Au[c]kland, N. Zealand, Monday morning, August 1st, 1898.
Yesterday, Sunday morning, Mr. Cobb came up to Hesleden & arrived at 9:30, train service is very ackward [sic] for the suburbs on Sundays & it is over 3 miles out here. No busses [sic] on Sundays, neither do the trams run, hence his having to come so early, & it was a stormy morning. We went to St. Luke’s Presbyterian Church, Revd. Geo. B. Monro, at 11 o’clock, Mr. Furness accompanying us. He is church treasurer. Not many present, so very stormy, & during the service, the rain & hail rattled on the corrugated iron roof – wood building – the noise causing the minister’s voice to be inaudible & whilst delivering his sermon he had to cease, sung a hymn, but at its close the storm raged so, he just repeated the “heads” & dismissed us.
Morning service 11 o’clock Night service 7 o’clock
Hy. 329 Hy. 272
Lesson 1st Peter Ch. 4th Lesson 103 Ps.
Ps. 121 Psalm 46 chanted
Hy. children’s 440 Hymn 275
Hy. 393 Hymn 285
Sermon 1st Peter 4 & 17v Sermon Ps. 125/2nd
Hy. during storm 317 Hy. during storm 273
Hy. dismission 344 Hy. Dis. 280
Strange to say the storm identically repeated itself at night service & a hymn had to be sung, but it abated [5:95] somewhat & the minister was able to finish, tho’ at intervals his voice was silenced by the disturbance on the roof. As he said to us on coming out – Mr. F. introduced us to him – he had not experienced the like of it all his ministry here, 23 years, & all tell me I’ve seen Au[c]kland in its angriest mood. So I reply by saying, I must carry away impressions made on my mind & when reflecting will always remember it being wet & stormy. We did not leave the house during the interval of worship, it being so stormy, & spent the afternoon in conversation. After night service we returned to Hesleden, mean time Mr. F. went into Mr. Buddle’s & telephoned for a cab for Mr. Cobb, last train left Newmarket Stn. at 6:10. We had a cup of hot coffee & at 9 o’clock, Mr. Cobb left for his hotel.
We had a chat over the fire till 10 o’clock, had a lesson & off to rest. I am to meet Mr. Cobb at 1 o’clock today & we are to lunch together. It is not so stormy looking this morning, tho’ by no means assuring, & the storms come on so suddenly & fiercely (well on looking out at the moment it is raining through sunshine) that to be caught means a wetting, as shelter is not to be had. Mr. Cobb brought Mary’s letter of April 21st to let me read & pleased I was to see the hand writing, & I am to tell Barbara that he is greater on Single Tax than ever. Certainly he is an enthusiast on the scheme as I very soon found, aye, within a few minutes of us first meeting on Saturday. He lectures on it & is to give a lecture in Au[c]kland during his stay. He is going to accompany me to the Hot Lakes, “Rotorua”, see Chambers, during this week.
Today will be holiday with you, first Monday in August, & I hope you will enjoy an outing somewhere. Let me tell you that Au[c]kland is exactly 11 ½ hours before you & now it is just 7:30 night here, so it will be 8 a.m. with you, & I expect thousands will be railing & cycling off for the day. I got back to Hesleden at 20 to 6 tonight after spending since 1 p.m. with Mr. Cobb. I parted with him in Queen St. as a bus was passing for Remuera. I dined with him at 1 o’clock [5:96] at his hotel, the Albert in Queen St., then we walked out awhile & returned to the hotel stock room where he had a great quantity of luggage & advertising matter, the latter to open out & prepare for distribution. So we passed the afternoon chatting & he working. The day turned out fine & I hope a continuance of fine weather will prevail. I am to meet him tomorrow at 5 p.m. & we are going to Kings’, that is Mr. Withy‘s daughter. He is well acquainted with the Kings & is going there tonight. He is a great treat, plenty of humor, & has a fund of knowledge to draw upon. The death of his brother had been a sore trial to him. He has related many pathetic incidents to me today & now he hasn’t a near relative in the land of the living.
He scored a unique day yesterday & I am to tell Mr. Sinclair of Berwick that he was twice at the Kirk yesterday & also that he left me with a fair prospect of making a “singler taxer” of me. He was glad he found in me the first principles & has procured me literature to further educate me. I find with these “single taxers” there is a singularity amongst them analogous to Plymouth Brethrenism,[1] “the one thing only & nothing else”. We have decided to go to the Hot Lakes on Thursday morning. I am delighted to have such a companion, besides, he has already been & knows the locality.
Mr. & Mrs. F. & I are going to spend a while with a neighboring friend, Mr. & Mrs. Young. Mr. F. is off to a committee meeting in connection with the Presby’n Church of which Mr. Young is a prominent member & officer. News is at hand tonight of Bismar[c]k’s[2] death.
[1] Fundamentalist Christian Protestant sect characterized by extreme simplicity of belief, founded in Dublin in about 1827 by the Reverend John Nelson Darby (1800–1882).
[2] Otto von Bismarck was one of the most prominent European aristocrats and Statesmen of the nineteenth century. As Prime Minister of Prussia from 1862 to 1890, he engineered the unification of the numerous States of Germany and served as the first Chancellor of the German Empire. He died July 30, 1898 at the age of 83.