“The natives, on seeing us, sent canoes to bring us to the island, where we were received with all ceremony, welcomed with speeches, and presented with ducks, potatoes and lake shell fish. I made my return as usual in Gospels of St. Matthew.”
Some of the stations were ministered to only by native catechists and on one occasion, he was much struck by the venerable figure and manner of a fine old blind man catechising his class. It seemed as if the Christian teaching of the missionaries was already spread throughout the whole land; little churches and schools were to be found in many places, the fields around the stations were well cultivated, industries were being introduced; the Maoris, a race famous for their ferocity, were learning to live quietly and peacefully. The Bishop writes:
“There is much to encourage me: vast numbers can now read and write well and when I have lectures of an evening, it amuses me to see the means they resort to, climbing up on stands inside the building, and many come half an hour before the bell rings, so anxious are they to hear the word of God explained. Some travel ten miles on the Saturday for the services of the next day.”
One of the most interesting stations visited was that at Waikanoe, where the experienced missionary, Rev. O. Hadfield, was in charge. From there the Bishop wrote:
“You would be surprised at the comparative comfort which I enjoy in my encampments. My tent is strewn with dry fern and grass. My air-bed is laid upon it. My books, clothes and other goods lie beside it; and though the whole dimensions of my dwelling do not exceed eight feet by five, I have more room than I require and am as comfortable as it is possible for a man to be when he is absent from those he loves most. I spent October 17th, the anniversary of my consecration, in my tent on the sandhills, with no companion but three natives.... I was led naturally to contrast my present position with the very different scenes at Fulham and Lambeth last year. I can assure you that the comparison brought with it no feelings of discontent; on the contrary, I spent the greater part of the day, after the usual services and readings with my natives, in thinking with gratitude over the many mercies and blessings granted to me in the past year.”
After a night spent in Mr. Hadfield’s house, service was held in the chapel: “more than 500 had come from various parts, so that the chapel and the space outside the walls was quite full.” Later on during this journey, he was met by William Williams, whom he had decided to appoint Archdeacon of Waiapu, so that he might have the oversight of the eastern half of the Island. All that he had seen had strengthened his conviction of the need that from the first the Church should be organized on a firm basis, and as he could not be everywhere and oversee everything himself, he wished to have the help of archdeacons working under him. In spite of the large congregations of natives, he wrote that:
“This people is a very wicked people, and if ‘civilized’ without the influence of the Gospel upon it, they will not be benefited in any way. The influence of the immoral English living in the land is the greatest difficulty I have to contend with.”
At Ahuriri he found “a very numerous Christian community though they had only once been visited by a missionary. The chapel was a substantial building capable of containing four hundred people. In the evening our canoe having stuck fast, we were left without tents or food till midnight; we then procured one tent, in which the first Chief Justice, the first Bishop and the first Archdeacon of New Zealand huddled in their blankets for the night. Surely such an aggregate of legal and clerical dignity was never before collected under one piece of canvas.” He describes a Sunday on their tour a few day’s later:
“The morning opened as usual with the morning hymn of the birds, which Captain Cook compared to a concert of silver bells. When this ceased at sunrise, the sound of native voices chanting around our tents carried on the same tribute of praise and thanksgiving, while audible murmurs brought to our ears the passages of the Bible which they were reading.... I cannot convey to you the least idea of the train of innumerable thoughts which are suggested continually both by the beauty of the scenery, the character of the natives, the various plants, insects and birds.”
The next Sunday there gathered on Poverty Bay “a noble congregation of at least a thousand, assembled amid the ruins of their chapel, which had been blown down.... After morning service the natives formed into classes for reading and saying the catechism—old tattoed and boys, and submitting to lose their places for every mistake with perfect good humour.” The Bishop’s tour took him right across the centre of the island, where he walked over hills covered with fern trees, and sometimes enjoyed the rest of being paddled along a beautiful river. At one station that he visited he met the missionary, Rev. R. Maunsell, said to be one of the best linguists on the mission, and after consultation with him formed a “translation committee, composed of two clergymen and two catechists, from which he hoped in due time to get a standard copy of both Bible and Prayer-book to be published under authority.” The Chief Justice had left him to return to Auckland by sea, and on January 3rd, the Bishop also turned in the direction of Auckland and thus describes the last bit of his journey: