Our Last Year in New Zealand, 1887

[In the following pages, "I" stands for the Bishop; "E." for Mrs. Cowie; and "we" and "us" for both.]

Bishopscourt, Auckland, New Zealand, January I, 1887.--A perfect day for holiday-makers, and for those who, like ourselves, have much to do at home, especially in the way of clearing off arrears of correspondence. As the late Bishop Thirlwall said, "A Bishop never can take a holiday." We have had very little rain during the past month, and the grass begins to look brown; but the trees are at their best, and the sky and sea to-day are in tint like those of Naples and the Mediterranean in May and June. Our rest, when we can get any, is to sit out in our balcony for a few hours on public holidays, enjoying our beautiful view over the harbour, and as far as Kawau Island, the Little Barrier, and Cape Colville. Bishopscourt is charmingly situated on the top of a hill about two hundred feet above the sea. The site was wisely chosen by Bishop Selwyn, and was purchased by him at public auction in 1859--a little more than four acres--for £96 18s. 3d. Nearly [1/2] four more acres, not at all equal to the original site, were added to the estate in 1880, at a cost of £1100. The garden, orchard, and paddock at present comprise about six acres; the remainder of the estate being leased and built upon. The stillness of Sunday reigns; a great part of the population having by this time (10 a.m.) left the city and its suburbs for the day, in carriages and carts, and by train, steamboat, and omnibus. Here the new year began with a peal from our "cathedral bells"--the bells which are to belong to our cathedral when we have one. They were in the London Exhibition of 1862, and were purchased for £1000. Our ringers are young men living close by, who do their work without pay. The tower in which the bells are hung being of wood, they cannot be swung, but are struck, and, to prevent too great vibration, are fixed not much above the ground; hence their sound does not reach very far. The thermometer at noon to-day in our dining-room, on which the sun shines from 10 a.m., was 75°. On the coldest day of winter we have never seen it lower than 44° 30' indoors. E.'s whole morning was taken up in arranging for the burial this evening of an infant, whose mother is penniless and father non est inventus. The child died at the Women's Home, an institution founded by her and a few friends in 1884 (of which an account will be found in the Appendix). According to our custom on public holidays, we put up a notice on our front door, "NO ONE IN," and let our servants go out for the day. New Year's Day is a great racing day at Auckland, the racecourse being at Ellerslie, a beautiful suburb, about four miles distant from the city. In the evening, the Governor, Sir W. D. [2/3] Jervois, came to see us, on his return from the races. He arrived in Auckland yesterday from Wellington, having accepted the invitation of the Auckland Racing Company to be present at their annual Summer Meeting. Sir William is a great favourite in Auckland, as he is in all parts of the colony, and deserves to be; on account of the real interest he takes in all things appertaining to the prosperity of New Zealand, and of the influence for good everywhere exercised by himself, Lady Jervois, and other members of the family. Sir William Jervois came to New Zealand very opportunely in 1883, just before what is known as the Russian scare, when the Colonial Governments were obliged to think of the defence of their harbours, in anticipation of visits from Russian cruisers. His great experience in constructing fortifications was of the utmost value to the colonies of Australasia, and to this one in particular, and no doubt saved the colonies a large sum of money. [Sir W. Jervois was Deputy Director of Fortifications at the War Office, London, for many years.]

These colonies have not always been as fortunate in the family of the Governor as we in New Zealand are at the present time. Indeed, it is scarcely too much to say that not long since in one of them the tone of "society," that is, the section of the people who are much at Government House, was seriously injured, and the morale of many of the young people in danger of being lowered, by the example and the unworthy principles of the lady who is officially regarded as, in a manner, a representative of Her Majesty the Queen. A leading citizen of the colonial capital referred to told me that, had the said lady not left the colony when she [3/4] did, he would have been obliged to forbid his daughters visiting at Government House.

January 2, Sunday.--In the morning, I rode to S. Barnabas, one of our suburban churches, at Mount Eden, to take part in the service with the Rev. W. Beatty, whose last day there it was. I read the second Lesson, and was celebrant. Mr. Beatty preached a short, pointed, and unconventional sermon, characterised by common sense and plain speaking. He is now the Warden of our Church College, of which the chief work at present is to prepare candidates for Holy Orders. An account of the college will be found in the Appendix. [See Appendix K, p. 370.] Mr. Beatty came to us a year ago proprio motu, from the curacy of Rusthall, Tunbridge Wells. By nearly every mail from England, I receive letters from clergymen, offering me their services. My almost invariable answer to such applications is, "If you come, it must be at your own risk. I cannot pay your passage, and am afraid to invite a stranger to come so far; but no clergyman fit for our work has ever come to us from England and failed to obtain employment." Mr. Beatty, on his arrival, was offered two charges, one of which, the office of assistant-minister of S. Sepulchre's parish, he undertook; and after working, with great acceptance (which Mrs. Beatty also shared with him) to all his people, for a little more than six months, he was offered by the Governors the Wardenship of S. John's College. The special charge of the assistant-minister of S. Sepulchre's parish is to minister to the people of the S. Barnabas district. Soon after Mr. Beatty's arrival the church had to be enlarged, and it now holds about [4/5] four hundred and fifty people. The average amount of the offertory collections at S. Barnabas on ordinary Sundays is a little less than £5; there being no rich people among the congregation. In the afternoon, I rode on to S. Andrew's, Epsom, another of our beautiful suburbs. The church was designed by the Rev. J. Kinder, formerly Master of S. John's College, and is a monument of his good taste. The clergyman was away in the country on Sunday-school inspection duty. As we have no endowment for our Inspector, his office has to be combined with the charge of this district, in which there are two churches to be served. Accordingly, the Inspector can only visit distant schools when his Sunday duties at home can be taken by a clergyman who has not to be paid a honorarium. At Epsom, the service consisted of Evening Prayer, a Baptism, and Holy Communion. The church was very tastefully decorated with white lilies and scarlet geraniums. S. Andrew's Church is beautifully situated, being surrounded by downs, on which, owing to the volcanic nature of the soil, the grass is luxuriant and green. The small cemetery surrounding the church contains several interesting graves; among others that of Mrs. Wynyard, the widow of a general officer of that name, who was officiating Governor of the colony in 1854. In twenty years' time Epsom will be to Auckland what S. John's Wood is to London. After the service, I rode on to Christ Church, Ellerslie, another of our beautiful suburbs, the head-quarters of the clergyman whose locum tenens I was in the afternoon and evening. This church is adorned with a series of handsome painted windows, the gift of Mr. Alfred Bell, of the well-known firm of Clayton and Bell, through his [5/6] old friend Mr. Albin Martin, a resident in the district. It is a very small building, of wood, like most of our Auckland churches, but large enough for the present congregation. It has no endowment attached to it, but the people contribute £100 a year towards the clergyman's stipend. After the service, I rode back to Bishopscourt. At this season of the year I do not wear in church a black satin chimere, such as bishops commonly wear in England, but a fine linen rochet, with sleeves, over a black llama cassock, with a D.D. hood. These robes I carry with me on my journeys, in a small leather bag, fastened by a strap to the right side of my saddle behind.

January 3, Monday.--Another public holiday, spent by me mainly in writing letters for the English mail by San Francisco. In the morning, one of the New Zealand Shipping Company's direct steamers, the Rimutaka (4474 tons), arrived, bringing to us the Rev. T. H. Sprott, who had accepted the office of assistant-minister in the parish of the Holy Sepulchre, offered to him by the incumbent, Archdeacon Dudley. The people of the S. Barnabas district of that parish, in the hope of obtaining another clergyman like-minded to Mr. Beatty, when he left them for the wardenship of S. John's College, asked him to recommend a clergyman to the incumbent and the vestry; and Mr. Sprott was accordingly recommended, and was invited by Archdeacon Dudley and his vestry, with my sanction, to "come over and help us." The vestry guaranteed a stipend of not less than £250 for two years, and paid £50 towards the cost of passage. We find it hazardous to invite clergymen to come to us from England on the strength of written [6/7] testimonials only. Personal and recent knowledge, on the part of the Bishop or some one on whose judgment he can depend, is necessary to warrant his promising to appoint to a definite charge in New Zealand a clergyman, however well recommended by unknown persons in England. Besides the general defect of written testimonials, which (rightly, perhaps) make no mention of qualifications that are lacking in those for whom they are written, there is the great difference between the circumstances of a clergyman of an established Church, like that of England, and those of a clergyman of what is called a voluntary Church, like that of New Zealand. A clergyman might be efficient in many positions in England but quite unsuited for a New Zealand charge.

Even when selected by friends who know what qualities are specially required in New Zealand clergymen, some of our candidates for Holy Orders sent out from England have proved to be very unfit for our colonial work. The most striking case of such unfitness that I have heard of was that of a young man selected in England, by a member of the Melanesian Mission staff, for work with the late Bishop Patteson in the islands of the South-West Pacific. The story--for the accuracy of which I cannot vouch--is as follows:--Mr. A------came from England to be ordained by Bishop Patteson, when the head-quarters of the Mission were at Kohimarama, a few miles from Auckland, on the coast of our land-locked harbour. Soon after his arrival in Auckland he hired a boat to take him to the Mission station. There, to his surprise, he found no wharf, and had to wait in the boat until some one could be got to carry him ashore through the water. In response to his [7/8] shouts, a man, in a flannel shirt and trousers, at last waded out from the shore and "gave a back" to the new-comer, landing him dry on the beach. In answer to inquiries for the Bishop's palace (!), a small building close by was pointed out, and to a further question of "Where is the Bishop?" the man with tucked-up flannels said, "I'm the Bishop." This experience was somewhat disconcerting; but worse followed. Next morning, the members of the Mission staff went to their several duties, some of them being engaged in putting up a post-and-rail fence around a paddock. To this employment the new-comer was told off, and he soon discovered that it did not agree with the softness of his hands. Thereupon he had an interview with Bishop Patteson, and requested to be informed what his ordinary duties would be if he remained with the Mission. The Bishop said, "All I can promise you is that I will not ask you to do what I do not do myself." This answer being unsatisfactory, the new-comer decided that he had better at once give up all idea of becoming a Melanesian missionary--a decision in which the Bishop concurred. Afterwards the young man's friends claimed compensation from the Mission; and the Bishop, to save further unpleasantness, as he told me himself, paid one hundred pounds out of his own pocket to the young man and his friends.

In the evening, we rode out to S. John's College, about five miles from Bislwpscourt. The buildings have not been used for college purposes since 1883, when the students took up their residence in Parnell, a suburb of Auckland, in some small houses, within a quarter of a mile of Bishopscourt; the purpose of the removal, which [8/9] was recommended by the Governors and sanctioned by the General Synod, being to enable the students to attend lectures at our Auckland University College. [See Appendix A, p. 331.] The buildings at Tamaki, some of which are in a ruinous state in consequence of the sinking of the foundation, are at present in the occupation of the Rev. T. F. King, who is minister of the district. Mr. King came to New Zealand four years ago for the benefit of his health, which is still very delicate; but he has succeeded in establishing a good private school, in which there are at present forty boys, chiefly day scholars. His own gifts as a teacher, seconded by the motherly care for the scholars shown by Mrs. King, would attract many more pupils, if there was suitable accommodation for them at the college.

To-day we put up a placard on our front door with the words "SERVANTS HOLIDAY-MAKING" in large letters, to suggest to callers with no particular business that it might be as well to come another day. Our children, too, were out; so that E. and I had to answer the bell, and that pretty frequently, in addition to the burden of getting our letters finished in time for the mail to England. New Zealand has been called the paradise of domestic servants, chiefly, I suppose, on account of the good wages received by them, and of the facility of obtaining employment. To keep our house, with its long passages and many nooks and corners, in good order, and the grounds at all tidy, we are obliged to maintain an establishment of three women and a man. To each of the former we pay twelve shillings a week, and to the latter--who is non-resident--thirty-five [9/10] shillings. To keep down the weeds another man, at six shillings a day, is taken on occasionally. According to the New Zealand custom, the cook is also the laundress.

Great complaints are often made of New Zealand servants; but the mistress is, we think, as often to blame as the servant, in those houses in which a change of domestics more frequently occurs. There are doubtless servants and servants in the colonies as in England; but many of the employers of female servants in this country are new to the position, and do not know how to treat their subordinates. In many houses a "general servant" only is employed, and her drudgery is often great. E.'s servants rarely leave her, except to be married. Her system is, as far as possible, to make friends of them all, and to indulge them wisely, as she does her own children. Each one is allowed an evening out during the week, and a day once a month, and Sunday morning or evening, as well as Sunday afternoon (provided that one remains in the house); and once a year each woman has a week's holiday on full wages. A young woman told us not long since that on Christmas morning her mistress said to her, "You are to go on with your work as usual to-day; Christmas is not meant for servants." No wonder this girl gave notice a few days afterwards that she was going to look out for another situation; and her quondam mistress probably speaks of her as "an ungrateful hussy."

The number of public holidays in New Zealand much surprises new arrivals, and greatly tries the mothers of large families, who are commonly left to do all their household work for themselves on those days.

[11] It is certainly one of the chief pleasures of New Zealand life to know, on so many days of the year, that f nearly all the population are enjoying themselves in the open air. In the neighbourhood of Auckland there are very many lovely spots to which our artisans, with their wives and children, and all others with a few shillings to spare, can go for the day, by steamboat, or train, or omnibus. On those days E. and I stay at home, clearing off arrears of reading and writing, and finding by happy experience that life is more than endurable to those who are excused from participating in its "amusements."

January 4, Tuesday.--On this day, as on the Tuesday of each week when she is in Auckland, E. stayed at home in the afternoon to see visitors.

January 5, Wednesday.--The whole family went out to S. John's College at Tamaki, where I was to act as locum tenens for the clergyman of the district, Mr. King, for two Sundays, during his absence at Te Aroha. The grounds of the college are at this season of the year very charming. On the north side of the buildings in the distance is Rangitoto, an extinct volcano, rearing its picturesque head about one thousand feet out of the sea; between which and the college are many acres of broken land covered with original scrub, and in immediate proximity a well-kept lawn and shrubbery. When we arrived in the colony in February, 1870, we found the college closed for want of funds, and the grounds in a very rough condition. A year afterwards, the Rev. J. Kinder was appointed to the mastership; and, being a man of great taste in such matters, and grudging no expenditure of labour or money on the improvement of Church property entrusted to his care, he turned the [11/12] wilderness into a paradise during his ten years' tenure of that office. Mr. King, who now occupies the premises, is a man of similar artistic tastes, and of the same generous Churchman's spirit; and, though he has received no pecuniary assistance from the college endowments, he has to a great extent restored the grounds to the good order in which they were left by Dr. Kinder in 1880. The old college buildings are in a ruinous condition. This is the result mainly of the impecuniosity of the trustees, the straggling character of the plan on which the buildings were constructed, the badness of the mortar in early days, and, above all, of the sinking of the ground under one of the houses. Until 1880 the gross income of the trust was only £862; and the cost of each scholar on the foundation, exclusive of tuition, was £45. The gross income of the trust at the present time is about £1300. After paying for repairs to buildings, the warden's stipend (£400), rent (i.e. interest on purchase-money) of temporary buildings in Parnell (£84), University College fees (£34 10s.), insurance, etc., the balance is about £250; that is, sufficient only to maintain five students on the foundation.

The chapel at S. John's College is quite unique. It is in good condition, inside and out; as it always will be, I trust, so long as its timbers hold together. Nearly all the windows are filled with painted glass, erected to the memory of Bishop Patteson, the Rev. J. Atkin, and Stephen Taroaniara, who were killed with him in 1871, the Revs. A. O. Cotton and W. Nihill, and others. Recently the whole of the interior has been carefully and reverently restored by the Rev. T. F. King, whose private school assembles daily in the chapel for short [12/13] vespers at four o'clock. On Sundays, the chapel is used as the parish church of the district, of which Mr. King is in charge. In "God's acre" around the chapel there are several graves of much interest, including that of the founder's (Bishop Selwyn) only daughter, Margaret Frances, who died in 1851, aged five months, Mr. Cotton's, Mrs. Blackett's, Mrs. Kinder's (the mother of the late Master), and Mrs. Haultain's, the wife of the Hon. Colonel Haultain, who for many years held the unpaid office of secretary to the trustees of the college, keeping the accounts in a manner that would have delighted the heart of the most exact of finance ministers. Among other brass tablets in the chapel is one to the memory of Edward Meyrick, merchant, the founder of scholarships at the college--"a merchant man seeking goodly pearls," as the tablet says; and one to the memory of Alfred Marsh Brown (the son of the late Archdeacon Brown of Tauranga and brother of Mrs. J. Kinder), in memory of whom valuable scholarships were endowed by the late Archdeacon, whose son died at the college in 1845. A touching story is told of the late Bishop in connection with the last illness of young Brown, whom the Bishop helped to nurse, sitting up with him at night in turn with others. The Bishop was to give the sick boy his medicine at three a.m., or some other early hour, but fell asleep, and did not wake for some time afterwards. When he awoke and discovered his mistake, he was troubled, especially when the patient informed him that he had called to him, "My lord, my lord," at the appointed time without succeeding in rousing him. "If you had said 'George,'" answered the Bishop, "I should have woke at once."

[14] For several years the Blackett endowment was the chief support of the college. It consists of a piece of ground fifty-four feet by forty-one feet, at the corner of Queen and Shortland Streets, Auckland, and, together with some wooden shops erected thereon, was given to the college by Mr. J. C. Blackett (now of Egham), at the request of his wife, and was at the time valued at £500. The trustees now receive a ground rent of £500 a year for the land, on which a fine substantial building (to be the property of the trust at the end of sixty years) has been erected by the South British Insurance Company.

The following adventure in connection with S. John's College Chapel is somewhat amusing:--In 1880, I went with our then Governor, the Hon. Sir Arthur Gordon, to show him this interesting building; the Rev. Dr. Kinder entering it with us. After inspecting the windows and brasses, his Excellency, about to depart, turned towards the door, which slammed to and could not be opened, as the fastening was on the outside. After thinking what we should do, Dr. Kinder decided on trying to get out through the vestry window, which opened above and below by swinging on pivots half-way up the sides, making an aperture of eighteen inches by ten inches. Dr. Kinder, after divesting himself of coat and waistcoat, got through the opening with some difficulty, and came round and opened the door for us. Oddly enough, while we were talking together of the strange accident inside the door, it slammed to again, as before.

This time the Governor offered to get through the window for us, but we would not let him, and Dr. Kinder repeated his former feat, and liberated us.

January 6, Thursday.--I received, through our [14/15] Primate, a formal notice from the Archbishop of Canterbury, dated July, 1886, of his intention to "issue next year an invitation" to a Conference for the summer of 1888, and asking whether it is probable that I shall attend the Conference, and "whether there are any subjects of general importance which appear to you specially appropriate for discussion in the Conference."

I answered the Archbishop that inability to pay the fare to and from England might prevent my going, as it did in 1878. As a subject for discussion at the Conference, I named "the best means of bringing about a reunion of the disciples of Jesus Christ, especially of those who are not kept apart by a belief in the infallibility of the Bishop of Rome."

January 9, Sunday.--The eighty-third birthday of our beloved and revered Primate, the Bishop of Christ-church. Dr. Harper was consecrated first Bishop of that see in 1856, when the Southern Island was detached from the original diocese of New Zealand; and in 1868, on the resignation of the Primacy by Bishop Selwyn, he was elected to that office by our General Synod, which is the supreme governing body of our New Zealand Church. [See Appendix B, p. 334.] We are all proud of our Primate, as citizens, Churchmen, and in other relations. The fatherly manner in which he presides at the meetings of the General Synod is greatly conducive to the spirit of harmony; and his wide sympathies in all matters ecclesiastical are a standing discouragement to factiousness and narrowness.

In the absence of Mr. King, the clergyman of the district, I officiated as parish priest to-day in S. John's [15/16] Chapel. This being holiday time, and Mr. King's school being dispersed, the congregation was small. The harmonium was played by Miss Atkin, the sister of the Rev. Joseph Atkin, who died of a wound received at Nukapu on the day of Bishop Patteson's death. Mr. Atkin was one of the Bishop's most valued and trusted coadjutors, and was considered by him the right man to be head of the Mission, in case of his own death. This (the Sunday nearest the Epiphany) is the day on which our Diocesan Synod recommends that collections should be made in all our churches for the funds of the Melanesian Mission. [See Appendix C, p. 344.] I accordingly took, as the subject of my sermon in the morning, missionary work in general, and the work of Bishop Schvyn and our other missionaries in the islands of the South-West Pacific.

January 10, Monday.--E. and I rode to Kohimarama in the evening to see Mr. and Mrs. Atkin, the parents of the late Rev. Joseph Atkin mentioned above. Until recently Mr. Atkin was one of the Governors of S. John's College, and he was for many years a member of our Diocesan Synod. The spirit in which he bore the loss of his only son was in keeping with the Christian quietness and confidence by which his daily life is characterised. The Mission vessel, Southern Cross, used formerly to lie at anchor just below Mr. Atkin's house during the summer months; that is, when the hurricane season among the islands, from November to March, rendered cruising in these regions dangerous. In October, 1871, Mr. Atkin was expecting his son to come to Auckland by the vessel for a short holiday, and, on seeing her entering the harbour, on October 31, [16/17] 1871, he went down to the beach to meet the boat by which he hoped his son would come ashore. He observed that the schooner's flag was half-mast high, and was therefore prepared for bad news of some kind. In answer to his question, "Where is Joe?" the Rev. C. Bice, one of the Mission staff who had come in the boat, said that "the worst" that could happen to him had happened. "Is he dead?" inquired the father; and, on being told that such was the case, he replied calmly, "Worse can happen to you missionaries than to die."

January 13, Thursday.--The country about Auckland is looking yellow and brown after a month's drought; the roads are deep in dust, and the air is thick with smoke from bush fires. We went to Bishopscourt this morning. In the early afternoon, I had interviews with clergymen and others on matters of business; and at 4.30 p.m. I presided at the monthly meeting of the Standing Committee. This committee consists of seven clergymen and five laymen elected annually by the Synod, with the Bishop as ex-officio chairman, whose consent is necessary for the passing of any motion by the committee. The duties of the committee are defined by a statute of the Synod. Of these, one of the chief is to administer the Home Mission Fund, from which grants are made towards the maintenance of clergy to minister to settlers in the poorer country districts. The fund (amounting in 1886 to about £900) consists of offertory collections and the donations of individuals. In the evening we rode back to Tamaki.

January 21.--I went to Awhitu on the west coast. A small tidal steamer leaves Onehunga almost daily for [17/18] this district. It took the vessel about two hours to get to the Awhitu wharf. There I was met by Mr. A. Palmer, the lay reader of the district, who brought a horse for me. We were about an hour and a half in riding to his house, which is prettily situated on high ground, from which the Manukau Harbour, near Puponga Point, can be seen. Mr. Palmer lives in patriarchal style; his married daughter with her husband and their five children occupying part of the house. The district contains some good land, on the tops and sides of high hills, about five hundred feet above the sea, which are separated by deep ravines of several hundreds of feet. The settlers are few and poor.

Here I met the Rev. John Haselden, the organising clergyman of our Home Mission. He had spent a few days in the district before my arrival, visiting the people and preparing candidates for Confirmation. Mr. Haselden's head-quarters are in Auckland, whence he travels in all directions, ministering to those of our people who live in districts in which there are not resident clergy.

In the afternoon, I had a talk with an old soldier, who served twenty-one years in the 66th Regiment, six of which were passed in India. When ill a short time before, his great trouble was the fear of there not being one of our clergy to bury him.

January 23, Sunday.--In the morning, I administered the Holy Communion to Mr. Palmer and members of his family in their dining-room. In the afternoon, I rode to the Awhitu Church, the property of the Presbyterians, where I preached, and afterwards confirmed four persons, of whom two were formerly children of our [18/19] Orphan Home. [See Appendix K, p. 370.] The Home is situated near Bishopscourt, on church land, and is managed by a Board consisting of Churchmen elected annually. It is a flourishing institution, mainly owing to the interest taken in it for many years by the honorary secretary, Mr. G. P. Pierce. In 1883, a sum of nearly £12,150 was left to the Home by Mr. Costley, the bulk of whose property was divided amongst seven Auckland institutions. At the service the prayers were said by Mr. Haselden, and the First Lesson read by Mr. Palmer, lay reader. At five o'clock we set out for the signal station on the south head of the Manukau Harbour, about six miles distant. As the track was in some places very rough, and in others very steep, we had to ride slowly. The community at the Manukau Head consists mainly of Government officers in charge of the signal station (eight hundred feet above the sea), the beacons, and the telegraph. The service was held in the little school-house near the signal station, which, having been erected by men of maritime experience and tastes, is rather too air-tight in hot weather, and is adorned profusely with blue paint. The prayers were said by Mr. Haseldcn, the first Lesson being read by Mr. Palmer, and I preached. Mr. Palmer comes here on three Sundays in each month to conduct public worship. Like our other lay readers, he receives no remuneration for his services. When a clergyman visits the district for a Sunday, the rule is that he receives a honorarium of two pounds, and has his travelling expenses paid. During my stay at the South Head I was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Leith, whose hospitality was quite sumptuous. The strawberries and cream [19/20] they gave us were as abundant as they were good and unexpected. Mr. Leith is in charge of the beacons by which, at night, vessels are steered in over the Manukau Bar.* He is a man of a mathematical mind, and would doubtless have been a high wrangler if he had gone to Cambridge at the age of nineteen or twenty. He has published two pamphlets, full of calculations, laboriously worked out, to show the reason why the bulk of the ocean is retained in the southern hemisphere.

January 27.--The New Zealand Board of the Church Missionary Society met to-day at Napier; but I was unable to attend it, as doing so would have involved an absence from Auckland of almost a fortnight, Napier being nearly four hundred miles distant (by sea) in the diocese of Waiapu. Moreover, I did not know of any matter of special importance that was to be dealt with at this meeting. The Board, which meets annually and manages the affairs of the C.M.S., consists of the Bishops of Auckland, Wellington, and Waiapu; Archdeacons Clarke and Williams; the Revs. R. Burrows and S. Williams; and Messrs. H. T. Clarke, F. Larkins, and T. Tanner. At this meeting the apportionment of the income (£2372) for the ensuing year was made. Of this sum, £860 were applied to salaries and grants in aid of salaries, £625 to the maintenance of native pastors, and £400 to the Gisborne College for theological students. The senior European missionaries receive their salaries from the Society in London, independently of the Board. The sum at the disposal of the Board includes £1400 granted for general purposes by the

[H.M.S. Orpheus was wrecked here in February, 1863, when the commodore and 186 of the crew were drowned.]

Society in London, and £875, the estimated receipts for the rent of lands in New Zealand. The arrangement by which the affairs of the Society are managed by a Board, constituted as this one is, seems to work very satisfactorily; owing greatly to the rare qualifications for his office possessed by our excellent secretary, the Venerable W. L. Williams, a son of the first Bishop of Waiapu, an experienced missionary and a real lover of the Maori race. Among the resolutions passed by the Board on this occasion was the following:--"Inasmuch as the new Maori Hymnal, which is greatly appreciated by the Maori members of the Church throughout New Zealand, is mainly the work of Mr. Edward W. Williams, the hearty thanks of the Board are tendered to him for the same." Mr. E. W. Williams is the eldest son of the late Archdeacon H. Williams, of Waimate, Bishop Selwyn's first archdeacon, and is one of our best Maori scholars.

This morning, we saw our eldest son off by steamer on his return to school at Christchurch, in the south island. Several other Auckland boys went with him. It is rather hard to have to send a boy so far from home (765 miles by sea), and at so great an expense (about £100 a year), to obtain a good classical education. In Auckland we have efficient commercial schools and a University College; but no good grammar school, in which Greek is taught, and in which the high tone is given that is valuable beyond all mere book-learning. So far as I know, Christ's College, Canterbury, is the only school in the colony in which are to be obtained what are considered in England the essentials of a high-class public school education. At Whaneanui [21/22] there is a school of the same kind, of which the Rev. Dr. Harvey is head master; but it has not yet the large number of boys necessary to give the social training that is required, nor the large staff of masters necessary for the varied teaching that is essential to a first-class public school.

In the evening, E. and I crossed the water to Devonport, on our way to Albertland.

January 28.--We left Devonport at eight a.m. by Butler's coach with four horses, and about twelve o'clock reached the Orewa river, whither our horses had been sent on, the day before. We rested an hour, and had dinner at the house of Mr. De Grut, who was formerly one of our lay readers. Our route from Devonport was over a succession of bleak hills overlooking the beautiful Hauraki Gulf, by an unmetalled road, in some places scarcely more than a roughly marked track, very muddy and slippery in the wet season. At the Wade settlement we had the pleasure of shaking hands en passant with Mr. Leigh, our excellent lay reader, to whom the people are mainly indebted for their little church, and with Mrs. Leigh, who was standing at the roadside near their house, with a thoughtful present of delicious peaches and a pretty bouquet for E.

From the Orewa river we rode (about twenty miles) to Warkworth. The road is very hilly, and the heat was great, so that we did not travel fast. Most of the way our route was through beautiful forest, called "bush" in New Zealand from the quantity of undergrowth. Every now and then we got peeps of the sea with headlands and islands. We had not time to call at Waiwera, where the famous hot springs arc, nor indeed [22/23] anywhere else, excepting for a few minutes--to get a glass of milk for E.--at Mr. Russell's. We reached Warkworth soon after six p.m., and put up at Mr. Such's hotel, which is a clean, quiet, and well-kept house. The people of the township seemed to be all away, with their children, spending the day on Kawau Island, the home of Sir George Grey, who invites the children, with their friends, annually to spend a day on his island.

January 29, Saturday.--In the afternoon, at three, we left Warkworth on our horses for Tauhoa (about twenty miles), escorted by Mr. F. McMurdo, whose father practises as a doctor in this district, and whose grandfather is General Sir W. M. S. McMurdo. For the first ten miles our route passed through a thinly inhabited country, hilly and abounding in forest and fern. Here and there small patches of land are being cultivated, and the people generally are industrious, but poor. At the Kaipara Flats, a comparatively level district, about ten miles from Warkworth, we rested for twenty minutes at the house of a Mr. Hood, whose wife was a Miss Dibble. Her father was formerly a parishioner of Archdeacon Denison's. Mrs. Hood gave us some refreshing home-made cider, and some excellent plums and apples. On continuing our journey, we crossed the Hoteo river, and then rode for about four miles through a grand forest; the track having here and there lying across it huge trees, still burning, that had been felled to make a clearance for the admission of air and sunshine. In places the newly formed track was scarcely safe for a lady on a nervous horse, being very narrow and winding, with a deep precipice on the outer side, and alarming blackened logs projecting from the bank on the inner [23/24] side. At the worst points, young McMurdo, with the instinct of a gentleman, put his horse between E.'s and the precipice, so that he would have to go over first, if the horses were frightened and in danger of falling down the cliff into the river. On emerging from the forest, we came out on the fern land of Tauhoa, hilly and desolate looking. It was nearly dark when we reached the house of our host, Captain Hearne, on the top of a high fern-clad hill, near the district school, of which he is the master. We found the last two miles of the twenty very fatiguing, over rough ground--in places very steep. I learned that Captain Hearne had gone to India in 1857, with the 83rd Regiment; that is, a few-months before I joined Sir Colin Campbell's army near Cawnpore. He left India again in 1863, not having taken part in any of the principal engagements of that eventful period, though he was present at several of the smaller fights. Captain Hearne has two half-time schools, about five miles apart, in one of which there are thirty, and in the other about twenty boys and girls. His son Herbert, a lad of sixteen years, looked after our horses for us.

January 30, Sunday.--We had a fatiguing walk of about a mile, down a rough and very steep track and up another, through the fern, to the little Church of the Holy Trinity at Tauhoa. There seemed to be no inhabited house nearer than a mile to the building. Most of the congregation, nearly seventy, assembled pretty punctually at eleven. E. and I sat on the steps outside, resting before the service, and speaking to the settlers and their children as they arrived. The weather was oppressively hot, though there was a refreshing [24/25] breeze and not much sunshine. E. had brought a supply of beautiful Scripture cards, and of lollies, for the children, by whom both gifts were greatly appreciated. The service began with a hymn, which was heartily sung, to a harmonium accompaniment well played by Miss Parker. The first Lesson was particularly well read by Mr. Green, the excellent lay reader, to whom the congregation are greatly indebted for conducting the Sunday services during many years. Mrs. Green superintends the Sunday School. Their work for the Church involves no little toil and self-denial, inasmuch as they live nearly four miles distant from the church, and have to travel to it by a rough, and, in the winter, muddy, track through the bush, bringing their children with them. After the third collect and another hymn, Confirmation was administered to eight young people, most of whom had been prepared for the rite by Mr. Green. Afterwards the Holy Communion was received by twenty-five persons, including all the newly confirmed. One of the communicants, a settler partly paralyzed, had been brought several miles on a rough sleigh, drawn by two horses, over the hills, accompanied by his wife on foot. The service was very cheering; but my part was fatiguing, as I had to stand nearly all the time. Though I wore no cassock, coat, or waistcoat,--under a thin surplice, with hood and scarf, the perspiration was dripping from my forehead, and my hands were wet from the same cause. We walked back to Mr. Hearne's house after the service; and at three set out for Wells-ford, ten miles distant, escorted by Mr. F. Boler, who carried our two small bags of clothes. These bags are made to fasten on to the saddle by a small strap at the [25/26] rider's side behind. When I have no companion on these expeditions, I carry my robes and everything else that I require for the time in one of these leathern bags, and so am very independent. E.'s bag, with its contents, for a five days' trip, weighs only fifteen pounds. The first three miles of our track was through the fern, down the rough and steep faces of high hills, across torrent beds with only a little water in them, and up very steep ascents or climbs. Indeed, one of the ascents was so precipitous that, for the sake of our horses as of ourselves, we dismounted, and toiled up in the scorching sun. We reached the house of our kind host and hostess, Mr. and Mrs. Dibble, about six o'clock. I refreshed myself, as usual, before the evening service by dipping my head in a basin of cold water and not drying-it. I do this three or four times a day in the summer, when I have much travelling and speaking to accomplish, and the result is invariably refreshing and invigorating. The evening service at 7.15 was held in the small district school-house, about a quarter of a mile from Mr. Dibble's. As the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion and the rite of Confirmation were to be administered, we used the shortened Evening Prayer. The Lesson was read by Mr. Evan Richards, the faithful lay reader who has for several years come five miles on Sundays to conduct the service when not hindered by illness. After the Lesson I presented a lay reader's licence, in the usual manner, to Mr. George Small, who will henceforth assist Mr. Richards in his reader's work. I then baptized an infant. Next followed the Confirmation of an old pensioner, Charles Griffin, formerly of H.M.'s 41st Regiment. He was at Candahar and Cabul [26/27] in the first Afghan campaign, in 1842, and now holds a situation at the saw-mills, about five miles distant, of which Mr. Small is the manager. Mr. Griffin is much respected by all who know him. The offertory collection was for the Home Mission Fund; from which is paid the stipend of the organising clergyman who periodically visits these districts. At the Holy Communion I used wine that had been made in the district by Mr. Levett, who has a large vineyard. The wine is of various kinds, and is highly commended by those who have tasted it, as pure grape juice with as little alcohol as possible; the price being 8s. a gallon.

January 31, Monday.--I began the day by buying a horse from my host, who had for some time been intending to obtain for me, if possible, a suitable steed for my journeys; my old grey being now more than twenty years old and scarcely fit for these country expeditions. I gave £12 for my new horse, which is about seven years old, and sixteen hands high, strong, quiet, surefooted, and tawny in colour. We left Wellsford at nine a.m. for Warkworth, about fifteen miles distant, most of the way through a grand forest, by a winding unmetalled road, over hills and through gorges. For more than half the distance we rode through heavy rain, which wetted us to the skin, and made the track very slippery and unpleasant. E. rode the new horse, to rest her own mare, whose back had got a little rubbed on Sunday in climbing and descending the steep Tauhoa tracks.

Our man met us at Warkworth in the afternoon, and in the evening began his homeward journey with our horses.

[28] At eight p.m. we went to a singing practice of members of the Blue Ribbon Army, having been invited, though not members of that society, by Mr. McMurdo, who acted as choirmaster. At his request, I gave an address to the meeting.

February 1, Tuesday.--We returned to Devonport (about forty miles) by the coach, along the same route that we rode on January 28, and reached Bishopscourt soon after four p.m.

February 2, Wednesday.--I presided at a meeting of the Standing Commission, the court appointed by the General Synod of the New Zealand Church for the interpretation of the Canons, to consider a case submitted by the Diocesan Nominators of the diocese of Dunedin. Our ruling amounted to a declaration that in every case where a "nomination" to a parochial cure has not lapsed to the Bishop by fluxion of time, the Bishop can not legally "institute" an incumbent who has not been nominated to him for the purpose by the Board of Nominators.

The Standing Commission at present consists of the Bishop of Auckland, Chairman; Sir Frederick Whitaker, K.C.M.G., recently Premier and Attorney-General of the colony; the Hon. Colonel Haultain, formerly Defence Minister; Mr. Hugh Garden Scth Smith, M.A., Resident Magistrate; and Mr. Edwin Hesketh, Barrister. Mr. Hesketh is at present absent from Auckland, having gone to England in 1886 for the benefit of his health. He is considered the ablest of our Auckland advocates, and is a clear thinker and speaker. He was for many years the volunteer organist of his parish church, S. Mark's, where he was a most generous benefactor, not [28/29] only by giving largely of his time, but also of his money, for the improvement of the choir. On many occasions, the Synod and the Standing Committee have greatly benefited by his wise counsel, which is often given, after the Socratic manner, by asking a few plain and pointed questions. In the evening, I presided at the anniversary meeting of the Auckland Sailors' Home, of which institution I am to be President so long as I remain Bishop of Auckland. The Sailors' Home is at present carried on in premises on the Queen Street Wharf, leased by the M Council of the Home as a temporary arrangement until the permanent building, of which the first pile is to be driven this week, is ready for use. The Home is for the social, intellectual, moral, and religious benefit of the seafaring community of Auckland. The articles of association by which the affairs of the Home are managed were drawn up by Sir Frederick Whitaker, who is famed for his great ability in such matters. The Home is maintained by the interest on £12,150, the bequest of the late Mr. Costley. In 1882, I was induced, by the arrival in Auckland of Mr. Fell, who had been a seamen's missionary in Liverpool, to begin a Sailors' Rest in Auckland, encouraged by the sympathy and help of several of our clergy and lay people. We took a room in a shop on the Queen Street Wharf, and engaged the services of Mr. Fell. When our funds were nearly all expended, in 1883, I sent a communication to the New Zealand Herald, one of the principal Auckland papers, stating the purposes of the Rest and our want of funds. The statement was read by Mr. S. Jackson, who was on April 16, 1883, sent for [29/30] by Mr. Costley, then on his death-bed, to make his will, dividing his property (about £85,000) among seven Auckland institutions recommended by Mr. Jackson. Of these institutions one was "The Sailors' Home, inaugurated or to be inaugurated by Bishop Cowie." The Council of the Home have resolved to spend £4000 on the erection and furnishing of a suitable building, to be erected on a convenient site next to that of the Harbour Board offices, and to invest the balance for the maintenance of the Home. It is not likely that there will be any great increase in the demand for sleeping accommodation in Sailors' Homes in these colonies, as most of the vessels entering our ports are steamers, whose stay is short, and whose crews are required to be on board at night. The chief work of our Auckland Home will be, as I always expected it would, the social advantage and the intellectual, moral, and religious improvement of the seafaring population.

February 3, Thursday.--The seventeenth anniversary of our arrival in Auckland. I have not once been out of the diocese for a day's holiday since I entered it; my only absences having been to attend the triennial meetings of our General Synod, and, in recent years, the meetings of the University Senate, and those of the Church Missionary Board, [See page 20.] besides one visit to Norfolk Island in 1872, after the death of Bishop Patteson, to hold an Ordination and a Confirmation for the Melanesian Mission. The progress of this part of the colony, and of our diocese of Auckland, has been great during these years. The number of our clergy has increased from thirty-seven to seventy-five, and everything else, in [30/31] connection with the Church, has progressed in proportion. Here and there stagnation has occurred, and in some few cases perhaps retrogression, but on the whole our advance has been definite and satisfactory. At the present time, none of our people, however poor or distantly situated from the centres of population, are uncared for by the Church, or unvisited by a clergyman. My own duties are greatly increased, especially in the departments of visitation and letter-writing. Whereas, seventeen years ago, I could travel through the country in comparative leisure, staying with settlers and coming to know them well, I have now so many congregations to visit that I can rarely leave the main road or track on my journeys; and whenever I can I am obliged to travel by railway or by coasting steamer, to save time. My travelling expenses have increased proportionately, and exceed £100 a year.

February 4, Friday.--I went to Cambridge, accompanied by E., travelling the distance (101 miles) in about six and a half hours. Here we were the guests of Major and Mrs. Wilson. The oldest part of their house was built by Colonel Lyon in 1866, when he also planted the trees, of which some are now giants, especially the macrocarpas. Of these, the present girth of one that I measured, at a height of one foot from the ground, is fourteen feet.

In the evening, we attended a social gathering of the Church-people in the schoolroom, arranged by Archdeacon and Mrs. Willis, so as to give us an opportunity of meeting members of his flock whom we could not otherwise have seen. Two hours were pleasantly passed with conversation and music. S. Andrew's [31/32] Church, Cambridge, is one of the best buildings in the diocese, and is our only parish church that possesses a peal of bells. The bells are six in number, and cost in all £500, of which sum £100 were contributed by Mr. Hewitt, a parishioner. Everything connected with the Church here bears tokens of the unceasing care and the methodical ways of the incumbent, the Rev. W. N. de L. Willis, who is also Archdeacon of this division of the diocese. I first made the acquaintance of Mr. Willis in 1871, when he was residing at Whangai, in the Bay of Islands district. He came to New Zealand in 1866, as one of the pioneer settlers of Whangai, where, with Mr. Walsh (now one of my chaplains) and other sons of Irish clergymen, he took up, and began to clear and sow, land in one of the most out-of-the-way parts of the province, without roads or a market. Men who could work heartily under such circumstances were, I foresaw, the right sort of men for New Zealand clergymen; and I confidently recommended Mr. Walsh and Mr. Willis for scholarships at our College of S. John the Evangelist. As an indication of the rapid progress made by some of our settlements, I may mention that in 1871 the Church Committee bought for £10 an acre of land next to the church site, which acre was valued at more than £200 in 1880.

February 5, Saturday, was spent in clearing off some arrears of correspondence, and in other writing. In the evening, we went to see our old friends Mr. and Mrs. Wells. Their orchard, not six years old, is a sight worth going far to see; their apple, pear, and plum trees being laden with fruit of the choicest kinds. Mr. Wells has been one of our most generous and useful pillars of the [32/33] Cambridge Church. He is a member of the Diocesan and also of the General Synod.

February 6, Sunday.--A showery day, after months of drought. The thermometer, which stood at 80° in the shade before the rain began, fell to 65° in thirty-six hours.

In the morning, at eleven, I preached at S. Andrew's and held a Confirmation; Morning Prayer to the third collect being first said by Archdeacon Willis. In the afternoon, I went to Cambridge West, where I held afternoon service in the district school-house, the Archdeacon going to Ohaupo. In the evening, I took the service at S. Andrew's; Mr. Dyer, a rising young lawyer, helping me by reading the Lesson and giving out the notices. The two collections at S. Andrew's to-day, for the ordinary expenses of the church, amounted to £5 8s. £d. Considering the smallness of the population (about fifteen hundred) and the existing commercial depression, that sum will compare favourably with the ordinary offerings of a provincial town congregation in England. At Cambridge, as at our other country settlements, there is no Church endowment for any purpose; the whole cost of the maintenance of the clergyman and of public worship being borne by the people. It is to be hoped that endowments--to meet part of the ordinary expenses of our country churches--will be provided, when the sons and grandsons of the original settlers have established themselves on their lands.

February 7, Monday.--We spent the morning of this day in letter-writing, and the afternoon in paying visits.

February 8, Tuesday.--We left Cambridge in the [33/34] morning by train for Morrinsville, where we stayed from eleven a.m. to three. On the way we passed a station named Eureka. On a former occasion, when travelling this way, one of our fellow-passengers said to us, in reference to the name, "It is, I believe, an ancient name for a 'shirt,'" he having no doubt seen in England an advertisement of "Eureka shirts"! I told him the meaning of the word, and he exclaimed, "I don't suppose many people know that." At Morrinsville we have no church building, but the district forms part of the charge of the Rev. James Marshall, whose head-quarters are fifteen miles distant, at Te Aroha. Mr. Marshall holds service here on two Sundays of each month; and on other Sundays the service is conducted by Mr. Ozanne, the excellent lay reader, whose farm is nine miles distant. He and Mrs. Ozanne also keep up the Sunday-school.

I may here mention a strange case of mistaken identity that occurred when I was at Morrinsville in 1885. E. and two of our children came with me by train from Auckland, and there was in the same carnage with us a Mr. T------, recently arrived from England.

The railway then was not made beyond Morrinsville, whence passengers to Te Aroha travelled by coach. On that day, I had to remain behind at Morrinsville, to hold a Confirmation, and E. with the children continued their journey, accompanied by Mr. T------, who sat by the driver. As Mr. T------ was seen to give the children some glasses of milk, and to help E. and them out of the coach on reaching Te Aroha, it was naturally assumed by strangers that he was the Bishop; and, as Professor Black (of Dunedin) afterwards told me, Mr. [34/35] ---------- who travelled through the district with the professor, was almost everywhere addressed as the Bishop. I was afterwards told that on the journey to Te Aroha, Mr. T------ had had something to drink at a roadside inn; and there are, probably, several persons in the district who would take their affidavit that they had seen the Bishop drinking something stronger than water on his way to Te Aroha.

Our intercourse with "fresh arrivals" from Europe--"new chums," as they are called in the colony--is sometimes very amusing. Such persons often seem to assume that they are capable of instructing all who have arrived before them, even though it be but a few months, like persons who have recently taken up "religious views," and are ready to "convert" those who have led Christian lives for years, "studying to be quiet and do their own business." [1 Thess. iv. 11.] The late Mr. Swainson used to say that, on the arrival of an emigrant ship, he could tell all the newcomers he met in Queen Street by the look of conscious superiority to be seen in their faces. Not long after my arrival in New Zealand, I was informed by a young clergyman, a subsequent arrival, how the clergy dressed in London, and that in society, e.g. at a dinner-party, they were not expected to wear a dress coat; the latter piece of information being of course incorrect. It is not long since a new-comer informed me that there was in England a nobleman--Lord Auckland--named after our city!

In the afternoon, we went on by train from Morrinsville to Oxford (thirty-one miles), where we stayed for the night. Here the settlers are very few, and we have no [35/36] church building; but a Home Mission clergyman visits the district periodically. The chief business of the place is in connection with tourists, who travel to the Lake district by coach from this station. There is a large, well-kept hotel, the landlord being Mr. Rose; who told me that last year he had occasionally to supply luncheon on one day to seventy travellers, whereas now there are often not seven persons at that meal. The falling-off is chiefly owing to the eruption of the Tarawera mountain, and the consequent destruction of the pink and white terraces there, in June, 1886. Many travellers, it is thought, are now afraid to visit such a fiery district, and many seem to think that there is no longer anything worth going to see at Rotorua. Mr. Rose, the landlord, attributes the falling-off partly to the general commercial depression, and partly to the recent attractions of the Colonial Exhibition in London. Mr. Carter, the driver of the coach, says that comparatively very few of the tourists in past years have been New Zealanders. I never had an opportunity of seeing the famous terraces, as they were not in the diocese of Auckland, and I could not afford the time that a visit to them would have cost.

The land hereabouts belongs to the Auckland Agricultural Company. It is fairly good land, but the distance from Auckland is too great to allow of there being at present many persons desirous of beginning farming operations near Oxford. The estate is said to comprise 112,000 acres. The original shareholders, who purchased the land from the Maories, are likely to be losers, but they have done a good work for the colony, and one for which future settlers ought to be grateful.

[37] February 9, Wednesday.--In the afternoon, we went on by train (eleven miles) to Lichfield, so called in honour of the first Bishop of New Zealand, after whom the estate of which it is the chief settlement is name "the Selwyn Block," containing more than 280,000 acres. The Maori name of the district is Patatere. The railway station, at present the end of this branch line (which is to be extended to Rotorua), is said to be 750 feet above the sea. The temperature at the time of our visit was quite perfect. I have never experienced a more invigorating atmosphere since I came to New Zealand than I did here during our short stay; for though the sun was very hot, the air was dry and fresh. We stayed with Mr. Rich, the chief shareholder of the Patatere Company, who took me over the incipient township and its surroundings.

In the evening, at 7.30, I held a short service and gave an address in the Hall, in which the district school is at present carried on. Considering that it was Wednesday night, and that the few settlers are hard workers all day, and not accustomed to week-day services, the congregation was very good. Miss Rich played the harmonium. The ordinary Sunday service is conducted by a lay reader, at present Mr. Earl, whose predecessors have been Messrs. Halcombe and Rich, successively resident managers of the estate. In the Patatere and Oxford districts, one of our clergy spends two consecutive Sundays in each quarter his expenses and a small honorarium being guaranteed to him by the people. This work is at present done by the Rev. Theo. P. N. Hewlett, whose zeal and bodily energy, at the age of seventy-two, are an example and a stimulus to us all.

[38] February 10, Thursday.--I inspected the proposed church site at Lichfield, to be given to us by the Company. It is lot No. 464 on the plan shown to me by Mr. Rich, and is conveniently and beautifully situated for the township. Considering the distance of Patatere from the sea, and its general elevation, the climate of the district is, I should think, unsurpassed, perhaps unequalled, by any in New Zealand. It appeared to me to be the very place for a first-class public school. It is easily accessible from Auckland, is not near any large town, and, with its undulating and well-watered land, is admirably adapted for the cultivation of all manly and healthful sports. The character of the soil seems to be generally good. In the neighbourhood of Lichfield, which, I was told, is in the quality of the soil rather below than above the average of the block, English grasses, vegetables, fruits, and trees seemed to flourish as they do in Auckland. Notwithstanding all these natural advantages possessed by the estate, it is distressing to think that the original shareholders of the Patatere Company, who purchased the land from the Maories, are likely to be great losers, for lack of purchasers. No better work for the colony could be done than to prepare for settlement an extensive district of fairly good land like that of Patatere; but it may be done-too soon to be profitable, or otherwise than ruinous, to the doers of it. The 284,000 acres of this estate are said to have cost the company as many pounds, including all charges for surveying, etc. With a population of only two-thirds of a million in the whole colony, which is about the size of Great Britain, there is every prospect of the bulk of the Patatere Block remaining for many [38/39] years in the unwilling possession of the company, unless they are prepared to make a great sacrifice of their property.

In the afternoon, we went (fifty-five miles) by train to Te Aroha, where we stayed at the Hot Springs Hotel, a well-conducted establishment close to the public domain, in which are situated the famous baths.

In the evening, about eight o'clock, we sat out in the domain enjoying the cool air after the day's heat, and looking up at the dark mountain rising to a height of 3200 feet immediately behind the township. These grounds (about twenty acres) have been well laid out and planted, at the expense of the Government, and a number of baths of different kinds have been fitted up. The water is heavily charged with carbonate of soda. Carbonate of lithia is also present in an appreciable quantity. The water is very efficacious in relieving sufferers from dyspepsia, rheumatism, sciatica, kidney disease, calculus, sprains, etc. Sir James Hector says of these springs, "They are similar to the waters of Vichy and Chaudesaignes, in France; Bilin, Bohemia; Ems, Nassau; and are besides quite equal to them in strength." Some patients bathe three times a day; the evening bath between 8 and 9.30 being as popular as any. Before our bath at this hour, we went up the hill to the fountain, at which we each drank a cup of not unpleasant warm soda-water, which was welling up out of the ground. The temperature of the water in which we bathed was a little over 100°. It occasionally rises to 1140. Each of the private baths has attached to it a shower-bath apparatus for cold water, a douche of which, after the hot water, acts as a preventative from taking a chill. Te [39/40] Aroha is sure to increase in fame as time goes on. This season the number of visitors is smaller than it was last year; but the falling-off is only temporary, and is to be accounted for by the general impecuniosity of the colony. The price of bath tickets for private baths has this year very unwisely been increased from sixpence to a shilling, a charge that many visitors find inconvenient to pay.

February 11.--We spent the day in reading and writing. In the evening, we went to see the Rev. J. Marshall, the clergyman of the district, and his family. Mr. Marshall came to us from the disestablished Church of Ireland three years ago, and has proved a most valuable addition to our diocesan staff Mrs. Marshall and the young ladies are like the best kind of English clergyman's wife and daughters, in their helpfulness to him and their influence for good among his flock.

February 13, Sunday.--I preached at St. Mark's, Te Aroha, morning and evening, and at the latter service held a Confirmation. There was a good congregation in the morning, and an overflowing one in the evening. The site of the church, which is very central and convenient, was the gift of the Maori wife of Mr. Lipsey, the daughter of the late Chief Mokena Hou (Morgan).

February 14, Monday.--We returned to Auckland (112 miles) by train, the journey occupying nearly nine hours. The remainder of that day and nearly the whole of the next two (from 5.30 a.m. to 10 p.m.) were taken up in official correspondence.

On the 16th, I paid a visit, by their wish, to J. Caffrey and H. Pcnn, in the Auckland gaol, who were [40/41] to be hanged on February 21. These men were at the January assizes sentenced to death by Mr. Justice Ward, for the murder of Mr. Taylor on the Great Barrier Island in June, 1886. In passing sentence of death on these men, the judge very appropriately quoted the words, His "way is in the sea and" His "paths in the great waters" (Ps. lxxvii. 19), and "at His word the stormy wind" (Ps. cvii. 25) arose, in reference to the perilous voyage of the murderers, in a small vessel in very tempestuous weather, from New Zealand to Australia. The judge was captiously found fault with for quoting these words; but it was surely most suitable that he should do so, in addressing men who professed to believe the truth they conveyed--that "the Lord is against them that do evil." I saw the prisoners separately, in a small room near their cells. They were self-possessed and respectful. Caffrey came to me first. After some general conversation respecting his position, in answer to a question from me, he said that "his hope was in his Saviour," and that he repented of his sins. I spoke of the encouragement given to us all by the case of Zaccheus, in reference to whose repentance our Lord had said, "This day is salvation come to this house." I reminded him that the repentance of Zaccheus was not a matter of words and feelings only, but of deeds, and showed itself by acts of restitution. "If I have taken anything from any man ... I restore him fourfold." I asked him whether he had acted in the spirit of these words towards Mrs. Taylor, whose husband he had been declared guilty of taking from her. He seemed surprised at this aspect of the matter, and said that, [41/42] "as God knew all, he did not think it necessary to say anything to Mrs. Taylor." I said that, though he could not restore her husband to her, nor leave her any property to help to maintain her in her bereaved condition, he might and ought at least to let her know how grieved (if such was the case) he was for the injury he had done her, and how distressed he was at not being able to make her any sort of restitution. After some further conversation on the subject, he thanked me for pointing out to him this part of his duty, and asked me to inform Mrs. Taylor that "he was very sorry for the injury he had done her." I then reminded him of the injury he had done to Mr. Taylor's son and daughters, and of the restitution which, if it were possible, was due to them. In answer to this, all that he would say was that the other members of the family, that is, all but Mrs. Taylor, would not feel their loss much. I, of course, remonstrated against such a heartless treatment of the matter. I then had some general conversation with him on the subject of repentance, reminding him that we could not by repentance compound with God for disregarding His will, nor make that which we had done as though it had not been done, but that it was a condition of mind and heart in which alone God's forgiveness could be received.

