have seen the disappearance of Methodism in Samoa? Or would Lotu Tonga have persisted and grown again if left to itself? We cannot know, for once again actions on the other side of the globe reopened closed doors for Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 30

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Samoans and Tongans. In 1855 English Methodism passed control of the Pacific to Australia. The newly formed Missionary Society in Sydney asked the Rev. John Thomas, veteran of the Tongan Church to address them. He gave a survey of the work in "Polynesia", i.e. Tonga and Fiji and also mentioned the sad situation of the Samoan remnant. Immediately there was a reaction, and as a result, the Conference asked Thomas to conduct a survey of the condition of Methodism in Samoa. On receiving his report, the Conference appointed the Rev. Martin Dyson to minister to Methodists in Samoa.7 Dyson who laboured in Samoa for eight years, was a sensitive man, and though as qbedient as Turner and Wilson had been, went to his task with many doubts about the wisdom of his appointment. He told the L.M.S. missionaries who summoned him to a meeting at Fasitolia, Upolo, in November 1857, that he had come to those who still held to Methodism, not to proselytise. Somewhat ungraciously they accepted his assurances but were outspoken in their condemnation of his Tongan helpers. It was impossible to prevent some movement of people between the two churches, and because the L.M.S. had not only the Bible translated into Samoan, but also a hymnbook and other literature which the Methodists desired to use, there many occasions for pettiness and bickering. Dyson suffered greatly and would have been glad to leave as he sought to do several times. He understood the feelings of the L.M.S. men and did not blame them. In 1860, George Brown arrived from New Zealand. The Auckland Quarterly Meeting may have thought him, "a meek, mild, young ladylike person (who had) no spirit whatever that would make a missionary."8 In fact he was a man of considerable toughness and resilience. Martin Dyson did his job in spite of his doubts; George Brown had no doubts and was therefore a far more formidable adversary.9 It may have been the realisation that in him they had a man whom they could neither browbeat or intimidate, that caused the London missionaries to take their complaints to the British Press. Their "protest" was published in "The British Standard", September 11th, 1863, and immediately started a controversy, not only between the supporters of the mission bodies concerned, but within Methodism. The "Wesleyan Times" and the "Watchman" (or Wesleyan Advertiser) supported the original decision to withdraw and attacked the Rev. W. B. Boyce, President of the Australian Conference, blaming him for "aggression" and "intrusion". On the other hand the "Methodist Recorder" published lengthy letters by the Rev. Charles Tucker, who had been a missionary in Tonga in the 1830's and 40's and in the editorials supported the Australian Conference. When the first district meeting was held in Samoa, Dyson was chairman and Brown the only other member. They roundly condemned Brother Rigg who had left the district because of his wife's health, without the permission of the chairman, and whose departure had frightened the Samoans with the spectre of a second desertion. So strong was their condemnation that Rigg was dismissed from the Ministry by the Conference. The next year, Dyson resigned saying he would go anywhere but not stay

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 in Samoa. It was not, however, till October 1865, that Dyson was able to leave to be replaced by the Rev. J. S. Austin and the Rev. F. Firth. George Brown was now chairman and from his well-established base at Satupaitea, led the expansion of the Samoan Church. Through wars and rumours of wars, hurricanes and times of weakness, he always gave a strong lead. On one occasion he sat in the sun for a whole day keeping warring tribes apart. It was under his leadership that spiritual revival and Christian growth began to show clearly. Martin Dyson had, with gentleness and understanding, re-established Methodism as an orderly presence in Samoan life. George Brown and those who served with him were able to reap some of the harvest in the later years of the decade. The strains and stresses continued. Intertribal wars were a constant problem and the fact that any Methodist advance seemed to alarm the L.M.S. brethren and provoke new initiatives did not help. In 1870, James Waterhouse Wallis was appointed to Samoa after two years in the Friendly Islands District. He was a sensitive young man of deep piety who was, at times, very conscious of his youth. He was probably already feeling the effect of the climate and suffering that ill health that ultimately led to his withdrawal and his death at thirty-six years of age. Looking back now, one wonders why the church sent him to join his brother-in-law in Samoa. We can understand that his request for the transfer was probably inspired by hero worship of a beloved sister and brother-in-law who had those qualities of forceful leadership and singleness of purpose that he himself lacked. But George Brown was not one to understand this sensitive youth and the family relationship did not help. Young missionaries and their older colleagues, have often found relationships strained. The chairman of the district can often find himself out of sympathy with impatient youth that in his eyes lacks understanding. All this is natural and is repeated over and over again in missionary history. The correspondence with the mission Board conducted by J. W. Wallis and George Brown in their periods of tension is very reminiscent of letters exchanged eighty years later in another part of the Pacific. In this case it seems that Mrs Brown, with the best of sisterly intentions, spoke to Mrs Wallis and then related her conversations to her husband, and so the tensions grew. Without this family involvement it is quite possible that they would have managed, and their relationship would have settled down. There would always have been, however, some tension between the dreamer and the doer, the mystic and the practical man of affairs. Yet they were both good men. Brown had before him a distinguished career. Had Wallis lived he would undoubtedly have made his mark in New Zealand Methodism to which he returned in 1874. As it was, though a sick man he became assistant editor of the New Zealand Wesleyan in 1876 and won the esteem of his brethren as one who "walked with God" but his life was already drawing to a close and it ended on August 2nd, 1877. He was a worthy son of a noble father.10

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George Brown, too, left Samoa in 1874, but only to take up greater responsibilities in pioneering the new field in New Britain. New Zealand's connection with Samoa became a very spasmodic one thereafter for the next century. Miss E. M. Noble went to Satupaitea in 1901 as the first missionary sister in charge of a school that had been founded in 1898. She served there for three years returning South in 1903. The Rev. Fred Copeland was appointed in 1913 to Samoa and thereafter there was no New Zealander serving there until the 1950's. Fred Copeland's four years in Samoa (1913-16 inclusive) were critical ones for Samoa, as German occupation gave place to New Zealand rule. He was already a man of some seniority in the ministry, mature and helpful. Like the rest of the staff, he carefully kept out of politics as the clouds of war rolled over the world, but when the New Zealand forces took over, Copeland who was stationed in Apia, quickly found an extra ministry to the New Zealand troops. For this he was greatly respected by the men, but perhaps not so much by the top brass. He was clearly impatient of petty restrictions and this brought him into collision with the powers. The news of his impending departure was dismissed with a brief two sentences by Col. R. Logan, the Administrator.11 But half a century later he was remembered with gratitude and affection by Samoans who had known him. He returned to New Zealand because of health, and continued his ministry in this country. He was in the active work for 46 years, and contributed to every part of the life of the New Zealand church.

1. Colwell p.483 Findlay and Holdsworth p.346. 2. Colwell p.484. 3. M.L. M.O.M. 167 Chas. Tucker Letter to Methodist Recorder of October 1863. 4. op cit. 5. M.L. M.O.M. 160 Matthew Wilson Letter dated October 1863 to Martin Dyson. 6. Tucker op cit. 7. N.S.W. Minutes 1857. 8. Brown p. 19. 9. op cit p.29-30. 10. N.Z. Minutes 1878. 11. Letter from Logan to Copeland dated 21 August 1916.

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CHAPTER 5: PITY POOR FEEJEE! In June 1973, Ratu Sir Edward Cakombau, Deputy Prime Minister of Fiji, died in Suva. Just as Fiji was plunged into mourning for an outstanding national leader, so also the Kingdom of Tonga wept for "Tungi Fisi", the beloved uncle of His Majesty, King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, an acknowledged leader of the Tongan community in Fiji. For Edward Cakombau was descended on his mother's side from Ratu Ebenezer Seru Cakombau, perhaps the greatest of Fiji's old time chiefs, and his father was King George Tupou II. He was, therefore, a half brother to the late Queen Salote. The "Tonga Chronicle" reporting his death on its front page, also noted that Adi Lady Lala Mara, the wife of Fiji's Prime Minister, was also part Tongan. They could have gone on to an almost endless list of Fijian personalities who are of Tongan, or part Tongan descent. The influence of Tonga on Fiji in historic times, exemplified by this particular notable, has been enormous in things both great and small. The Fijian chiefly system is certainly Polynesian in origin, and Tongan in immediate descent. The best known of all Fijian songs "Isa Lei" is written to a Tongan tune.1 What is true in every day affairs is also true in the story of the Christian Church. Three Tahitian teachers, Jacaro, Atai and Arui had come to Lakemba in 1830 immediately from Tonga, where they had been left by John Williams of the London Missionary Society until a way was open for them to go to Fiji. Though driven from Lakemba they found refuge at Oneata, a neighbouring island, and there they lived and died. "Their converts were few, but this should cause little surprise. They had to face tremendous difficulties and fight against fearful odds and we marvel at their steadfastness and courage. They never properly learned the Fijian language and yet they never faltered, never doubted, never fell from grace . . . They died and were buried at Oneata," says one writer.2 But the main thrust of missionary impact came directly from Tonga and the Wesleyans. In Tonga preparations were made, and the first pamphlets printed in Fijian; men were set aside to go, and they began to learn the language. Always there was the active encouragement of Tongans who had relatives in the Lau Islands, which were then, and are now, a home to many Tongans and part Tongans. It was natural therefore that William Cross and David Cargill and their wives, the chosen pioneers, should go first to Lakemba in the Lau group where they landed on the 12th October, 1835. Both speaking fluent Tongan, with some years of experience in that land behind them, and supported by the knowledge that in Lau at least, they had a good prospect through their Tongan connections of a reasonable beginning place. In 1838 two moves brought reinforcement to the infant mission. Taufa'ahau of Ha'apai (King George Tupou I) was keen to see Fiji respond to the Gospel, and no doubt, to extend his own political influence as well. He sent a party of teachers to assist. Many of them were high born chiefs and thus men of standing. The most notable among Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 34

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 them was Joeli Bulu, perhaps Tonga's greatest missionary. The second, though first in time, was James Watkin, who moved by the reports from Cross and Cargill, wrote a tract for English readers, "Pity poor Feejee", which was published in February 1838.3 This most powerful document moved English Methodism with startling results. For example, two families promised $400 (a very large sum in those days), and one lady agreed to meet the cost of one of the missionaries if a second was sent also. This wave of enthusiasm was treated with natural caution by the Missionary Committee which was aware that the tide would ebb and they might be over committed for their normal resources. Nevertheless three outstanding missionaries came to Fiji because of this. John Hunt, James Calvert and Thomas J. Jaggar were sent from England, and in 1839 the Rev. Dr Richard Burdsal Lyth was transferred from Tonga.4 Hunt and Calvert were great men, and with Cross and Cargill rightly occupy a large section in the history of the Fijian Church. But Thomas James Jaggar, who later served for so many years in New Zealand, received much less notice. A trained printer, Jaggar and his wife Sarah, arrived in Fiji at a critical period. They endured, with great patience, all the trials of pioneering. After an initial period at Lakemba, Jaggar went to Rewa where he became Superintendent of the Circuit and won favourable notice from the Rev. John Waterhouse on his visit in 1841.5 But soon Rewa had to be evacuated. Birtwhistle says, "The Jaggars had often been in distress through lack of supplies. They had no fit place for Mrs Jaggar to live and there seemed little to show for the time that had been spent."6 For the rest of the story one must turn to Thomas Jaggar's diary, some of which is preserved in the Fijian Archives. It is a story of suffering and privation, of heartaches and sorrow. There were times of spiritual refreshment, especially during the period when Hunt, Jaggar and Watsford were together at Viwa after withdrawal from Rewa. But after ten years the Jaggars were broken in health and asked for permission to go to New Zealand. Their withdrawal was not sympathetically received and Thomas finally departed "under discipline". Methodism could be very unforgiving to her sons and daughters who failed to live up to the super-human standards set. Thomas Jaggar had to wait five years to be reinstated as a lay preacher, and then he served New Zealand for fifteen years as a much beloved Home Missionary. When he died, his grave at Kaukapakapa was for many years attended by his parishioners who had come to love and honour him. Reinstatement in the full ministry was in the end denied to him by the Conference, but Thomas Jaggar had been reinstated long before in the affections of New Zealand people.7 It is quite incredible that so few missionaries faltered in those early days under tension which their successors never knew, faced with constant and very real physical danger, called to watch helpless, while children, and sometimes wives, died far from home

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 and loved ones. We should not blame them if occasionally they succumbed to temptation. Even their failures cannot destroy the good they did.8 But it is perhaps the missionaries' wives who were the greatest heroes. Living in shocking conditions, giving birth to numerous babies far away from skilled medical help, watching their children suffer and die, and every time their husbands went out never knowing whether they would see them again. On the 23rd March, 1843, Thomas Jaggar wrote in his diary, "This morning at about 9 o'clock our dear Louisa joined the heavenly hosts. Our hearts are broken—but the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Brother Hunt reached here about an hour after she escaped away—she died in my lap _no one was present but my dear wife, self and Joshua." (Joshua was three and Louisa 14 months). The next day he writes. "Committed dear infant's remains to the earth where the sacred dust of Mrs Cargill and baby—and our dear boy lies . . . It appears a very difficult thing to rear children in Feejee. They are very tender plants. It is a mercy after all when they are transplanted to more congenial soils."9 But theirs was no hopeless resignation. They equally, with their husbands, had a deep and unwavering faith, from which was born a courage that amounted to almost foolhardiness. Who can forget the story of Mary Ann Lyth, and Mary Calvert who, in 1849, crossing from Viwa to Bau at the time of a cannibal feast, took their lives in their hands and forced their way into the presence of the dread Tanoa to save the lives of women condemned to the ovens? The Victoria Cross has been awarded for less. But it was perhaps a deeper form of courage to go on when cannibal feasts took place at one's door and all the perverted cruelty of mankind was demonstrated to you with the clear intention of breaking your heart and spirit. No Missionary Chronicle in any land, least of all in Fiji, can support the contention that women are the weaker sex. While the pioneering of Fiji was proceeding, and the lotu was securing a firm hold in several places, changes were taking place in New Zealand. What Morley has called the "colonial church", meaning the pakeha church, was beginning to emerge as distinct from the mission to the Maori people. Though New Zealand Methodism was still classed as a Mission District and did not achieve autonomy until 1874, nor independence till 1913, changes in church and community were taking place. It was in the 1850's that Aucklanders, for example, began to become conscious of themselves as a community and became involved in an increasing amount of community action. In the middle of the decade the patriotic demands of the Crimean War led to fund raising efforts for the widows and orphans of soldiers10. And this brought together many sections of society. The colonial church also began to be aware Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 36

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 of itself as an entity. It is at this period also that the shape of the future was being determined. Auckland took a lead in this, it was not only because of its size and political importance, but also because here was Wesley College. This institution, set up to meet the needs of missionary children from Tonga and Fiji, as well as from New Zealand, was served by some outstanding people, and it helped to give New Zealand Methodism a centre and a new type of identity. The first Principal who also combined the duties of Governor-Chaplain for a time, was the Rev. Joseph Horner Fletcher, who was at the beginning of a distinguished career as a preacher, teacher and administrator. Born to missionary parents in the West Indies, he was sent to Britain to Kingswood School at seven years of age. His maternal grandfather, William Horner, had been brought forward as a candidate for ministry by John Wesley himself. Converted at 18, J. H. Fletcher offered for the ministry when he was 22. He did three years at Richmond College and his first appointment was to New Zealand, where he came with the vision of another Kingswood in a southern clime.11 Later in life he was headmaster of Newington College, Sydney, for many years and involved in theological training in Australia. After his arrival in Auckland, he soon saw clearly the need. As he faced the problems of finding suitable staff, he sent for his family. First his sister, Mary, came and then brother William, a Bachelor of Arts, and a trained teacher, then finally brother John, who was to see the close of the college as a church school, and take it over as a private institution. Each of these made a distinct and valuable contribution to the college and to the church. Another to make a distinguished contribution to the college was Richard Burdsal Lyth, ordained minister, and the first medical missionary ever sent overseas by the Methodist Church. He had been appointed to Tonga in 1836, and after three years, which were in a real sense a time of preparation he was sent to Fiji where he served for sixteen years. He left Fiji in 1855 because of health and was appointed as Governor/Chaplain to Wesley College to relieve J. H. Fletcher of some of his burdens. Early in 1858 the Lyth family set out for an England they had not seen for twenty two years. After revising the Fijian Bible for the British & Foreign Bible Society, Dr. Lyth again went abroad to serve as a missionary chaplain to Gibraltar for five years. He superannuated in 1876 in his native city of York and died on the 27th February 1877 in his 78th year.12 In Fiji Lyth laid the foundations of the medical services and he also did a great deal to put on to a firm basis, the training of native agents, or home missionary-school teachers. Professor G. C. Henderson, by no means an uncritical judge, says of him, "Lyth was a man of lofty ideals, indefatigable industry and deep devotion. My carefully considered opinion is that he was the most solid and servicable of all the early missionaries. He was the true founder of medical practice in Fiji, and the credit

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 for training efficient teachers of religon belongs to him more than to any other missionary in this period."13 Richard Burdsal Lyth was not the least of Fiji's gifts to New Zealand. For in three short years he deepened our understanding and was one of the influences which helped to make us a church. Few schools have had so short a life or achieved so much as Wesley College and Seminary. Opened on the 1st January 1850 it had disappeared within a decade, yet it produced at least three Presidents of Wesleyan Church Conferences, one of whom became a Doctor of Divinity, a distinguished scientist, and a K.C.M.G. (Sir Walter Buller), and contributed immensely to the life of church and community throughout the Pacific. So we have in the Auckland area Methodists coming to a sense of identity as a church, set in a collection of people who are rapidly becoming a community. Within both church and community was this school catering largely for missionaries' children, and staffed by people who were themselves essentially missionaries with a strong sense of the divine imperative. It is out of this situation there came New Zealand's first pakeha missionaries — William Fletcher from the college, and George Brown from Onehunga. But in truth, the honour of being the first of New Zealand's missionary volunteers, belongs to neither of them, but to a lady, Miss Mary Fletcher. As we have seen, she came out from England in 1850 to join her brother Joseph, and teach at Wesley College. Crocheting and French were among her subjects. After a full year at the college, she and her brothers went on a holiday excursion to Onehunga, across the Manukau, down the Waikato River and then out to the coast at Kawhia, Aotea, Whaingaroa. She enjoyed her visit to the Whiteley's, the Smale's and the Wallis family. Perhaps their fellowship and the rigours of that month long journey did something to prepare her for the next stage of her life. It was in October 1853 when the "John Wesley" left Auckland with Mary on board, in the company of the Rev. Robert Young and others. Going by way of Tonga, the ship did not reach Lakemba until the 7th November where "Mr. Polglase came off in a Tonguese canoe".14 Ten days later Mary Fletcher and John Polglase became man and wife in a ceromony performed by Mr. Young. The sermon was preached by King George Tupou I of Tonga who had joined the "Jone" (as the ship was called) for a trip to Sydney, and among the witnesses were Richard and Mary Ann Lyth. Surely a royal beginning for a marriage that was to be all too short. John Polglase, doing outstanding work in which his wife fully shared, succumbed to illness on March 9th 1860, aged 37. Theirs had been a short but useful ministry. Mrs. Polglase left Fiji and once again joined her brother, this time in Australia. Later in life she married the Rev. Isaac Harding.

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In September 1857 Mary had been delighted to welcome her brother Wiliam, now an ordained minister, and his bride Lizzie (nee Elizabeth Wallis) to Fiji. No doubt the visit to Whaingaroa in 1851, when the Fletchers had stayed with the Wallis family, was recalled. So it is really the Rev. William Fletcher, B.A., and his wife, Elizabeth, who must be regarded as the first official missionaries to go from the New Zealand Church. As he took over from his brother-in-law at Lakemba, I am sure that William would not have disputed his sister's right to be called a missionary. It was John Polglase and William Fletcher who successively took up the task of training native home missionaries that R. B. Lyth had begun, first at Lakemba and then at Kandavu. However important the training task, William and Lizzie had in them the blood of pioneers, and for them the frontier was attractive. When James Calvert came back from a visit to Rotuma in 1864, reporting the need of the church in an island where the way was open, for the first time, for a white missionary, the Fletchers volunteered to go. As we have already noted15 Maori Christians were on Rotuma at least as early as 1839, and John Williams is said to have placed Samoan teachers there in that year.16 Tongans also had something to do with the first Christian witness. Others give the credit to a Rotuman lady of high rank who had been converted in Tonga.17 But whether it was Maori, Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan or Rotuman, or perhaps a combination of all, it is clear that the beginnings of Christianity in Rotuma owe more to Polynesian Christians than to pakeha. Two periods of fierce persecution, one prior to 1855 and another in the early 60's, tested the church and while it survived there was a need for teaching, translation and pastoral care. It was to meet this need that William and Elizabeth went. In Rotuma they laid a foundation during the next seven years which the church has been building on ever since. In spite of a long break in Australia, ill health finally caused their withdrawal. Family problems of schooling and sheer loneliness must have had something to do with it also. In 1860 Captain C. W. Hope of H.M.S. Bush wrote, "The Wesleyan missionary in Rotuma, Mr. Fletcher is working zealously and successfully, but is leading a lonely life with his wife and children".18 Even fifty years later when the Rev. H. H. C. Roget (also from New Zealand) was serving in Rotuma, it is significant that year after year the minister there had to be excused from attendance at Synod because of lack of transport, and because of distance.19 William Fletcher died in Australia on the 28th June 1881. Lizzie remarried later in life and returned to New Zealand with her new husband, the Rev. W. J. Watkin.20 Three more ministers and their wives went from New Zealand to Fiji before the turn of the century. The outstanding man among them was William Slade, who, though appointed in 1886, really laid 20th Century foundations, and will be considered in a later chapter. Joseph Henry Simmonds had been a Bible Class boy of J. W. Wallis's in Blenheim and had come by his missionary zeal through that dedicated and pious man. Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 39

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After his acceptance for the ministry he served for two years in the Waikato and then, under the inspiration of his 'beau ideal' (J. W. Wallis) applied for missionary service and was sent to Fiji. He was there for only three years before health took him back to New Zealand. For the next twenty years he served in New Zealand circuits and then became Principal of the Three Kings Wesleyan College in 1895. He developed the school and the policy which lead to its transfer to Paerata in 1924. He himself retired at the end of the previous year, so that a new, and younger man, could take over on the new site.21 The New Zealand Conference of 1944, noted the passing of the Rev. Thomas Jackson Wallis and began its tribute with these words: "The home call of the Rev. T. J. Wallis on Christmas day 1943 in the 81st year of his age and the 59th year of his ministry, severs a tie with our great missionary past."22 It goes on to recall the history of his family through three generations. It was more than the end of a particular family saga. It was also the end of the period of family domination of the missionary enterprise which had so characterised Methodism in the South Pacific. At that time there was no one bearing the name of Watkin, Wallis or Waterhouse serving in the Methodist Church in the South Pacific, though there were descendants who did not bear the honoured names. The families work was far from done however. In Australia and New Zealand to this day Lawry, Wallis, Waterhouse, their descendants and collaterals are still active in the service of church and community, and in Tonga at least, Watikini (Watkin) is still an honoured name.

