- Ellen G. White Estate

Transcription

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Norfolk Villa, Prospect Road, Granville, N.S.W.
Nov. 30, 1894
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Banks Terrace, Wellington, N.Z.
My Dear Brother: With this I send you copy of my letter to Mrs. Tuxford and a copy of the New Zealand Directory as
prepared for the Year Book. Please give it faithful criticism and return to us as soon as reasonable.
Accept my hearty thanks for the information which you and Mrs. Wilson have given regarding the
conference and the S.S. Association. I hope I have copied it correctly, if not please set us right.
We are planning to publish an Australian Year Book. If I could have opportunity to talk with you, we
might arrange to make it Australasian in its character. My present plan is to give your Directories so that if
you wish after your next conference to issue 8 or 16 pages in the same style that the two books will go
together nicely and make a complete report of the two conferences.
Please say to Mrs. Wilson that I am thankful for her letter and the information accompanying it.
I will try to enclose a copy of the summary referred to in my letter to Mrs. Tuxford, I have written to
her most fully because she is at the center of information and communication.
Yours in Christ,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 2]
Nov. 1894
Mrs. M.H. Tuxford
My Dear Sister: Your letter, accompanied by report of book sales and missionary was duly received. It came to hand
Monday morning as I was closing my American mail. With it came a similar batch from Melbourne and later
on a telegram from Eld. Daniells giving me so much extra work that I did not read his letters or yours till the
American mail was off.
It will be in good time if we forward this information by the Dec. steamer. Meanwhile, I send you a
report of the New Zealand Directory which I have prepared for the year book and I request you to report as
soon as possible as to whether it is correct; if faulty please send corrections.
I also enclose a statistical summary of the Union Conference as I have been able to make it out. You
will notice a few blanks in the New Zealand column and I request you to send us information on these points
as soon as possible. The first blank relates to colporteurs and Bible workers. The second and third relates to
the number of Echoes sold and distributed and the last four to the financial standing of the conference as
regards meeting houses and general property. Please give me information regarding these if you can obtain
it.
Accept our thanks for the information you have sent regarding correspondence. I shall wait till
receiving your next before sending it forward.
Please run over the figures and see if I have made the right reductions from pounds to dollars.
We have been having a long spell of dry weather, but it is now raining a little for which we are very
thankful.
I read the copy of your letter to the Echo Co. I am sorry you have so much trouble in overhauling
those books. I have half a mind to suggest to the G.C.A. that you be permitted to select what you want and
that the balance be sent to Melbourne.
I have forgotten if I have sent you a copy of Eld. Graham’s letter about the movements of the
Pitcairn, I now send you a first copy you can take a letter press copy in your letter book and send this forward
for others to read.
With kindest regards to yourself and co-laborers,
I am yours truly,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
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Norfolk Villa, Prospect Road, Granville
Nov. 30, 1894
Eld. A.G. Daniells
14 Best St., North Fitzroy, Vic.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: Your letter of Nov. 22 came to hand Monday morning as we were making a run to close the mail. The
same post brought us a large batch of statements and statistics from New Zealand. About an hour later came
your telegram and you may guess that I had a busy time without attempting to compile the statistical reports.
I am sending to Sr. Ingels a copy of the Australian Directory and a copy of the U.C. Statistical
Summary.
You will notice that the Summary is quite incomplete, especially the Australian column, and I shall
appeal to you, to Sr. Ingels, to Bro. Faulkhead, and to Brn. Smith, Michaels, and Salisbury to fill in all these
blanks.
You may query where this information will be used. 1st. Edwards needs the five items that you have
sent to me for the statistical report occupying pages 64 and 65 of 1894 year book. The Secretary of the F.M.B.
will need the itemized information regarding missionary contributions for his summary on pages 62 and 63,
and I will need the balance to use in writing up our report of District No. 7.
I wish you would take time to read the reports of the other districts and give me a few suggestions as
to what kind of a report we shall take. Shall it be bristling with figures regarding tithe etc. or shall it be
crammed full of facts regarding our workings of our Institutions and Societies?
I have had considerable perplexity over these statistics. I very much desire that the growth of our
Conference which does not appear in the statistics of June 30, 1894, shall somewhere appear in our year
book.
Shall we not work up a half yearly statement at the close of 1894 and send it forward on the January
boat to be incorporated in our sketch of the progress of the district. Please think of this and get the mind of
others.
Rousseau, McCullough, and I thought it ought to report one Licentiate because Bernoth was at work
and under pay although his papers were issued later.
Many thanks for your copy of letter to Whittle, I hope to see him and Michaels soon.
I feel a good degree of satisfaction about Anderson and Belden going to Norfolk and I believe it
would be well for Barron to go to Lord Howe’s Island. He is willing to go.
I rejoice at the progress in Williamstown we are heartily glad that you had a pleasant trip and I wish
you might have two weeks of complete [page break]
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Nov. 30, 1894
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 2 of 2
rest just now. Rest brings strength and courage.
When you feel rested I wish you would give a little thought to the meetings which we ought to hold
at the time of the stock-holders meeting in January. I shall not feel free to plan much for that meeting unless
in January. I shall not feel free to plan much for that meeting unless we can have your sympathy in the effort.
It requires some preparation and some enthusiasm to make such meetings a success and I fear I cannot work
up much enthusiasm if you have not heart in its progress.
I am willing to bear any share in the work that I can, and you know that my plan is to get other
people to help and that takes time. But I cannot feel free to lead out in this work that I can, and you know
that my plan is to get other people to help and that takes time. But I cannot feel free to lead out in this work
if it is to be regarded as a rival to other lines of work, and its efficiency compared with them.
God uses all men and all agencies that are willing to cooperate with Him and He is too kind to classify
them as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd quality. But if our convention work is classified as 3rd or 5th quality I shall be very glad
to take part in it so long as I believe it is one of God’s agencies for the encouragement of his children and for
the advancement of His cause.
The work in Ashfield seems to be moving forward encouragingly. There appears to be a fair interest
at Pennant Hills. Pray for us that we may understand our duty and that we may use what strength we have to
the best advantage.
Your Brother in Christ,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
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Nov. 30, 1894
S.D.A. Book Committee, F.M. Wilcox, Assist. Sec.
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 1 of 3
Dear Brethren: There are several matters which I wish to place before you consideration and about which we desire
to receive your opinion at as early a time as you can make convenient.
We believe that it would be a benefit to our cause and work in Great Britain and the Colonies if there
should be published in London British editions of our leading trade books and pamphlets. We all know that it
is uphill business selling American books in England and notwithstanding the fact that we have for years tried
to make ourselves believe that books published in the United States would do nearly as well in the Colonies
as those published in England we are forced to recognize the fact that it requires twice the effort to sell a
given quantity of Trade Books or pamphlets published in the U.S. as would be required to sell the same if
published in England.
For years the sale of subscription books has gone forward very rapidly in the Colonies and now we
must have reached a point in our work where the interest awakened by these must be followed up and
developed by the means of colporteur work which calls for the use of large quantities of trade books,
pamphlets and tracts.
The Echo Co. is making an earnest effort to furnish a full line of tracts. Our progress is slow but we
shall persevere.
In the publication of booklets which our canvassers can sell as help, we have been very successful
and we invite your attention to the style of binding which our customers seem best pleased with. We send
you with this samples of “Christ and his Righteousness, Angels, Truth Found,” and “Steps to Christ.”
We will also call your attention to the fact that our customers express a decided preference for large
print. The size of type and page of our edition of steps is quite to their liking. If I call your attention to this
particularly because of the small page and small type adopted by our London publishers which comes a long
way short of satisfying our customers. I will mention this again later on.
We have become convinced that large numbers of “History of the Sabbath” and of the new and
popular book on the Sanctuary question might be sold in these Colonies. We also believe that large quantities
can be sold of “Thoughts of Daniel and Revelation” if it was revised, brought up to date, made worldwide in
its presentation of the subject, divested as far as possible of its strong American tone, largely condensed by
reducing the 13th, Chap. of revelation to its original and proper proportions by bringing the book out so that it
can sell for 6/6 7/6 and 10 in cloth plain, cloth gilt, and full Morocco. There is great demand in this field for
book that would sell at these prices and we believe [page break]
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Nov. 30, 1894
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 2 of 3
that Daniel and revelation set and published in London could be issued at three figures or at 7/6, 9/, and
12/8. We are confident that this book would do a great amount of good in this field, but we are quite
discouraged about selling it farther in its present, form.
A few months ago while Eld. Wilson of the New Zealand Conference was in Melbourne, the Union
Conference Committee appointed three to make an examination of our trade books and pamphlets with a
view to recommend an examination of our trade books and pamphlets with a view to recommending there
importation or publication. The Committees report was submitted to the Australasian Book Committee which
gave it thorough examination. From that portion adopted by the Book Committee I extract the following: “That we respectfully request the General Book Committee to consider the advisability of reviewing
“History of Sabbath and 1st Day of the Week” and adding an appendix bringing it up to date, and this it be
published in London as a popular trade book at 5/6 or 4/6.”
“That we recommend when a work is brought out to take the place of the Sanctuary and its
Cleansing by Elder Smith, it be written for worldwide circulation and published in London.”
“That we request the G.C.A. to issue an edition of our denominational Hymn and Tune Book in
London for sale in Great Britain and the Colonies with some revision to suit it to these fields, and in bindings
that will make lower prices possible.”
“That we ask for a small collection to be prepared for tent meeting use, having twice as many tunes
and four or five times as many hymns as the present small collection.”
As regards the History of the Sabbath, it is our conviction that this would be a powerful instrument
for the conversion of souls, and the advancement of the cause if revised up to date and published in London
in such style that it could be sold for 3/6 and 4/6. We cannot sell it in its present size and the book badly
needs revision by a European Committee of which Dr. Waggoner and L.R. Conradi should be members.
We understand that Eld. Smith has in hand a book to take the place of the Sanctuary and its
Cleansing. We beg of you to urge its early publication and that it will be issued simultaneously in England and
America. I believe that we can use large numbers in these Colonies.
There is a very pressing demand that something be done to furnish our people with a church hymn
book at less than our present book is published in America can now be obtained. There is also great need
that a few changes be made so as to make the book more suitable for us in these fields. We do not ask for a
general revision, for in the main the book is excellent, but we do ask that from 20 to 30 of those pieces which
are least useful and seldom used be dropped out and that their places be filled with some of those grand old
hymns which seem indispensable to and acceptable for England and the Colonies.
We suggest that you send over the plates to London or if it would be more economical that you send
over printed sheets and let them be bound in London in strong, substantial, but less expensive bindings. Then
let the prices range from 5/ in half leather up to 10/ in the best bindings. [page break]
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Nov. 30, 1894
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 3 of 3
We are aware that the profits on the hymn books go to the G.C. and that the General Conference
needs money for missionary enterprises, but we believe that the best interests of the General Conference
would be served by furnishing to our people in England and the Colonies a good hymn book at reduced
prices.
Our Australian Conference unite with the Book Committee in asking that a new and better collection
be prepared for use in tent meetings.
Please to give this matter your candid consideration. We have long felt that these steps should be
taken but have hesitated to make the request, but we dare not hesitate any longer.
I hope to send you in this mail, manuscript for a small book which Mother has lately completed
called “The Sermon on the Mount.”
We propose to have it first set at the Echo Office, size and page the same as “Steps” set in small pica
leaded and use 10 or 12 full page illustrations. It will probably make 192 to 224 pages. I desire to bring it out
so that it will sell in the Colonies at 2/6 in muslin and 1/6 to 1/9 in leatherette.
I propose that Echo Co. shall set the book, make set the of stereo-type plates for its own use and two
sets of matrices, one set we shall expect to sell to the London Office and one set to the Toronto Office.
Then we shall propose that the Book be reset at the Review and Herald and that 3 sets of electrotype
plates be made, one for use of Review and Herald in publishing for Districts 5 and 6 and one set for Lovell to
be used in publishing in District No. 1 or such other territory as may be assigned him. If the G.C.A. wish to
procure the rights to translate this work and publish it in the Foreign languages, they may have it for $300. Of
this $100 will be used to help secure the illustrations and the remaining $400 will be used by Mother in the
advancement of the work in these Colonies.
Please examine the manuscripts at your earliest convenience and make whatever suggestions you
can about the illustrations. Also please tell me what you think about my scheme for having it published.
Suppose I can furnish a set of electrotype plates and illustrations to Review and Herald for $130, in
what style and bindings and at what prices would you think it best to have it brought out. I would suggest 75
cents in cloth, 50 cents in leatherette, what would you advise as regards royalty in such a case? I have been
thinking of 41 cents and 3 cents, this is 6 per cent on the retail prices.
In my next I hope to send you our criticism on the new work “His Glorious Appearing” but right here I
will ask you to enquire of the publishers if they have the right to use in this work all of the illustrations that
were inserted.
Would it not be well for you to encourage Eld. A.T. Jones to write out his long promised work on the
10 commandments.
Can you help us to get some good tracts on the Second Advent.
Hoping to hear from you soon,
I am yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 8]
Nov. 30th, 1894
Mr. W.D. Salisbury
A.G.M.
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Brother: Yours of Nov. 22 is before me, I have read it over twice and suppose I ought to understand it fully
and suppose I would if my mind were not filled with other matters.
I will now request you to draw out for me an itemized estimate showing what it will cost Mother to
have a book of 160 pages small pica leaded set by you and what it will cost to have one set of plates and two
sets of matrices made. Also your estimate of the cost of illustrations with 3 sets of electrotypes. Also an
estimate of the expense of landing these plates and matrices in London and Toronto.
My plan for the management of this business would be as follows,
1. Mother will furnish the manuscript ready for the printer.
2. Echo Pub. Co. to take all care and responsibility of type-setting proofreading, plate making, and
furnishing illustrations.
3.The total expense of 3 sets of plates of text and illustrations to be divided into 3 equal parts.
4. Two thirds of total cost to be charged to Mother’s account, two sets of the plates to be shipped at
her order to the London and Toronto publishers.
5. The Echo Co. to bear one third of the expense and hold one set of plates with right to publish and
sell; on one penny royalty in Australasia and such portions of Malaysia and the Continent of Asia as our [page
break]
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Nov. 30th, 1894
Mr. W.D. Salisbury
Page 2 of 3
missionaries from this part of the world shall first enter.
I suppose your only difficulty will be in estimating the expense on the illustrations. If you figure on 6
new cuts and 6 old ones at Cassel’s can be made on your estimate will benefit both the Echo Co. and us.
If you can arrange for Gibson to cooperate with you I shall expect excellent results. I cannot think of
taking the responsibility of working up the illustrations but must let this rest with the publishers.
As soon as I receive your complete estimate I will correspond with the publishers in London and
Toronto. Please work the matter up as soon as you can as there is no time to be lost.
With this I send you my rough draft of our Australian Directory for the Year Book. Please criticize it
freely and especially that portion relating to the Echo Co.
I sent to Sr. Ingels an outline of a statistical summary. There are quite a number of items which will
need to be made up by yourself, Bro. Michaels, and Bro. Smith.
In addition to the items required for this summary, I think we should prepare a comprehensive
statement of the workings of the Echo Co. for the year 1894. We can send this forward to be read during
Gen. Con. Sess. in connection with other Australasian reports.
I will ask you to prepare this report and to let it include the No. of Tracts issued during the year on
the basis of 16 pages of the tract, the number of Echoes and Sentinels issued and the number each of Steps,
[page break]
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Nov. 30th, 1894
Mr. W.D. Salisbury
Page 3 of 3
Angels, and Righteousness, that he [have] been published.
The report of the subscription books sold by the Echo agents should be prepared soon so that we
made it to the reports of the Tract Societies.
As regards assistance to Bro. rose, I will send an order on the Echo Co. for £1. on my account and will
solicit from others as I have opportunity.
Monday we get off a big American mail, also quite a large mail to Africa and England.
