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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Ecclesiastical

Ecclesiastical.

St. Mary's Anglican Church, Church Street, Timaru. This church stands on an elevated site, and presents an impressive appearance. It is constructed of Timaru gray stone, lined with Oamaru stone, and is in the early English style of architecture. The nave, complete, cost £11,000, but the chancel and vestry are at present temporary in their character, and their completion awaits the accumulation of sufficient funds. A tower and spire, after the style of those of the Christchurch Cathedral, will form part of the completed building. The interior of the church, which provides seating accommodation for 800 worshippers, possesses many noteworthy features; the Scotch granite pillars, the highly artistic carved work, memorial brasses and stained glass windows giving it an appearance of dignity, solmenity and repose. The organ is one of Messrs Lewis and Co.'s English instruments. The church was opened and consecrated in 1886.

St. Mary's Vicarage occupies a half acre allotment in Theodocia Street. It is built of brick, is two stories in height, and contains about a dozen well appointed rooms. Immediately in the rear of the vicarage is St. Mary's Sunday school room, which is a wooden building on a concrete foundation. It contains seating accommodation for about five hundred persons.

The Venerable Henry William Harper, M.A. (Oxford), Archdeacon of Timaru and Westland, and Vicar of St. Mary's, Timaru, is the eldest son of the late Bishop Harper, Primate of New Zealand, and was born at Eton, Buckinghamshire, England, in 1833. He was educated at Eton, and afterwards at Merton College, Oxford, where, in 1856, he graduated B.A. Mr. Harper then commenced to study for the ministry, and was ordained in 1856. About the end of page 986 the same year, he arrived with his father in New Zealand, and after a sojourn of seven years, during which he was placed in charge of the Waimakariri district, he returned to England, in 1884. On his arrival there he was appointed commissary to the Bishop in England, and retained the position till he returned to New Zealand in 1867, when he proceeded to the West Coast goldfields. After labouring for nine successful years amongst the gold diggers he was appointed to the incumbency of Timaru, where he has since resided in charge of St. Mary's. Archdeacon Harper is commissary to the Bishop of Christchurch.

Archdeacon Harper.

Archdeacon Harper.

The Trinity Presbyterian Church, which occupies a prominent position in Barnard Street, Timaru, is a handsome concrete building with gallery, having seating accommodation for 700 adults. Large congregations attend the services, which are held morning and evening every Sunday. There are three Sunday schools in connection with the church; one, held in the church itself, is attended by about 200 children and from twenty-five to thirty teachers. The other schools are held in the mission church, Sandytown, and at the Timaru South public school. A monthly service is held by the resident minister at Fairview public school, where there is also a small Sunday school.

The Rev. Thomas Stinson, B.A., who has had charge of the Timaru Trinity Church since May, 1902, was born in 1865, in County Tyrone, Ireland. He was educated at the Assembly's College, Belfast, and at Queen's College in the same city, and graduated B.A. at the Royal University of Ireland in 1886. Two years later Mr. Stinson succeeded his father, the Rev. John Stinson, as minister of Ballyonagrane church, County Tyrone, and he ministered there till 1901. In that year he came out to New Zealand, via Australia, and soon afterwards settled at Timaru. Mr. Stinson was married, in 1902, to a daughter of Mr. Thomas Pringle, J.P., of Annagh House, County Tyrone, Ireland.

Chalmers Presbyterian Congregation, Timaru. This congregation was founded in March, 1902, when 170 members left Trinity Church for the purpose. The adherents number about 400 adults. Services were at first held in the theatre, Stafford Street. At the end of 1902, the congregation arranged to build a handsome church on a site at the corner of Elizabeth and Banks Streets, at an estimated cost of £5000, including the price of a pipe organ. The church is to hold 600 adults. A Sunday school connected with the congregation has already about 100 scholars in attendance.

The Rev. Robert Jackson, the Minister in charge of Chalmers Congregation, was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He studied at the Edinburgh University, and was licensed to preach in Aberdeenshire. In 1883 Mr. Jackson arrived in Australia, where he had charge at Tumut, New South Wales, for five years, and was subsequently for a like period at Berry in the same colony. After a trip Home, in 1893, he returned to Australia, and was ministering for six years at East Maitland. At the end of 1900 Mr. Jackson arrived in Dunedin, to supply for the Rev. Dr Waddell. He was called to Timaru, and has been in his present charge since May, 1902.