Rev. T. J. Wallis But T. J. Wallis needed no ancestral mana to gild his name. He entered the ministry in 1885 and went to Fiji in 1888. His wife, nee Marion Angus Fergusson, came from Dunedin and was a Bachelor of Arts. Together they gave twelve years of faithful service to Fiji and her people. A diffident person in many ways, T. J. was quite happy to play second fiddle and was at times, no doubt, overshadowed by his more forceful Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 40

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 contempories like William Slade with whom he worked for a time in Fiji, but his work was sound, firmly based in a deep spirituality. There was real regret in the Fiji District when severe eye trouble terminated his service. New Zealand was the gainer. In his home land as in Fiji, he won affection and esteem. In addition to a full circuit ministry, he was for a time a lecturer at Deaconess House and for many years an Associate Editor of the Church paper. "He walked with God in quiet places, and his life brought honour to the truth he believed and taught." says the record. This is a fitting word of farewell to the whole family — James and Mary Ann; Lizzie (Mrs. William Fletcher); Lydia (Mrs. George Brown); J. W.; T. Jackson; courageous, tenacious, faithful, gentle, deeply spiritual folk who proclaimed Christ's Name in New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, New Britain and Australia for more than a century, and whose names are known and honoured because they lived the faith they sought to share with others.

1. For an extensive account of one facet of Tongan influence see Scarr in Davidson and Scarr (ed). 2. Fiji Centenary Souvenir pp.11-12. 3. In Wesleyan Missionary Notices for that year. 4. Findlay and Holdsworth p.381 ff Colwell p.454 ff. 5. op cit. p.402. 6. Birtwhistle p. 143. 7. Morley p.261-263. 8. Birtwhistle p. 143. 9. Jaggar diary F.A. M.C. 10. Mrs. Lyth's letter . . . for full text see Appendix I. 11. Fletcher J. H. passim 12. British Minutes 1887 Yorkshire Genealogist 1888. 13. Henderson. 14. M.L. M.O.M. 138 Mary Fletcher's diary. 15. see p.2. 16. Fiji Centenary p. 12. 17. Colwell p.466. 18. Eason p.38. 19. F.A. M.C. Synod minutes. 20. see p.26. 21. Hames Wesley College p. 14 ff. 22. N.Z. Minutes 1944.

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III Tension and Expansion Let us acknowledge with thanksgiving that Australia is the mother church of Pacific Methodism. It would be wrong as well as unjust to deny the benefits she has brought to the Pacific Churches, particularly those closely related to her. It is also true that New Zealand aided her in the task by sons and daughters who pushed back the frontiers of mission and provided her with some of her outstanding administrators— George Brown and John W. Burton in the field of missionary outreach, and William Morley in the area of Funds. But when that has been said one must go on to acknowledge that the whole relationship between Australia and New Zealand Methodism for 100 years was fraught with tension. From the moment when the control of Pacific Methodism passed from London to Sydney in 1855 until we moved in partnership to the Papua New Guinea Highlands in the 1950s, tension and suspicion persisted. Sometimes it was negligible, sometimes it was at flashpoint. The roots of it are not hard to find. New Zealand settlers no less than Australians, were a hardy and independent breed and did not take kindly to rule, however mild, from people across the sea, whether it be 1,200 or 12,000 miles away. Methodists were no different in this from the rest of the population. Then it was quickly clear to the New Zealanders that Australians were giving themselves airs. They were "the colonial churches" and we were a "mission field". And then, as now there was evidence that some people thought that anything (or anybody) was good enough for the mission field. There is a most revealing letter dated the 15th April, 1856, written by the President of the Australian Conference, the Rev. W. B. Boyce, to the Auckland Chairman, the Rev. Thomas Buddle, in which he talks of one recalcitrant brother, who sought a transfer to Australia: "You forget that the Conference has not authorised this and I am satisfied will never consent to receive into the Colonial Districts any man who smokes and snuffs. These abominations are quite sufficient to exclude any man from our circuits in the colonies. . ."1 But of course their intolerance of these "dreadful habits" did not extend to the mission field where such a man was properly placed! Communication was always a problem and for half a century each blamed the other when letters and documents did not arrive as expected. There may have been some ineptness but busy men cannot always deal with things as quickly as others would like. As long as communication depended on ships, especially sailing ships, the trans- Tasman voyage could take a week or a month, and even material despatched on time could arrive late for this reason. Correspondence in the 1850's speaks of the failure of the New Zealand Church to send in its reports, returns, etc. When New Zealand Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 42

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 became a separate Conference in 1874, the Conference was soon complaining about the non arrival of the Foreign Mission reports, etc. To make it worse, crossing the Tasman for meetings was at best a tedious business, and at worst dangerous. In the controversy over independence for New Zealand, towards the end of the century, it was pointed out that men going to Australia for General Conference could be away from their circuit for three to four months. And in 1881, the wreck of the "Tararua" took the delegation to a watery grave. Decisions made at a meeting which may be perfectly intelligible in the light of the discussion, can take on quite a different meaning when conveyed on paper, especially when tensions already exist and suspicion lies latent. At critical moments the Australian brethren were sometimes poor at making sure that communication was achieved. Their dealings with Tonga both after the 1881 and 1884 General Conferences has already been referred to. The special problem that exacerbated Australian and New Zealand relationships was the complete lack of comprehension of the Australian brethren in regard to the Maori situation. They were deeply concerned for this section of the work. That is clear from the 1856-58 correspondence and it certainly continued to be true through the years, but concern was not accompanied by understanding. In Australia the "native problem" had either been resolved by extermination, as in Tasmania, or swept under the carpet by driving the Aboriginal back into the hinterland. Because they were a nomadic people this worked for a time and Australia never came to grips with the problem of inter-reaction of races. Now in the 1970's they are beginning to reap the harvest of neglect without, for the most part, the faintest idea of how to develop a new relationship. In New Zealand it was different. New Zealanders were in settled communities, deeply attached to their land, and there was not unlimited space for manoeuvre. Well armed and powerful, quick to take offence perhaps, capable, clever and brave, they had already been subject to rather more evil treatment than they were prepared to stand. War was joined and everywhere the church suffered. The peace, consideration and concern that the missionaries had proclaimed, and for the most part practised, were denied by the rapacity and lack of scruple of the incoming tide of settlement. In the decade following the passing of church control to Australia, New Zealand was engaged in the civil war that was a fight for life. If the church failed to raise adequate funds, if its membership did not rise, or indeed fell, it was scarcely to be wondered at. But the brethren across the Tasman could not understand this at all. And so the tension and frustration grew. Yet in the situation foreign mission work suffered little. A handful of folk went from New Zealand to the older fields and to the newer ones, but New Zealand as a church had no voice in what was happening and had to tag along willy nilly. Ministers going to mission service came under the New South Wales Conference and on their return they were allocated in turn to various Conferences. New Zealand lost some good men, Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 43

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 but it also gained and in any case the system soon broke down as exceptions became increasingly numerous. New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji had all been taken up within a few years under the guidance of British Methodism. By the 1870's Australia was sufficiently in control of the situation to think in terms of expansion. New Zealand was about to become a separate Conference, Tonga was, year after year, producing money to balance the budget and the situation in both Fiji and Samoa had stabilised. It was natural that eyes should be turned to Australia's north and the next moves should be made in Melanesia.

1. M.L. M.O.M. 31 Letter book 1856-58.

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CHAPTER 1: NEW WORLD — NEW BRITAIN

If the time was ripe for a new venture, the man for the moment was at hand. George Brown, giving up Samoa for health and family reasons, was already needling the Board with suggestions of moves into New Guinea and now he came to Sydney in person to carry conviction.2 An English lad, short of stature and deceptively delicate looking in his earlier years, George Brown was filled with an insatiable spirit of adventure and an immense curiosity. His restless energy did not take kindly to standing behind a draper's counter, and even a little contact with ships and sailor men persuaded him to run away to sea. Finally his widowed father gave in and saw him articled to a suitable ship. George was an excellent sailor and revelled in the tumbling seas—a fact that some of us have reason to regret for it certainly biased him towards the far flung islands as mission fields. Many a seasick missionary tossing around in a tiny launch has wished Brown had sought landward parishes. In 1855, after a brief spell at home, George Brown was off to New Zealand, the furthest place he could think of from England. His father insisted he go as a passenger and thus he was able to enjoy to the full the company of fellow passengers, Bishop Selwyn and Bishop-to-be John Coleridge Patteson. Apart from giving him a lifelong interest in Melanesia, these contacts also gave him his first taste of a Pacific language, for he learnt Maori from the Bishop. He had a natural gift for language and over the years became fluent in Samoan, Fijian, Duke of York and Kunua (New Britain) as well as having a smattering of Maori and Tongan. In Auckland he made straight for the other side of the isthmus where at the Onehunga parsonage he was welcomed by his aunt and uncle, the Rev. and Mrs Thomas Buddle. Mrs Buddle quickly took the place of her sister, the mother that George had never known, and the family became his family. He was also caught up in the wider family of the church. We have already noted that this was the seminal period of Auckland Methodism and J. H. Fletcher (who became the young man's class leader), John Whiteley, Alexander Reid, Isaac Harding and R. B. Lyth played a big part in bringing this restless young man to commitment to service. It was in a service conducted by John Whiteley, he made a conscious decision of commitment, it was R. B. Lyth who turned his thoughts to Fiji and the mission field and it was Isaac Harding who challenged him with the ministry. Accepted and appointed to Samoa he married Sarah Lydia Wallis, the second daughter of James and Mary Ann Wallis. When New Zealand claims George Brown as her own, it is not just because those five years (1855-60) that he spent in Auckland were the turning point in his life, but also because his "better half" was New Zealand born and bred. When someone writes a new life of this man it is to be hoped that they will give full weight to the importance of Lydia Brown. One said of her years later; Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 45

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"(She had) watchfulness without fear or over confidence; a cheerful spirit and an indomitable will under severe strain."3 George Brown himself, though he was forever going away and leaving her, in the service of the church, depended very heavily on her and she, unquestionably, kept him sensitive in human relationships. She was as much the missionary as he was, sending her girls away to school in New Zealand from Samoa, with a breaking heart; giving up the briefly tasted comforts of civilisation in Auckland to follow him to "wild New Britain", and this time leaving five children behind; holding the fort there with three younger children, while he went to Australia, very ill and likely to die. While he was away, for many months in storms and trials, she buried two of the three children, Wallis and Mabel. Such was her courage and stamina that there was no thought of retreat. Years later she went with her husband to Tonga when he was appointed there as special commissioner, and remained alone for five months while he went back to Australia and reported to the Conference and saw the family. The church paper, "The Spectator" commented on this occasion; "In the meantime Mrs Brown is remaining in Tonga, awaiting his return. Our readers will remember—no Methodist is likely to forget—the message which that noble woman sent along the telegraph wires to her husband when the General Conference asked him if he could go to Tonga: 'If you think it is your duty to go, I am willing.' We must not forget what this willingness involved, and what it still involves. It meant leaving her children behind her, and it means that still. While her husband, in the execution of his duty, has the joy of greeting the loved ones again, the wife and mother remains patient and steadfast at her post, as she did before in New Britain, under circumstances such as would have tried the faith of the boldest martyr who ever faced the stake for the sake of the Lord Jesus; and she does this sort of thing after a quiet matter of course fashion, as if it involved no more self sacrifice than an interview with the butcher and the selection of the daily joint. And when she comes home again she will just step into vacant place as quietly as if she had only been visiting a neighbour round the corner of the street, instead of making a sacrifice which brings the tears into strong men's eyes whenever they think of it. We talk about what our missionaries have done, but some of our best missionaries tell us that they feel very small when they compare their doings with what their wives have done and suffered in the mission field."4 The insatiable curiosity of which we have already spoken, made Brown an authority on ethnology, zoology and botany; his skill made him a linguist of no mean ability and he contributed a tremendous amount to our knowledge of the Pacific. Because he was also able to write and speak with fluency he was able to convey what he had seen and heard. His book, "Melanesian and Polynesian" is crammed with acutely observed facts. Yet he remained at heart the evangelist and missionary. As we look back over

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 the years there is need for a new appraisal of this astonishing man, which only a full scale biography can give. This is the man who said that on his arrival in Sydney from Samoa in 1874, "I brought the matter of extending our missionary operations in the Pacific before the Board of Missions at the first possible opportunity ... I commenced to agitate the matter on every possible occasion . . ."It must have been a good deal easier to give in to him than to oppose him. At the September meeting of the executive Committee of Missions he was given permission to explore the possibility, and the Board agreed to sanction such an enterprise if it proved practicable.5 This was all the empire builder needed. He was away on deputation through the eastern states of Australia and New Zealand drumming up support for the venture with the diffidence of a cyclone. He did take a month in January 1875, to settle his family in Auckland and then he was away again. It should not be thought, however, that he was insensitive to his family. There are in the records some revealing letters of the period showing the constant tension between his desire to be up and doing and his deep concern for his wife and family. Another baby was due and, he wanted to get them settled before he went off to the wilds again. He accepted the advice of the doctor and his colleagues and remained a whole month in New Zealand, and he clearly felt happier in his own mind about this. Mrs Brown, though she would never have held him back, must also have been glad. Back to Sydney, organising, collecting, speaking, then away on the 27th April on the "John Wesley" for Fiji and Samoa. In Fiji, in spite of the ravages of a measles epidemic, which may have taken as many as 40,000 lives, in spite of opposition from the British Government newly conscious of its responsibilities, in spite of the jeers of the local people, every one of the 83 students at Navuloa, the Training Institution, offered to go. Though they had the situation painted for them in the darkest shade, though they faced the prospect of death far from home and kinsfolk, the chosen six married men and three single men, never faltered. Surely among the great words of history are those spoken on behalf of them all by Aminio Bale in response to the Administrator's solicitations; "We have given ourselves up to do God's work, and our mind today, sir, is to go with Mr Brown. If we die, we die, if we live, we live."6 With them we must number the Samoans who joined the party later, and the Tongans and others from Fiji and Samoa who were subsequently appointed. In fact many of them died, and few returned to their homeland at all. The voyage now proceeded to Samoa and to Rotuma, where Brown's sister-in-law and her husband, Lizzie and William Fletcher, came aboard en route for Sydney. By this time Brown had made up his mind to disregard his instructions to return to Sydney and report. He would stay with the teachers and supervise the establishment of the Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 47

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 mission. This was a decision made in spite of acute bodily weakness (he had severe gastroenteritis) and a great deal of homesickness. "Oh, how I feel the want of my dear wife, when I am so unwell. I feel such a longing to have her near me."7 His decision may have been a sign of an obsessive desire to run things his own way (and this whole project was very much his own baby) but it was much more, his conviction that he ought to ask nothing of any colleague that he was not prepared to do himself. The same conviction took him into the firing line when he organised a punitive expedition. In April 1878, four teachers were murdered and eaten in New Britain. Every trader and every missionary at once believed themselves to be threatened and their lives endangered. After consultation with the planters and traders, Brown took an armed party and punished the wrongdoers. It is the kind of incident that Christians and others will argue about till the end of time, and perhaps only those who have lived with their loved ones in such situations are qualified to judge in the matter. Brown was finally exonerated when criminal charges against him were dropped. It is a recorded fact that following this incident the whole attitude to both missionary and trader began to change to one of something approaching respect, and the missionary and his message was more readily tolerated, if not received. Tolai (New Britain) people understood this action and approved. Even today they would not challenge its rightness. Anyone who has shared in the annual celebrations on August 15th, "George Brown Day" in the Gazelle Peninsula, any who has watched the annual remembrance at the site of the murder will see that George Brown is honoured—for the whole of his work. Now that Papua New Guinea is coming to independence it will be looking back over its shoulder at the people who can be called "the makers" of modem Papua New Guinea. It will rightly remember its own people and will recall a few of "the incomers, Aminio Bale and his companions must hold a high place, as will Ruatoka and his L.M.S. party who pioneered on the mainland. Among them also will surely be George Brown. He was not only a missionary, but a pioneer who laid foundations on which both church and state have built. Not just the Methodist Church but also the Roman Catholic Church, not only the German Government which immediately followed him, but also the Australian Administration. Apart from his courage and his dedication, his certainty that this was God's calling to him, his linguistic and scientific ability, his crusading zeal and his administrative ability, his greatest gift was his ability to get alongside people of other races He could be harsh and unsympathetic to his colleagues as we have seen in Samoa, he could be tactless and biased as he was in Tonga Q and he must have been at times a very uncomfortable colleague, yet with the people whom, he believed. God had entrusted to him, he was utterly sincere and he cared. His

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 insatiable quest for their language and their culture and their environment. his patience and his scrupulous fairness all made it clear to people that he cared for them as persons and because of this his name is writ large across the Pacific. He was Pacific Methodism s greatest pioneer, most restless adventurer and far sighted missionary statesman. When he failed it was usually because he was very much human and very much a man of his time. He could not accept, for example, that the Tongan Church was ready tor selfgovernment, and he despised Watkin and Baker because they could Worse he shared with Methodism its biggest weakness, the habit of taking on too much and failing to do an adequate job in any area. New Britain was right and proper, but the move into the Papuan Islands and the Solomons, of which he was also the inspirer, overtaxed the resources of the church, and today the church in those areas is paying the price for this inadequate concentration and consolidation. In this, of course, neither he nor Methodism was alone. John Williams, James Chalmers and the London Missionary Society did the same. Years after the New Britain adventure was all over, Sir William MacGregor said of him: "A man that has either no weakness, no defect, or is the most cunning man I have ever met in concealing it . . . Dr Brown is the most limpid, the most pellucid man of my acquaintance." The next link between New Zealand and New Britain is that of the Rev. and Mrs Frederick B. Oldham. Originally from Victoria, Mr Oldham was accepted for the ministry in 1887 and was immediately sent to New Britain where he served for eight frustrating years. In 1895 he came to New Zealand and was appointed to Franklyn (Pukekohe) for three years, and then to Gisborne for two years, before finally returning to Australia in 1901. Mr Oldham deserves notice because his service was hard, costly and apparently unproductive, yet vital. He was appointed to Kabakada Circuit on the north coast of the Gazelle Peninsula across the hill from the present own of Rabaul. Here he and his wife lived a lonely, demanding life. Building on the work done by men like Danks and Rooney, Oldham saw the first flowering of the harvest. In his years there, the first local men were appointed as pastors and some students were sent to Fiji to train as pastor teachers. He established on a firm basis the system of an annual thank offering which was to be the basis of future self support. But on the other hand he was constantly frustrated by his inability to take up opportunities for expansion when they were available. There were simply not enough staff. His responsibilities were too heavy. In one year, for example, 1891, he was left in charge of all circuits as the only white man on the field. Malaria and the tropical ills took their toll and the Oldhams buried one child in 1893 in New Britain soil. Not surprising therefore that he became, at times, downhearted. Especially he was upset by the move into the Papuan Islands (then known as the New Guinea District) in 1891. He wrote very strongly to the Mission Board suggesting that they should close down the work in Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 49

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New Britain altogether. As we shall see later there was reason in his comments. Though Oldham was right in many ways, he got little sympathy from the Board or from George Brown, and his last years on the field were clouded by disfavour.9 Crump, his successor, who had been warned about Oldham, comments in his diary that he had been badly misjudged. F. B. Oldham was one of those who get no headlines, is sometimes not in favour with the powers that be, but who do a faithful, honest job laying solid foundations or building conscientiously on foundations already laid. It is significant that in every circuit he occupied in New Zealand or Australia he was superintendent, a guide to his capacity. John Arthur Crump (known to his friends as Jack) was another of the same breed. He had come out to New Zealand as a restless youngster and made his home at first with his uncle, the Rev. John Crump. He became a farming cadet, in Marlborough, and during a serious illness felt the call to ministry and to the mission field. This call was fed by T. J. Wallis with whom he got on splendidly and by a kind of distant hero worship of George Brown. During his training for the ministry at Three Kings in Auckland he met other missionaries who impressed him and influenced his thinking, notably the Rev. Charles Abel of Kwato whose Methodist brother (of the firm of Abel Dykes) was a staunch supporter of the church in Auckland. After his training, Jack married his sweetheart Alice Rose, daughter of his erstwhile employer, and set off to New Britain in 1894.10

Rev. & Mrs. Jack Crump They reached the field at a strategic time. Staff were no more plentiful, money was always short, but the flowering which had begun in the previous few years was now giving signs of a plentiful harvest. Alice and Jack laboured at Kabakada for the first few years and there their eldest child, Konini, was born. Jack learnt the language well

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 and gained the confidence of the people. He became involved with translation work and shared with Chambers and Fellman the task of completing the New Testament. When he went on leave in 1900 he was able to take the manuscript down to see it through the press. But he also had other schemes to lay before the Board. In 1897 Crump was shifted to Kinavanua in the Duke of Yorks. This was the original mission station and it had been without a minister for a year. About this time the church was able to purchase the island of Ulu from the estate of Mr Kliensmidt who had been murdered on the island of Utuan, another of the Duke of Yorks, some years before.11 Jack Crump was given the task of shifting the station to the new land, setting up the first District Training Institution and expanding the existing plantation. Each of these separately was a tremendous task, collectively they were, one would have said, nigh impossible. But Jack Crump did them. As we have noted some students from New Britain had been sent to train in Fiji, but clearly this was only a stop-gap arrangement. It was necessary to establish a local training school. Jack Crump was a gifted, though untrained, teacher and established foundations on which others were able to build. He planned a three year course when the students would be at school for up to six hours a day. The school work would not be divorced however from agricultural work. The first eleven students graduated in 1901. They grew their own food, of course, and they also made copra from the coconuts harvested from existing plantings. Jack Crump wanted to go further than that. We have already noted his meeting with Charles Abel "the apostle" of industrial missions, during his college years, and there is no doubt that he was imbued with the vision; of the grand idea which was typical of the period. When he went south in 1900 he plugged his scheme, seeking annual grants from the Board (he got £100) and donations from private individuals, "two shillings (20 cents) will clear the ground and plant one cocoa palm and provide the care of same until it bears fruit in six years time. There will be an income to our mission each year from the tree of l/6d (15 cents). This is a good investment, who will plant a few coconut for us on Ulu?"12 People responded because the reasons seemed good. Crump wrote; "We propose to bring heathen young men from villages quite away from our present sphere of influence on New Ireland to clear and plant the whole of the islands with cocoa-nuts." The clearing will be done by these heathen young men, who in their homes are living in a state of constant warfare and who are cannibals of the most degraded type, who are literally "without God and without hope in the world". They will have for their companions the Christian students and for their overseer Mr Crump himself; they will have the advantage of definite Christian teaching in our Sabbath school and will hear the word of life preached every Sunday from the pulpit. And it will be our aim to send Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 51