The meetings in Ashfield are progressing encouragingly. Ten have signed the movement and others
are interested. Last Sabbath Eld. McCullough and Byron Belden organized a Sabbath School of 24 members at
Pennart Hills. Sunday Mother spoke to an intelligent audience of 40 or 50 persons on the verandah o
Thompson’s store. We hope that a church may be raised up in this place.
Yours truly,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 11]
Dec. 8, 1894
Brethren Smith and Michaels
Dear Brethren: With this I send you an outline of a Statistical Summary of the work of the District Conference from
June 30, 1893 to June 30, 1894. You will see that there are quite a number of blanks to be filled, especially in
the Australasian column. Those at the top of the list relating to the conference, where I have made small xxx,
I will ask Bro. Smith to fill in if he can. Those items where I have made a small circle we will ask Sr. Goodey to
fill in from records in her possession. Those items where I have made a check mark I will ask Bro. Michaels to
fill in with the help of Bro. Smith. Those marked F I will request Bro. Faulkhead to supply. Please give this your
immediate attention and send us back the blanks as perfectly filled as possible.
If you think of any other items that should be presented in this report, please supply the information
and I will work it in.
I attended the tent meeting last night. The tent was full and a good interest.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 12]
Dec. 3, 1894
Mr. A. Reekie
Windsor
Dear Brother: -The enclosed was received by Bro. White some days ago and he has desired me to enclose it to you
and ask what is to be done about it. Will you please write and tell him what is necessary to be done or if the
required entries have already been made by yourself and in the latter case what course is to be adopted with
the Customs Department.
Bro. White has been called away rather suddenly this morning or he would no doubt have written to
you himself.
The meetings still continue at Ashfield with good interest. Nine have already signed the covenant
and many more are interested. Bro. White was at the meeting last night and he says that the tent was full
and the interest manifested also good.
I hope you are comfortably settled in your new home and that your prospects of success in your
venture are good.
I hope you have heard that the U.C.C. have decided to go forward with the school at Dora Creek. But
the plan for a village settlement has been abandoned.
With kind regards to all you and your household,
I am yours in haste,
A.G. Mackenzie
[7 – WCW – 13]
Dec. 3, 1894
J.N. Nelson, Sec. G.C.A.
Battle Creek, Mich.
My dear Brother: With this I send you copy of a letter just written to the General Book Committee and it may be that a
portion or all of the business mentioned comes as much under the providence of the G.C.A. as of the Book
Committee.
There have probably been some changes since I left Mich. regarding the distribution of
responsibilities and I am sometimes at a loss to know to whom I should write. If the matter contained in this
letter ought to come before the Publication Committee of the G.C.A. I request you to bring it to their
attention without delay.
I am waiting with some anxiety to hear your response regarding my propositions and questions
about the publication of the Life of Christ.
I have never received from you a copy of the minutes of the last meeting of the G.C.A. If you have a
copy to spare I would be glad to receive it, but if you cannot send me a full copy please send me copy of all
actions which have a bearing ____ the work in these fields.
I have never received from you a statement of the credits made to the E.G. White Educational Fund
on account of the Royalties on Mother’s translated books sold during 1893. Please to send us this statement
by return mail and if it is your custom to make a half yearly balance or a half yearly accounting of royalties
please send statement of the account up to June 30 1894. I will also request you to keep us informed from
time to time regarding this account without waiting for particular requests from me.
May I suggest to you that as far as you have influence with the publishers of our Year Book, that you
use that influence for the elimination of the multitudinous financial statements which no one reads and
which few would understand if they should read them and request that their places be filled with statements
of the workings of our various Institutions and Societies
With kindest regards,
I am yours truly,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 14]
Granville
December 2, 1894
Elder G.B. Starr
Hawaii, Philip St., Toowoomba
Page 1 of 3
Dear Brother: Your card of Nov. 29 came to hand yesterday morning and I will now briefly answer it and your kind
letters of Nov. 18 and 21.
We are glad to learn that you are comfortably located in Toowoomba and we shall pray that God
may bless you abundantly and give you the hearts of the people in that important place. We also have a deep
interest in the work that Bro. Hickox is carrying forward in Rockhampton.
Bro. Whittle brought me yours of Nov. 21 and we too felt a desire that you might visit us; but our
councils had just closed, the brethren had gone to their homes and our Committee was scattered; therefore
it does not seem to be an opportune time. When Bro. Sicily is with us it would be well for you to come down
unless I can persuade him to come up there. It may be that some of us can come up with him; but we can tell
better what to do after his arrival, and when we see how your work is moving.
I will examine “Honor Due to God” soon and tell you what I think of it. there is little hope that we can
publish a book on this subject presenting the truth in a way that it will not be open to criticism from those
who do not wish to obey it. We have requested Eld. Daniells [page break]
[7 – WCW – 15]
Granville
December 2, 1894
Elder G.B. Starr
Page 2 of 3
to write a pamphlet on the tithing and hope that he may be able to go at it soon. Please correspond with him
and give him any help you can.
We are glad to hear from yours of Nov. 18 that Sr. Starr is improving, a sailor. Am sorry to hear that
Jacobson is disgruntled, it is sad that he and Guthrie are so independent and self-confident; we hope they
may not destroy the faith of others.
We are glad that the interested ones in the neighborhood of Brisbane are growing in knowledge and
in grace. I think it would be a help to them if you and Sr. Starr should correspond with them regularly. It
would also be well if you had a few copies of “Review”, “Signs”, and “Home Missionary” so that you could
mark some articles as would be especially helpful and mail them week by week to the leading or influential
members. Before we had a Sabbath-School Journal much was done to build up our S.S. work by my taking 20
copies of the “Sunday School Times” marking the best articles and mailing them to S.S. workers in all parts of
the world. If you correspond with Sr. Ingels, she may be able to spare a few copies for use in this work.
We are near the close of another quarter and must prepare copy of “Church Visitor”. Please send us
two or three short contributions. I think it would be especially helpful if you would furnish a series of Biblereadings on the tithing, also an article on “Quarterly meetings” and how to make them profitable. Perhaps
this subject [page break]
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Granville
December 2, 1894
Elder G.B. Starr
Page 3 of 3
should be divided into a series, each article taking up one item of the work. Preparations for the Quarterly
Meetings would be a good one to commence with, or if you chose, you might give us first an independent
article on the transaction of church business at the quarterly meeting. Please give this matter early attention
and send on the copy as soon as you can.
A brief article giving statistical information regarding the work in Queensland would be acceptable
and of interest to our people, and a brief statement of what Sr. Starr is doing Corresponding Secretary for
Queensland.
I notice what you say about help, but cannot give you such encouragement; our conference has
more workers than funds, but there are not nearly enough for the work in progress about Sydney.
You may be interested to know that Alfred Malcolm has moved to Hobart and that the rest of the
family plan to settle near Parramatta soon.
With kindest regards and with best wishes of the family,
I am yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 17]
Dec. 4, 1894
Mr. N.D. Faulkhead
My Dear Brother: I have been sending to the officers of the conference, Tract Society, and Publishing Company the
outline of a report which I desire to have filled out to be forwarded to the General Conference. I will now
enclose a blank to you with the request that you fill in the information regarding all items opposite which I
have written “F”. If you are perplexed how to do this please consult with Eld. Daniells. It will make extra work
for us all to get these reports out for June 1893 and 1894 but this is the only plan that will be satisfactory
because that is the date to which all the American reports are closed. It seems a pity that most of the
progress of our work for the past year will thus be left out and this is the way I have thought of meeting that
difficulty, let us get out half yearly report as early as January as possible and send it on to be incorporated in
the Historical Report of our district.
I think it will be quite an encouragement to our people and a great help in keeping up the finances of
the conferences if we can issue at the close of our quarter a statement of the receipts and expenditure of the
quarters and the standing of the conference, what do you think of this? This would make it comparatively
easy to make up such statements as we are now preparing for in date at the close of a quarter.
The committee appointed to issue the Australian Year Book desires that it shall contain a list of the
churches in this conference with a statement of the membership of each and the amount of tithes paid for
the year. We have obtained from Eld. McCullough a list of the churches with their membership on September
30 which we will copy and send to you and we request you to fill in the amount of tithes paid in by our
churches during the conference year. If this covers but ¾ let a statement to that effect be made in the
heading. I will send you two or three of the blanks so you can furnish one to me, one to the President of the
conference, and one to the editors of the Year Book.
Please tell me how you are getting along with your general work, also how you are getting on with
the accounts of the U.C., are you delayed by anything which I can hasten forward?
With best wishes,
I am yours truly,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 18]
Dec. 9, 1894
Eld. A.G. Daniells
16 Best Street, North Fitzroy, Vic.
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: On my return from Penrith late Friday afternoon, I found your letter of Dec. 4 addressed to me and
Rousseau. Yesterday morning the copy intended for Rousseau came to me also and I sent it to him last
evening by Bro Baron. I expect to meet Rousseau this afternoon and we will then make some plans for the
placing of the furniture on its arrival. I will not take your time by making unnecessary comments or
expressing useless regrets, I will only say that we are very sorry that we trusted this furniture with Ellesley
and I shall be relieved to see it properly stored. I shall request Rousseau to write you the particulars as to
what we do and why we do it.
This morning early Byron Beldon arrived and has now gone to Pennant Hills with Eld. McCullough
where meetings are regularly held on Sunday mornings in Thompson’s store, on Wednesday evening Bro.
Schowe’s house and on Sabbath mornings at Bro. Radley’s. The interest is not general and the opposition is
strong but we do not feel free to drop the work there until we see some prospect of united action on the part
of the four or five families living there, some members of which are keeping the Sabbath. We do not see
clearly what ought to be done but expect that wisdom will be given as we proceed with the work.
There is quite a stir in Ashfield, the ministers are indignant because our brethren have been visiting
the people at their homes. They have found a Campbellite Debater whom they agree to support and he has
challenged Eld. Corliss for a discussion on the Sabbath question. It has been arranged to discuss the question
for six nights commencing with Tuesday of this week and closing Wednesday of next week. We request that
the brethren in Melbourne unite in earnest prayer that God will give wisdom and grace to Eld. Corliss and
that He will send confusion to those who love not the truth.
The steamer to Norfolk sails early that it may reach ____ with Christmas foods in time to make large
sales. It goes Tuesday instead of Thursday as we were expecting. Brethren Cole, Belden, and Anderson are
hastening their preparation for the trip. We think they will get off in good shape.
Tonight we hold a farewell meeting in the Parramatta church at which Eld. Cole will talk about the
island work and those going abroad will speak briefly of their experience and their hopes.
We have thought best to encourage Bro. Barron to go to Lord Howe’s Island and he is preparing to
leave Tuesday with the others.
I may have written you in a former letter that the Nineveh which [page break]
[7 – WCW – 19]
Dec. 9, 1894
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 2 of 2
brings our friends from Africa comes direct to Melbourne, and is expected there on Friday Dec. 14. We hope
the Nineveh will be on time, for this will permit our friends to spend Sabbath and Sunday in Melbourne and
come on here the following week. I presume that you will not only plan for their entertainment but that you
will encourage them to separate on Sabbath and Sunday evenings so that some members of the party may
visit the churches in North Fitzroy, Williamstown, and Auburn.
If our friends from Africa desire to sail on the December steamer, please do not keep them long in
Melbourne, for we shall want them to visit Morrissey and Bro. Rousseau may wish them to visit Penrith also.
I am interested in all you write about the work of the Tract Society. I think I am in hearty accord with
your plans as far as I understand them. I am glad that Bro. Michaels is with you and that Sr. Graham is coming
over soon.
Last week I went down to Ashfield to counsel with Rousseau and McCullough but failed to secure a
meeting. Have made another appointment for tomorrow morning. After this consultation is over, someone of
us will write you regarding many things.
Eld. Rousseau read to me what he had written you about the Fairlight Estate. It was like all the rest,
encouraging at first sight, but quite unsuitable and easily condemned after a thorough examination. He is
now interested in the Fernhill Estate which has many good features and some serious drawbacks. I shall leave
it to him to write you about these places.
I am getting quite anxious about the next number of the Church Visitor. It seems to me it should be
sent out very soon. Please tell me what plans you have regarding its contents. I will suggest the following.
That A.G. Daniells write a second article on the Church and also an article on the Ordinances of the
Lords House. That Eld. Concord continue on the duties of church officers and that he give us another Bible
reading on the duties of members. That Eld. McCullough give us an article on the election and installation of
church officers and the auditing of church records and accounts. That Eld. Corliss give us another article on
the subject of worship. I have already written Eld. Starr to give us an article on the Quarterly business
meetings. I shall endeavor to contribute an article on church officer’s counsels, the work of the Sabbath
School Superintendent, and a Bible reading on visiting and I hope to find some short extracts that will be
useful. Please give this matter some thought and give us your suggestions as soon as possible.
With best wishes,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 20]
Dec. 10, 1894
Miss Julia Malcolm
Brighton, Vic.
Dear Sister: Your kind letter was received nearly two weeks ago and from day to day I have been promising
myself that I would answer it immediately, but a multitude of business has led to repeated postponements.
I had heard from others that you were thinking of moving to the neighborhood of Parramatta and I
was quite pleased with the idea. There are many circumstances which will tend to make it a pleasant place
for you. I think you will receive a very hearty welcome from our people here and I believe that you may be a
help and a blessing to our brethren and sisters here.
It does not cost very much to ship furniture by steamer and I would caution you against selling off
those things that you would need to replace. I have found that selling and buying again is quite expensive.
If we knew the size of house you would wish and the amount of rent you would expect to pay we
would be on the watch for a suitable place. I have found that selling and buying again is quite expensive.
If we knew the size of house you would wish and the amount of rent you would expect to pay we
would be on the watch for a suitable place.
As regards your questions about Mother’s writings you may have noticed in her addresses that she
has a full vocabulary and much power of description and at the same time you may have noticed faulty
grammatical constructions. Those familiar with her writings find the same characteristics and also we find
that as scenes which are similar in character and import are impressed upon her mind that she writes them
out rapidly without reference to chronological order or other apparent connection. We are often perplexed
by this characteristic in some of the prophetic books of the Bible.
The secretaries and copyists who prepare Mother’s writings for the printer remove repetitions so
that the matter may be brought into the allotted space, they correct bad grammar and they fit the matter for
publication. They sometimes carry her best expressions of thought from one paragraph to another, but do
not introduce their own thoughts into the matter. The thoughts and the expressions which you mention are
Mother’s own thoughts and expressions. With kindest regards,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 21]
Dec. 11, 1894
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Dear Brother: Yesterday we received word from New Zealand that the Conference Committee have reluctantly
consented to Crothers taking the position of Dis. Canvassing Agent after 6 months. I have just received
lengthy letters from them this morning explaining matters more fully but these I cannot read till this
afternoon.
My chief object in writing is to ask you to hasten the publication of the two tracts Eld. Corliss has
written in reply to Canright we sent one manuscript yesterday and the other goes today. I have requested
Salisbury to print a small edition from the type and make stereotypes afterwards. The ministers are
thoroughly enraged and say they will crush out Adventism at all costs. They told Eld. Corliss that if he did not
consent to the public discussion that they should at once open up a series of meetings following the lines of
Canright’s book. This they will do after the discussion anyway, therefore please do what you can to get 1000
each of these tracts published and landed in Ashfield as soon as possible.
I have large American mail but nothing of special importance.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 22]
Dec. 11, 1894
W.D. Salisbury
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: Yesterday forenoon I sent you a telegram requesting you to prepare to print immediately two 16
page tracts in long primer type. A few hours later we placed in the Melbourne mail Eld. Corliss’s reply to
Canright’s attack on Mrs. E.G. White and the next mail will bring to you the other manuscript answering
Canright’s attack regarding the origin, history, and influence of S.D. Adventism.
I desire that these shall be issued immediately and that 1000 copies of each be sent as soon as
possible to Eld. Corliss in Ashfield. I will suggest that you set the type as rapidly as possible and print small
editions from the type and then take time to make stereotypes afterwards. It is of great importance that we
have 1000 each of these tracts the last of this week if possible and if this is not possible get them off so that
they will reach us very early next week.