The Church Of The Sacred Heart, Timaru. The parish, of which this church is the chief place of worship, extends from Mount Cook on the west to the Pacific shore on the east, and constitutes one of the strongholds of the Catholic Church in New Zealand. The work now carried on in the district was begun by the well-known pioneer priest, Father Chataigner, who was succeeded by Father Goutenoir. Archdeacon Devoy was the next to hold the charge, and he, in his turn, was succeeded by Dean Foley, and Father Hurlin, who was the purchaser of the Priory. The Very Reverend Father Lavis, who held the incumbency for two years, was called to Wellington in 1898, and Father Tubman was appointed his successor. The church property consists of about sixteen acres, and accommodates the church, priory, convent, and other institutions representing different phases of the Church's work. The church itself is a somewhat antiquated building, but the convent, standing some distance to the rear, and surrounded by well laid out and neatly kept grounds, is a substantial two-storey brick building, one of the best in the colony devoted to its purpose. The priory is a two-storey building, in concrete, and contains ten or eleven commodious apartments, including a spacious billiard room. The Marist Brothers' House, also a two-storey brick building, occupies a site on the opposite side of the road, which intersects the property. The boys' and the girls' schools, two distinct institutions, are well attended by Catholic children from all parts of the parish.

The Priory, Timaru

The Priory, Timaru

Father Tubman, who has been Parish Priest of Timaru since 1898, was born in County Leitrim, Ireland, in 1856, and commenced his education at the local National School; he subsequently studied at St. Mary's College, Dundalk, and completed his education at private seminaries in England and Ireland. Father Tubman was ordained by Bishop Woodlock, of Longford, in 1886, and spent the two succeeding years as a professor, first in St. Mary's College, Dundalk, and latterly at the Catholic University School, Dublin. In 1888 he left his native land for New Zealand, and spent three years at Wellington as a master of St. Patrick's College. He went to Timaru, in 1891, to take up page 987 duty as assistant curate to Father Foley, then in charge of the parish. In the administration of this important parish Father Tubman is at present assisted by Fathers Auboy and Le Petit.

Catholic Boys' School.

Catholic Boys' School.

Wesley Church, Bank Street, Timaru, was the second centre of Methodist interest in Canterbury in the early days. Wesleyan services were first held in the district at Sandytown in 1863, and the first church organisation dates from 1865. The site of the church was given by the Messrs Rhodes, and a wooden building was opened in October, 1865. In March, 1868, the church was reopened, with a considerable enlargement. The present stone church, which has seating accommodation for from 450 to 500 persons, was completed, in 1875, and the old building was moved back for use as a school. A sum of £1270 was spent on the original stone building, which was enlarged in 1890, by the addition of twenty feet and a chancel of wood. A Sunday school, attended by 272 children, who are in charge of twenty-seven teachers and officers, is connected with the congregation. The parsonage stands in Butler Street on a valuable site of half an acre. It is a two-storey wood and iron building of seven rooms, and cost about £400 when it was built in 1867. In 1890 it was enlarged and re-constructed at an additional outlay of £800. The minister in charge at Timaru holds periodical services at Pareora, Fairview, Claremont, Kingsdown, and Springbrook.

The Rev. Joseph Newman Buttle, formerly Minister in charge of Timaru Circuit, was born in 1851, at the Kopua Mission station, Waipa, in the Upper Waikato. He is the fifth son of the late Rev. George Buttle, and was educated at Woodhouse Grove, near Leeds, and at Wesley College, Auckland. For six years Mr. Buttle followed farming in the Waikato, where he first began to preach. After two years' training at the Three Kings, he entered the active ministry in 1878. He was stationed at Kumara one year, Balclutha two years, Mornington two years, Gore two years, Masterton, Ashburton, and Sydenham, respectively three years each, Mornington four years, the second term, and completed a full term of five years in 1903. He entered on the charge at Timaru in 1897. Mr. Buttle was ordained, in 1882, in Durham Street Church, Christchurch. He was married, in 1886, to a daughter of Mr. William Harris, of Christchurch, and has one daughter and one son. [After the foregoing article had been written the Conference of 1903 placed Mr. Buttle in charge of the New Plymouth circuit, where he succeeded the Rev. S. J. Serpell, who succeeded him at Timaru.]

The Primitive Methodist Church, Timaru, is situated in Barnard Street, and was established about 1885. It stands on a quarter of an acre of land, is built of wood and iron, with a gallery, and seating accommodation for 400 persons. A Sunday school, attended by eighty children, and in charge of ten teachers, is held in the church. Services are held periodically at Gleniti and Washdyke.

The Rev. Samuel Buchanen, Minister in charge of the Primitive Methodist Church in Timaru, was born in 1845, near Belfast, Ireland. He studied for the Methodist New Connection, and came to Auckland in 1865, by the ship “Dauntless.” In 1878 he entered the Wesleyan church as a Home Missionary, and afterwards became a minister of the Free Methodist Church. At a later date he had charge of the Presbyterian church at Ngaruawahia, and was appointed to his present charge at Timaru by the Primitive Methodist Conference in 1900. Mr. Buchanen was married, in 1864, to a daughter of Mr. V. Tolerton, of Moira, near Belfast, and has five sons and one daughter.

The Salvation Army Barracks has been established in Timaru since 1883. The barracks, which are built of brick, stand in Stafford Street, and were completed in 1892. There is seating accommodation for 400 persons, and the corps have a capital band. Adjutant Alexander Neilson is officer-in-charge.