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 them back to their homes not only richer in the possession of so much wages as payment for the work they will do, but richer in the possession of the "pearl of great price". On their return to their homes the leaven of Christianity will be carried by them to those places: they will understand and tell of what blessings the teaching of Christianity can bring; they will learn the difference between the religion of the "open Bible" and that of priestly interpretation and Romish aggression will be of no effect in their villages. And when the time comes when we are able to send a teacher to them, he will find the people ready to welcome him and a few trained boys as a nucleus from which he may extend his work." He went on to say that the young men would be given effective training in habits of industry. He pointed out that this would, he hoped, avoid the necessity of bringing in coolie labour (which had been so disastrous in Fiji) and would also do something to stop the drain of young men recruited by labour vessels. He hoped that this would also be an object lesson to the people in the use of their own land, and finally help to make the church self-supporting in a few years. In many areas where this type of scheme was tried, it achieved none of its objectives. At Ulu it succeeded at least financially. This was due to the fertility of the soil (new palms were bearing in less than five years): and to the energy and enterprise of Jack Crump. He thought up the "give two shillings" scheme and sold it to the church. He worked as hard as any in leading students and workmen in their task. If he could report that in three years they had planted 10,000 nuts, as he did in 1901, and if he could report the following year the planting of a further 3,500, it was due entirely to his own drive and enthusiasm. But his major success was to make the project so attractive that the Board appointed a lay manager to carry on his work. If Ulu did not become the "converting agency" it had been hoped, at least it was a good base for further action. Jack Crump, in addition to all his labours on the island, had oversight of the whole of the Duke of York's and New Ireland. It was not until 1903 that an Australian minister was appointed to southern New Ireland. By this time Crump was worn out and his children were sick. At the end of 1904 Jack Crump went on leave, never to return. His achievements were many and varied—share in translating the New Testament, compiling school books in the local language, vaccinating, in company with Mr Chambers, 2,300 people in 1897 against smallpox, building a fine stone wharf for Ulu, being shipwrecked in a little boat called the "Litia" on the coast of heathen New Ireland in 1902 and using the opportunity so well that next year the people accepted a teacher. It is no wonder that his colleagues spoke well of him and the Mission Board deplored his departure. The Synod spoke of him as, "A capable and talented missionary doing faithful and successful work which has been of great benefit to our mission and will not soon be forgotten . . ."13 Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 52

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But his most enduring monuments are surely Ulu plantation which through 70 years has continued to provide finance for the local church and helped to make it self supporting long before other missions in the area; and the District Training Institution, from which has grown the present day George Brown High School and George Brown College for Home Missionary Training, and which was one of the roots of Rarongo Theological College. It is ironical that because the institution was early called "George Brown College" the man who began it has all but been forgotten. But he is not forgotten by the people of the Duke of Yorks who still call their sons Mr Crump, and speak of what he was and what he did. Crump's work at Ulu was followed up by laymen and among the succession were a number of New Zealanders. The first of these was Mr Frank Broom who went out at the beginning of 1913. Ten years earlier Crump had spoken of 30 students now Broom reports 100 men at work of whom 25 attended voluntary school classes at night and there was an average attendance of 26 at prayer meeting. The school had been separated from the plantation by this time and was on the same island at Watnabara. Some of the workmen who made good progress in school were able to enter Watnabara to finish their education. Broom writes that Ulu is now "a flourishing industry reflecting the good work of the pioneers." 14 The next year he was joined by his fiancée, Miss Cherrie from New Zealand. They were married on Easter Monday in Rabaul by the Chairman of the District, the Rev. W. H. Cox. They proceeded across the water to Ulu. The two hour journey was done in the "Litia", the same boat in which Jack Crump had been wrecked in 1902. The college students lined the path at Ulu and welcomed them with song. During the next few years production built up as the labour force increased to 200 and an assistant manager, H. A. Tunnicliffe, also from New Zealand was appointed. But in 1916 there was a drought and food supplies dwindled. Half the labour had to be sent home. However spiritual work flourished and £31 had been given at the annual collection that year, 100% increase on the previous year. Frank Broom retired in 1918 and the Board appointed Harold Archibald Tunnicliffe as manager. Tunnicliffe came from Gisborne and was a carpenter by trade. He had assisted his aunt in social welfare work among the Maori people of the East Cape area and then had taught carpentry at Waerengaa-Hika Maori School in Gisborne. He was a local preacher and class leader. As assistant manager he was in charge of the "carpentry branch". One suspects that while in theory his task was to teach carpentry, in fact much of him time was taken up with buildings and maintenance. As manager after Frank Broom's departure, he had to look after the coconuts and the buildings, and also the cattle and horses that had been added to the establishment. He did have a Caroline Islander as an overseer who was reported to be successful and useful. After fourteen years of service Tunnicliffe returned to New Zealand. He had done a good

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 job both on the plantation and among the people. He is said to have maintained a high standard of pastoral care.15 In the 1960s, by arrangement with the Solomon Island District, a number of men either spent periods of training in plantation work at Ulu or actually managed it for a time. We should note Rodney and Audrey Fleury and David and Betty Buchan among them. David Eason, after service as a carpenter in the Solomons, is now a plantation manager of another church plantation in the area, Vunakambi. New Zealand's other link with New Britain in the pre World War II era was through Dr Cliff James and his wife Florence. Something of their saga is indicated by the fact that one of their sons was born on Choiseui, Western Solomon Islands, one in New Britain and a third on Malaita, Eastern Solomons. It was while he was serving in the trenches in World War I that Cliff James caught the vision of service as a medical missionary. He got leave to go to Edinburgh and sit the Medical Preliminary Exam and when he returned to Dunedin he was able to begin his medical course at once. He had Africa in mind at that stage, but his fiancee, Florence Heward, suggested he first offer to his own church. The future Mrs James was a schoolteacher with a B.Sc. degree, who had given up teaching to nurse her ailing mother. During these years when Cliff strove to pass his exams, they both prepared for their life work. It is said that Cliff James led the largest Christian Endeavour class in the Dominion. Accepted in 1928 Dr James was appointed to the Solomons. It had been hoped that he would go to Bougainville as Dr E. G. Sayers was already at work in the B.S.I.P. But when this did not prove practicable he was stationed at Sasamungga on Choiseui. Both Dr and Mrs James were lay preachers and they were active in preaching and teaching as well as in medical work. At Sasamungga, and for some months also at Panggoe on the other side of the island, they did splendid work. But these were depression years and as their first term ended, the church, heavily in debt, and with a falling income, could no longer support them. The Rev. J. W. Burton, the Australian General Secretary, learned of this and asked Cliff James if he would go and take charge of the medical unit at Vunairima, New Britain. Again he gave three years of valuable service but again the church was not able to sustain the appointment. By this time, Cliff James was becoming a well known name in Pacific medical circles and the Bishop of Melanesia heard of the impending retrenchment. He asked the Doctor to come back to the Solomons to the Anglican Hospital at Fauambu on Malaita. They had funds but they had not been able to recruit a medical man. Cliff James consented. The Bishop is reported to have caused quite a stir arriving at Vunairima during the farewell feast for the Jameses to "sign him up"— complete with quite a retinue! Dr James's three year term here was also marked by steady thorough work which made a lasting contribution to that institution.

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"His eye work was outstanding, and eye trouble was very common in the Solomons. The people still talk of how he made them to see. He found a better place than Kwaibaita for the lepers, a fine site on the hill behind the hospital. He established a good water supply for the hospital from a stream not far off, but best of all he installed electric light. Till then they had only used hurricane lanterns, even for the operations which had to be done at night. 'A Chinese trader,' wrote Dr James, 'brought in a native who had tried to cut his throat with a safety blade razor. We had to suture up his windpipe at night. It is not a nice case to have to treat. We borrowed our house lamp, and an orderly stood it on his head, because it became too hot to hold. Somebody shone a half-hearted torch into the depths of the wound. My needle broke, and it was only the Providence which looks after medical missionaries that saved it from going down the windpipe. It is in moments like that that one needs electric light. The most disappointing part of Fauambu Hospital is its night life, carried out in the light of smelly, flickering, uncertain hurricane lanterns.' "16 During this time he wrote his book on tropical medicine which was for the next thirty years the standard handbook for people living in the tropics away from trained medical help. Cliff James was a keen musician and a good organ player. It is said that once during his time in England he played on the Gloucester Cathedral organ, which his mother had played many years before. He introduced a gramophone to Fauambu, and the folk who had never heard such a thing before, spent a lot of time looking for the person hiding who was providing the noise. When he returned to New Zealand, Dr James remained active in the work of the church until his death in 1965.17

2. See Brown C. Brunsdon Fletcher for background. 3. Fletcher p.64. 4. Quoted in Brown p.438-9. 5. M.L. M.O.M. Minute book also Brown p.69-70. 6. Brown p.80. 7. Brown p.85. 8. Rutherford p. 162. 9. Vict-Tas. Minutes; Fellman (Trans. Threlfall) M.L. MOM Minutes 11/4/1893 6/10/1893. M.R. August 1891 November 1891. 10. Danks p. 152; J. A. Crump Diary; Fellman; M.R. 11. "A Great Mission Scheme" Typescript in Turnbull Library apparently by Crump — echoed in his letters and articles. 12. M.R. August 1913. 13. M.L. M.O.M. Synod Minutes. 14. M.R. August 1914 p.l6. 15. Methodist Times 15 November 1913; July 1959. 16. Fox p.250. 17. Diaries of Mrs. James and personal conversations M. Times August 1965.

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CHAPTER 2: THE ENIGMA OF PAPUA By all the signs the mission to Papua should have been one of Methodism's outstanding successes. Yet it has proved as difficult as any work we have undertaken. For once, the initial task force was large and varied. Of the more than 60 people who arrived at Dobu 35 were adult males, fit and capable.1 They were supported by a special fund raised to mark the centennial of John Wesley's death. The leadership was experienced and suitable. Dr George Brown himself had planned the whole venture, applying to it not only his considerable experience but his undoubted flair for choosing the right place at the right time. In charge was the Rev. Dr William Bromilow, who with his wife had served in Fiji for 11 years, an able missionary and administrator.

Rev. Dr. George Brown In other fields, the missionaries had either to establish their work in advance of settled Government, as in New Zealand, New Britain and Fiji, or face official hostility and misunderstanding as in the Solomons. But here the mission went in at the invitation of Sir William MacGregor, Lieutenant Governor of Papua, and while the Government authority was limited, and its resources slender, each of them was used to aid mission work in the first decades. Nor was there any opposition from other missions. They had gone in with the agreement of the L.M.S. and in partnership with the Anglicans who took another area further along. The Roman Catholics were fully occupied elsewhere

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 and no mission was anxious to trespass on another's ground. An additional advantage was that, at Mrs Bromilow's urging, Papua became the first Methodist field in the Pacific to accept single ladies as "missionary sisters". Why then did the expected success come so slowly and why has the Papuan Islands Region of the United Church (as it is known today), still a long way to go before it is the "self-dependent, self-governing, self-propagating church" that was Bromilow's aim? Part of the answer was found in the recurring habit of Methodism of letting its heart rule its head. It sees an opportunity and rushes in without taking adequate account of the cost. In this case George Brown must accept the responsibility. As he had done in 1874 he bulldozed the Australian Church into the new venture. But whereas he had been right in 1874, in 1891 he was probably wrong. The expenditure of men and resources on Papua starved New Britain at a critical stage of its growth. We can well understand the chagrin of F. B. Oldham, alone in New Britain with no white colleague in that year (1891), watching a harvest rot on the vine for lack of men to gather it in. As the Papuan Islands have continued to demand a proportionately larger subsidy from Australia and have received a reasonably large allocation of the available staff, we can understand that Oldham's criticism has been re-echoed through the years. Often it has been a convenient outlet for frustrated folk in other areas. Yet in fact the resources available to Papua itself have never been enough. In this year, 1973, the Papuan Islands Region is seeking extra assistance to do something for the neglected Woodlark Islands, where for 50 years little has been done because of lack of men and lack of money. Another part of the answer is found in the unhealthy climate. Every Pacific field has its roll of those who suffered and died from tropical diseases they could not resist or cure. But nowhere has malaria, for example, taken greater toll of mission staff than in Papua. These and other aspects of the enigma of Papua can be seen in the record of some of the New Zealanders who served in that field. It had all begun with Sir William MacGregor, Lieutenant Governor of Papua, a devout evangelical Scot, who was so concerned for the welfare of the local people that he was constantly accused of betraying his fellow countrymen who wanted to exploit the resources and people of British New Guinea, as it was then called. The London Missionary Society had made great strides, but it was clear that the task was beyond them. With their concurrence, MacGregor invited the Anglicans and the Methodists to take a share. George Brown had been appointed General Secretary of Foreign Missions in 1887 and he was sent by the Australian Church to the meeting called by the Lieutenant Governor in 1890. Australian Methodism was seeking a suitable project to mark the centenary of the death of John Wesley. This provided Brown with the excuse, if he had needed one, to Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 57

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 push for action in the Papuan Islands. J. W. Burton writing years later commented "that George Brown was a good sailor and loved sea travel, else he might have chosen other spheres for the operation of our society."2 Burton goes on to comment that subsequent General Secretaries have found it a very hard task to keep island dioceses supplied with ships. The Conference of 1890 endorsed the decision to move into Papua and George Brown proceeded to assemble the largest and best equipped mission party ever sent out by Methodism. Dr and Mrs Bromilow and their nine year old daughter, Ruve, who was to play her part in establishing rapport with the Dobuan people; six married and nine single Fijian missionaries; ten Samoans and their wives; four Tongans and their wives and children; Rev. J. T. Field, the Rev. J. Watson and Mr G. H. Bardsley of Australia, and the Rev. S. B. Fellows of New Zealand completed the party which George Brown landed at Dobu on the 19th June, 1891. Samuel B. Fellows entered the ministry in 1888 from Dunedin Methodism and served for three years at Riverton. When he was selected for the pioneer party he was very well equipped and among an outstanding group of people he was certainly by no means the least. Matthew Gilmour in describing the individual members, all of whom he had known personally, said about him, "Of fine intellect, with a distinct musical gift, a good knowledge of Maori character and some knowledge of simple medicine, he was already a well-equipped missionary. Red-haired and emotional, sometimes on the mountain peak and again in the valley, yet his wonderful gift of "getting there", fitted in with the native spirit. Within nine years, he opened two circuits in untouched heathen places and in both of them built mission houses; reduced for the first time the two languages to writing, left translations of Scripture, hymns and catechisms in both, that still stand the test of time. In each circuit he established institutions, schools and Sunday Schools, and left many who had found new life in Christ Jesus and were in his day leading others to the Master. All one can do now is to gasp and say, "there were giants in those days."3 After helping with the establishment of the station at Dobu, Fellows and J. T. Field were sent to Panaeati in the Louisiade group. Field was another outstanding man who was a capable builder and architect with considerable medical knowledge, and who had been an outstanding oarsman in Australia. In the short space of three years these men established the work. Fellows, having already learned to speak Dobuan, became a master of the Panaeati language, compiled a grammar, translated St. Mark's Gospel to a standard which allowed it to be published by the Bible Society. He also prepared a catechism and twenty selections of other parts of Scripture which were later printed. While on leave in 1894 he married an Australian lady and they were appointed to pioneer in the Trobriands. A. H. Scrivin, who followed him there in later years, said of him,

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"For six years, until driven out by the dread malaria he rendered high service. He was one of the best linguists the District has had. He reduced both the Panaeati and Kiriwina dialects to writing and translated portions of Scripture. Such was his linguistic gift that his Life of Christ, made up of extracts from the four Gospels in Kiriwinan left little need for revision."4 When health finally took Mr and Mrs Fellows south permanently they settled in Western Australia. Though they both continued to suffer from periodic reoccurences of malaria they were joined in a gracious circuit ministry. Mr Fellows was elected President of the West Australian Conference in 1912. He died in 1933. When Samuel Fellows left Panaeati, he was followed by New Zealand-bom Ambrose Fletcher. Ambrose was the son of John Fletcher, the third of that famous family to be a Principal of Wesley College. He was born in Auckland in 1864. His wife also, was New Zealand bom. She was the daughter of the Rev. Rainsford Bavin who had been prominent in Wesleyan Methodism on both sides of the Tasman. The Bavin family removed to Australia in 1889. Mr and Mrs Fletcher later moved to Bwaidoga on Goodenough Island where they were the pioneers. Here they exercised an outstanding ministry until the dreaded malaria compelled their retirement to New South Wales in 1906. More New Zealanders followed. It was Matthew Gilmour and his wife who followed Fellows at Kiriwina and Mr and Mrs Charlie Francis who came to Bwaidoga when the Fletchers left.

Rev. M.K.Gilmour, Sisters Janet Vosper, Julia Bengimin, Ethel Prisk and Laura – in Papua. Matthew Ken Gilmour was said to have been bom in Inverary in Argylshire, coming to New Zealand as a youngster. His parents settled in Howick where his mother, Mrs

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Eliza Gilmour,1 taught Sunday School in the Uxbridge Road (Presbyterian) Church until she was in her eighties. Matthew himself was accepted for the Methodist ministry and after a year as a probationer he was accepted for overseas service. He arrived at Kiriwina in 1901. For the next 33 years he laboured in the Islands of Papua and for 25 of them he was Chairman of the District. In an area where terms of service were short because of health, Mr and Mrs Gilmour seemed to have lived charmed lives. Though they had their times of illness they were able to avoid a serious breakdown. Gilmour was, like George Brown, a great lover of the sea and everything to do with it. He was also a practical man, who not only made epic voyages in small boats, but also built some himself and taught others the craft. Norma Gilmour (nee Francis), who had come from a farming background at Waiuku, was a very practical person and a considerable organiser. Yet of both of them it could be said, "(They) were both of an intensely spiritual and mystical disposition, and all their work was inspired by a real devotion to their Lord and Master."5 In the Trobriands Matthew Gilmour built his first boat, and established a mission station that was an example in its building, its school and its agricultural work, to others. When Mr Bromilow retired, Gilmour became Chairman and they moved to Ubuia, a small island which was now the head station. Within a short time he had constructed a slipway so that the mission ships could be repaired and then began to teach boat building to selected local men. But the work was growing. Ubuia was always in trouble because of periodic water shortages and diminishing land area for the growing of food for the District Training institutions. It would probably have been possible, and it would certainly have been wise to have spread the various institutions over different stations. Matthew Gilmour preferred to keep things under his eye. He sought) for and obtained a suitable site of almost a thousand acres on Fergusson Island, with a good though restricted anchorage and a plentiful supply of water in the Salamo River. Because of the 1914-18 war and because of opposition from some of the staff the change did not take place until 1921, and then only after the Gilmours had been established on the site for a year. The swamps with which it was surrounded had deterred those who had good reason to dread malaria. The site was drained and the development of the head station began. Before the Gilmours retired, it was, and has remained, the biggest "mission station" in the south west Pacific. A hospital, a large technical training establishment, a school and the training centre for the local pastors and teachers were soon established. Furniture making, boat building, saw milling, and marine engineering were developed. In much more recent times, when ministerial training has been transferred elsewhere, Wesley High School has been established there. Its present headmaster is Mr Doug McKenzie, of New Zealand.

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There have been many critics of "station centred" mission work, but it was seen as the way ahead in Melanesia in the first half of the 20th Century. Of Gilmour it could be said that he was the supreme exponent of this art! But his fame does not rest on a grand collection of people and buildings which became a small town (it even has its own Post Office today). He was a tremendous organiser, who travelled constantly, concerned not only for the spiritual welfare of the people but also for their physical and material well being. He emphasised the value of the practical arts of agriculture, building, seamanship and boat building, nursing and hygiene; he tried to rebuild the whole life of the people. He and his wife had no children of their own and the people of the Papuan District (as it was then known) were very much their children. The weakness was that fault common to the period— over protectiveness and over organisation which delayed the development of indigenous leadership and made for dependence. But the Gilmours did make an outstanding contribution. When they retired they chose to settle in Australia where so many of their former colleagues lived. Mrs Gilmour died in August 1948, and Matthew followed her in October, 1962. With the name of Matthew Gilmour, many will couple that of Arthur Henry Scrivin, who for 18 years was Gilmour's closest colleague and friend. Born in London in 1883, he left school to become an apprentice pattern maker at Woolwich Arsenal. He played a good game of soccer and later in New Zealand was to represent both Canterbury and Auckland at this sport. He came to this country in 1907 and after initially following his own calling in south Taranaki, seems to have taken a variety of jobs. In Britain he had been active in the church, in Sunday School and Bible Class and as a voluntary helper of the Y.M.C.A. Here he had learnt to speak on his feet and therefore it was natural that when he came to this country and was gathered into the Methodist fellowship, people should encourage him to become a local preacher. He was a man of deep Christian conviction and it was quite natural that he should offer for the ministry. He was accepted as a candidate at the Conference of 1909 and came to Auckland for training. His vigorous qualities of mind and body marked him out and in 1910 he was appointed by the Conference to live at the Three Kings Native Institution and continue his studies from there. Men like the Rev. Eruera Te Tuhi who were students then, recall how impressed the boys were with the physical strength and football prowess. Stories are told of him racing the tramcars of the day into the city. He was much admired and respected by the boys. Ordained at the Conference of 1912, he was appointed to the Christchurch East Circuit under the Rev. W. A. Sinclair, whom he was later to succeed as General Secretary of Foreign Missions. Here at New Brighton his drive and energy resulted in a new parsonage being built, as he was to rebuild the church in earthquake stricken Hastings in 1932. The idea of overseas mission service had long been in Mr Scrivin's mind and

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 the Conference of 1914 was glad to agree to his transfer to the New South Wales Conference for appointment to Papua.