Caffrey's manner was that of a weak man. Most of what he said to me was accompanied by a feeble simpering, which changed instantly to a hard, almost stern, look, when I spoke of a desire to make restitution as an essential part of repentance. He seemed glad to speak to me about himself, and would have said much more than he did, had I been able to remain. On [42/43] leaving me, to return to his cell, he thanked me for my visit, and shook my hand.

H. Penn was then brought to me. His manner was much more sedate than Caffrey's. He has generally been described as of a very forbidding appearance; but there was something rather attractive in the upper part of his face. I spoke to him in the same strain as I had spoken to Caffrey. He told me that he had sent a message to Mrs. Taylor, expressing sorrow for the injury he had done her. I reminded him of the wrong he had done to his own wife. He acknowledged his evil conduct in this matter, and said he was hoping that she would yet come to sec him, so that he might tell her of his repentance. I asked them both whether they had thought of the wrong they had done to the colony by putting it to a considerable expense, besides the graver evils they had committed against it, and whether they had thought of any sort of restitution they could make to the people of Auckland. This seemed to be a new idea to them, and they asked me in what way they could make any kind of amends. I suggested to each that he might make a truthful statement of all he had done at the Great Barrier, and of anything else that it would be well for the authorities to know, without injury being done to others, to be published at once, or after February 21. Caffrey said that he had already written a true account of his own action in June, 1886. He said also that he was sorry that his sister had not entered the Women's Home when Mrs. Cowie tried to induce her to do so. Penn thanked me for my visit, and shook hands with me. Both he and Caffrey spoke very gratefully of the ministrations of the Rev. J. S. [43/44] Hill, the Church chaplain of the gaol, who has been most attentive and helpful to these wretched men. In 1874, I saw a good deal of------, in the Auckland gaol, before and after he was sentenced to death (by Sir G. Arney, then Chief Justice) for the murder of a half-witted woman who lived with him. In my last conversation with------, just before he was pinioned for execution, he told me that he had poured kerosene on the woman's hair, and then set fire to it, and afterwards thrown her into the river--to extinguish the flame. He had not intended to kill her, he said, and added complacently that his object was to "frighten her into confessing her sins," by giving her some idea of what hell would be like if she did not repent! He did not seem to feel any remorse for his diabolical deed, but rather to consider himself an injured person.

February 17.--We left home for the south, travelling by a small steamer, the Gairloch (four hundred tons) from Onehunga, the port on the west of the Auckland isthmus, about six miles from the Auckland harbour, to Waitara, in the province of Taranaki. From the Manukau Bar to the Waitara Bar the distance is 114 miles. It took us about sixteen hours to accomplish the passage, there being a strong southerly wind blowing against us most of the way. The'Manukau Bar, just outside our northern harbour on the west coast, has rather a bad name, chiefly in consequence of the wreck of H.M.S. Orpheus there in the year 1863; but I am told that the bar at the entrance of the Mersey would be more formidable than that at Manukau, but for the dredging that it undergoes continually, at a very great expense to the harbour authorities.

[45] February 18.--We were met at Waitara by the Rev. F. T. Baker, clergyman of the district, one of our Maori scholars, his father having been a clergyman of the Church Missionary Society. Mr. Baker's work is at present chiefly among the European settlers; the few remaining Maories of the district having been alienated from Christianity, by the injuries they consider themselves to have sustained from the British Government during the ever-to-be-lamented war of 1863.

In the forenoon, we went on (eleven miles) by railway to New Plymouth, the chief town of the province of Taranaki, which forms a separate archdeaconry of the diocese of Auckland. During our stay at New Plymouth we were the guests of the Archdeacon and Mrs. Govett, at S. Mary's Parsonage. The Archdeacon is an Oxford man and a scholar. He took classical honours in 1841, and came to New Zealand as a settler. In 1845, he was ordained by Bishop Selwyn, and in 1848 became clergyman of S. Mary's, where he has remained ever since, much to the advantage of the people of New Plymouth and the surrounding districts. As in other Christian graces, so also in that of "distributing to the necessity of the saints," he has taught by example as well as by precept; the parsonage itself having been built by him at his own cost on Church land.

At seven p.m., I preached at S. Mary's, at the usual Friday evening service. The archdeacon has the assistance of a deacon.

February 19, Saturday.--The thermometer stood at 77° in our room at the parsonage, with a wide-open window, the wind being in the north-west.

In the afternoon, we returned to Waitara.

[46] February 20, Sunday.--In the morning, at eleven, I held a Confirmation at S. John's. The site of this church was given, and its design (with working drawings) made, by the first resident clergyman, the Rev. Philip Walsh, who also contributed largely to the cost of the building. It is ecclesiastically correct, and in good taste, like all Mr. Walsh's churches; of which, happily, there are several in the diocese. At the service, Morning Prayer to the end of the third collect was said by the Rev. F. T. Baker, according to our custom at Sunday Confirmations. The service was hearty, and the congregation reverent.

It is my endeavour never to detain the congregation beyond an hour and a half at a Sunday service. In our New Zealand climate, especially in the summer months, that time is as long as most people can keep their attention fixed. As it was, I was myself in an uncomfortable state of perspiration at the Waitara service, before beginning my part, though I wore no satin chimere, but only the thinnest of rochets over a light cassock. A heavy black satin chimere is certainly a cumbersome "survival" that Bishops may well be encouraged to discard in New Zealand.

In the afternoon, we drove (about twelve miles) to Inglewood, where we have another pretty little church of Mr. Walsh's designing. Our road was a great part of the way through interesting forest, consisting chiefly of tall kahikitea. The open chaise in which we travelled was drawn by a small unshod pony, whose progress was not rapid, especially as the road in places was made heavy by the drenching showers which fell during our journey. The driver informed us that the [46/47] steed had recently been purchased for fifteen shillings. In the evening, at seven, I held a Confirmation at Inglewood. The little church was crowded, and the service was all that one could wish. Mrs. Dymond, who played the harmonium, had come four miles for the purpose. Inglewood is one of the outlying settlements of the district of the Rev. H. H. Brown, who lives at Omata, several miles distant. On the Sunday of my visit Mr. Brown had to be with some of his other congregations, so that I had not the pleasure of his assistance. He is an Oxford man, and came to Taranaki before the war, in connection with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and has remained there ever since. In zeal and bodily energy he sets a bright example to his juniors, being now past seventy years of age.

February 21, Monday.--We left Inglewood in the morning, and reached Whanganui in the evening, 107 miles by railway. We crossed the boundary between the dioceses of Auckland and Wellington at Stratford, a settlement of increasing importance, not many miles from Inglewood. The chief exports from Inglewood and Stratford are butter and cocksfoot grass seed, but, at fivepence a pound, the former has not recently been very remunerative. The railway route in this part of the diocese is very interesting, being through dense forest, with the snow-crowned Mount Egmont towering up behind the dark-green foliage to a height of 8270 feet. Some of our experiences at small country inns have been very amusing. At one the landlady sat on her husband's right at meals, and, in token of her being above her position, ignored the presence of the guests. Neither he nor she met us on our arrival at the house, and they [47/48] affected not even to see us, as we entered the breakfast-room and took our seats at the table. Still less would either of them put out a hand to help us with any of our small packages, as, each laden with them, we struggled up the stairs to our room. Of course it was not long before we heard that they had "failed," and been obliged to leave the hotel.

February 22, Tuesday.--Our first visit to Whanganui was in March, 1871, on our return from Dunedin, where the General Synod was held that year. On that occasion, we travelled by coach from Wellington to New Plymouth, about two hundred miles, by a very rough road and track, along the coast all the way. E. was the first woman who had made the journey. The change that has taken place in sixteen years is wonderful. Whanganui was then a poor-looking little settlement. It is now very much larger, containing several fine buildings, and has a prosperous appearance. The continuation of the main street is quite pretty, with its villas surrounded by well-grown trees. We called on the Rev. T. L. and Mrs. Tudor. He is one of the senior clergy of the diocese (of Wellington), and was ordained by Bishop Selwyn in 1847. We also went to the college, a Church institution, richly endowed with lands, set apart for the purpose by the Government in the early days of the colony. Since the estate has yielded a revenue, the college has made great progress, under the able direction of the head master, the Rev. B. W. Harvey, on whom the Archbishop of Canterbury has recently, at the request of all the New Zealand Bishops, conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Dr. Harvey took his B.A. at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1857, when he [48/49] was placed seventeenth among the Wranglers of the year. At the college there are now over eighty boarders and seventy day scholars; the population of the town being 4901.

In the afternoon, we went on by train (sixty-three miles) to Palmerston, where we remained the night. Parts of the route were very striking, up long ascents and down long descents, by ledges cut out of the hillside, with deep gorges full of grand forest and fern down below. Some of the curves were very sharp, and the train seemed to travel over them faster than was safe.

February 23, Wednesday.--We left Palmerston at 7 a.m., and reached Wellington at 12.25, eighty-four miles by railway. The last part of the journey, from Paikakariki, was very interesting, along the beach, up the rocky coast of the Pacific through tunnels, by causeways through shallow bays, and finally down a long descent, through tunnelled hills, to the harbour of Wellington.

The University Senate met that day at noon, in the Legislative Council Chamber of the huge wooden Parliament buildings. There is one ordinary session of the Senate in each year, held in one of the chief cities of the colony. The Senate is the governing body of the University of New Zealand, and consists of twenty-four members, who are Fellows of the University. [The function of the University is to examine and not to teach. The expenses are met by a statutory grant of £3000 per annum.] Vacancies in the body are filled up alternately by the Senate and the Convocation; the latter body consisting of all graduates of the University whose standing is that of a B.A. of two years' standing at least. The Senate [49/50] elects the Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor, who are at present Dr. James Hector, F.R.S., and the Rev. J. C. Andrew, M.A. The former is quite A I as a scholar in all branches of Natural Science, and is highly gifted with the faculty of imparting his knowledge to others, not only with definiteness and lucidity, but with much charm of manner. Mr. Andrew is a good classical scholar, having been a Fellow and a Tutor of Lincoln College, Oxford, where he took his B.A. in 1844, being placed in the second class in literis humanioribus and in the mathematical list. For several years he was a member of the House of Representatives, and afterwards was master of Nelson College. He has now returned to his sheep run, on the coast to the north-east of Wellington. The other members of the Senate are Mr. J. M. Brown, M.A., late Snell Exhibitioner of Balliol College, Oxford, Professor of English at Canterbury College, Christchurch; Mr. F. D. Brown, M.A., formerly Demonstrator in Chemistry at the Museum, Oxford; the Rev. D. Bruce, formerly minister of S. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Auckland; Mr. C. H. H. Cook, M.A., formerly Fellow of S. John's College, Cambridge, where he took his B.A. in 1872, being placed sixth among the Wranglers, now Professor of Mathematics at Canterbury College, Christchurch; Mr. O. Curtis, Resident Magistrate of Nelson; Mr. F. Fitchett, M.A. of the New Zealand University, who obtained first-class honours in Political Science in 1880, the first member of the Senate elected by the Convocation; Mr. Joseph Giles, M.R.C.S., Resident Magistrate of Hokitika; the Hon. M. S. Grace, M.D., a member of the Legislative Council of New Zealand; the Rev. [50/51] W. J. Habens, B.A. (of the London University), a minister of the Independent body, and Inspector-General of Schools; Mr. Duncan Macgregor, M.A. of the University of Edinburgh, Inspector of Lunatic Asylums; the Hon. Sir G. Maurice O'Rorke, Knight Bachelor, Speaker of the House of Representatives, who took his B.A. degree at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1852; the Rev. J. Paterson, minister of the principal Presbyterian Church at Wellington; Sir James Prendergast, Knight Bachelor, Chief Justice of New Zealand, who took his B.A. at Queen's College, Cambridge, in 1850; the Right Rev. Dr. Redwood, Roman Catholic Bishop of Wellington; Mr. W. Rolleston, late Minister for Education, who took his B.A. degree at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1855; Mr. G. S. Sale, M.A., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, who took his B.A. in 1854, being placed eight in the first class of the Classical Tripos, now Professor of Classics in Otago University, Dunedin; the Rev. W. Salmond, D.D., a Presbyterian minister, Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy in the University of Otago; Mr. J. Shand, M.A. of the University of Aberdeen, Professor of Mathematics in the Otago University, Dunedin; the Hon. Sir Robert Stout, K.C.M.G., Premier of the Colony and Attorney-General; and myself.

The Senate sits daily from 10 a.m. to 1, and from 2.30 until the day's business is disposed of, unless otherwise ordered. Much of the work is, of course, done by select committees, of which I am a member of two, namely, those (1) for the selection of authors and periods for the Arts examinations in 1889, and (2) the arranging of the University Calendar.

[52] In November, 1886, the candidates for degrees who presented themselves for examination numbered 116; and 318 persons were examined for matriculation. The examination papers for degrees are at present prepared by experienced examiners in England; and those for matriculation by professors of our colonial colleges. The M.A. degree is only given after a separate examination, at which honours can be taken. It may be said of our New Zealand Arts degrees, as Professor Freeman (in 1886) said he hoped would be the case with those of Oxford, that "a Bachelor's degree is respectable, and a Master's degree honourable."

The absence of college life in connection with our University course in most of our cities is a great defect in our system, as compared with those of the older universities in Europe. It is a common complaint, and not altogether without justification, that our young graduates are very often uppish and conceited, and not at all improved socially or morally (in the highest sense) by their university studies, or, rather, by their having passed a series of examinations. As a rule, the easy and cultivated manner of English gentlemen cannot be acquired by our students otherwise than by association in daily life with many students of their own age. It is much to be desired, therefore, that at Auckland, and elsewhere in the colony, our wealthier citizens should enable the college councils to erect suitable buildings in which our students can be lodged; and should endow the colleges with scholarships, enabling the gifted sons of poor parents to avail themselves of our highest teaching.

In the afternoon of February 23 we went by train (eight miles) along the coast of the Wellington Harbour, [52/53] to the Lower Hutt settlement, where we took up our quarters at Mr. Pinkerton's hotel, a quiet house, the Railway Hotel. We had two roomy apartments upstairs, for which we paid only three shillings a day, as we were generally absent from 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and required no waiting upon. For our breakfast and evening meal the charge for each of us was one and sixpence; our food being good tea with bread-and-butter and fresh eggs. We can recommend this hotel to visitors who wish for quiet and cleanliness, and who would be content with plain food, wholesomely cooked.

February 24, Thursday.--Between the morning and afternoon sittings of the Senate we went to see the Bishop of Wellington, the Right Rev. Octavius Hadfield, one of Bishop Selwyn's early and most valued coadjutors. Bishop Hadfield was at Pembroke College, Oxford, but had to leave England without taking his degree, on account of delicacy of health. He was for many years Archdeacon of Kapiti in the diocese of Wellington, and in 1870 was consecrated second Bishop of that diocese, in succession to Bishop Abraham, now Canon of Lich-field. Bishop Hadfield is one of our best Maori scholars, a first-rate metaphysician, and a man of accurate and extensive general learning. He is, moreover, one of the best speakers in our General Synod; and we are all proud of him. Mrs. Hadfield is a daughter of Bishop Selwyn's first archdeacon, the Venerable Henry Williams, of Waimate, in the Bay of Islands, who for many years exercised an extensive influence for good among the Maories of the North. With them his memory is still fresh, and is cherished with profound affection and reverence.

[54] February 25.--The Senate, after considerable discussion, agreed to make Latin a non-compulsory subject in the Arts matriculation examination. The chief reason assigned for this change was that in the primary schools of the colony Latin is not taught, and that every encouragement should be held out to the young men and women from those schools to enter on a University course. Professor Sale, late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a First Class man, spoke in favour of the change.

February 26.--As the Senate did not meet to-day (Saturday), we spent the morning in writing letters for the mail to England, and the afternoon and evening in reading.

February 27, Sunday.--This was to have been a day of rest to me, after a long continuance of Sundays on which not less than two sermons had been preached, besides the discharge of other Lord's day duties.

This day, however, proved to be like other Sundays--few and far between--on which I had resolved, if possible, to be only a member of the congregation. I casually met the clergyman of the district on the previous Thursday evening, when he told me that he was in a difficulty about Sunday morning, as he had just been informed that the Volunteers were coming to church then, and he had arranged to be with another of his congregations. Would I preach? Of course I could not say "No," under the circumstances. E. had thoughtfully brought my medals with her, and I therefore wore them on the occasion. [For the capture of Lucknow (1858), and the Umbeyla campaign against the Afghan tribes (1863).]

[50] We thought I might be able to take a holiday on Sunday evening, at all events; but a note was brought to me in the vestry at the Hutt, just as I was about to enter the church, saying that Bishop Hadfield had met with a serious accident the night before, and asking me to preach in the cathedral on Sunday evening. Accordingly, we went to Wellington in the evening. It was the first Sunday in Lent, and I took as the main subject of my sermon--"Restitution, as a note of true repentance." Evening Prayer was said by the Rev. Edward Lush, a son of my late friend and archdeacon (of the Waikato), the Ven. Vicesimus Lush. Mr. Lush went to England in 1880, and in due time took his B.A. degree at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He was afterwards at Cuddesdon College, and was subsequently Curate of Aberdare. The church was well filled, and the service was much more hearty than when I took part in it a year ago. There was a large surpliced choir of men and boys. Among the former was Major Jervois, R.E., a son of the Governor and his A.D.C., who also read the Lessons, which he did particularly well. S. Paul's, Wellington, is the cathedral church of the diocese, and also a parish church, the incumbent being the Rev. John Still, M.A. Mr. Still came to New Zealand first in 1872, en route to join the Melanesian Mission, with the Rev. J. R. Selwyn, the younger son of the Bishop of Lichfield (formerly of New Zealand). After seven years of valuable help to the mission, he was obliged, on account of his wife's delicate health and his own, to return to England in 1880. In 1885, he came back to New Zealand, having been invited to accept his present charge at Wellington. [55/56] Mrs. Still is the daughter of the late Rev. W. Nihill, one of Bishop Selwyn's first European coadjutors in the Melanesian Mission, who died on the island of Nengone in 1855. Mr. Still rowed twice in the Cambridge boat with Bishop John Selwyn, in the University race against Oxford; and the two friends have since then had many an adventurous voyage in a small boat (belonging to the Southern Cross) among the coral reefs of the South-West Pacific. With implicit confidence in one another--one managing the sail and the other the rudder--they were accustomed to take their little craft through raging surf, which under ordinary circumstances would have been quite impracticable for any boat. We returned to the Hutt by the 8.40 p.m. train.

February 28.--Senate work from ten a.m. to one, and from two p.m. to four. One of the committees on which I served to-day was that for the selection of authors and periods for the Arts Examinations in 1889; and I was commissioned to read through Lucian's "Dialogues of the Dead," and to report whether they could be without scandal set among the books in which candidates for honours in Arts should be examined in that year. I obtained a copy of Lucian in the Parliament Library at luncheon time, and at once set to work reading the famous Dialogues.

March 1.--Senate work continued. The fee for admission to the entrance examination was raised from one guinea to two, for financial reasons. It was thought that one result of this change would be to check a growing custom in secondary schools of sending in their elder scholars to the matriculation examination, as a test of the school's efficiency; for which the examination is neither intended nor fitted.

[57] March 2.--Senate work continued. It was proposed by Sir Robert Stout that Latin should no longer be a compulsory subject of examination for the Arts degree; but the Senate vetoed the proposal. In the evening, we went to a conversazione, given in honour of the Senate, in the Colonial Museum buildings, by Dr. and Mrs. Hector. About eighty guests were present. The museum is a credit to the colony, and to Dr. Hector, by whom the various collections have been got together and arranged.

March 3.--Senate work continued. The relation between the Science and the Arts degrees was arranged.

Miss Nesfield, whose brother I knew in India in 1865, gave me some dried flowers from the grave of Brigadier-General Adrian Hope, who was killed at Rooyah, on the march from Lucknow to Bareilly, on April 15, 1858. I said the funeral service at that gallant officer's grave, when many other brave fellows were also buried, in a large pit, on April 16, the day after the disastrous attack on Rooyah Eort. The column was commanded on that occasion by a soldier of experience, who made the great but common mistake of English generals, of despising the coloured enemy, and, in consequence, sustained a humiliating defeat. Adrian Hope was a son of the Earl of Hopetoun, and was one of the most promising and popular men in the army. The other officers killed, or mortally wounded, on that day were Lieutenants Charles Douglas and Alfred Jennings Bramley, of the 42nd Highlanders (the Black Watch), and Lieutenant H. Willoughby, of the 4th Punjab Infantry. Among the wounded were Major Tombs, of the Bengal Artillery, and Captain Cafe, of the Bengal [57/58] Native Infantry. I am intending, if I ever have leisure enough, to publish extracts from my journal of those days, if only to do honour to the fine fellows with whom I was in daily intercourse during the campaign of 1858.

March 4 and 5.--Senate work continued. On the 5th, we had luncheon with Captain and Mrs. Medley. He is one of the Governor's A.D.C.'s, and was formerly in the navy, having served in the Pandora under Lord Alcester (Beauchamp Seymour). Captain Medley is a son of the Bishop of Frederickton (Canada), now eighty-five years of age; and Mrs. Medley is a daughter of the late Rev. R. Taylor, who was for many years a C.M.S. missionary at Whanganui. The Bishop met with a strange accident recently, which might have been fatal to a man of his age, but from which he has happily recovered, owing to his strong constitution. When calling at a friend's house, he saw in the room a collie dog, and stooped down to pat it. The beast--being of an uncertain temper, after his species--sprang at the Bishop's face, in which he made two or more bad wounds. The wounds healed quickly, and so far the Bishop has not felt any other evil effects of the bites.

March 6, Sunday.--In the morning I preached at .9. James's, Hutt, and in the evening in the cathedral at Wellington, my subject on both occasions being the Melanesian Mission, this being the diocesan day for making collections for that work. [See Appendix C, p. 344.] Between the services we dined and spent a few hours with Dr. and Mrs. Hector, at their charming home at Petone, about six miles from Wellington; the house being built on a low spur of the range of hills that borders the harbour.

[59] March 7 and 8.--Senate work continued. In the afternoon of the 8th, we went by train to Kaitoke, about twenty-seven miles, to see the district of the Upper Hutt and the forest in the direction of the Rimutaka. Thousands of acres of fine trees seemed to have been burnt recently for clearing purposes. The railway ascends from the Hutt river until, at Summit, it attains an elevation of about twelve hundred feet. The steepest part of the ascent is accomplished by the engine by the help of a central rail, on which two horizontal wheels work.

On March 7, a land sale took place at Wellington, of 11,649 acres of forest, more or less uncleared, in different parts of the province of Wellington. The sum realised was £17,277; the land being all bought (it was said) for bona fide occupation, in lots varying from 27 to 382 acres. The land was sold by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, and was situated at Tokomaru, Shannon, and in the Upper Hutt district.

March 9, Wednesday.--We met Archdeacon Dudley, who had arrived the day before from Auckland, on his way to Rangiora in the diocese of Christchurch, to see his father, Canon Dudley, who is thought to be on his death-bed. The canon is now eighty-one years of age, and until quite lately has taken regularly the Sunday services in his church. He has for some years been a great advocate of total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors. His son, our archdeacon, has inherited his father's zeal, self-denial, and indomitable energy. Though a man of frail bodily appearance, and without an ounce of spare flesh, he scarcely knows what it is to rest, and is very rarely unfit for Sunday duty, though his church, [59/60] S. Sepulchre's, is large, and not at all easy to make one's self to be heard in. The archdeacon is my commissary. During his absence from Auckland, that office will be held by the Rev. C. M. Nelson, my senior examining chaplain, and now one of the senior clergy of the diocese. The archdeacon has a good helpmeet in his wife, who is a daughter of the late Rev. J. F. Churton, the first clergyman of Auckland, who died in 1853. Mrs. Dudley's calm wisdom and gentle but imperturbable manner inspire confidence in all who come in contact with her--a confidence that grows with increasing acquaintance.

I went to see Bishop Hadfield before leaving Wellington. He was in bed, and is likely to remain there for some weeks yet. He was in good spirits, and felt that he was getting over some of the effects of his fall. He was, of course, very pale and thin, but the doctor does not seem to attach much consequence to those symptoms. It is a matter of general astonishment and rejoicing that the Bishop was not more seriously injured on Saturday evening, March 6, when he fell from the top to the bottom of a flight of stairs, about twenty feet deep, bruising his back severely and cutting his head. He was insensible for about an hour and a half.

We left Wellington at 1.45 p.m., and reached Palmerston in the evening; all the Senate business being finished except formal matters which could be disposed of by a quorum of members resident in Wellington.

March 10, Thursday.--We left Palmerston at 6.50 a.m. for Whanganui. We were struck by the versatility of the guards of these railway trains. Only young men, [60/61] in sound health, with all their wits about them, and very active in body, are at all fit for the office. One of them, Henley by name, on the train from Palmerston, fairly astonished us by his feats of agility; running on ahead of the engine, to open and close the points at shunting stations, dropping waggons on various sidings, and picking up others to be added to the train. We feel that such men deserve the highest wages that are given to them, and that pensions should be provided by Government for their declining years, when they have expended all their bodily vigour in the service of their department.

We arrived at Whanganui in the morning and stayed until the following day. The fruit shops here are many, and the fruit is abundant and good, but the price is astonishingly high, e.g. sixpence for a pound of apples or pears, as at Wellington.

In the evening, we went for a stroll across the bridge to the other side of the river. The bridge is of a massive character, resting on iron cylinders. It was being erected when E. and I first visited Whanganui on our return from the General Synod at Dunedin, in March, 1871. A native land court is at present being held here, and Maories are to be seen wandering about the town all day long. Their small white tents, pitched on the river bank, looked very pretty from the bridge in the bright moonlight.

March 11.--We took a room at the same hotel in Whanganui at which we stayed on our way to Wellington on February 21. On that occasion we were not recognised, and were therefore charged the same as other guests were; but this time, in consequence of [61/62] being discovered and inquired for by some acquaintances, we were distinguished by being required to pay a higher rate for our board and lodging. On our asking for the bill before leaving, the person in charge said, "I suppose you don't care for particulars. It comes to 14s." I looked astonished, and said that I did not quite see how it came to so much, as the charge for each meal was 1s. 6d.: tea for two, 3s.; breakfast for two, 3.s.; bed, 3s. The reply was, "You had a cup of tea on your arrival." "Yes," I said, "but two cups of tea don't cost five shillings." The woman thereupon looked confused, and said, "You had the use of a sitting-room, and I thought as you were a gentleman you would not mind paying a little more." I still looked dissatisfied, especially as the only use we made of a sitting-room was, for a short time this morning, to write a letter. Moreover, there was no table in the room when we were shown into it, and a tiny dressing-table had to be brought for us from a neighbouring bedroom. Finally, the landlord's representative said, "I will make it 12s., then;" and that sum was paid by me, under protest.

In the afternoon, we left Whanganui by train, and reached Waitara at ten p.m.; and left by the Gairloch for Onehunga before eleven. Among our fellow-passengers on the Gairloch were many members of the Auckland Volunteer force, returning from the annual firing competition, held this year at Christchurch. One of them, Captain White, brought away with him the Champion Belt. The Gairloch was built for the conveyance chiefly of cattle. On this trip there were more than fifty passengers, about as many oxen, a good number of sheep, and some packages of general [62/63] merchandise. Many of the passengers had to sleep on the deck; but, as the sea was smooth and the weather fine, the deck was as comfortable for men as the cabins. A faster and more commodious boat is now needed for the passenger traffic between Waitara and Onehunga.

During our absence, of three weeks and two days, our daughter Katharine Vaughan, now nearly fourteen years of age, kept house for us. She and her two younger brothers had the companionship of our dear friend Mary Amina Maning, the daughter of the late Mr. F. E. Maning, who lived for many years in the Hokianga district, and was a judge of the Native Land Court. We regard Miss Maning as a member of the family, and value highly her friendship; her gifts of mind and heart being great, and her knowledge of human nature astonishing, considering the comparative seclusion of her life. Her extensive acquaintance with modern English literature and her rare common sense, combined with originality and independence of thought, make her society always entertaining and generally helpful.

March 13, Sunday.--We were at the eight a.m. service at S. Mary's, Parnell, the parish church nearest to Bishopscourt, where I was celebrant.

At the eleven a.m. service I only read the Lessons and gave the blessing; the prayers being said and the sermon preached by the Rev. C. M. Nelson, the incumbent of S. Paul's, Auckland, who was making an exchange with the incumbent of .S. Mary's, for that service. Mr. Nelson's case is an instance of what can be done for a man by a judicious change of climate. I met him in England in 1869, shortly before leaving home for New Zealand. He was then in delicate health, [63/64] and was contemplating a voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, by the advice of his doctor. On the recommendation of my old friend, the Rev. E. H. Blyth, then of -S\ Saviour's, Croydon, I asked the Bishop of Lichfield (who had been commissioned by the Board of Nominators to choose a clergyman for S. Paul's, Auckland) to nominate him for that charge; which he did. Mr. Nelson arrived in Auckland in May, 1870; and no one would now think, from hearing him in church, that he had ever been threatened with a delicacy of lungs. His sermon on this occasion was one of a prescribed "course," and was on S. Paul's words, "Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up." [I Cor. xiii. 4.] It was a plain, pointed, and practical discourse;.scholarlike and simple; well adapted to all sections of his hearers. Mr. Nelson is an M.A. of Queen's College, Cambridge, where he was placed in the Second Class of the Classical Tripos in 1867. In addition to his proper duties as incumbent of a town parish, he has done much good work for the diocese in examining candidates for Holy Orders; and has, besides, proved himself a useful member of the Board of Governors of the Auckland College and Grammar School, and has given much help from time to time in examining young people at the principal educational institutions of Auckland.

March 14, Monday.--The morning was spent by us, as usual, in writing letters, and seeing visitors on matters of business. In the afternoon I attended the monthly meeting of the council of the Auckland University College. The council consists of eleven members; of whom two are the Mayor of Auckland and the chairman [64/65] of the Auckland Board of Education, ex officio, at present Mr. E. T. Devore, and Mr. S. Luke, respectively. Of the remaining nine, six were appointed by the Governor in Council, and three were elected by the members of the General Assembly resident in the Provincial District of Auckland. As soon as there are thirty New Zealand graduates on the books of the college, they will elect three of the six members of council now appointed by the Governor. The council elect their own chairman annually. Hitherto that office has been held by the Hon. Sir G. Maurice O'Rorke, to whom the people of Auckland are mainly indebted for the existence of the college. The other members of the council are the Rev. Robert Bruce, formerly minister of S. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Auckland; Mr. T. B. Gillies, a judge of the Supreme Court, to whom the college is indebted for two scholarships endowed with £2000; the Hon. Colonel Haultain, of much experience in educational matters, one of the oldest and most universally respected of our Auckland people; Mr. Edwin Hesketh, of whom mention has already been made; the Rev. Alexander Reid, one of the senior Wesleyan ministers of the colony, and the Principal of the Three Kings College, belonging to that body; Mr. H. G. Seth Smith, M.A., the Resident Magistrate of Auckland, formerly a Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a high Wrangler in 1872; Sir Frederick Whitakcr, who took a chief part in effecting the establishment of the college, and of whom mention has already been made; and myself--one of the three elected by the Members of Parliament. The secretarial work of the council is done by the Rev. R. Kidd, LL.D., of Trinity College, Dublin, [65/66] of whose ability as a logician the late Archbishop Whately held the highest opinion. The business of the council to-day was of a routine character, and occupied about an hour.

Our college was established in 1882, and is endowed with a statutory grant of £4000 a year. It has also a large land endowment, from which a revenue of £500 a year has recently begun to be received. The college has four professors, to each of whom the council pays £700 a year and fees. Of these, the Professor of Mathematics is Mr. W. S. Aldis, M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was Senior Wrangler in 1861; the Professor of Chemistry is Mr. F. D. Brown, Hon. M.A. of Oxford, of whom mention has already been made; the Professor of Classics and English is Mr. H. M. Posnett, LL.D. of Dublin, where he was Senior Moderator in Classics in 1877; and the Professor of Biology and Geology is Mr. A. P. W. Thomas, M.A., late Scholar of Balliol College, Oxford. The work of the college is at present carried on in two old buildings--of which one was the court-house of the Resident Magistrate, and the other the Admiralty House, built as a residence for the senior naval officer of the Australian squadron when sojourning at Auckland. The number of students now attending lectures at the college is seventy-eight. Of these, thirty-four (including eight women) are undergraduates of the University of New Zealand. [The first University that granted a B. A. degree to a woman was that of New Zealand, and the first such recipient of the degree was Miss K. M. Edger, at whose reception of her diploma I had the pleasure of being present, in 1877, in the Choral Hall, Auckland.]

[67] March 15.--As this was a normal day "at home," I give some details of the manner in which it was spent. We were up at daylight. I wrote official letters until eight a.m., at which hour, with military punctuality, we ordinarily have breakfast. Whilst writing my morning letters I teach our two youngest children--Katharine Vaughan and Arthur Preston--Latin and Greek on alternate mornings. At breakfast we occasionally have visitors, who come to that meal as I cannot find time to speak to them later in the day. At 8.30 we all assemble for prayers in the private chapel, which we now call S. Barnabas, since the removal of the original church of that name from Parnell to Mount Eden. Immediately after breakfast, visitors began to arrive, to see me about matters of business; and others to see E., and obtain advice or other help in divers difficulties. On the Wednesday morning of each week, when in Auckland, I am to be found at our Diocesan Office in Queen Street, at ten o'clock, for the convenience of clergymen and others who wish to see me, but who cannot well spare the time to go to Bishopscourt (about a mile and a half from town), with the possibility of not finding me at home. As I have been away from Auckland for several weeks, I made this my office day. I returned to Bishopscourt to dinner at one o'clock, when we had several guests. As one of our travelled clergy said recently, "the Bishop of Auckland combines the office of consul with that of chief pastor. He is expected to befriend and entertain all strangers and new arrivals." We rarely dine alone; if only by reason of the many visitors from England and elsewhere, who bring us letters of introduction, and whom we cannot find time to speak [67/68] to except at breakfast or dinner. Such letters of introduction are often sent to me by persons I never heard of, and persons who do not know me by name, but who know that there is a "Bishop of Auckland," likely to be found at home and willing to befriend strangers. ["Vidi necesse esse habere episcopum exhibere humanitatem quiscunque venientibus sive transeuntibus."--Augustine.]

In the afternoon, I presided at a meeting of our Standing Committee, which is elected by the Synod, and represents the Synod when it is not in session. The committee consists of the Bishop, ex officio (without whose consent no action can be taken by the committee); and five clergymen and seven laymen, elected annually by the Synod. Of the clerical members, one is the Venerable Robert Maunsell, LL.D., formerly Archdeacon of Auckland and Incumbent of S. Mary's, Parnell. He is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and came to New Zealand in 1835, in connection with the Church Missionary Society. He is one of our best Maori scholars; and the Church is greatly indebted to him for the Maori version of the Bible, which is mainly the result of his learning and industry. The other clerical members are--Archdeacon Dudley and the Revs. F. Gould, C. M. Nelson, and G. H. S. Walpole. Of Archdeacon Dudley and Mr. Nelson mention has already been made. Mr. Gould came to New Zealand from Devonshire in 1848, and was ordained by Bishop Selwyn in 1852. His present charge is the parish of Otahuhu-cum-Panmure, in the neighbourhood of Auckland. For several years he did much valuable work in connection with the Home Mission of the diocese, going to neglected country districts periodically, to minister to people who could [68/69] not maintain a resident clergyman. Throughout these districts Mr. Gould's name is a household word, and his visits are held in grateful and affectionate remembrance. The Rev. G. H. S. Walpole came to us from Truro, in 1882; having been selected for the Incumbency of S. Mary's parish, Parnell, by my senior commissary, the Rev. A. R. Tomlinson, to whom the nomination of a clergyman had been delegated by the Board of Nominators.* Mr. Walpole was at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his degree in 1877, being placed in the First Class of the Theological Tripos, and obtaining an Evans Prize for highest marks in Ecclesiastical History and the Greek and Latin Fathers. The Bishop of Truro (now Archbishop of Canterbury), writing in September, 1882, said of him, "The loss of him will be a grievous one to us all--to college, to cathedral, and to me personally; but I scarcely know any one whom I could recommend so heartily to the work of Auckland. He is an accomplished, well-read man, has had experience in parish work as well as in training men for the ministry, is a good musician, and a most hard worker in the cause of his Master. His preaching is good and sensible, and his views are liberal and comprehensive. I cannot imagine where we are to look for any one who can take his place with us; but I have no right to keep him from work for which he and his future wife are exceptionally fitted. . . . He came with me here, as tutor in our Theological College, and was first curate and afterwards precentor in our new-born cathedral." Mr. and Mrs. Walpole have (if possible) more than fulfilled our expectations founded on this high commendation. The lay [69/70] members of the Committee are Messrs. Kensington, Larkins, Luke, Rawlings, Rice, S. Percy Smith, and H. G. Seth Smith. Mr. W. C. Kensington, of the Government Survey department, is one of the senior and most efficient of our lay readers. Mr. Larkins is another of our lay readers, and has been specially helpful to the prisoners in the Auckland gaol. Mr. S. Luke is the chairman of the Auckland Board of Education, who is also on our staff of lay readers, and gives much valuable help to the clergyman of his parish. Mr. Luke is held in high honour by his neighbours, and by the many persons with whom he has been officially connected, as a straightforward man of business, and a single-minded and unselfish friend. Mr. Rawlings is one of our best Auckland financiers, and is the "great unpaid" of several of our institutions, charitable and literary. Mr. Vincent E. Rice is the secretary of the Auckland Board of Education, and one of our most zealous and helpful laymen in all Church work. He kept his terms at Christ Church, Oxford, and came to New Zealand in 1863. Mr. Rice is one of our most scientific musicians, and has been of great service to the Auckland Choral Society, and to our Diocesan Choral Association. He is the organist of .S. Sepulchre's (our largest Auckland church); and the efficiency of the choir and the reverent tone of the services there are greatly the result of his constant painstaking, and of the cordial support that he has for many years given to the incumbent. In the opinion of capable judges, Mr. Rice is scarcely to be surpassed as an accompanist; and from personal experience I can speak gratefully of the devotional aid afforded by his devout performance of the [70/71] organist's part in public worship. Mr. S. Percy Smith's opinion is of the highest value in all matters connected with the valuation and survey of land; and in Church work of all kinds, whether diocesan or parochial, his aid is given cordially, and is much appreciated. Mr. II. G. Seth Smith came to New Zealand in 1881, partly for the benefit of his health, and was appointed Resident Magistrate and District Judge of Auckland in 1882. Mr. Smith is an M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was fourteenth Wrangler in 1871. He was a Scholar of his college, and is a classical and Hebrew scholar, as well as a mathematician. He is an excellent lecturer and extempore speaker, and his ministrations as a lay reader are highly appreciated by our people generally. He has given me personally much valuable help since he came to Auckland. The Standing Committee acts as a council of advice to the Bishop in matters submitted by him to them; and, among other special duties, has charge of the Home Mission Fund of the diocese.

After the meeting of the Standing Committee, the evening of this day was taken up by writing official letters.

March 16 and the remaining days of this week were occupied much as was the 15th. On Thursday, the 17th, was held the second of the two ordinary monthly meetings of our Diocesan General Trust Board, of which I am chairman; the other members being the Rev. R. Burrows, and Messrs. H. Brett, J. Dacre, J. Dilworth, T. Kissling, Luke, Pierce, and Upton. Mr. Burrows is one of the senior clergy of the Church Missionary Society, and was until recently their local secretary, in which office, during many years, he did valuable work [71/72] for the Society. Though now past threescore years and ten, he is always ready to help his younger brethren in the Sunday services, even when a journey or a voyage by sea is involved in giving such assistance. Mr. Brett is an accomplished musician, and is the owner of one of the principal Auckland daily papers, and of one of the largest and best-managed printing establishments in the colony. Mr. Dacre is one of our chief authorities in matters connected with the purchase of land, and gives the Board the benefit of his valuable advice in rendering the trust property as profitable as possible. The same may be said of Mr. Dilworth, who is one of the oldest of our Auckland settlers, and is one whom I have always found a warm-hearted, sympathising friend. Mr. T. Kissling is a son of the first Archdeacon of Auckland (then styled of Waitemata), a highly respected clergyman of the Church Missionary Society, a German by birth. Mr. Kissling has given me much help during my episcopate, in matters in which a sound legal opinion was needed. Mr. Luke has already been mentioned. Mr. Pierce may be described as the ever-ready friend of all who are in need of sound advice and other help, to the utmost of his ability. He is known to almost every one in Auckland who has been resident there for any time, and is most respected and beloved by those who know him best, as a scrupulously honourable man and sincere friend. To the community in general he is the worthy representative of the Masonic body; and among Church-people his good deeds in connection with our Orphan Home, during the whole course of its existence, are in particular held in high honour. But to specify all the deserving causes that he has aided, with money [72/73] or otherwise, would be to name most of the Christian undertakings of the diocese since he became a resident in Auckland. Mr. Upton is one of our best men of business. He is a clear thinker, and is able to express his thoughts in plain and forcible language. He has given our Trust Boards and Standing Committee much valuable assistance during many years, especially in financial matters.

This Board of trustees is charged with the administration of very valuable estates, of which the gross value .at present is estimated at about £57,727. These estates include the Bishopric endowment, the Native School endowment, the Native Pastorate endowment, the General Diocesan endowment, and the church and parsonage sites of the diocese. Our secretary is Mr. W. S. Cochrane, who is also the secretary of our other Trust Boards, and of the Standing Committee. He is the beau ideal of a secretary, painstaking, accurate, punctual, and of few words. The soundness of our financial position is greatly due to Mr. Cochrane's ability and zeal; and I am personally much indebted to him for relieving me of anxiety in all departments of Church work with which he is specially concerned.

March 25, Friday.--I went to the Thames (a five-hours' passage by sea from Auckland), accompanied by our daughter. By the same steamer went Archdeacon Clarke and Mrs. Clarke, Miss Maning, and some of our Maori clergy, namely, the Revs. Renata Tangata (one of my chaplains), Matiu Kapa, Hare P. Taua, Reihana Kaamiti, and Rupene Paerata; also some of our principal Maori laymen of the north, including Ihaka te Tai, a Chief of the Ngapuhi tribe and member of the [73/74] House of Representatives, Paora Tuhaere, the Orakci Chief of the Ngatimaniapoto tribe, and Hemi Keepa Tupe, of Whangaroa. The purposes of my visit were to admit to Deacon's Orders a Maori chief named Hone Papahia, and to preside at a meeting of our Native Church Board. The course of a steamer from Auckland to the Thames is through the Hauraki Gulf, between the mainland and a succession of picturesque islands--a stretch of sea quite perfect for yachting. At the Thames--the principal goldfield of the North Island--I was the guest of my kind friends, Dr. and Mrs. Payne, with whom I have stayed many times when on visitation. Dr. Payne is quite an enthusiast in his own noble calling, and it is always interesting and instructive to have a talk with him on medical subjects. Mrs. Payne gives much of her time and attention to those who are in trouble--in mind, body, or estate.

March 26, Saturday.--The day was spent in receiving visitors, and making arrangements for the Ordination to be held on the following day. In the afternoon, I had a conference with the clergy in S. Georges Church. Besides those who came with me yesterday, there were present also the Rev. F. G. Evans, the clergyman of S. George's, and the Rev. W. Turipona, Maori clergyman of the district. In the evening, three more Maori clergymen arrived, two from the Waikato archdeaconry, viz. the Revs. Heta Tarawhiti and Hohua Moanaroa, and the Rev. W. te Paa from Hokianga in the north.

March 27, Sunday,--The Ordination Service at ,S. George's began at eleven o'clock, Morning Prayer (in English) having been said at ten. The arrangements for the Ordination at S. George's, made by the Rev. [74/75] F. G. Evans and his churchwarden, Mr. Martin Lush, were excellent. The clergy--nine Maories and three Europeans--entered the church in procession by the west door, whilst "The Church's one foundation" was sung in Maori and English; some of our best English hymns having been translated into Maori by Mr. Edward Williams and others, in the same metre as the originals. The congregation consisted of two hundred Maories, to whom were given the front seats in the nave, and about five hundred Europeans. An excellent sermon was preached by the Rev. Renata Tangata, one of the senior Maori clergy, who received Deacon's Orders from Bishop Selwyn in 1860, and Priest's Orders from me in 1871. The Litany was said by the Rev. W. Turipona, the Commandments were read by the Rev. H. P. Taua, and each of the other Maori clergy took some part in the service; I being celebrant, and the archdeacon and two of the Maori clergy assisting me at the administration. The Maori admitted to Deacon's Orders was Hone Papahia, of the Rarawa tribe, one of the principal Chiefs of the Hokianga district. He is about thirty years of age, tall and dignified, one of Nature's gentlemen, and highly respected by all who know him. He was for three years at Gisborne College, where he was systematically taught, under the direction of Archdeacon Williams, an excellent Maori scholar, a sound theologian, and a devoted missionary. Hone's head-quarters are to be at Waiparera, where the Rev. Piripi Patiki lived until his death, in 1881. There are now fourteen Maori clergy in this diocese, making an increase of nine since the year 1870. In connection with most of the districts of these clergy there is an endowment for the maintenance of the [75/76] clergyman, given chiefly by the Maori congregations. The English choir of S. George's, in kindly feeling towards the Maories, had practised carefully the hymns in Maori the night before, with the help of Archdeacon Clarke; and at the service the singing was well led, and was congregational and hearty.

At 1.30, all the clergy and the Maori synodsmen were entertained at dinner at Parawai by Taipari, the principal Maori Chief of the district.

At three p.m., there was service in the Maori Church of the Holy Trinity at Parawai, the sermon being preached by the new deacon, the Rev. Hone Papahia.

In the evening, at 6.30, the rite of Confirmation was administered at S. George's to forty Europeans. The arrangements made by Mr. Evans were, as usual, as good as possible. The church was crowded, about eight hundred Europeans being present. Most of the Maori clergy who had been present in the morning were with me in the chancel. The day's offerings at J?. George's, without any appeal, amounted to £15, of which £10 was given to the Maories, as a contribution to the fund for defraying the expenses of the Church Board meeting.

Mrs. Payne thoughtfully gave me carte blanche to invite, in her name, as many of the Maories as I thought proper to supper after the evening service.

March 28, Monday.--The Native Church Board met at Parawai in the Church of the Holy Trinity at eleven o'clock. This church was consecrated by me on May 18, 1886. The building was not only paid for almost entirely by the Maories themselves, but was erected by members of the congregation. Our General Synod has provided by a canon (Title B, Canon III. 3) for the [76/77] constitution and the meeting of these Boards. Their function is to attend to the interests of the Maori population within the boundaries of the district represented by the Board. The first such Board meeting in the diocese of Auckland was held at the Thames in 1872. The Venerable Edward Bloomfield Clarke, B.D., has been mainly instrumental in organising our Native Church Boards, he having been for many years our only travelling European missionary to the Maories of the northern districts of the diocese. In acknowledgment of his devotion to the Maori race, and of the excellent work he has done for it during twenty-seven years, the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred on him in 1882 the degree of Bachelor of Divinity.

The proceedings of our Maori Church Boards are conducted in the most orderly and businesslike manner.

On this occasion, as usual, the roll of the members of the Board was called by my chaplain, the Rev. Renata Tangata. Eleven clergy and twenty-eight laymen answered to their names; of these some had travelled two hundred miles to attend the meeting. I then declared the Board duly constituted, and said the customary prayer for unity and charity. The Rev. M. Kapa and Wiremu te Waha were elected secretaries, and took their seats at a table near that of the president. Archdeacon Clarke sat on my right hand, and the Rev. Renata Tangata on my left, at a table placed in front of the chancel rails. The first motion brought forward was that the Rev. F. G. Evans be invited to sit with the Board, which was carried unanimously. Many notices of motion were then given; and the remainder of the time, until the interval for dinner, was occupied by [77/78] giving in to the secretaries the financial statements of the several congregations. At one o'clock, dinner was served in a long marquee near the church, for all members of the Board, and for many other guests, European and Maori. Joints of good meat and dishes of fine eels, with abundance of vegetables (including kumara and taro), all well cooked, were ranged down the middle of the long table. The wives of the principal Thames people, with the help of some of the younger men, waited diligently on the guests, taking care that all had as much to eat as they wished for, and supplying good tea ad libitum to all. There was no hurry and no noise, but no time was wasted. Many of the guests had their dinner out in the open, forming picturesque groups on the grass. It was a day of brilliant sunshine, with a fresh breeze from the sea, and everything looked its best. At half-past two, the Board reassembled for business, when motions, of which notice had been given, were considered and put to the vote. The Board adjourned at 5.30 until next day, when Archdeacon Clarke presided, as I had to return to Auckland.

March 29, Tuesday.--I reached Auckland at two p.m. from the Thames, and left again in the evening for Mangawai, accompanied by E. We went by coasting steamer to Marsden Point, at the mouth of the Whangarei river (about sixty-five miles), taking our horses with us.

March 30, Wednesday.--We reached Marsden Point about two a.m., and at six landed with our horses. E.'s horse, a tall black beast, had got much hurt on the steamer. His back was badly cut by the chain of the horse-box, and he had received other wounds on the head and legs, besides having his hair rubbed off [78/79] behind. The immediate neighbourhood of Marsden Point consists of sand-hills; and there is only one house, the inhabitants of which were asleep when we landed. We had therefore no one to help us, and it took us more than an hour to feed and saddle our horses, and to make a start. On our way to Waipu, through a bleak and barren district, we passed through a straggling encampment of gum-diggers. The gum is that of the kauri pine, and is found wherever there have been kauri forests, which formerly extended over a great part of the north of this island. [Lamarara Australis.] The gum is used for making varnish. The diggers come from all sections of the community. At the present time many sons of our poorer settlers, who cannot obtain other remunerative employment, are engaged in this digging, by which they can generally earn about two pounds a week. In ordinary times many of the diggers are men who have "seen better days," and who spend their money as soon as they get it, in the purchase of intoxicating liquors, often of a very inferior kind. We reached Waipu at 10.30 a.m., after a ride of about thirteen miles. Waipu is a very poor district, about sixty miles north of Auckland, first settled in 1854 by immigrants from Nova Scotia, nearly all of them being Presbyterians. The district does not seem to have made much progress during recent years, as the young men leave home in quest of remunerative employment, and the seniors are unable alone to effect improvements on the land. After the long drought, good water for the cattle and for household purposes was scarce at the time of our visit. We stayed at a boarding-house kept by a Mr. McDonald. [79/80] Our bill for ourselves and our horses for nearly twenty-four hours was only thirteen shillings.

March 31, Thursday.--We started from Waipu on our horses at eight a.m., and, after two hours' ride, reached the house of Mrs. McClellan, at the Cove, a very beautiful spot on the coast, near Bream Tail. There we rested for an hour or so, and had some refreshment; and before we left we were overtaken by the Rev. L. L. Cubitt, who was on his way from Whangarei to Mangawai, accompanied by Mrs. Cubitt and Mrs. Boult. That he could make this journey in a large waggon with two horses is a token of the improvement in the roads of the district. In Mr. McClellan's house I baptized Ella Mildred, the infant daughter of Mrs. Wilkie, who was staying there. As an instance of the small profit to be made out of land in those parts at present, Mrs. McClellan told us that twopence a pound was all that she had been offered for her butter, which we tasted and found very good. About noon, we set out again for Mangawai, where we arrived soon after four o'clock. Our route lay for several miles through a beautiful gorge. The road winds along the steep bank of a clear stream, from which, on both sides, the hills rise to the height of several hundred feet, and are covered with dense forest. On emerging from this forest, we came upon a hilly, bleak, and almost uninhabited country, covered with low fern and manuka, through which the track was very rough for some miles.

The weather was perfect for riding, and we enjoyed the journey very much; but we were glad to reach the house of our kind hostess, Mrs. Ryan, where we had stayed before. The late Mr. Ryan came to New [80/81] Zealand from Dublin in the early days of the settlement, and for some years was one of our lay readers at Hakaru (Mangawai). A large party had arrived in the morning from Auckland, to be at the opening service of the new church on the following day. The Misses Tutin at the Parsonage found accommodation for several guests. The late Mr. Tutin came, with his family, from England in 1860, and was appointed lay reader for this district by Bishop Selwyn, who built a small house on the Church land at Hakaru, styled the Parsonage, in which Mr. Tutin lived until his death in 1872. Mrs. Tutin was afterwards allowed the use of the house; and since her death the Misses Tutin have been allowed by the trustees to occupy it at a nominal rent, in consideration of the good work for the Church that has been done by them for many years, chiefly in connection with the Sunday school. Their brothers also, Messrs. S. and J. Tutin, deserve well of the Church-people of the district, for the care they have taken of the cemetery, which is a model of neatness, and of the Church property generally at Hakaru. It is mainly owing to the energy of the Misses Tutin that the necessary funds have been obtained for the erection of the new church, which has cost about £150.

Among the Auckland visitors at the Parsonage were Mr. T. Webb, the organist of S. Barnabas' Church, and several members of his choir; also Mrs. Tilly, Mrs. Somerfield, and Mrs. Revitt.

April 1, Friday.--Was a great day at Hakaru, and had long been looked forward to. Friends from great distances and from all directions assembled in the afternoon for the opening of S. Michael's Church, which [81/82] began at three o'clock. The first part of the Evening-Prayer was said by the Rev. F. Gould, who had come with the Auckland visitors; the Lessons being read by the Rev. L. L. Cubitt, minister of Whangarei, and the Rev. C. A. Tobin, deacon, assistant-minister of the district. The sermon was preached by me. The singing was hearty and good, and the service generally was bright and edifying. After Evening Prayer I baptized three children, at the special request of their parents. This service began with the hymn, "In token that thou shalt not fear," led by E. The amount received during the day for the Building Fund, including the offerings at the service, was £22 18s. 3d. In the course of my sermon I spoke of the debt of gratitude due to "our good sisters Sarah and Elizabeth Tutin," for their indefatigable exertions in connection with St. Michael's. A cordial "hear, hear," was almost unconsciously given by a number of men standing in the porch.

In the evening, at 7.30, I gave a lecture in the hall, on "The Extent of the British Empire, and the Opportunities enjoyed by Young British Subjects at the Present Time." The lecture was followed by a concert. Both were attended by as many people as could find room in the building. These gatherings do much indirect good in the country districts, in which the settlers have few opportunities of meeting, and are therefore liable to become estranged from one another, by groundless rumours of mutual detraction that often exist in thinly inhabited regions.

April 2, Saturday.--The diocese sustained a greater loss, in consequence of a grievous mistake that was made on this day at a house in Parnell, than has ever [82/83] before happened to it, by the death of two of our Maori clergy, the Revs. Renata Tangata and Rupene Pacrata, and a principal Maori layman, Ihaka te Tai. Ihaka's wife, Lucy, died a fortnight after her husband, her end being hastened by grief for him. All this trouble came upon our people as follows. On their return from the Church Board Meeting at the Thames, many of the Maori members had to stay in Auckland a few days, waiting for the steamer to take them northwards. Several of them were invited to dinner on this day by a friend in Auckland, on whose table there was, among other dishes, a pie containing meat that had been taken from a tin some days before, containing also potatoes that had been cooked two days before, the whole being covered with pastry in which, it was said, no vent was made. Besides the three Maories who died, other Maories, clergy and laity, were at the entertainment, and the Revs. W. Beatty and G. H. S. Walpole. Mr. Beatty was the only guest who partook of the pie with impunity. Mr. Walpole and several others, including the hostess, were very ill, some of them being for a long time incapacitated for work. This great trouble came upon us like a thunderbolt on our return to Auckland.