The interest manifested by the people of Ashfield in the doctrines presented at the camp-meeting
and in the tent has thoroughly aroused the Ministers and they have determined to crush Adventism at any
cost. They are bringing forward Canright’s Book and have engaged an able Debater of the Disciple Church to
represent them. A discussion has been arranged between Mr. Picton and Eld. Corliss to commence this
evening and continue [page break]
[7 – WCW – 23]
Dec. 11, 1894
W.D. Salisbury
Page 2 of 2
for six nights. As soon as this is done, they propose to show up the follies of Adventism from Canright’s Book
and we must be prepared to meet their attacks.
What are you doing with Eld. Colcord’s new tract? I see no advertisements of it. Are you preparing to
issue a new catalogue? What progress is Eld. Colcord making with the books we wish him to write?
The American mail came yesterday, also letters from Crothers showing that the New Zealand
brethren have consented to his taking the work of Dis. Can. Agent after 6 months.
Our African friends will probably reach Melbourne Dec. 14. I presume they will desire to sail from
Sydney on the Oceanic steamer leaving Dec. 24. Please help them to make the best use of their time in
Melbourne over Sabbath and Sunday and get them off Monday afternoon if possible. We shall want them to
visit the fruit districts near Sydney and to see our place at Morrisett before the Sabbath, Dec. 22. Give them
all the information you can about our publishing work and our plans for the future, and interest them in the
Echo and Sentinel if possible.
I learn that the New Zealand camp-meeting will be held from Feb. therefore it will be well to hold
our stockholders meeting early in January.
Yours in haste,
W.C .White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 24]
Dec. 11, 1894
Eld. A.J. Read
Papeete, Tahiti, Society Islands
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: Since writing you last I have received your welcome letter of Oct. 11 accompanied by copies of your
letters to the Mission Board and of Mr. Doty’s letter to you. We were deeply interested in all and especially in
your letter. The same mail brought us an encouraging letter from Eld. Graham telling about your interview
with the Governor at which you gained permission for the ship to call at Raiatea. We are much rejoiced that
you can carry forward your work and maintain friendly relations with the officials. It has required patience is
well repaid.
I was much interested in the account given of your first effort as an exposition of the law. It is
evident that a missionary must be ready for any emergency.
We are convinced that the location of Dr. Caldwell on Raratonga was providential and we pray that
his labors there may be richly blessed. We shall watch with deepest interest the labors of all our brethren on
the islands.
When we closed the last American mail, I sent you quite a package of enclosures that give you a very
full account of our work and plans. I desired to write a letter at that time, but a lot of work came in just
before the mail closed and I had no opportunity to write. During the last two weeks preparation has been
going forward for the departure of some of our brethren to Norfolk and Lord Howe’s Islands. It is expected
that tomorrow at noon the Birksgate will sail carrying to Norfolk, Eld. Cole, S.T. Belden and wife, and C.J.
Anderson and wife. Bro. C. Barron and wife will also go as far as Lord Howe Islands. These three families go
out as self-supporting workers. We expect to assist each family in Norfolk to the extent of £2 per month and
the family at Lord Howe by £1 per month. What think you of this? I hope that our plans for sending Dr.
Kellogg and a good canvasser to Queensland and the Islands north of Australia may be carried into execution
soon.
The work here in New South Wales is advancing amid difficulties. There is much interest and also
much opposition. At Ashfield there are between 20 and 30 keeping the Sabbath and now the ministers of the
various churches have united to crush “Adventism”. They are visiting diligently from house to house and have
united to support a debater from among the Disciples who has arranged for a discussion of six evenings with
Eld. Corliss. If this work is of man it will certainly come to thought but if of God, He will maintain his truth and
we trust in him. We receive very encouraging reports from Elds. Starr and Hickox in Queensland. We have not
yet heard from our brethren who went to Tasmania. Those [page break]
[7 – WCW – 25]
Dec. 11, 1894
Eld. A.J. Read
Papeete, Tahiti, Society Islands
Page 2 of 2
laboring in Victoria are of good courage.
Next week we expect a visit from some of our Afrikaner that are on their way to General Conference.
I see that you are likely to have an invitation to attend that meeting. I have had a private invitation from the
president but nothing from the board. I think I should go if my work here would permit. I find I can travel
steerage and thus get round the world at as little expense as anyone. If duty did not hold me here I should
improve the first opportunity to go where my children are. If I had to work my way as a sailor or steward, but
it appears that my work is here and here I must stay for the present. Hoping to hear from you often.
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 26]
Norfolk Villa, Prospect road, Granville, N.S.W.
Dec. 11, 1894
Capt. H. Muckersey, Manager
Echo Pub. Co., 14 Best Street, North Fitzroy, Vic.
Dear Brother: With this I send two drafts for $20 each which please place to the credit of Mother’s account.
Tomorrow I shall be able to send a statement of the moneys advance to our brethren who go to
Norfolk and Lord Howe’s Island on the account of the Foreign Mission Board. I have borrowed some from
Mother and some from the Australian Conference and in so doing have exhausted Mother’s credit at the
bank. I will enclose with this a request for money from the Tract Society and if for any reason they cannot
send it immediately I will hereby request you to send her £50 on her account with the Echo Co.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 27]
Dec. 11, 1894
To the Australia Tract Society:
Please send to E.G. White by return mail £100 (one hundred pounds) on her account.
W.C. White
for Mrs. E.G. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 28]
Dec. 13, 1894
Eld. G.B. Starr
Hawaii Villa, Philip St., Toowoomba
My Dear Brother: Yours of Dec. 4 came to hand a few days ago and was read with much interest. We are glad to know
that you are so comfortably situated and that you found friends with those who were acquainted with our
canvassers. I wish that you might write a brief article on the influence of the canvasser, illustrated by these
recent experiences you have had in Queensland. You might write it for the Review and send me a copy that I
may make an extract for the Church Visitor.
Please do not delay to write the articles I asked for in my last letter we want to send out the Church
Visitor next week.
We are interested in what you say about Toowoomba and its beautiful climate. I have been reading
the descriptive articles about the Darling Downs in the Sydney Mail. We thank you for your invitation and
some of us may come up by and by.
I can write only a little today but will enclose copy of letter to Bro. Steed.
I shall remember your proposition about assisting a Bible worker. I wish we had one to send. I learn
today that the Malcolm family are moving to Launceston Tasmania. I trust they will be good help to Brn.
Baker and Teasdale.
Last week Bro Michaels went to Melbourne and is hard at work straightening up old accounts and
superintending the transfer of the canvassing business from the Echo Co. to the Tract Society. Last week Bro.
Whittle visited Brn. Mills and Carswell at Gosford. They are in hard territory but are working courageously.
This week he spends with Alick Mackenzie who took the training Crothers was here and now begins with him
round Parramatta to test his efficiency and after this week they will work towards Penrith.
Our New Zealand brethren have reluctantly consented that Bro. Crothers shall take the work of
District Canvassing Agent after six months.
With kindest regards and hoping to hear from you often,
I am your brother,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 29]
Dec. 13, 1894
Eld. David Steed
Campbell St., Palmerstone N., N.Z.
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: Yours of Dec. 5 came to hand this morning and I hasten to reply knowing that there is work ahead of
importance which will interrupt my correspondence. I thank you for writing me so fully of the meeting of the
Camp Committee, while I wait for the minutes your letter brings the fullest information we have received.
I note your interest in the work in Sydney. We all feel that there is much at stake at the present time
and we pray for wisdom to move wisely. Many in Ashfield are convinced of the truth among them a Mr.
Brown who is an Alderman and has been Mayor, also a leading grocer and a government surveyor.
One individual case worthy of special mention is Mr. Sharp; for some time organist in Mr. Corlette’s
Church of England church. While the camp-meeting was in progress Mr. Corlette preached a sermon against
the seventh-day Sabbath. This was the first Mr. Sharp had heard on the subject and the effort was so weak
that his interest was aroused to investigate, and a study of the subject has lead him to embrace the Sabbath.
He has lately received an appointment as organist in the cathedral at Napier, therefore you may see him
soon.
Another circumstance I ought to mention is how the truth reached the Appleton family. You may
have heard that Eld. Corliss gave some lessons in Sydney and Parramatta on the subject of church and state
and closed his lessons with instructions as to how to work with the Sentinel. Quite a number went out and
did good work but not appreciating the importance of the enterprise nor the fierceness of the opposition
which Satan will bring against it, some were soon discouraged and have counted the effort as a failure. I did
not so regard it. During this effort, Bro. Langford visited a family in Burswood named Appleton and by his
conversation they became interested. They read the Sentinel and the Echo, came out to meetings, embraced
the truth just before camp-meeting and now there are 5 or 6 keeping the Sabbath. When we brought these
facts to the attention of the Parramatta church they seemed much encouraged.
We are somewhat perplexed to know what to do in Pennant Hills. We greatly desire that the
Sabbath-keepers there and at Castle Hill shall unite together and maintain worship and Sabbath School. They
do not manifest any enthusiasm and hardly a willingness to come together, but we hope there will be a
change in time.
I have written some things to Eld. Wilson which I will not repeat here but I will enclose a copy of his
letter. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 30]
Dec. 13, 1894
Eld. David Steed
Campbell St., Palmerstone N., N.Z.
Page 2 of 2
As regards your work in New Zealand I am much encouraged by what you tell us about Palmerstone.
I think you should not be discouraged even though your congregations are small. A victory won in that place
will count more than an enthusiastic meeting in some locality. What you do there will have an influence in
other parts of the Colony. I do not blame you for feeling anxious to go elsewhere where large numbers may
be reached, but I trust you may find light and blessings in following counsels of your brethren.
Your question about an exhibit at the various District Fairs or Exhibitions will require some study
before I can express an opinion. It might be well to try it in one or two places and let that experience indicate
what is best for the future. We must adopt every economical and effective means that can be devised for the
advancement of the truth, but the great question is what is effective and economical may the Lord guide us
and give us light.
My time is limited and I must close, with kindest regards to you and your family,
I am your brother,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 31]
Dec. 12, 1894
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brethren: Yesterday I received a short letter from Bro. Crothers and this morning I received Mrs. Wilson’s of
Dec. 5 accompanied by copy of yours to Eld. Olsen and minutes of proceedings of your camp-meeting
committee. The record of the proceedings of your camp committee which was promised has not yet come. I
am sorry for this because the letters are quite incomplete in themselves and make frequent references to the
action of the committee as though it was before us. You will not expect me to say much regarding your work
and plans until I receive the committee’s report.
I learn from your letter to Eld. Olsen that your camp-meeting will be held Auckland from the middle
of February. We wait with interest to learn what laborers you invite from this field. I most earnestly hope that
our appeals for an able minister to be sent from America will bring you just the help that you need. We are
glad to hear that some earnest souls are taking their stand for the truth in Wellington and Palmerstone.
Yesterday’s mail brought me an interesting letter from Eld. Steed. I may be able to send you a copy
of my answer.
Yesterday we received a large package of American letters. They were all interesting and
encouraging but there was very little of special importance. The Mission Board had given some attention to
the questions submitted from these fields but only a few matters had been settled.
I may have written you in previous letters that several of our friends from Africa are expected soon
to visit us on their way to the General Conference. They left Cape Town Nov. 24 on the Nineveh which is
expected to arrive in Melbourne Dec. 14. I suppose they will wish to sail from Sydney on the Oceanic Steamer
leaving Dec. 24. This steamer will touch at Auckland. I should like to have you meet these friends. there will
be Harman Lindsay Jr. who went to Cape Town to teach in our school there and afterwards married the
youngest daughter of the Wessel’s family who accompanies him to the Conference. Also Mother Wessels and
her two young men of the Wessels family. If they should reach Auckland on Friday I should like to have them
drive about the city and visit Mount Eden.
Today seven of our friends leave on the “Birksgate” for Norfolk and Lord Howe’s Island. Bro. S.T.
Belden and wife and C.J. Anderson and wife go with Eld. Cole to Norfolk and bro. C. Barron and wife to Lord
Howe’s Island. We expect to assist each family in Norfolk to the extent of £2 per month, and the family at
Lord Howe by £1 per month. What think you of this? I hope that our plans for sending Dr. Kellogg and a good
canvasser to Queensland and the islands north of Australia may be carried into execution soon. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 32]
Dec. 12, 1894
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Page 2 of 2
Since the camp-meeting our work here in Sydney has been steadily advancing though beset with
many difficulties. In Ashfield there has been a healthy and growing interest, the tent is crowded Sunday
nights and there are good congregations through the week. Sabbath meetings have been held from the first
and quite a number have signed the covenant. Between 20 and 30 are keeping the Sabbath and about a
dozen have fully identified themselves with our people. Lately the Ministers of the various churches have
been very active in opposition and now they have united to crush “Adventism”. They have brought forward
Canright’s book and tracts and have secured a Mr. Picton, an experienced debater from the Disciples to be
their champion. He challenged Eld. Corliss and pressed the matter until a discussion of the Sabbath question
was arranged to occupy six evenings, it begins tonight and closes next Wednesday. Pray for us that God may
ever rule all things to the glory of his truth.
We receive encouraging letters from Eld. Starr who has just begun work at Toowoomba and Eld.
Hickox, who is still at Rockhampton. They see so much to do they are pleading for more help. Hoping to help
from you often,
I am yours truly,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 33]
Dec. 13, 894
New Zealand Tract Society, Mrs. M.H. Tuxford, Sec.
Page 1 of 2
Dear Friends: For some time I have thought to write to you about the stock of General Conference books which are
in your care. You know that I have had considerable anxiety that as many of them be stored as possible that
the G.C.A. could have its money and that we might be free from the labor and responsibility of caring for
them. We talked this matter over during Eld. Wilson’s visit and again with Bro. Crothers when he was with us.
It may be I have failed of doing my duty in not writing out the plans discussed and placing them in the hands
of these interested in the business. A recent letter from Bro. James Smith a copy of which I enclose brings this
forcibly to mind.
I think that Bro. James Smith’s statement is correct that it was agreed in committee that whatever
the Echo Co. or Australian Tract Society purchased should be delivered in Sydney and Melbourne with
freights paid and that the New Zealand Tract Society should render account to the General Conference for all
trouble and expense in packing forwarding to steamer and shipping, including the pre-payments of freight to
Sydney or Melbourne, therefore I will request you to credit whatever has been charged to the Echo Co. and
to send your bill to the G.C.A. for packing shipping etc.
If I remember correctly the books were insured for one year and the time must be nearly expired. In
behalf of the G.C.A. I will request you if possible to make room for that portion of the stock stored with Levie
and that you take a careful account of what there is on hand there that the Echo Co. may know just what
they can obtain from you. Please insure for another year.
As regards your recent shipment to the Echo Co., I must regret that you did not consult them by
telegraph message before sending the 100 G.C. plain and the 37 L.G. Morocco. When I visit Melbourne I will
see what our plans are for working off the 100 Controversies. I will also ask the Echo Co. in the interest of
good feeling and the spirit of compromise to accept the 37 Ladies Guides at 5 per cent advance providing you
free accept 5 per cent considering the circumstances and credit them 5 per cent. If this is not heartily agreed
to by you and them, I shall advise that the books be returned.
I think there is very little prospect that the Pitcairn will visit New Zealand soon. their recent trip is a
wonderful contrast to former ones in rapid and efficient work and I am satisfied that the plans recently
proposed by our Union Conference Committee for promising mission fields to the north and northwest will
recommend themselves to our [page break]
[7 – WCW – 34]
Dec. 13, 894
New Zealand Tract Society, Mrs. M.H. Tuxford, Sec.
Page 2 of 2
people as efficient and far more economical than sending our missionary ship wandering around in waters
that are traversed by regular lines of steamers, therefore it is well for us to make definite plans for the
disposition of those books left at Wellington. Please give us your opinion freely on all these points.