Rev W.A.Sinclair His strong evangelical faith, his bodily strength and his toughness of mind and tenacity of purpose, made him suited to pioneer work in lonely places, and fitted him for the task, which so often fell to him, of holding the line when there was no one else. This capacity was tested early. 1914 brought war and men and women who would otherwise have been forthcoming for foreign mission service were called elsewhere. Money was not plentiful and there were times when he, with the Chairman, the Rev. M. K. Gilmour, each did three men's work. There grew up a strong respect and friendship between these two men who had both entered the ministry in New Zealand, which continued through the years. Though they differed on many points they respected each others' ability. Dr Bromilow, the pioneer missionary to Papua, who returned briefly in the early 1920's to the District, paints two eloquent pictures of A. H. Scrivin . . . one as acting Chairman in 1920, welcoming back the veteran missionary, and the other in May 1927, conducting a service of thanksgiving for the first edition of the whole Bible in Dobuan. Would it be too much to say that those scenes were typical of the happy, fruitful years on the field? . . . rejoicing in the Gospel and willingly and competently carrying whatever load of responsibility he was asked to carry. Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 62

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Rev. A.H.Scrivin When the Scrivins came on leave in 1931, their service in Papua was ended. The depression had hit and retrenchment was the order of the day. It was decided by the Board in Sydney that missionaries then on furlough should not return to the field.6 Yet his best work was still to be done as General Secretary of the New Zealand Foreign Missionary Society. The difficulties of missionary service in an earlier day, and the dreadful toll of malaria before drugs were found to adequately control it, is nowhere better seen than in the tragic story of two New Zealanders, Rose Mary (May or Maisie) Lill and Ernest W. Harrison. May Lill was an attractive young woman, full of life and joy, who as a teenager was capable of all sorts of tricks, like riding the cows after they were milked and jumping from the grain loft 12 feet from the ground. This joy in living was also accompanied by a joy in the Lord. The Lill family were of Primitive Methodist stock who did not find deep piety and joyous living in1compatable. By the time she was 17, May was a local preacher, travelling long distances to keep Sunday appointments. At that age she went to Christchurch to work and it was there that she heard the call to the mission field. She responded and was chosen in 1907. She was then 23. Next year she travelled to Papua and was appointed to Kiriwina after a short period with Mr and Mrs

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Gilmour at Ubuia. She quickly fitted in and took up the work among women and girls that Sister Bessie Corfield had laid down.

Maisie Lill (Mrs Harrison) Ernest W. Harrison came from Napier and offered for service as a layman in 1908. He met May Lill in the course of his work and soon romance bloomed. In the meantime he was appointed to the Woodlark Islands to take up one of the most difficult jobs available. Woodlark was, and is, isolated. It had been the site of one abortive attempt by the Marist missionaries to establish Christian work many years before. While the Methodists had gained an entry, their work was faced with problems. Mr E. G. Glew had established a work principally among the gold miners who flooded in to those remote islands in search of instant wealth, and the workers they brought with them from other areas. He had also made some approaches to the local people. He died, another malaria victim, in 1904. Ernest Harrison, trying to pick up the threads in 1908, found that the gold mining had taken its toll, not only of the lives of the miners, but also of the local people. There had been a movement of the population away from the mining area and attitudes to outsiders had hardened. He shifted the centre of the churchs work to Guasapi, and it was to this place he brought his bride. They were married on the 8th October, 1910, at Ubuia. Fernley, Ernest's brother, who had been assisting with the erection of a building at the new station as a volunteer, was there to represent the families at home, but Mr and Mrs Gilmour and the rest of the staff made it a very happy occasion. Within a few months, however, May was very ill. Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 64

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Malaria, pregnancy, and gastroenteritis are not a good combination at any time, and in the absence of skilled medical help, the only chance seemed to be to take the patient to Samarai, 180 miles away where there was a doctor. Here is Ernest Harrison's own story of the nightmare that followed. "The trader's boat is in the bay, but she is small; moreover, he tells me that he has just discovered that her mizzen mast has chafed half way through where it enters the deck. My wife is a bad sailor, and a trip on the sea is an affliction to her at any time, so that I am somewhat afraid to take her in a small boat. Finding, however, that she was getting worse, we decided to make a dash for Samarai in the trader's boat, his wife, Mrs Ede, accompanying us. We went on board at noon, but as the sea was getting up and the dinghy was small, we were drenched to the skin before we reached the boat. We set sail. On Saturday night we passed out through the reefs into deep water, and then I had my hands full. Mrs Ede was prostrated with seasickness, and was no help at all, and my wife was continually ill throughout the night. The wind thus far was light, and by Sunday morning we were abreast of the Tokuna Group, and thus 20 miles from Woodlark Island. The wind being westerly, we could not steer a direct course for Samarai, but we held up as closely as possible. About 2 p.m. we sighted Misima, and shortly after 4 p.m. Panaeati. The wind was increasing and the sea rising. I told the native captain to make for Panaeati, as I thought Mr Williams, our missionary in charge there, might have some morphia with which we might deaden my wife's pain until we reached Samarai, as she was getting no rest at all. We were now 15 miles from Misima, and about 10 from Panaeati, and Misima is 80 miles from Woodlark Island. The wind dropped, and I saw we had no hope of getting in before dark (and therefore none afterwards) as the place is entirely surrounded by reefs with small passages here and there which can only be navigated by daylight. Had we possessed a small engine we could have pushed on independent of the wind, and got in before dark. Soon after the clouds began to bank up, and we saw that we were in for a dirty night. All day my wife had been anxiously asking "How long will it be before we reach Panaeati?", as she felt she could not bear much more, and now I had to reluctantly tell them that we should be out all night. We furled the foresail and took a reef in the mizzen, and just after dark a heavy southwest squall burst upon us with all the fury of tropical storms. Then commenced one of the worst nights I have ever passed through at sea. The wind howled and shrieked through the rigging as though ten thousand devils had been let loose upon us; the waves mounted up and up until the little craft laboured and heaved and rolled to such an extent that even while lying down one had to grip something to avoid being thrown about. The deck was swept again and again by the seas, and at last, to avoid being capsized, we had to lower the staysail and jib and reef down the mizzen, until only a mere rag of canvas was showing fore and aft.

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This meant that we could not keep on our course, and that we must drive hard to leeward. All through the long black night the wind blew and howled, each hour bringing heavier seas. Again and again the staunch little vessel heeled over until our hearts fairly leaped into our mouths, for it seemed as if she would never be able to right herself again, but right gallantly she fought back to an even keel. To me that night was one long nightmare. My wife lay groaning and gasping for breath, and I feared that she would never see another daylight —in fact death was imminent for all of us. At last there came a faint light from the East, and soon we could discern objects near at hand; a little later and then we fully saw our position. All night I had tried to encourage the women-folk by telling them we should be able to run into Panaeati at daybreak, and then have a good run down to Samarai, but when we looked around there was no land in sight in any direction. Nothing could be seen but one unbroken waste of troubled waters, heaving, towering billows, and a leaden, overcast sky above. For two hours longer we tried to beat westward, in the hope of picking up Misima again, but nothing could be seen, and so I sadly gave orders to 'cut and run' for home. As we could now make fair progress, we ought to have reached Woodlark Island by nightfall, especially as the 'fair wind' was a howling gale right aft. We tried to 'bout ship' in the usual way, but she missed stays, not having enough canvas on her, so we jibbed around and then fairly tore our way through the water. Squall after squall passed over us, hastening us on our way. At one time every stitch of canvas except the jib was furled, yet we fairly flew through the seas. It was an awe inspiring sight to stand and watch the great waves come surging after us, rising up and up until it seemed at last as though they would fain bury our little boat out of sight for ever. Then up would go the stem until she almost stood on end, and the mighty surge would pass beneath us, dropping us into the trough in its wake, for the next one to pick us up. On Monday evening I began to look for Woodlark Island. I feared another night at sea would kill my wife. I knew by the pace we had cut out that we must be somewhere near the island, yet darkness fell and we had not sighted it. As the wind went down towards evening, the sea moderated accordingly, and we hoped to sight Woodlark Island at any moment, so that I felt less anxious. The night was dark and cloudy, but Tuesday morning dawned, and yet no land was in sight. Towards midday we began to realise that we had missed the island and had passed it during the night. The wind freshened, and we tried to steer in the direction the island lay. Evening came and still no sign of land. How the ladies endured it I do not know. About 8 p.m. the boy in charge of the boat called me aft into the cabin and said: "Master, more betiei we go 'long New Britain. This feller boat he got him big feller leak, close up we go 'long bottom." We sat down and listened, and I could hear the water running in at the stern, and, upon pulling some of the lining aside, we could see the flow, but the leak

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 was in such a position that we could not get at it from inside, and so we were helpless to stop it. This, of course, made matters very serious, but we hoped it would not get worse. The cause was the opening of a seam, due no doubt to the rough handling the boat had received. By pumping every two hours we kept the water down, and if the sea moderated the danger was not great. I encouraged the boys, and we had prayers together, beseeching the aid of Him who ruleth the wind and the waves, and then I returned to the ladies in the hold. That night I slept little and prayed much; in fact for four nights I hardly slept at all, the rolling and pitching of the boat made it impossible. On Wednesday morning there was still no sight of land, and as the wind was light and the tide against us we made little progress. As we had only food for a week on board, I began to wonder what we should do if we were unable to get back to Woodlark Island before it gave out. Probably we might have to try and make the Solomon Islands. Towards evening the sky again became overcast, the wind increased, and by nightfall we were again 'reefed down', as the heavy squalls were coming from the north-west. After a rough, uncomfortable night, the decks being constantly swept by the heavy seas, and the weather being so dark that little of anything could be seen, the dawn broke once more, and again we anxiously scanned the horizon for a glimpse of land, but we were doomed to disappointment, for none could be seen. The wind was steadily increasing, and the sea was running high, and as I knew we must be somewhere near land, we still hoped all would be well. I prayed earnestly that our Heavenly Father would preserve His own from harm, and bring us safe back to land, and more especially for the sake of the one below who was in such pain that He would help is quickly. At noon so violently did the seas beat upon us that I wondered we floated at all. There was a tremendous swell running up from the westward, and the wind was blowing from the north. This made a heavy cross sea. We clapped on all sail we could safely carry, and tried to weather it through as well as we could. I saw plainly that if we were out another night in such a sea we must surely founder. Only very careful steering and close watching of the waves saved us from being swamped, and this would be impossible after dark. However, God in His mercy saved us at 3 p.m.—the rain lifted a little, and there about 15 miles away to the north-west was Woodlark Island. Our hearts indeed leapt for joy, and we felt deeply thankful to the One who had thus plucked us from a watery grave. In a couple of hours we were rapidly getting out of the heavy seas and feeling the shelter afforded by the island. We hoisted all sail and stood in as close as the wind would allow, and by night all danger was past. At 9 a.m. on the Friday morning we dropped anchor at Guasopi, our port, thus ending up at the place whence we had started almost a week before. We hope to catch the

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 main steamer due on Monday for Samarai, and trust very soon to reach our destination."7 That nightmare journey was only the first act of a mounting tragedy. When it was possible to get Mrs Harrison to Samarai, the doctor ordered her south to Sydney. Her husband was caught in a common dilemma. If he left his work and went with her, he would certainly be censored by the Synod and the Board, and be requested to pay his own passage to Sydney and back. If he did not, how would his wife fare without him? Probably the deciding factor was the strong sense of duty which has been characteristic of the missionary breed. We can imagine that husband and wife held anxious consultation and it is not unlikely that it was May, brave, committed woman that she was, who finally made the decision which sent Ernest back to his Circuit. Later that year, safely back in New Zealand, May gave birth to a fine healthy daughter but her own health never recovered. When his furlough was due, Ernest came to his wife and the Willowby farm but she did not know him. For some months he was engaged on deputation but there was no improvement in his wife's condition. What was to be done? The final decision was taken in consultation with the Rev. J. G. Wheen, General Secretary, who was on a visit to New Zealand. He reported to readers of the "Missionary Review" that Mrs Harrison was many months off a complete cure and the family and the doctor all agreed that Ernest should return to his work.8 The intention was that he should help out until his resignation took effect a year later. But Ernest Harrison, for reasons for which we do not now know, never came back to New Zealand and died in Papua in 1961. He was a man of whom it was said, "He was a true friend and father to the Papuans", and "He was a very compassionate man who never refused aid to anyone in distress. Papuans made his home theirs and often of a night the floor would be covered with sleeping folk who had nowhere else to go."9 May Harrison was eventually restored to a measure of health and lived to a considerable age and died in 1972. She never lost her interest in missions and cleaned many thousands of stamps for the support of the work. Malaria, in an unforgiving climate, Methodist discipline, and a sense of duty which was at times rigid to the point of harshness, in this case brought personal tragedy to two sensitive and dedicated people who paid perhaps a greater price than those who died and were buried in a foreign land. It was malaria that brought the Francis family back. Mr and Mrs W. Charles Francis had gone out as lay missionaries in 1904 and spent time both at Dobu and Bwaidoga (Goodenough Island). They both had great spiritual gifts and were very musical. Mr Francis had considerable business acumen. There are still hymns sung in Dobuan that he translated. He took charge for a time of Dobu when the Chairman was on leave,

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 and when finally Mrs Francis' health made their permanent return to New Zealand necessary, their going was deeply regretted. On the 7th July, 1907, the Board accepted their resignation and went on to say, "(We) express sincere regret that the continued ill health of Mrs Francis has rendered this step necessary. The Board places on record its appreciation of the faithful and efficient service rendered to the Society by Mr Francis and his wife during their residence in New Guinea and trusts that both Mr and Mrs Francis will be greatly blessed of God throughout their future."10 This prediction was indeed fulfilled and Mr and Mrs Francis continued to take a deep interest in the work of the Church both at home and overseas, as their family do to this day. One son, the Rev. W. R. Francis has been President of the Methodist Conference. May Jenness was the first missionary sister to go out from New Zealand to any field and it is interesting that she went to Papua where the first appointments of single women missionaries ever made officially by the Methodist Church had taken effect. Miss Jenness was the first fruits of the establishment of Womens Missionary Auxiliaries in New Zealand, and a precursor of a noble band who have done great things through the years. She went out in June 1905. Within a year she had met and been courted by the Rev. Andrew Ballantyne of Australia, who had gone out to Papua a year earlier. They were married at Ubuia at the end of the District Synod on the 9th October, 1906. In February 1908 Andrew was suffering from blackwater fever and took an enforced holiday with his wife and family in New Zealand. Here he did some deputation work and created a great deal of interest. It was a full year before they were able to return to their work. Service at Ubuia, Bwaidoga, Panaeati, and visits to other areas followed. For a time they were joined by Mr D. Jenness, M.A., May's brother. He was one of New Zealand's first noted anthropologists, and together with his brother-in-law, wrote the book, "The Northern D'Entrecasteaux". It was published by the Clarendon Press in 1920 and was the fruit of their joint work. On the 12th August, 1915, the dreaded malaria, which had already claimed the lives of a daughter and a son, ended Andrew Ballantyne's life. His widow stayed on for some months to complete the translation work in which her husband had been engaged at the time of his death. She then came back to New Zealand with her two small sons, both of whom subsequently became doctors. Mrs Ballantyne who died in 1953, made one last visit to Papua. In 1949 she travelled to Kiriwina where her husband had died to take part in the Jubilee celebrations. She was then 76.11 Communications in Papua, as everywhere else in the Pacific, were always a problem. When Andrew Ballantyne had been dead for three days his Chairman at Ubuia was writing to the General Secretary in Sydney that Ballantyne was "out of danger". It took from the 12th June to the 23rd July for definite news to reach Sydney!12

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When May Jenness announced her engagement, the Women's Auxiliary in New Zealand were a little put out! But they set to work at once to recruit a replacement. Their choice fell on Janet S. Vosper who proceeded to the field in early 1907. Miss Florrie L. Thomson followed her a year later, but neither of them gave long service. Miss Vosper retired in 1909 because of health, and Miss Thomson for family reasons, had to return home in the August of that same year. Each of these early sisters served, as a sister, for only a short period. Yet each did a fine job. May Jenness and May Lill continued to serve after their marriage, of course. Margaret Jamieson of Palmerston North was the next to go to Papua, and was a nominee of the North Island Auxiliaries which had been formed following the example of Otago. She served the District for 10 years, first as a sister, then from 1915 as the wife of the Rev. Arthur Scrivin. He had been appointed in 1914, and as a junior colleague had nursed Andrew Ballantyne in his last illness. Mrs Scrivin's health had been affected by the tropic ills but she actually died in New Zealand in 1921. Nor should we forget Julia Benjamin. An Australian from Victoria, she served ten years from 1897 to 1906 in Papua until ill health forced her to resign. She came to New Zealand and entered the Maori work but her heart was still in the Islands. After several attempts she was accepted for service again in 1910 on the sponsorship of the Otago Women's Auxiliary, and again served for a term before she retired in 1913. She settled in New Zealand again for a time. Almost a decade after Matthew Gilmour's appointment William W. Avery and his wife (Sister Bessie from the Dunedin Central Mission) were sent to Papua in 1910 and laboured there for four years until health brought them home.

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The Averys were gracious folk, much beloved in their circuits. Their continuing interest in missions took on an unusual form. Mr Avery became an authority on daffodils which he bred and grew in great profusion and sold for overseas missions. One small boy who later became a missionary, remembers the winsome smile, the erratic steering of the minister's Model A Ford, and the daffodils and enthusiasm for missions with great clarity. Three years later W. J. Enticott who had served in South Africa as a lay missionary went out. He had come to New Zealand and become a candidate for the ministry here. He was ordained on the 2nd June, 1913, after a period of probation at Trinity Church, Dunedin, from which S. B. Fellows had gone out 23 years before. He served in Papua for 4 years before health again took its toll and brought him back to New Zealand where he served in some of our most difficult appointments with courage and ability. Ill health continued to afflict him and finally caused his retirement in 1948.13

The events of 1913 and 1922 meant that the close ties between New Zealand and Papua were broken after the return of the Scrivins to New Zealand in 1931. They were not reestablished until Mr Doug McKenzie was appointed Principal of Wesley High School, Salamo in 1970, where he and his wife are still serving.

Some of the problems which beset the church in the Papuan Islands Region, and are still with her there, are clearly seen in the story of these New Zealand missionaries. First and always the dreaded malaria, which seemed to have been more virulent in those places than iurfher north. Second, the isolation and the problems of transport. Thirdly, the impact of the western world through miners, traders and others, especially in Woodlark and Misima, Malaria is now controlled to a large extent and the aeroplane and radio have something to aid communication, though those problems are far from being solved. We are also seeing in a new light the problems of culture conflict, and gaining new understandings of the problems that were faced earlier and the problems that are still faced. However, in the story of the Papuan Islands Region, New Zealanders played their part with devotion and courage, and many paid a tremendous price in suffering. But Papua's gift to New Zealand must not be forgotten. Not only Arthur Scrivin, but William Avery, Charles Francis, and their wives, to name only three made an outstanding contribution to New Zealand Methodism which is not ended. That contribution was the greater because of what they had learnt and what they had suffered in those distant islands.

1. Different numbers are given by different writers. M.R. July 1941 p.3 gives a total of 69. 2. Burton p. 123. See also Brown 465-512 Bromilow and MR 1891, July 1941. 3. M.R. July 1941.

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4. M.R. July 1941. 5. M.R. 5th March 1934. 6. M.O.M. Minutes. 7. Napier Daily Telegraph 8 April 1911. 8. M.R. June 1911. 9. Personal communications Rev. R. V. Grant; Sister L. M. Thurston Also N.Z. Primitive Methodist; 1 Jan. 1911. History of the Lill family. 10. M.L. 3 page 300. 11. M.R. 1915 Aug. Also personal communication Dr. D. A.Ballantyne. 12. M.R. 1915 August. 13. N.Z. Minutes 1948.