In the morning, we rode to Kaiwaka, about six miles, accompanied by the Rev. C. A. Tobin and Miss E. Tutin. The district is hilly, treeless, and desolate, the prevailing vegetation being poor fern and low manuka. At Kaiwaka, we rested a couple of hours at the house of Mrs, Clayton, whose hospitality to the travelling clergy is cordial and unlimited. Her son, Mr. Clark, helped us with our horses. In the afternoon, we continued our [83/84] ride (about nine miles) to Maungaturoto, accompanied by Miss Ilargreaves, who had ridden about ten miles by herself before joining us, to be present at her brother's Confirmation on the following day. The road was alive with black crickets most of the way, as it was yesterday. This is generally the case on our clay lands at the end of a very dry summer. We reached the house of our host, Mr. W. H. Snelling, just before dark, and in a heavy shower, and received a kind welcome from him and his son and daughters; Mrs. Snelling being absent on her way to England. Mr. Snelling was for many years in the Control Department of the Admiralty Office in London, and came to New Zealand some years ago. He is one of our lay readers for this district, and has taken a principal part in the erection of the church, for which he obtained much help from friends in England. April 3, Sunday.--The Maungaturoto church, Holy Trinity, was crowded at eleven o'clock, many persons having come from a distance. The original church, built in 1884 on a site given by Mr. Snelling, was burnt down in February, 1885, by an incendiary, there was too much reason to believe; indeed, it is an open secret that some members of a family--not Church-people, of course--living in the neighbourhood knew all about it. By means of the insurance money, a "compassionate" contribution from the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, and help from many sympathising friends, the church was rebuilt in 1886, on a somewhat larger scale, and opened by Archdeacon Dudley. Morning Prayer to the end of the third collect was said by Mr. Tobin, the Lessons being read by Mr. Snelling. The Confirmation followed, after a hymn. Those admitted [84/85] to the rite were from the surrounding districts, no candidate having come from Maungaturoto--an unhappy circumstance, to be accounted for partly by the fact that this was originally a "special settlement" of Nonconformists, whose misunderstanding, and consequent misrepresentation, of Catholic usages has affected many of our Church-people. Mr. Tobin had taken great pains with those whom he presented, as he had with all his other duties, and the service was devotional, edifying, and encouraging. The Holy Communion was afterwards celebrated, all the newly confirmed remaining to it. Mr. Tobin's head-quarters are at Paparoa, ten miles distant, the centre of a very extensive charge, stretching across the island from sea to sea. It is at least three hundred square miles in extent, including the settlements of Matakohe, Pahi, and Te Arai, besides those already mentioned. To see anything of his scattered flock in their homes, the clergyman needs to pass much of his time in the saddle. His predecessor told me that he rode one hundred miles a week on an average.

A large party assembled at Mr. Snelling's at one o'clock to dinner, including Mrs. Clayton, who, though sixty-seven years of age, had ridden nine miles to the service; Mr. Skelton, from Paparoa; and Mr. Linnell, from the Otamatea. At 2.30 p.m., we set out for Waipu, where we arrived just in time for evening service at 7.30. We rode through the Maungaturoto Gorge, a beautiful pass through the forest, along the right bank of a stream running towards the east coast through a winding, rocky channel. After leaving the gorge we came upon open country, cut up into small farms, chiefly of poor land. On our way, we called to see Captain and Mrs. Jacobs. [85/86] He was formerly the skipper of the Southern Cross, Melanesian Mission vessel, and was in charge of the schooner when Bishop Patteson was murdered at Nukapu on September 20, 1871. In 1872, at the request of the acting head of the Mission, the Rev. R. H. Codrington, Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, I made a voyage in the Southern Cross to Norfolk Island; where I admitted to Deacon's Orders three Melanesians, R. Pantutun, H. Tagalana, and E. Wogale, and held a Confirmation. On that trip Mrs. Jacobs accompanied her husband, and I had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with her superior mental endowments. The Waipu service was held in the only house of prayer of the district, which was courteously offered to me by the Rev. G. Jones, temporarily in charge of the congregation, consisting almost entirely of Presbyterians. I used the shortened order of Evening Prayer, the worshippers being for the most part without Prayer-books and unacquainted with our forms. In reference to this service, my friend, the Rev. R. McKinney, Presbyterian minister of Mahurangi, afterwards said to me, "They will be having you up before the Primate for irregular ministrations." Mr. Jones has since been appointed to the permanent charge of the Waipu congregation. He was formerly a minister of the Congregational body in Wales, and came to New Zealand a few years ago.

April 4, Monday.--We rode back to Marsden Point in the afternoon, and returned to Auckland by the S.S. Wellington, reaching home some hours after midnight.

April 5, Tuesday.--A busy day of correspondence and interviews. At 3.30 p.m., I presided at the ordinary [86/87] monthly meeting of the trustees of the Melanesian Mission estate, which this year has yielded a net income of about £1680, property tax (£142) having been paid in 1887 for the first time. [Valued at £36,279, including Bishop Patteson's legacy of £13,330, and the accumulated insurance of the Southern Cross, viz. £2220.] The trustees pay over the revenue to the treasurer of the Mission, the Ven. Archdeacon Dudley; and the treasurer's account, in the Union Bank of Australia, is operated on by him and myself. The other trustees of the estate are Archdeacon Dudley, Mr. A. Heather, Mr, T. Kirsling, and Mr. Upton.

Archdeacon Dudley was formerly a member of the Melanesian Mission staff, and was a favourite pupil of Bishop Selwyn and Bishop Patteson. The members of the Mission staff wished him to be their Bishop after the death of Bishop Patteson in 1871; but he declined the responsibility, mainly, I believe, from a feeling that his health was not sufficiently robust for the office. His early advantages, as a trusted coadjutor of those highly gifted men, have borne good fruit, to the great benefit of the whole diocese of Auckland, throughout which he is held in the highest esteem, and to his own parish, S. Sepulchre's, in particular, where he is respected and beloved by men, women, and children, and by other Christian people, as well as by those who avail themselves of his ministrations. The late Mr. Swainson, formerly Attorney-General of the colony, once said that Archdeacon Dudley was the best Auckland memorial of Bishop Patteson. Mr. A. Heather is a well-known Auckland merchant, a good man of business, and one who is always ready to help in Church work.

[88] April 6, Wednesday--I presided at a conference held in a room of the Young Men's Christian Association, to consider what could be done by the Christian community of Auckland to discourage immorality and cherish Christian principles among the more neglected section of Auckland young men. The meeting was attended by Archdeacon Dudley and other clergymen, and by ministers of several of the denominations. The Rev. R. Bavin, of the Wesleyan Methodists, took a principal part at the meeting. Mr. Bavin is a man of wide sympathies, and of a conciliatory manner, and is pleasant to have to do with. I had to leave before the end of the conference, and the resolutions agreed to were not quite in the form that I liked. The result of the meeting was that on the following day I was one of a deputation to the Premier, Sir Robert Stout (who happened to be in Auckland)--the others being the Rev. R. Bavin and the Rev. G. B. Monro, Presbyterian minister--to ask him to use his influence in Parliament (i) to raise the age of "legal consent" on the part of girls, (2) to make the employment of barmaids illegal, and (3) to render it less easy to keep houses of ill fame. With respect to the second of these objects, the Premier thought the best means of attaining it would be to limit the number of hours during which barmaids may be legally employed, and so to render their employment unprofitable.

At four p.m., the foundation stone of the Sailors' Home was laid by me, on a very good site given by the Harbour Board, next to their own offices. The council of the Home, of which I am president, are going to spend on the building and its furniture £4000, part of [88/89] the legacy of £12,150 which the late Edward Costley, of Auckland, bequeathed to "the Sailors' Home being inaugurated, or to be inaugurated, by Bishop Cowie." On April 15, 1883, Mr. Samuel Jackson was instructed by Mr. Costley, then moribund, to make his will, leaving his property to Auckland institutions recommended by Mr. Jackson, who, on April 10, had seen in the New Zealand Herald a paragraph (written by me) stating the want of funds from which the "Sailors' Rest," established by me (with the help of a few friends), was suffering. Mr. Jackson, being specially interested in the welfare of sailors, had been impressed by my statement, and in the exercise of his good judgment inserted the words quoted above in Mr. Costley's will. The Sailors' Home is managed by a council, of which I am to be president as long as I am Bishop of Auckland. The Mayor of Auckland and the chairman of the Harbour Board are ex officio members, and seven others are elected annually by the subscribers. Mr. Hugh Anderson is vice-president, and Colonel Haultain is hon. secretary. By our "articles of association," religious teaching is always to be allowed in the Home, subject to the regulations of the council, and no intoxicating drink or gambling is to be allowed on the premises. Our "articles of association" were drawn up by Sir F. Whitaker; and our first secretary was Mr. C. T. Tilly, formerly of the navy, to whom we are under great obligation for his counsel and his ordering of our accounts. At the laying of the stone there was a short ceremony, at which the Rev. J. S. Hill said a prayer, some hymns were sung, I gave a sketch of the history of the institution, and some speeches were made. In the evening, I preached at S. Mary's.

[90] April 7, Maundy Thursday.--Was spent by me in official letter-writing, and in presiding at meetings of the Standing Commission and the Diocesan General Trust Board. In the evening, I preached at S. Mary's.

April 8, Good Friday.--I preached and took the service at S. Paul's at eleven a.m.; Mr. Nelson being absent, at S. Mary's, officiating for Mr. Walpole, who was in bed, seriously ill from the effects of the poisoning on April 2nd. In the evening, I preached at S. Mary's; Archdeacon Clarke saying prayers.

April 9, Saturday.--The day was spent in preparing my Easter sermon, and in visiting sick people. Of these one was Major Green, formerly of one of H.M.'s regiments, and latterly Sheriff of Auckland. I found him very weak in body, but calm in mind. He spoke with much feeling of the helpful ministrations of the Rev. W. Beatty, Warden of St. John's College, formerly in charge of the S. Barnabas' district, and of the Rev. T. H. Sprott, Mr. Beatty's successor at S. Barnabas'.

April 10, Easter Day.--Preached at S. Sepulchre's at eleven a.m., to a large congregation, and was celebrant. The church was very tastefully decorated, and the singing was hearty and joyous. The number of communicants at the three celebrations was 231. In the afternoon, I gave an address at S. Mark's, at a children's service.

April 12, Tuesday.--At 3.30 p.m., I presided at a meeting of the governors of St. John's College. The governors are seven in number, of whom the Bishop of Auckland is ex officio chairman. Of the others, one is appointed by each of the other Bishops of New Zealand, and one by the Bishop of Melanesia. The present [90/91] governors are the Ven. Robert Maunsell, Archdeacon Clarke, the Hon. Colonel Haultain, Mr. McMillan, Mr. Pierce, and Mr. H. G. Seth Smith. Colonel Haultain was for many years honorary secretary to the trustees of the college, saving the estate much expense, and keeping the accounts in a manner worthy of admiration for clearness and accuracy. As a member of our General and Diocesan Synods, of the Standing Commission, of the Standing Committee, and in many other offices, all unpaid, the colonel has done for the Church of New Zealand, and in particular for this diocese, long, varied, and faithful service, such as it is the privilege of few to be able to render.

Of all the other governors mention has already been made, except Mr. McMillan, a partner in the firm of Messrs. W. McArthur and Co. Mr. McMillan is a member of our Diocesan Synod, in which his speeches are always characterised by good sense, large-heartedness, and kindliness of feeling. The college was founded by Bishop Selvvyn; through whom valuable endowments were given to the institution, including an estate of about twelve hundred acres at Tamaki. This land will, in course of time, yield a large revenue, as it is rich in beautiful sites for suburban residences. The income of the college at present is about £1300. The endowments are held by five trustees, appointed by the Diocesan Trusts Board (the Standing Committee). After defraying working expenses, the trustees pay the net income of the estate to the governors, for the maintenance of the college. The Warden receives a stipend of £400 a year, with quarters in the (temporary) college buildings; and £45 a year for the board of each student on the [91/92] foundation. All this week was taken up with official correspondence and meetings; many visitors on business coming daily, to breakfast and dinner, and at other times.

April 17, Sunday.--Acted as Mr. Walpole's locum tenens at S. Mary's, he being still in bed, from the effects of the poisoning on April 2nd.

April 21, Thursday.--The Girls' Friendly Society, of which E. is president, held their anniversary to-day. At six p.m., there was a short service at S. Matthew s, when I addressed the congregation--about two hundred and fifty associates and members. Afterwards there was a high tea in the parish schoolroom, followed by a social evening. The Rev. A. G. Purchas, who is always ready to help to entertain young people, exhibited his microscope; and other scientific instruments were shown and explained. Our diocesan branch of this excellent society was established in 1883, by Lady Jervois, during her first sojourn at Government House, Auckland. The chief object of the society is to maintain among young women a high standard of purity. It is the duty of the associates to act a motherly or sisterly part towards their members, residents in the same parish or district; the whole organisation being under the direction of the clergyman of the same. The affairs of the society are managed by a council elected annually. Of the present council, some have been among E.'s coadjutors in benevolent works almost ever since our arrival in Auckland, notably Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Hey-wood, Mrs. Boardman, Miss Hunter, and the Misses Vickers.

April 22, Friday.--I attended a meeting of our Lay [92/93] Readers' Association, the object of which is to help the lay readers of the diocese in their important work. At present there are about forty-five laymen holding my licence for the discharge of this office. Their chief duty is to conduct public worship in country churches, where there is no resident clergyman. When it is proposed that a reader should be licensed, a memorial--declaring the confidence of the memorialists in his "morals, integrity, and devoutness"--is signed by representatives of our people resident in the district concerned, and is sent to me. After satisfying myself that it is right to comply with the petition of the memorial, I issue the licence, and, when possible, present it myself to the recipient on a Sunday, after the Second Lesson. Before receiving the licence, the reader signs a declaration of his being a member of the Church, and of his willingness to submit to authority, and to conform to the customs of the Church. ["Readers" are ordained in the Greek Church, in which they constitute a fifth order. At their ordination, the Bishop says to each, among other things, "Son, ... it is your duty daily to study the Holy Scriptures, and to endeavour to make such proficiency therein that those who hear you may receive edification."--H. Lansdell, D. D.] Our association hopes to bring the readers together periodically, for mutual counsel and encouragement; to establish a library of books specially useful to the readers; and to encourage qualified laymen, living in our towns, to go to the country occasionally for a Sunday, to help the clergy on that day. Besides those formally licensed, there are other readers, not yet licensed, doing excellent work in connection with our Sunday schools and other departments of the Church's work.

In the evening of this day, the annual meeting of [93/94] our Orphan Home was held, in a room at the Young Men's Christian Association. I presided, and made a short speech in proposing the first resolution. This excellent institution was founded in 1860, its originator having been the late Archdeacon Lloyd, formerly Incumbent of S. Paul's, Auckland. The Home is said to have originated as follows:--Mr. Lloyd was visiting a poor woman of his parish on her death-bed, and she was so disturbed in mind about the future of her children whom she was about to leave, that she could with difficulty listen to what he had to say. To comfort her, Mr. Lloyd told her not to distress herself about her children, as he would see that they were taken care of and properly educated. They were the first children of the Home. This is a good exemplification of the adage, Principia omnium sunt parva, and may be compared to the origin of our Sailors' Home. The present state of these institutions, and of our Women's Home, may encourage others not to despise the day of small things, in works of benevolence. From the first, however, its chief friend has been Mr. G. P. Pierce, who has for many years held the office of honorary secretary. The Home is situated on the S. Stephen's estate in Parnell, near Bishopscourt, and until 1883 was maintained almost entirely by voluntary subscriptions. In that year, it received a bequest of £12,150 from the late Mr. Costley, through the kind thoughtfulness of Mr. S. Jackson. At present there are fifty boys in the Home, and twenty girls; and there would be more if the buildings were large enough to receive them. At the annual meeting, about thirty of the children were present, looking the [94/95] picture of health and contentment. They were accompanied by their excellent matron, Mrs. Neary, and their efficient head teacher, Mrs. Scarlett.

April 23, Saturday.--A day occupied by interviews with visitors and official writing. In the latter work I was helped, as I often am, by Miss Emily Purchas, whose writing the printer finds no difficulty in reading. Her visits to Bishopscourt are always welcome, independently of the efficient manner in which she discharges the office of scribe; our children, like ourselves, holding her in esteem and affection.

April 24, Sunday.--Preached at All Saints' in the morning, and S. Sepulchres in the evening, on "Family Religion," at the request of a "ministers' meeting" held in Auckland. At the former church I took the whole service, in the absence of the incumbent, the Rev. W. Calder, who was away from home in consequence of an attack of laryngitis. Mr. Calder came to Auckland in 1874 from Honolulu, where he was made a deacon by Bishop Willis. His first charge was at Hamilton, in the Waikato, whence he removed to the Thames in 1881. In both those cures he worked with his accustomed energy, being zealously seconded by Mrs. Calder. Both husband and wife literally gave themselves and all that they had for the advancement of the mission of the Church. On account of their proved fitness, in zeal, ability, and Christian character, the Board of Nominators selected Mr. Calder for the incumbency of All Saints', when that charge became vacant in 1883. I had before appointed him one of my chaplains, in acknowledgment of his faithfulness to his responsibilities. My chief anxiety for both of them is lest they should exert [95/96] themselves beyond the bounds of prudence, and become prematurely unequal to the cares of a large parish. I have scarcely ever had to hint to one of our clergy, or to a clergyman's wife, that he or she might work a little harder, but I have often had to remind clergymen and their wives of the Greek maxim, MHDEN AGAN--"nothing in excess." One of our clergy, acquainted with boat-racing language, said to me on one occasion, when I was pointing out the unsatisfactory result of overwork on the part of his excellent wife, "Yes; she puts on a spurt for a week, and then lies in the bottom of the boat for the rest of the month."

When a country clergyman tells me of his taking four services and riding fifteen or twenty miles on a Sunday, I remind him of Canrobert's words at Balaclava: "C'est magnifique; mais ce n'est pas la guerre."

In the afternoon of this day I baptized Dorothea Elizabeth Walpole, my god-daughter, the second child of the Rev. G. H. S. Walpole, of S. Mary's; the godmothers being Mrs. Sewell and Miss D. V. Barham.

April 25, Monday.--I left Auckland by the S.S. Clansman (600 tons) for Russell in the Bay of Islands, accompanied by E. and our youngest boy, Arthur Preston. The wind had been blowing from the east for several days, and we had in consequence to roll through a heavy beam sea, which made the passage very trying. The Clansman is a good sea-boat, and the skipper, Mr. William Farquhar, a skilful seaman and thoroughly acquainted with the coast, up and down which he has gone almost every week for seventeen years. The passage occupied nearly twelve hours, the distance being 128 miles. Archdeacon Clarke, the Rev, Hone Papahia, [96/97] and Miss Maning went with us. E. and I took our horses for our long journey.

April 26, Tuesday.--We crossed to Paihia in a small steam launch, the Ida. On landing, we heard that a funeral party of Maories were assembled on the beach, about two miles off, about to cross the water to Russell with the coffin containing the body of Lucy te Tai. I had intended to visit the mourners before they crossed the water to the Russell cemetery, but I had not an opportunity of doing so, as they embarked before I left Paihia. We saw five boats, one in advance of the others, crossing the bay. Before the mourners left, Archdeacon Clarke went to see them. He was kindly received, with the usual Maori welcome, and was told that the only utu (revenge) they wished was that he should "come and live among them again." We may well be proud of our Maories showing a spirit so essentially Christian. In the afternoon, we rode to Waimate, about fifteen miles, where we became the guests of Mr. H. T. Clarke, the archdeacon's brother. My first visit to Waimate was in 1870. At that time, and until 1885, Archdeacon Clarke lived there. The old church, an unsightly building, and somewhat ruinous, was then standing. In 1872, the new church was consecrated by me. A large part of the building fund was obtained through Mrs. Clarke and her mother, Mrs. Wood, both of whom devoted themselves to the interests of the Maories of the Northern Archdeaconry for many years. The Maori clergy especially derived much benefit from Mrs. Clarke's kindness, which showed itself, as in other ways, so also by her treating them with respect in her own house, and at her [97/98] own table. At seven p.m., I held a Confirmation, and celebrated the Lord's Supper at S. Johns, of which the Rev. P. Walsh, one of my chaplains, is the clergyman. As we had to leave Waimate on the following morning, we hoped to see some of the people outside the church after the service, but when we came out we found that they had all fled, the night being dark and the rain near at hand. Waimate was the first New Zealand home of Bishop Selwyn, in 1842; and his second son, the present Bishop of Melanesia, was born there in 1844. It was then the head-quarters of the Church Missionary Society in New Zealand. S.Johns is used by the Maories of the neighbourhood as well as by the settlers, the latter being for the most part the sons and descendants of catechists and other officials of that society. The Rev. Philip Walsh is one of the best amateur draughtsmen I ever knew, and is an accomplished architect. He came to New Zealand, with other sons of Irish clergymen, to form a special settlement, at Whangai in this district. There I made his acquaintance in 1871. In 1872, he and a fellow-settler, Mr. W. N. de L. Willis, were appointed to foundation scholarships at S. John's College. Mr. Walsh's first charge was at Waitara. Since 1882 he has held several appointments, being always ready to go wherever he can be of most use, treating stipend as a matter of comparatively little importance.

April 27, Wednesday.--A threatening morning, with heavy rain squalls from the south-west. At ten a.m. we set out for Kaeo, about twenty-five miles distant, our party consisting of E., myself, and our son Arthur, Archdeacon Clarke, Miss Maning, the Rev. P. Walsh [98/99] the Rev. H. P. Taua (Maori minister of Waimate), and two Maori attendants, carrying our bags. [We paid the Maories 7 s. a day each, besides providing board and lodging--at hotels when necessary.] In the afternoon, heavy rain fell, making the track very muddy and slippery, especially in the forest, which we got through just before darkness set in. The last few miles, in darkness, down the steep, broken, muddy track, through tall scrub, in drizzling rain, was most unpleasant. [nukta keimerinon udati kai anemw, kai ama aselhnon] We reached a small inn at Kaeo about 7.30 p.m., thoroughly tired, and rather wet. The two ladies bore the journey bravely.

April 28, Thursday.--We left Kaeo for Mangonui, about twenty miles, at ten a.m. It was a case of solvitur ambulando, for with the threatening weather the prospect was not very encouraging. Light rain was falling when we set out. The road was very slippery, and much of it through water or mud. We forded two rivers. By the time we neared the Taratara hill the drizzle had become a steady downpour, accompanied by violent gusts of wind. [ceimwn noteroV] Our route took us over a series of high hills covered with low fern and ti-tree scrub, affording no shelter from the wind and rain. After three and a half hours' ride we dismounted in the rain, to give the horses a little rest, and stood under the shelter, such as it was, of a clump of low ti-tree, down in a hollow. Here we ate our luncheon, consisting of a few biscuits and sandwiches (left over from yesterday's supply). E. and Miss Maning bore the fatigue and wetting with their accustomed courage, and laughed at all unpleasantness. At [99/100] two o'clock, we set out again, the rain now falling in sheets, and being driven against us by the wind blowing with almost hurricane force, as we ascended the exposed hillsides and passed over their crests. [We afterwards learnt that the S.S. Clansman remained in shelter at Russell that night, and that the S.S. Te Anau, by venturing out to sea, had a bad time of it, and took twenty-four hours (instead of ten) to reach Auckland.] Now and then some of the horses--notably E.'s--would not face the storm for a time, and there was nothing to be done but to sit like a statue and be drenched to the skin, as E. and Miss Maning were. Some of the Maories, when the gale was at its height, managed to get their horses over the crest of the hills, and so to be somewhat sheltered from the worst of the blasts. The two ladies showed the greatest pluck, not uttering a word of anxiety when things were at their worst, but smiling encouragement when our horses could with difficulty keep their feet, and there was some prospect of our being benighted. The rain and wind continued, with varying force, until we reached Mangonui, where we arrived just before dark, after one of the most trying day's work that any of us had experienced. There are two small inns at Mangonui. We divided our party between the two; E. and I and Arthur (who had borne the journey manfully) going to the Settlers', of which the landlord is Mr. Williams. The ladies had to be wrapped in blankets and to go to bed, not having any dry clothes to put on. Happily neither of them had taken cold. Later in the evening, with the help of good fires, they managed to make themselves comfortable. There was a dearth of ordinary food at Mangonui. Not [100/101] an egg was to be had, and the meat that was offered us was too hard for our teeth to penetrate.

April 29.--The gale continued to blow with unabated fury, and the rain to fall in torrents all day, keeping us close prisoners at the Mangonui inn. If the weather had been fine, we could not easily have continued our journey, as it took the whole day to dry our clothes.

April30, Saturday.--The rain ceased before nine a.m., and at 9.15 we set out on our twenty-five miles' ride to Kaitaia. Before eleven we reached the Taipa river, across which our horses had to swim, the riders being ferried across by young Mr. Adamson; whose father, according to his rule with ministers of religion, would not charge our party anything for this service. He also gave us some oats for our horses, and Mrs. Adamson thoughtfully supplied all our party with some delicious cocoa, hot and sustaining. Our route for about twelve miles beyond the Taipa was over high hills, bleak, and covered with starved-looking fern. It was not, however, an uninteresting ride, as we had the sea on our right and high hills on our left, with Maungataniwha (2151 feet [Hochstetter.]) in the distance. It was a day of bright sunshine and balmy air, the wind being in the north-west, and the track, except in low-lying places, quite dry. At 4.30, we reached Awanui, a large Maori settlement on the banks of a river of that name. Mr. Simpson, formerly of the Bengal Engineers, but for many years a settler here, met us on the road, and took us, tired and hungry, into his comfortable cottage, buried amid luxuriant trees, and Mrs. Simpson regaled us with delicious curry, roast beef, and well-made tea.

[102] At about six p.m. we set out again for our last stage--to Kaitaia. The moon was eight days old, and we therefore had some light during the last part of our ride, which was in many places through rushing water, our road being through a flat country, much flooded after heavy rain.

We reached the Kaitaia Parsonage about 7.30 p.m., and were kindly received by the Rev. Joseph Matthews and his wife. Mr. Matthews came to Kaitaia first in 1833, as a catechist of the Church Missionary Society. He was afterwards ordained by Bishop Selwyn. Mrs. Matthews is a daughter of the late Rev. R. Davis, also of the Church Missionary Society. Mr. Matthews has done invaluable work for the Church during many years, in bringing forward young Maories to be prepared for Holy Orders. He has, in his retirement at Kaitaia, read with profit much wholesome English divinity, and his memory is very retentive. His conversation and his letters are always interesting and instructive. He is now seventy-eight years of age.

May 1, .S. Philip and S. James's Day, Sunday.--The early morning was bright, but as the day advanced the weather became showery, making the ground wet and muddy. This was very unfortunate, as many Maories had travelled a great distance to be present at the consecration of 6". Saviour's Church, which took place at 10.30 a.m. The building has been erected from drawings made and given by the Rev. Philip Walsh, at a cost of more than £400; of which sum about one-half was contributed by the Maories of this district and of other parts of the Northern Archdeaconry. A grant of £20 was received from the Society for Promoting Christian [102/103] Knowledge. There are very few churches in the diocese towards the building of which help has not been obtained from this excellent society; and without the encouragement afforded by this help, some of our churches would not have been built when they were, if at all.

The church is very pretty, and the situation is good--close to the site of the old church, now in ruins, built in 1840. I was met at the church porch by the clergy and others, according to the usual order at consecrations, and the memorial was read by Archdeacon Clarke. The other clergy present were the Revs. G. Aitkens, J. Matthews, and Philip Walsh (Bishop's chaplain); and the Revs. R. Kaamiti, M. Kapa, W. te Paa (Bishop's chaplain), J. Taitimu, and H. P. te Taua. As we entered the building, a Maori version of "The Church's one foundation" was sung, the Archdeacon leading in a loud, clear voice. I said the usual consecration prayers in Maori, and E. led the Venite, which was not, however, well taken up by the congregation, who had not been taught to chant the canticles. Each of the Maori clergy took part in the service. At the celebration I was assisted by the Archdeacon and the Revs. W. te Paa and H. P. te Taua. There were nearly 150 communicants. Before Holy Communion 117 Maories were confirmed, some of them having travelled sixty-five miles to receive this helpful rite. After the service, clergy and people walked round the cemetery, an acre next to the church site, repeating selected psalms, according to our custom at the consecration of burial-grounds. A good many of the Maories kept at a distance from the procession, having superstitious fears [103/104] connected with the graves of the old chiefs. The rain began to fall as soon as we had completed our circum-ambulation, so that my address had to be very brief. The Maories are very fond of a function; and, as I was afterwards informed, they much appreciated the orderly procession of clergy, entering the church and afterwards walking round the cemetery. There was not room in the building for nearly all the congregation, but those who were obliged to remain outside joined reverently in the service, and through the doors and open windows could hear what was said. I took for my text, "In My Father's house are many mansions." The offertory collection for the building fund amounted to £10 12s. 6d. In the afternoon, at three, service was held in English. Prayers were said by the Rev. G. Aitkens; the Lessons being read by the archdeacon and the Rev. P. Walsh, who also read the Preface to the Confirmation service, which followed. My text was, "I am the way, the truth, and the life," from the Gospel for the Saints' Day, like that of the morning. At four p.m., there was a second service in Maori. The prayers were said by the Rev. R. Kaamiti, the Lessons being read by the Rev. M. te Hara; and the archdeacon preached. Among other old acquaintances whom I met to-day was W. F. T------, formerly of H.M.'s 78th Highlanders. Soon after my arrival in the colony, in 1870, I met him casually on the road in the Howick district. I was riding with one of our clergy, when we met a sturdy-looking settler on foot, who in passing accompanied his bow with a smile of recognition. I said to my companion, "That man seems to know me;" and he answered, "Very likely; he is an old soldier." Thereupon [104/105] I turned back, and asked our friend whether we had ever met before; to which he answered, "Oh yes. I was in the 78th, and you were our chaplain." That gallant regiment went to the relief of Lucknow with Sir H. Havelock in 1857. In the following year, after the fall of Lucknow, the 78th Regiment formed part of Sir Colin Campbell's force, to which I was chaplain, at the capture of Bareilly. Since W. F. T------and I met again near Howick in 1870 we have not lost sight of one another.

The rain poured in torrents during the night.

May 2, Monday.--The rain fell almost incessantly all the morning, but ceased at two p.m., when we set out for Awanui, about six miles distant, on the road to Mangonui. At 4.30, the cemetery at Awanui was consecrated, and afterwards the new church, named S. Joseph's, partly in gratitude for the good work done by the Rev. Joseph Matthews of Kaitaia, and for the ministrations of a late lay reader of the settlement, Joseph Poutama. The church was crowded. At the celebration I was assisted by the Rev. W. te Paa. The collection for the church building fund amounted to £26 17s. 6d. It was a beautiful moonlight night. The service ended soon after six p.m., when a banquet was provided by the Maories for all comers. E., Miss Maning, and I did not stay for it, but were glad to get to our quarters for the night under the hospitable roof of Mr. and Mrs. Simpson. They are members of the Roman Church, and have a son in Priest's Orders. They were married at Simla, in the house of the late Sir Henry Havelock, and Mr. Simpson was at the battle of Ferozeshah in 1845. Our horses, like ourselves, were [105/106] well off at Mrs. Simpson's, where grass was abundant, the Kaitaia paddocks having been very bare. At 1.30, we reached the Taipa river. Whilst our horses were being swum across it, we were regaled with cups of hot and good tea by Mrs. Adamson, at her house near the ferry; and at 4.30 p.m. we arrived at our former quarters at the Settlers' Hotel. In the evening, I gave a lecture on "The Extension of the British Empire" in the Court House, at the inaugural meeting of the Chess and Literary Club. The chair was occupied at the meeting by Mr. W. H. Bishop, resident magistrate, the son of an English clergyman.

May 4, Wednesday.--At ten a.m. I held a Confirmation at S. Andrews Church, Mangonui. I found the building much improved by the handiwork of the Rev. G. Aitkens, the clergyman of the district, who came to us from the diocese of Manitoba in 1886. At noon, we left Mangonui, accompanied by Miss Maning, in the S.S. Clansman, for Whangaroa, where we arrived at two p.m. The entrance to the Whangaroa harbour is very fine, through a narrow opening in the coast wall of dark rocks. There are two saw-mills in the harbour, employing at present about forty men. A strong south-west wind was blowing when we arrived, making the sea very rough for small boats; but it had not prevented Mr. Aitkens from rowing himself across from Totara, the point to which he had ridden (about fifteen miles) to meet me, since we parted--three hours before--at Mangonui. His rough Manitoba experience has prepared him well for journeys by land and water in his less trying New Zealand charge. 61. Paul's Church, Whangaroa, stands on high ground above the harbour, [106/107] some hundreds of feet below a huge dome-shaped rock known as S. Paul's. The land between the rock and the lower boundary of the church site (ten acres) was given to the Synod by the late Mr. J. Shepherd, once a catechist of the Church Missionary Society; who also bequeathed about £70 as the beginning of an endowment for the maintenance of a clergyman at Whangaroa. At three o'clock I held a Confirmation at S. Paul's. I was to have been here the night before, when there would, no doubt, have been a large congregation; but the tempestuous weather of the preceding week prevented my getting back from Kaitaia before this day, and I was consequently obliged to hold the service at an hour when few people could attend. We left again by the Clansman at five p.m., and reached Russell at eight.

May 5, Thursday.--At Russell, where we paid a short visit to our old friend Mrs. Ford, the widow of the late Mr. S. Ford, who was for many years the doctor of the Bay of Islands district. Mrs. Ford, like her deceased husband, takes a warm interest in all Christian work, and to the utmost of her ability helps such causes as that of our Diocesan Home Mission and our Women's Home, with her purse as well as with her prayers. Her house has for years been the resting-place of clergymen going to and fro on diocesan duty; and I have often partaken of her hospitality, and rested in her "prophet's chamber."

We visited the cemetery, to see the grave of Ihaka te Tai and his wife Lucy. It was inexpressibly sad to think of our having lost so valuable a man as Ihaka in the way in which we did. The doctors say that if Ihaka and the two Maori clergy who also died, from partaking [107/108] of the pie containing meat in a state of fermentation, had remained in Auckland under medical care, they would probably have recovered. As it was, however, they seem to have made up their minds that they were going to die, and they were eager to reach their homes in time to breathe their last amid their own people. Accordingly, they all left Auckland by the S.S. Clansman on Monday, April 4, and, after leaving, neither of them had the advice and help of a medical man until in a moribund state. Russell is now a very small place, and scarcely any business is being done there. There were two American whalers (from New Bedford) lying off the wharf at the time of our visit. In former days, a fleet of these vessels was often in the bay. The two skippers, both men of natural refinement, and their wives accompanied us to Auckland by the steamer. One of the men was suffering from some sort of cancerous growth on his lower lip, said to be caused by a tobacco pipe. We heard afterwards that the diseased part had been cut out by Dr. Haines. The Russell church is one of the oldest in the diocese, having been built by the Church Missionary Society in 1838. In one of the sides of the building there is still the mark of a round shot, fired from H.M.S. Hazard at the battle of Kororareka in March, 1845. Russell forms part of the Kawakawa charge, but at present there is no resident clergyman in the district. The Sunday services are conducted by Mr. J. H. Greenway, one of the senior lay readers of the diocese, a man to be relied upon for the faithful discharge of any responsibility that he undertakes.

At five p.m. we left by the S.S. Clansman for Auckland, where we arrived on the following morning at 4.30.

[109] May 8, Sunday.--One of my services to-day was at S. Thomas's, Auckland, where I held a Confirmation at eleven o'clock. This parish was mainly a part of the old parish of S. Matthew's, and was separated from the mother parish in 1882. A Diocesan Synod can at any time alter the boundaries of a parish, either adding to or taking from the original area. This arrangement saves much evil, and cannot easily produce harm, as the Synod is not likely to take action in such a matter, excepting on the recommendation of those most interested therein. S. Thomas's is a difficult parish for a clergyman to work at all satisfactorily, by reason of the many ravines by which it is intersected. A large proportion of the inhabitants are of the artisan class, and very few of the parishioners could be called men "of means." The present incumbent of 51. Thomas's is the Rev. W. M. Du Rieu, who was for about ten years one of the curates of S. Barnabas', Pimlico. He came to Auckland proprio motu in 1884, and was before very long instituted to this charge. Mr. Du Rieu has the cordial co-operation of several earnest lay helpers, by whose assistance he has been enabled to keep up the large and efficient choir of men and boys, who were first incorporated by his predecessor, the Rev. Lloyd Keating. The usual means of keeping up the working staff of a town parish are carefully cherished by Mr. Du Rieu, and there is good reason to hope that his ministrations are producing encouraging results among his people generally.

At eight a.m. I was celebrant at S. Mary's; and at 6.30 p.m. I helped at S. Mary's, where the Rev. J. S. Hill preached. Mr. Hill came to New Zealand in 1879 in connection with the Church Missionary Society, and [109/110] was for some time stationed at Wairoa, in the diocese of Waiapu. Not finding work amongst the Maories that for which he was specially fitted, especially as he did not make much progress in acquiring a knowledge of their language, he ceased his connection with the Church Missionary Society. He came to live in Auckland in 1883, and has since then done excellent work in the diocese, and in Auckland in particular, as a missioner. A stipend is provided for him by a few zealous citizens, not all members of the Church of England. He holds my licence as chaplain to our people confined in the central gaol. Mr. Hill is at present president of the Young Men's Christian Association, where he exercises an extensive influence for good among a large section of the community.

This week was taken up as usual by meetings, correspondence, and interviews with many visitors.

May 15, Sunday.--I was Mr. Walpole's locum tenens at S. Marys, during his absence in the south, in quest of health, after his long confinement to the house.

In the evening, the Rev. W. Beatty, Warden of S. John's College, preached. His sermon was on the Epistle for the day--from S. James, chapter i. After explaining the sense in which the words religion and religions are used in this chapter, he pointed out, in a plain and striking manner, how a care for religion, in the ordinary acceptation of the words, was compatible with very un-Christian conduct; instancing, amongst others, the case of John Calvin, whose "religion" did not prevent him from burning Servetus. After the service, I told him of a striking instance, in my own experience, of the severance of religion and morality in the minds and [110/111] practice of millions. It was as follows:--I was on my way, in November, 1863, to join Sir Neville Chamberlain's column in the hills beyond Peshawur, which was engaged in a small war with some of the Afghan tribes. I was travelling in a primitive, one-horsed conveyance, called an ekka, driven by a Mahomedan, whom I questioned about the people opposed to our troops. In answer to one of my queries, the man said of the tribesmen, "Their religion is excellent, but they are great scoundrels (burrha budmarsh hyn)."

May 16, Monday.--We vacated Bishopscourt, and went to Howick, a small settlement on the Hauraki Gulf, about twelve miles from Auckland; where we occupied the parsonage house, in the absence of the clergyman, who had gone away for a month's change. Howick is one of the old pensioner settlements, established on the outskirts of Auckland in days when the Maories were numerous and the settlers few, and it was thought necessary to take precautions against raids on the city by the native population. The old pensioners are now fast dying out, and as the land in the neighourhood of the settlement is for the most part poor, not many new people have come to the district. The church and parsonage are beautifully situated on high ground overlooking the sea, which is almost shut in by islands some miles distant. As there is no railway station within eight or nine miles of Howick, we find that we can enjoy a little retirement here, without neglecting our ordinary duties; as there is a daily post to and from Auckland, and by means of the telephone in the village (not half a mile distant) we can speak to our servants at Bishopscourt, and to nearly five hundred people in [111/112] Auckland, who are on the Exchange. With the help of one servant, brought with us, E. and the children accomplish all the domestic work of the house, including the care of our horses. Though it is now winter time, it is not too cold for us to bathe in the sea, which is not half a mile from the house, and has good beaches.

May 19, Ascension Day.--Celebration of Holy Communion at All Saints', Howick. The church is situated in a corner of the district, far away from most of the people, and I could not therefore expect a larger congregation than there was, especially as notice of the service had not been given on the previous Sunday. There were fifteen communicants, including our old friends, Mr. and Mrs. C. James Wilson, whom I met first at Stafford in 1867, when I had no idea of coming to New Zealand. Mr. Wilson is our lay reader here, and gives the clergyman much help in many ways; and Mrs. Wilson is the kind friend of all who are in trouble of mind, body, or estate in the settlement, and is a principal teacher in the Sunday school. Her motto might well be, Christo in pauperibus.

May 20.--E. and I have been engaged this morning in cleaning out a large water tank made of corrugated zinc. As the house had not been regularly inhabited for some time the gutters below the roof had got choked with leaves, preventing the water from entering the tank, and we found that the tank contained more than one inch of black mud, consisting chiefly of decomposed leaves. Accordingly, we took down the tank and cleaned it out, and set it up again, hoping that rain would fall during the night to fill it. A country clergyman and his wife in New Zealand need to be able to [112/113] turn their hands to all kinds of work, as there are not, as a rule, resident plumbers or carpenters in thinly populated districts, even if the clerical stipend could pay them.

May 22, Sunday.--I took the morning service at All Saints', Howick, Mr. C. James Wilson reading the Lessons. The congregation numbered seventy-five, a fairly good attendance, considering the out-of-the-way site of the church and the large proportion of Roman Catholics in the settlement--the families of the pensioned Irish soldiers who were given land here in early days. This proportion may be inferred from the fact that at the Board School of the settlement there is an average attendance of eighty childen, of whom one-half belong to that body. It is a mistake to suppose that in this colony, where there is no established Church, a more fraternal spirit is exhibited by the Roman section of Christendom towards other Christians than in countries where the Pope's subjects are in a majority. Whilst our personal relations with Romanists--whether bishops, priests, or laymen--are friendly, there is no more co-operation between New Zealand Roman Catholics as a body and other Christian bodies in this country, than there is in France or Spain. I have, however, on several occasions experienced quite as much lack of sympathy from members of other denominations as from Roman Catholics. For this state of things the clergy and other ministers of religion are, I believe, mainly responsible; their zeal for the distinguishing features of their several sections of Christendom being, it would seem, accentuated by the fact that lay Christians generally throughout the colony have a tendency to fraternise. The foregoing [113/114] opinion may be illustrated by the following facts:--When we were sojourning in a country district not long ago, the Roman priest of those regions called and left his card, "with kind wishes, and welcome to------." The same priest, some time before, when preaching in the Auckland gaol, said to his congregation, as the governor of the gaol (who was present) afterwards told me, "You have been found guilty of attempts to murder, to steal, and of all kinds of wickedness--you might as well be Protestants at once." The following incident illustrates the brotherliness of a minister of the denomination which the late Bishop Cotton (of Calcutta) used to speak of as "the most un-Catholic of sects":--A few years ago a new Roman Catholic bishop came to Auckland; and it was arranged by his people that he should be met by deputations of them on the wharf, on the arrival of the steamer from Australia. Accordingly, two of E.'s servants, the cook and the housemaid, Irish Roman Catholic girls, went with others to meet the steamer, taking with them a small bouquet of geraniums and roses which we gave them. By the mistake of some person of lively imagination, the Auckland papers, in describing the reception of the new Bishop, spoke of the bouquet as "an offering from Bishop Cowie," looking upon the two Roman Catholic girls as messengers from me. Several letters from "indignant Protestants" appeared in the papers, finding grave fault with me, especially as the humble bouquet came at last to be described as "a floral cross"! The expected climax arrived. The minister of "the most un-Catholic of sects" improved the occasion, I was told, by holding up to the scorn of his hearers "the unholy alliance," as he called it, of the [114/115] two Bishops. On being informed of the groundlessness of his charge, he did not think it necessary, we were told, to retract what he had said. Some of those who had said the bitterest things in connection with "the floral cross," on discovering their mistake, and wishing to "justify themselves" and retire gracefully from their uncomfortable championship, demanded "an explanation from Bishop Cowie," who, as they knew, had nothing to explain. Of course, I took no notice of the bigotry and bitterness of my denouncers; and my silence on this, as on other occasions of a like nature, irritated the wrongdoers into divers exemplifications of the old adage--

"Forgiveness to the injured doth belong:
They ne'er forgive who've done the wrong."

In this free country, however, we claim the right of complying with the request of any fellow-citizen, to whatever denomination he may belong, who may apply to us for flowers or fruit from our garden; and there are, we would fain hope, few of our fellow-citizens who would wish to deny us this right.

In the afternoon, E. and Katherine rode with me to S. Paul's, Flat Bush (about five miles), where I took the service at three o'clock. The church was opened in January, 1886, and stands on a corner of an estate (about 290 acres) given in 1869 by the Church Missionary Society to the Auckland Bishopric Endowment, in lieu of any further contribution to the Bishop's income. Bishop Selwyn received £600 a year from the Society, until, at his own suggestion, £200 a year of that sum was deducted, to augment the stipend of the Bishop of Waiapu. Besides the Flat Bush congregation, there are three others, namely, at Pakuranga, Brookby, and [115/116] Turanga Creek, included in the Howick charge. The district extends over about 120 square miles, the people being scattered and for the most part poor. The clergyman's stipend is made up of contributions from the congregations, supplemented by a grant of £35 from the Home Mission Fund of the diocese, and amounted last year to only £160. On our return to the. parsonage, about six p.m., our horses were groomed and fed by our son Edmund, now at home from Christchurch for the holidays.

In the evening, I would have gone to Pakuranga (three miles), where our Sunday services are held in the public hall of the settlement, but that Mr. C. James Wilson, the lay reader of the district, offered to go for me, and I was glad to be able to remain indoors, the night being dark and the road rough.

On this Sunday, the Earl and Countess of Aberdeen were in Auckland, and gave excellent addresses to men and women respectively at the Young Men's Christian Association. We were very sorry not to be at Bishopscourt, so as to be able to offer them some hospitality.

Address-givers on religious subjects are now numerous among visitors to the colony; but unfortunately they are often proselytisers, or at least disintegrators, fomenting the divisions of Christians, and adding to their number, and encouraging a self-righteous and censorious spirit among the less instructed of our people.

May 26, Thursday.--E. and I returned to Auckland, after three days of comparative rest at Howick, where I got through a good deal of writing, in the absence of callers and of meetings to be attended.

May 27, Friday,--In the morning, I prepared matter [116/117] for our diocesan Church Gazette, being assisted by our friend, Miss Emily Purchas, who often acts as scribe for me. Our Gazette was instituted by me in 1872, and is published monthly, containing an official record of diocesan intelligence. Its circulation at present is about 800 copies. For the first two years of its publication the Gazette cost me a considerable sum of money, as well as much time; but since the financial arrangements connected with it have been managed by a committee appointed by the Synod--Messrs. Cochrane and Upton--the profits (chiefly from advertisements) have been large. From these profits, sums have at different times been voted by the Synod to divers purposes, e.g. £100 in 1883 for the improvement of Bishopscourt, and in 1886 £50 to the funds of the Women's Home, Parnell. E. and I send between forty and fifty copies of the Gazette each month to friends in England and other parts of the world. By this means are saved the trouble of answering many letters asking for information, and we endeavour to interest people far away in the progress of the Church's work in the diocese.

In the evening of this day, the Bishop of Wellington, with his wife and daughter, arrived from Te Aroha, where they had been staying for nearly a month. The Bishop had been taking baths at the famous hot springs (of sodium chiefly), for the removal of the effects of a serious fall. He had derived great benefit from the water.

Among other matters on which Bishop Hadfield spoke to me was the system of taxation at present followed in New Zealand. In reference to the income tax, of which I am an advocate, he said that it was not [117/118] right to tax the income of a man who maintained himself by brain work--as a lawyer or doctor--and so expended his capital, at the same rate that a man is taxed whose income consists of interest or rent, and whose capital is not affected by his daily toil. He thought also that all should be taxed for the necessaries of life, and that those who are better off should be further taxed by having to pay specially for land or other property. In speaking of the constitution of our Diocesan Synods, the Bishop agreed with me that mere visitors ought not to be invited to take seats in them with power to vote, as our General Synod statute at present seems to allow. [See G. S. Report for 1886, Canon II., Title B, clause 1, proviso, p. 51.]

May 28.--I went to Hamilton, where I was the guest of our old friend Mrs. Gwynne. I stayed in the same house in which I was hospitised in 1872 by its then occupant, Colonel Lyon, formerly of the Coldstream Guards and of the 92nd Highlanders. The climate of this part of the Waikato is very bracing at this season. On the mornings of the 29th and 30th, there was ice nearly a quarter of an inch thick on a pan on Mrs. Gwynne's lawn, and during the day the sun was bright and warm, and the air clear. In the same train with me to-day there were Mr. Thomas Russell and his son, and Mr. Thomas Morrin, both of whom have done much to develop the natural resources of the Auckland province. For some years Mr. Russell has lived in England, whence he comes to Auckland from time to time, passing through the country in harlequin fashion, originating new schemes of commercial adventure.

[119] May 29, Whit-Sunday.--In the morning and evening I preached at S. Peter's, Hamilton, and in the afternoon at S. Stephen's, Tamahere; the prayers on each occasion being said by the Rev. R. O'C. Biggs, of Hamilton. At the evening service twenty persons were confirmed. On both occasions at S. Peter's there was a good congregation, that in the evening overflowing into the vestry and the porch. The choir at this church is particularly good, being under the direction of Mr. F. Templer, of the Bank of New Zealand, who is enthusiastic in the discharge of his duty; Mrs. Templer also being one of the most efficient members of the choir. The music and singing are not only good but reverent, and the services generally are devotional and edifying. Miss Newall, Mrs. Gwynne's daughter, is the organist. Mr. Biggs inherited this state of things from his predecessor, the Rev. W. Calder, and has not allowed it to deteriorate. He is aided by a staff of earnest laymen, with whom he works in cordial harmony. In the end of 1886, Hamilton had the benefit of a Mission, conducted by the Rev. G. E. Mason, Rector of Whitwell, Derbyshire, who, with the Rev. C. Bodington, of Christchurch, Lichfield, came to New Zealand in August of that year, at the invitation of the Primate and myself, to hold Missions among our people. In no part of this diocese were their ministrations more highly appreciated than in the Waikato; and at Hamilton, among other definite and practical results of the Mission, was the abolition of seat-rents. In reference to this commendable change, Mr. Marshall, in his sermon on May 30, in reminding the S. Peter's congregation that they had cut off one source of revenue, cautioned them to offer according to their means, lest in [119/120] their recent action they should become a warning-, and not an example, to other congregations. Mr. Biggs was for many years one of Archdeacon Dudley's most efficient lay helpers at S. Sepulchre's, Auckland, and was admitted to Deacon's Orders by me in 1877. He was at that time engaged in the office of one of our principal Auckland merchants; and it was arranged that he was to keep to his secular employment whilst in Deacon's Orders, devoting his Sundays to the work of a clergyman. In 1882, he was ordained a priest, and was soon afterwards appointed to the charge of a country district. May 30, Monday.--vS. Peter's Church, Hamilton, was consecrated by me. The church was built in the time of the Rev. F. C. Lloyd, but it is only quite recently that it has become free of debt. Hence the delay of this interesting service. The original church site (an acre) was purchased in 1867 for £28. In 1875, that site was sold for £350; and with this sum, augmented by subscriptions, the present church was built, on a site granted by the New Zealand Government, in 1875. The day was brilliant, and excellent arrangements had been made for the ceremony, much of the details having been left to the direction of Mr. Swarbrick, a settler of the neighbourhood, who did his part admirably. There was a large congregation, including several lay readers and other Church officers from distant settlements, who had come to show their sympathy with their Hamilton friends. I was met at the church porch by Archdeacon Willis and the Revs. R. O'C. Biggs, R. G. Boler, and J. Marshall, and Mr. S. T. Seddon, acting Chancellor, Mr. Templer, acting Registrar, and others. The usual order for consecration was followed. Morning Prayer [120/121] was said by Mr. Biggs, and Mr. Marshall preached the sermon--a plain, practical, and instructive discourse. There was a large number of communicants, and the offertory collection amounted to £10. Mr. Boler officiated as Bishop's chaplain. After the service there was a luncheon party at the hotel. Other visitors with myself were the guests. It was agreed that there should be no toasting, but those who wished for a glass of beer could obtain it. The large dining-room was quite filled, the tables being arranged in horseshoe fashion. I had to leave, to return to Auckland, before the entertainment ended. Among my fellow-travellers in the train was Mr. James Stewart, the engineer of the line now being constructed between Oxford and Rotorua. He told me that many Maories were employed by him on that work, making cuttings and embankments; and that they fulfilled their contracts faithfully, some of them earning as much as nine shillings a day with the pick and shovel. The Maori contractor employed in some places more men than were necessary; indeed, the Native labourers got in one another's way. On pointing this out to the contractor, Mr. Stewart was answered by his Maori friend that the contract was for the maintenance of the whole tribe, and that therefore every member of it who could work had to be employed, to earn a share of the money paid by the Government.

May 31.--Bishop Hadfield, with his wife and daughter, left us to-day on their return to Wellington.

June 1, Wednesday.--We began our writing this morning before five o'clock. Though it is now nearly mid-winter with us, the weather is almost perfect; the days being bright, warm, and still, and the nights cold [121/122] enough to be bracing. E. and I went back to Howick, where our three youngest children had been left by us, in the parsonage, with a trusted servant, since May 25.

June 2, 3, and 4.--At Howick; where I spent these days in reading and writing, teaching our children, and bathing in the sea. One afternoon we rode to Turanga Creek, to see some ostriches that had been recently brought there from the Kaipara district--forty-three in number. The birds looked very miserable and feather-less. They came originally from South Africa.

June 5, Trinity Sunday.--I took the service at Howick in the morning, and at Pakuranga in the evening. At the latter place, our people have only the use of the Hall of the settlement for public worship; but as a church site has been purchased, we are hoping to have a building of our own erected thereon before long.

June 12, Sunday.--After morning service at Howick, E. and I rode to Flat Bush, S. Paul's, where I consecrated the little cemetery surrounding the church. Our Church cemeteries in New Zealand have generally been given to the Synod by individuals, or purchased by congregations. In all cases they are held by trustees appointed by the Synod; by which body regulations are made for their management. Accordingly, there is no question as to their ownership, and no heart-burning occasioned by the exclusive rights of Churchmen to bury therein. Not that non-conforming Christians are always refused the privilege of burying their dead in our cemeteries. On the contrary, permission is often granted by the trustees to other Christian people to bury the bodies of their friends in our cemeteries, in districts in which they have no burial-grounds of their [122/123] own. The fraternal spirit, the encouraging of which is ever a paramount duty with all, is hereby cherished.

June 13.--We returned to Bishopscourt. In the evening the Shakespeare Club, of which I am President, met here. The club meets twice a month during the winter, beginning with May, in the houses of those members who possess rooms large enough for the purpose. We usually read from eight p.m. to ten, with a short interval for coffee and biscuits. Our rule is to read only half a play at a meeting, to avoid weariness. The plays to be read are selected by a sub-committee, who also decide by whom the several characters shall be taken. The club is a means of improving our acquaintance with some of our neighbours and other people. Only readers are eligible as members, who are proposed and seconded at one meeting and elected at another. Our society is named the Parnell Shakespeare Club, from the district of Auckland so called; the name having been given in the early days of the colony, from one of H.M.'s Secretaries of State, afterwards Lord Congleton. Auckland itself is named from another of the leading Englishmen of those days, Lord Auckland, who was Governor-General of India, and from whose family name our famous Auckland extinct volcano received the name of Mount Eden, the Auckland division of the province also being named the county of Eden.