Extract from letter of James Smith.
----------------------Melbourne, Nov. 28t, 1894
Eld. W.C. White
Dear Brother: At our council meeting with reference to the stock of book of the General Conference in Wellington,
I understood that the N.Z.T.S. was to deliver the books free in Melbourne and charge the expense for doing
so to the G.C. we have ordered and received some books from that stock but they have charged the expense
of packing cartage and wharfage to us and left us to pay freight. I have written Sister Tuxford my
understanding of the arrangements made about this matter.
We ordered 100 (or any less quantity there might be) of Gt. Cont. Clo. Gilt, they do not find any cloth
Gilt (although I gather from the list there should be 74) so they have sent 100 plain, again the list says there
are 80 L.G. Mor. so I order that quantity in order that we might be ready to fill orders for W.A. but only 19 are
to be found so they have sent 37 from their own stock and charged us 10 per cent on invoice cost.
We had time to order from London but in order to carry out the arrangement made ordered the
from G.C. stock in Wellington.
I have written to Sister Tuxford not declining to pay 10 per cent, but explaining the circumstances
and pointing out that if we had wished them to supply from their own stock any part of the order that could
not be filled from the G.C. stock we should have said so at the same time I was careful to express we should
have said so at the same time I was careful to express our appreciation of the motive which prompted them
to send us the 37 Guides from their stock.
Please understand I am not complaining but thought you should know exactly how matters stand.
..................................
--------------------Yours in haste,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 35]
Granville, N.S.W.
Dec. 14, 1894
Elders Daniells, Israel, and Colcord
North Fitzroy, Victoria
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brethren: It is Friday, and I had set apart this time for writing for the Church Visitor, but my stenographer has
been suddenly called away to help Eld. Rousseau and therefore, I must write about a few matters, and as you
are all interested in them, I take the liberty to write an Omnibus letter carrying many things to many places. I
am very thankful that my right arm, which has been raising a fine crop of boils is today in a state that will let
me write with it.
What are our plans about the Week of Prayer? When shall we hold it, and what will be the program?
What shall we do about subscriptions to the Gen. Conf. Bulletin. Eld. Corliss tells me that the price is
2/ postpaid. I wish I knew that this was so. If I hear nothing from you, I shall act upon it. I shall propose that
the matter be presented to all our churches in this colony, next Sunday night, and as many subscriptions
taken as possible.
We ought to be able to report the number wanted to the Sec. so she can order for us all, and then
estimate how many more may be in demand. I think we shall want from 50 to 100 per cent more than are
ordered.
The Church Visitor. – What shall we send out in the next number, and when shall we try to get it off?
Who will act as managing ed. I have been prompting Elds. Starr, Corliss, and McCullough to write on various
topics, but Eld. M. only has responded. I shall get off something this afternoon. Here are some of the points I
have thought of: The Church, No. 2 (The Williamstown talk was splendid,) A.G.D.
Duties of Church Officers, or Election of Church Officers, W.A.C.
Statistical Reports, and Church Letters, (Already in hand,) S.M’C.
Business Quarterly Meetings, and report Q’l’d. Work, G.B.S.
Church Officers Councils, - Preparatory to Quarterly Meeting, W.C.W.
Reasons for Using Unfermented Wine and Unleavened Bread, and How to Make Them. W.C.W. or
M.G.K.
The S.S. Supt. and His Work. W.C.W.
The Auditing Church Records and Accounts. L.J.R.
Worship, A Bible Reading, J.O.C.
This schedule has been hastily prepared and many important matters are no doubt omitted. Please
think it over, and arrange for the work as you think best. I have written to Starr, and have spoken to Corliss
and Rousseau. I hope to write some this afternoon.
How are you supplied with copyists? Shall I plan to have some of the copying done here, or can you
manage it all over there?
If I had time, I would write to Sr. Ingels, suggesting that great care should be taken to have one set of
copies perfect, and then have all copies made from, and compared with the perfect model, before sending
them out. Otherwise many errors will creep into the work. The copy that I have is in parts very full of errors.
[page break]
[7 – WCW – 36]
Granville, N.S.W.
Dec. 14, 1894
Elders Daniells, Israel, and Colcord
Page 2 of 2
Since I began to write this letter, we have a telegram from Eld. Daniells, announcing the safe arrival
of our friends from South Af. We rejoice at their safe arrival and are glad that they came in early in the day.
We wait with interest for the promised letter which will no doubt give us an intimation of their plans.
If they come here early next week, we can make a short visit to Cooranbong and then have time to
look at the fruit districts around here before the Str. sails.
I suppose that Bro. Sisley will have some desire to hurry up his work here, and go on to the General
Conference. But I have no idea that that will be a right plan. We want him to study diligently into the status of
the Building Business in Victoria and N.S.W. and to make plans for meeting houses and cottages and school
buildings and these will all require time.
Sisley is an active man, and we must keep him busy. I hope that Eld. Israel who has been a builder,
will be detailed to spend as much time with Sisley as he can to introduce him to men and places, and to
gather information from him. Shall we endeavor to have a little Council of Builders while Sisley is here? If so,
when and where? At Melbourne at the time of the stockholders meeting, or at Morrisett, before or after?
While Sisley is with you, it will be well to look carefully at those churches, building lots, and buildings
that might be remodeled into meeting houses. I greatly desire that Sisley may be in Melbourne at the time of
our stockholders meeting.
Eld. Starr and wife will expect a visit from him, and I have hoped that you or I or Rousseau could go
up there at the same time.
No doubt it will be a great surprise to Sisley that we have made so little progress with our work and
plans. And it may be a surprise to you also that we have not acted heartily and promptly on the halfhearted
decision of a minority of the Committee, passed three or four days after our opportunities for a proper
decision were past.
The Penrith proposition looked quite encouraging at the first and you can see from Rousseau’s letter
how much his heart went out for it. I had little hope in that direction for I believed that God was leading
another way. But we went to see it and have waited to hear from the owners of another place we got onto
up there, but there is no real opening, and we are at last driven by the arrival of the furniture to make some
move towards work at Dora Creek.
Please do not make it more apparent than is necessary that we have been so long in such a middle.
I have been thinking much of late, of the advantages of building on the cottage plan. Instead of
putting up one immense building and trying to get everything under one roof, let us avoid the greater danger
of fire and the inevitable loss on the building if in future years we should be d to another place by putting up
four or five buildings. 1. The school and meeting house. 2. Girls dormitory and dining rooms. 3. Boys
dormitory. 4. Home for young men working their way along and taking evening and morning classes. 5. A
children’s home where young students can be under a separate management. 6. Workshops.
Having reached the end of my paper, I will close.
Yours,
W.C.W.
[7 – WCW – 37]
Granville, N.S.W.
Dec. 14, 1894
Mr. Harmon Lindsay, Jr.
My Dear Brother: About a month ago we learned from letter of Mrs. N.H. Druillard that Mrs. Wessels, yourself and
wife, two young men of the Wessels family, and Bro. W.C. Sisley were to embark on the Nineveh about Nov.
20. By a telegram just received from Eld. Daniells we learn of your safe arrival in Melbourne. Our hearts
rejoice at the thought of meeting you all very soon and we thank god for your safe passage over the sea.
No doubt you have secured from the ships steward the certificates that will enable you to buy ry.
tickets at the reduced rates. If not, if probably can yet be accomplished.
I am anxious to know when you expect to sail for America. We would be greatly pleased to have you
stay with us a month or two, but recognize the fact that you are going to conference. If you should be
intending to sail Dec. 24 on the Alameda, it is none too soon to speak for berths if you wish the best as I
supposed you do. We came over in the Alameda, and I am well acquainted with the ship and would take
pleasure in securing for Mrs. Wessels, the room which Mother occupied when we came over. It is an outside
cabin, just back of the captain’s rooms. There is another almost as good by the side of it which I believe that
you and Mrs. Lindsay would like. These rooms cost £4 extra a passenger. Farther back in the ship there are
outside rooms suitable for young men which cost £2 extra.
We invite you all to come to Sydney as soon as possible. We wish you to see something of the Fruit
District around Parramatta and we wish you to visit Morrisett, where we contemplate building our school.
Elder Daniells can tell you all about the places of interest and how much time it will take to visit them. So I
will not particularize.
Mother wishes that Sister Wessels and yourself and wife be her guests while here. We will arrange
for the young men to stop with our brn. conducting meetings in Ashfield or with one of our brn. here in
Granville, as will suit them best after they see the place. As early as possible, finish your visit there, and come
over here.
Yours in haste and with much love,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 38]
Dec. 13, 1894
Brn. Muckersey, Smith, and Salisbury
Page 1 of 2
Dear Friends: As I have several short letters from you unanswered pertaining to business in which you are all
interested, I will take the liberty to write my three letters in one and give you each a copy.
This morning I have a postal card from Bro. Salisbury acknowledging receipt of manuscript for a 16
page tract answering Canright’s attack on Mrs. White. I trust that before this you have my second letter and
the manuscript. I wait with interest his reply regarding the book “Sermon on the Mount”.
In Bro. Smith’s letter of Nov. 28 he refers to a recent shipment of books from Wellington which was
not satisfactory. I have written to the N.Z. Tract Society about this and enclose a copy of my letter which I
think will be full answer to Bro. Smith. I will also thank him for the statistics sent us regarding books sales for
the year. I confess to some little anxiety about the statistics which the Australian Tract Society are to furnish
us for I desire to get off our reports in the next American mail.
In Capt. Muckersey’s letter of Dec. 11 he asks if the Echo Co. agreed to share one half the loss on the
sale of the Bell Wagon. My memory is that we requested that both horse and wagon should be sold and that
we promised to share one half the loss. I think Bro. Smith was consulted in this matter and that he will agree
with me about it.
With this I return the blank notes sent me for Humphries.
As regards the disposition to be made of the £600 draft from London, I will say this depends upon
two things, 1. the immediate needs of the school, 2. the ability of the Echo Co. to purchase the draft.
Yesterday I requested the Tract Society to send Mother £100. Today I shall send an account of nearly
£70 expended on those going to the islands on account of the F.M.B.
If we settle down for schoolwork at Brettville, it would be desirable to pay the £600 due on the
property and then proceed with improvements which would require money as fast as we can raise it in
Australia and New Zealand. In this case if the Echo Co. would purchase the London draft and send us its value
the draft could be at once sent to London but should the feeling of discontent continue and much more
expensive place be selected, we should need to hold the London draft and as much more as we can
command. I hope and pray that this question may be settled in a few days.
When our friends arrive from South Africa you will be able to learn if they intend to sail on the
December 24 steamer. Their movements will somewhat affect my plans. You are probably aware that the
New Zealand camp-meeting has been appointed to be held in Auckland from February 15. If our African
friends sail in December, I would prefer that our annual meeting be held early so that those going to New
Zealand may have a little time there before the camp-meeting. But I can conform my plans to [page break]
[7 – WCW – 39]
Dec. 13, 1894
Brn. Muckersey, Smith, and Salisbury
Page 2 of 2
your convenience. Please consult with Eld. Daniells and appoint for January 8 or 15 as you think best.
The discussion at Ashfield is going forward about as you might expect. The Wesleyan chapel was
crowded Tuesday and Wednesday night. At the first meeting, it was very evident that a large majority were in
sympathy with Mr. Picton but we think they were disappointed in his effort and it was evident last evening
that the enemies of our work were not enthusiastic over their representative. The Lord gave much freedom
to Eld. Corliss in presenting the truth. Some say he is a more able man than Picton others say he has the
easiest side of the argument, I believe both to be true. They say Mr. Corliss talks too fast and Mr. Picton too
slow, but there is quite a feeling that Eld. Corliss has the best of the argument. We ask you to unite with us in
praying that the truth may be exalted in the hearts of the people and that conviction may be followed by
obedience. Thursday night, the meeting was carried to the Town Hall. It is said that the trustees of the
Wesleyan Church were not pleased to have it in their chapel. Eld. Corliss talked slower and very effectively
last night, (I am now writing Friday afternoon) and Mr. Picton made some strong assertions. But we feel
much encouraged.
This afternoon, all the school furniture goes on two ketches which take it to Brettville. We have to
pay about £16 import duty which could have been saved, if more study had been given to the manner of
shipping it. This may be partly compensated for by the fact that its coming forces us to delay operations no
longer.
Our friends got off for Norfolk Lord Howe’s Island on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. They were feeling of
good courage and were equipped fairly well for their work. More money could have been spent to
advantage, but we worked on the plan of investing as little as would do. We hope they may have a good
passage.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 40]
Dec. 16, 1894
W.M. Crothers
c/o E. Hare, Auckland
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: Your welcome letter of Nov. 28 came to hand last Monday. The next day, I received letters from Brn.
Wilson and Steed, none of these letters was very complete because they referred to a committee report
which they intended to enclose but left out.
By putting together what you write to me and to Eld. Corliss and what Eld. Wilson wrote to me and
to Eld. Olsen, I learn that the camp-meeting is to be held in Auckland from February 15, also that the
committee consent to your taking the position of District Canvassing Agent at the end of six months.
I have sent your letter on to Eld. Daniells asking him to answer the questions and to furnish the
information you require. We are pleased to learn that Sr. Graham will soon be with us in Melbourne.
As regards the work of Bro. Whittle I will improve the first opportunity to talk with him about going
to New Zealand but I do not see that I can spare him at the present time. Bro. Michaels will be employed for
some time in the office management of the subscription book work of the Tract Society. As soon as he can be
spared from this, he will be needed in the field in the western colonies. Meanwhile we shall need the services
of Bro. Whittle as Field Agent for Queensland and N.S.W. the time at which we can arrange to release him
will somewhat depend upon your urgency for him to come over there.
With this I enclose copies of letters regarding shipment of books from Wellington to Melbourne. I
sent to Edw. Hare copy of letter to Eld. Wilson which you may ask to read.
On Wednesday last 7 of our friends left on the Birksgate to labor in Norfolk and Lord Howe’s Islands.
Eld. Cole returns to Norfolk taking with him Bro. S.T. Belden and wife and Bro. C.J. Anderson and wife. Bro. C.
Barron and wife also went on the same steamer as far as Lord Howe Island. On the Sunday evening previous
to their departure we held a farewell meeting in the Parramatta Church which was well attended, and at
which our departing brethren gave us an outline of their experience.
Since the camp-meeting our work here in Sydney has been steadily advancing though beset with
many difficulties. In Ashfield there has been a healthy and growing interest, the tent is crowded Sunday
nights and there are good congregations through the week. Sabbath meetings have been held from the first
and quite a number have signed the covenant. Between 20 and 30 are keeping the Sabbath and about a
dozen have fully identified themselves with our people. Lately the ministers of the various churches have
been very active in opposition and now they have united to crush “Adventism”. They have brought forward
Canright’s book and tract [page break]
[7 – WCW – 41]
Dec. 16, 1894
W.M. Crothers
c/o E. Hare, Auckland
Page 2 of 2
and have secured a Mr. Picton and experienced debater from the Disciples to be their champion. He
challenged Eld. Corliss and pressed the matter until a discussion of the Sabbath question was arranged to
occupy six evenings. It began last Tuesday night and will finish next Wednesday.
The discussion is going forward about as you might expect. The Wesleyan Chapel was crowded
Tuesday and Wednesday nights. At the first meeting it was very evident that a large majority were in
sympathy with Mr. Picton but we think they were disappointed in his effort and it was evident on Thursday
evening that the enemies of our work were not enthusiastic over their representative. The Lord gave much
freedom to Eld. Corliss in presenting the truth. Some say he is a more able man than Picton, others say that
he has the easiest side of the argument, I believe both to be true.
I hope you will be in Auckland when our African fiends pass through.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 42]
Dec. 17, 1894
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 1 of 3
Dear Brother: Yesterday I received yours of Dec. 14, telling us about the tracts which have been sent over and
which we hope to see soon. We enquired for them Saturday night and Sunday morning, but they had not yet
arrived. I rejoice to tell you that we have not specially needed them as yet.