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CHAPTER 3: TO THE ISLES OF SOLOMON We have already spoken of Methodism's tendency to let its heart rule its head, and the habit of taking on so much that it could not effectively achieve any of its objects. There is no doubt that the move into the Solomon Islands was made on an emotional wave, which took little stock of the practicalities of the situation. Even George Brown, not notably a cautious man, had tried to guide the General Conference of 1901 into a more considered approach than that expressed in the final rather flamboyant resolution. Perhaps under the euphoria of the Methodist Union that had just been consummated in Australia between the Primitive, Bible Christian and Wesleyan Methodists, the Conference felt that some grand gesture was needed. They said: "That, in view of the whole facts, and the earnest call of the Solomon Islanders in Fiji, and in view of the fact that a vast portion of the Solomons is at present absolutely without Gospel teaching, this Conference directs the Board of Missions to start a Mission in the Solomons in such parts as may seem most desirable and practicable, and at the earliest possible time."1 Looking back at that decision from the distance of more than seventy years, the "whole facts" are not quite as compelling. The Anglicans were at work in a few areas, notably in the central and eastern Solomons, and undoubtedly laid claim to all of it as their sphere of activities. This claim was based on the instructions given to Bishop G. A. Selwyn when he was appointed Bishop of New Zealand in 1847. His diocese was said to include virtually the whole of the western Pacific. Turning away from Polynesia where the Methodists and the L.M.S. were well entrenched, Selwyn had laid claim to all of Melanesia except the southern New Hebrides (where the Presbyterians were soon at work). When it became a separate diocese, it was regarded as including all islands and people, irrespective of whether the church was actually at work there or not. The reason for this is not far to seek. First, the idea of a parish and a diocese is a geographical one, and need not bear any relation to the actual work included. Thus in 1966, the Bishop of New Guinea attending a conference in Lifou, Loyalty Islands, could claim that those Islands and New Caledonia were part of the Diocese of Melanesia, while admitting that in fact there was no Anglican work in the area, no known Anglican people, and no visit had been paid by an Anglican priest for many years. The second was the conviction, which some may still hold of the superiority of Anglicanism as a form of Christianity. "A church which believes herself to be purer in doctrine than others, in that she not only 'adheres to the doctrine of the Cross, but also stands apart from papal and puritan innovations', would surely come under the greater condemnation if, having the best, she allowed the world to have what she considers the less good."2

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It was not so much an evangelical desire to save the heathen from hell but the placing of the emphasis on the propagation of a particular system of doctrine and church order, and the conviction that the form of the Church is part of the Church's Gospel. To be fair to the Anglicans it was to be pointed out that this kind of arrogance, in one form or another, has been one of the prevailing sins of many branches of the Christian church and accounts for so much of the persecution and bigotry of the past and is by no means dead in the modern world. In Melanesia this conviction was very much alive at the turn of the century. It is quite true that many areas of the Solomons were virtually untouched by missionaries of any race and it is also true that the Melanesian Mission seemed to have its resources already stretched to the utmost. The Roman Catholics had also begun work for the second time3 in the central Solomons and in South Bougainville and their far greater resources had yet to be brought fully to bear. It is doubtful if a Methodist Conference would have regarded their efforts as effective evangelisation at the time. George Brown who had visited the Solomons en route to New Britain in 1879, and again twenty years later, had been all but appalled by the ineffectiveness of Anglican work there, and by the vast areas and populations which were untouched. He had spoken of this and had desired to do something about it, through the years. He had noted the considerable decline in population in the western Solomons in the twenty years between his two visits, and so to his desire to save souls was added the very humanitarian concern for a people who appeared to be dying out from disease and headhunting savagery. Neither Anglicans' neglect or Brown's concern might have brought about action if it had not been for the Solomon Islanders in Fiji. In common with folk from other western Pacific islands many of them had been induced by fair means or foul to work for plantations in Queensland, in Samoa and in Fiji. The repatriation from Australia of the first group introduced to the eastern Solomons the "Kanaka Mission" (soon renamed the South Seas Evangelical Mission) which had ministered to them in the cane fields of the alien land. In Fiji and in Samoa many of the men had had contact with the Methodist Church, and some had been converts. A few became lay preachers and some held other offices. Faced with a return to their home islands, they begged and pleaded with the Methodist Church to go with them. This matter had been raised as early as 1885, but in the 1890's the matter was raised year after year with increasing insistence. The Solomon Islanders were also gaining support from one or two influential Australian lay people and from some of the missionaries in Fiji. Ironically, the major part of the Methodist Solomon Islanders came from Guadalcanal, where the Anglicans were reasonably well established, but they strongly resisted any attempt to transfer them to that Church. The Anglicans, for their part, seem to have been strangely uninterested in making friends with this group of potential allies. It is worthy of note that the village of Aola on that island held out against all blandishments from

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Anglicans, Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists, South Sea Evangelical Mission, insisting that if they could not be Methodists they would remain heathen, until finaliy in 1937, the church gave in and sent them a Methodist teacher. George Brown had wanted the Church to make no definite commitment until they had consulted the Bishop of Melanesia, but the Conference swept that caution away and so he was sent off to plan a mission to the Western Solomons. On Norfolk Island he interviewed Bishop Wilson and gained grudging approval to make, a start in the New Georgia group. It should be noted that there was a lot more negotiation and not a little acrimonious argument between various members of the two missions during the next five or six years, and the Anglicans even went so far, in 1907, as to send some men whom they could ill spare to Vella Lavella to work alongside a Methodist station. None of this can be blamed on Brown. He was at his statesmanlike best in the dealings with the Bishop, and later with the Government officers in the Solomons. His age, experience and manner stood him in good stead. His planning for the new mission also reflected that experience. In the Papuan Islands, Brown chose Dobu as the most treacherous and wicked place, to begin the work. In the Solomons for the same reason he chose Roviana (Munda). The Roviana people had been described by an experienced observer as "without exception the most treacherous and bloodthirsty race in the Western Pacific."4 To win the Rovianas was to be in a position to win all. To start with the others was to court failure, for in the long term the Roviana people could and would destroy any other ... at least so the argument went. When it came to choosing staff. Brown wanted to repeat another one of his Papuan devices and get a man experienced in another field. He approached the Rev. W. J. Chambers of Ulu and the Rev. William Slade of Fiji. Slade was, however, returning to New Zealand because of health, and Chambers was not available. He also wanted to get a doctor, but in this too he failed. He was able to get support from Samoa and from Fiji. Notable among that contingent being Samuel Anggorau, a Guadalcanal man who had been many years in Fiji. His Australian men were the Rev. John Francis Goldie, aged 32, a convert at 17, and with five years service in the ministry after some years as a lay evangelist; and Stephen Rabone Rooney, son and grandson of distinguished missionaries on both the Rabone and Rooney side, whose own mother had found a grave in the Solomons, while the family had been travelling to New Britain: and Mr J. R. Martin, a keen layman builder who was to go on from Roviana to New Britain in building service before health took him back to Australia and a premature death. From the tiny island of Nusa Zonga, which the Mission Board had been able to buy from a defunct trading concern, the work of the new mission spread to the adjacent land at Munda point, and in particular to the nearby hilltop known as Kokenggolo. It was here that the main buildings were erected and this name, together with that of the

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 adjacent lagoon, Roviana, became in the 20's and 30's household words for New Zealand Methodism. While the initial clearing and building was taking place, George Brown visited Ontong Java and the adjacent Tasman group, on the invitation of the Resident Commissioner, and decreed that these Polynesian islands should be included in the Mission District. Within four months Goldie was preaching in the local Roviana language and crowds of curious people were attending the preaching. Each new activity, evening school, sewing classes for women, and then morning school for English language lessons, received an enthusiastic if erratic following for a time at least. It was a long time before any real understanding began to be achieved, or positive response given. Brown had noted that between 1879 and 1899 there had been a very grave decrease in population, and there had also been a rise in headhunting and cannibalism. A punitive raid in 1891 by H.M.S. "Royalist" destroyed all the villages round Munda point and on Roviana Island, and with them thousands of heads, This caused the raiding and headhunting to reach frantic new heights to replace the destroyed symbols of life and power. The reason seems to have been that, by the middle of the 19th century contact with the outside world was becoming increasingly frequent. That the people were able to murder some 62 white people in the later decades of the century is an indication of the increase of this contact.5 With the threat from the material possessions and economic hopes of the whites also came the diseases of the western world. According to Hocart6 epidemics were common and made serious inroads on the population. All this suggests that the massive increase in headhunting was the almost hysterical reaction to the clear and obvious threat to the whole way of life of the people. What would have happened if the Mission had not come, is hard to say. In the event, while firmer Government control was being established under Mahaffey, Woodford's assistant in the western Solomons, the Christian Gospel, as presented by the missionaries, slowly but surely came to be seen as an alternative religion better suited to cope with the new world that was coming into being and of which they were so afraid. The tragedy was that Goldie's antagonism to the Government in general and Government officers in particular, prevented the partnership of church and state which could have given effective and stable social conditions, not only in the short term but for the future. While work was going on at Munda and in the adjacent villages, nothing was being done to extend the work. For more than a year the whole party were kept at Kokenggolo, until the teachers became restive and criticism from Woodford and Mahaffy, both knowledgeable and understanding men, began to be noised abroad and certainly reached the Board in Sydney. It seems to show very early evidence of the two fatal flaws in Goldie's character — his egocentric desire to run everything and keep everything under his personal control, and his tendency to procrastination and

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 delay. In September 1903, a Fijian teacher was sent to Simbo and the next year another was placed on Bilua, and expansion began. The delay had established Goldie among the Roviana bangara (chiefs) and while they did not accept his Gospel they recognised in him a fellow bangara and gave support to his proposals to extend the work of the mission to Vella Lavella, Simbo and other places. They certainly helped to make the beginning at these places easier than it might otherwise have been. The next logical step was to go on to Choiseui, a large island with a considerable population with which Roviana people had long established trading and slaving links. It was to this island that Ray Rooney was sent in 1905. The actual history of the growth of the Mission has been adequately recorded elsewhere. But it is necessary to look further at the person and character of John F. Goldie, who became a minister of the New Zealand Conference in 1922, and its President in 1929, and remained as Chairman of the Solomon Islands District until the end of January 1951, almost 49 years since his arrival in the area. For it was Goldie, his strengths and weaknesses that determined not only the course of the Solomon Islands mission and church but affected very deeply the subsequent attitudes of successive New Zealand mission boards. Though J. F. Goldie was far from being a typical man of his time, he shared the ideals and the aspirations of the period and supported the methods of the day. The strong centralised mission station for which he has been blamed, was, as we have seen, to reach its ultimate under Matthew Gilmour in Papua; his stress on industrial missions and on plantations which were designed to both make the mission self supporting and at the same time educate and convert the workers was worked out successfully at Kwato under Charles Abel and at Ulu under Jack Crump. He shared with other evangelicals a suspicion of sacramentalism and dogmatic formulations; and placed a strong emphasis on moral improvement and the Christian social ethic. Yet in many respects Goldie failed where others succeeded, and whereas they escape criticism because of their success, he is blamed because the weaknesses of those policies came to the fore in the troubles that followed his retirement. His failure was due in the first place to his long reign in one, comparatively small and isolated place, Gilmour, Burton, Slade, Abel, Crump and a host of others v/ith whom he had been numbered in the first decade of the century, had been long gone from the active scene before Goldie retired in 1951. The policies that had been seen as relevant at the turn of the century had been outmoded by the end of the first world war, but Goldie had not changed. It was due secondly to his successful defiance of authority. He defied the planters, the traders and the Government in the Solomon; he quite blatantly defied two mission boards (Australian and New Zealand) and the churches they represented; and he crushed opposition within his own District. Men like Hayman and Rycroft were forced out while Cropp and Metcaife were driven to extremes. It is

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 not just that he was an autocrat—most of the pioneer missionaries who have written their names large on history's pages were that—but that he was simply impervious to new ideas and changing attitudes. He knew best . . . and that was all there was to it. He had a real affection for Ray Rooney, his first colleague, and seems to have missed him very much when he left; but he seems to have had no affection and little respect for any other. His mordant wit and wickedly apt stories held his colleagues up to contempt when it suited him, though he would defend them vigorously against the Board. Thirdly, he only pursued those things which interested him—he could rejoice in the cut and thrust of controversy over the Ontong Java affair and yet having won his point, he simply did nothing, and the work in those islands lapsed. He was jealous of his prerogatives, and for many years refused to allow others to work on Bible Translation in the Roviana tongue, but did very little himself. His procrastination became a byword. While others saw his involvement in private commercial enterprise as scandal, and it was a complete defiance of the Church's regulations, Goldie assumed that this was his prerogative and right. There is no question that he understood the Roviana people as few outsiders have done. The late Mr Harry Wickham who had no particular love for Goldie admitted this, and spoke appreciatively of how Goldie's habit of holding great festive gatherings was in the tradition of the old bangara. He believed this was the only way to handle the men of the area. Mr Wickham has been educated at Newington College, Sydney, before the turn of the century, and had known the Roviana lagoon and its people before and after the coming of the missionary. But Goldie, instead of using this knowledge to build up a church among the people, kept all power in his own hands. He was strongly opposed to the establishment of a native ministry, did not believe in "quarterly meetings" (the traditional Methodist governing structure at circuit level) and openly confessed himself a "benevolent despot". The most able study of Goldie and his work to date has been that made by Dr David Hillard7 and he summed up the man and the missionary thus: "Those policies and activities which distinguished the Methodist mission from other missions in the Solomons — its extensive commercial and plantation interests, the efficient medical mission, the emphasis on education, the orientation of church life towards large central stations and a paternalistic attitude towards the Melanesian converts—all were either direct implementations of Goldie's principles of mission work or had their roots within his character and temperament. Autocratic, egocentric, materialistic, an implacable controversialist when aroused, yet kindly, able and dominated by a passionate concern for the welfare—economic, intellectual, physical and religious—of the people of the western Solomons, he left an indelible mark on the mission he founded."

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1. General Conf. Minutes 1901. 2. Quoted in Hilliard p. 123. 3. The first attempt in 1845-52 had ended in disaster and withdrawal. 4. Cheyne quoted by Hilliard. 5. Harwood p.l6. 6. Hilliard p.251. 7. Hilliard p.347.

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IV A Field of Our Own

CHAPTER 1: MISSION BOARDS AND ALL THAT An administrative structure was necessary for the foreign mission work from the moment that Australia received control of Pacific Methodism from the British Conference. A General Committee of Management was set up with a full time official who, despite several early changes of name in the documents, soon became known as the 'General Secretary'. The Committee was to consist of 36 laymen and 36 ministers and it is interesting to find that no less than 12 of each were to be from New Zealand. Though this country was two mission Districts and remained a mission of the New South Wales Conference until we achieved autonomy in 1874, yet each of the New Zealand Districts was to be represented by six laymen and six ministers. This was surely a sign of the generosity of spirit and the concern tha^ characterised that first Conference. Though relationships were not to continue on that high note our brethren across the Tasman had the will to make a good start. The family links that characterised the missionary work of the period were in clear evidence in the list of names. All the ministers were of course missionaries, and the laymen included James E. Watkin, eldest son of the pioneer South Island missionary. Other laymen bore names that were to become well known in our church history. The list reads as follows: Auckland: Revs. John Whiteley, Gideon Smales, John Hobbs, James Wallis, George Buttle, H. H. Turton. Mr John Williamson, G. Langford, William Rowe, Thomas Russell, Henry Vercoe, George E. Elliott. Wellington: Revs. Charles Creed, John Warren, George Stannard, John Aldred, John Kirk. Mr David Lewis, James May, Bennett Perry, David Kinniburgh, George Luxford, James E. Watkin. Each group was to form the Foreign Mission committee in their own District. It was planned that all members should be at the annual meeting prior to conference in each year, but that the Sydney members constitute an executive to carry on the day to day business of the Committee. In fact the New Zealand members rarely attended and never in full force. More and more the Sydney members ran the work, though they were subject to review at the annual meeting and later at the annual conferences when these were set up. This position has continued in Australia until the present day with very little change.1 That first conference also decided to retain the brig "John Wesley'' and ask the Sunday School children to raise money for its repair; noted Auckland's liberality to the Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 80

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 extension fund; and agreed to retain the present staff of missionaries in New Zealand and seek a further three or four providing that New Zealand would pay for them. Annual collections in all churches for "missions to the heathen" were authorised. The appeal to the Sunday School children raised £1,457 14s and 1d ($2,915.41). Since similar appeals were to be highly successful through the years, not only in terms of actual money but also in missionary interest, we must wonder if we have not lost something important through the introduction of the national budget schemes which seem to preclude such appeals. Few New Zealand members could travel across the Tasman for Conference and the annual missionary committee meeting. It was also difficult for the General Secretary to travel to New Zealand and hence there was little chance for the rank and file of the church to get a clear picture of the administrative side of the mission work. The Rev. John Egglestone who was the first General Secretary was to have come in 1861, but his visit was delayed until 1862 when he made what appears to have been his only visit to this country. His successor, the Rev. Stephen Rabone, did no better in this regard. It was only in the 20th Century, with vastly improved communications, that regular visits could be made. So, though fine plans were made in 1855 the next fifty years did not show the amicable development that the Conference of that day had hoped. New Zealand sent out sons and daughters but did not feel any great responsibility for the foreign mission work. Its own problems were too pressing and the Mission Board too remote. The first years of the new century, however, were a watershed in the development of our attitude to overseas missions. Matthew Gilmour (1901) and John Burton (1902) went out to Papua and Fiji respectively, and neither of them were men to remain unnoticed; William Slade came back from Fiji and turned his considerable abilities to the stimulation of missionary interest in addition to his appointed tasks. Collections were steadily rising and in these hopeful years, plans could be made and dreams dreamed that had hitherto been impossible. The Conference of 1903 set up, for the first time, an executive committee "to have charge of all the business of the (N.Z.) Auxiliary, the Conference Foreign Mission Secretary to be the convenor."2 The Rev. J. Newman Buttle was that convenor and the committee was located in New Plymouth where he was stationed. Three ministers, J. N. Buttle, S. J. Garlick and W. Cannell, with twelve laymen, Messrs. Whittaker, Neil, S. B. White, F. Okey, W. Hooker, W. A. Collis, W. Ambury, G. Pearce, J. C. Peach were the nucleus. In addition the Rev. W. Slade and Mr C. Hicks were to be corresponding members. T P. Hughson, J. Thomas and J. R. Chatterton were added after the first meeting. At the same time the Conference noted the formation of the Otago Ladies' Auxiliary in Dunedin, the first of the groups that saw their task as sending out and maintaining women workers. The Rev. J. W. Collier, a New Zealand born minister who was serving in Samoa, was to do deputation during the year. There were still evidence of the family links in this

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 committee. J. N. Buttle bore an honoured name in New Zealand mission history, and William Andrews Collis had been born on the 22nd January 1854 at Lakemba, Fiji, where his father was one of the first two lay missionary school teachers. He had been baptised by the Rev. R. B. Lyth.3 The Conference urged each circuit to hold a Foreign Mission Sunday and have a public meeting when collections would be taken for the fund. They urged on the people a "more general use" of Collecting Cards and Mercy Boxes provided by the Mission House, with a view to more systematic giving for the cause! They asked each District to form a Ladies Auxiliary "with the object of supporting a missionary sister". Sunday Schools were urged to give special support to foreign missions and people generally were urged to take and use the missionary literature. They called on the mission office in Sydney to supply a new set of missionary slides "if possible of the Solomon Islands". The time was ripe for such a move and if one person above all others seems to have inspired this new vision it was William Slade. We have already seen something of the quality of his sixteen years in Fiji but in the dozen years that followed his return to New Zealand he did more for the general mission cause than would have been thought possible for such a busy person. He always had a ready pen as well as a ready tongue. His articles on Fiji in the church papers, and his stirring deputation addresses had made him one of the best known New Zealand missionaries.

Rev. W. Slade

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It was he who sparked off the establishment of the nation wide Women's Missionary Auxiliaries, and he who seems to have triggered off the new concern for missions generally. Had he lived to take up his post as full time Conference mission secretary he would undoubtedly have done a tremendous job for Foreign Missions. As it was his hand and voice is seen continually in the developments of the next decade. He was always stirring the committee on, as when in 1909 he proposed a federation of the ladies auxiliaries with a view to finding £350 a year to support a missionary in Fiji. The Committee, by this time located in Christchurch, was not amused and it recorded that "the President . . . was dealing with the matter."4 But he also warned them against rashness and when the question of a separate field for New Zealand was being debated a few years later he kept the practical problems clearly before them. As Methodist union came nearer in the country and with it the so long worked for independence from Australia, the question of a separate field of overseas service for New Zealand came to the fore again. It will be recalled that in the 1880s the transfer of Tonga to New Zealand had been proposed and that at that time the "New Zealand Herald" had reflected the common view that New Zealand was the natural head of Polynesia and ought to take her place as leader. New Zealand Methodists held the same view. Slade himself, while in Fiji, had been accused of "carrying on a political agitation among the Fijians in favour of federation with New Zealand".5 At a meeting of the Foreign Mission Executive held in May 1912, J. N. Buttle is recorded as having said, ". . . under the present arrangement New Zealand raised a large sum of money annually but no voice in the expenditure of that money. The scheme Mr Buttle proposed was that New Zealand should undertake the work in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji. These missions were all self supporting with the exception of the Indian work in Fiji which required about the same amount of money for upkeep as New Zealand raised."6 Both J. W. Burton and W. Slade who had been consulted by letter warned that more than money was involved and that New Zealand might have trouble staffing these three Districts. They also warned of problems that could arise with the Governments concerned. It is interesting to note that the proposals considered at this meeting also looked at the question of including the Maori work under the Foreign Mission Committee. No doubt this was a reflection of the Australian position where the Aboriginal work has always been under the Overseas Missions. In the event no action was taken as the matter was deferred until the issue of a separate field had been resolved and it was not seriously raised again. New Zealand's concern for a separate field is understandable and the quotation above probably represents a good deal of New Zealand Church opinion. It was also logical and sensible to look to our three nearest neighbours (Methodistically speaking) as possible fields. Across the Tasman such suggestions could hardly be happily received since they involved cutting links with long established areas which were a minor burden compared with the more demanding Melanesian fields. In a climate of Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 83

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 grudging assent to New Zealand independence, little things began to irritate. There was for example the Wilkinson Bequest of £300. Australia demanded it. New Zealand said it had to be spent under the guidance of the New Zealand Conference and a storm in a teacup resulted. Another cause of querulous letters was the claim that the Sydney office was arranging in detail deputation visits to New Zealand when they should be the local responsibility. More serious, but strangely less emotional, was the problem of the status of ministers going from the New Zealand Conference to the overseas field after the separation. By the time this problem raised its head the accomplished fact had taken the steam out of relationships, though anything to do with money could still strike sparks from the people involved. At the same time relationships with the Free Church in Tonga were being resumed and J. B. Watkin was writing to the New Zealand Committee about Church Union in that country. The need for some careful, thoughtful planning was becoming apparent. If New Zealand was to have its own mission field preparations had to be made and money had to be raised over and above what was being sent to the Board of Missions in Sydney. The onset of the Great War clearly affected the timing but the need did not change. The committee was in a receptive mood for the letter they received from William Slade at the end of 1914. He offered to serve as organising secretary and build up a reserve fund equivalent to one year's income before the Conference took over a separate field.7 This scheme was approved by Synods and Conference but Slade never took up the post. He was a very sick man during 1915 and before another year was out he was dead. His passing, as much as the war, set back the whole project. William Slade was a strong man with the ability to inspire people and he could have undoubtedly achieved great things. Already he had, in his 16 years in Fiji and 13 in New Zealand, done a tremendous amount to give ordinary New Zealand Methodists a missionary vision. When Slade had inspired the Otago ladies to form a missionary auxiliary he had been a missionary on deputation and the nurturing of the seed thus planted was left to William A. Sinclair. Mr Sinclair had not the flamboyant personality of Slade nor had he the doggedness of Arthur Scrivin, but he was a good organiser, and a very tactful person. J. N. Buttle served the church very well from 1903 and he had with his various committees laid the basis for church wide support for the missionary enterprise. John W. Burton who returned to New Zealand work in 1910 was a help before he was taken to Victoria by the Australians. Other returned missionaries, notably W. W. Avery, Fred Copeland and T. J. Wallis were a help in making missions and missionaries "real" for ordinary people. Conference of 1915 had welcomed the aged veteran