June 14 and 15.--These days were taken up with meetings and the writing of official letters.

On the latter of them the quarterly meeting of the Associates of the Girls' Friendly Society was held at three p.m. On these occasions, when I am at home, I hold a short service in the private chapel before the [123/124] meeting, and present their cards to new Associates, after the special Lesson. Afterwards I presided at a meeting of the executive committee of our Diocesan Choral Association, in our Diocesan Office, when Mr. T. Tallis Trimnell, late organist of S. Peter's, Sheffield, was appointed choir-master for the coming festival. Mr. Trimnell is a superior organist, and one of the best accompanists that I ever heard.

June 16.--Among our visitors to-day was Mr. Reid, Queen's Remembrancer for Scotland, and formerly secretary of Mr. Gladstone's committee when he was first elected M.P. for Midlothian, who was making a tour round the world for the benefit of his health. He was already feeling better, after a short stay in Australia and a few days at Auckland.

The annual meeting of the subscribers of our Sailors' Home, of which I am President, was held; the chief business being the election of the Council for the ensuing year, and of a vice-president. Captain Anderson was re-elected to the latter office.

I heard to-day on good authority that one of our principal Auckland firms had lost more than £200,000 in their trade among the islands (the Samoan and Tongan groups) during the last few years.

June 17.--In the afternoon, we paid a visit to our old friend, Mr. Robert Baillie Lusk, at Devonport, the township on the north-west side of the Auckland Harbour. Mr. Lusk is now nearly eighty-nine years of age, and may be called the "father" of the Church in this diocese. He was once a bookseller in Glasgow, where he was an elder of the Kirk, until he was disqualified for the office by his uniting with the Rev. McLeod Campbell, whose [124/125] opinions on the universal efficiency of the Atonement were condemned by the highest Presbyterian authorities. Mr. Lusk was a zealous and greatly respected member of our Diocesan and General Synods, and one of the two Diocesan Nominators, until his increasing deafness induced him to resign all these offices. He now lives in retirement with his unmarried daughter, but continues to read theological books and to take a lively interest in all good works. It is always a great treat to have a talk with him, but we can rarely find time to visit him. In the evening, I gave an address in the schoolroom of Holy Trinity Church, Devonport, of which the Rev. Joseph Bates is incumbent, on the "home teaching" of children. The meeting had been called at the request of Mr. Brown, one of the senior members of the Wesleyan body in that district.

June 19, Sunday.--I preached at S. Paul's, Auckland--a Queen's Jubilee sermon, the prayers being said by the incumbent, the Rev. C. M. Nelson. This building is of wood, and will eventually be the schoolroom of the parish; but it is at present the parish church. S. Paul's was the original church of Auckland, built of brick in 1840. It was afterwards enlarged, and would hold a congregation of seven hundred. In 1885, it was pulled down, to enable the city authorities to lower the site, in order to effect improvements in the streets of that neighbourhood. The site remains the property of our General Synod, to whom--that is, to the trustees--£4750 were paid as compensation for the removal of the church. Unless another site, equally good, can be obtained by exchange, the new church will be built where the old one stood. There are many hallowed [125/126] associations connected with this site, especially that of Bishop Patteson's consecration in 1861; so that our people generally will rejoice if this is the case.

June 21, Tuesday.--The day appointed for H.M.'s Jubilee, on the completion of the fiftieth year of her reign. A public holiday throughout the British Empire. A day of heavy showers in Auckland, with very muddy roads. Our general Jubilee service was held in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Archdeacon Dudley's; and, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, there was a large congregation, including most of the clergy of the city and suburbs. The service was short and very hearty. The singing, especially of the National Anthem, was so enthusiastic, that one person said to me that he could hardly refrain from waving his hat and cheering. The prayers were said by the Rev. W. Beatty, Warden of St. John's College, and the Lessons read by Archdeacons Dudley and Maunsell. All were struck by the strength and clearness of the latter's reading of Romans xiii., Dr. Maunsell being now in his seventy-eighth year. I preached the sermon, taking for my text S. Peter's words, "Honour the king." The collection, amounting to about £15, was for the building of the Church House in London. The Holy Table was tastefully decorated with beautiful camellias from Bishopscourt--crimson, pink, and white. Some of these flowers measured five inches in diameter. The tree on which they grow is about fifteen years old, and is in height eleven feet. It originally bore only small crimson flowers, but now they are generally of a deep pink, with white streaks and spots; there being on two sides of the tree other trees bearing respectively white and pink [126/127] flowers. The soil in which they grow is clay, mixed with scoria ash. In the evening, the principal street in Auckland had some handsome illuminations, and between 8 and 9.30 p.m. it was paraded by a large part of the population--the crowd being estimated at about ten thousand persons. I walked up and down the middle of the street, and could not but notice the absence of roughness or rudeness of every kind. It was the best-behaved crowd of its size that I was ever in; and I have been in many in many countries. There were torchlight processions of our Naval Volunteers and the Salvation Army, for which the crowd made way respectfully. I did not hear of any one being hurt.

June 24, Friday.--In the afternoon, I held a Confirmation in the chapel of S. Johns College, Tamaki, for some of the boys of the Rev. T. F. King's school, at present domiciled in the college buildings. Mr. King was at the time laid up with bronchitis. The service was, however, reverently conducted, and in every way as it should be; the boys of the school chanting the psalms and singing the hymns heartily and well.

June 25.--The Southern Cross, Mission vessel, arrived from Norfolk Island, the head-quarters of the Melanesian Mission, about four hundred miles to the north-west of New Zealand, and six hundred miles from Auckland. The vessel brought Bishop Selwyn, Mrs. Sclwyn, the Rev. Dr. Codrington, and twelve Melanesian young men. Mrs. Sehvyn was on her way to Sydney, to stay with her relatives for some months, during the Bishop's absence among the islands--the Banks, Florida, and Solomon groups. Dr. Codrington was on his way to England, having accepted from Wadham College, [127/128] Oxford, of which he is a Fellow, the vicarage of Wadhurst, in the diocese of Chichester. His departure is greatly deplored by the Mission, to which he has devoted himself and his for twenty years; having joined Bishop Patteson in 1867. [In a letter written on July 15, one of the Melanesian girls says to E., "I must tell you about our father, Dr. Codrington, who has gone away from us. Mother, it is sorrowful about him. We all cried about him, because he is our father."] He had before accompanied the Bishop on one of his voyages, in 1863. Dr. Codrington's special work has been to superintend the teaching at Norfolk Island, whither scholars of both sexes are brought by the Mission vessel from the islands annually visited by the Missionaries. He is the greatest authority living on the languages of these islands, on which he has written a very exhaustive book, recently published by the Clarendon Press. In recognition of the value of this work, the University of Oxford, in 1885, conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.

Dr. Codrington took up his quarters at Bishopscourt, where he is a special favourite with our children, as well as a highly esteemed friend of our own. As we had no other spare room to offer the Bishop and Mrs. Selwyn, they occupied a lodging just outside our grounds, so as to be able to come to us easily at any time. The twelve Melanesians were lodged at S. Stephen's Maori School, within five minutes' walk of our house. They were quartered in the original brick building there; a good-sized room, with a fireplace being allotted to each set of three.

June 26, Sunday.--In the morning, I went to Mangere (about seven miles), accompanied by E., and held a [128/129] Confirmation in S. James's Church, a solid building of dark scoria stone, erected by the Maories at their own cost in 1857. The land in the neighbourhood of the church was confiscated after the Waikato War, in which Potatou, who formerly lived there, was engaged against the Queen's troops. Afterwards three acres, including the church site, were restored by the Government to the Maories, being conveyed to three of them, who now hold it for the Church of England. No Maories now live in the neighbourhood; but the building is regularly used by the European settlers, who are ministered to by the Rev. Middlewood Kirkbride. He was in 1886 admitted to Deacon's Orders by me, on the understanding that he was not to be required to give up his farm in the neighbourhood. Mr. Kirkbride was the licensed Lay Reader of the district for many years, conducting Sunday services regularly at S. James's, and in the schoolroom of the district, several miles from the church. Mr. Kirkbride is highly esteemed by his people, among whom he dwelt as a layman for fourteen years. He is a man of literary tastes and of considerable reading, and has published a poem, "The Arch-Druid," the result of much study. It was a bright, warm day, fortunately for our Melanesian visitors.

Bishop Selwyn was fully employed, as he always is when he visits Auckland. He was celebrant at the eight a.m. service at S. Mary's, near which he was lodging; at ten a.m. he took part in the Melanesian service in the Bishopscourt chapel; at three p.m. he addressed the Sunday-school children at S. Mary's; and at the evening service he preached there. Dr Codrington devoted himself to the Melanesian boys, [129/130] with whom service was held daily in the Mota language, in the morning and evening-, in our chapel. A boy from Torres Island (about lat. 13° S., long. 167° E.) played the harmonium. The singing was strikingly good. Before the morning service, and sometimes after, the Melanesians sat about in our balcony, revelling in the sunshine. Their behaviour was excellent at all times; showing the good influence exercised on the roughest natures by intercourse with such men as Bishop Selwyn, Dr. Codrington, and other members of the Mission staff. Dr. Codrington treated them at all times as a wise father might treat his children. He had them "in his heart," and they knew it, and their bearing towards him was in keeping with that knowledge.

After the evening service at S. Mary's, I gave an address on Missionary work in Hindustan, addressed primarily to the members of the Church of England Working Men's Society of the parish.

To end the day, Bishop Selwyn and his wife, Dr. Codrington, E., and I, sat round the wood fire in our dining-room, talking of many things, until nearly eleven o'clock.

June 27, Monday.--The Melanesians came to matins and vespers in the chapel every day this week; and in the morning or afternoon, or both, they were taken by their devoted friend, Dr. Codrington, to see some of the Auckland sights.

In the afternoon, I held a conference with Archdeacon Dudley and my examining chaplains--the Revs. J. Bates, W. Beatty, C. M. Nelson, and G. H. S. Walpole--respecting the admission of one of the students of our college to Deacon's Orders. In our [130/131] circumstances it is impossible to lay down a hard and fast rule as to the examination to be passed by candidates for the diaconate. Some of them have had little opportunity of acquiring any knowledge of Latin or Greek, but are men of experience, and of gifts specially qualifying them to do good work as clergymen. As a rule, we do all we can to encourage our young men to study for the B.A. degree of the University of New Zealand.

In the evening, at eight, the Parnell Shakespeare Club met at Bishopscourt. The first two acts of "Richard II." were read; the King's part being taken by Bishop Selwyn, whose reading was much admired. I took Bolingbroke.

June 28, Tuesday.--A day of interviews. E. stays at home every Tuesday afternoon, to see those who wish to see her. It had been made known that Mrs. Selwyn also would be here to receive visitors, and consequently a great many callers came; the day, moreover, was very bright and warm.

In the evening, I went to the technical drawing class, held in one of the rooms of the Training College in Auckland. It is conducted by Mr. Robinson, who appears to be a very accomplished teacher. His pupils are young men employed in iron foundries, or as builders, or plumbers, and are required to draw on a large scale, and colour, all the parts of the machinery with which they have to do, sections of buildings, etc.

The thermometer fell during the night to 44° 30' in our house, lower than we had ever before seen it there.

June 29, Wednesday, S. Peter's Day.--The eighteenth anniversary of my consecration in Westminster Abbey. [131/132] The Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Tait) had with him on the occasion the Bishop of Lichfield (Dr. G. A. Selwyn), who preached the sermon, the Bishop of Ely (Dr. Harold Browne), and others. These two Bishops "presented" me. Dr. Chambers and Dr. Marsden were at the same time consecrated to the dioceses of Labuan and Bathurst. The former resigned in 1879, on account of ill health, and the latter in 1885. I began the day this year by celebrating the Holy Communion at S. Sepulchre's Church, at 8.15 a.m. At eleven a.m. there was Holy Communion in the private chapel, at which Bishop Selwyn was celebrant. Afterwards there was a meeting of the S. Barnabas' Ladies' Association; the object of which is to help the Melanesian Mission and the lady members of the staff. The Association ordinarily holds its annual meeting on S. Barnabas' Day; but it was postponed this year until the expected arrival of Bishop Selwyn. The Association maintains a scholar at the Mission School, that is, contributes £10 a year towards her expenses, and is getting together an endowment to maintain another. The scholar's name is Ipue. She is from Santa Cruz Island, in accordance with the wish of Miss Atkin, who specially desired that the first scholar maintained should be from that island. At our meeting on this day, Bishop Selwyn gave an interesting address on the recent progress of the Mission work, and Dr. Codrington added a few words respecting the work at 6". Barnabas' College, Norfolk Island. The treasurer of the association is Miss Georgina Roskruge.

In the evening, we all went to S. Sepulchre's, where Bishop Selwyn preached; the day being the anniversary of the consecration of that church, as well as of my own. [132/133] To Bishop Selwyn, as to myself, it is specially pleasant to take part with our good and honoured friend, Archdeacon Dudley, in the public worship of his church. Bishop Selwyn's sermon was the best I ever heard him preach, that is, the most thoroughly thought out and most carefully arranged.

June 30, Thursday.--The Rev. J. Still and his wife arrived from Wellington, to see their friends of the Mission. Mr. Still is a great favourite with many of our Auckland people, as indeed he is wherever he is well known. His fine presence and muscular development greatly impressed the diminutive inhabitants of the Islands, when he went amongst them as a member of the Mission staff. The Islanders used to take pleasure in measuring his calves and the length of his nose. Had he been a missionary to the natives of New Zealand, our Maories might have called him appropriately "Tokatumoana" (Rock standing in the sea). At ten a.m. I married, in the private chapel, an old soldier of H.M.'s 53rd Regiment to the daughter of one of the oldest Bay of Islands settlers. I cannot, of course, be expected often to "take marriages," especially when doing so involves a journey and a consequent loss of several hours, which I can ill spare from my proper duties; but I always feel that soldiers and the children of our oldest settlers have a special claim on my services. This particular soldier reminded me of an interesting occasion on which we were before together, namely, at the fight at Coorsee, on March 23, 1858, after the capture of Lucknow. General Sir Hope Grant commanded the column, which consisted of the 6th Brigade (Horsford's), namely, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Rifle Brigade, [133/134] the 53rd Regiment, etc. On our return inarch to Luck-now a very strange thing happened. The column was halting to rest in a grove of fine mango trees, in one of which--high up, over our heads--an artilleryman espied what looked like a bird's nest, and, with the instinct of his race, he of course threw a stone at it. It was a hornets' nest; and in less than a minute a cloud of hornets dropped on to the backs of the artillery and cavalry horses, stinging them into madness, and attacking indiscriminately the European and Indian soldiers. The greatest confusion resulted, and the column was not got together again and able to advance for a considerable time. This event was a striking illustration of the wisdom of the adage, Quieta non movere.

In the evening, I went to Woodside (about thirteen miles) to the reopening of the little church, S. David's, after the addition of an apsidal chancel. Such additions to our country churches are tokens of the faithful work of the clergyman in charge of the district. Wood-side (the Maori Papatoitoi) forms part of the Rev. O. R. Hewlett's charge, whose head-quarters are at Papakura; where he visits many congregations, receiving from them about £150 a year, on which he contrives, by strict economy, to subsist. His people are willing to increase this poor maintenance, but are at present unable to do so, owing to the general agricultural depression. At the Woodside service Evening Prayer was said by the Rev. F. Gould, of Otahuhu, who was in charge of the district when the original church was built; and one of the Lessons was read by the Rev. H. Hayward, who has a small farm in the neighbourhood, but has no pastoral charge in the diocese.

[135] July 1, Friday.--In the evening, there was a large gathering of friends at Bishopscourt, to meet the Bishop of Melanesia and Mrs. Selwyn and the Rev. Dr. Codrington. About 250 persons were invited, and 160 came, including Sir G. Grey, Archdeacon and Mrs. Dudley, Dr. Shortland, the Rev. J. Still, Mr. Pierce, and other old friends of the first Bishop Selwyn and of the Melanesian Mission. In warm weather, when we are able to open the doors from the drawing-room into the balcony, we can ask three hundred or more guests to an evening "at home," without fear of their being inconveniently crowded; but in the winter we are obliged to stop at 250. Whether we invite 250 or 350, we nearly always discover, when it is too late, that several whom we intended to invite have been omitted. On this occasion, the buzz of conversation justified Dr. Codrington's saying to Mr. Still, "It is not unlike landing at Saa;" but the crowding was much less than what I have experienced at a London crush at the height of the season. I remember retreating, after getting half up the stairs at Sir Stafford Northcote's (when he was Secretary of State for India), without doing more than bow at a distance to Lady Northcote, as I saw no prospect of reaching the drawing-room within a reasonable time. Our guests began to arrive at eight, and had all gone before 10.30. At nine p.m. all assembled in the Library, where Bishop Selwyn and Dr. Codrington gave short, interesting, and unconventional addresses on some of the superstitions and customs of the Islanders.

At these gatherings we do not offer our friends an expensive banquet, which we cannot afford, but only tea and coffee, with bread-and-butter and cakes.

[136] In the summer we sometimes have a Garden Party, to which we invite any number; our grounds being extensive and admirably suited to that kind of gathering; the trees being many and umbrageous, and the view over the harbour very charming. Bishopscourt stands on the brow of a hill, with the grounds sloping down towards the sea, and facing the sunny North, with great capabilities for a garden. A man in my employment once said to me of the site, intending to annoy me, "The gentleman's place I was at in England was beautiful--all level, like a board; but this is such a hugly place--all hup and down." When the General Synod was in session at Auckland in 1886, we issued cards to about a thousand persons. Between six and seven hundred came to the gathering. The only expense we incurred on the occasion was for the hire of a band, in addition to the ordinary tea and bread-and-butter of these outdoor entertainments. Even if we could afford it, we would not offer our guests wine ad libitum; and we think it right, in any case, to show that people need not forego the pleasure of exercising hospitality because they cannot afford to give expensive delicacies in the way of eating and drinking.

July 3, Sunday.--In the morning, we went to Otahuhu, about nine miles, where I held a Confirmation at eleven o'clock. The clergyman of this parish is the Rev. F. Gould, of whom mention has already been made. A beautiful day, but very cold in the shade, especially in the church, which has high trees between it and the sun. Our wooden churches and houses in New Zealand need all the sun they can get in winter. It is a true saying [136/137] in reference to our houses of kauri pine, "Where the sun enters not the doctor docs." On our way home we met Bishop Selwyn, Mrs. Selwyn, and Mr. Still, on their way from St. Mark's (where the Bishop had been preaching) to St. Sepulchre's (where he was to address the children at three), walking. The distance is more than a mile. At six p.m. Bishop Selwyn preached at S. Paul's to a crowded congregation. I was at S. Matthew's in the evening, holding a Confirmation. S. Matthew's is in the heart of Auckland, and is our second oldest city parish. It is more like a town charge in England than any of our other parishes. The church is of wood, and will hold about seven hundred persons. A Stone Church Building Fund was begun in 1852, and now amounts to about £15,000. For many years the growth of the fund has been the product of compound interest only. Great credit is due to the trustees of the fund--at present Messrs. J. Burtt and W. S. Cochrane--by whom interest at the average rate of eight per cent, has been obtained, with good security.

The present Incumbent of S. Matthew's is the Rev. W. Tebbs, of Queen's College, Cambridge. When the incumbency of this parish was last vacant, the Board of Nominators--consisting of two diocesan members elected by the Synod, and three parochial members elected by the vestry of the parish--delegated the selection of a clergyman to the Rev. A. R. Tomlinson, my senior Commissary in England, by whom Mr. Tebbs was nominated to me for institution. The Bishop has, of course, the right to refuse to institute a clergyman duly nominated; but there is an appeal from such refusal to the bench of Bishops. On a former occasion of a [137/138] vacancy in this cure the selection of a clergyman was delegated to the Rev. Dr. Vaughan, Master of the Temple, London; and in both cases the deed of delegation, when sent to England, was accompanied by a document signed by me, saying that I would institute the clergyman nominated in accordance with the terms of the deed.

Mr. Tomlinson has selected two other clergymen for us for town parishes in Auckland, namely, for S. Mary's and S. Mark's. In each case he was authorised to offer a stipend of £400 with a house, and passage money. Some of our people disapprove of the custom of sending to England for clergymen for our town parishes; on the ground that the clergy who have done good work in the country districts of the diocese ought to be appointed to the town charges when they become vacant. It would, however, be a mistake to restrict the choice of the Board of Nominators to the clergy of the diocese; and, as a matter of fact, the Board has not always gone beyond the diocese for a city incumbent. On the whole, I have found our system of nominating incumbents to work well. Mr. Tebbs has improved the machinery of his parish by the addition of a fine schoolroom; S. Matthew's being the only parish possessing a Church day school; and we are mainly indebted to him for our new Cemetery Regulations. Mrs. Tebbs is an accomplished musician, and occasionally officiates as organist at S. Matthew's, and is also an active Associate of the Girls' Friendly Society.

July 4, Monday.--A day of meetings. Whilst I was at the Council of our University College, E. was engaged with the Committee of her Women's Home. [See Appendix, D, p. 347 (Report for 1886).] This [138/139] institution was begun by her, with the help of a few friends, in 1884. Up to the present time about a hundred women have been received into the Home. Of these, a large proportion have derived much benefit therein. The affairs of the Home are managed by a Committee, consisting of Archdeacon Dudley, the Revs. J. S. Hill and G. H. S. Walpole, Mrs. Cowie, Mrs. J. M. Clark, and Mrs. Kinder. The chief responsibility has necessarily rested with E., who is the Superintendent. She has given a great deal of time and thought to the work, and has had to do most of the begging to obtain funds to carry it on. Mrs. Kinder is the honorary secretary and treasurer, and takes great interest in the welfare of the Home. From the beginning of the work E. has received zealous and valuable assistance from her, not only in counsel and personal service, but also financially. Moreover, her former experience in work of this kind, with Lady Martin, renders her co-operation specially helpful. Mrs. Kinder's devotion to work in which she believes, like her devotion to her friends, is not half-hearted. The ordinary expenses of the Home amount to about five pounds a week. Of that sum, about two pounds is at present obtained by the laundry work of the inmates. The Home is close to Bishopscourt, so that E. is able to visit it easily, whenever she can spare the time; and she can be consulted at all times by the resident Matron. One palpable result of the good work done at the Home is the cessation of infanticide in this part of the colony. Many of the women who have been sheltered there were the victims of scoundrels professing honourable intentions, who absconded as soon as there was a prospect of exposure. The following is a sample of the cases in [139/140] which the Home has rescued the injured from worse wrong, and has helped them to recover their position, or to make a fresh start in life.

E. was asked, through our telephone, whether she could receive into the Home a young woman who had just arrived from England, and knew no one in Auckland. She was at once received, and proved herself to be worthy of the consideration that was shown her. It was afterwards ascertained that the woman had been put on board a ship in the Thames by her seducer, a man much her senior, who promised either to meet her on her arrival at Auckland, or to arrange for some one to meet her with money. Of course no such friend met her; and, without money as she was, she would have been in sad condition indeed but for the Home. Whilst there her conduct was in every way exemplary. After the birth of her child, she went to a neighbouring colony, at the invitation of a near relative. Her child died when it was three months old; and the mother returned to New Zealand, where she entered the service of a neighbour of ours, and gave great satisfaction and was much respected. What might not have been her fate, without the Home, and the motherly treatment she received there? This woman was a Presbyterian, as others of the inmates of the Home have been. Roman Catholics, and members of almost all other sections of Christians, have also been received there.

On one occasion, in answer to E.'s inquiry of a Roman Catholic woman, who was applying for help, why she did not make her case known to her own priest, the applicant said, "You see, they have no families of their own, and they don't understand things."

[141] July 5, Tuesday.--In the afternoon, I presided at the ordinary monthly meeting of the Melanesian Mission trustees. As Bishop Selwyn was in Auckland, he was asked by the trustees to attend the meeting, if he had any communication to make to them. He accordingly came, and informed us that he contemplated selling the Southern Cross, his present vessel, and having a larger one built, of about fifty additional tons, with a suitable hold, for the conveyance of stores to the Islands. I was very glad to hear of this intention, as I have long felt that the Southern Cross is too small for the convenience and the health of the missionaries and their scholars, as well as for other purposes.

July 6, Wednesday.--The Southern Cross was to have left to-day for the Islands, and accordingly we had a farewell service in the private chapel, with those who were about to leave us and some of their friends. I was celebrant, and Bishop Selwyn and Dr. Codrington assisted me. For the Gospel I read that for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity, viz. the beginning of Luke v., which seemed to me specially suitable for the occasion. Among the congregation were Archdeacons Maunsell and Dudley, the Rev. Dr. Kinder, and the Revs. E. J. Phillips, A. G. Purchas, and G. H. S. Walpole; and Mrs. Selwyn, Mrs. Ashwell, Miss Maning, Mrs. Purchas, Mrs. Kinder, and E., who led the singing. Among the special prayers said was one for the Mission, composed by Bishop Patteson, as follows:--

"O Lord Jesu Christ, Who didst walk upon the Sea of Galilee; Who didst calm the waves thereof, and safely bring Thy Apostles to the haven where they would be: We humbly beseech Thee to bless Thy servants the [141/142] clergy of the Melanesian Mission. Give Thy holy angels charge over them to keep them in all their ways. Preserve them from the dangers of the sea, and from all v that may hurt them. Prosper their endeavours to spread the knowledge of Thy Word among the multitude of the isles; and so fulfil our prayers for their safe return that we may praise Thee more and more, Who with the Father and the Holy Ghost art blessed for ever. Amen."

Among the communicants were our twelve Melanesian friends, to whom Bishop Selwyn and Dr. Codrington administered the bread and wine. The [142/143] offertory collection (£1 19 s. 11 d.) was for the Endowment Fund of the S. Barnabas' Ladies' Association. The Southern Cross was detained until the 8th, first by a mistake as to the depth of water needed to float her over a mudbank in the harbour, and subsequently by an adverse wind. [Our daughter (aet. 14) afterwards received a letter, of which the following is a translation, from one of the Melanesian youths, Walter Gala, a native of Gana, on Santa Maria Island, in the Banks group, about 14° 10' S. lat., 167° 35' E. long. The handwriting was that of an educated man. "July 17, 1887. "To Katharine Cowie. "Friend, I now write briefly to you. I write with fear, for I do not know how to write letters well. I cannot tell you properly about anything, but I will tell you about our return from you. We lingered in the sea, but reached Norfolk Island, and on July 14 landed. All the people at Norfolk Island were still quite well, and I keep relating to the black people about our stay with you there. They rejoiced very much when we returned, and they gathered round us, desiring only to hear a word about that place Auckland. And I also tell the girls about you. They desire very much to see you, and I show them your photograph, and they wonder greatly at your hair being so very long. And I tell them that you gave us flowers continually, and they hear with pleasure. I am quite out of breath with telling the women about you, and about the things there, and about the houses and shops. I am tired of telling them all about it, for I do it every day. "It is true that it is difficult for me to send you anything now, for I have not yet reached my own country. If I shall reach there, I will then send you something. The sweets that you gave me--the girls ate some, and I distributed some to the boys. It is finished. I cannot write at length to you. Good-bye to you, Katharine. "I, Walter Gala, wrote to you with very great love."]

July 8, Friday.--The Southern Cross left Auckland for Norfolk Island and the groups of islands on which the Melanasian Mission has stations, taking Bishop Selwyn, Mrs. Ashwell, Mr. and the Misses Lodge, and others, and the twelve Melanesians who had been on a visit to Auckland. E. and I, Mrs. Selwyn, Dr. Codrington, Archdeacon Dudley, the Rev. A. G. and Mrs. Purchas, and other friends helped them into the ship's boat at the Queen Street Wharf. E. remained on board the vessel to the last with Mrs. Selwyn, and came ashore with her when the vessel was ready to move off from her anchorage. There was a short service on board before the parting. Mrs. Selwyn bore it bravely, as few wives could. The wind being fair, the Southern Cross, with the help of her propeller, which can work up to four knots an hour, soon rounded the green mound which forms the entrance to our harbour from the north. Steam is only used on special occasions. The Bishop was at the helm as the vessel passed under the Bishopscourt windows. He thoroughly understands navigation, as he does everything else connected with the work of the Mission. In this and in other respects, as in countenance, he is more than ever like his father. More could not be said in commendation of any missionary. Whilst it can be truly said of his devotion to the affairs of the Mission that he is totus in illis, it seems to be a real [143/144] luxury to him, wherever he may be, to allow himself no rest in order that he may be always helping some one in some way with his money, his time, his thoughts, and at the sacrifice of all repose of mind and body. The Rev. J. and Mrs. Still left us, to return to Wellington.

July 9, Saturday.--Mrs. Selwyn and Dr. Codrington were with us. The latter showed us his beautiful photographs of places visited by him in Asia, Africa, and Europe, on his way to and from England in 1883 and 1885.

July 10, Sunday.--A very bright morning, followed at noon by heavy squalls of rain from the west. I rode to S. Alban's, Mount Roskill (about three miles), where I preached. This is our newest suburban church. The population in its neighbourhood is at present sparse. The site was given by a Mr. Paice, formerly in the employment of Bishop Abraham when he was a master at Eton.

The church was opened in February, 1886, when the General Synod was in session in Auckland. The Primate preached on that occasion. The clergyman is the Rev. E. J. Phillips, who was for some years an officer on a steamship of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, and afterwards a settler in the Kaipara district of this diocese. After the death of his wife, he entered S. John's College, Tamaki, where he had the benefit of the Rev. Dr. Kinder's tuition, until his admission to Deacon's Orders. After six years of faithful work in the West Waikato district, Mr. Phillips became one of Archdeacon Dudley's coadjutors in 1885, with the charge of the Mount Roskill section of the parish. All the arrangements of S. Alban's are much according to rule, and conducive [144/145] to reverence. Mr. Phillips's daughter is the organist of the church, and his sons are all members of the choir. Their friend, Miss Hunter, is a valuable helper in all Church work.

July 12, Tuesday.--In the afternoon, I was at a meeting of our Lay Readers' Association; the purpose of which is to encourage mutual sympathy and help among those who are doing lay readers' work in the diocese, and to assist the members by obtaining suitable volumes of sermons and other theological works. The affairs of the Association are managed by a committee; and the books are kept in our Diocesan Office, a room in a building in the main street of the city. The Rev. J. Ilaselden was to-day elected our secretary, in place of Mr. F. Larkins, who resigned at this meeting, in anticipation of leaving Auckland soon for London. During his sojourn in Auckland of about thirteen years, Mr. Larkins has given much help to several of our Church institutions, and he will be greatly missed by many. He can never be forgetful of Auckland, inasmuch as in the churchyard of S. Mark's, Remuera, there are the graves of Mrs. Larkins and their only son, as well as that of a grandchild. John Russell Larkins died in May, 1886, a few days after his return home from England, where he had obtained an open scholarship at Exeter College, Oxford, soon after his arrival in England from Auckland two years before. He was a young man of great promise, being always distinguished by high moral principle, untiring industry, and unusual ability for the acquisition of foreign languages, ancient and modern. He was very tall of stature; and seems to have put too great a strain on his mind, in his various [145/146] studies, at a time when it needed rest, during the rapid growth and development of his body.

July 13, Wednesday.--Mrs. Kissling, senior, dined with us. Her late husband was a native of Wirtemberg, and came to New Zealand in 1842, and died in 1866. He was, during the latter part of that period, Incumbent of S. Mary's parish, Parnell, and Archdeacon of Waitemata (Auckland). Mrs. Kissling is now in her seventy-ninth year, and is beloved and respected by all, old and young, who know her, for her unvarying gentleness and kindliness to those with whom she has to do. Mrs. Selwyn left us for Sydney, where she intends to stay some months, during her husband's voyage among the islands of the South-West Pacific. During her last sojourn in Auckland she has become known to our people, and has endeared herself to many who have had an opportunity of making her acquaintance. In 1886, Mrs. Selwyn accompanied the Bishop on his visit to Santa Cruz Island, which was for several years avoided even by our missionaries, on account of the savage ways of the inhabitants. It was there that three of Bishop Patteson's companions were mortally wounded in 1864, and Commodore Goodenough received a like wound in 1875. Mrs. Selwyn landed on this island, and on others in the same region, with the Bishop, and was received in a friendly manner by the natives. Her calm and quiet bearing would always help her in her dealings with wild people, whether black or white. Mrs. Selwyn acquired at Norfolk Island a colloquial knowledge of the Mota language, the lingua franca of the Mission, with great facility, and has proved herself a true helpmeet to the Bishop, as a member of the teaching staff of S. Barnabas' [146/147] College, as in other ways. The other ladies of the Mission may well congratulate themselves, as they do, on having in the Bishop's wife so competent and desirable a coadjutor. Mrs. Selwyn went to Australia by the S.S. Wairarapa, one of the fine boats of the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand, a vessel of 1786 tons and 1750 horse power, fitted up with every modern convenience, including the electric light. This Company has four steamers of larger tonnage than the Wairarapa, and seven of somewhat smaller capacity, engaged in the coastal and intercolonial trade, and about twenty-five other steamers trading between the ports of the colony. The largest boats average in speed about thirteen knots on ordinary voyages. When I first visited our South Island from Auckland in 1870, the Wellington, a vessel of about five hundred tons, was considered the best on the coast. This is a fair sample of the general progress of the colony in seventeen years.

July 14, Thursday.--The day of the ordinary monthly meeting of our Standing Committee. At it I informed the Committee of my wish to attend the Conference of Bishops of the Anglican Communion, to be held at Lambeth, under the presidency of the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1888.

In the evening, E. and I went to a social gathering at .S. Matthew's, Auckland, chiefly for the purpose of presenting prizes and certificates that had been gained by scholars of the Sunday school at the last Bishop's Prizes Examination. For sixteen years I have given these prizes, to those who have acquitted themselves with merit, in a Diocesan Examination, in subjects announced twelve months beforehand. This year the [147/148] examination was held in February, and the subjects were--some Old Testament characters, part of S. Mark's Gospel, the Lord's Prayer, and certain Church-seasons. During the previous year, lessons on these subjects had appeared each month in our Diocesan Church Gazette. The examiners this year were the Revs. W. Beatty and C. M. Nelson, and Messrs. J. W. Tibbs, H. G. Seth Smith, and H. Worthington. Mr. Tibbs is a master at the Auckland College and Grammar School. In 1879, he took honours in mathematics at Oxford, where he was a member of Keble College, having gone to that University from Tasmania with what is known as the Tasmanian Scholarship. Mr. Worthington is the head master of our largest primary school under the Board of Education, and one of our chief authorities on primary education. The competitors for the prizes are all examined in the same subjects by printed questions, but are divided into two grades--the senior, consisting of scholars over thirteen years of age, and the junior, of those not so old. The junior grade children are set easier questions. For a place in the first class, two-thirds of the marks must be obtained; for a place in the second, one-half; and in the third, one quarter. Prizes are given to all who are placed in the first and second classes, and certificates to those of the third. The first place in the first class this year was obtained by Basil Nelson Tebbs, the second son of the Incumbent of 6". Matthew's; and certificates were awarded to two of the same clergyman's daughters.

At the S. Matthew's entertainment, the fine new schoolroom, which holds about five hundred people, was filled to overflowing with children and their parents [148/149] and teachers. After some songs had been sung by parishioners, I presented the prize and certificates. Afterwards an interesting and instructive address was given by Major Dane, a lecturer from America, on character forming. A lime-light magic-lantern exhibition occupied the remainder of the evening. These meetings in connection with our parish churches are very popular in New Zealand, and do much good by bringing neighbours together, giving the clergyman an opportunity of intercourse with some of his people not often to be found at home in the daytime, and by affording innocent and inexpensive recreation and amusement in the midst of the homes of the parishioners.

July 15, Friday.--At three p.m. the quarterly meeting' of our Home Mission Society was held in the Diocesan Office. The purpose of the Society is to help to extend the ministrations of the clergy to all parts of the diocese, by making known the state of the country districts to our people generally, and getting all to take an interest in their spiritual well-being; and by increasing the Fund from which grants are made towards the maintenance of clergy in the poorer country districts.

At four p.m. I presided at a meeting of our Pension Board. The Board consists of the Bishop ex officio, and seven others elected by the Synod at its first session after the triennial election. The elected members at present are Archdeacon Dudley, the Rev. C. M. Nelson, the Hon. Colonel Haultain, and Messrs. G. P. Pierce, F. W. E. Dawson, M. Rawlings, and J. H. Upton. It was the annual meeting, at which grants are made from the available income--to clergymen and the widows of clergymen who are entitled to pensions. Our capital now [149/150] amounts to about £10,000, for the dioceses of Auckland, Melanesia, and Waiapu. At present no clergyman is in receipt of a pension from the Fund. Of the pensions paid to widows--of whom there are at present ten receiving grants--the highest is £33 and the lowest £3. At the last meeting it was resolved that £191 should be divided amongst the claimants, each European widow receiving a small sum for every year that her husband had subscribed to the fund, and each Maori widow one-half of that sum. There is an Emergency Branch of the Fund, from which grants are made to clergymen needing such help--to enable them to go away for a change of air by direction of their doctor. For instance, at this meeting an application was received from a clergyman suffering from chronic laryngitis, who was advised by his doctor to rest his voice and make a voyage to the Islands; the clergyman's stipend being only about £150 per annum. A grant of £25 was made to the applicant.

The annual subscription paid by each clergyman to the Fund is £2. All surplice fees, e.g. for marriages and churchings, are ordered by the Synod to be paid to the Fund; and the Synod recommends that there should be an annual collection for the Fund in all the churches of the diocese.

In the evening, at 7.30, I attended a meeting, held in the hall of the Young Men's Christian Association, to consider the necessity for an alteration in the Education Act of the colony, so as to admit of selected passages of the Bible being read in the Government schools of the colony. The President of the society, the Rev. J. S. Hill, was in the chair; and among those on the platform was Sir William Fox, formerly Premier of the colony, [150/151] who gave a very interesting account of the progress of the educational system of New Zealand. I gave the first address. There is, I believe, throughout the colony, an increasing conviction that the Holy Scriptures should be taught in the public schools. At present I do not think that the many denominations would co-operate with the Church in this matter, further than to ask that in our schools selected portions of the Old and New Testaments should be read, by or with the schoolmaster, during school hours, at times to be specified by the Boards of Education. This is not what our Synods would like, but it is the utmost that the New Zealand Parliament is at all likely to agree to.

Looked at from a Churchman's point of view, what is wanted is--(1) that, where it is possible, religious instruction should be given by ministers of religion, and by others authorised by the bodies to which they belong, to the children of their Church or denomination at specified times during school hours; (2) that, where this is not possible, e.g. in most country districts, the schoolmaster should read, to or with the children, selected portions of the Bible at specified times during school hours; and (3) that "grants in aid" should be made to Church and denominational schools, in which the number of scholars and their attainments come up to the requirements of the proper authority. [See Appendix K, p. 370.]

July 17, Sunday.--A perfect day, of warm sunshine and cool air, I took the morning service, with Holy Communion, at S. Paul's; the Rev. C. M. Nelson being at Devonport, of which parish the incumbent was absent, he having gone to help a neighbouring clergyman who [151/152] was ill. I was struck by the goodness of the singing, especially of the Psalms. It is a great advantage when the clergyman can instruct his choir as Mr. Nelson can. In the evening, I was at S. Sepulchres, where the Rev. Dr. Codrington preached--for the last time, we fear, in New Zealand. It was an instructive and suggestive sermon, as one expected it would be, on the justice and the love of God. Prayers were said by Archdeacon Dudley, and the Lessons were read by the Rev. A. G. Purchas and myself. Mr. Purchas and his family are among our oldest and most valued New Zealand friends. He was for some years Incumbent of S. Peter's parish, Onehunga, a settlement on the western side of the isthmus of Auckland, and also the principal medical practitioner of the district. Mr. Purchas received his medical education at Guy's Hospital (where he enjoyed the advantages of the teaching and friendship of the late Professor Maurice), and came to New Zealand in 1845. He was with Bishop Selwyn at S. John's College, Tamaki, and was ordained by him in 1847. Twelve years ago, he resigned his clerical work, and took up his residence in Auckland, where he has no regular charge as a clergyman, but gives all his time to his medical duties. On Sundays and other days, when not prevented by his professional engagements, he helps the Archdeacon at .S". Sepulchre's, saying the prayers or reading the lessons, with feeling and reverence, in a voice clear, soft, and even by nature and cultivation. He is a scientific musician, and a man of much intellectual culture.

July 18, Monday.--Dr. Codrington left us for England. He went by the S.S. Zealandia (3000 tons), which goes [152/153] to Honolulu and San Francisco. [This mail service costs the colony £24,000 per annum (Mr. Mitchelson, July 25). In 1886-87 it left a profit of £250 (Sir Julius Vogel, August 8).] Many of his Auckland friends, including five from Bishopscourt, took leave of him on the wharf, all feeling that they would not see his like again as a missionary to the Melanesians.

The coming general election of representatives to the New Zealand Parliament is now occupying much of the thoughts of our people. "Retrenchment" is the prevailing demand throughout the colony, as indeed it needs to be, according to the statements of a member of Parliament and a member of the Cabinet, [New Zealand Herald, July 14.] namely, that the present [Mr. Mitchelson, M.H.R. ] indebtedness of the colony is £34,000,000, the population being about 600,000, and the interest on the debt a million and three-quarters; and that the Customs receipts have fallen off about £200,000 since 1883. [Mr. Peacock, M.H.R.] On October 31, 1886, there were 1734 miles of Government railways open for traffic. "Retrenchment" has, however, been the demand of the people at every election since I came to the colony; but members, when elected, have been expected to obtain from the Government grants of money for their several districts, and the Government has always been unable to resist the importunity of its supporters. A colony like New Zealand would fare better if possessed of a constitution like that of the United States, in which the Executive can give or withhold on principle, without the fear of summary ejection from office by the votes of a disappointed majority of members of Parliament, voting as mere delegates.

[154] A young able-bodied man called on me to-day, asking me to help him to obtain employment in Auckland. He told me that he had been working as a navvy on the railway not very far from Greymouth, on the west coast of the South Island. He had 9s. a day at that work, and could live on 18s. 6d. a week, getting his food at a boarding house, but he found the work unpleasant in the winter season. About five hundred men were employed in the same work. This rate of pay is not so bad in these hard times!

July 19, Tuesday.--In the evening, we went to an "at home" at the Tower, Remuera, the charming home of Mr. and Mrs. J. M'Cosh Clark. We rarely go out in the evening, because we do not think it right to leave our children, especially as I am much away from home on duty during the fine weather, and because we cannot afford often to pay carriage hire for mere recreation. It is, however, always a special pleasure to accept Mrs. Clark's invitations. Mr. Clark was Mayor of Auckland for three years successively, and discharged the duties of the office to the more than satisfaction of all concerned. Having a large house and extensive grounds well laid out, situated in one of the most beautiful districts of beautiful Auckland, overlooking the sparkling waters of the Waitemata Harbour and islands near and distant, he was able during his long term of office to exercise most acceptable hospitality to the people of Auckland, and to many distinguished visitors. Mrs. Clark is specially gifted as a hostess, being gracious to everybody, desirous of helping all who need her aid, and most interesting as an accomplished painter and a woman of rare good sense. On this occasion they [154/155] thoughtfully sent their carriage for us, so that we went and returned in comfort. Mrs. Clark is one of E.'s coadjutors in the work of the Women's Home, in which she takes a real interest. Among the guests at the Tower this evening was a Major Dane, formerly of the United States army, who gave the company an interesting account of some of his camp-life experiences.

July 20, Wednesday.--I received a letter to-day from one of our most hard-working clergy, about a matter of business. He is a bit of a wag, and added the following postscript:--

"I should have written this on Monday night after the meeting, but--1. Mrs.------(his wife), my prompter, is away; 2. My nurse has an abscess, and is away; 3. My scullery boy has scarlatina in his home, and is away; 4. My cook has pleurisy; 5.------(his second boy) has croup; 6.------(his eldest boy) has recurrent whooping cough; 7. My curatrix and self have all the work of the house and the nursery to do; 8. I have four people dying in the parish; 9. I am nearly demented. That's all."

July 22, Friday.--Bishop Barry, of Sydney, reached Auckland by the S.S. Alameda from San Francisco, on his return from England, where he had spent five weeks, having left Sydney in March, to accompany Mrs. Barry, who was in very delicate health, to England. Two days before the vessel reached Auckland, the Bishop had a bad fall down the stairs leading to the saloon, having caught his foot on the brass binding of one of the uppermost stairs. He fell head foremost to the bottom, where there was, fortunately, a thick mat. But for it he might have been killed. His forehead was badly grazed, and [155/156] he received several bruises, but he seemed to have sustained no serious injury. The Bishop has left Mrs. Barry and his two sons in England. They were all our guests at Bishopscourt in the beginning of 1886, when they were making a tour through New Zealand. The Bishop preached the inaugural sermon at the meeting of our General Synod in Auckland in January of that year. Before our meeting on that occasion I had not seen the Bishop since he was an undergraduate at Cambridge in November, 1847, when he was pointed out to me (then a big boy on a visit to my eldest brother) as a man who was going to take a brilliant degree at that University. He fulfilled the expectations of his friends, by being fourth Wrangler, and seventh in the First Class of the Classical Tripos. That year, 1848, was famous at Cambridge for the eminent clergymen who graduated at the same time with Bishop Barry, namely, the lamented Bishop Mackenzie of Central Africa, the present Bishop of Ely (Lord A. Compton), the Rev. Dr. Scott (formerly Head Master of Westminster School), the Rev. Dr. Westcott (the present learned Regius Professor of Divinity), the Revs. J. L. Davies and D. J. Vaughan (the translators of Plato), the Rev. J. E. B. Mayor (Professor of Latin), and the late Dean Howson of Chester. Of the same year also were the late Mr. Todhunter (of differential and integral calculus fame) and the present Earl of Derby.

I met Bishop Barry at the Auckland Wharf late in the afternoon, and brought him to Bishopscourt, where he remained until he had to go on board again, to continue his voyage to Sydney. As he was not too fatigued to see people, we asked about twenty friends, whom I [156/157] was able to get at through our telephone, to come in for an hour or two at eight o'clock. The Bishop was at the opening of the People's Palace (by the Queen) on May 14, and at S. Margaret's, Westminster, when the House of Commons attended the Jubilee service, on May 22, and he preached the Ramsden sermon at 6". Mary's, Cambridge, on May 29. lie told me that he was much struck by the great poverty of "the poor" in London and elsewhere, compared with the well-to-do condition of the corresponding class in Sydney and Melbourne. In New Zealand the normal artisan is sometimes spoken of as "the man of four eights"--

"Eight hours' work, eight hours' play,
Eight hours' sleep, and eight shillings a day."

It is, no doubt, one of the great compensations to an Englishman who resigns the charms of his native land for residence in a British colony, that the oi polloi are, as a rule, in possession of all the necessaries and some of the luxuries of life. It is a real pleasure to see the children of the artisan class going to our day schools, in town and country, looking healthy and happy, well-dressed, and tidy. At eight p.m. our Parnell Book Club held their annual meeting in the office at Bishopscourt for the election of a committee, the sale (among ourselves) of the club books, and for other business. We have twenty members, and the annual subscription is £1. At the end of the year the proposer of a book that has been in circulation becomes the possessor of it, on paying one-third of its cost price, unless more is bid for it by another member at the annual auction. We are able every year to purchase many new books of all kinds, more, indeed, than most of us have time to read, [157/158] and we always have a small balance to our credit in the bank. This prosperous state of things is mainly due to the efficiency of our honorary secretary and treasurer, Mr. Mark Rawlings, who is quite A i in business matters requiring method, accuracy, and punctuality.

July 23.--I received a letter from Mrs. Wright, the widow of Mr. Philip Wright, of Copford Place, Colchester, saying that she intended to contribute £20 a year to our diocesan funds, from the proceeds of her New Zealand property. For many years after he left New Zealand, Mr. Wright "tithed" himself for his Auckland estate, and gave us £60 a year, which was generally expended by the Standing Committee in helping poor country congregations. Part of the money, however, was funded and named the Philip Wright Fund, amounting now to £120.

For many years the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel made us a grant towards the maintenance of clergymen in our country districts; but the Society discontinued doing so in 1880, in order to be able to help more needy dioceses than ours. It seems, however, scarcely right that shiploads of impecunious people without clergymen should be sent to us from England, and that we should be expected to provide them with the means of grace without receiving any help thereto from the Church in England. If some of those who have made fortunes in this part of New Zealand, and now live in luxury in England on the revenue of their New Zealand estate, would act on the principle of Mr. Wright and Mrs. Wright, our Home Mission clergy would not be as badly off as they are at present. Captain Rough, of Bournemouth, is another kind friend [158/159] who does not forget the poor resident in the country where he enjoyed health and prosperity for many years. For a long time Captain Rough sent E. £10 each year, to be expended in helping the necessitous. Two years ago he also sent £100 to be invested for the same purpose, and £100 to be invested for the Auckland Benevolent Society. He continues to send E. £5 annually for the relief of the needy, at her discretion.

E. and I can rarely go together for a ride in Auckland. When she has no definite engagement in the afternoon--which is not often--I am commonly engaged, and when I am free to go out she is generally engaged. This afternoon we managed to ride to the other side of the city, where E. called on the wives of two of the clergy, I acting as groom, holding our horses during the calls.

July 24, Sunday.--A day of violent wind squalls with drenching downpours. I had to watch my opportunity to get to S. Mark's Church, Remuera, about a mile from Bishopscourt. Protected by a long mackintosh, I rather enjoy riding through heavy rain. My robes travel safely in a stout leathern bag, buckled to my saddle behind. It was the worst Sunday we had had for long. S. Mark's Church was not one-third full, the majority of the parishioners living at a considerable distance from the building, there being extensive blocks of grass land in its immediate neighbourhood.

The incumbent of this parish is the Rev. Isaac Richards, who came to us from Truro in 1886, having been selected for this charge by my Commissary, the Rev. A. R. Tomlinson, to whom the nomination was delegated by the Board of Nominators. Mr. Richards [159/160] has already fully justified Mr. Tomlinson's choice. With very definite opinions on some points on which great latitude is allowed by the Creeds, he is tolerant of the opinions of others, and is appreciative of what is genuine in any of his people, by whatever "views" it is accompanied. He is a methodical visitor, and is in all things judicious and patient. The state of the parish funds is, with us, always some criterion of the clergyman's influence with his people. Notwithstanding the "hard times," the vestry of S. Mark's have within the year paid off £200 of debt incurred in past years. The church holds about five hundred people, and the average weekly offerings of the congregation amount to £7. The seat rents of the church, in which one-third of the sittings are free, yield about £250. There is scarcely any endowment.

On Sunday afternoons, when I am at home, I read the Greek Testament for an hour or so with our second son, while E. gives the two younger children a Scripture lesson, generally taking the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the day as her subject.

July 25, Monday.--A day of official letter-writing, as usual.

In the afternoon, our Parnell Review Club held their annual meeting. There are sixteen members, and the subscription is £1. We take most of the best magazines and reviews. At the end of the year the magazines are sold to their proposers respectively, at one-sixth of the cost price, unless a better price is offered by some other member of the Club. Mr. Rawlings is our secretary, and it is therefore unnecessary to add that the affairs of the Club are well managed. At this meeting there [160/161] was a difference of opinion among the members as to whether or not we should continue to take one of the more modern magazines, on account of the bitter, almost vulgar, tone sometimes adopted by the editor in his attacks on Christianity. One of our members, a distinguished "man of science," had a year before protested against our aiding the circulation of such anti-theological stuff as often appears in this publication. It is a pity that the beautiful star maps of this magazine cannot be had without the often unscientific and offensive padding that they help to sustain.

In the evening, at seven, two young men came to be examined for the Board of Theological Studies. This Board is appointed by our General Synod, and consists of the Bishops of the province, and three clergymen and three laymen elected by the Synod. The Board appoints examiners every year, to conduct theological examinations in the months of July and August; the subjects of examination being announced two or three years beforehand, and grouped in four grades, of which the first is the most elementary. As a rule, we require our candidates for Deacon's Orders to have passed Grade III. before presenting themselves for Ordination. A list of the subjects for this year will be found in the Appendix (page 396). It will be seen by reference to it that any one obtaining a good place in Grade IV. would probably be placed high in the First Class of the Theological Tripos at Cambridge. The secretary of the Board is the Bishop of Nelson; to whom the Church is greatly indebted for the zeal and ability with which he has discharged the important, difficult, and laborious duties of the office. One of his chief responsibilities is to secure the services of [161/162] an adequate staff of competent examiners in the colony, to set papers in the many subjects comprised in the four grades. My own subjects this year were the Greek and the English of the Epistle to the Romans. Each paper contains twelve chief questions, and the full marks for it are six hundred. I got my two papers printed in Auckland, and sent twenty-five copies of them to each of the other Bishops, retaining as many for this diocese.

There are three candidates this year for Grade I. in this diocese. Two of them are clerks in the employment of the New Zealand Insurance Company and the Auckland Board of Education respectively; and the third is the manager of a saw-mill in a district in the north of Auckland. Two of them have done good work as lay readers, and all three as Sunday-school teachers. If they pass Grade I., and continue in their present mind, they will probably be appointed to scholarships at S. John's College, where they will go though the ordinary course of instruction (two or three years) preparatory to offering themselves for Deacon's Orders. It is no small guarantee of a young man's earnestness and perseverance, that he has studied systematically for a theological examination, during his few leisure hours, when in full employment in such ways as I have named. Our two city candidates come to Bishopscourt at seven p.m., after the day's work, and write their answers until ten. This they will do for seven evenings.

July 29, Friday.--E. and I went to see the Kindergarten recently established in Auckland, mainly through the energy of Mrs. Ward, the wife of our officiating judge of the Supreme Court. The work is carried on in an old building that was until recently the Free Public [162/163] Library. The cost of the institution is provided for by public contributions, especially that of Mr. James Dilworth, who gave £100 towards the expense of beginning the work, and has promised an annual subscription of the same sum. We saw about forty children in the school, nearly all under six years of age. There is a matron in charge of the Kinder-garten, who is assisted by three young women teachers. In the crèche attached we saw two infants. The premises were clean and in good order.

July 31, Sunday.--In the morning, I preached at S. Sepulchre's, in the absence of Archdeacon Dudley, who was doing Home Mission work in the Ngaruawahia district. The prayers were said by the Rev. A. G. Purchas, who also assisted me at Holy Communion.

In the evening, I was at .S. Mary's, where I read the second Lesson; the first being read by Mr. L. P. Robin, one of our helpful young laymen, the son of an English clergyman, and a clerk in the office of the New-Zealand Insurance Company. The sermon was preached by the Rev. G. H. S. Walpole, the incumbent. It was a very effectual appeal, from our Lord's words, "Who say ye that I am?" (Matt. xvi. 15). I told him afterwards in the vestry that he ought to preach the same sermon at the Theatre service in Queen Street some Sunday night.

August 2, Tuesday.--The S.S. Doric, of 5200 tons and 3000 horse power, arrived from England, via the Cape and Tasmania. It is not quite four years since this vessel first visited Auckland, being then the first direct steamer that had come to us from England. As a token of the great progress that the colony has made since [163/164] 1883, it is worth recording that there are at present three companies sending large steamers direct to the colony, viz. the "Shaw, Savill, and Albion," the owners of the Doric and five other vessels of about the same tonnage; the "New Zealand Shipping Company," owning five large vessels of somewhat less tonnage; and the "Colonial Union," of which the first vessel, the Balmoral Castle (2948 tons), is now on her first voyage from London. The cargo brought by the Doric to-day for this port, about nine hundred tons, consists chiefly of railway material. The voyage from Plymouth to Auckland took forty-five days, including stoppages at Teneriffe, Capetown, and Hobart. The saloon fare by this company is sixty guineas and upwards. This charge is very moderate compared with what E. and I had to pay to get here in 1870; our fare from Marseilles to Melbourne alone having been £119 10s. each.