The Sabbath meetings in Ashfield were excellent and 7 more signed the covenant, tonight the
second half of the debate begins and we pray that God may give victory to His truth. Eld. Corliss has been
greatly blessed thus far with clearness of thought much freedom in speech and patience. Among the hearers
there is a division of sentiment. Some praise Corliss, some praise the truths which he presents and some are
greatly pleased by the sophistry presented by Mr. Picton. To me it seems very evident that the sentiment of
the unprejudiced hearers is that Eld. Corliss presents the truth and presents it ably. Pray for us that we may
give no occasion for the personalities and bitterness that are sure to come before the close of the discussion.
We are glad to hear about the plans of our friends from South Africa and we wait with interest for
further news. I am pleasantly surprised to learn that they will remain with us until January. I had supposed
that their plans would include visit to friends in California and that this would make it impossible for them to
stay here as long as this. I think we can make their visit here quite pleasant. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 43]
Dec. 17, 1894
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 2 of 3
Yesterday Eld. Rousseau sent to Cooranbong to provide for the storing of the furniture. I think he will
return in a few days to complete some unfinished work here but this will depend somewhat on the
movement of Bro. Sisley.
We find that the fruit season is right upon us and that whatever provision is made for the school
must be made soon. We are planning to have Byron Belden purchase and can for the school; I think this will
be the most economical way to get what fruit we need. The prospects are that fruits will be cheap this year
and I think that it would be quite to our financial advantage if we could arrange to have some kinds of fruit
dried in quantity. What do you think of this? They tell me that the experimental lots dried last year were very
much liked.
I am sorry to tell you that because Eld. McCullough forgot to complete arrangements regarding
vacating the house on the old campground that we must keep it until the 5th January. We have been planning
therefore to have the fruit canning done there for the present.
You may have heard that work at Pennant Hills is suspended for a time our brethren there do not
wish to take any responsibility and because the work is urgent in other places we shall suspend operations
there for the present. This leaves Byron and his wife free to arrange for their other work.
For some time I have thought that they might do as well in Sydney as anywhere else. All our
canvassing field is hard at the present time and our workers in Sydney are doing nearly as well as the others.
If Byron should locate in Sydney he could serve as purchasing agent for the school. He could devote one or
two days to ship mission work if you wish to have [page break]
[7 – WCW – 44]
Dec. 17, 1894
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 3 of 3
that line of the work continued. It does seem that we ought not to drop that work altogether, especially the
supplying of periodicals to the mail steamers. He could if you wish serve as sub-treasurer for N.S.W. to
receive tithes from the churches and to pay out the same on your order. If he should succeed in finding a
favorable location and we could arrange for him to remain sometime in the place we might adopt this as the
permanent address of our Tract Society and after Bro. Pallant goes away we could transfer our district
depository to this place I do not think we shall do wisely to abandon the idea of having permanent address
and a place where strangers may find representatives of the Society. Heretofore I have not seen any
economical plan but it appears to me that this proposition may be worked out so as to be inexpensive and
effective, please think of it and tell us what you think.
Byron would probably keep a pony which would enable him to get around at small expense and
would facilitate his buying and other lines of work I should encourage him to take a full course in
bookkeeping that he may become an accountant.
We think that his presence in the Sydney Church would be quite a help and we believe that you will
see many advantages in the suggested plan.
I can give you no information about the readings about the week of prayer. I have received two
copies but no letter about them.
I will write about the replies to Canright after seeing copies.
Please consider our plans about Belden and answer as soon as possible.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 45]
Granville, N.S.W.
Dec. 16, 1894
Eld. L.J. Rousseau
Cooranbong
Page 2 of 2
Monday morning, -Richardson says he has just obtained work for about two months, and I told him I was very glad. So
he will not come up.
It would be well for you to visit Mr. Mosley at Ourimbah, and learn all you can about fruit prospects
up there. It looks to us as though this was the place to buy and can.
The Wessels do not plan to sail till January and are not likely to come over here this week.
We wait with interest to hear of your work and plans.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[Page 1 of this letter is on page 46.]
[7 – WCW – 46]
Granville, N.S.W.
Dec. 16, 1894
Eld. L.J. Rousseau
Cooranbong
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: I have spent a considerable part of the afternoon talking with Byron Belden about the fruit canning
and the Sydney work.
He thinks that the school will get its fruit better and cheaper to have it put up here, close to the
market, than to ship it and then have it canned at the end of the journey.
We spent a little time in making a rough estimate of what you might want, and our figures run like
this. On basis of 750 jars.
100 Peaches, Clingstones.
50 Peaches, Yellow, Freestones.
50 Apricots.
50 Nectarines.
50 Greengages.
50 Purple Cages.
25 Sour Plums.
25 Quinces.
200 Pears flavored with Quince. 50 Grapes.
50 Raspberries.
50 Blackberries.
We find that the fruit season is right upon us, and there is no time to lose. Today our folks are
canning peaches and we shall put up our apricots soon.
Byron thought that it would be well to put up 100 jars of tomatoes, and also to dry a good lot of
plums and apricots.
If you wish, Belden and his wife will do the canning for the school. When putting in full time at solid
work, they suggest £3 a week and found if the work is to be done on the old campground, but when they get
into a place of their own, they would arrange according to the new circumstances.
I think they will consider the Sydney enterprises favorably. They wish to pursue their studies further
and would be glad to be connected with the school I think. Bron spoke to me today of the need of someone
to look after the property of the school and the fact that the Principal could not do this and do full work in
teaching. Then I showed him that in our new place we must labor to educated in all the work and that we
must have a steward who would be a patient and apt educator. He then admitted that he was not fitted by
temperament for that part of the work.
Byron called our attention to the opportunity that there is for the profitable drying of fruits and says
that Bro. Lawrence knows how to build a fruit dryer. is it possible that it would be well for Bro. Lawrence to
locate in a fruit district like Pennant Hills and buy fruit when cheap and dry a lot for market. Think of this and
see what he thinks. Tomorrow I shall telegraph for jars.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[Page 2 of this letter is on page 45.]
[7 – WCW – 47]
Dec. 17, 1894
Eld. L.T. Nicoli
Battle Creek, Mich.
Dear Brother: For some time I have been planning to write to you and will first refer to the matters mentioned in
your letters of Oct. 7 & 11.
When I was writing to Bro. Edwards I returned the money sent us on Eld. Olsen’s account with
instructions that it be passed to his credit. It may be no harm for me to call your attention to the fact that I
have never made any complaint about the settlement and that Mother’s criticism was directed against the
principal involved in the reduction of wages without full consideration of the circumstances of the workers.
I have received two copies of the readings for the week of prayer. I like them very much. We have
just received information about the Gen. Conference Bulletin and shall make up our orders soon.
We were much surprised to hear of the death of Delmar Loughborough and of Sr. E.W. Whitney.
I thank you for the copies of letters to Edson. I read them with much interest. We hope that he and
his companions may be blessed in the work that they have undertaken.
I am requested by my brethren here to ask you for two or three sets of samples of all blanks used by
our conference secretaries. Also to ask you if there are record books prepared for the secretaries to use in
keeping records of their statistical reports. If you have issued any circular letters to the conference
secretaries about their work please to send us copies. We feel quite a desire that our records and reports
shall be alright but it seems quite difficult to get started properly and we solicit from you correspondence and
instruction.
Later on I may be able to send you a page or two of news, but must close for the present.
Yours truly,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
P.S.
Eld. Corliss has written two 16 page tracts in reply to Canright’s attacks upon our people. I have just
received first copies and will endeavor to send you samples by next mail.
Dec. 18. Last night was the fourth evening of the debate at Ashfield between Eld. Corliss and Mr.
Picton, Disciple. The blessing of the Lord rested upon Eld. Corliss and he presented the truth in a clear and
forcible manner. His opponent had little to say and made bad work in saying that little. The chairman had
difficulty in keeping order while Mr. Picton was speaking.
Yours in haste,
WCW
[7 – WCW – 48]
Dec. 17, 1894
Eld. M.C. Wilcox
Oakland, Cal.
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother; It is some time since I received your kind letter of Sept. 20 and I will write you a few lines today
hoping that by and by I may write more fully about some branches of our work in which I know you will be
interested.
I thank you for your invitation to write for the Signs I will try to do this ____ you will tell me what
kind of matter will be acceptable. You know I am not a theologian and if I write about the work I may strike
lines that you do not care for.
I read the Signs and like it very much, I think I like it better year by year but I cannot say that I read it
closely. At home I used to set apart Sabbath afternoon for reading our papers and for Bible study but here we
have no such privileges. There we had our papers weekly, here they come three and four in a bunch and this
tends to hasty and irregular reading. It seems harder to establish habits of regular study here than in any
place where I have been formerly located. Each year I have more things to think about and my rapidity of
thought does not seem to increase. Have you found any system to lessen the results of these difficulties? If so
tell me about it.
Our general work is going forward encouragingly, the influence of the camp-meeting was far wider
than we knew at the time. The tent meetings which have followed are well attended. About 20 have signed
the covenant and nearly twice that number are supposed to be keeping the Sabbath. Just now Eld. Corliss is
in the midst of a discussion with a Disciple debater named Picton. The blessing of God has been with Corliss
and the truth is gaining friends. There are some influential person in the Valley of Decision.
I am sorry to hear what you write about the health of the Californian workers. I cannot understand
why it should be so. Our workers in Australia keep pretty good health and aside from the financial difficulties
which bind us about we are all of pretty good courage.
For some time I have been thinking of writing to the Cal. Conf. Committee calling their attention to
the advantages of giving their young ministers a broader and more varied experience. You mentioned the
case of Bro. Hickox and others, and I must tell you that I was surprised that Bro. Hickox had never witnessed
the organization of a church. I believe it is a great mistake and a serious injury to the cause to let young men
grow up with a one-sided experience, but this seems to have been overlooked to some extent and I am
certain that the influence on the conferences will be very detrimental. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 49]
Dec. 17, 1894
Eld. M.C. Wilcox
Oakland, Cal.
Page 2 of 2
I am glad to hear encouraging reports from the Healdsburg School and the Health Retreat. I hope
that our brethren will rally to the support of the school it ought to be free from debt and I hope that efforts
will be made in this direction before long. Those who will become efficient Bible workers need a broader
education and I believe that it would be better to suspend the mission training school for a time than to
continue it without a full corps of able teachers. We have reached a time of retrenchment and we must make
strong efforts to economize but it will not do to cheapen our work we must carefully distinguish between
cheapness and economy.
We have heard from Melbourne that W.C. Sisley has arrived from Africa, also Sr. Wessels with two
sons, her daughter and son in law Harman Lindsay, they expect to sail for San Francisco on the Mariposa, I am
sure you will give them a hearty welcome in California and make their visit as pleasant and profitable as
possible. Eld. Corliss has written two 16 page tracts in reply to Canright’s attack upon our people. I have just
received first copies and will endeavor to send you samples by next mail.
Dec. 18. Last night was the fourth evening of the debate at Ashfield between Eld. Corliss and Mr.
Picton, Disciple. The blessing of the Lord rested upon Eld. Corliss and he presented the truth in a clear and
forcible manner. His opponent had little to say and made bad work of saying that little. The chairman had
considerable difficulty in keeping order whilst Mr. Picton was speaking. And it was quite evident that the
sympathies of a large part of the audience was with all that Mr. Picton says and does. For thus it is at every
debate.
I must now close this for the mail.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 50]
Dec. 18, 1894
Eld. G.B. Starr
Hawaii Villa, Philip St., Toowoomba
Dear Brother: I have yours of Dec. 12 which I read to Brn. Rousseau, Whittle, and McCullough and have sent it on
to Eld. Daniells with request that he make answer. The brethren to whom I read your letter feel rather
favorable to your proposition to commence meeting in the Masonic Hall, but we thought best to send your
letter to Melbourne asking the brethren there to express their opinions.
I have a letter from Eld. Daniells saying that he has met Bro. Sisley, in fact I will enclose to you the
letter. I hope to see Will before long and I shall endeavor to persuade him to remain some time with us in
Australia.
We are of good courage here and I rejoice to tell you that Eld. Rousseau has gone to Cooranbong to
commence work on our school grounds.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 51]
Dec. 19, 1894
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Wellington, N.Z.
Page 1 of 4
My Dear Brother: Yesterday I received yours of Dec. 12 and by the same post a letter from Mrs. Tuxford accompanied
by the minutes of the meeting of your Tract Society Directors. I am still anxiously waiting for the minutes of
your Conference Committee which was promised in Mrs. Wilson’s letter, but which has not yet come to
hand.
I must confess to some disappointment in thus being left to surmise and conjecture what your plans
are about camp-meeting and whom you wish to attend from Australia. It is almost tantalizing to read the
New Zealand letters which talk all round the point or I might say the principle points that have been up for
consideration, but leave us to get our information regarding the subjects under discussion from reports
which come straggling in weeks or months after the meeting. I will suggest to you that you adopt one of two
plans. 1st, arrange for your conference secretary to send reports of meetings promptly or, 2nd, take a brief
memoranda of the meetings yourself and then write your letters upon the supposition that the reports will
never reach us until its time of usefulness is past.
I am still waiting to hear from our African friends who are in Melbourne before shaping my plans for
January. Early in February I shall expect to leave here for New Zealand. I should enjoy going by Hobart and
the Bluffs, but fear I cannot spend time.
I will now notice some of the points in your letter. Many thanks. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 52]
Dec. 19, 1894
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Wellington, N.Z.
Page 2 of 4
for the information required in the statistical summary. Our method of reckoning the values of English and
American money is as follows, we count a £ as $4.87 and our shilling as twenty four and a half cents and our
penny as two cents. This is the plan when we desire to be most accurate and the only variation we make in
this is when we wish to be less accurate we count the shilling as 24 cents.
The item of conference indebtedness was not intended to cover what we owed to laborers but what
the conference may have borrowed from other parties.
I am glad to know your plans regarding Brn. Semmons and Rousseau and we shall shape our plans
accordingly. It may be well for your committee to consider two points, 1. that in taking the position which
you occupy toward the labors of Dr. Kellogg and Bro. Semmons that you are postponing indefinitely a work
which I believe would be a great blessing to your churches and 2. that your plans regarding Bro. Rousseau
seem to be shaped without reference to the demands which the school will have upon him. If it is desirable
that he should visit New Zealand at all, you can readily see that the present vacation is the most favorable
opportunity. I do not see any probability that he and I would be able to visit New Zealand during the winter.
I sympathize with you deeply in the burden of indebtedness which you are carrying and I can assure
you that I will do anything in my power to help to lighten this burden. I feel that it is very important that you
shall not make any mistakes in the way in which you treat this indebtedness. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 53]
Dec. 19, 1894
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Wellington, N.Z.
Page 3 of 4
I have felt for some time that there was a danger of your thinking about it and talking about it until you and
your co-laborers become discouraged and the same feeling is spread throughout the conference. If we have a
hard job we must keep up a good heart.
I am exceedingly sorry that you have taken action to request the G.C.A. to forgive a portion of your
Tract Society debt without consulting me for you to know that there are times when such requests would be
received much more favorably than at other times and I regard the present as a most unfortunate time for
such a request. Please do not think that I wish to dictate or control in such matters, my only desire is to help
you by my intimate knowledge of the affairs and opinions of the Mission Board.
We are glad that you feel to concur in our plans for opening up the mission fields to north and
northwest.
As regards the movement of Bro. Crothers, I will say that we appreciate the kindly spirit in which you
have treated this matter and we shall endeavor to wait patiently till the time you have named for his release.
In this I am expressing my own opinion only as I have not heard from my conferrers.
I approve of the decision you have made regarding the canvassing agents wages although I might
criticize the wording of the resolutions. It seems to be a conference resolution past at a meeting of the
director of the Tract Society. Are you not getting things mixed?