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George Brown and heard again his challenge to mission. He too helped the new missionary vision that was growing in the church. Into this attitude of expectancy and renewed interest in foreign missions there came the Rev. Reg C. Nicholson, missionary from Vella Lavella, Solomon Islands, with a Solomon Island companion Daniel Bula. They arrived in this country on May 6th 1917, and for the next ten weeks travelled through the land in a kind of royal progress. Whereas the missionaries had stressed the heroic and the adventurous, Daniel Bula brought a touch of the exotic. There had been native deputationists before and there were to be again but not even the young Gina made such a big impact in such a short time as this man. Bula was the son of two notable people in the turn of the century Solomon Island life. One the island of Vella Lavella they were people both to be respected and feared. When the first white missionary, Reg Nicholson, arrived on the island in 1907 he was trained in medical work and made a place for himself as a healer. Among his early patients was Bula, then a lad perhaps 12 years of age. A firm friendship grew up between the two and Reg Nicholson learnt from Bula as he tried to teach him the Christian way. When Bula came to the point of seeking baptism he took the name of Daniel. It was to be expected that he would be an able young man and having given himself to the cause of the Lotu (Christian faith) he would serve with distinction. This expectation was fulfilled and Daniel Bula became noted as a preacher, class leader and church leader. His special contribution was the establishment of the "boy's house" where lads who had outgrown parental concern (as they did at 9 or 10 years of age) were gathered in. Here the boys had the benefit of schooling, an ordered regime and regular meals. Under the influence of their leader they not only grew in body and mind but accepted the Christian faith as naturally as they accepted the other gifts. By the time Daniel Bula came to New Zealand he was a young man of powerful physique and winning charm. His coal black skin and frizzy hair attracted attention everywhere and his personality assured a favourable reaction.8 It was this touch of glamour which undoubtedly aided the solid work that was being done in stimulating missionary interest and must have done a great deal to prepare New Zealanders for the decision to take over the Solomons as their special field. It is significant that in that year over a ten month period missionary giving jumped to almost double the giving of the previous 12 months. The target had been set the year before. There were already 2,600 subscribers to the "Missionary Review" and 1,300 copies of the annual report were being distributed. Since these reports contained the names of those who contributed more than a token sum to the cause a target was being set which year by year tended to be upgraded. A gentleman who called himself "investor" had suggested that the target for 1917 should be £10,000, an increase of almost £100. He said that if this target was achieved he would donate £500 to the cause. The target was achieved but long before the final accounts were in the Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 85

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"investor" had withdrawn his conditions and sent in his £500. That Daniel Bula had much to do with it is clear, but that all the credit belongs to him as Nicholson claims we may doubt. He had come at the right moment to give a lift to the whole enterprise. When Daniel Bula and Reginald Nicholson had finally gone, there was still a war on and the day to day problems had still to be solved. Certain things were becoming clear. First was that the mission fields themselves were resistant to the idea of separation from Australia. The Solomons was almost the last hope. Secondly after changing the date several times, the committee finally asked Conference to set aside the Rev. W. A. Sinclair as full time organising secretary for Foreign Missions from the Conference of 1919. Conference agreed and the work of getting ready could now proceed with greater intensity. William A. Sinclair was a man of missionary vision. He had served at the "Helping Hand Mission" in Auckland in the 1890s as the first minister appointed to what was essentially a layman's enterprise. With Sister Francis he helped to build up a true missionary cause, and one which not only laid the foundations of a mission to Auckland City but also played a big part in our overseas endeavour. We have already noted that Mary Ballantine had been called to Fiji from this service. Mrs C. E. Dent, daughter of Mr Samuel Parker, one of the first workers at the mission, spent more than 30 years with her husband in missionary service in South Africa; Mrs Matthew Gilmour (nee Norma Francis) a similar period in Papua; Mrs T. H. Stevens, Mrs H. E. Pacey (nee Margaret McKenzie) and Mrs M. Smethurst, M.W.M.U. notables all were associated with the mission, and most of them with Mr Sinclair.9 He fanned the spark of inspiration struck by William Slade among the Dunedin women folk into the enduring flame of the Otago Ladies Auxiliary for Foreign Missions (O.L.A.M.). He was the young Arthur Scrivin's superintendent in Christchurch in 1913 when Scrivin was accepted for missionary service, and he was now coming to a strenuous task as the first General Secretary of Foreign Missions. He was a quiet man with considerable organising ability; his letters to irate missionaries are models of tact and forbearance; he could and did speak out on occasion and served the cause well but the work was difficult and demanding with its constant travelling, and in the end a breakdown in health forced his retirement. Mr Sinclair had not only to organise the New Zealand support but he had to gain an understanding of what was required. The only effective way in which this could be done was to pay a visit to the field. The Rev. G. T. Marshall, a supernumerary, who was clerical treasurer, and who gave outstanding service in that field for 17 years, was available to act in his place so he could make the journey. His companion was to be John W. Court who had been appointed as lay treasurer. Mr Court was a successful businessman of considerable drive and enthusiasm. His interest in foreign mission work was intense and for a decade he played a major part in its affairs. He was very generous and had founded the Waikawau Trust from which numerous gifts for special Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 86

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 projects were to be made during the next few years. In 1919, for example, the Trust gave £2050 ($4100) to the Working Capital Fund. It was at a meeting in Sydney on the 3rd October 1919 that a proposal to transfer the Solomons to New Zealand was put into due form. The suggestion that Samoa and Tonga be also included was referred to the New South Wales Conference of which these fields were Districts, and nothing came of this. The Solomons agreed, probably because they saw more hope of getting adequate support from New Zealand than from Australia. The order of events was now quite simple. Messrs Court and Sinclair visited the Solomons and conferred with the staff and people, the Rev. J. F. Goldie was present at the 1921 Conference and in 1922 New Zealand was on its own with the Solomon Islands (including Bougainville and Buka) as its only official missionary concern. It should be remembered that New Zealanders continued to go to other places, notably Fiji, and that in the agreement there was a clause which provided for cooperation between Australia and New Zealand:— "As it may be found desirable in regard to future extension of operations, especially in connection with work among Indians in the Pacific or in India itself."10 This was a promise which did not become effective for thirty years. Then it was not the Indians, but the newly contacted people of the Papua New Guinea Highlands who called the two churches together. From 1922 until 1968 the pattern of organisation remained much the same. There was a General Secretary, two Treasurers, one a minister and one a layman, and these three had executive power between Board meetings. The nucleus of the Board was in Auckland and this nucleus met regularly throughout the year. An annual meeting was held in which distant members from all over the Dominion were present. They had been kept informed by minutes and other communications and now joined the Auckland group in what was in effect a committee of detail of the Conference. Usually the President presided and policy and finance were major items together with the reports from the field. The business usually took two or more days and was then reported directly to the floor of the Conference. Three members of the Board were always representatives of the Women's Missionary Union. Two of them were ordinary members resident in Auckland. The third was the President. If she did not live in Auckland she attended the annual meeting. At this meeting she made a report to the Board. Following the Australian pattern the women's groups were regarded legally as part of the Foreign Mission work and their reports too went direct to Conference. At no time did the work of the ladies come under scrutiny by a committee at Conference. Each Synodal District had a Secretary who was supported by a District Committee. The task given to them was to prepare the plan of missionary deputation to all churches, to stimulate the general missionary organisation, to see the circuits remitted money frequently and promptly to the Conference Treasurers, keep in touch with the

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 ministers, local preachers and Sunday School superintendents, helping them with suggestions for missionary education, etc.11 As was to be expected these functions were carried out with effectiveness in proportion to the enthusiasm of the secretary and committee concerned. But they did serve the purpose of involving a large number of people in the task. As long as the work was dependent on an annual appeal and communications were slow and difficult they were an absolute necessity. Some outstanding people served in this way though they rarely were able to keep circuits up to the mark in regard to paying money in. By the mid 1960s the structure was too cumbersome for its purpose. The church overseas was no longer a mission field and though formal independence did not come until January 1968, the Solomons at least, had a large degree of autonomy. So policy decisions were becoming domestic matters and were more easily dealt with as they arose, rather than at a special meeting each year. The coming of the connexional budget had changed the whole financial picture. The M.W.M.U. had given place to the Methodist Women's Fellowship which owed not even token allegiance to the Overseas Missions Board. Steeply rising costs were calling into question the economy of bringing a handful of people from the far ends of the country to an increasingly brief meeting. So in 1968 the pattern was changed and the distant members were thanked for their services and not reappointed. Any pretence at being a committee of detail of the Conference ceased. It was not until 1972 however that a committee actually met at Conference time to consider the work of the Department. This was a thoroughly healthy experience and will involve a wider and more varied group of people through the years. In 1938 the Board had decided that the time had come for a change of name. "Foreign missions" was already a suspect term. In Australian the Methodist Missionary Society of Australia had become the Methodist Overseas Missions and New Zealand sought to follow suit. It was not just a change of name from foreign to overseas, but a change of concept that was involved. Whereas the idea of a Foreign Missionary Society standing somewhat apart from the church had long existed, and had perhaps given a certain independence and flexibility of action which was of value, there was now concern that the missionary work should be seen as the concern of the whole church. To this end it was desired to talk of an Overseas Missions Department of the church, rather than the Foreign Mission Society. Both were in fact the church organised for mission overseas. But each did represent a slightly different approach. The proposals ran into legal difficulties connected with the Trust Association that had been set up to hold the Solomon Island properties, and the Investment Board which held the financial assets. In the normal course of events this change would not have been delayed more than a year or two, but the war and the subsequent period of rehabilitation simply pushed the whole matter aside. It was not until 1960 that there was leisure to take it up again and this time the change was effected at the Conference of 1961.

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1. N.S.W. Minutes 1855. 2. N.Z. Minutes 1903. 3. F.A. M.C. Register of Baptisms. 4. N.Z. F.M. Exec. Minutes 12 Aug. 1909. 5. M.L. M.O.M. Minutes 16 Jan. 1901 p.86. 6. N.Z. F.M. Exec. Minutes 6 May 1912. 7. N.Z. F.M. Exec. Minutes November 1914. 8. Nicholson passim. 9. O.D. Dec. 1926 p.2. 10. Gen. Conf. Minutes 1920 p.40. 11. N.Z. Minutes 1920 p.95.

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CHAPTER 2: FINANCE When New Zealand took over the Solomons they did so in the confident expectation of being able to meet the financial commitment involved. Since the turn of the century the income for foreign missions had steadily risen and in 1917, in the midst of a war, it had doubled as we have seen. Moreover there had been individual acts of generosity which had set a pattern. There were problems of course. One was that the well meant efforts to establish a Working Capital Fund equivalent to a full year's income was steadily being frustrated by the rapidly rising costs and therefore the increased demands of the Australian Board. That Society was working on a deficit most of the time and part of the agreement with New Zealand was that at the end of 1921 when New Zealand severed its connection with Australia it should accept responsibility for one sixth of the Australian deficit. To offset this the New Zealand Conference was intending to raise a Centennial Fund in 1921-2 by which £4-5,000 could confidently be expected to come to the foreign mission enterprise. No one could predict that the first twenty-five years of New Zealand's separate overseas missions life would contain three disastrous occasions:—a worldwide depression in the 1930s, the 1931 Napier earthquake which would throw additional strain on the church and the country, and a world war which would devastate the Solomon Islands. Much more predictable was the delay in getting money in from the circuits. This perennial problem was not new and would continue until the introduction of the Connexional Budget in 1961. This involved the church in crippling charges for overdraft accommodation. A loss of interest among people in the pew could be expected to follow the high point of taking over the Solomons. Yet while these risks were recognised no one will question that it was right to go ahead in faith, once the decision was made to have a separate field. In fact the financial vicissitudes of the New Zealand-Solomons relationship were not theirs alone, but were shared by the parent society in Australia and its remaining spheres of interest. The Solomons had no real reason to be disappointed, and right through until the inauguration of the United Church in 1968 was in receipt of aid from New Zealand at a high level. The practice in the church was for the North Island circuits to be approached with the Foreign Mission appeal for the first part of the year, and the South Island circuits in the second half. The Home and Maori Mission Department conducted its appeal in the reverse order. The intention was to avoid overlap, for each Department was dependent on special appeals and annual collections. Then, as now, almost everything depended on the local organisation. In each circuit there was a Foreign Mission Secretary whose job it was to organise the local appeal and to approach people for donations. The Women's Auxiliaries of course collected separately. There were collecting books for the local secretaries and missionary boxes to be taken home and hopefully to be added to week by week.

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Such a system was, as we have said, very dependent on the local Foreign Missions Secretary and the local minister. It came to depend also on an annual foreign mission deputation to every circuit and as far as possible to every church. This made heavy demands on every missionary on furlough and very heavy demands on the General Secretary who, year in and year out, must be on the road speaking, preaching, and showing his lantern slides, films or his curios. It had the advantage of personal advocacy and most churches saw a "real live missionary" every year or two. But its weaknesses probably outweighed its strengths. The fact is that it depended on too few people as givers and too many local agents who might be uninterested or dilatory. Three cartoons used freely in the 1930s stand out in one's mind. In the first an obviously well-to-do churchman is rejecting the Foreign Mission appeal with these words:—"What! Another missionary appeal! We can't afford it, the foot-stools in our pews need recovering."12 In the second the small man labelled "22" is staggering, doubled up under the "Foreign Mission burden" while "Mr 78" strides along carefully and swinging his stick. Underneath was written:— "Little 22 calls to 78 for help". (By careful analysis of returns it is calculated that less than 25 out of every hundred Methodists carry the Foreign Mission burden.)13 The third is the double thermometer which was showing on the right the receipts and on the left the expenditure, quarter by quarter. On the left for 1932, for example, is written:— "Amount allocated to the mission field £11,500. Administrative expenditure, including interest on the over-draft which is more than half the total £2,500."14 The overdraft was due to the fact that few circuits sent the money in on time and year after year the major part of the working had to be done on overdraft until dilatory people bothered to send the money in. If missionary income was threatened by a limited vision and the indifference of a large number of Methodists it was also stimulated by many examples of zealous collecting and generous giving. A young lady named Gwen Higgott from the Dominion Road Church in Auckland was pictured in the "Open Door" for September 1926 as she was aiming at collecting £20 for 1927. Her previous efforts had risen from £2 2s. 6d. ($4.25) in 1921 to £19 11s. 8d. ($39.17) in 1926. Reports from circuit secretaries on how they raised the money were recorded in the "Open Door". In June 1933, for example, a graph illustrates the rise in giving in the Cuba Street Circuit, Palmerston North, from £68 ($136) in 1921 to £220 ($440) in 1923 and £228 ($456) in 1926, "due almost entirely to consecrated and well organised effort." It was from efforts such as these, repeated many times over, that the ordinary bread and butter income for Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 91

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 overseas work came. Individual gifts have always been a source of encouragement to the organisation and to other givers. New Zealand Methodism, though not generally speaking a church of wealthy people, has often had a few large givers and always a considerable number of people who gave occasional gifts over and above their ordinary contribution. Boats are an attractive item to New Zealanders. We have noted that in 1855 a call to the Sunday Schools of Australia and New Zealand had produced the money to repair the "John Wesley". When Jack and Alice Crump were serving in New Britain, the Blenheim folk donated a whale boat for his work, appropriately called "The Rose". (Mrs Crump's maiden name). In 1905 anonymous Christchurch supporters purchased the brig "Privateer" and donated her to the Missionary Society. She was renamed the "George Brown" and was to give many years of service to the islands work. She was a ship of 108.3 tons with an overall length of 222ft. and a beam of 22.4ft. She drew 11-12ft. aft. Her cost is not known but she surely represented a sizeable gift.15 In 1916 while all the pressure was on to raise money for the general funds, the church approved an appeal for £600 for a boat for Matthew Gilmour in Papua. Within six months the fund had been over subscribed.16 Names such as "Te Karere", "Wanganui" and "Clara M. Gormon" in the mission fleet spoke of New Zealand givers. The first two were gifts by groups in which young people had a large share, the third was a whale boat given by Mr Gormon, a generous supporter from Nelson, to the Rev. Belshazzar Gina for his work at Simbo. The "Cicely", gift of the Astley family was the first boat especially for the doctor and the medical work. In the post war era, when a new fleet had to be provided, the Astley family again came forward, and in partnership with the M.W.M.U. provided the "Cicely II" which was one of the few boats especially built for the job. At its launching a man present was moved to offer a launch he had just had built for himself, and so the "Vecta" was added to the mission fleet. J. W. Court, who was the treasurer for many years, was most generous with his gifts, both directly and indirectly through the Waikawau Trust, which he founded. After 1913 New Zealand, on the crest of the wave, gave more than ever to the general fund under Australian control, built up by a Working Capital Fund, of which the interest only was to be used, and also began to look cautiously at an "Equipment Fund". At the Annual Meeting in October 1918 it was reported that £11,165 had been received, £9,000 had gone to Australia, £100 to the Bible Society and after the cost of training missionary candidate, Miss Lily White, had been deducted, the rest went to the Working Capital Fund. The balance of this now stood at £2,520 16s. 3d. The next year they hoped to give £10,000 to Australia, £2,000 to the Working Capital Fund and retain any balance in a "special fund". They also decided that all legacies should go to the Working Capital Fund. A year later that fund had reached £5,261 17s.0d. Dr Laws was urging an appeal for an equipment fund of £3,000 but the committee decided not to go ahead with a separate appeal but to hope for £5,000 from the Centennial Fund for this purpose.17 It had been earlier resolved that such a fund be established "for the Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 92

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 provision of buildings, boats, medical missionary work, etc." The donor of the Waikawau Trust had asked that part of his gift becomes the nucleus of this fund. The Working Capital Fund had been begun with collections made at the meetings addressed by Dr George Brown on his last visit to New Zealand in 1915. The intention was that it should equal a normal years income and so help to prevent the incurring of high interest charges on overdraft. Originally all legacies not specifically designated for other purposes were to be added to it. There seems to have been a change of mind about the fund before New Zealand actually needed to use it. Some had seen it as a fund which would provide the first year's working and be replaced by the giving of the church. This would have meant no overdraft and that at the beginning of each new year the Board would know precisely how much money was available. The M.W.M.U. were later to adopt this policy with conspicuous success. Others saw the fund as a reserve, the interest from which would provide income, but the capital would not be touched except in an emergency. Perhaps because of the rising level of giving in the years between 1915 and 1920 this latter concept prevailed. Much later the legacies were directed to a Building and Equipment Fund. So gradually we reached a pattern that has persisted. A Building and Equipment Fund built up largely from legacies to provide the type of capital outlay that is not easily financed from ordinary revenues; a Working Capital Fund from which the interest only is normally used, though on at least one occasion a considerable amount of the capital was used to meet a Solomon Island emergency; and the general income which meets the basic costs and provides basic development. The whole financial position was transformed by the establishment of the Connexional Budget in 1961. In this the weaknesses of the old system were overcome. Income is drawn from every Methodist, not just 22, and it comes in regularly month by month so that overdraft is a thing of the past. That there have been some losses because deputation is no longer a must, one may concede, but still the new system far outweighs the old. The budget came in at a period of growth and got away to a good start. Between 1952 and 1962 the Overseas Missions income had doubled from £15,177 to £30,446. In that period the Board had estimated for a deficit year after year and the church had met the need each time. While the amount coming from the connexional budget has continued to rise ($60,932 in the first full year 1962-3 to $117,000 in 1972-3) inflation and worldwide currency fluctuations have complicated the problem immensely. In the mid 1970s the Methodist Church, like every other institution which depends on voluntary giving, faces tremendous strains and it may be that new patterns will have to emerge. The support of special groups of course was always a help to finance. During the years when the Rev. A. A. Bensley was editor of the children's paper "Lotu", over £1,000 was raised by the children for a church to be built at Munda. In the event the "Church of the Lotu Readers", was actually erected at Goldie College. The Young Women's Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 93

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Bible Class Union for years supported a missionary, and at a critical time in the depression years, Sister Ada Lee could replace Sister Ruth Grant without any worries for the Board because the young women paid the bill! The Young Men's Bible Class Union did not do quite as well, but contributed substantially to the support of Dr Ted Sayers in his first years. Later they adopted the Rev. A. H. Voyce as their own missionary. The remarkable support by the women of the church is detailed in another chapter. When the Bible Class Union gave way to the Youth Department, financial support was not the main object, but a number of missionaries were designated as "Youth Department Missionaries," usually one man and one woman. This contact meant the provision for the missionary of a number of extras, but its chief value was in the interest it aroused and the contact it sustained. A former missionary commented recently on the number of people who are staunch supporters of the work today who were "fans" of his when he was the Youth Department Missionary. From the very earliest days, individuals and groups had supported orphans and teachers. Sometimes they went further and supported an overseas staff member. In 1921, when the Rev. A. A. Bensley was going out as the first New Zealand minister appointed to the Solomons, the Auckland East Circuit undertook to raise the £350 that was necessary to pay his stipend. In the late 1930's, the Epsom Methodist Sunday School, undertook the support of the Rev. Belshazzar Gina at £20 a year. The idea was good, the personal contacts excellent, but the administrative burden rapidly became almost impossible. The missionary on the field could be burdened with reporting to the donors, translating letters from both directions and getting photographs. The Mission Office and the Chairman all the time had the task of trying to keep the lists up to date and matching people with children or teachers. In these later days, the tendency is for folk to support students through secondary school or through training at Theological College or the like. This is more manageable because the responsibility can be placed on the school which seeks the sponsorship. Even so it has acute problems, which repeat the ones that appear in the missionary correspondence before the turn of the century and have continued ever since. Behind all this were the men who handled the finances. Until 1960 there was always a clerical and a lay treasurer. The clerical treasurer frequently stood in for the General Secretary when he was overseas. This might be for many months, or might only be for a few days. The lay treasurers also found extra tasks when the General Secretary was away. We should recall with gratitude the services of W. J. Court (to 1929), A J. Buttle (1930-35), T. L. Hames (1935-48), and G. S. Gapper (1949- ); Revs. G. T. Mar- shall (-1933), W. A. Sinclair (1934-47), A. Blakemore (1948-60).

12. O.D. Dec. 1931 p.8. 13. O.D. 1932-3 passim. 14. O.D. Sept. 1932.

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15. Outlook April 1905: M.L. M.O.M. Minutes 13 April 1905. M.R. May 1905. M.R. June 1905 p.9,10. 16. N.Z. F.M. Exec. Minutes Oct. 1916. 17. N.Z. F.M. Exec. Minutes Oct. 1918.