August 4, Thursday.--E. and I paid a visit to our Orphan Home in the morning. We went into the schoolroom, where the children were at their lessons, and over the whole premises. We found everything in perfect order. The children--seventy-two in number, of whom twenty-four are girls--are all in good health, though this is one of the most trying times of our winter season. The sunny hospital room had been without a tenant for a year. The matron spoke in the highest terms of the attention and skill of the Honorary Surgeon, Dr. Coom. The site of the Home is charming, being on high ground overlooking the sea, and facing the sunny north. The kitchen, under the management of Miss Welch, is a model of cleanliness and neatness--in itself a valuable means of teaching those who will hereafter teach [164/165] others in the homes of our artisans and agriculturists. If Edward Costley and others who have bequeathed money to this institution could see the healthy and happy appearance of the children, and could know the satisfactory result of the Home training, they might indeed be thankful for the privilege of taking part in establishing and extending so beneficent a work--beneficent to afflicted and deserving parents, beneficent to the helpless orphans, beneficent to the whole colony; which is now enriched by the after-lives of well-brought-up boys and girls, instead of being injured by the vicious deeds of neglected children, and impoverished by having to maintain them afterwards in hospitals and gaols. The present highly satisfactory condition of the Home is mainly due to the conscientious, painstaking, and experienced management of the matron, Mrs. Neary, who has held her present office for nearly five years.

After visiting the Orphan Home, we paid a short visit to S. Stephen's Maori School, which is situated on the same Church estate as the Orphan Home. This also is a flourishing institution, maintained by the rent of lands in the Farnell district of Auckland and the Waikato, and supplemented by a capitation grant (£18) from the Government for boys sent to us by the Colonial Secretary for Native Affairs. There are at present forty-nine Maori boys in the school. Mr. T. E. Davies has been, the efficient head teacher for many years. The steward, who is responsible for the domestic arrangement of the school, is Mr. J. R. Smith, formerly of H.M.'s 32nd Regiment, one of the famous garrison of Lucknow during the memorable siege of 1857. The affairs of S. Stephen's School are managed by a committee appointed [165/166] by the trustees, and consisting at present of the Rev. R. Burrows, General Gosset, and Messrs. T. Kissling, W. Philson, S. Percy Smith, and C. Roskruge.

At night, we went to the Drill Shed, near Queen Street, Auckland, to see a competition between three squads of the "A" Battery of the Volunteer Artillery (of which I am chaplain), for prizes given by two of our citizens. Most of the gunners are young, and nearly all are well set up. Many of them are engaged in trade in the town. Captain Payne, an experienced gunner, and well up to his work, is in command of the battery. The quickness and good style with which all three squads took to pieces the guns and limbers, and put them together again, much astonished me. We were specially struck by the smartness of Sergeant-Major Lipscombe, who (we were told) is foreman in a large furniture warehouse. The weak point in our Volunteer system is the impossibility of enforcing discipline, according to the existing law. In the face of an enemy, a number of men not liable to severe penalties for breaches of discipline would be of little value to repel an attack.

Mrs. C. C. Baker came to us with her eldest daughter for a few days. Miss Baker has been one of the nurses at our General Hospital for the last three years. A month ago she caught cold, and, not taking sufficient care of herself, became so ill that some of the doctors who saw her said that she was in a rapid decline, and there was "not a shadow of a hope" of her recovery. She is now able to walk about, and has no cough; and a doctor who saw her to-day says that her lungs have not been affected, and that her illness was of quite another kind. After this, we may say, Nil desperandum, [166/167] however despondent some of our medical friends may be. Mrs. Baker came to New Zealand in 1881, with her husband, the late Rev. C. Cole Baker, formerly Rector of Portshangan, in the diocese of Meath. Mr. Baker was just the man to suit our people in many of our cures; and I was hoping soon to appoint him to a pastoral charge. But "God disposes," while "man proposes." Mr. Baker bought a small farm, about twenty-six miles from Auckland; and had scarcely taken possession of it, when he got a chill, whilst engaged in digging out an old root of a tree, and died of congestion of the lungs. He was a great loss to us, and was deeply lamented by all who knew him, as a single-minded, earnest, well-read, and self-denying servant of God.

August 5.--A sub-committee of the Council of our Sailors' Home met to-day, to consider where the crockery, etc., required for the new building should be purchased. Samples of dinner plates were shown, to be had for 3s. 9d. a dozen. The same plates had been sold in Auckland, we were told, not many months before, for £1 10s. a dozen. I could not obtain any satisfactory explanation of this change of price.

Among our guests at dinner to-day was Miss Oxland, who came to New Zealand last year with her sister, Mrs. Richards, the wife of the clergyman of S. Mark's parish, Remuera. Like her sister, Miss Oxland has endeared herself to many of the Remuera people during her short sojourn in Auckland; and her departure for England, which is to take place on the 9th, will be much deplored. She has, however, to return to her parents in Devonshire, where she will doubtless find as much scope for the exercise of her many amiable qualities as she has [167/168] found here. Mary Tuhaere, the daughter of the Chief of the Ngatiwhatua tribe, also dined with us. She speaks English well, and is at a private school near this house. Her father is an enlightened Maori, whose land is in a lovely bay (Orakei), facing the north, at the entrance of the Auckland harbour.

August 7, Sunday.--I went to the eight a.m. service at All Saints', between two and three miles from Bishopscourt, to receive to Confirmation two adults, who had recently been baptized by the Rev. W. Calder, the incumbent. One of them had not been long in New Zealand, but the other was born in the colony. After the Confirmation there was a celebration of Holy Communion. Mrs. Calder is at present in a delicate state of health, and is ordered by her doctor to live in a cooler and drier climate than that of Auckland at this time of the year; so that Mr. Calder is living en garçon, with his two sons, Basil and Jasper. He is, however, aided in his parish work, especially in looking after the children of the Sunday school, by a very efficient "curatrix," as he calls her, Miss Kelly. His brother also, Mr. C. M. Calder, recently elected a member of the Diocesan Synod, gives him much help. At the eleven o'clock service I preached, and was celebrant. There was a large congregation and a good choir. Among the communicants there were more men than one sees ordinarily at that Sacrament. I was glad to learn from the people's Warden, Mr. William Taylor, of whom Mr. Calder speaks in the highest terms, that the weekly offertory collection is more, rather than less, than at this time last year, notwithstanding the prevailing commercial depression.

[169] August 8, Monday.--I baptized the second daughter of the Rev. John King Davis--Annie Kathleen Irene--in our private chapel. Mr. Davis is one of those whom we regard specially as our "sons" among the younger clergy, his father having been a missionary to the Maories, and the son born and brought up in the diocese. Mr. Davis was educated at our Grammar School and our College; and he distinguished himself at both institutions, especially in Latin and Greek. In 1879, he was awarded a Senior Scholarship at the University of New Zealand for Latin, and, in 1882, obtained first-class honours at his M.A. examination. Mr. Davis's success at school and college was greatly the result--as he is ever glad to acknowledge--of the good teaching of the Rev. J. Kinder, D.D., who was successively head of our School and our College. At my request, the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Tait) conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity on the Rev. J. Kinder in 1872. My application to the Archbishop was accompanied by a letter from the late Sir William Martin (formerly Chief Justice of New Zealand), himself a man of great classical learning, in which he said, "Mr. Kinder is a sound and well-read scholar in the classical languages. This I have had many opportunities of knowing during the last twelve years. ... I know him to be a careful student of the Greek text of the New Testament, and well acquainted with the history of the Church. On questions connected with these subjects I have conferred with him frequently." Dr. Kinder was a Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his degree in the same year with the late Bishop Woodford (of Ely), Charles Kingsley, Professor Munro, and [169/170] other distinguished men, being placed among the Wranglers of his year.

August 10.--I had a visit by appointment from one of the Wesleyan ministers of the Auckland district, who wished to be admitted to Deacon's Orders. I have received several such applications from ministers of various denominations during my time here, but I have only once thought it right to admit to Holy Orders such a candidate. In that exceptional case the applicant was a minister of the Independent body, and had been for several years virtually detached from his brother-ministers, and engaged in school-keeping. Moreover, he was well known to some of our clergy, and to many of our thoughtful laymen. Under ordinary circumstances, if such a candidate for ordination seems to have valid reasons for desiring to be received into our ranks, I offer to introduce him to some other Bishop of the province; so as to avoid, as far as possible, the giving of unnecessary offence to the forsaken denomination, and to make it easier for the new clergyman to conform to the rules and customs of the Church. The last Wesleyan minister who asked me (in 1886) to make him a deacon was referred by me to the Bishop of Waiapu, who, after satisfying himself of the applicant's fitness for the office, ordained him some months since. Last month I received a letter from a clergyman in a southern diocese, asking for a charge in or near Auckland, and reminding me of his having once been a Presbyterian minister in Auckland. I did not need such reminding, as I had never ceased to take an interest in him and watch his course, since the time when I introduced him to the Bishop of Nelson, who ordained him.

[171] August 12, Friday.--A commemorative service was held at S. Sepulchre's, in the evening, of the hundredth anniversary of the consecration at Lambeth of Dr. Charles Inglis, the first Bishop of a British colony, who received his mission from the English Church. His diocese--that of Nova Scotia--comprised all the territory belonging to Great Britain in North America, between Newfoundland and Lake Superior, and had twenty-four clergy. In the Dominion of Canada there are now seventeen Bishops and 900 clergy; and in the colonies and foreign possessions of the British Crown, at the present time, the Bishops number seventy-five, the youngest see being that of Athabasca, founded in 1884. The diocese of Auckland (formerly New Zealand) dates from 1841, and is eleventh in order of seniority of the seventy-five. To-day is also the anniversary of the consecration of our New Zealand Primate, the Bishop of Christchurch (Dr. Harper), who was consecrated in the chapel of Lambeth Palace in 1856 by Archbishop Sumner.

At our commemoration service this evening the congregation was small, mainly on account of the inclemency of the weather and the inconvenience of the evening. The prayers were said by the Rev. Isaac Richards, Incumbent of S. Mark's, Remucra, and the Lessons read by the Rev. J. K. Davis, of Mount Albert, and the Rev. W. Tebbs, Incumbent of S. Matthew's, Auckland. I preached the sermon, taking as a motto the last verse of the first special Lesson, Isaiah lx. 22, "A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time."

The thermometer fell during the night to 44° 30' in [171/172] our house, about as low as we have ever seen it indoors here. For the last few days we have had strong southerly winds, with a bright sun.

Sunday, August 14.--I was at S. Mary's, Parnell, in the morning and evening, and preached at the former service.

Monday and Tuesday were taken up with letter-writing and committee meetings.

Wednesday, August 17.--I presided at a meeting of a sub-committee, appointed on the 15th by our University College Council, to decide on a design for a college seal and on other matters. I suggested, as a suitable motto, Recti cultus pectora roborant (Genuine modes of culture nerve the soul). [Horace, Od. IV., iv. 34.] It was generally approved of, especially by Sir F. Whitaker, who said that the pectora roborant expressed the determination of the Council to defend the College from external assaults of whatever kind. However, it was considered too long for the space available on the seal, and we adopted provisionally the milder Meliora sequor. We also substituted for the three stars in Mr. Wyon's design three kiwis, and for the fern above the shield a kauri tree or the rising sun. [The Apteryx.]

We resolved also that our agreement with Mr. F. D. Brown, who had been engaged by us as Professor of Chemistry for a period of five years, to end in May, 1888, should be renewed for five years more, that is, until 1893. In the evening, I was at S. Mary's. It is not often that I am able to attend week-day vespers at our parish church. On this occasion I presented a lay reader's licence to Mr. Leonard A. Robin, the son of an English clergyman, and a clerk in the New Zealand Insurance [172/173] Office. Instead of a sermon, I spoke to the congregation about the lay readers' work.

August 19, Friday.--In the afternoon, I presented two B.A. diplomas to Auckland graduates of the University of New Zealand, students of our Auckland University College. Degrees are granted by the Senate at its annual meeting, as soon as the result of the examination (conducted by examiners in England) is made known; but the diplomas are publicly presented in the month of August. The ceremony of presentation took place in the Choral Hall at 3.15 p.m. There was a large gathering, almost filling the building, much larger than on any former occasion. On the platform were many graduates, of divers universities, in gowns and hoods--graduates in Arts, Medicine, and Law.

In my opening address I referred to the honour recently bestowed on our Chancellor by her Majesty the Queen, in recognition of his great scientific attainments; and said that the selection of such men as Sir James Hector for the dignity of a K.C.M.G. was an auspicium melioris aevi (the motto of that order of knighthood). I reminded the assemblage that it was ten years since a B.A. diploma was first presented to an Auckland graduate in that hall; and that the recipient thereof was Miss Kate Edger, the first of her sex who had obtained a B.A. degree from any University of the British Empire. At Cambridge, now, women may present themselves for the same Arts examination as the men undergo; but they cannot take degrees. As, however, Miss Agnata Frances Ramsay has just been placed in a division of the first class by herself, at the head of the Cambridge Classical Tripos, it will scarcely [173/174] be possible any longer to exclude women from graduating at that University.

Of the two Auckland Bachelors who received their diplomas from me, one was Miss Margaret Annabella Coleman. Among the graduates on the platform was another of our lady graduates, Miss C. E. M. Harrison, to whom I presented a B.A. diploma in 1885, and who took her M.A. degree in 1886. There is a separate examination for the higher degree in New Zealand. [The number of graduates of the University admitted after examination is as follows:--Bachelors of Arts (alone), 87; Bachelors of Arts and Bachelors of Laws, 7; Bachelor of Laws (alone), I; Masters of Arts (alone), 45; Masters of Arts and Bachelors of Laws, 2; Master of Arts and Doctor of Laws, 1; Bachelor of Medicine (alone), 1: total, 144. The number of undergraduates now on the roll of the University is 740.] All the arrangements for the presentation ceremony were made by Mr. Charles E. Purchas, one of our young and promising lawyers, who acted as my secretary for the purpose.

August 20.--H.M.'s corvette Opal arrived from Wellington--a vessel of about two thousand tons, carrying twelve guns. It is a long time since we had a visit from a British man-of-war; the last such vessel having been the Nelson, the flag-ship of Admiral Tryon, in February.

August 21, Sunday.--I was at S. Mary's in the morning. The Lessons were read by two young laymen, Messrs. Robin and Wansborough, both recently licensed as lay readers. Their reading was reverent, intelligent, and clear.

In the afternoon, I held my Greek Testament class.

In the evening, I rode to the Epiphany Church, where I preached. The clergyman of this church and district [174/175] is a graduate of the University of Salamanca. The site of the church, in the main street of the Newton district of the city, was purchased by the Diocesan Trustees in 1873 for £303, in anticipation of the necessity for a church in that neighbourhood. As an instance of the increase in the value of land in Auckland, it may be mentioned that this site was, in 1884, valued at £1200. The church was built in 1886, of kauri wood, and cost £1535. There is no endowment connected with it, so that all the expenses (including the clergyman's stipend) have to be defrayed from the offerings of the people. The clergyman is fortunate in having among his parishioners some of our most experienced and efficient lay helpers. Besides others, there are Mr. Daniel M. Beere and Mr. James W. Tibbs. Mr. Beere was for several years one of the staunchest coadjutors of the clergyman at Hamilton; and Mr. Tibbs is an M.A. of Keble College, Oxford. Most of the members of the choir are engaged in business in the district.

August 24.--Our climate for the last fortnight has been quite perfect. The thermometer in our balcony (with a metal roof) facing the sun, in the shade, has stood at 65° about two p.m., and the same thermometer has fallen at night to 46°. The sky has been almost cloudless for days together, and the air cool, with a southerly breeze. What better early spring could be found anywhere? No doubt, the influx of residents and visitors for the "enjoyment of existence" will go on increasing, as the many great advantages of this part of the colony come to be better known, and as the fares of the ocean steamship companies are lowered. The scenery of Auckland and its suburbs cannot be surpassed [175/176] in beauty of its kind; and the necessaries of life, and many of its luxuries, are to be obtained here at a smaller cost than in the few other cities of the world that I am acquainted with enjoying similar blessings of climate and scenery. In support of the latter assertion, I may here quote, from to-day's Herald, some of the retail prices of farm and other produce in our Auckland markets:--

"Milk, 3 1/2 d. to 4d. a quart; fresh butter, 1s. 4d. a pound; cheese, 6d. to 8d. a pound; eggs, is. a dozen; bacon, 6d. to 1s. a pound; beef (for roasting). 3d. to 5d. a pound; mutton (hind quarter), 3d. a pound; and (wholesale) roller flour, £12 15s. a ton."

August 25, Thursday.--A day of committees. In the evening, we went out to Tamaki (about five miles) to a concert, for the benefit of the Home Mission Fund, given by the Rev. T. F. King, who has a private school in the old S. John's College buildings. Among those who played and sang were the three daughters of the Minister of the Independent congregation in Auckland; Miss Stewart, a Presbyterian; and members of other denominations. Such fraternal help does much good, direct and indirect. Miss Stewart is the principal operator at the head office of our Auckland Telephone Exchange. She is so expert at her duties that, whenever she is absent from her post, the subscribers grumble at the comparative slowness of her locum tenens. It is necessary to sec her at her work of "switching" to appreciate the skill with which she does it. After seven hours of such employment--from nine a.m. to twelve, and from one p.m. to five--requiring unflagging attention and constant exercise of memory, absolute rest of brain [176/177] must be needful, and even singing at a concert must be a weariness. Of our own people who took part in the concert, there were Mrs. James Dacre and Miss H. Corbett, both of whom are always ready to help a good cause by the artistic use of "the best member that they have." [Psa. cviii. I.] The old College Hall was tastefully decorated for the occasion; the selection of music was well made; and the performance was excellent. There was a large audience, considering the small population of the Tamaki district, and the music and singing--under the able direction of Herr Tutschka--were much appreciated. The school choir sang a glee and a chorus very creditably. The energy and good management of Mr. and Mrs. King were the subject of general admiration. Such social gatherings have a very beneficial effect on the boys of the school, all of whom take their part in making the preparations. We were impressed by the courteous manners of Mr. King's pupils.

Herr Tutschka is the teacher of music at the school. His pupils do him much credit. As a competent critic says of them, "There is a finish about their playing," that bears testimony to superior teaching, including the instilling of enthusiasm into the taught.

August 26, Friday.--In the evening, we went to All Saints', Auckland, to a Sunday-school festival. We arrived at 7.30, after tea. The fine schoolroom was quite full--about four hundred children, and many teachers and parents, being present. I first presented the prizes gained by All Saints' parishioners at the last Sunday-school Teachers' Examination in Church History, the period for that occasion having been A.D. 100 to 500. I give these [177/178] prizes annually, to encourage our Sunday-school teachers, to improve their knowledge of ecclesiastical history. The AII Saints' teachers greatly distinguished themselves at the last examination, a prize and a certificate respectively being gained by the brother and the wife of the incumbent of the parish, the Rev. W. Calder. Afterwards I presented the Bishop's Prizes to the successful candidates at the last examination, in February. A large proportion of the whole number of prizes and certificates given this year was gained by children of this school.

August 27, Saturday.--In the late afternoon, we went to the Public Free Library, in the heart of our city, an institution of which Auckland may well be proud. We found a large number of people, men and women, and a good many big boys and girls (none under fourteen years are admitted) sitting at the tables reading, strict silence being preserved. The new building was opened on March 26, 1887. The Auckland Free Library and Art Gallery was built at the cost of the ratepayers, £20,000 having been borrowed for the erection of the building, which contains also the municipal offices. The design was furnished by Messrs. Grainger and D'Ebro, of Melbourne. The whole cost of the building, including the furniture, was about £27,500. The Reference Library apartment is large enough to hold 350 persons comfortably seated. One of the most interesting sections of the library consists of the valuable collection of books (between eight and nine thousand volumes) given by Sir G. Grey. The library and gallery will be maintained partly by the interest of the Costley bequest [178/179] (£12,150), which at present yields an. income of about £800. It is intended to expend the whole of this sum annually on the purchase of books. The library rate--one halfpenny in the pound--yields at present about £750, and the Government subsidy is £50, making the total revenue for the past year about £1600.

August 28, Sunday.--A day quite perfect, of unclouded sunshine and cool temperature, without dust or wind. In the morning, I rode to S. Luke's, Mount Albert, about three miles from Bishopscourt, and held a Confirmation. The clergyman in charge is the Rev. J. K. Davis, already mentioned. The church was tastefully enlarged in the time of Mr. Davis's predecessor, the Rev. J. Haselden, and was originally built when the district formed part of the charge of Archdeacon Dudley, who is ever on the outlook for fresh centres of work. The site was given by Mr. A. K. Taylor, the owner of a large estate in the neighbourhood, comprising much scoria land, hereafter to be covered with houses, in which health will be enjoyed by thousands who are more or less invalids when dwelling on a clay soil. In the afternoon, I rode on to Avondale (two miles further along the same road), where there is another pretty little church, S. Jude's, situated on the hillside, overlooking a sunny plain stretching away towards the ranges on the west coast of the island. This church is a memento of the zeal and the practical talents of the Rev. J. Haselden; the congregation, like that of S. Luke's, having first been brought together and ministered to by Archdeacon Dudley in 1872. The church this afternoon was quite full; some of the congregation--Presbyterians and [179/180] Wesleyans--having, no doubt, come to see the Confirmation. Before the second Lesson I presented a certificate, gained by Mr. Archibald Morrison, the lay reader, at the examination held annually by the authority of the General Synod. Mr. Morrison was, unfortunately, absent, having gone, at short notice, to conduct public worship with another country congregation, whose own lay reader was unable to act. In the morning, Mr. Morrison's place at S. Jude's was taken by the lay reader of S. Luke's, Mr. W. C. Kensington, who would otherwise have been with his family at the latter church. It is no little self-denial, to a man with several young children, to leave his family for a great part of Sunday, the only day of the week on which he can see much of them, when his office is in Auckland, three miles distant. After the service I asked Mr. Bollard, one of the pillars of the Avondale Church, about the state of the people in the district in these times of financial depression, and was glad to hear that few young men thereabouts could complain of not being able to make an honest livelihood. If other employment could not be obtained, he said, there was gum-digging to be done close by, at which 7s. 6d. a day could be made without much difficulty. [The buyers of kauri gum are said to be paying away in Auckland at present £7500 a week.]

September 1, Thursday.--In the evening, we went to a conference of Sunday-school teachers, held in the school-house of S. Mary's parish. An interesting paper was read by the incumbent, the Rev. G. H. S. Walpole, and a "model class" was taken by the Rev. P. S. Small-field, whose subject was the deliverance wrought by [180/181] Gideon. Mr. Smallfield illustrated his teaching by drawings on a blackboard, and with a miniature flail, and little card-board tents. We could not remain to hear the paper of the Rev. J. Bates, as we had another engagement, in a distant part of the city, at S. Thomas's, of which the Rev. W. M. Du Rieu is incumbent. There we found a large assemblage of the parishioners, met for a "social gathering." Mr. Du Rieu was giving a reading as we entered, when he courteously paused, and the whole assemblage politely rose to their feet, and remained standing until we were seated. After the reading there was music and a recitation. The evening had begun with a high tea, and at 8.45 refreshments were handed round, and we had an opportunity of speaking to some of the people. At 9.30 there was to be a dance; and as we could not be of any use to the dancers, we gave them more space by departing. Such gatherings do much good, direct and indirect. They are a token of the interest the clergyman takes in "the whole," as well as the sick of his people; they give him a convenient opportunity of improving his acquaintance with many of the parents; and they provide recreations that are at least innocent when indulged in with moderation and in the presence of parents and neighbours.

September 2, Friday.--In the evening, we went to a Sunday-school entertainment in the school-house of .9. Sepulchre's parish, Archdeacon Dudley's. My special reason for going was to present some prizes and certificates that had been awarded to young people of this parish at the last annual examination for the Bishop's Prizes. The .S. Sepulchre's school-house was formerly [181/182] the church of the parish, and is conveniently situated for many of the people, but not for so many as is the new church, in the Khyber Pass Road. We found between four and five hundred people, the great majority children, seated, and listening to readings, recitation, and music. Proceedings had begun, as usual, with a high tea, at which we were not present. It was a great pleasure to see so many healthy and happy-looking children, and to know that they were being cared for by the Church. Mr. Edward Hammond, an experienced teacher, and one of our best Maori scholars, is the Superintendent of the school.

September 3, Saturday.--A day of violent squalls of wind and rain from the west. I went to Hamilton by train (eighty-six miles). In one of the longest first-class carriages I was the only passenger for part of the way, and there was only one other passenger for any distance. I have often travelled in this fashion on our Auckland and Waikato line. It seems a very extravagant system--providing so much more accommodation than is required, or fixing the fares so high as to make them prohibitive to the many who would be travellers if they could afford it.

As this visit to Hamilton was for a special purpose, and I had no engagements in the settlement, I availed myself of the proffered hospitality of Colonel and Mrs. Forbes, who are occupying the Lake House, about two miles out of Hamilton. This house was built by Mr. A. Cox in 1873, when it stood exposed on the high ground above the lake. It is now sheltered from the cold west and south winds by high trees, chiefly pines, of which few are more than fifteen years old. Colonel [182/183] Forbes met me at the station and drove me to his beautiful home. He came to Hamilton in May last, soon after his arrival in New Zealand, on a year's leave from his appointment of Commissioner of Fyzabad, in the North-West Provinces of India. Colonel Forbes is an officer of the Royal Artillery, but has for many years held civil employment in that country. In the afternoon, in the quiet of Lake House, I got through some writing and reading.

September 4, Sunday,--Another day of violent squalls of wind and rain from the west.

Colonel Forbes drove me in to S. Peter's, where I was celebrant at the eight a.m. service.

I spent the day at the Cottage, as the guest of our old friend Mrs. Gwynne.

The Volunteers were at the eleven a.m. service, and I preached to them, taking for my text 1 Cor. xiv. 8: "If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for the battle?"--from the second Lesson. The Rev. R. O'C. Biggs said prayers. The church was quite full. In the afternoon, I gave an address to the children of the Sunday school, and presented a Bishop's Prize to Miss Mary Jane Kingsley, who obtained a high place in the last Teachers' Examination in Church History. Immediately after the Morning Service, Mr. Biggs, accompanied by one of his daughters, set out for Tuwhare (about twelve miles distant), one of his outlying stations, where he holds a Sunday service once in four weeks. He returned in time to say prayers at the seven o'clock service, when I preached, taking for my text a verse from the second Lesson, [183/184] Mark vi. 41: "When He had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, He looked up to heaven, and blessed and brake the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them." Before the first Lesson I presented a lay reader's licence to each of four laymen, who had been commended to me in the ordinary manner for that office, namely, Colonel Forbes and Messrs. S. T. Seddon, A. Swarbrick, and C. Nettleship. Colonel Forbes has had much experience of this honourable work in India, where imperial officers, civil and military, are often called upon to conduct the service in our churches, for the solitary chaplain, absent on duty at some out-station, or on short leave in the hills. Colonel Forbes informs me that he has been accustomed on such occasions to read the simple and scholarlike sermons of the Rev. James Vaughan, of Brighton. I once heard Mr. Vaughan give a short extempore address on a Wednesday evening in his Brighton church, and was greatly impressed by his matter and his manner. On leaving the church on that occasion I met the assistant-minister, with whom I had a slight acquaintance. I asked him how long he thought it took Mr. Vaughan to prepare so admirable a discourse, and he answered, very truly, "His whole life, to be sure."

Of the other Readers licensed to-day, Mr. Seddon held for some years a licence from Bishop Selwyn, for the Howick district, where he formerly resided; Mr. Swarbrick has before helped the clergyman of the district; and Mr. Nettleship is the master of the Board School at one of Mr. Biggs's out-stations--Pukete.

September 5, Monday.--At eleven a.m., at S. Peter's [184/185] Parsonage, Hamilton, I met the clergy of the archdeaconry (of Waikato); namely, the Ven. W. N. de L. Willis and the Revs. R. O'C. Biggs, R. G. Boler, and J. Marshall; also the Rev. J. Haselden, Organising Clergyman of the diocese, who happened to be passing-through the district. We had an unofficial consultation on the Church work of the archdeaconry. Mr. Marshall told us that he recently had a journey of fifty miles to baptize a child. I had to leave Hamilton in the afternoon for Auckland, and so was unable to attend the quarterly Conference of clergy and lay officers, which met at four p.m.--a sort of rural deanery meeting.

As far as I could ascertain, there was no lack of employment for able-bodied and, industrious men in the Hamilton district. Honey was selling at twopence halfpenny a pound, and the necessaries of life were proportionately cheap.

September 8, Thursday.--A typical home day. Bath at 6.30 a.m. Children's lessons at 7.30 a.m.--E. M., Plato's "Apology of Socrates;" J., Greek exercise; K. and A., Latin exercise. Breakfast at 8.15. Chapel at 8.45. Seeing visitors on business all the morning, intervals being filled up with official writing. Dinner at 1 p.m. Writing from 2 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. Standing Committee at 4.30 p.m. Official writing and reading to 10.30 p.m.

September 9, Friday.--We heard by telegraph of the death of the Rev. H. P. te Taua, one of our most valued Maori clergy. He had been complaining for some weeks, but was not thought to be seriously ill. It was he who accompanied us to Kaitaia in April. On Sunday, September 4, he did his work as usual. On Thursday; [185/186] he went to a funeral, contrary to the advice of friends, and was scarcely able to get through the service; and on his return to his own house, he went to bed, where he remained until his death. The Bishop of Waiapu happened to be on a visit to his daughter close by, and did what he could for our departing brother, who was able to say the Lord's Prayer with the Bishop. Mr. H. T. Clarke, a brother of the Archdeacon, says of Te Taua, "When I was once in great trouble and distress, he came to sec me (with the late Rev. R. Paerata), and he spoke as an earnest and warm-hearted Christian minister only could speak."

September 10, Saturday.--The Rev. B. W. Harvey, D.D., Head Master of the Whanganui School, dined with us. He had been at Waiwera, where there are hot-water springs, to obtain relief from rheumatism, and had derived much benefit.

September 11, Sunday.--In the afternoon, I held a Confirmation at S. Mark's, Remuera. The church was quite full, and the service was bright. The Rev. I. Richards had taken great pains with his candidates--twenty-one men and youths and nineteen young women, whose bearing was all that could be wished. It is not usual for the male candidates to be more in number than the females; and when this is the case, it is a token of a clergyman's faithfulness in visiting his flock, and of the influence that his ministrations have gained over the young people of his charge.

During this week we had many visitors.

September 17, Saturday.--In the afternoon, I went by train to Hclensville (thirty-eight miles), to the northwest of Auckland, the place from which small steamers [186/187] go to the Kaipara--an inland sea--and to the N. Wairoa river, the longest in the colony. Among my fellow-passengers were a young medical man and a candidate for a seat in the Parliament just about to be elected. The former is a son of an Irish clergyman who held a charge in this diocese for some years, and subsequently returned to Ireland. The son went home, to study medicine in Dublin, and, after a sojourn of six years in Ireland, during which he passed his examinations with distinction, and acquired some experience in his profession, he returned to New Zealand, and established himself at Helensville. He gave me to understand that he greatly preferred his work there to what it would have been in Ireland.

My other acquaintance--a candidate for a seat in the new Parliament--had been a member of the House of Representatives for a short time only; but during that time he had been led to think very poorly of the political morality, he told me, of some of our leading politicians. Indeed, he spoke very despondently of the manner in which the government of the country was being carried on. I reminded him of the maxim that history is the best of cordials to a troubled mind, weighed down by national difficulties, and assured him that the present troubles of New Zealand were small in comparison with those from which less favoured countries have extricated themselves in all ages of the world.

At Helensville I was met by Mr. C. Cockerton, a student of S. John's College, Auckland, who goes to this district for two Sundays of each month, his expenses being paid by the congregation. This is one of the districts in which our people are not able to provide a [187/188] maintenance for a resident clergyman, and which are visited periodically by the organising clergyman of the diocese.

The primary object of my visit on this occasion was to hold a Confirmation, several candidates having been prepared for that rite by Mr. Cockerton and others. My quarters at Helensville have always been at Mr. Hook's boarding house, where Mrs. Hook makes visitors very comfortable at a very small charge. For each meal and for each night's lodging I have always paid one shilling. Among my fellow-boarders were two clerks belonging to the railway office.

September 18, Sunday.--I held service at S. Matthew s, Helensville, in the morning and evening, being assisted on both occasions by Mr. Cockerton. In the afternoon, the candidates for Confirmation met me in the church, and I spoke to them about some of the articles of the Apostles' Creed.

At the evening service, the Confirmation took place after the Third Collect. The church was crowded, the congregation was reverent, and the singing was hearty. The organist was a quondam Marlborough boy, now holding office in the saw-mill of the settlement. [A few years ago I met the same Marlburian at the Sunday evening service at another saw-mill, of which the manager was an Etonian and a quondam University oar. On that occasion there were also present, in an out-of-the-way district, three other young men who had been at public schools, severally--at Winchester, Harrow, and Rugby.] It is a great help to a country congregation to have, in the office of organist and choir-trainer, an educated gentleman, who has been accustomed to the reverent ways of conducting public worship that are now usual at the [188/189] great English schools, and who tries to impart to others some of the good training he has himself received in such matters. On the other hand, much harm is done by an irreverent organist, who knows what is becoming in his position, and deliberately does the opposite. [Corruptio optimi pessima.] I have sometimes been pained by the conduct of such a one during public worship. He not only does not stand up during the saying of the Creed and the Psalms; but, lolling about on his seat ostentatiously, turns over the pages of the music-book--when not engaged in playing the instrument; and his own special duty--to play the accompaniments--is generally a display of himself, rather than a support to the singing of the choir and the congregation. It were far better to be without music at public worship than to have to put up with the odious ways of such a musical performer, especially in churches which are only periodically visited by a clergyman.

The mainstay of the Helensville congregation is Mr. Burton, who has--for more than eight years--discharged with zeal and efficiency the duties of churchwarden and lay reader. At Helensville, as in other parts of the colony, those who are willing to work are, for the most part, able to obtain remunerative employment, notwithstanding the prevailing commercial depression. Much of the land in the neighbourhood of the settlement is very poor; but there is always work going on in connection with this terminus of the railway, and with the extension of the line in the direction of Kaukapakapa (about six miles distant); also in connection with the wharves and with the saw-mill.

September 21, Wednesday.--I married the Rev. N. D. [189/190] Boyes to Miss M. J. Nield in the chapel at Bishopscourt. Mr. Boyes came to the colony in 1883, and, after being employed for a short time under the Wellington Board of Education, entered at S. John's College, to study for Holy Orders. After passing Grade III. of our theological examination, he was admitted to Deacon's Orders by me in 1886, and appointed to a country district, where he has done faithful work. The bride arrived a few days before from England, having been engaged to Mr. Boyes for some years. Miss Nield, who is an experienced teacher, holds a high certificate from the Educational Department in England.

As a rule, I am not able to comply with requests to perform marriages; but I never decline, if I can help it, to marry clergymen and soldiers, and the sons and daughters of clergymen, soldiers, and old settlers. It is not the custom to make the officiating clergyman any present, pecuniary or otherwise, at marriages--at least, I have never received one in New Zealand, nor wished for one; but, whenever any offering has been presented through me, I have made it a rule to give it to some diocesan institution, and to inform the donor of my having done so. It is, however, very inconsiderate of some of our people, in the country, to ask a clergyman to ride many miles--as many as fifty on some occasions--to a marriage, and not to offer to pay his expenses, as has happened more than once during my eighteen years in this diocese.

September 22, Thursday.--In the morning-, at eleven, I married Mr. C. B. Morison to Miss C. A. Haultain in the chapel at Bishopscourt. The bride is the youngest daughter of the Hon. Colonel Haultain, one of the oldest [190/191] settlers of this part of New Zealand, and one of our most highly respected friends. The annual winter meeting of clergy and members of their families at Bishopscourt took place to-day. This gathering, from being a small affair, has grown--with the general growth of the colony--to be a formidable undertaking. On this occasion 153 guests were invited to high tea at six. A long table extended the whole length of the Library, and was tastefully decorated by Miss Sparling and Miss O'Grady, who also made a small bouquet for each guest. This is not a good time of year with us for flowers; but violets are abundant, and camellias are still to be had. Our white heath is, however, in full bloom and very beautiful, and scarlet geranium never fails us.

At seven o'clock, according to our custom on these occasions, the clergy retired with me to the dining-room for our usual conference, leaving the ladies and the laymen with E. for a social evening.

There were twenty-seven clergymen at the Conference, one of them having travelled a hundred miles to be present. Most of the subjects discussed had been notified by me to the clergy some time beforehand. Of these the chief were "an annual diocesan examination of our Sunday schools," like that for the Bishop's Prizes; the economising of the time of the clergy in our funeral arrangements; the existing "impurity" of towns; and the coming Church Meeting. The conference ended at 10.30 p.m., when, after short vespers in the chapel, our guests departed. We hope, and have reason to believe, that benefit as well as enjoyment is derived from these gatherings, at which the clergy and members [191/192] of their families improve their acquaintance with one another,

September 25, Sunday.--At the eleven o'clock service at kS. Marys, Parnell, I admitted to Deacon's Orders, by letters dimissory from the Bishop of Wellington, Mr. J. M. Devenish, who had been for three years a student at S. John's College. During that time he passed Grades I., II., and III. of the theological examination conducted by our General Synod, and has been examined for the first part of Grade IV. Having been away from books for some time before he entered the college, systematic study was not easy or encouraging to him at first; but, by dint of unflagging perseverance, he overcame difficulties that in many good men would have proved insurmountable. The Ordination service at S. Mary's was very devotional and edifying, under the direction of the Rev. G. H. S. Walpole, the incumbent, and one of my chaplains. Morning Prayer having been said at an earlier hour, we began with a hymn; after which I preached the sermon, and the candidate was presented to me by his friend and teacher, the Warden of S. John's College, in the absence of the Archdeacon. The Litany was sung by Mr. Walpole, whose cultivated voice and freedom from self-consciousness combined, specially qualify him for such an office. The choir--of men and boys--gave the responses well; and the organist, Mr. Trimnell, accompanied, as usual, with good taste, precision, and reverence.

September 26, Monday.--A General Election was held to-day of members to our New Zealand House of Representatives, ninety-five in number. Nearly all those elected in this part of the colony had declared [192/193] themselves opposed to the present Government, of which Sir Robert Stout is Premier, on the ground of its financial extravagance. The Premier himself and another member of the Cabinet were among the defeated candidates.

This was a week of meetings, report-writing, and heavy correspondence. We were up at six each morning, and hard at work until eleven p.m., both of us, still leaving large arrears of necessary correspondence.

September 28, Wednesday.--In the evening, we went to a social gathering in the Kindergarten building, at the invitation of the managing committee, to take leave of Mrs. Dudley Ward, the founder and cherisher of the institution. Mr. Justice Ward's year of office, as a Judge of the Supreme Court, was about to terminate, as Mr. Justice Gillies, for whom he had officiated, had returned to New Zealand. Mrs. Ward, like some other ladies in New Zealand, is a preacher and lecturer. The following paragraph appeared in our Auckland morning paper one Monday morning:--"There was a large assembly last evening in the Primitive Methodist Church, Franklin Road, to hear Mrs. Dudley Ward, who delivered a plain and practical discourse on 'The New Birth,' which was much appreciated. His Honour, Judge Ward, assisted Mrs. Ward." Sir William Fox, formerly Premier of the colony, was in the chair, and acted as spokesman for all present, in thanking Mrs. Ward for the good work she had done in connection with the Kindergarten. Sir W. Fox is an interesting speaker; and he uses this talent, with many others, for the general good of the community, and especially in advocating total abstinence from intoxicating drinks, which are the cause of so much evil to many persons in the colony, as elsewhere. Sir [193/194] W. Fox has lived most of his New Zealand life in the south of this island, but is now building a house in Auckland, where he intends henceforth to dwell. He spoke in high, but not too high, terms of the natural charms of Auckland and its neighbourhood; and having seen many other lands, his testimony as to our advantages in climate, scenery, and other possessions is of weight.

September 29, Lay Readers' Day.--All the lay readers of the diocese, now 101 in number, were invited, individually, to meet at Bishopscourt at eleven a.m. Many were, of course, unable to come, by reason of distance and their business engagements. Our day began with Holy Communion in the chapel. After the Creed, Archdeacon Maunsell gave a very instructive address. He pointed out the privilege enjoyed by laymen in the synagogues of the Jews in our Lord's days in the flesh, and in the early years of the Christian Church, of reading and speaking in the congregation; and also dwelt upon the fact that mere preaching, without conversion of heart to God on the part of the preacher, could not be expected to do much good.

E. led the singing of the Creed, the Sanctus, and two hymns.

Between twelve and one o'clock our guests rested in the drawing-room and strolled about the grounds. At one o'clock there was dinner in the Library, the table having been tastefully decorated with spring flowers by Miss Sparling, who also had made a beautiful bouquet for each person present. Besides the lay readers, there were at the entertainment Archdeacon Dudley; the Rev. G. H. S. and Mrs. Walpole; the Revs. F. Gould, [194/195] C. M. Nelson, and J. Haselden; Mrs. C. J. Wilson; and Miss Sparling.

At two o'clock, the tables having been cleared, we met again in the Library for business; some more lay readers and a few of the clergy having in the mean time arrived.

Among the readers present were Mr. C. Haselden, Mr. C. J. Wilson, Mr. H. Crispe, Mr. Richards, Mr. Gover, Mr. Burton, Mr. Ewington, Mr. Thorp, and Captain Hearne. Interesting papers were read by Messrs. Haselden and Ewington.

We have now 101 lay readers in the diocese. Of these, about fifty hold my formal licence. Of the others, some prefer not to have a formal licence, lest too much might be expected of them; others are new to the work, and not sufficiently known to our people to enable the congregation to apply to the Bishop for a licence; others feel that their sojourn in a particular settlement is likely to be brief, or that their help can only be very limited or infrequent, and so think it unnecessary to be formally licensed.

Some of our licensed readers wear a surplice when conducting the service; but we have no diocesan rule on the subject. The custom varies, according to the wish of the particular clergyman and congregation. Our conference ended at four p.m. Many of those who attended it told me afterwards that they had much enjoyed the day, and would be helped by it. In the evening, at 7.30, there was a special service at S. Sepulchres, very bright and edifying. The Lessons were read by two of the readers--Captain Hearne, the [195/196] master of the Pokeno school, and Mr. H. G. Seth Smith. The prayers were said by Archdeacon Dudley, the incumbent; and the sermon--a very suitable discourse--was preached by the Rev. C. M. Nelson, my senior examining chaplain.

September 30, Friday.--In the evening, we went to the annual meeting of our Home Mission Society, held in the school-house of S. Matthew's parish. All subscribers of five shillings per annum are members of the society, the object of which is to interest our people generally in the work of the Home Mission, and to collect funds for the work. Two papers were read--by the Rev. T. H. Sprott and the Rev. J. Haselden, the honorary secretary of the society. Mr. Sprott came to the diocese in the beginning of the year from S. John's, Lambeth, where he was one of the parish staff. He gave us a very interesting account of the Church's work in that parish, which was strikingly different in many ways from that of the district in which he is now engaged at S. Barnabas' Mr. Sprott is a well-read man, of superior intellectual power, and is highly appreciated by his people and by us all. Mrs. Sprott's London experience is likewise very helpful to her in her present position. Mr. Haselden's paper also was very suitable to the occasion, giving an account of the progress of our Home Mission--cujus magna pars fuit ille--during the past year, and contrasting the state of Church work in our country districts at different times in the past with its condition at the present day. During the evening, according to our custom at such meetings, we had some good music and singing, provided on this occasion by [196/197] the choir of S. Paul's, under the direction of their minister, the Rev. C. M. Nelson.

October 1, Saturday.--The annual examination of Sunday-school teachers, for prizes which I give for Church history, took place; the Rev. W. Beatty, Warden of S. John's College, being the examiner. The period selected was that from A.D. 500 to 1000; and as it was difficult to obtain suitable books for that period, the candidates this year were very few.

October 2, Sunday.--I preached at S. Paul's in the morning, and at S. Mary's in the evening. Though the night was cold and stormy, there was a large congregation at S. Mary's, as notice had been given that on the following morning the removal of the church would begin, to make room for the section (including the chancel and transepts) of the new church that is about to be erected. The old church was originally built in 1860, and since then it has been added to from time to time. It is now again too small for the population, and is, besides, unsuitable for the congregation, who in summer find the heat and closeness of the building--chiefly from the lowness of the roof--almost unbearable, and in winter suffer from draughts of cold air entering through the wooden walls. Mr. Walpole kindly consented to my having the wooden cross from the top of the spire of the church. It was put up in 1860, under the direction of Bishop Selwyn. Many good people, I am told, were greatly scandalised at the time by the erection of a cross on the building. Most of our people, we may hope, have got beyond such ignorance and bigotry now, though one occasionally meets a man or woman to whom the cross seems to be the symbol of [197/198] everything that is bad, instead of those truths in reference to which S. Paul said, "Far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified to me, and I unto the world." ["'The cross of Christ is the instrument of my crucifixion as of His.' If the relative had referred to Cristw, we should have expected rather en w or sun w" (Bishop Lightfoot).] As a matter of fact, I have found that those who mostly profess alarm lest others should make a superstitious use of this ancient Christian symbol, are not men and women whose own lives recommend to the unbelieving the truths of the Gospel--by large-heartedness or charity. The worst instance of staurophobia that I have heard of for some time occurred recently in one of our country settlements, in which most of the people are from the northern parts of the Emerald Isle. It appears that in one of the service-books--the Bible, I think--of the church of the settlement there was a silk-ribbon marker, ornamented at each end with a small embossed cross. These "gods of Rome," as one of the settlers called them, were discovered by a disciple of the person referred to, who obtained entrance to the building, and cut off the offending "gods," and took them away and destroyed them. The piety of the end, of course, justified the dishonesty of the means, in the opinion of this iconoclast, and theft under the circumstances was accounted meritorious.

October 5, Wednesday.--The Standing Committee, who are the final Court of Appeal in disputed elections, had to decide whether the election that had just been held of two synodsmen for an Auckland constituency to [198/199] our Diocesan Synod was valid or not. An exhaustive report of the circumstances of the case had been prepared by a sub-committee, consisting of the Rev. C. M. Nelson and Messrs. Rice and Seth Smith; and the election was declared invalid. This is the second appeal to the Standing Committee that has been made during the present General Election. Such litigation, whilst troublesome to the Standing Committee, is a token of the general interest taken by Church-people in the election of their representatives.

October 9, Sunday.--Our private chapel was used to-day as a parish church by some of the 6". Mary's people, whose own church is in the hands of destroyers. About eighty persons succeeded in finding room. Mr. Walpole had other services for other instalments of his flock in the parish school-house. At eight a.m. I was celebrant, with Mr. Walpole for deacon; and at eleven a.m. I took the whole service.

The afternoon and evening were very wet. I went to S. Barnabas', Mount Eden, at seven p.m., and held a Confirmation. When this rite is administered on a Sunday evening, our custom is to begin with Evening Prayer to the end of the Third Collect, often with special psalms and Lessons. Then follows a hymn, and the Order for Confirmation. The Rev. T. H. Sprott, minister of this church, which is in the parish of the Holy Sepulchre, said prayers, and one of our S. John's College students, being a teacher also in the S. Barnabas' Sunday school, read the Lessons. We encourage all our theological students to do Sunday work of this kind. S. Barnabas' Church has an interesting history. In 1847, Archdeacon Kissling began to collect subscriptions [199/200] for a small church, for the use of the Maories living in or near Auckland. About £400 were obtained, and the church was opened by Bishop Selwyn in 1849, on the brow of the cliff below Parnell, overlooking the harbour. In the course of time there ceased to be a Maori congregation in Auckland, and the church was not used for some years. In 1878, the trustees of the property allowed the building, known as S. Barnabas' Church, to be removed to its present site at Mount Eden, in the parish of the Holy Sepulchre.

The newly elected House of Representatives have met at Wellington, and a new Cabinet has been formed, Major Atkinson being Premier and Sir F. Whitaker Attorney-General. Mr. E. Mitchelson, one of our Auckland merchants, is appointed Minister of Public Works, and with that department is to be combined, for the first time, the Native Department. It is many years since a former Governor told me that, in his opinion, "there would be no native difficulty but for the separate Native Department of the Government." Mr. Mitchelson is one of those public men in whom the Auckland people in general have confidence, not only as a man thoroughly competent to superintend the very important department of Public Works, but as a straightforward, honourable man. I have known him now for many years, and whether as foreman in a country store, as he was when I first met him, a citizen of Auckland, or as an important member of the Government, he has always been a man to inspire trust, and to deserve and retain it.

October 11, Tuesday.--Among other meetings attended by me to-day was that of the Committee of the [200/201] Selwyn Memorial Fund, which now amounts to about £1350. It was begun in 1878, after the death of Bishop Selwyn (of Lichfield), formerly of New Zealand; and the Diocesan Synod passed a resolution instructing the trustees, or committee, to allow the interest to accumulate until the fund amounted to £1500. It was intended that the fund should yield the whole or part of the stipend of a clergyman, whose chief work it would be to minister to the sick in our Auckland Hospital.

October 15, Saturday.--I went to Tuakau, a thinly populated district on the right bank of the Waikato river, thirty-five miles south of Auckland. The weather was wet and stormy for the time of year, but the country was looking beautiful. I was the guest of Mr. Brown, junior, the son of Mr. A. Brown, the local lay reader, formerly a Church officer in the diocese of Newcastle, Australia. The chief industry of this district is the preparation of flax, [Phormium tenax.] for which there are several mills in operation near the railway station. Good matting is now made of this fibre in the settlement. In answer to my inquiries, I was told that very few men were out of employment in the district. At Tuakau, large quantities of whitebait are taken out of the Waikato river from July to October, and are sent to Auckland in bags, sold in town for a shilling, containing as much of that delicacy as half a dozen people could eat with impunity.

October 16, Sunday.--A day of furious squalls of wind and rain from the west. The unmetalled roads were very muddy. I walked to the church, S. John's, Tuakau, about a mile. A chancel had just been added to the building at a cost of £40, of which sum £5 came from [201/202] Miss E. Ward, an old and highly esteemed friend of E.'s in England. Miss Ward has for many years sent us that sum, to be applied to any diocesan purpose preferred by me. On several occasions the gift has paid for some of the Bishop's Prises. The prayers were said by the Rev. E. J. McFarland, the clergyman in charge of the district, whose head-quarters are at Bombay, nine miles distant. The first Lesson was read by Mr. A. Brown, a staunch pillar of the Church at Tuakau. The organist, a Presbyterian lady living at a distance, was prevented attending by the severity of the weather; consequently the canticles were not chanted, though four hymns were heartily sung without an accompaniment. Tuakau is a very pretty district, and the land is good, but most of the settlers are without much money.

In the morning, my son Edmund, who is a good groom, arrived with my horse, which he had brought from Rama Rama, about thirteen miles distant, and in the afternoon we set out together, escorted by Walter Brown, my host's eldest son, for Bombay, [So named from the vessel in which the first settlers came to the district.] S. Peter's. The distance was only nine miles; but as the road was unmetalled most of the way, and hilly, and very muddy after the rain, it took us two hours to reach our destination. In fine weather this is a beautiful ride.

At Bombay, we stayed at the house of Mrs. Forde, until the hour of evening service. The late Mr. Forde was an officer in H.M.'s 83rd Regiment, and was afterwards for several years master of the district school here. Mrs. Forde and her daughters are among the best teachers of the S. Peters Sunday school. At dusk, I [202/203] visited the grave of the late Rev. Colpoys Cole Baker, in a lovely spot, close to the church, overlooking a wide and interesting stretch of country, between the Waikato river and the Manukau harbour. Near the pretty cross of white marble is another hallowed grave, where all that was mortal of Mrs. Proude and two of her grandchildren was laid. Mrs. Proude came from Yorkshire some years ago, to live with her son, Mr. R. Proude, who is the principal landowner in the neighbourhood. Her gentle, Christian spirit, and kind, motherly bearing were a blessing to all who had the privilege of her acquaintance. The evening service was at seven, by which time the night was unusually dark, by reason of the heavy clouds that were still rolling up from the west. There was a large congregation, including many young men, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather. Evening Prayer to the end of the Third Collect was said by the Rev. E. J. McFarland, clergyman of the district. Then followed the Confirmation Service. The singing was hearty, the volunteer organist being Mr. Corn-thwaite. Mr. McFarland is a B.A. of the University of New Zealand. Though not a strong man, his ordinary Sunday work is much more than many strong men would like to undertake. On this day, after helping me at Tuakau, he rode (about six miles) to Pukekohe, whence he had come in the morning; and, after holding service there at 3.15 p.m., he rode to Bombay (about five miles). At 6\ Peter's, the harsh little bell is fixed over the tiny wooden vestry, and consequently my head felt as if it would split before I entered the church. I have suffered similar agony in other small churches of the diocese. O good churchwardens! have pity on your [203/204] Bishop and clergy, and see that they have a few minutes of quiet when preparing to lead your worship, and thinking of the lucidus ordo in which they hope to deliver to the congregation the result of their study and reflection. The bell, in the case of small wooden churches, should not be hung in a bell-cot attached to the building, but in a separate structure, like the campaniles of the old churches of Europe, formed of three or four substantial posts with crossbeams. Among those confirmed on this occasion was a granddaughter of the late Rev. R. Taylor, one of the oldest clergy of the Church Missionary Society in New Zealand. After the service we mounted our horses again, and rode through the darkness to Springfield, a little more than three miles, to the house of Mrs. Cole Baker, where we stayed the night. We had to descend a long hill covered with loose stones, over which it was anything but pleasant to ride on a long-legged horse, after a tiring day's work, in utter darkness. Mrs. Baker's farm, which is worked by her eldest son, is a model of neatness.

October 17, Monday.--We were up before six, and, as soon as our horses were saddled, we set out for Auckland, about twenty-seven miles distant. I travelled most of the way by rail, the two horses being taken home by my son.

In the afternoon, I attended a meeting of the Council of our University College, where it was resolved to engage the services of Professors Brown and Thomas for another term of five years.

Professor Brown is about to leave for England, where he intends to spend two months of the coming vacation. [204/205] He told me that he considered such a visit necessary, to keep himself up to his work, by making himself acquainted with the most recent discoveries and the newest methods of his own science, chemistry.

Professor Thomas has during the winter months been giving a series of "popular talks" at our Institute on natural history, much to the edification of his hearers. I look upon teaching of this kind as one of the most useful parts of our professors' work. The whole community should be able to derive benefit, if they wish it, from the establishment of those offices of teaching, maintained, as they are, by the taxes paid by us all.

This was a week of meetings for both of us, as is always the case when the Synod is near at hand. My day's work now begins before six a.m., and does not end until I am too tired to write any more, about eleven p.m.

