The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1909. A VETERAN CHURCHMAN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2553, 14 July 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1909. A VETERAN CHURCHMAN.

“I know liow far short my work has fallen of the ideals I have" set before me,” was the manly reply of the Bishop of Waiapu to the unqualified culogiums which were uttered in his presence at the Theatre last evening. No.one who knows His -Lordship will doubt for a moment the sincerity of his 'utterance, for it is not given to mortal man to completely .achieve tlie aims and .ambitions which form the mainsprings of human action. Yet, as this venerable servant of the Christian Church, bowed with the weight of , years, and grown white i n the; service of- His Master, arose ]ast. night the' feeling involuntarily., went through the audience that hero wail a man who could lay down his >mantle ’of- office without the slightest -misgivings as to the results of; Ins labors. 'lt is, indeed, given to few to

be permitted to carry ion their life’s work for more than haltf-a-century "without serious interruption, and it is still rarer that a single individual can see such marked evidences of his own work in a community as are apparent in the case of'the retiring Bishop. Having his lot cast in a new and undeveloped country, lie lias,‘ ‘after suffering the utmost discomforts, privations, and dangers, witnessed its progress by various stages to the. condition of a civilised community. He has lived long enough to see the Christian religion largely accepted by the Maori people, and the hold which it has amongst the Natives at the present time should be exceedingly gratifying to- one who has spent the best part of his life in an endeavor to educate and Christianise an erstwhile ignorant and savage race. As the. Bishop admitted/ last evening, the Maori war gave a severe set-back to the progress of Christianity amongst the Natives, hut the/ lost ground has been more than regained, and the work of the Church seems to be on a sound and permanent basis. An instance of this was somewhat dramatically produced by the Key. F. W. Chatterton, who introduced to the audience a young clergyman who had been ordained that morning by the Bishop, the first from the Uriweras to take up the role of missionary to that tribe. His Lordship most probably had in mind the Maoris when he mentioned the failure to completely carry out one’s ideals, and it would bo only natural that the present obvious imperfections of the race amongst whom he has labored so unceasingly, so determinedly, and "with such infinite, patience, should occasionally give him a feeling of disappointment. Yet, a calm review of the situation should convince the Bishop that a comparison between the present position of the Maori and that which lie occupied fifty years ago, represents progress for which the utmost gratitude should bo given, and for which satisfaction can rightly he felt by those who have helped to bring it 'about. There were many fine tributes justly paid to the worth of a gifted and noble personality, but one of the most striking was that voiced by the Rev. F. AV. Chatterton, -who referred to the inspiring example of the Bishop, said: “His sense of duty would not permit him to he swayed by popular. feeling. Once he had'decided upon what seemed to he his duty, it would not matter 10 him if the whole community took a different view, he would not diverge one iota from the line he had chosen. His singleness of purpose to work for the glory of God was a fine and nob;o example to us all.” These are. pleasant words from a representative of the clergy who have, worked under the Bishop, and they represent very' accurately the high esteem in which he is held by the whole of the community, both European and Maori. The Bishop is upwards of eighty years of age, and as he lays down the responsibilities of an. office that he has so long and so worthily filled, we can do no better than join with those who of his own. Church in wishing him in the closing years of life “a quiet eventide, a rest well-earned, and the pleasing remembrance of good work vell done.