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CHAPTER 3: WOMEN’S WORK FOR WOMEN The nurse surveys her diminishing stocks in her isolated hospital with something near to despair. Even the commonest aids to her task are running out or missing. One comfort is that mail day is near and she knows she can expect a parcel, or perhaps two, which will contain clean linen for bandages, for babies' sheets, for dressings and for a score of daily needs. Maybe there will be pill bottles which will enable her to give some of her older patients a few days supply of medicine to save the daily journey of several miles to the clinic, or enable her to give some anti-malarial pills to the teachers from distant villages when they make their quarterly visit to the head station. With her teaching colleague and the minister's wife she shares in the. sewing class held weekly for the village women and she knows that they will welcome the needles and pins, cotton and sylko, ends of material, braid, ribbon and elastic which are often the only things that make the much-looked-forward-to class possible. For the sewing class of the early missionary wives and sisters was not only an exercise in making and mending, but a time of fellowship when Bible study and devotion, talks on hygiene and baby care provided a rare opportunity to educate and help in the broadest sense. The minister's wife is near to the end of her tether. The two years since furlough stretch back as tremendously demanding period in which a new baby has arrived to bless them, both nursing sister and teaching sister have been absent for long periods, and her husband has been carrying heavy loads and been away a good deal. For these reasons and others, the minister's wife has not set foot off the mission station for the whole period. She usually loves it all and never finds it boring, but now things are rather on top of her and the year (at least) ahead before their next leave stretches away as a long grey vista. Next day the mail comes and among the first surface mail for two months there is a small package addressed to her in an unfamiliar handwriting. She opens it and within the old chocolate box which gives shape to the parcel, she finds a small bottle of inexpensive scent, a tube of lipstick, a couple of dainty lace hankies, some hair shampoo, and wonder of wonders, a triple string of purple beads. The world is transformed. With mounting excitement she realises that these beads will match that new dress length she had not had the energy to make up. She almost runs to take it from the cupboard and place material and beads together in the centre of the dining room table. Some of the lipstick is applied with care to surprise her man when he comes in for the midday meal Already she can imagine how nice her hair will feel when she uses the shampoo—she's been out of it for weeks. Singing, she goes back to the children's correspondence lessons, the family dinner and the endless chores. A disastrous quarterly meeting is over. The minister winds his way up the hill to his home, worn out emotionally and physically and near to despair. It seems that there will be a split in the church and so much that is being built up will be destroyed. As he sits down in the living room hardly even able to pray, he catches sight of an envelope with a line of id stamps on it— from a missionary auxiliary in far off New Zealand. Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 96

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He remembers that today in a circuit he visited last furlough the local Auxiliary will be meeting and praying for him! The burden is shared and the load lightened. He himself can now pray and realises that he does not stand alone for in the church both men and women stand with him in fellowship. For those of us called to missionary service in lonely places the support and fellowship of the women's groups has been far greater than the goods they have sent or the money they raise. These things, valuable though they were in themselves, represented and made tangible the caring and sharing of the church back home. Even though we know they did not appreciate the details of the problem or understand the tension, however hard they tried to do so, even if at times we laughed a little» at them, the knowledge that they stood with us in rain or sunshine, storm or calm, was and is a tremendous gift. No one is quite sure when the first women's groups were formed with a particular concern for the missionaries overseas. It no doubt had its origin with ex-missionaries concerned for those still on the field, as Mrs Lyth in Auckland thinking about Mrs Collis in Fiji in 1855.1 Among all the distinguished names in the women's auxiliaries none shine more brightly than those of the ex-missionaries, Mrs Ballantyne (Sister May Jenness), Mrs W. W. Avery, Sister Edna White and Sister Effie Harkness, to name only a few. There were some organised groups in the 1890s. The Rev. S. B. Fellows returned to New Zealand on his first furlough in 1894 and he reported that he addressed a women's auxiliary in Auckland of which Miss Mabel Reid was secretary. He and his wife, who was having her first introduction to New Zealand and New Zealanders, urged them to raise £100 to support a missionary sister and two native teachers.2 He reported that similar groups had been formed in Thames, New Plymouth and Carterton. He hoped that there would be many more such groups formed. The Rev. William Baumber had agreed to call a meeting for this purpose in Wellington. He went on to report that New Zealand had raised a large amount for Maori missions but there was a deep interest in the overseas work. Histories of the M.W.M.U. do not give any place to these groups and probably they had faded before the turn of the century. In each case one can surmise they had a very personal reason for existence. In Auckland Mabel Reid, daughter of

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 and it was from the Wairarapa that John Burton was to come. Matthew Gilmour came forward for missionary service from Auckland in that decade also. It was natural that such groups should arise out of personal interest and just as natural that they should fade when some folk moved on, for foreign missionary interest was only just beginning to grow in the church as a whole. The honour of establishing the first group to have a continuing life belongs to three people. The Rev. William Slade, missionary from Fiji, who provided the spark, the Rev. W. A. Sinclair who fanned the flame, and Sister Olive (Mrs W. J. Williams) who gave it substance. The place was Dunedin and the time 1902. We might well quote from the official history of Otago Ladies Auxiliary for Missions as it was originally called. "In 1902 the Rev. W. Slade, having recently concluded fifteen years of service in Fiji, was in Dunedin on missionary deputation work. In conjunction with the Rev. W. Sinclair he called a meeting for the women of the church and spoke of the advisability of sending missionary sisters to teach the native women of the Pacific Islands. It was the custom to educate the men and boys and often when they married village girls they drifted back to old customs. On September 1st 1902, another meeting was held for women interested in the formation of an auxiliary. Minutes of the Meetings of the Otago Ladies Auxiliary of Methodist Foreign Missions On Monday, September 1st, 1902, a meeting was held in Trinity Wesleyan School of ladies interested in Foreign Mission work, for the purpose of forming a Ladies Auxiliary of Methodist Foreign Missions. Sister Olive openedJJie meeting with singing and prayer. An Executive Committee was elected consisting of Mrs T. E. Thomas, President; Mrs Sinclair and Mrs Liggins, VicePresidents; Miss Nelson, General Secretary; Miss M. Hartley, Corresponding Secretary; Mrs Rosevear, Treasurer. A general committee was next elected, consisting of the wives of ministers and deaconness, ex-office. It was proposed that two ladies from each of the Dunedin and Port Chalmers circuits be elected members of the committee. This resulted in the election of Mrs R. N. Vanes and Mrs E. W. lies, Trinity; Mrs Broad, Mrs Fairburn, Central Mission; Mrs Bennet, Mrs J. B. Shacklock, Cargill Road; Mrs Frapwell, Miss Milburn, Mornington; Mrs Macfarlane, Mrs I. Stevenson, Port Chalmers. It was proposed that the meeting be held the first Monday of each month, at Trinity Wesleyan School at 3 o'clock. Tea (consisting of scones and one cake) to be provided by two ladies at each meeting and a collection made. It was agreed that each lady bring with her a piece of work, to be afterwards given towards a sale of goods, the proceeds to be given to the mission fund. At the close of the meeting seventeen ladies were enrolled as members. Subscriptions received one pound six shillings. The collection one pound and sixpence."4 Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 98

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In the next decade as William Slade and others moved around the country official auxiliaries came into being: In 1907 Christchurch and Palmerston North, 1908 Wellington, and Auckland was reformed, and then through the years auxiliary groups sprang up in various places. The rise of the auxiliaries as a permanent group within the local church must be seen as part of the growing interest in overseas missions in every part of the life of the church. It must be seen also as arising in a day when the Women's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) was making "women's lib" a reality, though that term belongs to the 1970s. By the turn of the century the W.C.T.U. had achieved votes for women and was taking a deep breath, as it were, before embarking on the crusade for national prohibition which in 1919 so nearly succeeded. Women were conscious of their power when organised and wanted organisations that were demonstrably their own. The thing that gave point and purpose to the auxiliary movement was the appointment of its own workers and its support of objects of its own choosing. Sister Olive persuaded the Otago ladies that they should send out a worker to an overseas field, and so in 1903 they advertised in the connexional paper for a missionary sister. It was May Jenness of Lower Hutt who responded and was accepted.She did not actually leave New Zealand until the 29th April 1905 on S.S. "Moeraki". From Sydney she journeyed on with Mrs Gilmour and by August she was writing back to the women folk and to the church about her work. Here then was the proud focus and clear purpose of an auxiliary's life. As always, a person brought the missionary calling into focus for ordinary people in a way that would not otherwise have been possible.5 There is a distinct note of asperity in the records when only a year later Miss Jenness resigns to get married! Though she was remaining in Papua one gets the impression that somehow the side had been "let down". But the movement was in gear and would go on. Miss Janet Vosper of Waitara, Taranaki, was recruited in September 1906, and called to Dunedin where she did some kindergarten teaching and worked with Sister Olive.6 Miss Vosper could not have been in Dunedin long because she writes from Dobu on January 7th 1907.7 She was followed by Miss Florrie Thompson, a Stratford girl who had been living in Dannevirke.8 She had matriculated from Stratford High School in 1899 and trained as a teacher. It is a pity we know so little about her for she was, in strong contrast to some of the other early women missionaries, a person with a professional training at her back. She, like Janet Vosper, was to be supported by the women folk. Miss Thompson left New Zealand on the 29th November 1907, and Sydney on the 13th December 1907. Each of these ladies served for but a short time. Health, in Papua, was a major problem, and family ties were still strong. Both these ladies returned in 1909. Maisie Lill, whose tragic history we have recorded elsewhere was next to go out, and then Miss Margaret Jamieson. Margaret was a Palmerston North girl, and the first to be supported by the Wellington Auxiliary. The Palmerston Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 99

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North group also sought to share in this task. It is interesting to note that the auxiliary there, which had been founded in 1907, was languishing until the involvement with Margaret Jamieson's support brought it alive. "Having such a definite objective, supporting one from our own ranks gained interest, Fielding joined and gradually auxiliaries were formed in other circuits in the district, many as branches of Palmerston North."9 The pattern in Palmerston North seems, for a long time, to have been common. The central auxiliary was supported by branches in other circuits rather than having a separate auxiliary in each church. In passing we may note that Palmerston North had another claim to distinction. Mrs T. R. Hodder, its foundation president, held that post for 36 years, occupying it with grace and distinction.' The Christchurch ladies in 1910 sent Miss May Graham, another trained teacher, off to Fiji. Her stipend was £70 ($140) and initial equipment cost between £30 and £40. "In our blissful ignorance we believe we were 'supporting' her but as our missionary education advanced, we learnt that there were many other expenses to be met in connection with the work of a sister on the field," says one writer.10 Auckland's first sister was also the first to go from New Zealand to the Solomon Islands. Miss Alice McNeish came from Cambridge and went out to assist Mrs Goldie in 1911. She returned to New Zealand in 1913, having had a breakdown m health.11 Quite early the auxiliaries were involved in other methods of support. Gift parcels and boxes were going out quite early. In 1907, for example, we find H. H. C. Roget, a minister who had been trained at Prince Albert College and was now in Rotuma, giving thanks for a case from the O.L.A.M. This interest in missionary activity not only gave life to the women's groups but it also provided a forum for a wide range of missionary interest. People from many lands were invited to speak to the auxiliaries. First it drew together women from the Primitive Methodist and Wesleyan traditions. Primitive Methodism in New Zealand had no missionary outreach of its own but it had an interest in the Pacific. Miss Maisie Lill from Willowby came from Primitive Methodist stock. The Rev. J. B. Suckling who went to Fiji and died there had come from the Primitive Methodist part of the united church. The spread of auxiliaries through the land led in time to the formation of a national organisation. The Rev. S. Lawry is given the credit of seeing the need for this, and Sister Grace Crump for giving it a constitution.12 It was then in Christchurch where they were both stationed that the first national gathering was planned. It was held in the East Belt schoolroom on the 1st March, 1915. Mrs G. Bowron, leader of the Christchurch women, became the Dominion President, and Mrs Berry of the same city, Secretary. Miss Madge Buttle of Auckland was made Treasurer. This is not the

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 place to trace the subsequent history of the Methodist Women's Missionary Union in detail. We should say however that it grew in numbers and came very close to its avowed aim of "an auxiliary in every church, every Methodist woman an auxiliary member."13 Young women's groups, or fireside groups, were formed for those who could not attend daytime meetings, and folk who could not attend meetings through age, infirmity or distance were challenged to be members of the Box and Card Circle, which later became known as the Gleaners. We should also note that the concern with the work overseas was only part of the raison d'etre of the groups. They were concerned too with women's work in New Zealand and the support of deaconesses. We could note also that family links can be seen here as in other parts of the missionary endeavour. At one stage two out of the three life members of the M.W.M.U. were daughters of Dr William Morley (Sister Mabel Morley and Mrs W. H. Duke). At another the Chairman of the Solomon Islands District was the son of the Dominion President of the M.W.M.U., and her niece had been a nursing sister in the same District (Mrs Gladys Carter, Sister Merle Carter and the Rev. G. G. Carter). Naturally relatives of missionaries (and ex-missionaries also) tended to come to the fore and they became effective unofficial channels of communication. The support of missionary sisters, which had been the first task of the auxiliaries, gradually took on a different shape. First, it began to be realised that the total cost of maintaining a worker on the field was much more than providing a salary. In fact the auxiliaries did not really cover all costs. Second, after 1922 the range of interest narrowed to the Solomons and the number of women workers grew so that the M.W.M.U. could not support them all. So the amount designated for "sister's salaries" each year did not meet anything like the total cost of the appointments. Quietly and without fuss it became just another section of the Mission Board's income for work overseas. The idea however persisted into the 1960s and became a considerable talking point for those who wanted to demolish the whole structure of women's work. It is strange that "Women's Work for Women" which became the battle cry of the auxiliaries and inspired them to tremendous efforts, should at the last have been turned against the movement as though it was somehow an aberration. Yet the Women's Lib. Ms takes no account of actuality; that it was never exclusive, men benefitted as well as women, and yet it was essential if the under-privileged women of this land and the lands overseas were to be aided. Take for instance the Solomon Islands District Girl's School. Early in the 1920s we find reference to the need for a girls' school—for the same reason as one was needed in Fiji. Traditional culture had no place for an education for girls similar to that of boys, yet in the new light of the Christian Lotu, the need was evident. The resistance from traditional society was strong and it was not until 1956 that the Kihili Girl's School, under Sister Ada Lee, could be established. Co-education had been the rule at the lower level from the beginning of Methodist work in the Solomons but somehow it was the girls who dropped out most quickly, Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 101

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 and few girls got to the stage of post-primary or professional training. It was not lack of facilities so much as a lack of confidence and the influence of the society. Rautevi was ap-pointed a teacher, the first woman teacher in her circuit. Within an hour of the beginning of school on her first day she was up at the minister's house in tears, even the smallest boys laughed at her and ridiculed the idea of a woman being a teacher. Through the years though the condition of women changed and improved the need for a girls school did not grow any less. In 1955 an Educational Conference was held in Bougainville and decided that we could no longer wait for a girls' school. The money that the women of the M.W.M.U. had given over the years and earmarked for that very purpose was available. The first three graduates from the school to return to the mission station where Rautevi had been ridiculed a few years before were changed people. They had poise and grace, an assured command of language, both their own tongue and English, and the confidence that comes from knowing their own worth. Neither village ridicule nor age old tradition could daunt these young women. The Stamp Fund owes much to Miss Purdy. Earlier the Rev. Coatsworth had written in the "Open Door" urging people to collect stamps as a source of revenue.14 But it was not until 1935 that the Dominion Executive, then located in Dunedin, appointed Miss Purdy as Dominion Stamp Secretary. Within three years £111 ($222) was raised by this means, and now in the 1970s the sum is measured in thousands of dollars. Gifts for special occasions and special persons began early. In 1907, for example, the O.L.A.M. gave £20 to Mrs Bromilow for the orphanage at Ubuia (Papuan Islands), £20 to the Rev. J. W. Burton in Fiji for work among Indians, £5 to Janet Vosper to buy curios (presumably for them) and £10 for her work. In 1910 they gave the Rev. M. K. Gilmour £10 for fencing cattle, and so it went on. These spontaneous gifts in fact continued over the years but there have been several developments of regular patterns from this first beginning. First in the mid '20s the M.W.M.U. began giving a cash linen grant to new missionary sisters, and later minister's wives. Secondly, they came in time to the "Special Objective". The Special Objective was and is an annual event whereby money is raised by women from all over the Dominion for some particular objective. Traditionally it went to the Home Mission Department for Maori work one year and the Overseas Missions Department the other. A list of these gifts makes impressive reading. In 1940 it was to supply money for a sister to be stationed at Teop and $946 was raised, in 1944 it was Kawakawa Maori Centre and $1608 was raised, in 1952 $4394 for girls' dormitories as Sasamungga and Kekesu Boarding Schools. One could go on. The fact is that this Special Objective which came to be looked forward to by the Boards concerned and their field workers, was also prized by the ladies themselves. It was something tangible, something real and something to which the humblest and poorest could contribute.

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"Box Money" and "parcels", two expressions which evoke a kind of magic which may charm the isolated worker, or, frustrate the busy executive; the symbols of at once the easiest yet the hardest thing the auxiliaries ever did. The roots of it go back to the days of extreme isolation and extreme shortage of sup-plies. That stage of course passes but not as swiftly as we in our affluent society are apt to think. Every nail, however bent, is saved and straightened, every scrap of newspaper carefully smoothed out, read and then used to cover shelves (made of split palm) or to buy food from people who find a newspaper just as useful as we do, and in fact every item is hoarded to be used and re- used. It was to missionaries living under these conditions that boxes of goods were first sent. The packing cases contained lengths of material for clothing, haberdashery for sewing classes, pencils, exercise books, rubbers, slates, etc. for school work and so on. Their arrival at a lonely station was an event for the missionary and for the people alike for all shared in the goods thus provided. Such boxes were sent from the separate auxiliaries quite early. The sending however was not put on a systematic basis until after 1922. The contents varied in quantity and quality but for the most part they were good value. In 1939, for example, it was said that the cash value of a box would be between two hundred and thirty and £300!15 These boxes were the tangible symbol of the love and concern of the New Zealand Church. Even years after the custom had been discontinued folk would enquire as to why they were no longer sent, or in a disgruntled mood they might say, "The people in New Zealand don't love us any more, they don't send us boxes like they used to". Even the best of schemes have their drawbacks. The boxes had several. First the quality of the contents was a variable factor and sometimes they were below par, or even quite unsuitable. Then, in later years the rises in costs of freight and the introduction of custom's duty challenged the economics of the whole project. In addition the boxes certainly contributed to the kind of Cargo Cult thinking which has made the transition to the modem world so difficult for Melanesians. In a society where everything came about by the use of the right magical formula, the cargo from an unimaginable place over the sea had a dreamlike quality about it. When the system of boxes was superseded even the loyalest of local church people had a suspicion that someone was preventing the cargo, which was rightfully theirs, from arriving. Cult leaders who claim to know the way in which the coming of the cargo could be assured have at times had a wide following. In some areas this has been linked with Christian millenarianism to give some strange results. No-one suggests that mission boxes were the main, or even a major cause, of such things but is well to remember that we are only now in the seventies realising how difficult is the art of giving. Associated with the sending of the boxes stands pre-eminently the name of Mrs Smethurst. She was an Auckland lady who was appointed to the post of Dominion Box Department Organiser in 1922 when New Zealand took over the Solomons. Through depot managers in the central auxiliaries the work was put on a sound footing

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A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 and well organised. Mr and Mrs Smethurst gave of their time, ability and money to see the job was properly carried out, and a like service performed for the home sisters. Mrs Smethurst carried out these duties with great fidelity and great acceptance until her death in 1945. She was then replaced by Sister Edna White, and after a period of time Sister Effie Harkness, and more recently Mrs Dolly Gibson. With the war came change. The whole pattern was shattered. The years when nothing could be sent were followed by the years when transport was difficult, if not impossible, and costs were sharply rising. It was felt that the need had changed too. The Solomon Islanders no longer needed goods in the same way, and they were beginning to move into a money economy. At the Annual Conference of the M.W.M.U. in 1944 it was decided, (a) that the Box Department shall be placed on a different foot-ing and that a central depot shall be set up. (b) that auxiliaries be asked for money in preference to goods. (c) that auxiliaries shall forward their box money with all other money to the District Council Treasurer. (d) that the Central Box Organiser shall be empowered to make purchases in New Zealand to meet the known requirements of overseas workers and/or may remit sums to Sydney to be placed to the credit of the overseas workers. (e) that each District Council shall have one or more sisters allot-ed to it annually by the Dominion Executive, preferably those handy to the District. This was in theory sound, and the only sensible course. But money is a strangely unsatisfactory gift. Neither to the giver or the recipient was it quite the same. Before long the sending of parcels began and a major preoccupation of the Box Organiser again became the responsibility for trying to bring some order and method into local sendings; giving advice on what to send and how to send it. In addition to parcels through the post many cases of goods were in fact sent. The gifts of money have continued together with the custom of giving the lady worker small cash grants for medical and educational purposes. These, together with grants made from the Stamp Fund have provided workers with a good deal of assistance to meet needs that could not be covered by circuit or district budget. The new system had one unfortunate side effect. Pre-war boxes had been openly displayed and the contents openly distri-buted. After the war the goods and money were in the hands of the white workers, often new and inexperienced and the feeling got abroad that they were using the things for their own good. When the Solomons became part of an autonomous United Church, this feeling found expression and with it a resentment that arose because the local women felt that they were not trusted by the New Zealand Church. Grants now go to circuit Women's Fellowships and to the Women's Fellowship organisers, whether they be local or overseas staff. One of the happiest results of the change was that listed as 'd' above. Although Sister Edna White and Sister Effie Harkness were in turn involved in quite an onerous task Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 104

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 of buying for workers overseas, they did supply not only the goods required but also a link of friendship. From their own long experience as missionaries and their own knowledge of people and conditions, they were able to understand and be sympathetic listeners. Their contribution was tremendously valued by everyone who dealt with them. Though legally the M.W.M.U. was an auxiliary of the Overseas Missions Board all through its history, and it was not subjected to surveillance by a Conference Committee of Detail because of this, it was never as tied to the Board as its counterpart in other countries have been. This was in part due to the fact that it was involved with the Home Mission work as much as it was with the work overseas, but it also seems to have been due to the fact that the Board wisely allowed the women to go their own highly successful and valuable way. When an amalgamation of the M.W.M.U. and the Guild Fellowship took place in 1964, the new body that resulted, the Methodist Women's Fellowship, took over the responsibilities of the M.W.M.U. For 49 years the missionary task of the New Zealand Church, both at home and overseas, had been undergirded by the women of the M.W.M.U. It is impossible to measure the value of what was achieved. We can add up the money collected and given, the workers supported, and the membership, but we can never assess the greatest things. Apart from the Mission Board the M.W.M.U. was the only part of the church with which a worker overseas might have contact during the whole of their service. All through the century attempts had been made to establish a similar men's organisation but these had met with no success. So the menfolk overseas as well as the ladies looked to the M.W.M.U. for support. Yet we did not see it as the women over against the church, we felt and believed that it was the whole church supporting us through the women folk, who were organised on most practical lines. The new age calls for new outlooks and new methods but for over 60 years the auxiliaries and the M.W.M.U. which was formed out of them, were the backbone of the church's missionary endeavour.