October 22, Saturday.--I went by train to Te Awamutu (one hundred miles), leaving about noon and arriving at 7.55 p.m.--a very wearisome journey. I had a carriage to myself nearly all the way, from which fact it is to be inferred, I think, that our railway arrangements are defective. Only those obliged to travel by railway appear to do so, owing to the high rate of fares. The railway is the property of the people, who pay the interest on the sum borrowed for its construction. It was made for the public convenience, as much as any main road was; and, just as it is not expected that a metalled road will add directly to the revenue of the colony, so it would be wise, I think, not to make a direct increase of revenue the chief consideration in regulating the railway charges. In any case, however, the revenue cannot be benefited by making the fares so high that a passenger can travel [205/206] alone for nearly a hundred miles. By the same train travelled the Rev. T. P. N. Hewlett, one of our senior and most active clergymen, now seventy-two years of age. His head-quarters are in Auckland, whence he goes for Sunday to one or other of the districts in which there is no resident minister. On this occasion he was on his way to Huntly (sixty-five miles from Auckland), whence he would ride on Sunday morning to Rangiriri, about eight miles, for the eleven o'clock service. In the afternoon, he was to be at Ohinewai (half-way back) for the three o'clock service, and at Huntly for the evening service. On the following Sunday Mr. Hewlett was to be in the Papakura district, taking three services for his son, who was much in need of a Sunday's holiday. At Huntly there are coal-mines, and the families of the miners form the clergyman's charge.

The country was looking very lovely, and the weather was charming.

At Te Awamutu station I was met by the clergyman of the district, the Rev. R. G. Boler, who took me in a buggy lent by a kind churchwarden, Mr. Teasdale, to the house of my host, Mr. W. Sorby, the lay reader, about three miles from the station. The road, un-metalled, was full of holes and puddles, and, moreover, very hilly.

October 23, Sunday.--Mr. T. Hunt, of Rangiaohia brought his buggy for me in the morning and took me to Kihikihi (about two miles), where I preached at the eleven o'clock service. The church stands on a hill, overlooking a beautiful district. It is quite an ecclesiastical building, having been designed by the Rev. P. Walsh. The prayers were said by the Rev. R. G. Boler, [206/207] and the second Lesson was read by Mr. J. Hutchinson, the lay reader, who has a farm about two and a half miles distant, where he holds a Sunday school. I do all I can to encourage our faithful laymen to hold such schools in their own houses, for the benefit of the children who live at long distances from the central school. A large proportion of the congregation remained to Holy Communion. The harmonium was played by Miss Ogle, whose home is more than two miles distant. The churchwarden is Mr. Tristram, formerly of H.M.'s 40th Regiment. At Kihikihi lives the renowned chief Rewi, who defended his pah (entrenchment) at Orakau most gallantly against the force commanded by General Carey in the Waikato War in April, 1864. This pah was surrounded by English soldiers on the occasion, and was without water, so that the fate of Rewi's garrison seemed certain. Still, this warrior would not surrender; and, in answer to the general's entreaty that he would send away the women, said that "the Maori women were as good as the men," and that he would fight "ake, ake, ake"--for ever and ever. After returning this message to the general, he formed his garrison into a solid square, with the women in the centre; and then, when our soldiers were having their dinner, feeling confident of capturing Rewi and all his people, they sallied forth, leaping over the ditch, and, in some parts, over the heads of the English troops, and hurried away through the fern and scrub!

Rewi once came to see us at Bishopscourt. He was much struck by the long hair of our then little daughter; and, when asked to look out of one of our drawing-room windows at the beautiful view, sat still, saying, [207/208] "I can see a view any day, but not a head of hair like this."

After dinner at Mr. Sorby's, Mr. Hunt drove me to Rangiaohia (heaven's favours), where I preached at the three o'clock service. The church is beautifully situated, and was built in 1857. It possesses a good painted window in the chancel. The window is said to have been sent from London for S. Paul's, Auckland, but to have been declined by the authorities of that parish in those days, because it was "too High Church," but I doubt the authenticity of the report. The Maories, having no such scruples, gladly accepted it. For some years after the Waikato War the Rangiaohia church was closed, there being no congregation, as the Maories had left the district, which formed part of the territory confiscated by the Government.

On this occasion there was a good congregation. The prayers were said by the Rev. R. G. Boler. Miss Taylor played the harmonium. When I first saw the church it was in a ruinous condition, but it is now in comparatively good order, especially the interior; for which much has been done by Mr. and Mrs. Cottrell, new-comers to the district.

Heavy rain came on about three o'clock, and continued to fall until late in the evening.

Mr. Hunt took me back to Te Awamutu (about three miles) for the evening service. Notwithstanding the rain and the sloppy state of the unmetalled roads, there was a large congregation at S. John's. The prayers were said by the Rev. R. G. Boler, who presented seventeen candidates for Confirmation. The service, especially the singing, was very hearty. Among those [208/209] confirmed was Mr. James Mandeno, who was for long the Superintendent of the Sunday school. His father, whose grave is in the churchyard, was a highly respected minister of the Independents. There are several interesting monuments at S. John's, Te Awamutu, erected by their comrades to soldiers who were killed in the neighbourhood during the Waikato War of 1863-64.

The Holy Table was tastefully decorated at the Confirmation with arums, lilies, and hawthorn, all of white.

Mr. Boler is a good sample of our "home-made" clergy. His first years in New Zealand gave him the physical training that is essential for an efficient minister of a country district. His home was at Tauhoa in the north, where the roads, or tracks, were in those days among the worst in the diocese. The Rev. H. D. D. Sparling, then in charge of that district, first called my attention to his fitness for the pastoral office. He was accordingly given a studentship at our College of S. John the Evangelist, where the Rev. Dr. Kinder was his teacher; but, as he was a married man, he was soon obliged to resign the appointment, to earn a maintenance for his family. For a few years he was employed by the Auckland Board of Education, during which time he continued his studies with effect, and passed Grade III. of our theological examination.

Mr. Hunt told me much that was interesting about this district. Agricultural and pastoral work give little profit at the present time. An ox that would have sold for £12 five or six years ago is not worth more than £6 now. He was recently offered only four shillings each for fine calves, nine months old. I heard afterwards [209/210] that the farm on which he lives, one of the best in the district, would not sell for more than £5 an acre at the present time, whereas the owner gave about £13 an acre for it ten years ago. There is a cheese factory at Te Awamutu, but not now at work, there being twenty tons of excellent cheese in the store, and no market for it. A good deal of wheat is grown in the neighbourhood.

My first visit to Te Awamutu was in 1870, when I was accompanied by the late Rev. Lonsdale Pritt, afterwards Archdeacon of Waikato. I had arrived on a Saturday, in May, just at the beginning of the wet season, at Alexandra, and was the guest of Mr. Aubin. On the following morning, I rode, through heavy rain, to Te Awamutu (about seven miles). About a quarter of an hour before the time for service, eleven a.m., I went to the church; and, finding no one there, I went up into the tower and rang the bell--for twenty minutes or so. The bell was of no avail in the pouring rain: no one obeyed its summons, and I accordingly mounted my horse, and rode back to Alexandra, where I preached in the afternoon. The Alexandra church at that time stood on a mound, near the Waipu river, and was used as a barrack by the Constabulary, the wooden walls being loop-holed for rifles.

The parsonage house at Te Awamutu is the property of the Church Missionary Society, who have a valuable estate in and near the settlement. When I first saw the building in 1870, it had two large wings, which were afterwards removed. It was originally a Maori school, of which Mr. (now Sir John) Gorst was for a time the master. During the Waikato War it was for some months the head-quarters of General Carey.

[211] October 24, Monday.--I returned by rail to Auckland, after short matins in the Te Awamutu church at 7.45. The congregation on this occasion consisted of the clergyman's family and a guest, besides myself.

At the Huntly station, when we arrived, we saw a large gathering of Maories, taking leave of a Mormon preacher, who had been making converts in the district. Some of my fellow-passengers, especially Mr. Hunter, senior, were very indignant with the Mormon visitor, who was said to be kissing the Maori women and girls in bidding them good-bye. The Rev. Heta Tarawhiti, our Maori clergyman of this district, has been in delicate health lately, and not able to travel much; consequently his flock, of whom many are very migratory, have been left without a shepherd, and the wolf has been tearing the sheep.

This week was taken up with preparations for the Synod. I was up daily at 5.30 a.m., and steadily at work until eleven p.m., writing, seeing clergy and others on business, and attending meetings of trustees and others.

October 26, Wednesday.--In the evening, I baptized four Maori youths, of S. Stephen's School, three of them from the diocese of Waiapu and one from the King Country, as it is called--the district to the south of the Waikato to which Tawhiao and the malcontent Maories retired after the Waikato War of 1864.

October 29, Saturday.--In the afternoon, we went to S. Mary's, to see how the preparations for next day were getting on. Since October 2 the nave of the old church had been moved back about fifty feet, to make room for the chancel and sacrarium of the new church, [211/212] which are to be proceeded with at once, at a cost of about £2000, the material being wood. We found the churchwardens, Mr. R. Maris Clark and Mr. S. Percy Smith, hard at work, putting back some of the heavy benches into their places--not merely directing others, but with their own strong arms doing the work. Such churchwardens are invaluable, not only for the amount of work they do themselves, but for the influence of their example on paid officials and on less willing members of the congregation. Archdeacon Govett and Miss Atkin came to us, the former to stay during the session of the Synod, the latter to be present at her godson's confirmation.

October 30, Sunday.--In the afternoon, there was an interesting Confirmation service at S. Mary's. Among those who received the rite were our daughter, Katharine Vaughan, for whom our dear friends, the Dean of Llandaff and Mrs. Vaughan, and Miss K. Keene, were sponsors, and our second son, John Patteson, for whom Archdeacon Dudley, the Rev. Dr. Codrington, and Miss Atkin were sponsors. It was very satisfactory to us having our children prepared for this apostolic and helpful rite by the Rev. G. H. S. Walpolc, who takes wreat pains with his candidates, and, as the Archbishop of Canterbury said of him, is "a clear teacher." The whole number of young people presented by Mr. Walpole was fifty-four, including twenty-one Maori youths from S. Stephen's School. There is no part of my work that gives me more pleasure than the holding of a Confirmation, when the candidates have been carefully taught and prepared. In many cases, the opportunity that a clergyman has--of influencing the after-lives of young [212/213] people for good--when he is preparing them for Confirmation, is greater than any other that ever occurs to him or to them.

October 31, Monday.--The climate of Auckland at this season is quite perfect, and "every prospect pleases." The thermometer in our dining-room in the afternoon now is 65°, and it does not fall below 60° at night. The one subject of conversation in the streets of Auckland to-day is the inability of the Bank of New Zealand to pay a dividend for the past half-year. It is, I think, the general opinion of our best commercial men that the directors acted rightly in not declaring a dividend; but that a dividend at the rate of twelve and a half per cent, ought not to have been given at the end of the previous half-year. An Auckland citizen, whose opinion I value most highly on such subjects, said to me last week, "The Bank of New Zealand is all right," and I have no doubt that it will in time recover its name for safety. It owns a great deal too much land in these days--in which the "earth-hunger" has temporarily been appeased, or has ceased to exist. Several of our Church Trust accounts are kept at this bank; but the Union Bank of Australia was Bishop Selwyn's, and some of our oldest accounts, e.g. that of the Melanesian Mission Trust, are still kept there. I have always found the authorities of these banks to be very businesslike, and all the officials also courteous and obliging.

November 1, All Saints' Day, Tuesday.--The day before the Synod. For some years I have arranged for a Quiet Day with the clergy at Synod time. On this occasion we met at eleven a.m., when there was Holy Communion in the chapel. Archdeacon Maunsell [213/214] assisted me at the celebration. The Creed, Sanctus, and Gloria were led by E. After the Gloria, two interesting and suitable papers were read: one by Archdeacon Govett, on keeping up our heart in times of depression; and the other by the Rev. W. Beatty, on the right kind of evidence to adduce, in these times, of the truth of the gospel. After the service, our guests strolled about the grounds until dinner-time--one o'clock. Some of those for whose benefit the Quiet Day is specially intended--namely, clergy living isolated lives in distant country places--were unable to come, being prevented by duties which had to be attended to, e.g. visiting the sick and burying the dead.

At dinner, in the Library, our guests numbered about thirty-five. A small bouquet was made for each by Miss O'Grady, who came in the morning for the purpose.

November 2, Wednesday.--Synod opening. Our Diocesan Synod meets once a year, generally in October. It consists of the Bishop, the clergy holding the Bishop's licence, and laymen elected by the parishes and parochial districts. The opening service--celebration of Holy Communion--was held at S. Matthew's Church, in the city. As the tramway passes this church, it has been thought best to have the service there, so that laymen may not be deterred from attending it by being kept longer than is necessary from their several occupations. At the service to-day I was assisted by the following clergymen--Archdeacons Dudley, Govett, and Maunscll, who read the Commandments, the Epistle, and the Gospel respectively; and by Archdeacons Clarke and Willis, and the Rev. C. M. Nelson, who took part at the [214/215] administration. The offertory collection was for the expenses of the Synod.

We generally have dinner at Bishopscourt on the day of the Synod opening for all comers, at one o'clock.

Among our guests to-day was our old friend Mrs. Judd, whose husband, Mr. Andrew Judd, was for many years in her Majesty's Customs at Auckland, and previously at Russell, in the Bay of Islands. Mrs. Judd is one of those whose whole life is made up of helping others. Though not at all of a robust constitution, she is enabled, by her brave Christian spirit, to undergo fatigue for others' sake that many strong women would consider it necessary to avoid. Wherever she resides, she is one of the best helpers the clergyman has, and is a chief favourite with the younger people. Another of our guests on this occasion was Mr. G. Skelton, of Paparoa, who during many years has been the mainstay of Church matters in that district.

At three p.m. the Synod met for business in the cathedral Library. There was a large attendance. The lay members are quite the pick of our business men of Auckland and the country districts. If only on that account, the President's responsibility is no light matter; but, in addition to the fact that our lay representatives are of the stamp they are, they constitute for the most part the backbone of our diocesan organisation--men giving their time, or thought, or money, and in some cases giving all three of them, to the work of the Church. The President of the Synod may, therefore, rightly feel proud of his fellow-legislators, and may well exert himself to preside over their deliberations with the greatest circumspection and patience that he can [215/216] command. I am often quite overcome with a sense of the responsibility of my position when delivering my opening address to the Synod, and it is only by the exercise of all the will I possess that I save myself from breaking down.

At three p.m. punctually, proceedings began in the usual way. All stood while I said the opening prayer. I have established the custom of "standing" at prayer on all such occasions. It is a primitive custom, and is much more seemly than that which prevails at the meetings of many religious societies, where people often seem at a loss what to do--whether to kneel on the hard, and often dirty, floor, to loll over the back of a chair, or to sit in a stooping attitude. After the customary prayer for unity, the roll of members was called by the Rev. W. Calder, one of my chaplains; and the Synod was declared by me duly constituted, that is, not less than one-fourth of the licensed clergy and one-fourth of the lay representatives were present. In fact, two-thirds of the clergy and five-sixths of the laity answered to their names. In the present Synod there are sixty-two clergy and sixty-one laymen. My Address was longer than usual this time, and took me about fifty minutes to read. As it contains a summary of the affairs of the diocese at the present time, it is given at length in the Appendix. I received much assistance in preparing the diocesan statistics that the address contains from Miss E. Purchas and Mr. L. A. Robin. After the Address, which was ordered to be printed, secretaries and other officers were appointed for the session.

The Rev. H. S. Davies and Mr. J. D. Jackson (of [216/217] Onchunga) were elected secretaries. Mr. Jackson has held the office on many occasions, and is well acquainted with the affairs of the Synod; and Mr. Davies has had experience of the office during a former session. The Hon. Colonel Haultain was elected chairman of committee--an office for which he is specially fitted, by his experience therein during many sessions, by his thorough acquaintance with the affairs of the Synod, by his interest in all Church work, and by his patience, calmness, firmness, and sound good sense.

Most of this sitting was occupied with formal business; and before six p.m. the Synod adjourned to the following day, to enable the members to attend the Choral Festival, which was held in the evening at S. Matthew's Church. This festival takes place annually, in the evening of the day on which the Synod meets, in the larger Auckland churches in turn.

After the afternoon sitting of the Synod, we had, as usual, a high tea for those who had not time to go elsewhere before proceeding to the festival. Among our guests was Mr. H. C. Lawlor, of the Thames, one of our oldest and most efficient lay readers. It is mainly through Mr. Lawlor's zeal that our people at Tararu (Thames) possess a church--S. John's--in which he has conducted service on Sundays ever since it was built, in 1880. Our Choral Festival was very well managed this year. It is an opportunity of much benefit in several ways, if matters are rightly conducted. Many strangers commonly attend the service--belonging to other Christian bodies; and when the singing is bright and hearty, and the prayers are said or sung reverently, the most non-conforming brethren are wont to confess to [217/218] edification. The sermon, too, when of the right kind, may influence for good men and women who are very rarely seen in church. More than once I have known the whole service to be marred by the irreverent playing or bearing of the organist or the choir master. On this occasion everything was satisfactory. The night was fine, with brilliant moonlight. The church was quite-full, and well lighted. It is enough to say that Mr. Trimnell was at the organ, to let those who know his playing be sure that his accompaniment did not drown the singing, and that it was not a display of the organist. The prayers were sung with devoutness and simplicity by the Rev. G. H. S. Walpole; and a plain, instructive, and useful sermon was preached by the Rev. James Marshall, of Te Aroha. A good sermon was expected from Mr. Marshall; but it was doubted whether he could make himself heard in the more distant parts of the building, in which the congregation on these occasions numbers about a thousand. He was, however, very well heard. I was seated behind him, at a considerable distance, and did not lose a word, when the rustle of the congregation in rising from their knees had ceased.

The psalms, canticles, and hymns were sung in good time and with heartiness.

The clergy, preceded by the surpliced choirs of S. Mary's and S. Thomas', entered the church in procession. I had the pleasure of being accompanied by all my Archdeacons and my European chaplains. Many ladies of the choirs of the town parishes had "practised" together for the service, and all seemed to do their part well. At our Choral Festival the offertory collection is given to the Diocesan Choral Association, for the purchase [218/219] of music. On this occasion it amounted to about £11. I was informed afterwards, by one of the churchwardens, that three hundred members of the congregation--chiefly strangers--gave nothing! He was indignant at what he considered their meanness--rightly, I think.

November 3, Thursday.--During the session of the Synod my mornings are fully occupied with special work in connection with the session; and at one o'clock we have a semi-official dinner, when our guests are chiefly clergymen, whom I have an extra opportunity then of speaking to about their several spheres of duty.

Archdeacon Govett, who had been our guest since October 30, left us to-day; and the Rev. N. D. Boycs and Mrs. Boyes came to us.

The Synod met at four. There was a full attendance of members. At six p.m. I left the chair, one hour being allowed for refreshment. We provide tea and coffee, sandwiches, etc., for all comers during this interval, when we have an opportunity of speaking to many of our people--from the country especially--whom we do not often meet.

After seven p.m. the Synod was occupied, until its adjourning at ten, in considering the report of the Standing Committee. Much interest was shown by the members generally in the important matters that the report dealt with, e.g. the Home Mission, the work of the organising clergyman and of the Sunday-school inspector, and the best means of increasing the funds needed for these purposes.

After the adjournment we always have a short service-in the chapel, for those who can remain; namely, a hymn, [219/220] and the versicles and prayers after the Creed, ending with the Third Collect, and the Grace or the Blessing.

November 4, Friday.--The Synod sat from four p.m. to six. One of the resolutions unanimously passed was that the President be requested to communicate to the Maories of the north, through the Church Board, the expression of the condolence of the Synod for the loss of the Revs. R. Tangata, R. Paerata, H. P. te Taua, and Ihaka te Tai. The whole Synod stood when voting for the resolution. There was no evening sitting, on account of the Church Meeting. At six o'clock, high tea, Messrs. W. H. and A. Thorp were among our guests. Mr. W. H. Thorp has been for many years our lay reader at All Souls, Wairoa South. His father, with the family, settled in that district in 1842, having come from Yorkshire.

The annual Church Meeting was held in the Choral Hall at eight o'clock, its purposes being instructive and social. Two or three papers are commonly read at these meetings on subjects of practical importance to Churchmen, for the consideration of which, however, there is not time in Synod, and in which others besides synods-men are interested. The Bishop takes the chair ex officio on these occasions. Two papers were read, by the Rev. T. H. Sprott and the Rev. J. S. Hill respectively, the former on "The Church and Politics," and the latter on "Christian Union." Mr. Sprott's paper was too deep to be fully taken in at once by ordinary hearers; but it was highly appreciated by the audience generally, of whom many expressed a hope that they might have an opportunity of studying it in print. Mr. Hill's paper also was much appreciated, and, being on a more familiar [220/221] subject, was more easily comprehended. Among other statements made by Mr. Hill--as the result of his own experience, which is great, in the matter--was one to the effect that "there was not more brotherliness between different bodies of ' Nonconformists ' in the colony than there was between any one of those bodies and the Church of England." Discussion on the two subjects was invited, each speaker being limited to five minutes. The last who addressed the assemblage was Mr. H. G. Seth Smith, who never makes a speech without having something to say, and saying it well. On this occasion he dwelt on the fact that Christianity was a "life," and that the more pains men took to live that life the more they would be drawn into unity. His words were cordially received by the meeting. During the evening two anthems and some hymns were sung by a choir made up of volunteers from the Auckland churches, including Mr. Rice, who is a host in himself, and Mrs. Glover, whose help is always valuable and willingly given at such gatherings.

November 5, Saturday.--The annual devotional meeting of our Pastoral Order of the Holy Ghost was held to-day. The members are all in Priest's Orders, the Bishop being president. The Auckland branch of this Order was instituted in 1885, at the suggestion of the Revs. C. Bodington and G. E. Mason, who conducted a Mission in the diocese in that year. We began the day with a celebration at eight a.m. After the Creed, a short address was given by Archdeacon Dudley on "Living near to God"--very spiritual and earnest, just like himself. At eight a.m. there was breakfast at S. Mary's Parsonage, as there was also dinner at one p.m., the [221/222] arrangements being made by Mrs. Walpole. At ten a.m. we met again in the chapel, when a hymn (No. 461, "Hymns, Ancient and Modern") was sung, and some collects were said by the Rev. C. M. Nelson, who afterwards read an interesting paper on "Meditation." Several of the clergy present spoke briefly on the subject. At eleven a.m. we separated for quiet, some strolling about the shady garden and others sitting in the Library, until 11.30, when we assembled again, and heard an excellent paper from the Rev. G. H. S. Walpole on "Some Lessons from our Lord's Life applied to the Work of the Ministry." Some of the members said a few words on the subject. We again separated at 12.30 p.m., returning to the chapel at two, after early dinner. Archdeacon Willis then read a sensible paper on "Some of the Things concerning which no Directions have been given by the Church." The subject afforded me an opportunity of saying what my own custom was in certain matters of "decency and order." Amongst other answers to direct questions, I stated that "under no circumstances whatever would I marry a divorced man or woman in the lifetime of the woman or the man from whom such a one had been divorced." One of the clergy present rightly said that "a man who had been married to a woman by the Church's officer and rite could not be divorced by the State alone," i.e. from the Church's point of view.

Archdeacon Willis's subject proved so interesting that it kept us much longer than we had intended; and as our annual business meeting was fixed for 3.30, we had to forego short evensong and an address from me--that were to have preceded the meeting. We parted soon after four, some to go into the country for the services [222/223] of the following day, and others to their work in Auckland or the suburbs.

This being Guy Fawkes Day, there is (eight p.m.) much firing of crackers going on, though few of the Auckland "hoodlums" have any clear idea of the event that they are commemorating. It is a sad pity to introduce such commemorations into a colony, where it is most desirable that the descendants of English, Scotch, and Irish people should be completely amalgamated--into a united nation. The most enthusiastic Protestant cannot, I imagine, think that the Roman Catholics of New Zealand are ever likely to conspire against their religious liberty or against the supreme authority of the State.

November 6, Sunday.--I began the day at S. Mary's, where I was celebrant at eight a.m., being assisted by the incumbent, the Rev. G. H. S. Walpole. The organ was played by Mr. G. C. T. Armstrong, who gives much help in this way, when the organist is absent. I am always disappointed when there is no singing at Holy Communion--the service at which, before all others, there should be singing, if only that the communicants may be herein like Him,Who with His disciples, "when they had sung a hymn, . . . went out into the mount of Olives." [Matt. xxvi. 30.]

On this occasion our daughter and our second son received this Sacrament for the first time.

This being one of the Sundays on which collections are made in our churches for the Home Mission of the diocese, I preached at two of our city churches, advocating the claims of the Mission on all Church-people, [223/224] viz. at S. Paul's at eleven a.m., and at S. Matthew's at 6.30 p.m.

November 7, Monday.--The Synod sat from four to six p.m., and from seven to ten p.m. At the evening-sitting the Standing Committee were elected. The clerical members, five in number, remained unchanged. Of the seven lay members elected, those not on the Committee of the previous year are Mr. J. Batger, Colonel Haultain, and Mr. E. Hesketh, all very suitable men. Mr. Batger is an earnest and consistent Christian man, one of our best men of business, and a highly respected citizen. Colonel Haultain and Mr. Hesketh have been already mentioned.

At one o'clock dinner, and at six o'clock high tea, many members of the Synod, and other friends, were our guests.

November 8, Tuesday.--At 2.30 p.m. I married Mr. A. Challinor Purchas, the second son of our friend the Rev. A. G. Purchas, to Miss E. M. G. Morse. The bridegroom is one of our young and rising medical men, being specially skilful in treating diseases of the eye. He received his medical education chiefly at Edinburgh. The marriage was at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is admirably adapted for a function; the chancel and sacrarium being large, with short flights of steps ascending to the Holy Table. There was a large congregation. Mr. Rice, the organist, gave us some beautiful and appropriate music before and after the service. The clergy--Archdeacon Dudley (incumbent), the Rev. A. G. Purchas, and I--met the bride, who was escorted by her father, at the entrance to the sacrarium, where the [224/225] Archdeacon and the Rev. A. G. Purchas stood on my right and left respectively. After the hymn, "How welcome was the call," and the Preface (read by the Archdeacon), I took the first part of the service, including the actual marriage. While the psalm was being sung, the clergy and the bridal party moved up slowly to the Holy Table, where the remaining prayers and the blessing were feelingly said by the bride's father. Instead of the well-known concluding passages of Holy Scripture, I read one of my sermonettes, according to my usual custom, occupying about two minutes, and afterwards gave it, together with the book ("The Teacher's Prayer-book") used by me on the occasion, to the bride.

Altogether, it was one of the best conducted weddings I was ever at. As it was in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, it is unnecessary to say that all that appertained to the part of the officiating clergy, and of the organist and other Church officers, was carried out with reverence. Considering, too, who the bridegroom's people were, and the bride's, it would be impertinent to say that their bearing was as befitted the occasion. I was not in fear and trembling, as, unhappily, I sometimes am, lest the bridegroom should make a dash at the bride before leaving the Holy Table, and kiss her frantically, as if he was about to part with her for ever. It is to be hoped that this unseemly addition to the ritual of the Marriage Service, recently introduced in some places, will be discountenanced by the clergy. I am not commonly an observer of the details of ladies' attire, but I could not help admiring the simplicity and good taste in which the five bridesmaids were dressed. Their quaint high-peaked bonnets were very becoming, as, indeed, almost [225/226] anything is at the age of "sweet and twenty" in a modest Englishwoman.

The Synod sat from four p.m. to six, and from seven to ten. Before beginning business at seven, a most kind address was presented to me by Archdeacon Maunsell and Colonel Haultain, together with a cheque for £400, on behalf of a great many people throughout the diocese. [A further sum of £100 was afterwards given to me, through Colonel Haultain.] The Archdeacon and the colonel both spoke in the kindest manner before presenting the address, which is as follows:--

"To the Right Reverend William Garden Cowie, D.D., Bishop of Auckland.

"My Lord,--We, the clergy and laity of this diocese, desire, before the Synod closes its session, to express our best wishes that you and your esteemed helper in good works, Mrs. Cowie, may have a happy voyage to England, and a speedy return. From a large intercourse with our fellow-Churchmen and others, we can testify to the heartiness with which they recognise your Christian and Catholic spirit, your zeal, and your kindness and courtesy in dealing with us. They sec that there is scarcely a hamlet which you have not often visited, and for whose religious services you have not made provision; that our Sunday schools owe much to your efforts; that the Sailors' Rest and Women's Home, and such like institutions, are proofs of the liberality of your views, and of your zeal for the good of others; that we have much peace amongst ourselves, and that we maintain friendly relations with the other Christian [226/227] bodies. Although in common with the rest of the colony, we are suffering from the present great financial depression, we decided that we ought not to allow you to leave us without some proof of our regard. All the contributions of our brethren have not yet come in, but we cannot lose the present opportunity of addressing you, and beg your acceptance herewith of the amount already received. Signed on behalf of the clergy and laity of the diocese,

"B. T. DUDLEY, Archdeacon of Auckland.
"R. MAUNSELL, Archdeacon Emeritus.
"GEO. P. PIERCE,
"T. M. HAULTAIN, Honorary Treasurers Testimonial Fund.
"M. RAWLINGS, Honorary Secretary Testimonial Committee.

"Auckland, November 8, 1887."

Until a few days before, we had no notion of the kind intention to make this presentation. I found it very difficult--artidakruV; as I was--to get any words out, in acknowledgment of the address, especially after what the Archdeacon and the Colonel said by way of preface to the presentation, during which the whole Synod stood, with the crowd of visitors who had come for the occasion. [Elmsl. Med., 873.] What I succeeded in saying--being very much less than what I felt, which I could not trust myself to express--was:--

"Mrs. Cowie and I are very grateful for the kind address that has been presented to us, and for the generous gift with which it is accompanied. It is the wish and the intention of us both to return to our home [227/228] and our work in New Zealand before the end of next year; and no offer of less laborious work in England will induce me to remain there. You refer with approval to my custom of visiting all parts of the diocese. It has always formed a chief part of my happiness to make the acquaintance of our people in the thinly populated parts of the diocese, and to minister to them there, whether Europeans or Maories; and when I can no longer do so I shall think that the time has come for me to resign my present office, which an invalid could not conscientiously continue to hold. During the last four years I have been reminded, more than once, by the state of my health, that I am now the only surviving clergyman of those who went through the fatigue and exposure of the Lucknow campaign of 1858 and of the Afghan campaign of 1863; and it is my duty to face the possibility, if not the probability, of being unable much longer to travel through and through the diocese, as I have hitherto done, and as your Bishop ought to do. It has always been my earnest wish to co-operate heartily with all Church workers, whatever their opinions might be, and whatever were the peculiarities of their methods of working. Whilst constantly striving for unity amongst ourselves, I have never cared greatly for uniformity in matters non-essential, whether of belief or practice. It would be a real grief to me if our relations with other Christian people were not friendly; and it will always be my endeavour that they may become more and more friendly and cordial, and that we may be able to say from our hearts, 'Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.' I thank you, and all those whom you represent, for the personal kindness [228/229] that you have shown to me and mine during the whole time of our residence among you; and I ask your prayers for us in the future. And one special request I will, in conclusion, make of every member of the Church throughout the diocese--namely, that you will do your utmost to provide the clergy ministering to our people in the country districts with at least a decent maintenance. May God's blessing be with you and yours."

November 9, Wednesday.--This being the Prince of Wales's birthday, which is a public holiday throughout New Zealand, the Synod did not meet until seven p.m. The whole evening was occupied with the consideration of amendments that are desirable in the Education Act of the colony. It was a very interesting debate; the Rev. J. Marshall's speech, in particular, being good and to the point.

I took occasion to deprecate the lax use of the words "science" and "supernatural," pointing out that if "science" is "the certain knowledge of certain things," or "organised knowledge," [Herbert Spencer.] there is a science of theology as well as a science of geology; and that it does not follow that a thing is "supernatural" because it is "superhuman." I also begged members of the Synod--some of whom seemed to think that S. James intended to give a complete (if not scientific) definition of religion in his well-known words (i. 27)--to bear in mind that the Greek word there rendered religion does not mean what we commonly intend by that word at the present time. "qrhskeia (cultus, exterior)," says Archbishop Trench, "is predominantly the ceremonial [229/230] service of religion, the external framework or body." ["New Testament Synonyms," 7th edit., p. 166.] It is in this sense that "pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."

The Synod gave its formal approval to the "special arrangements" to be made between the Bishop and .9. Mary's parish, for the use of the parish church as the cathedral of the diocese, in accordance with Title F., Canon III., 18, of the General Synod. [See G. S. Report for 1886, p. 131.] A magnificent site close to Bishopscourt was purchased by Bishop Selwyn in 1859. In reference to it, the late Mr. Swain-son, formerly Attorney-General, says, in his "New Zealand:" On the left-hand side, on the summit of the rise (of the Parnell hill), is an open space of level land, which, though not yet (1859) built upon, is not without interest to the prophetic eye--overlooking the town and harbour, and commanding an extensive view of the picturesque islands of the Waitemata, the Frith of the Thames, the long line of blue hills forming its eastern boundary, and of the islands northwards which give shelter to the gulf. By the provident foresight of Bishop Selwyn, this commanding position has been secured for the site of the metropolitan cathedral of New Zealand. And at some remote period in the far-distant future, when the projected cathedral shall have become a venerable pile, it will be a matter of no little interest to its then ministers (should the tradition be so long preserved) to read how in the dark or early ages of New Zealand, Anno Domini 1843, its founder, the first Bishop of New Zealand, returning from a walking visitation of [230/231] more than a thousand miles, attended by a faithful companion of a then, it may be, extinct race, the bearer of his gown and cassock, the only remaining articles of value he had left--his shoes worn out and tied to his instep by a leaf of native flax, travel worn, but not weary--once more found himself on this favoured spot, arrested for a moment by the noble prospect presented to his bodily eye, and cheered by the prophetic vision of a long line of successors, Bishops of New Zealand, traversing the same spot, better clad and less ragged than himself." [Swainson's "New Zealand," p. 219.]

Glad as I should be to have a cathedral, if one could now be placed by some fairy on Bishop Selwyn's site, yet without any endowment for its maintenance, and separated only by a road from S. Mary's parish church, it would be something like a "white elephant;" and the new parish church will for many years to come serve the principal purposes of a cathedral. The trustees of the cathedral estate should, as soon as possible, avail themselves of their power to lease those parts of the land which are not required for the cathedral site, and so help to form a fund for the building of a cathedral and for its endowment. The General Synod should, I think, at its next meeting, provide for the appointment of Honorary Canons.

Our Synod in 1886 appointed a committee to prepare a Digest of the Diocesan Statutes in the form of Canons. The work was carefully and thoroughly done, and was formally adopted by the Synod to-day. The committee informed the Synod that the Digest was mainly the work of the Rev. C. M. Nelson and Mr. H. G. Seth [231/232] Smith, whose painstaking and accuracy specially qualified them for so important an undertaking.

November 11, Friday.--In the afternoon, I had a conference with Archdeacon Dudley and the examining chaplains on the advisability of admitting some of our deacons to Priest's Orders, and one of our college students to Deacon's Orders, before my departure for England in January. The deacons working in large country districts--in some cases four hundred square miles or more in extent--are at a great disadvantage, in not being able to administer the Holy Communion to their people, who go away to other ministers for that Sacrament. With many congregations to visit--in some cases four, and even five, on a Sunday--it is impossible for some of the young clergy to prepare all their subjects for the Priest's Orders Examination, even in three or four years; and it is not often that a priest can leave a town church on Sunday to administer the Sacrament in a deacon's district.

The whole of the evening was spent by the Synod in considering whether or not it was desirable that the Education Act of the colony should be altered, so as to allow grants in aid to be made to denominational and other schools, in which the "secular" teaching came up to the requirements of the educational authorities. It was conclusively demonstrated, as the Rev. J. Marshall pointed out, from statements made by three of the speakers, members of the Auckland Board of Education, in opposition to the proposed alteration, that under the present Act religious instruction could not be adequately given, by clergymen and others visiting the schools for the purpose, before or after school hours--the only times [232/233] at which such instruction is now permitted to be given. One speaker suggested that the present number of hours for secular teaching might be shortened on one or more days of the week, so as to allow of religious instruction being given on those days. It had, however, been proposed, as Mr. Upton said, to add to the present curriculum in primary schools some elementary teaching of natural science, but it was impossible to make this addition without omitting other instruction which was considered essential. How, then, could time be found for religious instruction? Assuredly, no time could be found for it under the present system. Q.E.D.

It was resolved, by a large majority of clerical members, and a small majority of lay members, that the proposed amendment of the Education Act was desirable.

The Synod was prorogued this evening, after an interesting session.

November 12, Saturday.--I was to have gone to Waiaku, but only got as far as Pukekohe (thirty miles), whence I returned to Auckland in the afternoon. It was a day of pouring rain; and, as I was not quite well, I thought I had better not ride thirteen or fourteen miles through the wet, and over muddy and slippery unmetalled roads. It was a great disappointment to me, as I have a horror of departing from an engagement with any of our congregations, especially those in the country. One of our senior clergy said to me not long since, "You have brought the clergy to expect that the Bishop can never be ill and incapacitated for duty."

November 14, Monday.--In the evening, we went to the Auckland Institute, where an interesting paper was read by Mr. S. Percy Smith, on the geology of the [233/234] Kermadec Islands, situated about six hundred miles to the north-east of Auckland, and annexed by Great Britain on August 17 of this year. The islands, of which Sunday Island is the largest, are of volcanic foundation, and are in the line of fissure passing through Tarawera (where the great eruption was in 1886) and White Island. We were not able to remain to hear the other papers. The affairs of the Institute are managed by a president and council, elected by the subscribers. The president this year is Professor Thomas, of the Auckland University College; and the secretary (a permanent officer) is Mr. F. Cheeseman, a distinguished botanist. The chief endowment of the Institute is a bequest from the late Mr. E. Costley, of £12,150. It possesses a good museum, and has for the present the charge of some valuable pictures given to the Auckland people by the late Mr. Mackelvie, who retired some years ago from the firm of Brown, Campbell, and Co., Auckland merchants, with a considerable sum of money. November 15, Tuesday.--Auckland is now looking its best. Every garden at all cared for is full of flowers, especially roses. Below our principal windows there is an orange tree covered with blossom, which quite scents all the rooms on that side of the house. The morning and afternoon were occupied with committee meetings. In the evening, we went to Waitakerei, about twenty miles north-west of Auckland, to get a few hours of rest and retirement. Our horses were taken out by our son Edmund to the Waitakerei station on the Helensville railway, whence we rode about a mile, up a steep and muddy hill, to a small house owned by Mr. Dilworth, who had kindly placed it at our service. The house is [234/235] charmingly situated on the top of a range overlooking an extensive and undulating country, covered with fern. Between the house and the west coast (about five miles) there are extensive forests, which we would have explored, but for the rain, which continued all the following morning, and made the tracks too wet and slippery for travelling. In time these ranges will no doubt be the resort of numbers of people from Auckland and all parts of the colony, as the scenery is beautiful, and the air very invigorating, from the height of the hills and the prevalence of bracing south-west winds.

November 16.--We read and wrote all the morning, enjoying greatly the retirement and the perfect stillness of Mr. Dilworth's retreat. In the afternoon, the rain ceased for an hour or two, and we strolled to the top of a hill behind the house, where we came to the farm of Mr. Smyth, grandly situated. From the verandah of his house we looked down through the forest to the sea on the west coast; on the south, at a distance of some miles, we saw the celebrated waterfall of the district; and in the distance, to the east, we saw the spire of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and other landmarks of the city of Auckland. Mr. Smyth was not at home; but we were kindly received by his sister, Mrs. Carswell, who, in speaking of the want of charity shown by many Christians in their treatment of others, attributed this want (rightly, as I think) to their lack of humility, referring to Augustine's saying on the subject. This family, and that of Mr. Edwards, who live in Mr. Dilworth's house, are Roman Catholics.

Colonel W. C. Lyon, formerly of the Coldstream Guards and the 92nd Highlanders, died to-day suddenly [235/236] in his bath, of heart disease. He was a soldierlike man, and a thorough gentleman. He came to New Zealand in 1858, and I first met him in the Waikato district in 1870, when he was in command of the armed constabulary of that district. He had for many years been one of our licensed lay readers, first at Cambridge and afterwards in Auckland, where he helped regularly at the Sunday services of the Old People's Refuge.

November 19, Saturday,--After a very busy morning, of teaching our children Greek and Latin, and of official writing, I married Professor Thomas, of our Auckland University College, to Miss Emily Russell, at S. Andrew's, Epsom. It was a beautiful day, and there was a large gathering at the church. The Rev. P. S. Smallfield, clergyman of the district, assisted. I had only time to call at the house of the bride's father for a few minutes, on my way from the church to the wharf, to catch the Thames steamer, Rotomahana. I reached the Thames at 9.15 p.m., and became the guest of Dr. and Mrs. Payne.

November 20.--A perfect day at the Thames. My first service was at Parawai, at 10.30 a.m., when I preached to the Maori congregation at their Church of the Holy Trinity,} and held a Confirmation. The prayers were said by the Rev. W. Turipona, clergyman of the district. He has inherited the sturdy physique of his mother, a chieftainess, who is reported to have swum across the Tamaki river, two months before her son's birth, to escape from the enemies of her tribe, who were bent on exterminating their foes. William and Rebecca Turipona have had eleven children, all of whom died in [236/237] childhood or youth. The last surviving son, H. T. te Wararahi, was a young man of great promise, having been educated in Auckland, at the High School; but at the age of twenty, like his brothers and sisters, he died of consumption, in 1876. The lessons were read by Nikorima Poutotara, a Chief of high character, who occasionally acts as lay reader. He has a strong voice and clear enunciation. After the service, the Church officers asked me to accept the offerings of the congregation, to help to pay the expenses of my intended visit to England. I thanked them for their consideration, but requested them to add the sum to their Minister's Stipend Fund, which they consented to do.

In the afternoon, I preached at S. John's, Tararu, where the congregation has been ministered to for twenty years by Mr. H. C. Lawlor, a pensioner of the Colonial Government and a member of the Diocesan Synod. Seven years ago the little church was built, chiefly as the result of Mr. Lawlor's zeal. He is one of the senior lay readers of the diocese, and said the prayers and read the Lessons on this occasion. The harmonium was played by Miss Wolff, whose father is the manager of one of the mine batteries. Mr. Lawlor told me the following interesting story:--The late Bishop Selwyn was conferring with a Church Committee, not far from Auckland, on the subject of paying punctually the clergyman's stipend, which had fallen into arrear, as too often happens, chiefly for want of suitable collectors to ask heads of families periodically for their promised contributions. The Bishop seems to have administered a gentle reproof to the Church Committee for their slackness. In any case, one of them, a fine old soldier, [237/238] stood up, and said to the Bishop, "My Lord, excuse my giving you an answer from my own experience. I am a keeper of cows, and as long as they are milked regularly night and morning they give a good supply of milk; but if they are left to themselves for a few days, no amount of milking will bring anything into the pail. It is the collectors who are to blame. If they came to me and others on the days when our pensions are paid, we would readily give all that could be fairly expected of us." The Bishop was delighted with this answer, and never afterwards failed to ask for the old soldier when he visited that settlement.

In the evening, I held a Confirmation, and preached at S. George's. The church was quite full, the congregation numbering nearly a thousand. The arrangements of the clergyman, the Rev. F. G. Evans, were admirable. The women and girl candidates all wore white muslin caps made after one simple pattern by the hands of Mrs. Evans. The results, direct and indirect, of this good work were excellent. Occasion for display was removed, if it were necessary; distinctions of social status were non-apparent; and all the recipients of Mrs. Evans's handiwork possessed a token of her interest in themselves personally. The psalms and hymns were heartily sung to Mr. Trewheeler's good accompaniment; the organ being a gift from Captain Wildman, of the Naval Volunteers, who was prevented by ill health from being present. Captain Wildman is an M.A. of the University of Oxford. At one time, when he was minister's warden at S. Georges, the people's warden also was an M.A., of Cambridge. The Lessons were read by Mr. J. E. Coney, the chief postmaster, in a strong, clear voice, with intelligence and reverence. I do not think I ever heard the Bible better read to the congregation by a lay reader. The anthem was "As pants the hart," of which the solo part was sung sweetly and simply by Mr. Coney's daughter, Mrs. Haultain. Anthems when sung as this one was, and when not too long, cannot rightly be called undevotional. They are often specially objected to, as not being congregational, by Nonconformists; who seem to forget that, in their own houses of prayers, very little of the service is congregational, even the prayers--for the most part--being solos, and long ones, taken by the minister. I took for my text the following words from the first Lesson:--"Be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord; and work." As it was the anniversary of the loss of the Crag Piquet by the------Regiment, in the Umbeyla campaign of 1863 (against the Afghan tribes), I illustrated the words "Be strong" by the conduct of Assistant-Surgeon Pile on that occasion. [I joined this force as chaplain in the end of November, 1863.] When those who were near him took to flight on the approach of the vociferating Afghans, Pile, with a few others, refused to quit their post, and were cut down. Afterwards, when peace was made, some of the Afghan leaders who had driven our men out of the Piquet, inquired who the brave young officer (describing Pile) was who "would not move." "We were very sorry to kill him," they said; "but we were obliged to do so, as he would not move.

The offertory collection to-night, without any special appeal, amounted to £10 6s. 5d. The yield of gold from this district has been on the increase lately. About [239/240] six thousand ounces have, I hear, been obtained, by "tributors" chiefly, during the past month.

November 21, Monday.--I left the Thames at eight a.m. for Paeroa, about twenty-two miles up the Thames valley, by a coach with four horses. The vehicle was American, of strong and light structure, with leather springs, having three inside benches, which Mr. M. Lush and I had to ourselves--fortunately, for the road was very rough, with stone and ruts, and the jolting was great. At Puriri (about eight miles from the Thames), where the coach stopped for a few minutes, I was met by Mrs. Poutotara, the wife of Nikorima, mentioned above. Her maiden name was Katherine Hobson te Karari, and she was brought up, as an adopted daughter, by Lady Martin; her father, the Rev. Philemon te Karari, having been drowned in crossing the Kaipara in 1864. Mrs. Poutotara speaks English without any foreign accent, and has a cultivated voice. The Thames valley is a fine pastoral country, bordered on the east by high hills. At Hikutaia (about twelve miles from the Thames gold-field) a road turns off to the east, leading to the new gold-field, Marototo, of which there are at present great expectations.

The coach reached Paeroa about noon, when I was transferred to another conveyance, with three horses, driven by a boy of fourteen years, and was put down, about two miles further on, at Mr. Alfred Thorp's gate, on the road to Te Aroha. Mr. Thorp is the synodsman for this district, and a brother of our old friend, Mr. W. H. Thorp, of Wairoa South. Close to Mr. Thorp's house, and on his land, is a small cottage in which the great chief of the district, Moananui, once lived, and [238/239] which has been left uninhabited since his death. I was here in January, 1873, having ridden from the Thames, by a rough track, before there was any formed road in the district. The neighbourhood of Mr. Thorp's house has changed so much in appearance since those days, that I did not at first recognise Te Moananui's cottage, on the bank of the Ohinemuri river. A few yards from the cottage stands a small wooden building, now used as a storehouse, but built by Moananui for a church in 1873. In the month of January of that year I came here, at the invitation of Moananui, to open the church, being assured by him that the site of the building would be duly conveyed to trustees appointed by the Synod. Subsequently it was proved that Moananui had no title to the land, which was eventually sold--and the church with it--to the present proprietor, Mr. A. Thorp. An important moral is to be drawn from this history--that there should be no departure, if possible, from the rule that the church site should be conveyed to the Synod before the church is formally opened by the Bishop.

In the evening, at seven, there was service in the public hall of the settlement, the room having been tastefully decorated with flowers and ferns by Mrs. Thorn. Part of Evening Prayer was said by the Rev. W. Katterns, whose head-quarters are at Katikati, nearly thirty miles distant. The hymns were heartily sung, to a harmonium accompaniment, played by Mr. Rhodes. After the Third Collect, several persons received the rite of Confirmation. In these country districts, it requires zeal and perseverance on the part of the clergyman to induce the young people to prepare for the Laying on of Hands. Mr. Katterns, for instance, has to ride sixty [241/242] miles (going and returning) to see the young people of Paeroa, who are scattered over a large district, and cannot easily be assembled in class for instruction; and unfriendly influences are often brought to bear to deter suitable persons from becoming candidates for Confirmation.

November 22, Tuesday.--Mr. Katterns and I left Paeroa about nine a.m. on horsebeck for Owharoa, about eight miles distant, on the Ohinernuri river. The road was very interesting, through beautiful forest, and along the right bank of the river, which in many places pours down with a refreshing sound through collections of boulders. We crossed many sparkling mountain streams, and the ti-tree on both sides of the road was laden with beautiful white blossom. At Owharoa a good deal of gold has been obtained during the last ten years; but at the present time there are only about twenty men employed in the one mine now being worked. Mr. R. Reid, a Presbyterian from the north of Ireland, was our host. He told me that there was no difficulty in earning a livelihood and a little pocket-money as well throughout the district, in the case of honest, industrious, and healthy men. I heard here the old story of people at gold diggings--of men who had without much labour obtained large sums of money, and spent it all on debauchery, benefiting neither themselves nor others by their suddenly acquired wealth. The usual course with such people is--to find themselves unexpectedly rich; to decline to help any good cause with their money; to squander it all on animal gratifications; to become penniless, healthless, and helpless. They are living illustrations of the words of an Anglican Bishop, "If [242/243] men will not apportion their charities to their means, they may expect God to apportion their means to their charities."

At two o'clock there was service in the little school building near Mr. Reid's house. The congregation represented all the settlements within ten miles of Owharoa, namely, Mackaytown, Waitckauri, and Waihi. Mr. Katterns said part of Evening Prayer, and I preached. Afterwards the Laying on of Hands was administered to a goodly number of persons, of whom the majority were married people.

We set out again at 4.15 p.m. for Katikati. Though it rained most of the way, the ride was enjoyable, but for my having to carry omnia mea vieaim, viz. a bag attached tp the side of my saddle behind, and holster bags in front. The first part of our journey was along the right bank of the beautiful Ohinemuri river; then we crossed the Waihi plains--about seven miles; and the last three miles were through the wild Katikati gorge, in which we crossed a rapid sparkling stream many times. When first I travelled this way, there was only a Maori track, and the stream had to be forded; but now there is a capital road (unmetalled), and all the crossings are bridged. We reached Athenree, Captain Hugh Stewart's estate, about 7.30, just as it was getting dark, after riding about fifteen miles from Owharoa. Captain Stewart was formerly in the Royal Artillery, and came to New Zealand about nine years ago. Mrs. Stewart is a pattern settler's wife, making the best of everything, and not wasting time and energy on deploring the want of comforts that were once hers in Europe. The family came to New Zealand primarily for the benefit of their [243/244] son's health; and in this district they enjoy good health in a perfect climate, and can obtain all the necessaries of life at small cost.

Good honey is so abundant here that there is no sale for it. Twopence a pound would be considered a fail-price, but it is not to be got. The Katikati district extends about ten miles, from the Gorge to the Uretara stream, where the township is situated.

November 23, Wednesday,--Captain Stewart drove me in his home-made four-wheeled buggy to the Katikati township, near which is the farm of the Rev. W. Katterns, the clergyman of the district, whose guest I became. On our way we passed several small farms, separated by hundreds of acres of fern, and of ti-tree now in full bloom.

The Katikati settlement was first formed in 1875, by a number of immigrants who came from Ireland in the ship Carisbrook Castle. Many of them brought with them a little money, and some of them were what would be called "well-to-do." A second party from Ireland arrived in 1878. Among those who bought larger blocks of land were Captain Mervyn Stewart, the father of Captain Hugh Stewart, Major-General J. F. Stoddard, and Major-General T. H. Stoddard, retired officers of the Indian Army, the Rev. W. Mulgan (now Incumbent of Onehunga), and the Rev. W. Johnston, B.A., formerly an honorary canon in Ireland, and before that an officer in an Infantry regiment. To this district, in the early days, a good many young men came as "cadets," to learn farming on the larger estates. It is generally a great mistake to send from England to such districts young men whose idle disposition prevents their doing [244/245] anything good in their native land. I have heard of many such men in different parts of the diocese going from bad to worse, until they have become completely demoralised by idleness and drinking. Their friends, it has been said, hope that these ne'er-do-weels may be "better off" in a distant colony; but they know that, in any case, they will be "further off," which is the chief end to be attained. Qui trans mare currunt, coelum non animum mutant. As a rule, the idle at home will be idle still in a colony, and the vicious, vicious still, or even more so, when all restraints of home, family, and society are discontinued. Besides, the persons to whom such cadets are sent in New Zealand are often the most unfit to whom wayward sons could be entrusted by their parents. I have known young men to be sent to settlers whose example and general influence were of the worst--socially, morally, and religiously. In such cases, premiums have been paid by fathers for the demoralisation and the ruin of their children.

Of those who are chargeable with injuring a young colony, few are more guilty of pernicious action than such parents. They rid themselves of some of the evil effects of the neglect or mismanagement of their families, by inflicting these educational failures on countries like Australia and New Zealand.

In the evening, I preached at S. Patrick's, one of the churches built after the designs of the Rev. Philip Walsh. There was a large congregation, it being a moonlight night and the roads being dry. Part of Evening Prayer was said by Mr. Katterns. After the Third Collect, seventeen persons were confirmed; and about a third of the congregation remained for Holy [245/246] Communion. The special Lesson was read by Mr. T. G. Anderson, the lay reader, one of whose daughters was among those confirmed, and another played the harmonium. Mr. Anderson, with his family, came to the district from England about two years ago. They are a great acquisition to Katikati in every way, doing all they can to help to maintain a high tone among the young people. Keeping open house, and being friendly to all, the influence for good that they are able to exercise is great. My three days in Mr. Katterns' district have been pleasant and encouraging. Everywhere I have seen tokens of his energy and faithfulness, especially in the number of persons whom he has prepared for Confirmation. The administration of that rite, when the candidates have been carefully prepared, is one of the most cheering parts of a Bishop's work. The opportunities that a parish priest has at such times for giving definite Christian teaching to individuals, and of influencing their after-lives, are incalculable, and such as rarely recur.

The people of Mr. Katterns' extensive and sparsely inhabited district are not able to supply him with a maintenance; but some of his congregation do their best in the matter, and the Colonial and Continental Church Society supplement the offerings of the people with an annual grant of £50.

November 24, Thursday.--I crossed the range of hills situated between the coast and the Thames (Waihou) river, through a gorge about twelve hundred feet above the sea, to Te Aroha, where I became the guest of the Rev. J. Marshall. On this ride (of about eighteen miles) I was escorted part of the way by Mr. Katterns' son, [246/247] Mr. C. Gledstanes, and Mr. II. M. A. Major, who carried my bag for me on the front of his saddle. The track over the hill was through dense forest, and was in parts very muddy and slippery, as heavy showers had been falling for some hours. It was also very narrow in some places, making it wise to dismount and lead the horses. E. rode over this hill with me in 1885. The track was not as good then as it is now. We were warned on that occasion to dismount at a certain point, where the track was only a narrow ledge cut out of the face of a rock, with a precipice of hundreds of feet on one side. It was not, however, easy to get off our horses in such a place; and, as neither horses nor riders were timid, we rode safely along the ledge. We afterwards heard a good story in connection with this part of the-track, illustrative of the "subjection of women." A Waikato settler and his wife, we were told, were on their way across the mountain; the lady riding in front, and passing over the narrow ledge without making anything of it. When the husband reached the critical point, he stopped, and called out to the lady, "It is not safe to go along that place; you must come back, my dear." The obedient wife accordingly recrossed the narrow ledge, and they returned to Te Aroha. I cannot vouch for the truth of this story, but it was told to us with all particulars--of names and date.

The ride to-day was very enjoyable, notwithstanding the mountain mist and heavy showers that we encountered. Like New Zealand youths, two of my young companions had not brought overcoats, preferring light travelling to protection from the rain. "Hal" Major, a cheery lad of sixteen years, was the life of the party, [247/248] finding fresh subjects for merriment in deeper mud, narrower tracks, and more drenching showers. The tree-ferns and nikau-palms, growing in luxuriance on the hillsides, were worth travelling far to see; and nothing could exceed in wild beauty the mountain torrents, dashing over the rocks and under the rustic bridges of our winding track. A solemn stillness reigned throughout the forest the greater part of our journey, broken now and then by the rich, quaint notes of the tui. We reached the summit of the gorge about half-past eleven, when we gave our horses a short rest. As there was plenty of grass and clover on the spot, they were refreshed for the descent to the plain towards the west. The view from our halting-place was very extensive on both sides; behind us Tauranga Harbour, seeming quite close, with the sea beyond, and in front the Waihou (Thames) river, and the Piako plains stretching away to the Waikato. For bracing air, an exhilarating ride, an extensive view, and lovely bush scenery, an excursion to the top of this pass (about twelve hundred feet) may be recommended as one that will not be disappointing, especially when followed, as in my case, by a hot bath at the Te Aroha springs.

On reaching the foot of the hills on the Te Aroha side--about one o'clock--I bade farewell to my escort, who halted to rest their horses before returning home on a mound covered with good grass and clover; and I continued my journey (about six miles) to Mr. Marshall's alone, carrying omnia mea mecum on my saddle.

There were very few visitors staying at the Te Aroha hotels, chiefly in consequence of the prevailing [248/249] commercial depression, which is adverse to travelling and hotel expenses.

November 25.--I went on to Cambridge (thirty-nine miles) by train, and became the guest of Archdeacon Willis at S. Andrew's. A day of strong wind from the south-west, and hot sun; and my journey was a great contrast with yesterday's--over the mountain; the mud of the bush track being exchanged for driving clouds of "mud's thirsty brother" of the plains. The church, as an archdeacon's church should be, is a pattern to the archdeaconry, externally and internally, of perfect order. The grounds are tastefully planted with beautiful trees, flowering shrubs, arums, and other plants. The porch contains various "notices" of interest to the parishioners, especially the monthly statement of receipts and expenditure; and the vestry is quite a sight, with the beautiful altar-cloth spread out on one of the walls and carefully protected, and with all the frames for decorations and divers festival appurtenances neatly arranged, and ready for use, on the others. I searched for a cobweb, but could find none, nor even dust. Such being the decency and order of the grounds and of the adjuncts of the building, it is unnecessary to say that the chancel and the body of the church were faultlessly neat and clean; the dark blinds being carefully drawn down, to prevent the fading of all colours by reason of the brilliant sunshine.

November 27, Sunday.--My first service was at S. Andrew's at eleven a.m. The Archdeacon said prayers, and I preached and administered the Laying on of Hands. There was a large congregation. The harmonium was played by Mrs. Chitty, whose husband is one of my [249/250] oldest New Zealand acquaintances, and a relative of Nisi Prius Chitty. After service, at the suggestion of friends, I stood at the porch door, and shook hands with nearly all the congregation, as they left the building.

Archdeacon Willis and his wife wisely have their children with them at all meals, as soon as they are old enough to sit at the table with safety to themselves and others. Parents who relegate their children to the nursery at these times make a serious mistake, especially in cases where either of them sees little of the children during the day. A great deal of teaching, of various kinds, may be given, directly and indirectly, during the time of meals; besides the advantage that children derive from seeing and hearing their parents' guests in a well-ordered household. It is sometimes objected to this custom that children are liable to hear things and persons discussed at meal-times in a manner that is not beneficial to juvenile minds; but surely the presence of children may act as a wholesome restraint on their elders, especially in the matter of speaking about neighbours and acquaintances.

At 1.45 p.m. I left Cambridge for Hautapu (about seven miles), with my oldest Waikato friend, Mr. James Hume, manager of the Bank of New Zealand at Hamilton, who brought his buggy for me. In early days I used to ride to and from Cambridge by this road. It is now greatly altered in appearance by the luxuriant growth of the hawthorn hedges and insignis pines and macrocarpa cypresses. A good deal of wheat is now grown in the district. The afternoon service at S. Stephens, Hautapu, was at three o'clock. At the church [250/251] I met Colonel Forbes, one of the Hamilton lay readers, who had driven over to help me. He said the prayers and read the Lessons, in a clear cultured voice, with understanding and reverence. After the service Mr. Hume took me on to Hamilton, where I became the guest of my kind friend Mrs. Gwynne. At the evening service at S. Peter's, Hamilton, I preached and held a Confirmation; Evening Prayer being said by the Rev. R. O'C. Biggs, the clergyman of the district. The Lessons were read by Mr. Swarbrick, one of the lay readers. The service was hearty and reverent, as it always is at S. Peter's. Miss Newell is the efficient organist. Among the choir is Mrs. Templer, wife of the energetic choir-master. She was for many years a member of the Auckland Choral Society, when Miss Cherie Connell. The psalms were so well sung that I was able to follow easily without a book.

December 1, Thursday.--In the evening, our Auckland Sailors' Home f was opened by me. The building is conveniently situated, and is in every respect well suited for its purpose. There was a large gathering of sailors and others at the opening, the Mission Hall being £owded. At the request of the Council I made a short statement of the history and the purposes of the Home, emphasising the fact that it would never be lawful to (1) exclude religious teaching, or to (2) exclude sailors on account of their particular religious belief. I have my fears concerning the latter principle; because the Council cannot appoint an educated Professor of Theology, and unlearned religious teachers are, in proportion to their ignorance, apt to assume for themselves the infallibility [251/252] that they deny to any ecclesiastical authority, and, in proportion to their earnestness, to proselytise whenever they can. After my address on this occasion, others were given by the Rev. J. S. Hill, Mr. F. Battley, Mr. T. Buddie, and Mr. F. G. Ewington. Mr. Battley is one of our principal financiers, and has given our Council valuable assistance, especially in connection with the accounts of the Home. He is a member of the Baptist communion, but is liberal-minded, a practical philanthropist, and a pleasant coadjutor. Mr. T. Buddie is the son of a late respected Wesleyan minister, and is himself a mainstay of that denomination. He is a partner in the firm of Whitaker and Russell, among the chief lawyers of Auckland, and, like Mr. Battley, has given the Council the benefit of his professional knowledge. Mr. Buddie, too, is a practical philanthropist and a pleasant coadjutor. The Young Men's Christian Association is indebted to him, next to Archdeacon Maunsell, for their new building, and for the good work that has been, and is being, done by that institution.

I was obliged to leave the meeting early in the evening, and the chair was then taken by Captain Hugh Anderson, the vice-president, who has taken great interest in the Sailors' Rest and the Sailors' Home from their beginning, and has given much time and thought to their affairs. He is an Aberdonian and a Presbyterian, and a man of sound judgment and a kind heart, and inspires confidence in all who have to do with him.

Mr. Ewington was the first secretary of the Sailors' Rest, as he has been of other philanthropic institutions in Auckland. His life exemplifies the maxim of S. Paul--"Be not weary in well-doing." There is no one else [252/253] in the diocese to whom I have so often applied for help in helping others as to him; and he has never, by word or manner, given me a hint to go elsewhere for assistance. Among "the great unpaid" benefactors of our community I should bracket Mr. Ewington with others as first in the first class. His knowledge of the circumstances of our people, and his sympathy with young men beginning the world, have enabled him to give a helping hand to hundreds of deserving persons, especially among immigrants from the old country.

Our present secretary of the Home is the Hon. Colonel Haultain, of whom mention has already been made. He is also one of those to be bracketed first in the first class of "the great unpaid" benefactors of the Auckland community. O si sic omnes! Much good work at the Rest and Home has been done by ladies, especially Mrs. Moore and Miss A. Maunsell. Mrs. Moore is an American by birth, and is the wife of one of our medical men, a homceopathist, Dr. J. Murray Moore, who is an active member of the Council, and a sympathetic helper in many of our philanthropic institutions. The late Mr. Swainson, formerly Attorney-General of New Zealand, used to say of Mrs. Moore, "I have known ladies who devoted their lives to works of charity, and I have known other ladies who dressed well and with unerring good taste; but Mrs. Murray Moore is the first I have known to combine these two talents."

Miss Agnes Maunsell is a daughter of Archdeacon Maunsell, the translator of the Bible into Maori. Her voice, like that of her sister, Mrs. A. Coates, is well known to Auckland people for its sweetness and power, [253/254] and for its use in aiding Christian causes, especially when exerted, as was the Psalmist's, who said, "I will sing and give praise with the best member I have." [Ps. cviii. I.]

December 2, Friday.--I went to the Northern Wairoa district, travelling to Helensville (thirty-four miles) by railway, and thence by a small steamer, the Minnie Casey, of seventy-four tons, about eighty miles to Dargaville, a settlement so named from its founder and proprietor, Mr. J. M. Dargaville, formerly a member of the House of Representatives. The route of the Minnie Casey is through the Kaipara Waters--an inland sea, which pours in and out at the Heads on the west coast, where there is a formidable bar. Crossing the Heads in a small steamer when the wind is blowing in from the west, as it was to-day, is not at all pleasant to bad sailors, as were some of my fellow-passengers on this occasion. Our whole passage was against the tide and wind, and consequently we did not reach Dargaville until 9.30 p.m.; but the moon was at the full, and towards night the wind lulled a little, and travelling was not unpleasant. I was met at the wharf by Mr. Dargaville and his son Frank, who escorted me to "the house" of the settlement, where Mrs. Dargaville's hospitalities were specially acceptable after a long and stormy passage from Helensville. Most of the family were out at a musical and dramatic entertainment, given by the Roman Catholic priest of the district and his friends, for the benefit of the building fund of a new Roman church at Te Kopuru. Mr. Dargaville used to be considered a pillar, or at all events a buttress, of the Orange cause in Auckland. From this fact it may be inferred, as is happily [254/255] the case, that in New Zealand the mutual bitterness between Romanists and other Christians--too common among the Irish at home--is very considerably toned down. I once received a call from a Roman Catholic lady who was collecting subscriptions for the building of a cathedral in Auckland. She naively said that many Church-people would subscribe if they saw my name on the list! I told her that it was rather hard to be asked so politely by her to do what I felt to be quite impossible, and added, "Do you think that your Bishop would subscribe to my cathedral?" Her answer was as prompt and clever as it was ambiguous--"Oh, you know that our Bishop is no example to you;" and, with a gracious smile, implying that she felt herself victrix, she left me.

December 3, Saturday.--I spent the morning in official writing.

In the afternoon, I rode (about eight miles) to Te Kopuru, on the right bank of the river, and became the guest of the Rev. J. C. M. Wilson, clergyman of the district. Nearly all the people of the settlement are connected with the steam saw-mill of the place, the property of Dr. Campbell. At the present time there are about seventy men employed at the mill, whose wages vary from thirty-six to fifty shillings a week, for ten hours a day. The New Zealand wood trade has been in a depressed condition for many months, but is a little improved just now, there being several ships in the river loading for Australia and elsewhere, one of them--the Aurora, a barque of four hundred tons--for Glasgow. The opening up of immense forests by the new North-West Pacific Railway is said to be a chief cause of the reduced demand for our kauri pine wood.

[256] We have no church at Te Kopuru, but our people meet on Sundays in the Hall of the settlement, the property of the owner of the mill. This is a very undesirable arrangement; but, as the population are dependent on the mill, which may be closed at any time, it is thought unwise to go to the expense of building a church on land of our own.

On my arrival at the parsonage I found Mrs. Wilson and her friend, Miss Ballantyne, hard at work making muslin caps for Maori women and girls who were to be confirmed on the following day. It took them until late at night to complete their work--twenty-seven caps; but their toil was much appreciated by the twenty-seven Maories.

In my absence from Auckland, on this day, E. was invited to a special meeting of the Associates of the Girls' Friendly Society, at the house of the vice-president, Mrs. J. M. Clark, when, to her astonishment, the following address was presented to her, accompanied by a beautiful casket, made of New Zealand woods, and also a handsome travelling bag from Mrs. Clark herself:--

"Dear Mrs. Cowie,--The Associates of the Girls' Friendly Society beg your acceptance of this little token of our loving regard for you, and your work among us. We know that you will not measure our love by the smallness of our gift. We shall miss your presence; but the influence of your example of devotion to duty will stimulate us to try and do likewise while you are absent from us. We pray God to keep you in safety, and bring you back to us rested and refreshed in body and mind." Signed by the Associates.

December 4, Sunday.--A day of services. At ten [256/257] o'clock the rite of Laying on of Hands was administered to sixty-three Maories--thirty-six men and youths, and twenty-seven women and girls, who had been prepared, and were presented, by the Rev. Wiki te Paa, one of my chaplains, whose head-quarters are at Waimamaku, Hokianga, about seventy miles distant. He, accompanied by his wife Damaris, had ridden to Te Kopuru a few days before, bringing some of the candidates with him from Whangape (one hundred miles distant), and being joined by others on the road--at Opanake, Taita, and other native settlements. Some came to him from the other side of the Wairoa river--from Orapuhoe, Parirau, and elsewhere.

It was unfortunately a wet and stormy morning; but the Hall was quite full at the Confirmation, the congregation consisting almost entirely of Maories, well dressed, healthy-looking, and reverent in bearing, as they always are. Philip Herewini, a gentle-mannered and intelligent Maori youth, from Waiparera, Hokianga, formerly a student at S. Stephen's, Parnell, gave me much help in making arrangements for the service; especially in arranging the candidates in the order in which their names stood in the list which Wiki had written out for me. The hymns (translations from "Hymns, Ancient and Modern") were heartily sung, being led by Damaris, the refined and accomplished wife of Wiki. The offertory collection amounted to £2 13s. 6d., which I was requested to accept for any purpose I liked. I accordingly asked Wiki to apply it to the travelling expenses of his people, after paying for the muslin of which the Confirmation caps were made.

At 11.30, our second service began, for the combined [257/258] congregations of Europeans and Maories. The Hall was filled to overflowing. A good many of the Maories seemed to be able to follow my sermon--in English. I was assisted at Holy Communion by the Revs. J. C. M. Wilson and W. te Paa. There were nearly a hundred communicants, including all the newly confirmed.

Afterwards I baptized two infants, one of them being Mr. Wilson's son.

As soon as we could pack up our things and saddle our horses, we left for Aratapu, about three miles up the river, which is wide at this point, and rapid. This afternoon a strong west wind was blowing, which, with the opposing tide, raised very formidable waves. I was glad not to have to travel, as in former times, in a small boat on such stormy waters, there being now a fairly good road up the right bank of the river. In the days when boating was the only means of travelling in this district, the Rev. F. T. Raker was the clergyman--a very skilful boatman, with whom I used to feel quite safe, even in a gale with a sail up.

The Aratapu service was at three p.m. The pretty little church of All Saints' was built in 1883. The then clergyman of the district, unfortunately for him, signed the contract for the building, and had to pay a large part of its cost, as there was a considerable deficiency in the fund. I am always hoping to hear that this debt of honour has been paid by our Aratapu people to the Rev. F. T. Baker.

At the service the church was well filled, as our churches generally are when there is a Confirmation. I was assisted by Mr. Wilson, clergyman of the district. I took as the subject of my address to the [258/259] candidates S. John's account of the feeding of the five thousand.

The Aratapu (via sacra) settlement is chiefly the property of the "Sash and Door Saw-Mill Company," employing at present about seventy men. Their timber is brought from forests some miles further up the river. At 4.30, we mounted our horses again for Dargaville, where evening service was held at seven. The church here, Holy Trinity, is particularly well situated, on a hillock just outside the township. The site was given by Mr. Dargaville, who also contributed the greater part of the cost of the building, which was £700. At the service, Evening Prayer was said by Mr. Wilson, and I preached. There was a good congregation. Three persons were confirmed, of whom one was Mr. Dargaville's son. The harmonium was played by Mr. Bcart, the district engineer.

Dargaville is the terminus of the short railway that is being constructed to the west coast, for the purpose of bringing timber from the extensive kauri forests of that district.

In the afternoon, I rode to Te Kopuru, accompanied by Mr. F. J. Dargaville, who does credit to Christ's College, Christchurch, where he was a student for two or three years. From Te Kopuru I crossed the rushing river in a south-west gale in Mr. Wilson's boat, he rowing, and I steering and baling. Some years ago, a friend, on returning from this district, in speaking of the then clergyman and his work--involving many crossings of this inland sea, often very rough--said, casually, as a thing to be expected, "He will, of course, be drowned some day." So far, happily, no one of the four clergy

[259/260] who have been in charge of the district has met with a watery grave, though one only of them was a skilful boatman, namely, the Rev. F. T. Baker. On one occasion in particular I witnessed his remarkable skill in managing his little skiff. We were going down the river from Mangawhare to Te Kopuru on a Sunday afternoon, in half a gale from the west, with an ebbing tide, flying before the wind, by the help of a small sail. Mr. Baker had, I think, no rudder; but steered the boat to a nicety by creeping about it, at one time depressing the bow, and so exposing the stern to the force of the wind, and at another reversing the process. We reached our destination so rapidly that the manager of the mill there, on meeting us, could scarcely believe that we had come down the troubled river since morning service, adding, "I would not have come with you to-day for twenty pounds."

We reached Whakahara about six p.m., and were hospitably received by Mr. and Mrs. Clark, who have lived here for more than thirty years, and have now-more than fifty descendants living round about them.

In the evening, we had service in a large barn on the wooded hill behind the house. The night was dark and tempestuous, and the tracks are rough and hilly; but several people had ridden more than six miles to be present. I said prayers--short Evensong, and preached, the Lesson being read by Mr. Wilson. I also baptized three children. During the day several persons spoke to me most kindly in reference to our intended departure for England. One of these said, "There are many people who will miss you much--especially Mrs. Cowie. There are clergymen who may be engaged to do much [260/261] of the Bishop's work; but Mrs. Cowie's place no one can take." I quite agreed with him.

The Southern Cross, Melanesian Mission vessel, reached Auckland in the evening, bringing Bishop Selwyn (on his way to Sydney), the Rev. J. H. Plant and Mrs. Colenso of the Mission staff, Mrs. Ashwell, and others. Mrs. Colenso is the daughter of a late missionary of the Church Missionary Society, and is a good Maori scholar. For the last fourteen years she has lived at S. Barnabas' College, Norfolk Island, and given valuable help in teaching and caring for the Melanesian girls. Mrs. Ashwell is one of our oldest New Zealand friends, being the widow of the Rev. B. Y. Ashwell, of the Church Missionary Society, to whom we and our children were greatly attached. Mrs. Ashwell devotes herself to helping those who are in trouble--of mind, body, or estate; and her return to Auckland, from a visit to Norfolk Island, is accordingly welcomed by many besides her private friends.

December 6, Tuesday.--I left Whakahara at five a.m. in a small steamer of fifty-two tons, the Kina, for Helensville, where I arrived in time to catch the midday train to Auckland. A violent wind from the west blew all day, and crossing the Kaipara Heads under the circumstances was a very unpleasant experience.

December 9, Friday.--In the evening, I left for Whangarei (about eighty miles north of Auckland) by the steamship Wellington, of which Mr. Edward Stephen-son is captain--a very careful man, and one specially well acquainted with this coast. A little more than ten years ago, he was serving "before the mast" in the same vessel, which was then the favourite steamer on the [261/262] west coast of this island. The passage to Whangarei took eight hours, from wharf to wharf. From the landing-place to the township (about three miles) there is a railway, of which the terminus is at the Kamo coal mines, about four miles further on. Unfortunately for the district, the mines are not now being regularly worked, as the shareholders have been losers by them.

In the afternoon, I met the candidates for Confirmation in the church, and gave them some instruction.

Whangarei is one of the older settlements of the north, and is famous for the abundance and the superiority of its fruit, especially lemons and oranges. In the evening, I went to Wairere, to see Mr. Dobbie's orange and lemon trees, planted in regular rows over about twenty-five acres of scoria soil. The trees are now six years old, and are bearing well. The orange season is just over, but some of the lemon trees have still a quantity of ripe fruit on them--very fine in size and quality. Some Lisbon lemons given to me by Mr. Dobbie weighed each nine ounces, and one of a larger kind weighed nineteen ounces. Mr. Dobbie's orchard is a model of order and neatness, and will, no doubt, before long be a very profitable estate. The land slopes down to a beautiful stream, on the banks of which, in a deep glen, there are lovely tree-ferns and other luxuriant vegetation; and on the other side of the water, which is sometimes in winter a rushing torrent, ten feet deep, a high hill rises precipitously, partly covered with forest. Mr. Dobbie's indefatigable industry and good taste have in a few years turned a wilderness into a paradise, showing his neighbour settlers what can be effected by a possessor of those qualities, and encouraging them to [263/263] exert themselves for the improvement of their lands and their circumstances. In other respects also Mr. Dobbie is a very valuable member of the community. lie is the moving spirit of the Philharmonic Society of the settlement, and the instructor of the Volunteer band. All this is done by him, in addition to the efficient discharge of his public duties, as manager of the seven miles of Government railway. In most of our country settlements our young people greatly need the stimulus of such an example as Mr. Dobbie sets, of industry and thoroughness in the cultivation of his land. Many of our young men seem to undervalue the "remnants" of the day, which, if not spent systematically in profitable employment, are generally squandered in expensive, if not harmful, frivolity or idleness.

December 11, Sunday.--At eleven a.m. I preached and held a Confirmation at Christchnrch, Whangarei. The building is a little more than a mile from the township; and consequently many of our people find it difficult to get there more than once on Sunday, and even once when the weather is wet or very hot, as it often is in this part of the island. At this service the prayers were said by the Rev. L. L. Cubitt, the clergyman of the district. The harmonium was played, with much feeling, by Mr. Taylor, a son of the late clergyman of Mauku; and the singing was hearty. This church was considerably enlarged and improved two years ago, and is now one of the best of our country churches.

In the afternoon, Mr. Cubitt went to Ruatangata (about nine miles distant), one of his outlying congregations, returning in time for the evening service.

In the afternoon, I held a children's service at three. [263/264] The harmonium was played by Miss Clendon, the daughter of the resident magistrate. In the evening, I went on to Kamo (about two and a half miles), being driven by Mr. R. Mair in his buggy. Kamo is a very pretty settlement, situated on high ground overlooking the river, and with picturesque hills on three sides. The little church here was opened in 1886, and is a monument of the zeal of the Rev. J. H. Hawkes and his faithful lay reader, Dr. Sissons, one of the oldest settlers of the district. The rite of Confirmation was administered. Mr. Hawkes, who said the prayers, had just arrived from holding service in two distant settlements. He thinks nothing of a ride of fifteen or twenty miles on Sunday, in addition to taking three full services.

December 12, Monday.--I went by land from Wha-ngarei to Kawakawa, about forty miles. It was not until recently that a wheeled conveyance could travel by this route, owing especially to the unbridged condition of the Wairoa and other streams. Much of the road is still very bad for driving, as may be inferred from the fact that, with very powerful horses and a first-rate driver, Mr. Cheeseman of Whangarei, it took me from 8.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. to accomplish the forty miles. The route for about twenty-five miles is through bleak fern-land, on which there are at present many men engaged in digging for the gum of the kauri pine, with which in former days this region must have been thickly covered. The Ruapekapeka (Bat's Nest) district in particular yields large quantities of this gum, it being easy for a man to earn five shillings a day by digging it out. The last few miles of the route are through the Waiomio Valley, where the land is good and the scenery interesting.

[265] Kawakawa is the chief coal-mining district of the northern island. The coal is much valued for steam vessels, several of which come hither regularly for their fuel. The mines have been worked since 1875, but very little dividend has been paid to the shareholders. The miners have been in receipt of good wages, some of them at times earning as much as £4 a week; and they are said to be generally steady men, who have deposited in the Savings Bank considerable sums. It is feared that the present mine will be worked out in two years' time. There is, however, no doubt that there are still large beds of coal in the district. We have a good church at Kawakawa. It was built in 1878, mainly by the energy of Mr. W. H. Williams, who was then the manager of the mine, and our lay reader. In the latter office his successor is at present Mr. B. D. O'Halloran, the telegraph officer of the settlement, whose ministrations are acceptable to all our people. We have a parsonage here, but it has, alas! been unoccupied for some months. In the absence of a resident clergyman, the Rev. Philip Walsh, of Waimate, spends one Sunday of each month in the district; but without house-to-house visiting, which cannot be accomplished by a minister living twelve miles distant, having withal four other churches in his charge, the congregation cannot be kept together, and--even worse--the children cannot be systematically taught the truths of the Gospel.

Among other faithful lay helpers who have done good work at iT. Paul's, Kawakawa, during many years, is Mr. Armstrong, the volunteer organist, who is master of the Government Day School.

December 13, Tuesday.--I continued my journey to [265/266] Russell (Kororareka), which was the original capital of New Zealand. From Kawakawa there is a railway for about eight miles, constructed a few years ago by the Government, for the purpose of conveying the coal to a point where the water is deep enough to allow of large vessels coming alongside the wharf--at Opua. For two or three miles the train runs through a district in which the sweetbriar in full bloom now overspreads the land, reminding me of the rose thickets of Cashmere, and making the air very fragrant. One of my fellow-travellers in the train was Mr. J. A. Caldwcll, the doctor of the district, a son of a well-known and learned missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, now an Assistant-Bishop in the diocese of Madras, where he has dwelt for fifty years. From Opua I went by a small steam launch to Russell, in the Bay of Islands, where I spent a quiet day in writing. In early days I used to travel from Kawakawa to Russell in a small open boat, rowed by a very dark man, a native of the Azores, known as "Black Charlie." He used to say of himself that he was "the first white man who came to live in the district," meaning the first man not a Maori. There is very little commerce being carried on at Russell now, and scarcely any one residing at Paihia, on the opposite side of the bay. Until the Government put a stop to the unlimited gathering of oysters in 1886, between twenty and thirty thousand sacks, each containing four bushels, were exported yearly, chiefly to Sydney. The sacks were valued at five shillings each on the Russell wharf. It is said that Russell oysters are now growing along a hundred miles of shore in the colony of New South Wales.

[267] Almost every day now brings us kind letters from all parts of the diocese, wishing us God-speed on our visit to England. Among those last received is a characteristic one from an old soldier, who hopes that we will return, but also that I shall "obtain promotion."

The last occasion on which a soldier spoke of my "obtaining promotion" was in 1864, after the Umbeyla campaign (against the Afghan tribes), when I was Chaplain to the force commanded by Sir Neville Chamberlain, and subsequently (after Sir Neville was wounded) by General Wilde. Sir Hugh Rose (afterwards Lord Strathnairn) was then Commander-in-Chief in India. He was having a friendly chat with me, at Peshawur, about the campaign, and said, partly in joke, "I don't know how you are to be rewarded. I cannot, I fear, get you made a brevet-Bishop." I availed myself of the opportunity to ask him to give a helping hand to a younger brother, then a subaltern of artillery. "You cannot do anything for me," I answered, "but you can bestow some favour on my artillery brother." lie asked me, "How?" and I answered, "By putting him into the Horse Artillery, or recommending him to the Viceroy for an Ordnance appointment." He was appointed to the Ordnance shortly afterwards, and is now nearly at the head of the department. [Lieut. Crombie Cowie, now a Colonel, and Deputy-Inspector-General of Ordnance.] My soldier correspondent who hopes that I may "obtain promotion" was one of Havelock's men, who would not know when they were beaten, and forced themselves into Lucknow, in September, 1857, through the narrow city streets, in which almost every house was loopholed and occupied by men [267/268] with firearms. It is a matter of surprise to me that more retired soldiers have not come to New Zealand in recent years to settle. The climate is specially fitted to restore to health those who have borne "the burden and heat of the day" in the army, and whose physical energies need all the support they can receive from surroundings. I am thinking of those soldiers only who have earned a pension sufficient to obtain for them the bare necessaries of life. In the present condition of the colony, I could not advise soldiers or sailors without pensions or private means to come to New Zealand in the hope of being able easily to obtain employment that would secure many of the comforts of life.

In riding through the country, sometimes alone, I generally renew some former acquaintance--with travellers going my way. I do not often forget the faces of people with whom I have had to do, but I cannot always at once remember the names of their owners. Not very long ago, on one of my long rides, I overtook a traveller on foot, who at once addressed me by name, though I could not remember his, as I told him. He then reminded me of our former intercourse, with great glee, as follows:--"Don't you remember staying at C------'s hotel at------? I was in charge at the time. The rule was not to take anything from ministers of religion who stayed at the hotel; but we were told to make Bishop Cowie pay for everything." "Why was I to be so distinguished?" I asked; and he answered, "Oh, you took away our minister, you know." After a good laugh over the story, I told my friend the facts of the case, which were as follows, but, of course, could not have been made known by me at the time, without injuring [268/269] the clergyman concerned. The Rev. Mr.------came to us proprio motu from Ireland, and was appointed by me to the charge of the district referred to. He was a man of considerable ability, and was much liked and respected by the people. He was, however, of a morbidly sensitive disposition in some matters; and before long got an idea into his head that the most influential person in the district disliked him, and was in communication with certain old personal enemies of his in Ireland, with whom he (the parishioner referred to) was plotting his ruin. I did all I could to dissuade the clergyman from entertaining such thoughts, but to no effect. At last he informed me that, whatever happened, he must at once resign his then charge, whether I had other work for him or not. I accordingly appointed him to a temporary cure in Auckland. On quitting his country charge, he told the people that "he was very sorry to leave them, but that he considered it to be his duty to go wherever the Bishop wished him." This statement was quite true; but he did not feel himself able, I suppose, to add--which would also have been true--"There are, however, reasons, known to the Bishop, why I feel that I cannot in any case remain with you any longer." Many of the people naturally concluded that I had obliged or induced their clergyman to leave them, contrary to his wish. He soon afterwards left New Zealand. Every one in authority has, of course, often to hold his tongue, and to endure misrepresentation, when he might at once justify himself, and even receive popular applause, if he thought it right to publish all the facts of a misunderstood case. Noblesse oblige.

In reference to another case of this kind, a senior [269/270] clergyman of the diocese once said to me, "I cannot imagine a position less desirable than that of a Bishop in a colony." The speaker's experience of "positions" was not very extensive. Bishops of Colonial Churches have, no doubt, many unpleasantnesses to put up with; but so have other persons in any position of authority. They have also some advantages over Bishops of an "established" Church. We cannot be told that we are living in luxury, on incomes taken by taxation from unwilling people; as the English Bishops are sometimes told, in ignorance of the history of Church endowments. The stipend of the Bishop of Auckland, like that of other New Zealand Bishops, is barely sufficient, with the strictest economy, to meet the necessary expenses of the position. We cannot be suspected of looking out for preferment or advancement. Translation from one see to another in New Zealand is almost impossible, even if any Bishop should desire it. The Primacy, to which is attached no special emolument or advantage, is the only ecclesiastical distinction that can come to any of our Bishops; and, except in extraordinary circumstances, e.g. of bodily or mental infirmity, that office would, as a matter of course, be conferred on the senior one among them. There are, moreover, positive advantages possessed by our New Zealand Bishops. We are independent of the "favours" of patrons of whatever kind. It matters not to us personally who is Governor or Premier of the colony. So long as we possess the hearts of our people, we can exercise great influence for good among the population generally. Each of us can act as a tribunus plebis, without fear of loss of any kind, and--what is far more--without the suspicion of unworthy [270/271] motives. From ignorant and vulgar misunderstandings and disloyal misrepresentations no official, clerical or lay, in old countries or new, can expect to be free. In a small house in a country district, I once heard a mother--my hostess--say to a troublesome child in the next room, "Be quiet, or the Bishop will take you." I thought it rather hard to be made a bogey of in this fashion, but looked upon it as part of the day's work.

At Russell I met the Rev. J. Haselden, who had arrived two days before from Auckland, to prepare candidates for Confirmation, in the absence of a resident clergyman.

In the evening, at 7.30, there was service in the church. Mr. Haselden said the prayers, and I gave a short address. The singing was good and hearty, mainly owing to the efficient work of Miss Fanny Stephenson, who has been organist for many years, and to Mr. T. Philson, manager of the local Bank of New Zealand, the choir-master.

December 14, Wednesday.--The Rev. Philip Walsh, one of my chaplains, arrived from Waimate. In the evening, at 7.30, there was service at Christchurch. Mr. Walsh said prayers, and I preached and held a Confirmation. The candidates were presented by the Rev. John Haselden. There was a large congregation. The church was tastefully decorated, the white lilies and magnolias above the Holy Table being specially beautiful. There is a small endowment fund belonging to this church, formed more than twelve years ago--from the weekly offerings of the congregation, when there was no clergyman--chiefly by the thoughtfulness of the late Mr. [271/272] Samuel Ford, the medical man of the district, who was lay reader. The fund now amounts to £600, and is lent on mortgage. [The trustees are Archdeacon Clarke and Mr. J. H. Greenway.]

December 15, Thursday.--At 9.30 a.m. there was a celebration of Holy Communion at Christchurch, chiefly for the sake of the newly confirmed.

In the evening, I left Russell for Auckland.

December 17.--H.M.'s ships Nelson and Rapid arrived from Sydney and New Guinea respectively; the former being the flagship of Admiral Fairfax, now commanding the Australian squadron. There is also in our harbour at present H.M.'s ship Diamond, recently arrived from Sydney. It is a long time since we had three of H.M.'s ships here at one time. The presence of a Queen's ship in our harbour is always an occasion of rejoicing with the community in general; and personally I have reasons for thinking with pleasure of my intercourse with the blue-jackets. On our arrival in New Zealand on February 3, 1870, from Australia, we had scarcely reached the wharf when a man-of-war's boat came alongside from Admiral Hornby, who had arrived the day before, in command of the Flying Squadron, with offers of help.

In the evening, I went to Clevedon (Wairoa South), about twenty-seven miles south of Auckland, and became the guest of Mr. W. H. Thorp, the lay reader of the district. There is now a fairly good road for driving--in dry weather--from Papakura, unmetalled most of the way.

December 18, Sunday.--In the morning, I held a Confirmation, and preached at All Souls' Church, [272/273] Clevedon, one of the oldest of our country churches. It was a brilliant day, and the little building, which is near the centre of an extensive district, was quite full. The prayers were said by the Rev. O. R. Hewlett, whose head-quarters are at Papakura, about eight miles distant, and whose charge extends from sea to sea, that is, from the salt water at Papakura to the salt water of the southern Wairoa. Fortunately for the scattered people of his extensive charge, he has inherited the zeal, energy, and physical endurance of his father,* which is saying not a little. The Lessons were read by Mr. W. H Thorp--"a devout man, and one that fears God, with all his house." One of his younger brothers is the superintendent of the Sunday school, in which for many years, Miss Hyde has been a faithful teacher; and a niece, Miss Katie Brown, is the organist.

After a hurried meal at Mr. Thorp's, I left, in Mr. Hewlett's buggy, for Drury, about eleven miles distant, where I was due at three p.m. S. John's, Drury, is another of our older churches, having been built before the war of 1863. Close to the church is a small cottage, built about the same time, in which Bishop Selwyn used to stay when journeying to and fro in those days, ministering to the troops. S.John's,like all the churches with which Mr. Hewlett has to do, has greatly improved in appearance since it has been in his charge. The service this afternoon consisted of part of Evening Prayer and the Order of Confirmation, the former being said by Mr. Hewlett. Miss Euphemia Blake is, and has been for several years, the efficient organist. On our way to Drury, we met a considerable number of persons [273/274] on their way to a Salvation Army meeting. Though the population of the district is less than a thousand, there are places of worship belonging to Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Wesleyans, Salvationists, and Plymouth Brethren, as well as our own; and the maintenance of ministers, services, and buildings is provided from the voluntary offerings of the congregations.

After the Drury service, we drove back, about four miles, to Mr. Hewlett's parsonage at Papakura. This house and the land attached (six acres) have respectively been built and acquired for the Church through his foresight and perseverance. It is a model parsonage and glebe, being in perfect order, and utilised to the utmost. The house is plainly but suitably furnished. Close to it on one side there are a small vegetable garden and an orchard, containing a good crop of potatoes and cabbages, a bed of strawberries, and several young peach and apricot trees with a promise of fruit. Behind the house are a stable and other outbuildings. We had not arrived many minutes before Mr. Hewlett was to be seen milking his cow. He and his helpmeet [Gen. ii. 18.] wife have no regular servant to assist them, though there are three children under two years of age to be cared for; much hospitality is dispensed, and Mr. Hewlett has rarely a whole day at home. With early rising, method, and using up faithfully the remnants of our days, what may not be done!

Mr. Hewlett first became known to me by acting as my guide, in a distant part of the diocese, where he was at the time helping his father in the cultivation of a small section of poor land. He afterwards obtained a studentship at our College of S. John, and was in due time [272/273] ordained; and, by dint of indomitable perseverance, has since passed Grade III. of the theological examination held annually under the direction of our General Synod.

In the evening, service was held at Christchurch, Papakura, where I again held a Confirmation and preached, Mr. Hewlett saying Evening Prayer. Like All Souls' and 6\ John's, where we ministered in the morning and afternoon, this church also is one of our oldest; but, unlike them, it has a good chancel and transepts, and the interior is capable of being made quite ecclesiastical, as it doubtless will be, if Mr. Hewlett remains in charge, when more important matters--needing time, labour, and money--have been set in order. During the quarter of a century of its existence Christ-church has had several zealous and efficient lay officers, male and female--notably Mr. W. Smith, the churchwarden, and Miss Baylis, who conducted the Sunday school for several years; but there is one family, that of the late Mr. Willis, to whom the people are specially indebted for all kinds of good work in connection with the Church. Miss Fanny Willis is at present the organist, and is among the first in general helpfulness to the clergyman.

From the manner of young people at a Confirmation, I can often gather much concerning the sort of teaching received by them at home and in the day school. At Papakura, as in most of our churches, I had nothing to complain of in this respect; but occasionally in some churches it is distressing to think of the causes which must have produced the results witnessed. For instance, at a certain church, according to my custom after a [275/276] Confirmation service, I went to the benches on which the newly confirmed were sitting, and held out my hand to each of the young women in turn, to shake hands with them. Not one of them had the grace to rise from her seat when giving me her hand; and some of them leant back, acid stretched out their hands for me to shake. Afterwards I asked a Church officer whether he could account for such a general want of good manners among the young parishioners, and he answered, "The master of the Board School here is an unbeliever, and the children have no habits of courtesy." It does not necessarily follow that because a man calls himself an agnostic (i.e. ignoramus), or, worse, that he is unmannerly; but S. Paul's words, "Love is not rude," are very suggestive in many such cases. [I Cor. xiii. 5.]

December 19, Monday.--Accompanied by my son Edmund, who had been the guest of Mr. and Mrs. S. Walker, on many former occasions our kind hospitisers, I rode to Mauku, about twelve miles. Our road was through a bleak, undulating country, covered with low fern and ti-trees. We missed our track, and found ourselves at Helvetia, a new settlement of families from Switzerland. Here we had the good fortune to meet Mr. Ernst Eugster, at whose cottage we called to inquire where we had got to. He very kindly saddled his horse, and escorted us for some miles on our way. He informed us that he and his countrymen were engaged in making cheese after the Swiss fashion. As they could not afford to sell it for less than ninepence a pound, a price too high for the local market, they sent their cheeses to London, where they obtained a ready sale.

[277] I reached Stanlake, the hospitable home of our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Heywood Crispe, before noon. When first we stayed at Stanlake, it was the home of our host's father and mother, to whom the Church-people of the district, and the settlers generally, were much indebted in many ways, and especially for the church--6\ Bride s, and the parsonage. The soil of Mr. Crispe's orchard is specially suited to lemons, which grow to great perfection on trees near the house. At three o'clock a Confirmation was held at .S. Bride's. I was assisted by the Rev. N. D. Boyes, the deacon-curate of the district, which is very extensive. The harmonium was played by Mrs. Wily, the widow of Major Wily, and a sister of my late dear college friend, Edmund Jenner, who was at the time of his death Rector of Catton, in Yorkshire. In the church grounds there are some camellia bushes and flowers. This custom of making the surroundings of the church bright with shrubs and flowers will, I hope, be followed in all our parishes and districts. At 4.30, I set out for Waiuku, about seven miles distant, where a Confirmation service was held at 7.30 p.m. I was again assisted by Mr. Boyes. There was a good congregation. The harmonium was played by Miss Flexman. There were some beautiful flowers on the Holy Table.

During four years, from January, 1883, this district formed the charge of the Rev. Colin C. Cokayne Frith, who has returned to England. His zeal and indefatigable energy, notwithstanding much ill-health, stirred up our people--especially the younger portion of them--to value their Church privileges, as many of them had not done before. His successor has ministered to his [277/278] scattered flock with the same untiring devotion; but, being only in Deacon's Orders, he has not, of course, been able to continue all the services which the congregation enjoyed during Mr. Frith's incumbency. In the grounds of Holy Trinity Church there are some beds in good order, at present brilliant with roses and other flowers. We were to have stayed at Waiuku for the night, at the house of our friend Mrs. King; but as there was a moon--to save time on the morrow--we rode back to Mauku, where we arrived about eleven p.m. We had been on the road nearly fifteen hours.

At Mauku I was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Boyes at the parsonage, a pretty little house, with a fine orchard, which is bounded by a beautiful stream. The fruit trees were carefully selected by the late Rev. W. Taylor, to whom his successors are indebted for his forethought in this matter. If each tenant of a parsonage will do only a little to improve the Church property of which he has the use, the homes of our clergy will become very soon, in our New Zealand climate, as beautiful as any of those in England. Mr. and Mrs. Boyes are sure to make their Waiuku home, where they will live after this summer, all that care and good taste can make it.

December 20, Tuesday.--I left Mauku at 5.30 a.m., and rode to Pukekohe, about seven miles, in time to go by the early train to Auckland. At this season I always do my riding as early in the day as I can. On a horse that can walk well, as mine can, this mode of travelling is very enjoyable in dry weather in New Zealand. I find that I can ride twenty miles a day, taking one or two services on the road, without feeling fatigued. From the houses of some kind friends, however, it is difficult [278/279] to make an early start; and in such cases the journey is often very wearisome, involving as it does the necessity for hurrying, which is not pleasant when the horseman has his baggage to carry on his saddle, and has to ride during the heat of the day, often without any shelter from the sun for many miles. The mistaken kindness of friends--instead of speeding the parting guest--delays him often an hour and more after the time agreed upon for his setting out; and the result is discomfort, late arrival at the next settlement, and often weariness in addition, and unfitness for the particular duty appointed. At Mauku my kind entertainers are always very punctual.

Near Pukekohe we passed many carts taking cans of milk, now sold at threepence a gallon, to the Freezing Company's establishment, where, I am told, the cream is extracted from the milk by some new centrifugal process, and the milk is returned to the settlers. The cream is sent to Auckland, and made into butter.

This will, I think, prove to be my last expedition of this kind before our departure for England, where it is not thought correct for Bishops to do everything for themselves, as has always been the custom in this diocese. I remember, in 1869, when Bishop Selwyn had just begun his work in the diocese of Lichfield, having resigned the charge of this diocese, a clergyman of his diocese, who was also the squire of the parish, complaining of the Bishop's undignified ways in moving about the diocese. In this particular case he had sent on his portmanteau by a friend's carriage, and himself followed on foot to a country church, to hold a Confirmation. He sometimes aggravated the offence by carrying his own robe-bag.

[280] This morning, according to my custom, I carried all my baggage, namely, a saddle and bridle, etc., and leather saddle-bags, a black-leather robe-bag, and a mackintosh, from the Newmarket station to the Parnell omnibus. No one was surprised to see me do it, and no one offered to help me. The independence of our New Zealand ways is delightful! It must not be inferred from the above statement that our young men in New Zealand are unmannerly. Quite the opposite is the case. Almost the only children absolutely rude that I ever came across in Auckland were the son and daughter of a high official, who afterwards became a Governor of a colony. The wife of this official was calling at Bishopscourt, with her two children, who were told by their mother to shake hands with our (then) little daughter. They declined to do so; the little boy saying angrily, "I won't." Instead of reproving her children for their rudeness, the mother seemed rather to be proud of it, and said, in an almost approving tone, "They always hate other children." It seemed plain who was to blame in this case--certainly not the children. In the evening, we went to Devonport, where I held a Confirmation. This is a beautiful marine suburb of Auckland, formerly known as the North Shore. The older part of the settlement is almost an island, and forms the North Head, which has to be rounded by vessels entering our harbour from that quarter. On the peninsula are two round hills of scoria, on one of which is the flagstaff whence approaching vessels are signalled, and on the other are situated our recently constructed defensive works, named Fort Cautley, after the Engineer officer who planned them. The clergyman of the parish [280/281] is the Rev. Joseph Bates, one of my examining chaplains. He was educated at our college of S. John the Evangelist, and, worthily of the son of a soldier, has remained at the post to which he was appointed by me in 1872; ministering first to a small congregation in a very small building, and now discharging with efficiency the duties of the incumbent of a parish--into which the district has developed, possessing a large and handsome church. The erection of this new building and of a good parsonage close by, and--much more--the establishment of a large and well-taught Sunday school, bear evidence of the influence that Mr. Bates possesses with his people, and of the steadiness and thoroughness of his ministrations at Devonport. Mr. Bates is the secretary of our Sunday School Board, by means of which I am in hope that our Sunday schools generally may be benefited.

December 21, Tuesday.--In the afternoon, we went to S. John's College, Tamaki, to the distribution of prizes at the Rev. T. F. King's * school, at present held in the College buildings. The proceedings began with a concert, in which the boys acquitted themselves very well indeed. There was a large gathering of persons interested in the school. Among others with whom we had the pleasure of a few minutes' conversation were our old friends Mr. and Mrs. Boardman. Our days, when we are in Auckland, are so fully occupied from morning to night that we rarely have an opportunity for private intercourse with any of our Auckland people. As a rule, it is only when they come to Bishopscourt that we have any conversation with individuals. It is somewhat different with respect to our people living in country districts, [281/282] of whom we see more personally, during the intervals in my episcopal duties, when I am on visitation. For many years, when his health was stronger, Mr. Boardman was one of our most active Churchmen, especially as a member of the Diocesan Synod, the Standing Committee, and our General Trust Board. We are specially indebted to him for our excellent system of keeping our Trust accounts. Mrs. Boardman has been one of E.'s most valued and steadfast coadjutors in connection with the Orphan Home and the Girls' Friendly Society. Her interest and help can always be depended on in works of benevolence.

In the evening, I held a Confirmation at S. Mark's, supplementary to the administration of that rite here on July 24. There was a large congregation. The organ was played by Mr. Edwin Hesketh, of whose services in that honorary and honourable office the Rev. J. Richards, the incumbent, speaks in the highest terms. It is truly a labour of love with Mr. Hesketh, as may be inferred from the life with which his playing is instinct.

December 22, Thursday.--In the afternoon, we went to Howick. Our old friend, Mr. C. J. Wilson, met us at Ellerslie with his buggy, and drove us to Howick and back. At three p.m. I held a Confirmation in All Saints'. There was a large congregation, for a weekday and in the middle of harvesting, showing that the influence with his people of the Rev. A. S. Fox, who has been only a few months in the district, is not small.

In the evening, I held a Confirmation at Christchurch, Ellerslie, one of the suburbs of Auckland. Here we have a very pretty church, in which all the windows are [282/283] filled with painted glass--the gift of Mr. Bell, of the firm of Messrs. Clayton and Bell. The clergyman in charge is the Rev. P. S. Smallfield, one of our most skilful teachers of children, with whom his patience and imperturbable good temper are irresistible. The windows of this church were presented through Mr. Albert Martin, one of our principal amateur artists, who was acquainted with Mr. Bell from his boyhood.

December 23, Friday.--The grounds of Bishopscourt were lent to the authorities of S. Mary's parish for the day, for the purposes of a fête, for the benefit of a fund for furnishing the chancel of their new church, which is for the present to be the cathedral of the diocese. Great enthusiasm was shown by many of the parishioners in the undertaking. Many beautiful and useful things were offered for sale, the handiwork of the people. The weather was perfect--the sun being bright, and the air cool, coming in fresh from the sea. Our many spreading trees--oaks, pines, cypresses, and others--were at their best in their early summer foliage. The band of H.M.'s ship Nelson was kindly lent by Captain Hammill. In the course of the afternoon the fête was visited by Admiral and Mrs. Fairfax, and by several of the officers of H.M.'s ships now in our harbour, the Nelson, Diamond, and Rapid. In the evening, between eight o'clock and ten, a great many people came to the fête. It was a moonlight night; and, in addition, many lanterns--Chinese and others--were suspended from the trees, producing a very pretty effect. Glees were sung by some of the parishioners standing in the balcony, and the Nelson's band played in the grounds. It is expected that £50 will be added to the Church Fund as the [283/284] result of the fête. The stall-holders and others did their work very efficiently; but the chief responsibility was borne, and the greater part of the arrangements were made, by Mr. Herbert Walpole, who was zealously and ably assisted by his wife.

December 24, Saturday.--In the evening, I had a conference with Archdeacon Clarke and some of the Maori clergy. The latter had come to Auckland to be present at the ordination of two Maories on S. Stephen's Day, namely, Hare Reweti Hukatere and Herewini Nopera Paerata, both of the Rarawa tribe, in the extreme north of this island.

Christmas Day.--I was to have preached at S. Stephen's in the morning, and S. Mark's in the evening; but, partly from over-fatigue and partly from having got a chill, I was voiceless on this day, and unable to give any help in the day's services.

December 26, 51. Stephen's Day.--At ten a.m. there was an Ordination service at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Auckland, when I admitted to the Order of Deacons two Maories, namely Hare Reweti Hukatere and Herewini Nopera Paerata, both of the Rarawa tribe, whose country is in the extreme north of the diocese. The former was in his youth a pupil of the Rev. Joseph Matthews, of Kaitaia, and afterwards of the Rev. R. Burrows at Waimate. He has been a lay reader since 1858. He was for some years native assessor of the Resident Magistrate's Court at Mangonui; and in that office gave satisfaction to the Government, and gained the confidence of his fellow-countrymen.

Paerata is a nephew of the late Rev. Rupene Paerata, and was also for two years a pupil of the Rev. R. [284/285] Burrows at Waimate. He has been a lay reader since 1875. For the last three years he has been a student at the Church Missionary Society College at Gisborne (in the diocese of Waiapu), under the direction of Archdeacon Leonard Williams. At this service the sermon was preached by Archdeacon Maunsell. The candidates were presented by Archdeacon Clarke. Each of the Maori clergy present, seven in number, exclusive of the new deacons, took part in the service, which was all in the Maori language.

The hymns, "The Church's one foundation" and "Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire," of which we have good Maori versions, set to the "Hymns, Ancient and Modern," tunes, were sung in English and Maori, to an organ accompaniment played by Miss Purchas. The offertory collection, by desire of the Maori clergy, was given to the Melanesian Mission. Besides the clergy already named as taking part in the service, there were present--Archdeacon Dudley, Incumbent of S. Sepulchre's, the Rev. A. G. Purchas, the Rev. G. H. S. Walpole, and the Rev. J. H. Plant (of the Melanesian Mission); also (in the congregation) the Rev. H. S. Davies and the Rev. H. T. Purchas (of the diocese of Christchurch).

The church was looking very pretty, with its simple and tasteful Christmas decorations.

I have now ordained fifteen Maories since I came to the diocese in 1870; but the number at present holding my licence is only eleven, five having died, two having gone to other dioceses, and two being unlicensed. The Maori clergy are maintained by our Native Pastorate Fund, supplemented by an annual [285/286] grant from the New Zealand estate of the Church Missionary Society. The Native Pastorate Fund consists mainly of sums contributed in past years by the Maori congregations, and a legacy of nearly £2000 bequeathed by the late Sir William Martin, formerly Chief Justice of New Zealand. The income of the fund in 1886-87 was about £700, and the Church Missionary Society grant was £275. Donations to the fund, from many friends in England, and now amounting to a considerable sum, have been received through the Maories' "devoted friend," Miss C. J. D. Weale.

The Maori clergy in Priest's Orders receive each £60 a year, and those in Deacon's Orders £50. As they live among their own people and cultivate their own lands, they manage generally to pay their way on these stipends; but the stipends should be increased as soon as the fund will admit of it.

In the evening, I rode to S. Aidan's, Mount Roskill, where a Confirmation was held at 7.30. The Preface was read by Archdeacon Dudley, of whose parish the S. Aidan's district forms a part. The candidates were presented by the Rev. E. J. Phillips, assistant-minister of S. Sepulchre's, the clergyman in charge of S. Alban's. Some of those who had been prepared for the rite were absent, having gone to the gum-fields, on account of the res angustae domi.

These gum-fields, where an able-bodied man can generally reckon on earning five shillings a day on an average, are an unfailing resource for our unemployed and impecunious people. They afford a very great advantage to this part of the colony, where alone the kauri forests grew and still grow.

[287] December 27, Tuesday.--In the afternoon, the S. Thomas's Church Temperance Association came to Bishopscourt by special invitation, under the leadership of the Rev. W. M. Du Rieu, incumbent of the parish. We expected a hundred members, but some of the young men were engaged elsewhere. Mr. Du Rieu's younger people were escorted by Mrs. and Miss Hamilton and the three Misses Cole, all zealous helpers in the general work of the parish.

The Maori clergy who had come to Auckland for the ordination, and to take leave of us, were also at the party, accompanied by Archdeacon and Mrs. Clarke, and three Maori girls from the Native Girls' School at Napier. Archdeacon and Miss Maunsell also came; and Mrs. Ashwell, Miss Maning, and Miss O'Grady--who has shown her care for the Maories by spending a month lately at Ohaeawai, acting as unpaid assistant to Mrs. Wyatt Watling in her Maori school. Some more ladies like Mrs. Watling are among our most urgent needs, for benefiting the "remnant that are left" of this noble race. [2 Kings xix.] Would that two or three English ladies of education and refinement, possessing private means, and not requiring pecuniary remuneration for their labours of love, would offer themselves to us for this work--of winning the hearts of the Maori children for the Saviour, and giving the young girls the refinement of which they are naturally so susceptive! After tea on the lower lawn at Bishopscourt, the Maori clergy presented me with a most kind address, of which the following is a translation, made by Archdeacon Clarke:--

"A farewell from us, the Maori clergy of the diocese [287/288] of Auckland, to the Bishop.--Go, father, in peace; wade through the sea of Kiwa which lies before you, the billowy way of Tawhaki. We feel bound to say loving words to you on your leaving for the land of your fathers--the land from whence came the Gospel to this island, there to take breath, this being the eighteenth year of your labour in the Maori Church. We greatly appreciate the efforts you have made to visit us, for there is no kainga of importance which you have not reached. Beginning at Parengarenga and through to Waikato and Taranaki, all has been travelled by you. The sheep of the flock, of which you are the shepherd, are of two colours--Europeans and Maories, and you have fed us all alike, impartially; none have been starved. For this we thank you. When you came to this country there were only five Maori clergy in the diocese. You have ordained fifteen more. Of the whole twenty clergy, five have gone to their rest, and two to other dioceses. There is one sad thing which your heart and our hearts mourn over--the loss of those three during this year: and so we stand before you 'a little flock' this day. When you first came there were but few churches; but now the country from the Thames to the North Cape is covered with good churches. These are signs by which we know that the Maori Church has made progress during those eighteen years. Although there are some districts in the diocese the people of which have not yet returned to the faith, we think that the time is near when the people of some of the places in Waikato will come back. Now, sire, we were troubled when we heard that you were going to England, there to remain; but we have heard your word to the Synod [288/289] that you intend to return, and that comforts our hearts. We were troubled because (1) we love you; we feared (2) lest 'another king should arise who knows not Joseph.' We must now say some loving words to our mother, Mrs. Cowie. She has been brave in coming to Maori kaingas and taking an interest in our wives and children. Greetings to you, Mrs. Cowie, our kind mother. Go in peace, and do not forget these your children. These are also some parting words to your children. They too are our relations, because they were born here. Go, our children, along with our common parents. Finally, sire, go and take with you the love of the Maories of the diocese. May Jehovah cover you all with His feathers and hide you under His wings. May the Great Shepherd of the sheep bless you and keep you while on the sea, and bring you back in peace and health. Such is our hope and prayer. Although this farewell is signed by us ministers only, it is from all the people of the Maori Church.--From your loving Maori children in Christ."