I am much encouraged by your action regarding our efforts to make the Echo Co. a general
depository of books for Australasia. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 54]
Dec. 19, 1894
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Wellington, N.Z.
Page 4 of 4
Perhaps before closing I ought to give you Eld. Olsen’s plan for dealing with big debts. He used to say
to me, “Do not talk too much about debts but plan and pray to reduce the and always remember that you
cannot wipe out a debt by stopping work for then you stop the income. Continue progressive work on
economical lines and when you go before our brethren asking for means do not display the debt in all its
hideous details, but lay before them in clear lines the work to be done and the fact that means will be
required to prosecute this work then present the fact that our income must be greater than the expenditure
that we may set aside something to cover the expense of work already done.” In raising money, raise it for
aggressive work with the understanding that a portion will be set aside to reduce our indebtedness, praying
that the Lord will bless and guide you continually,
I am yours truly,
W.C. White
P.S. Tell us when you have time who you want to come to your camp-meeting. W.
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 55]
Dec. 21, 1894
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: The Nineveh arrive yesterday morning and came to wharf at 8:10 a.m. I had been down to meet
them on Wednesday afternoon as per your letter and I went again yesterday morning at daylight. They were
all well and in good spirits. We came up on the Parramatta steamer and they enjoyed the scenery along the
River very much. Brn. Sisley and Lindsay went last evening to Ashfield to visit Eld. Corliss and attend the
meeting at the tent. Today Bro. Sisley will go to Morrisett and the first of next week I shall expect to go up in
company with Bro. Lindsay and others.
Now I will refer to some points in your letters of Dec. 13, 17, and 18.
On Wednesday I obtained copies of the new tract from Eld. Corliss. The sample copy sent by mail did
not arrive till Tuesday afternoon, I am well pleased with their general appearance. I shall ask Salisbury if the
pages cannot be made one line longer and thus admit of a little more matter.
I feel very well pleased with the one about Mrs. White and I think it should be put in plates. I think
the other could be improved if you or Colcord could give it attention. It may be best to print2000 more from
the type and then take Papier Mache molds.
I am glad that Colcord can visit Adelaide. I trust he may receive many blessings while laboring there.
I am inclined to think that 200 Bulletins will suffice for Australia. Please write to Tait calling attention
to the order and remind him of the fact that the isolated workers in the islands should be supplied from
Battle Creek without waiting for order.
I have been doing what I can to supply copy for the Church Visitor, but it is uphill work. I may be able
to send the last page of my article about council meetings tomorrow. You will need to add an article on the
week of prayer and I will ____ examine on Sabbath School work that the Visitor may not be too voluminous. I
have already written to Eld. Colcord about furnishing matter and I hope he will respond promptly.
Your letter telling us that our friends from Africa would arrive in Sydney Wednesday afternoon was
delivered Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. and you can imagine as well as I can describe the hurry and flurry it
made in our household for we had settled down to fill up this week with fruit canning, fruit drying,
dressmaking, etc. I would be very glad to pay the expense of the telegram in such cases that we might have
more time for preparation and considering our distance from the wharves it would be a great saving of time
to us if the information regarding persons arriving here was made as accurate as possible. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 56]
Dec. 21, 1894
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 2 of 2
I am glad to learn that the readings for the week of prayer have come. I am just sending you a
telegram announcing the safe arrival of our friends and approving of your proposals for week of prayer. I shall
forward your letter to Eld. McCullough today asking that he and Eld. Corliss cooperate in the work of the
week of prayer in our churches in this vicinity.
I have had a little conversation with Bro. Sisley and shall spend as much time with him as possible.
The discussion closed on Wednesday evening. I regard it as a complete victory for cause of truth. I
was pleasantly surprised with the clearness and the power with which Eld. Corliss presented the truth. He did
better and better to the last and by the avoiding personalities and all small, narrow and tricky ways, he won
the confidence of a large part of the congregation.
When the debate began his appearance was greeted with silence and that of Mr. Picton with
applause. At the close of the debate it was just the reverse and during the last two nights it was very hard
work for the chairman to suppress disapproval when Mr. Picton was talking and approval when Eld. Corliss
was speaking. Mr. Melville is a good chairman and did excellent work in keeping order in the meeting.
We can only explain the weakness of Mr. Picton’s efforts by the fact that we asked the Lord to send
confusion upon those who opposed the truth. Tonight and Sunday evening special meetings are appointed to
expose “Adventism” and we ask you to unite your prayers with ours that God will confound those who
oppose His truth.
By the last American mail Dr. M.G. Kellogg received the sad intelligence of the death of his wife. She
died the last week of our camp-meeting at Ashfield.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 57]
Dec. 20, 1894
Mrs. M.H. Tuxford
Page 1 of 2
Dear Sister: I have your letter of recent date accompanied by the statement regarding the books sold and other
statistics. Please accept my thanks for this information.
I have spent some time during the last few days in preparing copy for No. 2 of the Church Visitor I
think it will be a good number and I regret that its issue will be rather late. Thinking that it may be of service
to you to have advanced copies of some of the articles I shall send you with this as much as I can. If there is
anything in it which strikes you unfavorably, please give me your criticism at as early a time as possible. I will
also send you a list of the addresses of our church and S.S. Officers and I will ask you to request Bro.
Mountain to prepare and S.S. Officers and I will ask you to request Bro. Mountain to prepare a similar list for
New Zealand and to send a copy to me. There are times when we need such a list very much and the
experience of preparing it will be very useful to the Secretary.
I thank you most heartily for the revised copy of the report of the workings of your Society, I think
we can make good use of it in our report to the General Conference.
I enclose copy of a recent letter to Eld. Wilson and will not repeat my views regarding the matters
therein treated.
The discussion closed last evening at Ashfield. I regard it as a complete victory for the cause of truth.
I was pleasantly surprised with the clearness and the power with which Eld. Corliss presented the truth. He
did better and better to the last and by avoiding personalities and all small, narrow, tricky ways he won the
confidence of a large part of the congregation.
When the debate began, his appearance was greeted with silence and that of Mr. Picton with
applause. At the close of the debate it was just the reverse, and during the last two nights it was very hard
was speaking. Mr. Melville is a good chairman and did excellent work in keeping the order in the meetings.
confusion upon those who oppose the truth. Tomorrow evening and Sunday evening special meetings are
appointed to expose “Adventism” and we ask you to unite your prayers with ours that God will confound
those who oppose His truth.
This morning at 8:10, the Nineveh came to dock bringing our African friends. They are Bro. Harman
Lindsay and wife (daughter of Sr. Wessels), Bro. Sisley, and Sr. Wessels and her two youngest sons. They have
had a comfortable passage from Cape Town and from Melbourne and are enjoying good health and excellent
spirits. Tomorrow Bro. Sisley goes to Morrisett and quite a number of us will go up the first of next week.
[page break]
[7 – WCW – 58]
Dec. 20, 1894
Mrs. M.H. Tuxford
Page 2 of 2
We shall endeavor to hold a week of prayer at the time appointed. The notice is short, but if we
postpone there will be greater trouble.
By last American mail, Dr. M.G. Kellogg received information of the death of his wife. She was, as you
may have heard a great sufferer and quite incapable of doing anything for herself. She died the last week of
our camp-meeting at Ashfield.
With kindest regards to yourself and your co-laborers,
I am yours truly,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 59]
Dec. 20, 1894
Joseph Hare, Jr.
Kaeo, N.Z.
My Dear Brother: With this I send you copies of two or three letters which you may feel it worth your time to read and
as they contain most of the news which I can furnish I will not waste time by repeating.
There are many things which I would like to write to you about but my time is very fully occupied and
I will ask you to accept these copies instead of the lengthy letter. I shall hope in a week or ten days to have
something more to say to you regarding our school plans.
Yours in great haste,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 60]
Dec. 20, 1894
Arthur Mountain, Secretary
N.Z. Conference
Dear Brother: I presume that you have received a copy of the Church Visitor No. 1, and you will notice that it
contains a summary report of the membership of the church for the preceding quarter, also a short letter
from Eld. McCullough to the church clerks. We would be glad to furnish in the Church Visitor a similar report
from New Zealand and a short letter from you each quarter.
I shall take the liberty to send you with this copy of letters which I have just written to Eld. Wilson
and to Mrs. Tuxford and I will add a word regarding the importance of promptness in writing out and
forwarding reports of Conference Committee meetings. It often occurs that if reports are not promptly
furnished, they are of little or no value.
Sometime ago you had an important committee meeting and then your president came over here
supposing he had the minutes with him. He came for the purpose of discussing the matters considered in
that meeting and the object of his coming was largely defeated by the absence of the report. Great injury was
done your conference by the failure of its secretary to furnish the minutes at the time when they would have
been of service.
I am rejoiced to hear of the progress of the work in Wellington, and I look forward with pleasure to
the time when I shall meet you at the next camp-meeting. With kindest regards to yourself and Sr. Mountain.
I am yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 61]
Dec. 20, 1894
Brn. Baker, Hare, and Hickox
Dear Friends: With this I send you some copies letters which I thought you would be pleased to read and some of
which you may desire to read to some of our brethren where you are laboring. In this last I refer particularly
to the Polynesian letters which I regard as of unusual interest.
The discussion at Ashfield closed last evening. I regard it as a complete victory for the cause of truth.
I was pleasantly surprised with the clearness and the power with which Eld. Corliss presented the truth. He
did better and better to the last and by avoiding personalities and all small narrow, tricky ways he won the
confidence of a large part of the congregation.
applause. At the close of the debate it was just the reverse, and during the last two nights it was very hard
was speaking. Mr. Melville is a good chairman and did excellent work in keeping order in the meetings.
appointed to expose “Adventist” we ask you to unite your prayers with ours that God will confound those
who oppose the truth.
Today at 8:10 a.m. the Nineveh came in to dock bringing with her our friends from Africa, viz.
Harman Lindsay and wife, Bro. Sisley, and Sr. Wessels and her two youngest sons. They have had a
comfortable passage from Cape Town and from Melbourne and are enjoying good health and excellent
spirits. Tomorrow Bro. Sisley goes to Morrisett and quite a number of us will go up the first of next week.
We shall endeavor to hold a week of prayer at the time appointed. The notice is short but if we
postpone there will be greater trouble.
By the last American mail Dr. M.G. Kellogg received information of the death of his wife. You are all
aware that she has been for many years a great sufferer and quite unable to assist herself in any way. I know
that your sympathies will go out towards our brother in his affliction.
I am yours truly,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 62]
Dec. 18, 1894
John J. Gibson
London
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother;
A few days ago I sent you quite a package of enclosures which I trust you have received and now I
must write about some of the matters mentioned in yours of Aug. 24 and Oct. 19.
I was much pleased with what you wrote about Capt. Masters and his work in India. I see that the
Mission Board has written them a very kind letter also which will greatly encourage them.
What you write about Lenker is a great surprise to me. I had gathered from the letters of Wilcox and
the references in the papers that he was superintendent of the canvassing work there.
I am confident that Masters will be pleased to deal directly with you. I fully agree with you that India
should be well managed. A little bad work done in the beginning will stand in the way of faithful men going
there or it may prevent good men from remaining.
I trust that you will examine carefully our plans for Queensland and Malaysia. I shall be glad to hear
your criticism of these plans. It seems to me that it is time we were sending forth men into these unoccupied
fields. Please encourage and help us all you can.
It is gratifying to know that our brethren in Australia and America can general approve of the
transfer of the canvassing business to the Tract Society and now we appeal to you to do all that is in your
power to secure the publication in London of those books which are likely to be in large demand in Great
Britain and the colonies. I need not repeat what I have written to the Book Committee about this, but I will
ask you to write about it as freely as if all the propositions had been made to you.
You will see that we have offered the “Life of Christ” to the G.C.A. I wish you would write to them
about having it properly illustrated. In past years I took quite an active part in the fight for good illustrations,
but now I am in the wrong part of the world to be of any service and I am somewhat wearied by the
continual demands made by our canvassers for changes in the pictures. I think that the publishers are the
one to take the burden of illustrating the books.
In our plans for the publication of Mother’s latest manuscript “The Sermon on the Mount”, we
propose to leave the work of illustrating the book with the publishers. We trust that you will heartily
cooperate with the Echo Co. in this matter.
You may notice from my letters that I am not satisfied with the style in which your London printing is
done. I refer particularly to the size and style of page. Our customers like a large page with good size type and
leaded and I can tell you that I have been sadly disappointed with our new books that you have issued to see
it come out with the small black page and broad margin. Our customers do not like it and we [page break]
[7 – WCW – 63]
Dec. 18, 1894
John J. Gibson
London
Page 2 of 2
do not like it and we beg of you to make a change. If you present printers cannot give you another style of
work, I hope you will find another office that will. I am frequently receiving letters from our canvassers saying
that our “Helps” would sell much better if we would use large type. They are very much pleased with our
Australian edition of Steps to Christ. I think we shall print the Sermon on the Mount in small pica leaded, and
I do not think that we should use smaller type for those books and pamphlets which we wish to have a
popular sale.
Dec. 20. The discussion at Ashfield closed last evening. I regard it as a complete victory for the cause
of truth. I was pleasantly surprised with the clearness and the power with which Eld. Corliss presented the
truth. He did better and better to the last and by avoiding personalities and all small, narrow, tricky ways he
won the confidence of a large part of the congregation.
When the debate began, his appearance was greeted with silence and that of Mr. Picton with
applause. At the close of the debate it was just the reverse and during the last two nights it was very hard
was speaking. Mr. Melville (who was formerly chairman of committees in the House of Assembly in this
Colony) is a good chairman and did excellent work in keeping order in the meeting.
appointed to expose “Adventism”, we pray that God will confound those who seek to oppose His truth.
Today at 8:10 a.m. the Nineveh came into dock bringing with her our friends from Africa viz. Harman
Lindsay and wife, Bro. Sisley and Sr. Wessels and her two youngest sons. They have had a comfortable
passage from the Cape and from Melbourne and are in good health and excellent spirits. Tomorrow Bro.
Sisley goes to Morrisett and quite a number of us will go up the first of next week. Our friends will leave us on
the mail boat leaving here in January for San Francisco. They are en route to the General Conference.
With kind regards,
I am yours truly,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 64]
Dec. 20, 1894
Eld. J.E. Graham
c/o Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: I have received two very welcome letters from you which I must now endeavor to answer for the
mail steamer leaves Sydney next Monday. We were greatly cheered by the receipt of your letter from
Raratonga and I have taken the liberty to have it copied and sent it to our brethren in various localities. I also
made extracts from it for publication in the Echo.
We are all encouraged as we see the guiding hand of God directing your movements and opening the
way before you and we believe that all your movements and opening the way before you and we believe that
all our people will be encouraged when they see you return from a short but effective trip. It is plain to us
that the interference with your plans for Raiatea has resulted in a great benefit to Raratonga.
Although we were much disappointed that you could not visit Raiatea according to your first plans
we now see that your caution and moderation has worked out for the benefit of the cause.
The work here in Sydney since our camp-meeting at Ashfield is advancing amid difficulties. There is
much interest and also much opposition at Ashfield. There are between 20 and 30 keeping the Sabbath and
now the ministers of the various churches have united to crush “Adventism”. They are visiting diligently from
house to house and have united to support a debater from the “Disciples” who arranged for a discussion of
six nights with Eld. Corliss. The debate began on the evening of the 11th and closed on Wednesday last. There
have been large and attentive audiences each evening and as the debate drew towards the close the interest
became greater. At the beginning it was apparent that the sympathies of a large portion of the congregation
was with Mr. Picton, the Disciple Debater, but as the discussion proceeded it was plain to be seen that the
truth of God was being uplifted in the minds of the people.
The discussion closed last evening. I regard it as a complete victory for the cause of truth. I was
pleasantly surprised with the clearness and power with which Eld. Corliss presented the truth. He did better
and better to the last and by avoiding personalities had all small, narrow, tricky ways, he won the confidence
of the congregation.
applause. At the close of the debate it was just the reverse and during the last two nights it was hard work for
the chairman to suppress disapproval when Mr. Picton was talking and approval when Eld. Corliss was
speaking.
confusion upon those who oppose the truth. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 65]
Dec. 20, 1894
Eld. J.E. Graham
c/o Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal.