1. Appendix I. 2. M.R. Sept. 1894. 3. Abel p.20 also reference in Crump's diary. 4. Golden Jubilee p.5. 5. Outlook Aug. 19 1905 p. 3 2. 6. Outlook Sept. 8 1906 p.35. 7. Outlook Mar. 23 1907. 8. Outlook Nov. 1907 M.R. Jan. 1908 p. 19. 9. Mss Report. 10. Moor p.6 (Mrs. W.). 11. Auckland M.W.M.A. 21st Anniv. Report.

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12. Slade had suggested this in 1909. 13. Semi Jubilee p.9. 14. O.D. Dec. 1923 p.3. 15. Semi Jubilee p.17.

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CHAPTER 4: SOME GENERAL SECRETARIES We have already spoken of the work of W. A. Sinclair.

Rev. W. A. Sinclair: General Secretary 1919-32 When he was compelled to relinquish the post in 1932 his mantle fell on Arthur H. Scrivin. Earlier we have spoken of Mr Scrivin's contribution to the Papuan Church. In 1932, having been retrenched from the field because of the depression, he returned to the New Zealand Conference and was appointed to Hastings. This city had been devastated by the earthquake the previous year and needed a man of strength to aid the rebuilding. This it unquestionably received and a new church was erected during that year.

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Rev. A. H. Scrivin: General Secretary 1932-52 To the office of General Secretary Arthur Scrivin brought all those qualities of body, mind and spirit which had made him a successful missionary. He faced a daunting task. The dwindling annual income was less than the overdraft at the bank, and bankruptcy was just around the corner. Missionaries were being withdrawn from the Solomons also and the church at home and overseas was disheartened and downcast. But A. H. Scrivin was the man for the hour. He wasted few words, indulged in no fancy dreams, but packed his bag and stumped the length and breadth of the country seeking support. Perhaps it was because he knew the bitterness of being cut off from the people whom he loved and served, but his fierce advocacy of the foreign mission cause, cast in striking language and illustrated by lantern slides, won a response from all kinds of people. More than that it was the man himself who made an impact. People laughed at his little tricks of speech and his daily cold baths, but they admired his dedication. Essentially he shared his vision of Christ's Church overseas, of men, black, brown, and white, doing great things in the power of their Lord. Especially after his five month's visit to the Solomons in 1935, he laid the Solomons on the conscience of New Zealand Methodism as perhaps no one else could have done. Most of the missionaries who went out in the next three decades owed more than they knew to his advocacy.

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The Board's income gradually rose, the debt was lifted, and the 'send back the doctor' fund was launched and brought to a successful issue. Staff began to flow again to the field . . . and then came the world war. It revealed deep rifts in the church here, in this country, and diverted money from the church to patriotic causes. Then the Solomons were overwhelmed by the Japanese tide and some missionaries disappeared into the darkness. In this hour of peril, A. H. Scrivin stood like a rock. Perhaps in some things he represented an older, simpler understanding of the faith, and there were some who could not accept his stand, but for many he was the symbol of stability, of loyalty and of hope. He knew that when the war was over there would be a tremendous tasks of rehabilitation to be done. He therefore kept the work in the Solomons before the New Zealand Church and husbanded the Board's resources, looking forward to that day. Backed by the Board, Mr Scrivin urged the church to establish a rehabilitation fund. At first the target was set at £25,000 but later it was raised, and as the war continued and the extent of the devastation began to be realised, the sights were set yet higher. The Australian Government paid some compensation for the losses in Bougainville, both to missionaries and to the church. None was received for the British Solomons and so the Board had to give some assistance to the missionaries themselves for their tremendous losses. But all in all, from one source or another more than £100,000 was raised and available for rehabilitation when the missionaries were finally able to return to the field. This was a tremendous effort from a small church under considerable pressure and strain, and it was a tremendous tribute to A. H. Scrivin who had led in all this. In a little over ten years he had lifted the New Zealand overseas missions enterprise from bankruptcy and near despair to financial stability and hope. Missionaries were coming forward in goodly numbers, money was in hand to pay them, and the rehabilitation fund assured them of the power to start again. Mr Scrivin's first wife, the former Sister Margaret Jamieson of Palmerston North, had died in 1921 and he had married Miss Elsie Warner of Geelong, another mission sister, in 1926. Mrs Scrivin accompanied her husband to New Zealand and played a tremendous part in all his accomplishments. She cared for the children and provided the base from which he was able to go out to his task. Hers was costly service for he was away from home a tremendous amount and she had to carry the full burden of the family as well as supporting him at every turn. This, Mrs Scrivin did superbly and won a place for herself in the New Zealand Church. Mr Scrivin continued in office until the beginning of 1952, thus adding 19 years of service as General Secretary to his 18 years service in Papua. It was outstanding service and for the New Zealand Church his contribution had come at a critical time and lifted them through depression and over the hurdle of war, and at the same time launched them into a new day and age. The times had changed. Goldie had at last gone from the Solomons and the new world which followed the war needed new men and new ideas. Overseas the war had Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 109

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 shattered the myth of white superiority and peoples all over the world were on the road to independence. The old paternalism was not any longer tenable. In New Zealand the church was seeking new ways to proclaim the Gospel in the new world, and it needed also new approaches and new attitudes. In the new General Secretary, the Rev. Stanley G. Andrews, the church had a man suited for the new day. He had given distinguished service to Fiji, and now was to set his own mark on New Zealand. Outwardly he was in many ways a complete contrast to his predecessor, quiet, almost self-effacing, no flamboyant orator, yet he shared the same dedication to the task. He began and continued a programme of missionary reeducation. This involved preparing the New Zealand Church for granting independence to the Church Overseas. He paid his first visit to the Solomon in 1952 at the time of the Jubilee and again spent some time there in 1955. In 1958, following the retirement of the Rev. J. R Metcaife, he was Chairman of the District for a year, while still holding the office of General Secretary. This extraordinary achievement was made possible only by the help of the Rev. Albert Blakemore, who acted for him in New Zealand, the willing cooperation of his family, and his own insatiable thirst for work. He retired from the post in 1964 and returned to Fiji. His knowledge of Australian Board procedures gained while he was Acting Chairman of the Fiji District was a big help to the new cooperative venture in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. His awareness of the need for local autonomy caused him to give a lead in freeing the Solomon Islands Synod from undue restrictions. His strength was seen in his willingness to stand firmly when this was needed. His thirteen years of service were immensely important and left the New Zealand Church on the threshold of a new understanding of mission, and financially and organisationally ready for the task ahead. He was followed by the Rev. George G. Carter, who had completed ten years service in Bougainville and seven years as Chairman of the Solomon Islands District during which time he had lived at Munda. From 1960 onwards he had been closely involved with the moves towards unity, first among the four Methodist Districts in Melanesia, New Guinea Islands, Papuan Islands, the Highlands and the Solomons. When a Methodist United Synod was formed in 1963 he became its first Chairman, in addition to his ordinary duties. Under his guidance the first two years of negotiations for the formation of the United Church in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands took place. On returning to New Zealand he hoped to convey to the New Zealand Church the news that its "mission field" had grown up into an autonomous church in all but name, and was soon to enter into a marriage with other churches. Since that happy event, took place, it has been his aim to try and interpret the reality of partnership with a truly autonomous church, and make it a working policy. Among New Zealand's more outstanding gifts to Pacific Methodism have been the two men who became General Secretary of the Australian Overseas Missions Board. Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 110

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We have already looked at the work of John W. Burton in Fiji.

Rev. Dr. J. W. Burton In eight short years he had not only pronounced a death sentence on the indenture system with its coolie labour, but had also set new directions for the church in Fiji. During the decade after his departure, the death sentence was carried out and the indenture system abolished. By that time the deep concern for education as such, and for a social concern for all peoples without the prior assumption that every act must be aimed at conversion, had become established. Though the Board in Sydney had been upset by Burton's book, "The Fiji of Today", they recognised his ability as an organiser publicist and soon were asking for his services. A very reluctant New Zealand Conference agreed in 1914 to his departure for Victoria as State Secretary for Foreign Missions. They asked for a good man in exchange and ruled that Burton should return to them at the end of his term. But return he did not. After ten years serving in the Victoria Tasmania Conference he was appointed General Secretary in 1925 and moved to Sydney. For the next 20 years he dominated the mission scene in the South Pacific. As missionary writer and thinker there was no one to equal him, and as an administrator he was second to none. He gathered round him in the Board some people of considerable ability who were able to understand and respond to his initiatives. He, for his part, was able to use their abilities for the good of all. Through the years of depression and then the years of war he led Australia as A. H. Scrivin was leading New Zealand, with his eye on the distant horizon, his hand steadily at the wheel, and his voice, through the written and spoken word, clear and loud. In the 15 years between his departure from Fiji and his appointment of General Secretary, John Burton had gained perspective and widened his horizons. In 1907, for Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 111

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 example, he had opposed lay representatives on Synod.1 In the late 1920's he was urging the Fiji Synod to give more responsibilities to local people at all levels. In 19062 he had been impatient of mission sisters and seen no place for them. Thirty years later he appreciated, and highly praised, their contribution. But he was still impatient of "fools" and as an administrator he was strict disciplinarian. It was understandable that he was treated with reserve by the Fiji Synod who saw him as one who was fifteen years out of date and assuming he knew all the answers. His clashes with the Chairman, the Rev. R. L. MacDonald, were frequent in his first years as General Secretary. The Synod was very upset by his efforts to get them to give more responsibility to Fijian leaders. He wrote that "The task among Fijians is almost over", and the Synod, filled with visions of reduced staff and reduced financial support, were irate. It is also true that he had clashes with other Synods overseas and with the men serving there. Sometimes it was because the missionaries resented being "kept up to the mark", and often because they thought they detected an attitude that he knew more about their jobs than they did. Sometimes it was the clash with men of similar aims and temperament. This really explains the coolness that existed between Burton and Scrivin through the years. They were in many ways too much alike! On the home front, while relations in the Board were good and a real partnership developed, the State Secretaries found Burton an exacting boss. One such wrote to a friend after Button's retirement, "There is team work here at last."3 Yet these were but small things. He was the first to see the importance of missionary training and to put it on a systematic basis. His philosophy in regard to this is well set out in "Modern Missions in the South Pacific", a book he published in 1949. In this book he sums up his whole attitude through a quarter of the century—get the best people, give them the best possible training and demand the best from them! His tensions with the Fiji Synod (and to a less extent elsewhere) were in part due to his realisation that the hand of paternalism had lain too long and too heavily on some of the younger churches. In this, though fifty years too late for Tonga, Burton was still far ahead of many of his contemporaries. In 1924 a book called "Missionaries and the Annexation of the Pacific" was published and said: "The history of the Pacific does not support the conclusion that native races, even under missionary supervision, are capable of establishing efficient and stable government strong enough to control Europeans in their midst, and also, be it added, to secure to them the benefits of law and order."4 Most missionaries would have concurred and used this as a reason for continuing a missionary dominated organisation. It is to Burton's credit that he could see further than this and when he said that the task in Fiji was done he meant that he saw a church emerging to replace a mission. It was to be many years, and a war later, before the concept could be put into action. Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 112

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Was George Brown Methodism's greatest missionary? His achievements as a pioneer missionary and his work as a naturalist, linguist and ethnologist are in themselves an outstanding achievement. Less well known are his accomplishments as a journalist. He began writing for the Sydney papers while still in Samoa under the non-de-plume of "Carp Diem". He continued to write for church and other papers until the end of his life. As a speaker he must have been quite remarkable. As General Secretary he was a good administrator but probably not a great one. He did manage to depute most of the routine office work and take for himself the travelling, planning of new ventures and the inspiring of meetings and committees. He was the man of the hour and led Methodism where it wanted to go—into New Britain, Papua and the Solomons. If he was unwise in this, then the church shares the blame. As in 1901, they were quite capable of sweeping aside his cautions. Yet though Brown was a man of his time, his greatness lies in the fact that he combined the best qualities of the day, courage, resource, zeal. He was as W. J. Williams said, "one of the bravest, most venturesome and most successful missionary pioneers the Methodist Church, or any other church, has ever possessed."5

1. F.A. M.C. F/4/B p.359. 2. Thornley p.32. 3. F.A. M.C. A/5/40 Piper to Scrivin. 4. Martin p.44. K.L.P. 5. Williams p. 307.

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Appendix I COPY OF A LETTER BY MRS LYTH Auckland, Wesleyan College June 25th, 1855 Dear Mrs Collis, To business first lest I forget your accordian! I left (it) with Mrs Rabone to get repaired if possible. She said it was very difficult to get anything done. The pieces of my work. I could not get to the box in which it was packed, when in Sydney, have had it framed here. They said they could not get the gold mounting—I intend to give the bill to the Captain and you will have to pay him. 10/- pretty much but everything is very expensive here. You will rejoice to know that we have had our health very good, since we left Feejee, as well as the children—indeed you would say they are looking much better. Martha looks quite blooming—I must refer you to Mrs Polglase for news—but I have not said anything about the Bazaar—I can tell you we are preparing for a Bazaar, the proceeds of which are to go to the Patriotic fund for the relief of the widows and orphans of soldiers and sailors who have fallen in the Russian war. I suppose Mrs Polglase would know most of the committee—Mrs Fletcher and myself stand on the list for the Methodist party and we have so far succeeded well—it is to be held in the Odd Fellows Hall on the 1st August. It is a new thing in Auckland and creating great interest. Our greatest trial since we left you has been the loss of our dear Eliza and it was so sudden and unexpected that we felt it to be a sunstroke. Our greatest satisfaction is the knowledge of her being prepared. Still a mother's heart yearns after her children. I trust we shall meet again in heaven. I often think of Lakeba and all my Feejians. I hope you will write me all particulars. I shall be glad to hear that your school is prospering and that your health is improved. How is my little Willie? Mischievous enough by this time I suppose. You call yourself ill off for servants in Feejee—but really there is scarcely anyone here comfortable in that respect and wages from 10/- to 20/- per week. We were fortunate in obtaining two girls in Sydney—(so) that I am well off and very comfortable—Sarah appears quite well—I keep her sewing and nursing that she is not hard worked. It is cold this morning and the thermometer 54. is pretty sharp — Sarah wears a woollen polka which makes her warm. Since writing to Mrs Polglase we find Miss Christopher and Miss Hobbs do not agree, in consequence of which Miss Hobbs is leaving next week—we are sorry for this and fear that Miss C. does not give the satisfaction we had hoped for and moreover she is likely to be married at the termination of the year that means another arrangement will have to be made. Your friend Mrs Singer is near her confinement Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 114

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973 again I should think. She has her hands full they have no servants and she is looking only poorly—indeed the fact is very few I have met with are able to get servants or even can get their washing done out. Wages are so high that it makes labour difficult. I really pity the people. You must excuse more this time and write me a long letter _with all the news. Kind love to all as if named—not forgetting yourself and Mr Collis with a kiss for Willie. Yours very affectionately, M. A. Lyth.

Calling in at Dr Matthews the other day I saw the breast shields and thought of your suffering — purchased one with the teats and beg your acceptance of them hoping they may be found useful. (copied from the original in the possession of Mr J. B. Lyth, Suva)

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Manuscript Material ML MOM The Methodist Overseas Missions collection in the Mitchell Library, Sydney. FAMC The Methodist Church collection in the Fiji National Archives. M M S letters Correspondence between the Methodist Missionary Committee in London and missionaries in New Zealand 1822-55. Typescript in Trinity College Library. N Z M O M Records of the Overseas Division Methodist Church of NZ F.M. Exec) New Zealand. Private letters, diaries and papers lent by many people. Periodicals MR The Missionary Review (1891 to date) is the organ of Methodist Overseas Missions Australia. It was a monthly until recent years. It is now a quarterly. O D The Open Door (1922 to date) is the organ of the Overseas Division, Methodist Church of New Zealand, published quarterly. NZW The New Zealand Wesleyan Jan. 1871—June 1884 NZM The New Zealand Methodist July 1884—May 1894 Advocate The Advocate June 1894—May 1901 Outlook The Outlook May 1901—Dec. 1909 MT The Methodist Times Jan. 1910—Dec. 1966 All N.Z. Methodist Church papers. Minutes The Minutes of the Methodist Conference N S W (New South Wales) G C (General Conference) N Z (New Zealand) Vict. (Victoria & Tasmania) etc.

Books, Pamphlets and Theses Abel, R. W. Charles Abel of Kwato Fleming H. Revell, London 1934 Birtwhistle, A. In His Armour Cartage Press, London 1956 Blamires, G. Little Island Kingdom Stockwell, London n/d of the South Bromilow, W. E. Twenty years among Primitive Epworth, London 1929 Papuans Brown, G. An Autobiography Hodder & Stoughton 1908 London Burton, J. W. Our Task in Papua Epworth, London 1926 Burton, J. W. The Fiji of Today C. H. Kelly, London 1910 Burton, J. W. Modern Missions in the LMS — MOM 1949 South Pacific Carnachan, M. A. A. The Spreading Tree Typescript — bound loaned by Mr. G. G. Ennor, Auckland Carruthers, J. E. Lights in the Southern Sky Epworth 1924 Carter, G. G. David Voeta, The Story Printed privately 1973 of a Pioneer Missionary Colwell, Jed. A Century in the Pacific W. H. Beale, Sydney 1914 Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 116

A Family Affair by George G. Carter 1973

Danks, B. In Wild New Britain Angus & Robertson, 1933 Sydney Davidson & Scarr (ed) Pacific Islands Portraits A. H. & A. W. Reed 1970 Derrick, R. A. A History of Fiji Govt. Printing Dept. 1957 Suva Eason, W. J. E. A Short History of Rotuma Govt. Printing Dept. 1951 Suva Fellman, H. Brief History of the Work of the Church in the Bismarck Archipelago. Translated into English N. Threlfall 1973) (Published in Kunua. Fellows, S. B. Diary Ms in Mitchell Library Findlay & Holdsworth Wesleyan Missionary Epworth Pres, London 1921 Society Fletcher, C. Brunsdon The Black Knight of The Australian Publishing Coy, 1944 Pacific Sydney Fletcher, J. H. Sermons, Addresses & Essays Wesleyan Book Depot 1892 Fox. C. Lord of the Southern Isles Mowbray, London 1958 Hames, E. W. Walter Lawrv Wesley Historical Soc. NZ 1967 Hames, E. W. Wesley College 1844-1944 Wesley Historical Soc. NZ 1944 Hames, Inez I Remember Published privately 1972 Harwood. Frances, H. The Christian Fellowship Church Unpublished thesis a Revitalisation Movement in Melanesia. Henderson, G. C. Fiji and the Fijians Angus & Robertson, London 1931 Milliard, D. L. Protestant Missions in the Unpublished thesis Solomon Islands 1849-1942 Jansen, E. G. Jade Engraved Presbyterian Bookroom 1948 Christchurch Laracy, H. Catholic Missions in the Thesis 1966 Solomon Islands 1845-1966 Latukefu, S. King George Tupou of Tonga A. H. & A. W. Reed 1954 (in Pacific Islands Portraits) Auckland Luke, Sir H. Queen Salote & Her Kingdom Putnam, London 1954 Luxton, C. T. J. The Rev. James Wallis Wesley Historical Soc.NZ 1965 Martin, K. L. P. Missionaries and the O.U.P. 1924 Annexation of the Pacific Moor, Mrs. W. Thirty-seven years with the Printed privately 1945 Christchurch Methodist Women's Missionary Auxiliary Morley, W. A History of Methodism in MacKee & Coy, 1900 New Zealand Wellington Nicholson, R. C. The Son of a Savage Epworth, London 1926 Owens, J. M. R. The Unexpected Impact Wesley Historical Soc. NZ 1973 Pratt, M. A. R. The Pioneering Days of Epworth, London 1932 Southern Maoriland Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication #28(3&4) Page 117

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Pybus, T. A. Maori and Missionary A. H. & A. W. Reed 1954 Rutherford, N. Shirley Baker and the Oxford University Press, 1971 King of Tonga Melbourne Scarr, D. Cakabau and Ma'afu in Reed, Auckland 1970 Pacific Islands Portraits Spooner, T. G. N. Brother John Wesley Historical Soc. NZ 1955 Thompson, B. Diversions of a Prime Minister Dawsons London 1968 (Reprint — original issue 1894) Thornley, A. W. The Methodist Mission and Unpublished thesis the Indian in Fiji 1900-1920 Tippett, A. R. Solomon Islands Christianity Lutterworth 1967 Turner, J. G. The Pioneer Missionary Geo. Robertson, Sydney 1872 Vennell, C. W. The Brown Frontier A. H. & A. W. Reed, 1967 Auckland Watsford, J. Glorious Gospel Triumphs C. H. Kelly, Sydney 1900 Williams, W. J. Centenary Sketches of New "Lyttelton Times" 1922 Zealand Methodism Christchurch The Cyclopaedia of Samoa, McCarron, Stewart & Coy 1907 Tonga, Tahiti and the Cook Is. Australia Fiji Methodist Centenary Methodist Missionary 1935 Souvenir 1835-1935 Society of Australasia Suva History of the Lill Family Privately printed Golden Jubilee 1902-1952 Stanton Bros 1952 (Otago Methodist Women's Dunedin Missionary Auxiliaries) Golden Jubilee 1908-1958 Wright & Carman 1958 (Wellington Methodist Women's Auxiliaries) Auckland Methodist Women's Missionary Auxiliary 1908-1929 Diamond Jubilee 1902-62 Duplicated 1962 Duplicated (Otago M.W.M.A.) Semi Jubilee Souvenir M.W.M.U. 1914-39

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