The address was read by the Rev. W. te Paa, my Maori chaplain, clergyman of the Waimamakii district, near Hokianga. Near him stood the Revs. Heta Tara-whiti, W. Turipona, M. Kapa, W. Hoete, H. Taitimu, H. Papahia, H. R. Hukatere, and H. N. Paerata. Afterwards they all shook hands with us, and departed. I was very sorry to say good-bye to them, even with the prospect of seeing them again before the end of twelve months.

December 28, Wednesday.--I went to Coromandel by the S.S. Coromandel, a small craft of about fifty tons. It was a brilliant day, with a strong breeze from the [289/290] south-west. The route from Auckland is very beautiful and interesting, first through a stretch of about twenty-five miles of sea sheltered from the ocean by a series of picturesque islands, the perfection of water for yachting. After dropping passengers at three of the beautiful bays of Waiheke Island, we emerged into the Hauraki Gulf, which--about fourteen miles--we crossed, with a strong south-west breeze behind us, reaching Coromandel about 5.30 p.m. The settlement was so named from one of H.M.'s ships, which visited the peninsula in the early days of the colony.

On landing I was kindly received by the Rev. Alexander English, clergyman of the district, Mr. Woollams, my host, Mr. Carnell, and Mr. J. Wilsen. Mr. English came to New Zealand from Ireland, where he had been a Wesleyan minister, in 1884. He was admitted to Deacon's Orders by me in 1886. His charge comprises an extensive district of hilly country, abounding in beautiful scenery, and the island of Waiheke, about fifteen miles distant. The wharf at Coromandel is about a mile distant from the township, and the omnibus by which passengers travel between them seems to be very near the end of its existence. I was hospitably received by Mr. Woollams, who lives in the township. In addition to other attractions, the house contains many interesting mementoes of Mr. Woollams' recent visit to England, among the chief of which are books of photographs, and other beautiful pictures, of historical places and famous paintings.

At 7.30 p.m. there was a Confirmation service in the church of the settlement, Christ Church, which was built in 1873, on land given to us by an old Maori chief, Pita [290/291] by name, whose grave is close to the building. There was a good congregation; but it would have been larger, if the service had been held at a later hour--after people had had time to get home from work, have their tea, and "tidy themselves." I was assisted by Mr. English. The harmonium was played by Miss Boyd, who has for many years been the zealous and efficient volunteer organist of the church. Before the service I presented lay readers' licences to Mr. C. H. Bennett and Mr. J. Carnell. The church has been restored recently, and has had two smaller windows--the gift of Mr. Woollams--substituted for the large one in the west end; by which change the strength of the building has been much increased, as it needed to be, to withstand the force of the south-west wind which comes in from the sea at this point. The whole of the interior of the building has been suitably painted.

Coromandel has experienced the usual ups and downs of a gold-field since I first visited it in 1870, when gold was being obtained from quartz reefs high up on the Tokatea range. Some years afterwards, there was a great and rapid increase of population there, in consequence of the reputed abundance of the precious metal that had been found near the sea in the harbour. As an instance of the speculative spirit that existed, I may mention the fact that £500 was paid to the trustees of a small piece of Church land in the neighbourhood, for the exclusive right of mining there during a period of fourteen years. There was much roguery practised in connection with the Beach mines, and much money was lost there by confiding people. For some years afterwards the population of Coromandel steadily [291/292] diminished, and many of the buildings in its one street were unoccupied, and allowed to go to ruin. Recently the working of the principal mines of the district has been taken up by English companies, whose expenses are said already to be paid by the gold obtained. The ordinary wages of men working for the companies are eight shillings a day; and I was told that other day-labourers in the district expect to receive this rate of pay for eight hours' work.

Mr. Woollams, my host, has been a principal shareholder in some of the mines for many years. He has also been a Church officer since Christ Church was erected, and has been a member of several Diocesan Synods. A strong south-west wind was blowing from the time I left Auckland until my return on the following day. Unlike many New Zealanders, Mr. Woollams is not afraid of fresh air, and keeps his windows open at this season of the year, inhaling the health-giving breeze that comes to him fresh from the sea. It is sometimes as much as I can do to remain in the houses of some of my friends, who carefully shut every window and door of their rooms, even in summer, and when the rooms are small and full of people. In such cases I almost invariably notice that members of the household are sickly, and that the climate is said to disagree with them. In the Auckland province, the more people live out-of-doors--in a verandah, or, at all events, with open windows--between November and March, the better health will they enjoy. Among others who complain of our climate are men and women, of all sections of the community, who drink quantities of tea at all times of the day; and men who are slaves to tobacco, smoking morning, noon, [292/293] and night. These persons not only themselves suffer much--from dyspepsia--but inflict much suffering on others, by their ill-temper and frequent unfitness for their duty, and general complainings of being overworked.

December 29, Thursday.--I returned, by the S.S. Coromandel, to Auckland. The sun was bright, the south-west breeze--a head wind to us--very strong, and the sea covered with white-crested waves. A more exhilarating trip cannot be imagined. The little steamer, of which Mr. Scott is the trustworthy skipper, though a great roller--owing to its heavy topgear--in a beam sea, is very steady when the wind is straight ahead, as it was on this occasion. As it was low water at Coromandel when we left, I had to go from the wharf to the steamer, which was at anchor about half a mile distant, in a boat. I was rowed by my old friend, Mr. J. Wilsen, a Prussian by birth, in his safe little craft, the Result.

December 30, Friday.--The brilliant sunshine and cool south-west wind, day after day, of our Christmas season have been most favourable to holiday-makers; and in Auckland almost all the population may be classed in this category.

In the afternoon, we spent a couple of hours at the house of Mr. H. G. Seth Smith, in Victoria Avenue, Remuera. The house and grounds are a good specimen of what can be done in a short time in our Auckland climate, even without the expenditure of much money. The house, which is built of kauri pine, was designed by Mr. Alfred Smith, the architect of the Army and Navy Club, Pall Mall, who resided in Auckland for a short time for the benefit of his health. During his sojourn [293/294] among us he designed other buildings also, which bear the marks of a master hand, and are an ornament to our city, especially that of which the Victoria Arcade forms a part. Mr. Seth Smith's estate, comprising only a few acres, in one of our Auckland suburbs, is already a very attractive place, with its sunny aspect and openness to our cool south-west breezes. Indeed, the house gets more of these breezes at present than is desirable; but protecting screens of insignis and other pines, not to mention the blue and red eucalyptus, can be grown in the course of a very few years in Auckland. Where there was only a rough paddock four years ago, Mr. Smith has now his lawns, flower-beds, kitchen garden, and orchard--containing well-grown fig-trees, besides lemons, apples, and pears. At his house this afternoon we met several friends, who had come by invitation to bid us good-bye. Among others were Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Wilson, who themselves have a very beautiful home in the neighbourhood, on a site overlooking the eastern part of the harbour. Mr. Wilson is one of the proprietors of the Herald, our principal morning newspaper, and is a leading member of the Wesleyan Methodists of Auckland. Both he and Mrs. Wilson are liberal supporters of Christian work, and are always ready to help--personally and with their money--any benevolent and deserving object.

In the evening, we went to Otahuhu, where I held a Confirmation. That rite was administered here only six months ago; but, with the prospect of a long interval before the Bishop can be here again, the Rev. F. Gould wisely decided to present to me, before my departure, [294/295] the fourteen candidates he had already on his list. This is, we believe, our last journey in the diocese before quitting it for England. Since December 1 I have travelled about 850 miles, holding Confirmations, in most cases additional ones--a sort of gleaning after the harvest.

December 31, Saturday.--After twelve we rode out to Alberton (about six miles), the estate of Mr. A. K. Taylor, comprising many acres of volcanic land in the Mount Albert district--some of it a mass of rocks and stones, but much in an arable condition, and indeed growing trees, grass, shrubs, and flowers in great luxuriance. Like the owners of the land in England of old, Mr. Taylor gave the church site (S. Lukes), and contributed largely to the erection, and subsequently to the enlargement, of the building. He has been a member of our Diocesan Synod for many years.

In time there will doubtless be a large population resident on the Alberton land, attracted not only by its accessibility from Auckland, but also by the nature of the soil, which, being dry and porous, is specially beneficial to persons who suffer from throat and lung diseases when living on a clay soil. At the back of the Alberton house is a high and picturesque hill, called Mount Albert, formed of an extinct crater, from which the district is named.

This afternoon, H.M.'s ships Calliope and Raven arrived from Sydney and Lyttelton respectively, making the number of men-of-war in our harbour five.

January 1, 1888.--In the morning, we went to Onehunga (about six miles), the port on the other [295/296] side--the west--of the isthmus on which Auckland stands, and from which our city has been called "the Corinth of the South." At the eleven a.m. service I held a Confirmation. The candidates were presented by the Incumbent of S. Peter's, the Rev. W. E. Mulgan, who was a Senior Moderator in Classics at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1840. Mr. Mulgan came to the diocese in 1875 from the disestablished Church of Ireland, and began his New Zealand life as a settler at Katikati. During part of his sojourn there he ministered in holy things to his fellow-settlers, and to our people at Paeroa and Waitckauri, which places are a long day's ride from Uritara, where Mr. Mulgan's farm was situated. In 1878, Mr. Mulgan was instituted by me to the incumbency of S. Peter's, Onehunga; and he has now for nearly ten years ministered to the people of that parish, with great advantage to them, and has during that period done much valuable work for our Church College of .S". John and Church Grammar School, as examiner of the latter, and for some time as a tutor of the former. Mr. Mulgan's predecessor at S. Peter s was my old friend and coadjutor and quondam chaplain, the Rev. A. R. Tomlinson, now Rector of S. Michael's, Penkevil, Cornwall, and my senior commissary in England. Mr. Tomlinson was ordained to one of the curacies of S. Mary's, Stafford, in 1867, when I was rector of that parish. In 1874, he came to New Zealand, where he remained until 1878. During his sojourn in this diocese he was one of my chaplains, and he did much good work in ministering to settlers in the outlying districts, where his visits are still remembered with real gratitude. We are indebted to [296/297] him for some of the most efficient of our junior clergy, who were selected by him in England, at the request of our Board of Nominators, with my approval. As an instance of the steadfastness of my excellent commissary, I may here record the fact that since his departure from New Zealand in 1878, he has written to me regularly every month by the San Francisco mail.

In the morning, I preached at S. Paul's.

January 2, Monday.--E. was presented with a beautiful silver salver, accompanied by the following-letter:--"Dear Mrs. Cowie,--Will you kindly accept this little gift from 'Auckland Women,' not as a measure of our love and respect, but in slight recognition of your many kindnesses and untiring labours among us." Signed by members of the Committee, namely, A. Bates, Lucy Calder, S. F. Clarke, Marion Dudley, A Davis, M. Hamilton, M. J. Heywood, A. Maunsell, G. S. Nelson, F. O'Callaghan, Gertrude Richards, Mary Tebbs, M. J. Rawlings, J. A. Judd, M. H. Walpole. The salver bears the following inscription: "Mrs. Cowie, in loving recognition of her work among us, from Auckland Women.--January, 1888." There were five hundred subscribers, we were told. Afterwards, the balance of subscriptions, £13 15s. 6d., was sent to E. by Mrs. Rawlings. [January 9]

January 3, 4, and 5.--Days of packing up and saying good-bye. Among those of whom we took leave were Mrs. Lush, the widow of the late Archdeacon of the Waikato, and her daughter, now residing in S. Mary's parish, Parnell. Mrs. Lush is one of those on whose sympathy and help we can always depend in works of [297/298] charity; and Miss Lush has always been among the clergyman's best coadjutors in Sunday-school work, wherever her home has been.

January 6.--I had a final interview with those who were to be ordained on the 8th. It is to a Bishop an occasion of devout thanksgiving when he has such hope of those on whom he is about to "lay hands," as I have of C. A. Tobin--to be ordained a Priest, and C. Cockerton--to be made a Deacon.

In the evening, I held a Confirmation at the Church of the Epiphany. Before the last hymn, I presented a lay reader's licence to Mr. J. W. Tibbs. On our way to the church, we paid some visits of adieu. One was to Madame Outhwaite, a French lady, and her daughters, who are amongst our oldest Auckland friends. Miss Isa Outhwaite is an accomplished artist, and has given us, as a parting gift, a beautiful painting, done by herself, of the lovely view from our balcony at Bishopscourt. We also visited the grave of Mr. W. S. Gardner in the Auckland Cemetery. Mr. Gardner was a son of the churchwarden at Moulton, where E.'s home was and I was curate in 1855-57. He died of dysentery in 1883, and his widow returned to England.

After the Epiphany service, we went to the Sailors' Home, at about 9.30 p.m., and were glad to find everything going on satisfactorily, so far as we could judge by appearances.

January 7.--The weather for the last few weeks has been quite perfect--perpetual sunshine by day, with nights of brilliant starlight; the warmth of the air being tempered by cool south-west breezes and occasional [298/299] showers at night. One cannot imagine anything more perfect in climate. Auckland is famous for its strawberries. This year they have been exceptionally abundant, large and well-flavoured. Five or six tons a day of this wholesome fruit are said to be sold to the citizens. Much of it is grown at Northcote, on the north side of our harbour. To-day I paid for our tickets by the Peninsular and Oriental Company to London, including the passage to Sydney by the New Zealand Union Steamship Company. A deduction was made, in consideration of my going "on duty" to the Lambeth Conference, and of the largeness of our party--six in all. For three first-class tickets--for ourselves and a daughter--we paid £169, and for three second-class--for our sons--£93. [At Melbourne we paid an additional £20, to enable our sons to travel first-class, as they felt it irksome being restricted to one part of the deck.] When we came to New Zealand, eighteen years ago, E. and I paid £119 10s. each for the passage from Marseilles to Melbourne only. Such has been the reduction in the cost of travelling in these years; and the improvement in speed and comfort is in inverse proportion.

In the afternoon, the Rev. E. J. Phillips brought to me the gleanings of his Confirmation candidates, a young man and a young woman, who had been unavoidably absent when the rite was administered at S. Alban's recently--to receive the Laying on of Hands in the private chapel.

January 8, Sunday.--One of our family anniversaries, on which I was specially thankful to hold an Ordination, and the more so because it was to be my last Sunday in Auckland for a long time. It is almost unnecessary to [299/300] say that the day was fine. The service was at All Saints', where the incumbent, the Rev. W. Calder, one of my chaplains, had taken great pains, as usual, to have everything as well ordered as possible.

Before the service, I visited the parish Sunday school. I had received a hint that something kind, by way of farewell, was to be said to me by the children; but I was quite unprepared for what actually took place. Mr. Calder, in words affectionate and too kind, spoke of the interest I had taken in the school, and said that the children would thank me for themselves. Thereupon they all rose, and sang, to the tune familiar to all, the following verses, which, we afterwards heard, were the composition of Mrs. Calder:--

"FAREWELL TO OUR BISHOP.

"When we heard that you were leaving,
When we heard 'twas all too true,
Then we said, 'While deeply grieving,
We will try what we can do,
Just to show him that his efforts
For his schools are not in vain,
And we'll "learn and labour truly"
Till he come to us again.
Late and early has he labour'd,
Setting questions, making rules;
Hard it was to find the leisure
Needed for his Sunday Schools.
Many "Prizes" has he giv'n us--
Best encouragement was this;
Now we'll turn the tables on him,
And we'll give the Bishop his.'
So, dear Bishop, on your birthday,
May your All Saints' children prove
How your efforts for our welfare
Have inspired our warmest love?
May we ask your kind acceptance
Of this gift, though poor its size?
[301] For you've been our kindest Bishop,
And you've won our 'Bishop's Prize'
May God's Holy Spirit's blessing
Keep you till you come again;
This your All Saints' children pray for,
In the name of Christ. Amen.

"All Saints' Sunday School, Auckland,
"January 8, 1888."

The prizes referred to were the Bishop's Prizes given by me annually to scholars and teachers of our Sunday schools. One of the scholars handed to me a copy of the verses very prettily illuminated (the work of a parishioner), with a border of forget-me-nots and a Bishop's crook. After the singing, another scholar presented to me a handsome and substantial black-leather bag, of New Zealand make, with a small gilt plate affixed, bearing the following inscription, surmounted by a mitre:--"W. G. Auckland, his Bishop's Prize, from 'the least of All Saints',' 8th January, 1888."

The Ordination was at eleven a.m.; Morning Prayer having been said at an earlier hour. I preached the sermon. At the Laying on of Hands, I had with me the Archdeacon, the Warden of S. Johns College, the Rev. A. G. Purchas, and the Rev. W. Calder. At the church door we took leave of some of our oldest New Zealand friends--among others, Mrs. Kenny, the widow of Colonel Kenny, formerly a member of the Legislative Council, and her daughter, Miss Kenny, who, as long as her health was good, was one of our most zealous Sunday-school teachers, and an ever-willing helper in al good works.

In the evening, I preached at S. Mary's, my last [301/302] sermon before leaving for England. Prayers were said by the Revs. G. H. S. Walpole and W. Beatty; the Lessons being read by Mr. H. G. Seth Smith, to whom I presented a lay reader's licence immediately before he went to the lectern to read. Mr. Smith's licence is the only one of the kind that I have ever issued, authorising the holder "to preach and interpret" in churches in which he is invited to do so by the clergyman in charge. The General Synod recognises the Bishop's authority to give such a licence to a qualified layman. [Resolution IX.] The memorial asking me to issue this special licence to Mr. Smith was signed by some of our principal clergy and laity, including Archdeacons Maunsell and Dudley, and Colonel Haultain.

January 9, Monday.--A day of adieus, and of wearisome packing--from 4.30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Several friends called, to take leave of us; among others, our esteemed medical adviser, Dr. C. H. Haines. The doctor was formerly in the navy, but has now for many years practised in Auckland. He is considered one of the most skilful members of his profession in the colony; and from our personal experience of his powers of diagnosis, his attention to his patients, and his unvarying kindliness, we have formed the highest estimate of his worth. His decision of manner and economy of words help to confirm the impression otherwise formed of his ability and trustworthiness. Mrs. Haines, who is a member of the Auckland family of Isaacs, is a zealous worker in connection with our Benevolent Society.

January 10, Tuesday.--At 10.30 a.m. there was Holy Communion at S. Matthew's, a parting service. [302/303] The following clergy assisted me, namely, Archdeacons Dudley and Willis; the Revs. J. Bates, W. Beatty, W. Calder, C. M. Nelson, and T. H. Sprott--my chaplains; and the Rev. W. Tebbs, incumbent of the church. There were 151 communicants, including many more of the clergy and some of our senior laity. We said farewell to several dear friends at the church door.

At 4.45 p.m. we went on board the Manapouri, of the Union Steamship Company, which was to take us to Sydney. Many of the clergy, and a very large number of other friends, were on the ship and the wharf, to say goodbye. Several friends had brought flowers for our cabin; and one, the Rev. T. F. King, a box of delicious grapes, which were specially beneficial to E., in her chronic seasickness. My god-daughter, Marion Beatrice Devereux, had made for me a very convenient piece of work, consisting of a number of roomy pockets, to be suspended from a peg in our cabin, and to hold divers articles needed by a traveller. Mr. Brett, the proprietor of the Evening Star, had sent a large parcel of books, printed at his own press, containing useful information about the colony. Mrs. J. E. Macdonald and Miss Newby sent E. a very completely fitted-up cabin bag, and other useful presents.

The Manapouri left the Auckland wharf before 5.30 p.m., amid cheers from the large assemblage, and the waving of handkerchiefs. We were all very sad at leaving. E. and I were more than sorry to quit our work, and our many dear friends, and very many respected coadjutors. We both felt, however, that it was our duty to go away for a time. Independently of the Archbishop of Canterbury's inviting me to the [303/304] Lambeth Conference--the occasion of our leaving, we were conscious of needing a change and rest after eighteen years of incessant work of body and mind. Moreover, our four children--the eldest going on for eighteen years--were at an age when it was most desirable that they should see something of the world, before deciding on their future occupation.

We left our house in charge of our friend Miss Maning, who was to live there with her faithful companion, Miss Green. We also left two caretakers--Georgina Cheer, in whom we have much confidence, to look after everything indoors; and John Hollingsworth, of whom it is enough to say that he has been with us more than seventeen years, to take care of our horses and the grounds.

January II, Wednesday.--We reached Opua, in the Bay of Islands, early in the morning. Here the Mana-pouri remained until eleven a.m., taking in coals brought by train (about seven miles) from the Kawakawa mine. At Opua several friends met us, to take leave; among others, the Rev. Philip Walsh, my chaplain, who brought me a very clever and spirited drawing of our party on the road from Waimate to Kaeo on April 27 last; the Rev. T. P. N. Hewlett, on his periodical visit to the district; our old friend Mrs. Ford, from Russell; and Mr. J. Williams, of Pakaraka.

At eleven a.m. we left Opua and the land of New Zealand. The Manapouri is a vessel of about seventeen hundred tons, with engines of about the same number of horse-power, and is provided with the electric light and other modern improvements. The captain is Mr. [304/305] Thomas Logan, formerly of the Hero, a vessel of about eight hundred tons, which was for many years the principal steamer trading between Auckland and Sydney. Captain Logan is a great favourite with Auckland people, and is known to be one of the most careful of the skippers of the Union Company. He is, moreover, a God-fearing man, and when at sea on Sundays, in the absence of a clergyman, conducts public worship in a manner reverent and edifying; but he gladly avails himself of the help of a clergyman, when there is one among the passengers sufficiently well to preach.

We left the Bay of Islands with a fresh easterly breeze, which increased as we went on. After passing the North Cape at about six p.m., the wind was nearly aft, and we made good progress. New Zealand was being left behind as the sun was setting; and the children felt that they could adopt the words of Childe Harold under similar circumstances--

"Yon sun that sets upon the sea
We follow in his flight;
Farewell awhile to him and thee,
My native land, good-night."

We leave New Zealand at a very critical time. In consequence chiefly of the large colonial debt, the taxation of the people is very high. Much of the money that has been borrowed by the Government during the last twelve years has been spent on works that yield no revenue, and are not likely to yield any for some time to come; and whilst that money was being expended, large numbers of people acquired expensive habits of living, which it is difficult for them to alter. The natural resources of the country are, however, so great that none [305/306] but superficial observers can doubt that, with economy on the part of Government and of the people generally, New Zealand will in time be as prosperous as ever. One of the chief attractions of the colony is its climate, which, as Bishop Barry says, "is the climate of England glorified;" and with that chief source of health and happiness to the whole population, the mismanagement of financial matters on the part of the Government, fortunately, cannot interfere.

In my recent tours of visitation through a great part of the North Island, I have been told almost everywhere that the necessaries of life are to be had in abundance by all healthy, industrious, and honest people; and it is commonly said, by well-informed persons, that employment, with more than mere maintenance, could be obtained in country districts by many of those who say that they stand idle in our towns because no man hath hired them, but who will not leave the attractions of larger communities. In reference to Auckland, I can sincerely adopt the words of Sir John Lubbock, spoken of England recently--"On the whole, I believe there never was a time when modest merit and patient industry were more sure of reward."

January 12 and 13 were perfect days. The east wind continued to blow fresh, straight behind us, and the sea had many white-crested waves. Most of the passengers began to recover from their sea-sickness, but E. continued miserable and helpless. During the voyage she was much indebted to Mr. Courtney, of Ponsonby, Auckland, for an abundant supply of delicious grapes, grown by him under glass, and for some fine lemons, also from his own garden.

[307] January 14, Saturday.--The wind changed to the north-east, but the sea was smooth, and we made good progress.

January 15, Sunday.--We reached Sydney before nine a.m. At eleven, we went to the cathedral, of which the acoustic properties are so defective that many of the prayers were quite inaudible to all our party, half-way down the nave. The Primate (Bishop Barry) preached. In speaking of the part that each Christian was bound to take in the manifestation of the glory of Jesus Christ, he referred to the trouble of mind that many earnest Christians cause themselves by forgetting that they are not responsible for the "saving" of men's souls, but for this work of personal manifestation by word and deed. There was a good congregation. We thus experienced one of the benefits of a cathedral. We felt that we were not intruders; that we were not occupying the places of other individuals having an exclusive right to them; before entering the building we felt sure that the service would be such as we could join in with pleasure, that is, that the worship would not be marred by any parochial peculiarity, and that the sermon would be the teaching of one of the more gifted preachers of the diocese. The grandeur of the building, moreover, with its many tokens of the pious munificence of its builders and adorners, added not a little to the great happiness it was to us to offer our thanksgiving in the Sydney Cathedral.

In the evening, at 7.30 (the summer hour of service), we were at the cathedral again. There was a very large congregation. We sat a little to the west of the south transept in the aisle, where we heard without effort [307/308] every word of the prayers, lessons, and sermon. The whole service was taken by the Rev. E. C. Beck, whose voice was clear and well sustained. The Sydney Cathedral has a small district attached to it, in which the Dean and his coadjutors have the cure of souls.

The ordinary revenue of the cathedral is about £2500, of which sum about £1500 is received as the ordinary offertory collections. The Dean is at present absent in England. The appointment to this office is made by the Bishop.

A very beautiful reredos of alabaster has recently been erected in the cathedral. The central panel represents the Crucifixion. Some earnest people objected to this part of the sculpture; and, for the sake of peace, the cathedral authorities agreed to substitute for the offending panel another, representing the Transfiguration, for which the objectors provided the necessary funds--£140. It is strange that people should object to representations of our Lord in stone, but not in painted glass. One is reminded by their state of mind of certain members of the Greek Church, who were scandalized by some of Titian's paintings, on account of their lifelikcncss. "We might as well have images," they complained; images, but not paintings, being disallowed in the Greek Church.

January 16, Monday.--We transhipped all our baggage from the Manapouri to the Valetta, a vessel of 4919 tons, of the Peninsular and Oriental Company. The engines of the vessel weigh nineteen hundred tons. On the coast of Australia about seventy-seven tons of coal a day are consumed. The company are said to have lost £85,000 last year by their Australian trade. It was an oppressively hot day in Sydney, with clouds [308/309] of dust. The hotel charges seemed to us extravagantly high. We were struck by the absence of four-wheeled conveyances from the streets, hansoms being the vehicles almost exclusively in general use.

In the afternoon, our whole party went out, by tram-car most of the way, to Bishopscourt, in the suburb of Coogee Bay. Bishopscourt stands on a Church estate of about sixty acres, and overlooks the sea. It is a good house, having been improved and added to by the present Bishop, but is inconveniently distant from Sydney, namely, about six miles. Mrs. Barry is living in England, for the benefit of her health. Her two sons are also there for educational purposes. Our day ended with a short service in the Bishop's chapel, at which our son Edmund acted as organist. The cautions we have received not to walk through long grass, lest we should tread on snakes, help us to realise some of the advantages of life in New Zealand compared with Australia. There we can walk anywhere, by day or night, without any fear of snakes or other noxious creatures, which in New Zealand are non-existent.

January 17 and 18.--These days were spent by us in rest and quiet at Bishopscourt. The Primate (Bishop Barry) is a very hard worker, rising early and late taking rest. During our stay at his house he went into Sydney daily to his registry, for the transaction of business, diocesan and of other kinds. At the present time he is much engaged in making arrangements for the coming observance of the Centenary of the colony of New South Wales, and of the Church of Australia; Captain Phillip, the first Governor of the colony, having entered the port on January 26, 1788, for the purpose of [309/310] establishing a depot for criminals. Wherever I go, I hear the Primate spoken of with the greatest reverence, and described as facile princeps among the able men of the colony, and among those most devoted to its advancement in matters religious, moral, intellectual, and social. We very much enjoyed our intercourse with him at Bishopscourt during our four days' sojourn there, and esteemed it a great privilege to see so much of him, and have such opportunities of speaking to him unreservedly on many subjects.

January 19.--We went to Government House at five p.m., to afternoon tea, and had some conversation with the Governor and Lady Carrington. We met there Lord and Lady Carnarvon, who were staying with the Governor.

January 20.--We left Bishopscourt, and took up our residence at the Hyde Park Hotel, where we were made very comfortable. On our way we called to see Canon Allwood, now eighty-five years of age, and living in retirement. On our arrival here in January, 1870, from England, on our way to Auckland, we were kindly received by the Canon and Mrs. Allwood, in the absence of the Bishop, and were hospitised by them during our stay.

January 21.--Much of this day was spent in making final purchases of clothing, and in other preparations for our voyage to England.

We had luncheon at Mount Adelaide, the home of Mr. H. Mort. The site is remarkably fine, overlooking the bay, and the house is one of the finest and best appointed that I have seen since I left England. Mr. Mort is a member of a large family, whose munificence [310/311] and public spirit have been of the greatest advantage to Sydney, and to the Church of the colony, during many years.

In the afternoon, under the guidance of Mr. Rolleston, whom we met at Mr. Mort's, we went to the North Shore, and visited our old friend, Mrs. Patrick Leslie, formerly of Wartle in the Waikato, New Zealand.

January 22, Sunday.--This was a great day in the Sydney churches, especially in the cathedral, being the Sunday for which a special form of prayer had been prepared by the Bishops of the province for the commemoration of the Centenary of the colony and of the Church of Australia. We went to the cathedral at 11 a.m., 3.1 S p.m., and 7.30. At the first of these services I preached and was celebrant, and at the others I read the second Lesson. I took for my text Psalm exxii. 6--"O pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee"--the prayer of the patriot and the Churchman. Owing to the much music of the service, it was almost 12.15 when I entered the pulpit--far too long a midday service in a climate like that of Sydney in January, in a badly ventilated building like the cathedral. Before beginning my sermon, I was in a state of distressing perspiration. As I preached from notes, I was able to shorten my discourse, which lasted thirteen minutes, to the relief of the congregation and myself. The substance of what I said was that a thanksgiving, to be worthy of the name, must be accompanied by resolutions of effort for continued progress in the right direction, and that, in their respective relations as citizens or Churchmen, the people of New South Wales should strive (1) to maintain the [311/312] unity of the Empire; and the unity of the Church--in the diocese, the province, and throughout the Anglican communion, to go no further; and (2) to legislate in the State, and in the Church, for the good of those who are to come after us, as well as for the present generation.

In the afternoon, at 3.15, there was a crowded congregation at the cathedral The Governor (Lord Carrington) and many of "the heads of the people" were there, and a number of military and volunteer officers in full uniform. A long procession of choir men and boys, and of clergy (about forty-five), followed by the Bishops of Riverina (Linton) and Auckland, preceded the Primate up the nave to the chancel, a processional hymn being sung. The Primate's pastoral staff was carried before him; and he held it in his left hand when he afterwards gave the blessing. The anthem, from Mozart's "Twelfth Mass," was sung with much effect, as was also the "Hallelujah Chorus" after the sermon. The Primate was, of course, the preacher; and the vigour with which he delivered himself during more than half an hour, showed him to be almost unaffected by the great heat of the day,--his rich, sonorous voice, rendering each word distinctly, reaching every part of the building. After the "Hallelujah Chorus," during which the collection was made--in bags--God save the Queen was sung lustily by the whole congregation with great spirit, in quite an affecting manner. The offerings were for the Cathedral Bell Fund.

In the evening, at 7.30--a reasonable time for a hot climate--there was a very large congregation. Evening Prayer was said by the precentor, the Rev. A. R. Rivers, a young Oxford M.A. with a capital voice for a [312/313] large building. The first Lesson was read by the Bishop of Riverina (Dr. Linton), who also preached the sermon, a discourse ad plebem, well suited to a miscellaneous congregation--plain, and abounding in good sense, tempered by irony and quiet humour. Whoever acted for this new diocese, in selecting the first Bishop, did a good work for it, and for the Church of Australia, in making the choice they did.

In addition to the Centenary Sermon in the cathedral in the afternoon, the Primate preached two other sermons to-day in town churches, in the morning and evening. His energy of body, as well as of mind, is the wonder of his clergy and people. They may well be proud of him, as they are. It is commonly said of him that he is never unprepared to speak, or to lecture, on any subject of general interest; and that what he says in public is not only better said than any one else present could say it, but also contains more that is worth listening to than docs any other speech made on the same occasion.

January 23, Monday.--We left Sydney at noon in the Valetta. The Primate and the Bishop of Riverina came to the vessel, to see us off.

January 25, Wednesday.--After a not unpleasant passage, against a strong head wind and through a heavy sea, we reached Melbourne (i.e. Williamstown, about nine and a half miles from the city) before ten a.m. We went by train to Melbourne, which was looking its best, with bright sunshine and a cool breeze. I was amazed at the progress the city had made since our last visit, eighteen years ago. It is difficult to realise the fact that a city of such dimensions, and [313/314] containing such fine streets and so many grand buildings, is not yet forty years old. I called at Bishopscourt, where we spent some pleasant days with the Bishop and Mrs. Perry, en route to New Zealand in January, 1870. On our way to Bishopscourt we passed through the Fitzroy Gardens, which are very shady; but the grateful shade was almost more than counterbalanced by the tormenting pertinacity of the mosquitoes, even at midday.

The Bishop (Dr. Goe) was away from home. We took up our quarters at the Cathedral Hotel, in Swans-ton Street, next to the cathedral, which is in course of building. We found this hotel clean and comfortable, and very moderate in charges. It is, moreover, very conveniently situated for a visitor, being near a railway station and several tram lines, and to the General Post Office.

We admired the cathedral, which is being built from Mr. Butterfield's designs. The situation, though not grand, is very central, which is more important. The Rev. Dr. Bromby, of J . Paul's parish, the senior brother of the late Bishop of Tasmania, showed me over the building.

In the evening, we walked about the city, threading our way among the crowds of well-dressed and orderly people who thronged the wide pavements. We were much disappointed at the dearness of the fruit which was exhibited in the windows of many shops, and of cooling beverages, e.g. sixpence for a tumbler of lemon-juice and iced water, just double what we paid in Sydney.

January 26, Thursday.--Centenary Day of Australia.

[315] At eleven a.m. there was service in S. James's Church. As the Bishop (Dr. Goe) was to preach, and we had to leave Melbourne at noon, I went to the vestry before the service, and shook hands with him. Like the Primate (Dr. Barry), Bishop Goe is very active in visiting all parts of his diocese.

I took a seat at the west end of the church, where I remained until the end of the Psalms, when I had to hurry off to the railway station. The church is a fine specimen of the Georgian era, small and very unecclesi-astical. The prayer-desk is like a second pulpit, facing the congregation, and well exalted; both structures having velvet hangings with yellow fringe. The floor is covered with pen-like pews with doors.

Canon Chace was in the chancel with the Bishop.

On entering the church I encountered a quondam parishioner of S. Mary's, Stafford, who was one of our ringers there. He was for a short time in Auckland some years ago, and is now a successful boot and shoemaker in Melbourne, and one of the ringers of S. James's.

We left Melbourne in the Valetta at one. The railway carriages in which we travelled to the wharf are a striking instance of the survival of the unfittest. The first-class carriages are built in compartments--each to hold eight persons, like those of the Great Western Railway of old, and are in every way suited to a cold climate; being constructed and lined with cloth in a manner to oppress one even to look at, with a hot wind blowing, and the thermometer above 80° in the shade. A hot wind was blowing at the time, making the climate very different to what it was on our arrival the day before.

[316] In the night, a west wind sprung up, and went on increasing.

January 27, Friday.--The west wind increased until it became a gale, which hindered us, and made the motion of the ship very unpleasant. The diameter of the Valetta's propeller is twenty feet, and its pitch twenty-eight feet. In fair weather she steams thirteen and a half knots an hour, and with a strong breeze behind her has run nearly four hundred miles in twenty-four hours.

January 28, Saturday.--We reached Glenelg, the port of Adelaide, about six a.m., and the Valetta anchored in the offing, about a mile from the pier, to which we were conveyed, after breakfast, in a small steam launch, which was tossed about unpleasantly, though there was only a little wind. From the wharf we went to the city, about eight miles, by railway. We first visited the cathedral, which is about a mile distant from the centre of the city. Only the chancel, transepts, and the first arch of the nave are finished; but the west end is bricked up, and the building is used regularly. The style is Early Gothic, severely plain, but is wanting in grace. The building is evidently well cared for. When there, we saw a lady, Miss Barry, with pious hands ordering the Holy Table, and doing other reverent work. We had luncheon with the Bishop at one p.m. He and Mrs. Kennion are highly appreciated throughout the diocese; and in the country districts especially he has already effected much, by inducing his people to build many churches in thickly populated and poor districts. Bishopscourt here is a good house, built by Bishop Short--the library being an unusually fine room.

[317] We were struck by the width of the Adelaide streets, and the grandeur of some of the buildings. The trees generally seemed stunted and scorched. On the 26th, the thermometer reached 104° in the shade in the city, but the morning of our visit was cloudy and comparatively cool. The grapes of Adelaide are famous, and are certainly good and cheap. The charge for them in most of the shops to-day was threepence a pound. The chief excitement at the time of our visit was in connection with the Broken Hill Silver Mines, of which the shares had risen rapidly from £16 to £305, we were told.

The Valetta took in more than a thousand tons of cargo at Glenelg, chiefly wool, with some copper, tin, and silver-lead.

January 29, Sunday.--We left Glenelg at one a.m., and made good progress during the day, with a strong fair breeze.

At 10.45 a-m I held service in the saloon. The congregation was small, owing to the increasing motion of the vessel. Our son Edmund acted as organist. The service lasted forty minutes, including a five minutes' sermon.

January 30 and 31.--We crossed the Great Bight of Australia in fine weather; the sea on the latter day being calm and beautifully blue, the sky also being cloudless during a great part of the day.

February 1.--We reached King George's Sound before seven a.m., and anchored off the railway wharf now being constructed. With other passengers, we went ashore in a small steam launch, returning at noon, the time fixed for the departure of the Valetta. We were here eighteen years ago, on our way to New Zealand. It was [317/318] then a very desolate-looking place, with few inhabitants. Now there are many houses; and Albany is becoming a town of importance, mainly on account of the railway that is being made (and is to be completed next year), connecting this, the only harbour of South-West Australia, with Perth and the other chief settlements of the colony. We visited the little church, which is quite English-like; being built of stone, and having a tower, over which ivy is creeping. The present clergyman, the Rev. W. W. Johnson, has added a good chancel, and made other improvements in the building, during his fourteen years' incumbency.

On leaving the Sound we were favoured with a strong south-east wind, which enabled us to travel at the rate of about fifteen miles an hour. In the evening, we met the Victoria, the largest of the Peninsular and Oriental ships (her tonnage being 6268 and horse-power 7000), on her ninth day out from Colombo. We passed Cape Leeuwin about midnight, with a strong easterly breeze.

February 4.--We entered the Tropic of Capricorn in long. 1040 1' east, at 6.15 p.m., after three days of steady fair wind.

February 5, Sexagesiina Sunday.--A perfect day in the tropics.

Morning service in the saloon was at 10.45. There was a large congregation. The captain read the first Lesson. Mrs. Love, of the North Shore, Sydney, played the harmonium to the canticles and two hymns; and E., who had quite recovered from her sea-sickness, led the singing.

At eight o'clock, evening service was held in the [318/319] saloon. Mrs. Love played, and E. led again. The subject of my sermon in the morning was "The Fall of Man," and in the evening, "Prayer."

February 6, Monday.--As all had become accustomed to the movement of the ship, we began daily Morning Prayer in the saloon, at 10.30. The opening hymn was led by E., without accompaniment. The trade wind failed us about 180 south; and a north-west breeze sprang up, and continued for several days. Between 120 and 40 south we had rain squalls, and very close weather.

February 9.--In the evening, we met the north-east trade wind, with a refreshing temperature.

A well-selected Sports Committee has arranged for cricket-matches, tournaments of chess, etc., during the voyage, so that there is plenty of healthy exercise for body and mind daily. The committee consists of the chief officer (Mr. Hall), the Marquis of Drogheda, Mr. Alison, and Mr. A. B. Macdonald. Among the passengers there are several others who do much for the amusement of us all; especially the Earl of Buckinghamshire and Mr. McKarg, who also help us much with the singing at the services.

February 12, Sunday.--We reached Colombo early in the morning. Since the erection of the breakwater, the work of Sir John Coode, this port has become one of the safest in the Indian Ocean, having been formerly an open roadstead. The breakwater is 4212 feet long. On the two former occasions of my visiting this island, Point de Galle was the port at which the Peninsular and Oriental steamer called, namely, in December, 1857, and January, 1870. On the former of these occasions I [319/320] was on my way to India, to serve as an army chaplain; and the first piece of news that came to us on arriving at Ceylon was that General Havelock had died of dysentery at the Alumbagh, near Lucknow. To-day, the first news that we received was that my old acquaintance, Sir Henry Sumner Maine, the learned writer of "Ancient Law," and recently the Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, was dead. Sir H. S. Maine was quite as distinguished as a jurist as Sir H. Havelock was as a soldier. As an exemplification of the saying that one half of the world knows little about the other half, even of their own countrymen, I may mention that, on my telling a fellow-passenger--a man of social position, and personally acquainted with many of the leading politicians of the day--that this distinguished man was dead, he asked me who Sir Henry Maine was--whether he was the superintendent of the London police!

We landed before ten a.m., and took up our quarters at the Grand Oriental Hotel, an extensive establishment, with a very fine dining-hall, close to the wharf. The charges at the hotel were, we thought, unreasonably high. A morning bath, for instance, was classed as a luxury and not a necessity, and charged for separately, ninepence; and an afternoon cup of tea, with a slice of bread-and-butter, was charged ninepence also.

Close to the hotel is an old dining-hall of the Dutch Government, now used as the Fort Church of S. Peter, in which the troops have service. The building is very airy, and has wide verandahs, and is very suitable folks present use: a great contrast with the unsuitable style of some of the other churches of Colombo--copies [320/321] of buildings erected in cold countries, in which windows and doors are meant to be shut on most days of the year. As we passed along the street on landing, H.M.'s 91st Highlanders were at service, which began at 9.30 a.m.

In the afternoon, we drove to Christhurch Cathedral, nearly three miles distant, through a long bazaar, crowded with men, women, and children.

The Bishop and Mrs. Coplestone had left the island shortly before, for England and the Lambeth Conference. We heard from many people how much they were both missed.

We were kindly received by the Warden of -S'. Thomas's College, the Rev. E. F. Miller, and Mrs. Miller; their house being close to the cathedral. Mr. Miller is spoken of as a bibliotheca ambulans, for the extent and the variety of his information. The service was at five p.m., the usual hour for Evening Prayer in Ceylon. A choir of men and boys, in purple cassocks and very short surplices, preceded the clergy into the church. The Warden was assisted by his college coadjutor, the Rev. G. Arnot, and the Rev. H. C. Hancock, of whom the latter preached. I read the second Lesson. The congregation and the choir had the benefit of punkahs; but in the chancel, where I sat, there was none, nor was there much ventilation. The style of the building, Early Gothic, seems to me a survival of the unfittest for a climate like that of Ceylon, where every door and window should be wide open on most days of the year. The service was conducted in a reverent and edifying manner. The singing of the choir was very good, the voices of the boys (some of them of Dutch descent) [321/322] being sweet and cultivated. The singing men are gentlemen of Colombo, who give their services gratis. S. Thomas's College seems to be the most flourishing school of the colony for higher education. I was told that the Government schools were not able to hold their own beside the denominational institutions, and that, in consequence, the grant in aid system had been adopted, and had succeeded well, relieving the colony of unnecessary taxation.

February 13, Monday.--We hired a carriage, for which the charge was very small, and drove through the town and suburbs, which we found highly interesting. "Every prospect pleases" outside the city, the colours of sky, earth, and sea being very beautiful; and if "man is vile" in these regions, it is probably only in the sense in which S. Paul speaks of the human body as vile, that is, associated with humiliation.

The children of Colombo are the most persistent beggars I ever came across. They ran after our carriage for long distances, asking us for money, appealing to E. as "Mama Lady," and to me as "Lord Captân."

I received a call from Brigade-Surgeon S. Archer, who was with the 101st Regiment at Umbeyla in 1863. He reminded me that during that campaign he used to give me a sign, by pre-arrangement, when I had preached for ten minutes to the European troops forming a hollow square, on a small plateau among the rocks in that Afghan country.

I called on General W. O. Lennox, of the Engineers, commanding the district. I had not seen him for nearly thirty years. In April, 1858, he was with the column to which I was also attached, on the march from [322/323] Lucknow to Bareilly, with the late Sir Robert Walpole. I remember a parade taking place one evening on the march, for the presentation of the Victoria Cross to the then Captain Lennox, who had shown distinguished bravery. I called also on Colonel G. Forbes-Robertson, commanding the 91st Highlanders, who was with the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders at Lucknow in 1858, and at Umbeyla in 1863, when I was a chaplain with the forces in the field on those campaigns. The officer commanding the artillery at Colombo was also a quondam brother-campaigner of mine, but I had not time to call on him.

In the afternoon, we went to the Church Missionary Society station at Galle Face, about a mile from the Fort. We were kindly received by the Rev. E. T. Higgens, the senior clergyman of the Church Missionary Society mission in Ceylon. It is more than thirty years since he first came to the country. He showed us his church and school--for girls, day scholars. We saw also Mrs. and Miss Higgens.

In the evening, we dined with the Governor, Sir Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, who is more at home in a Crown colony than he was as Governor of New Zealand, inasmuch as here he can govern as well as reign. Queen's House, as the Governor's residence here is called, is well adapted to the climate. The drawing-room in particular is large and well ventilated, and protected from the direct rays of the sun. At one end of it Sir Arthur has partitioned off a space, with a light wooden screen, as a private chapel. Lady Hamilton-Gordon had recently returned from England, bringing back with her their daughter, who had been educated at home.

[324] The lady whom I took in to dinner was a Mrs. Cameron, who, with her husband, is occupying the Bishop's house during his absence.

February 14.--We left Colombo soon after noon for Aden. The Valetta during her stay took in nearly six hundred tons of coal, brought from Cardiff. The cargo received here consisted chiefly of Ceylon tea and coffee. The quantity of tea (expected next year to be 30,000,000 lb.) exported from this island increases as that of coffee diminishes. The Ceylon tea has a very delicate and pleasant flavour. It is sold for 2s. a pound in London. Other Peninsular and Oriental vessels from China and Calcutta had arrived since we did, namely, the Peshawur and Rohilla. From the former, several passengers were transhipped to the Valetta; among others, Bishop Hose, of Singapore, with his wife and three children. A lady had died of cholera on board the Rohilla a few days before, and the vessel was in quarantine when we left. Archdeacon Matthew, the Bishop's commissary, came on board the Valetta to see us. He is a brother of the recently consecrated Bishop of Lahore. Dr. Archer also took leave of us on the ship. The Archdeacon was accompanied by the Rev. O. Beven, of Dutch descent, the clergyman of S. Paul's, a suburban church. We admired and envied his suitable attire.

February 15.--Among other passengers who joined us at Colombo were the Rev. H. C. Hancock and Lieut. F. V. Jeffreys, R.E., and Mr. C. J. Scott, who were a great accession to our society.

In the evening, we passed the island of Minnekoi, one of the Laccadive group, where the Peninsular and Oriental ship Colombo was wrecked in 1862. There is a light on [324/325] this island now, provided for by the Ceylon Government. The Valetta is charged £13, light dues, every time the vessel passes this island--a good investment for the safety of the Company's ships.

February 19, Sunday.--We have had a smooth sea the whole way from Colombo, with occasional light trade winds from the north-east and north. We passed the island of Socotra this afternoon, but did not sight it, our course being forty-five miles to the south of the island. Our morning service to-day (the First Sunday in Lent) was at 10.45. There was a large congregation. Bishop Hose said prayers, Mr. Hancock read the Lessons, and I preached. The singing of the canticles and hymns was hearty. In the evening, at 8.30, I said prayers, Mr. Hancock read the Lessons, and Bishop Hose preached. The sermon was on our Lord's temptation, and was very interesting and instructive.

February 21.--We reached Aden about seven a.m., and left again at 10.30. As I had been on shore on two former occasions, and there would not be time to visit the places of interest, I did not land. The Valetta draws too much water to be able to go near to the landing-place. A large Russian ship of war (with a formidable ram) and a small French warship were among the many steam vessels at anchor in the roadstead. The objects of the Russian seemed to be regarded with some suspicion. H.M.'s 72nd Regiment were in tents near the beach, waiting for a transport to convey them to England. The 98th Regiment occupied the barracks. Soon after leaving Aden we met the Peninsular and Oriental vessel Thames, on her way to Aden, Bombay, Colombo, and China. About six p.m. we passed the [325/326] island of Perim, and entered the Red Sea. Nearly opposite to Perim, on the Arabian coast, the French Government are constructing formidable fortifications.

February 22.--We found the dreaded Red Sea very pleasant, with a fresh southerly breeze and smooth water.

February 23.--The wind changed to the north, and the temperature was quite cool. We passed Suakim at nine a.m. In the evening, E. was glad to wear a shawl.

February 24.--The thermometer in our cabin at seven a.m. was 76°, less than in our dining-room at Bishopscourt this afternoon, probably. We passed out of the tropics at six a.m.

February 25.--During these two last days we have had a fresh northerly wind, making the temperature most pleasant. Early this morning we reached the Gulf of Suez, and before six p.m. we were anchored near the entrance to the Canal, which we entered before ten o'clock. The Valetta is provided with an electric-light apparatus for making everything near her visible, so that we were able to travel all night. Moreover, the moon was nearly at the full.

The canal dues paid by the Valetta each time of passing through the Canal amount to about £1300, ten francs being charged for every passenger and every ton of cargo. The Peninsular and Oriental Company pays about £200,000 a year in Canal dues for its fleet.

February 26, Sunday.--We reached Port Said before one p.m. Our morning service was at 10.45. Bishop Hose said prayers, the Rev. H. C. Hancock read the Lessons, and I preached. The first special Lesson was Exodus xiv. to v. 15, which was specially interesting, [326/327] as we crossed the route of Abraham. Mr. Duberly, from Singapore, played the chants and hymn tunes. In the evening, Bishop Hose preached a very interesting sermon. His subject was Abraham--for whom the common reverence of Christians and Mahomedans might, the Bishop thought, bring nearer to one another the followers of Jesus and of the Arabian prophet.

February 28.--We were detained at Port Said from the middle of the day on Sunday to nine a.m. on Tuesday (to-day), waiting for the Indian mail, brought from Bombay by the S.S. Verona. On the 27th, we took a stroll through the town, which has sprung up at Port Said since the opening of the Canal in 1869. There is a clergyman of our Church resident here, the Rev. F. W. A. Strange, but we did not see him. During our stay of twenty hours at the port, large steamers were continually arriving--day and night--from the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. After coaling, they proceeded on their way. The process of coaling at Port Said is very rapid. It is done by coolies, who can throw a hundred tons into a ship in an hour. On one occasion, during the Egyptian campaign, eight hundred tons were put on board one of H.M.'s ships in less than four hours. The coolies ascend from the coal-barge by a broad plank, with baskets on their shoulders, and return by another plank, in unbroken succession.

We left for Brindisi at nine a.m., and soon met a westerly breeze, which increased to a gale during the night, making the motion of the ship very trying, the screw being much out of the water.

February 29.--The wind continued to blow from the west, and everybody found the air unpleasantly cold.

[328] In the evening, "the south wind blew softly" [Acts xxvii. 13, 14] as we "sailed close by Crete. But not long after there arose against the ship a tempestuous wind," probably S. Paul's Euroclydon, which caused us to tumble about in a most unpleasant manner, notwithstanding our tonnage of five thousand and horse-power of three thousand. We were the better able to realize the predicament of the Apostle in his poor little craft; and, like him, in the darkness "we wished for the day." [Acts xxvii. 29]

March I.--We passed the snowy mountains of Southern Greece, and saw plainly the town of Navarino. About nine p.m. we passed the island of Zante, and afterwards had to contend against a strong head wind.

March 2.--We reached Brindisi before three p.m., in a violent northerly wind, bitterly cold. We visited the principal church, which we found very dirty and un-dusted. After strolling about the uninteresting town for an hour, we were glad to return to the ship. On account of the difficulty of moving a large ship in so small a harbour in the dark, the captain wisely resolved to remain at his moorings until the morning. [The Valetta measures 420 feet.]

March 3.--In the afternoon, we passed the snow-clad mountains of Calabria, the weather being fine and the sea smooth.

March 4, Sunday.--We saw Mount Etna, covered with snow, at 6.30 a.m., and reached Malta before eleven, in a fierce westerly wind, which blew all day, with squalls of cold rain. We landed at eleven a.m., and, entering by [328/329] the gateway of Notre Dame, we walked through the city. We were too late for the morning service in any of the churches. The Duke of Edinburgh (in command of the Mediterranean Squadron) and the Duchess, the Marquis and Marchioness of Lorne, and Prince Louis of Battenberg (in command of a gunboat) were at Malta.

In the afternoon, we saw the Church of S. John, in which are the graves of the Knights of Malta. Afternoon prayers were going on at the time of our visit. We were struck by the irreverence of the choir-boys, who seemed to be paying little attention to the service, but to be talking to one another about the few people scattered through the building. Indeed, there were few tokens of reverence in the bearing of any of the worshippers. We left Malta at six p.m., in a very stormy westerly wind, with a heavy sea.

March 5.--A day of raging wind and heavy sea.

March 6 and 7.--Calm days, with bright sunshine, and easterly wind.

March 8.--We reached Gibraltar about ten a.m., and stayed until one p.m. The weather was calm and genial. The Channel Fleet, under the command of Sir W. N. W. Hewett, was at anchor under shelter of the Rock. From the deck of the Valetta we saw three shots fired at a target from a 100-ton gun. We left Gibraltar with a fair easterly wind at one p.m.

March 9.--We passed Cape St. Vincent at four a.m. and Lisbon at noon, with a light west-south-west wind. Off the coast of Portugal we had an afternoon and night of heavy rolling.

March 10.--We passed Cape Finisterre at eight a.m., with an increasing breeze from the south-west, and a [329/330] heavy swell from the west. During the night the wind changed to the north-west, and increased in strength, causing the vessel to roll and lurch violently.

March 11.--We passed Ushant about noon, in a strong north-west gale, with a high disturbed sea. (We heard afterwards that such severe weather had not been experienced in the south-west of England for two years.) After a most unpleasant day, we reached Plymouth at 11.30 p.m., and anchored inside the breakwater.

March 12.--Early in the morning our letters were brought to us by the Peninsular and Oriental agent--several of them containing cordial invitations to the whole family to go direct from the ship to houses of friends, and take up our quarters there. The first friend to greet us in person was Miss Oxland, who came on board with her father, bringing E. a basket of beautiful lilies of the valley and maidenhair ferns, and some Devonshire cream.

After the departure of several of our fellow-passengers, who were to go on to London by rail, we left Plymouth at eight a.m., in beautiful weather.

March 13.--We reached the Albert Docks before noon, in very cold, wintry weather; but England is our native land, and we love her still.

Our feelings are those of the voyagers of whom the Psalmist said--

"Then were they glad, because they were at rest; and so He brought them unto the haven where they would be."--Ps. cvii. 30.

Project Canterbury