House of Lords

“ On those Occasions generally the officiating Persons among the Natives are the Chiefs of the Village. They are intelligent Men. Can they read?
The great Majority can.
They are extremely anxious to procure Copies of the New Testament which has been translated into their Language, are they not?
Yes; I have seen many Notes addressed to the Missionaries,— I do not know that I am not in possession of some,— where they beg and pray they will send them Books, and there are so many Potatoes for them, or some Kumeras, and perhaps a Pig, in payment for them. ”

“ Are there any native Missionaries of the Wesleyans there?
I saw Five or Six, who frequently addressed the Natives in their own Language; and it is customary in all their Villages, however small, for the Chief of the Village to read a Portion of the Liturgy of the Church every Night and Morning. They assemble at Daylight; and always the last Thing at Night before they go to rest they are called together, and I think I may say, unless kept back by serious Illness, they are invariably present. ”

“ I think their Power of Acquisition is greater than our own, almost. I had the indirect Care of Two New Zealand Children in England for some Time. The Persons with whom they were placed have formed the same Opinion of them. They have been placed with Children of the same Age in Schools here. Are they in this Country now?
One is dead, and the other has returned to New South Wales. Do you know whether the Natives in the Neighbourhood of the Place where you were, who were under the Care of the Missionaries, were very eager to obtain Religious Instruction? ”