Page 2 of 2
Several of our friends from South Africa arrived here yesterday by the Nineveh en route to the
General Conference. They are Harman Lindsay and wife, Bro. Sisley, and Sr. Wessels and her two youngest
sons. They had a comfortable passage from Cape Town and from Melbourne where the steamer first called
and they are in good health and excellent spirits. They will leave us again on the January steamer for San
Francisco.
Today Bro. Sisley has gone to meet Bro. Rousseau at Morrisett, the location that we have selected
for our school. We bought a tract of 1500 acres there some few months back and now Bro. Rousseau has
gone down there to make preparations for erecting the necessary school buildings and Bro. Sisley will counsel
with him whilst there about them.
During our recent camp-meeting we had a visit from Eld. J.M. Cole from Norfolk Island. He returned
to the island on the 12th and took 7 of our friends with him on the Birksgate vi. Bro. S.T. Belden and wife and
C.J. Anderson and wife who go with him to Norfolk Island as self-supporting missionaries, and C. Baron and
wife, who went as far as Lord Howe’s Islands where they will locate also as self-supporting workers.
While in Victoria, Eld. Cole presented to our churches there the importance of our working for the
Kanakas and Asiatics who have come to Australia, teaching them Bible truths which they in time will carry
home to their native lands.
Our Union Conference Committee have submitted plans to the Mission Board for an extended
pioneering expedition up through Queensland touching at Thursday Island and Port Darwin, then proceeding
through Malaysia as far as Singapore. I believe that this trip will open up fields for teachers in Queensland for
missionaries in the islands north of Australia and for some of our Afrikaner canvassers speaking both Dutch
and English in the West Indies. I believe that the time has fully come for the pioneering of these fields.
By the last American mail which arrived here Dr. M.G. Kellogg received intelligence of the death of
his wife who has been such a sufferer for so many years. The news was quite unexpected by him the last
letters he received from her giving him no intimation that the end was near. She died during the last week of
our camp-meeting.
I rejoice to say that Mother’s health is good generally. The few hot days which we experienced last
week were somewhat overcoming for her but cooler days have now set in and she has revived again.
I shall be glad to hear from you as often as you can write and with kind regards I must now close this,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 66]
Dec. 21, 1893
Harman Lindsay
Review & Herald, Battle Creek, Mich.
Dear Brother: I must now answer your letters of Oct. and Nov. I think I have already answered yours of Sept. 13.
To begin with I can say in very few words about all we have to say, Mother and I are very well
pleased with you have done and the way you have done it, and we desire that the settlement shall go
forward and hope it may be consummated soon. I think there is no objection to Mother signing such a
statement as is proposed by Mr. Boal and we hope to receive it by the next mail. We are glad to know that
you have been able to rent the cottage and a portion of the other building. I have supposed that when the
Ministers school was opened that such places would be in good demand I hope it will be so.
When you have time, I wish you would look at my house and lot on Kendall Street and see what you
think it is worth. I have some thoughts that it will be best for me to bring my children over here and in this
case it will be best for me to sell the place.
At the present time your nephew Harman Lindsay with his wife, mother-in-law, and two brothers-inlaw are making a visit. They are in good health and good spirits and we enjoy their company very much.
Yesterday Bro. Sisley was here and today he has gone to Morrisett to meet Bro. Rousseau. I will
enclose with this a short letter to some of my brethren which gives most of the news. With kindest regards to
you and hoping to hear from you often,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 67]
Dec. 22, 1894
Dr. J.H. Kellogg
Sanitarium, Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother:
I will now write briefly in answer to yours of Sept. 17 and Nov. 5 and will tell you how the battle is
going with us over here.
I am glad that you were pleased with the picturesque Australia. I intended to speak of it in my letters
to you and forgot all about it when I was writing. I thought there were some things in it which might interest
you and your friends and I am pleased to know that it reached you safely.
We were deeply interested in all you write us about the visit of Dr. Caro and the missionary socials. I
believe such gatherings are exceedingly helpful for they diffuse information and arouse missionary zeal. We
are much encouraged that you have so many promising students and that there are already 17 graduates.
I have heard it rumored that Ned Caro will return to New Zealand after spending a time in England. I
should like to have your opinion as to what he is best fitted to do. I have done what I could to encourage the
New Zealand Conference to open the way for Dr. M.G. Kellogg and A.W. Semmons to labor some in that
conference, but for economical reasons, they have not invited them to that field. Since the camp-meeting
Bro. Semmons has been engaged in Bible work at Ashfield and he is well liked in that work. But I have been
thinking that if we could establish a bathhouse in Sydney where he could pay his way wholly or in part that
his opportunities for missionary work would be nearly as good as when he gives his time fully to visiting and
Bible readings. We would be glad to have some advice from you regarding the establishment of a bathhouse.
I thank you most heartily for the copies of letters sent us. We are much interested in the work in
Mexico. We regard it as a most successful experiment and we hope that its success will inspire confidence
and courage to undertake similar work in other countries. We have made abstracts of these letters, copies of
which we have sent to all our leading workers.
I thank you for writing us so fully regarding persons who might be helpful to Mother. Some of the
persons mentioned we know and we hold them in high esteem. If your letter has been received two or three
months ago I think we should have telegraphed for Miss Nelson, but since our school has closed and Mother
had an opportunity to select from among the students those best suited to help her, she has been fortunate
in getting some good help and may not need to send for one to come from the States until schools open
again. At present her household is organized as follows, 1st, Miss Emily Campbell is her secretary, bookkeeper
and traveling companion. 2nd, Miss May Lacey is her nurse and general housekeeper. 3rd, Miss Maud Camp,
formerly her cook, is seamstress. 4th, [page break]
[7 – WCW – 68]
Dec. 22, 1894
Dr. J.H. Kellogg
Sanitarium, Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 2 of 2
Miss Annie Ulrich is cook. These workers are all willing, intelligent, and as skillful as can be found among
those who have not received special training in a school like yours. If there should be any change in the
working force so that we require help from the States I shall advise Mother to send for Miss Nelson. She may
decide to send for Miss Mary McEnterfer but I hope not, first because she has not so fully recovered her
health and former activity as she thinks she has, and second, because she and Miss Campbell are so similar in
temperament that it would be difficult to arrange a division of responsibility.
I am interested in all that you say about your work and your finances. I think you are making a
mistake in refusing to let the Sanitarium pay you what they desire, which I suppose would be three or four
times the salary you accept. I most sincerely hope that among your many young drs. some will prove to be
real care-takers.
On Friday Dec. 14 Sr. Wessels with her two youngest sons, her daughter and son-in-law, Harman
Lindsay, in company with N.C. Sisley, landed in Melbourne after a prosperous voyage of 20 days from Cape
Town. They spent Sabbath, Sunday, and Monday in Melbourne and then came on in the Nineveh reaching
here Thursday morning Dec. 20. Bro. Sisley went up to Morrisett the next morning and the balance of the
party are here at Mother’s. We enjoy their visit very much. They expect to sail for San Francisco on the
Alameda January 20.
I may enclose with this a copy of one of my letters giving description of some of our work.
With kindest regards and hoping to hear from you often,
I am yours truly,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 69]
Dec. 23, 1894
Eld. F.M. Wilcox
Review & Herald, Battle Creek.
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Brother: I must now write you a few lines in answer to yours of Nov. 8. I appreciate your words and kindly
sympathy and I hope soon to have something to present to you for the consideration of the board regarding
our school plans, and our prospect for their execution.
Last Thursday Dec. 20 at 8:10 a.m. the Nineveh came to dock in Sydney bringing Brn. N.C. Sisley,
Harman Lindsay and wife, Sr. Wessels and her two youngest sons. The next morning Bro. Sisley went to
Morrisett and the balance of the party are here at Mother’s place. We enjoy their company very much and I
hope that their visit will result in a closer connection between the work in the Australasian and the African
Colonies. The Wessels expect to leave here in about two weeks for New Zealand and to sail from Auckland for
San Francisco on the Alameda January 26.
In your letter you speak of some of the perplexities of your work. I presume there is no one, expect
W.A. Spicer, who can appreciate these as well as I. I have watched the development of the work with great
interest and have suggested that someone should be associated with you who has been in foreign lands and
has gained a large experience in those things which can only be learned by visiting various countries
becoming acquainted with the people and their characteristics and with the workers and their work. To this
end I have at various times suggested that Eld. E.H. Gates be connected with your office if his health would
permit of his residing in Mich. It would be a great help to you and to the general work which you serve if
someone was associated with you who has been in the mission field and thus has had not only a sympathy
for the workers enlarged but has also a personal knowledge of the difficulties and perplexities to be met.
I read with deep interest all you sent me regarding the work in Mashonaland. I sincerely hope that
A.J. Breed will be chosen to superintend that mission. I believe he is well fitted for that line of work and I
think his health would improve with this change of labor and responsibility. His experience as a member of
the General Conference Committee would give him great advantage. I.H. Evans may be just as good a man for
Mashonaland but I think he would be more seriously missed at home. I would rather see him go on the
General Conference Committee and act as District Superintendent for a time and then he could take a much
larger field than Mashonaland.
On Wednesday Dec. 12, Eld. J.M. Cole returned to Norfolk by the Birksgate. He took with him two
families to Norfolk and one to Lord Howe’s Island. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 70]
Dec. 23, 1894
Eld. F.M. Wilcox
Page 2 of 3
Bro. Charles Baron is a man about 26 years of age. He is a good carpenter and has had experience as
salesman in grocery and general merchandise store. He is a faithful and fairly successful canvasser. He has a
good knowledge of the truth and an earnest desire to be a self-supporting missionary. His wife is an
intelligent and kind hearted little woman and they have one child about a year old. They left here intending
to stop at Lord Howe’s Island and get their living there by raising what they would need to eat and by doing
carpenter work as there was opportunity. We took the liberty to promise them assistance to the amount of
£12 for the year, I shall be pleased if the Mission Board instructs us to be a be a little more liberal for I think
that they deserve and will need a little more.
Bro. S.T. Belden and wife you are acquainted with and I need not describe their capabilities. The
other family selected by Eld. Cole for Norfolk is C.J. Anderson and wife and a child about 9 months old. I think
Bro. Anderson is about 28 or 30 years old. He has been a brick-maker, a miner, and a shoe-maker. For two
years he carried a license from the Australian Conference but at that time he was lacking three things,
general education, fluency of speech, and polish. Since he quit Conference employ he has spent two years in
our Bible school where he has made great improvement and shown that he has a good mind and is a faithful
and conscientious student.
His wife is a kind hearted and discreet woman who will not undo his work by injudicious talking .
These two families expect to receive £2 a month or £24 each per year.
By the next mail I hope to send you a complete statement of what we have advanced to Eld. Cole
and to these workers on account of the F.M.B.
I was glad to read the copy of your letter to Capt. Masters. I am pleased that the board has given him
such hearty words of encouragement, I wish we had more such men that we could send out.
Accept my hearty thanks for the copies of letters you have sent to me. I hope the Mission Board will
let you have an assistant whom you can train to make abstracts of letters received so as to cop and send
abroad those parts only which are of general interest and who in turn can train those entrusted with the
copying how to do their work carefully and in good shape. I know it will be hard for you to take time to train
new copyists but you can sometimes help them a lot by letting them study the style followed by their
predecessors as it appears in the letter books I think it is worthwhile to have all beginners thoroughly
instructed and to insist upon good work.
I have ready your copy for the manual and I must praise you for your courage and daring to
undertake it. I regard it as a difficult task for anyone and especially difficult for one who has not traveled
expensively in the field where the workers are. In the main I agreed with Eld. Haskell in his criticisms and as
soon as I can take time I shall undertake to write out for you what I would like to see printed on some of the
[page break]
[7 – WCW – 71]
Dec. 23, 1894
Eld. F.M. Wilcox
Page 3 of 3
topics treated. I believe that it would be more helpful to you for me to write what I believe should be
presented than to criticize what has been written and there are a few subjects with which I am so familiar
that I believe I can present something that will be a help to you. I wish I could send it by this mail but it is not
possible.
As soon as I can I desire to write some suggestions about the Home Missionary but it is late and I
must now close.
Your brother and fellow laborer,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 72]
Dec. 23, 1894
Prof. W.W. Prescott
College, Battle Creek, Mich.
Dear Brother: Tomorrow is mail day and I must write you a few lines in acknowledgment of yours of Oct. 23. The
Nineveh which sailed from Cape Town Nov. 23 arrived in Sydney Dec. 20, bringing Bro. Sisley, Harman
Lindsay, Mother Wessels, and three of her children. Bro .Sisley went to Morrisett the next morning and the
balance of the party go up with me tomorrow morning.
I am heartily sorry that we are not better prepared to present to Sisley definite plans. If he is willing
to unite with us in forming plans his coming will be a great help, but if he confines himself to the work of an
architect I fear he will lose patience with us for we are very slow.
I am pleased to hear what you write about Bro. Lacey I think he will be good help in our school and
that we shall need him as soon as his course is completed.
Accepted my hearty thanks for the circular letter about the opening of our schools and also for the
information given in your letter about the Healdsburg College. I shall be more than good to learn that the
fears which I expressed in a recent letter are groundless, nevertheless I beg of you to keep a close watch of
the work in Healdsburg during this year. I will send you with this copy of my last letter to J.I. Gibson believing
that you will be interested in the criticisms and suggestions there made about publications issued in London.
With kindest regards and in great haste,
I am your brother,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 73]
Dec. 23, 1894
Eld. C.H. Jones
Pacific Press, Oakland, Cal.
Dear Brother: The American mail closes tomorrow and I must write you a short letter in answer to yours of Sept. 19
and Nov. 13.
I have carefully read what you have written to me and Mother about the deal with Brn. Leininger and
Lockwood, and I am well pleased with what you have done. I understand that Mother is writing you by this
mail so I need not enter into particulars.
Mother is also writing you about the Scott Mortgage. I think her plan is to request you to negotiate a
compromise asking you in case of perplexity to counsel with Harman Lindsay and to look to him for signature
of the release of the mortgage for he has, I think, a general Power of Attorney. If it should prove that his
power of attorney is only for Mich. you can send the papers here for signature or have a power of attorney
drawn up in your name for Mother to sign.
I am rather glad to learn that Morrison is engaged to teach in Healdsburg College. The unfavorable
characteristics of his work and temperament so reluctantly confessed in your last letter where understood by
some of our workers here and they were mentioned in our counsels and this prevented a unanimous vote in
favor of his coming.
We are now planning to have W.M. Crothers act as District Canvassing Agent for Australasia and we
believe that this will be better for the work and less expensive than to bring over Bro. Morrison.
I am pleased that you have appointed Walter Miller as superintendent of your factory. The
experience will be a great value to him wherever his work may be.
I thank you for the opinions about William Sanders, Simon Peter, Fred Holmes, Frank Kelly, and
others, I am interested in them all. I will send you with this copies of recent letters which will give you more
news than I have time to write this afternoon.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 74]
Dec. 23, 1894
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: Tomorrow is mail day and I must write you a short letter in acknowledgement of yours of Nov. 8.
Our friends from Africa reached Melbourne Friday Dec. 14, they spent Sabbath, Sunday, and Monday
there and then came on to Sydney reaching here Thursday morning. Friday morning Bro. Sisley went up to
Morrisett and is there with Bro. Rousseau. Lindsay and wife, Sr. Wessels and her two sons are here. We go to
Morrisett tomorrow morning and shall visit Newcastle before returning.
I will enclose to you copy of a letter to J.E. Graham which gives my views of the recent discussion at
Ashfield. We wait with great anxiety to see what position the people will take now that the discussion is over.
I suppose that Canright’s books will be used freely and every effort will be made to prejudice the people
against the truth. I will send you copies of two tracts lately brought out in reply to some of his attacks please
tell us what you think of them.
I appreciate to some extent the many burdens which rest upon you all the year round, and the
overwhelming accumulation of perplexities which you have to meet after returning from Europe. You have
our sympathy and our constant prayers. I have often determined to read again your recent letters and to
endeavor to answer your questions regarding the general work. It seems difficult to get my mind upon these
subjects by long absence I am losing my hold on the General Conference affairs but I will try to give these
matters study before the next mail day.
I thank you for the reports of the District Superintendents. I have not read them yet, but anticipate
much pleasure in doing so and from them I shall gather plans regarding our Australasian reports for the
General Conference.
We thank you for sending us proofs of Holser’s articles. They are intensely interesting and we believe
that much good will come from this agitation of the Sabbath question. But we regret to see the triumphant
tone in which he speaks of the kindness shown him and the freedom accorded. I fear that this will weigh
against us when some other persons are called upon to pass over the same road.
I wish I knew what to advise you regarding District No. 2, it is too large a field to be grasped by one
mind in its present condition. I hope to see during the next year the organization of some parts of that field in
to Conferences. I think Eld. Loughborough would have a good influence in that field, but it may be that he is
needed more in Europe. I think in that field, but it may be that he is needed more in Europe. I think that Eld.
A.J. Breed would be a good man to manage a portion of the field should you decide to divide it or to give the
superintendent an assistant, but in my letter to Wilcox I have expressed a decided preference for Eld. Breed
as superintendent of the mission in Zambezi.
I do not feel confident to give any counsel regarding the colored [page break]
[7 – WCW – 75]
Dec. 23, 1894
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Page 2 of 2
people and the color line. If I have opportunity during the next month to submit these questions to Mother
and if she has an opinion to express I will forward it to you.
As regards a school for the blacks, I have no hesitation in saying that I believe it is our duty to
establish a school for them and I believe that this action ought not to be delayed.
We are very much pleased to hear of the reaction of sentiment which has followed the bitter
persecution of our people in Georgia. We hope it may work the same in every place.
I see from the minutes of the Mission Board that it is proposed for Eld. Gates to go to the West
Indies. I presume he would make a wise superintendent. But he should be careful where he locates and how
he works. I have hoped that you would station him for a time at Honolulu for that is the metropolis of eastern
Polynesia, and there are interests in that place which but few men are fit to handle properly.
I hope that Herbert Lacey will be encouraged to come to Australia as soon as his course of studies is
completed. I trust we shall be ready to resume our school work by that time.
As regards the Educational Journal I have no doubt but that it would be useful but I think it should be
hurried into existence at too great a sacrifice, of other plans of work. If we must choose between waiting
another year for the journal and postponing for a year the sending of Prescott to England, Scandinavia,
Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, and Australia, I should be very emphatic in urging that the Journal wait
and that Prescott’s trip to the schools in Europe and the English Colonies be not delayed.
I thank you most heartily for giving so much attention to the matter of securing suitable help for
Mother. I think that Miss Nelson would be her first choice and Sarah McEnterfer her second choice. Probably
she will take time to think of this because at present she is getting along so nicely with help which she has
secured here. I will enclose what I have written to Dr. Kellogg about this and I will add to this that matters are
moving along more satisfactorily in the household than at any time since we reached Australia. I will close
right here for lack of time to write further,
Yours in love,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 76]
Eld. J.M. Cole
In account with the Australasian Union Conference.
EXPENSES.
1894
Dec. 12 cash to Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £30: 4: 3
“ 12 cash to Belden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17: 1: 0
“ 12 cash to Baron
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10: 2: 0
__________
£63: 7: 9
__________
RECEIVE
Dec. 6 cash per W.C. White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £18: 0: 0
“ 10 cash per W.C. White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20:14: 0
“ 12 cash per W.C. White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12: 0: 0
“ 9 cash per W.C. White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7: 0: 0
“ 12 cash per W.C. White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5:13: 2
_________
£63: 7: 9
_________
[7 – WCW – 77]
Dec. 23, 1894
Misses Ella & Mabel White
67 North Kendall St., Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 1 of 2
Dear Friends: Your father has very kindly accorded me the privilege of writing to you this mail in his stead owing to
his having to go into the country this morning with some friends who have just lately arrived from South
Africa and who are on their way to America to attend the General Conference. They came here on the
Nineveh last Thursday and your father has had his time fully occupied in attending to them and seeing that
they see as much of this country as time will permit before they go away in addition to his many other duties.
Yesterday he was very busy having to administer baptism to two persons who desire to unite with our church
here and in the evening he had to attend the usual missionary meeting which we hold here every Sunday
evening. Between those meetings he was dictating letters to me to send by the American mail which leaves
today and this took his time right up to the last moment before the meeting last evening. This morning he
had to go away early with his visitors and had only time to tell me that he would like me to write you a few
lines to let you know that he is well and also that you should know he never forgets you or fails to write you
unless some great obstacle arises.
I am therefore pleased that I am deputed to fulfill this mission and I also wish that I had more time at
my disposal that I might write you more news than I am afraid I shall be able to tell you with the time I have
left.
Your grandma has been very busy of late driving around the orchards in this neighborhood buying
fruit for you know this is our fruit season. Whilst I expect you are at this time going about with warm furs on,
I am sitting in your father’s office which looks out upon a nice lawn and flower garden and looks over a nice
range of country with the windows open and the warm sunshine pouring down upon the lawn. So we have all
our nice fruits in season now and this is the time to can up for the winter. Your grandma has bought I could
not tell you how many cases of apricots and peaches and Bro. Byron Belden and Sr. Belden are as busy as
bees canning it. They are also going to can a lot for our school so that they will be busy canning fruit for some
weeks to come.
On the 12th of this month Uncle Stephen Belden and wife went away with Eld. Cile of Norfolk Island a
beautiful Island in the Pacific Ocean about 1000 miles from here. Eld. Cole told me that the place was more
like paradise than anything he had ever seen and the climate is also very nice.
Your father has gone away with our friends to Morrisett where we are going to build a school. We
have bought a large tract of land down near there on Dora Creek, a beautiful stream of water which runs
down from our land to Lake Macquarie near Newcastle, the place from where we [page break]
[7 – WCW – 78]
Dec. 23, 1894
Misses Ella & Mabel White
67 North Kendall St., Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 2 of 2
our coal supply. Bro. & Sr. Rousseau are down there now making preparation for commencing building. Bro.
& Sr. Lawrence I suppose you know are also down there and now your father has taken these friends down
there that they may see it for themselves and tell our American brethren all about it.
I must tell you however, who our friends are for you may know them. There is Bro Harman Lindsay
and his wife, and Bro. Sisley and Sr. Wessels and her two youngest sons. Bro. Sisley has come here to help us
about building our school and he is also at Dora Creek as we call the place, so you see, you have a college at
Battle Creek, and we are going to have one at Dora Creek and it is a very lovely creek and we have a very nice
boat on it which I have pulled when down there once when your grandma came down.
I have a great deal of news that I should like to tell you for I am very fond of writing to young friends
but my time will not permit and if I do not close shortly I may miss the mail and that will never do. So I would
just like to say one word before I close about the persons who were baptized yesterday by your father. This
sister was sent to me on some private business of hers upon which she desired to have my advice and whilst
she was at our house my wife was making up some Little Friends to send away to some people we know and
this sister asked us if those were some of the papers which the Adventists read and I said yes, and I asked her
if she would like me to give her some for her children, for she had two with her and she said she would like
one to read so we gave her two or three and some Echoes and now she has become a Seventh-day Adventist.
This is only a few weeks ago and it shows me how much we may do for the dear Lord if we would only accept
the opportunities which are offered to us. We must try and make all the use we cannot only of the “Little
Friends” but of everything with God has given us to carry on His message to others.
I am so sorry that I must stop now and I do not seem to have told you anything as yet, but you will
know at all events that your father is well and grandma and all those associated with her in this house.
You will ask yourselves the question who is it that wrote this letter, well I am your father’s
stenographer and rejoice to have the pleasure of writing to you for him even this time.
With kindest regards to you and hoping that I may someday have the pleasure of meeting you
personally,
I am yours sincerely,
A.G. Mackenzie
[7 – WCW – 79]
C.J. Anderson
In Account with the Australasian Union Conference
Expenses
:
1894
Dec. 1 Two fares Melb. to 2: 0: 0 :
Sydney
“ 1 Frt. H.H. Goods to 12:0
Melbourne
“ 11 Cartage in Sydney 3: 0
“ 11 Frt. Goods to Norfolk 2:5:0
“ 11 2 Fares Syd. “ “ 8: 0: 0
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
_________
Received
1894
Dec. 11. On expense 13: 0: 0
“
“
“
6. On Acct.
12: 5: 0
11. Bill Groceries 4: 2: 3
11. Frt. on “
17: 0
____________
£13: 0: 0
£30: 4: 3
S.T. Belden
In Account with the Australasian Union Conference
Expenses
:
1894
Dec. 11 2 Fares Syd. to
7: 0: 0
Norfolk
“ 11 Prt. on H.H. Goods 2: 5:6 :
“ 12 Bill Groceries
6:15:6
(1-0-3) frt.
:
:
:
Receipts
1894
Dec. 11 Cash on Expenses 17: 1: 0
:
:
________
:
£17: 1: 0
:
___________
£17: 1: 0
[7 – WCW – 80]
C. Baron
An Account with Australasian Union Conference
Expenses.
:
1894
Dec. 11. 2 Fares to Lord
How Is.
“ 11. Cartage to Steamer
4: 0: 0
7: 0
:
:
:
:
:
:
Receipts.
1894
Dec. 11. On Expenses
“
“
“
11. “ Account
12. Bill Groceries
12. Frt. on “
4: 7: 0
9: 0: 0
2: 5: 6
10: 6
___________
:
_________
£4: 7: 0
:
£16: 2: 6
:
_________
___________
[7 – WCW – 81]
Dec. 25, 1894
W.D. Faulkhead
Dear Brother: Yesterday morning Eld. W.C. White went with our African friends to Morrisett and just before leaving
he desired me to forward to you the enclosed accounts with the request that you would be good enough to
forward to him the amount he has advanced to these brethren.
I know that it was his desire that I should send you these statements in a different form, but as he
was hurried at the time and as he had to give me instructions regarding the American mail I could not quite
gather in what form he wished me to send them to you. You will see however that he has treated the whole
matter as passing through the hands of Eld. J.M. Cole and you will find a summary of the accounts in his
name together with the detailed accounts which go to make up the account debited to Eld. Cole.
Eld. White will return to Morrisett at the end of the present week so I shall be glad for you to give
the matter your immediate attention.
I know that you are well posted with what has been transpiring here of late so I will not delay by
repeating it here but I will do myself the pleasure of writing you again on another occasion.
With kind regards to yourself and Sr. Faulkhead.
I am yours truly,
A.G. Mackenzie
[7 – WCW – 82]
Dec. 25, 1894
P. Sydney Nott, Esq.
Surveyor &c., Hunter Street, Sydney
Dear Sir: Referring to my interview with you on Thursday last when I obtained from you an estimate of your
charges for preparing a plan of our church land at Parramatta for the purposes of the Real Property Act
which you named at £3-3-0. I am now informed by one of the Trustees of the church that Messers. Chatfield
and Brown are prepared to perform the same work for the sum of £2-12-6. I have not as yet mentioned your
price to the trustees, and in view of this estimate I do not wish to do so until I again refer the matter to you
with the view of enabling you to reconsider the matter.
If you can see your way to reduce your figure to say £2-10-0 I feel certain I can now obtain the work
for your office, but failing that I fear that the work will be given to the local firm.
Will you kindly give me your answer as early as possible that we may make arrangements at once.
Wishing you the compliments of the season,
I am yours truly,
A.G. Mackenzie
[7 – WCW – 83]
Dec. 30, 1894
Joseph Hare, Jr.
Kaeo, N.Z.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: Your kind letter of December 9 came to hand Friday and I will acknowledge it promptly because in a
few days I shall begin traveling about and will have but little time to write.
Today is the last day of the week of prayer as observed by our churches in Australia. The meetings
have been quite well attended considering the brief notice that was given. I fear that our missionary
contributions will not be very large principally because our people at present have very little to give. It will be
a week yet before we know how this matter stands.
I thank you for your words of encouragement and I can tell you that I appreciate them very highly. I
feel that we are not only in the time of the latter rain but that we are also upon the threshold of the time of
trouble and that the only peace and rest that we shall find is through our connection with Christ who imparts
to us that peace passeth all understanding.
We wait with much interest to receive from the General Conference Committee their decisions
regarding the plans we have submitted to them meanwhile we must work and wait.
I do not think it possible for Eld. Cole to attend the New Zealand camp-meeting. They have probably
commenced the construction of a meeting house at Norfolk Island. I do not think Mother will come over this
year [page break]
[7 – WCW – 84]
Dec. 30, 1894
Joseph Hare, Jr.
Kaeo, N.Z.
Page 2 of 2
She greatly desires to complete her book of the “Life of Christ” in fact, I cannot tell you who will attend from
Australia until I learn what the New Zealand brethren wish. The Conference Committee has taken some
action upon the matter, but I have not yet learned what the action is.
I may have already informed you that the discussion in Ashfield resulted in a marked victory for the
truth. There are many people in that community who are convinced regarding the Sabbath, but they hesitate
to take a decided stand. We ask you to unite with us in praying to God that he will give them courage to obey
his truths.
They have held only a few meetings in the tent during the holidays, but expect to resume this coming
week.
We are having a very pleasant visit from our friends from South Africa. They now plan to return to
Melbourne on Wednesday and then go by way of Hobart and the Bluffs to Auckland where they will embark
on the Mariposa for San Francisco. If you should chance to be in Auckland about the time that the Mariposa
sails I would be much pleased to have you meet them.
With kindest regards to yourself and family,
I am yours truly,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 85]
Dec. 30, 1894
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 1 of 3
Dear Brother: I have received several letters from you to which I must now make a brief answer. Last night I gave
some of them to Bro. Whittle to read and therefore must answer in part from memory. I also gave him the
list of subjects to be considered in your missionary convention, calling attention to the part allotted to him.
I am much pleased that you have decided to hold such a convention and I think you have outlined an
excellent program. I suppose I shall receive a letter by and by giving me some idea as to how you expect it to
be carried out. I see several names on the list of persons who are not likely to be present at the convention,
such as Starr, Corliss, Kellogg, Whittle, Higgins, and Mrs. Reekie, and I presume it is your plan to ask them to
send in papers, if so I hope they will receive an early notice.
The week of prayer meetings are passing along very quietly up here. I greatly regret that we did not
begin to prepare for them at camp-meeting time. I think we could have secured better results but we are
doing the best we can under the circumstances and the meetings are a real blessing to those who attend.
I see that Sr. Graham is due in Sydney tomorrow. I shall endeavor to have someone meet the
Mararoa.
I am glad you are pushing forward work on the Church Visitor, hope your work with the mimeograph
will prove successful. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 86]
Dec. 30, 1894
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 2 of 3
I have no doubt but what Colcord’s criticisms of the Corliss tract are valuable and I think you are
taking the right course in making corrections.
Thanks for copy of yours of Dec. 21 to Eld. Rousseau. Last Monday I went up to Cooranbong with our
Afrikaner friends. They returned Wednesday and I came back Thursday. Tomorrow I send up Bro. Mackenzie
to assist Rousseau in the subdivision. He wishes me to return also, but I am yet undecided regarding my duty.
Byron Belden is putting up fruit for the school. he did not wish to begin work in the Ashfield House
with the prospect of leaving it so soon so he took a little house near Bro. Mackenzie’s.
I hope soon to secure a meeting of Rousseau, McCullough and Whittle to consider what we should
advise Belden and Semmons to do. I have thought considerable of late of advising Bro. Semmons to establish
a bath house in Melbourne or Sydney. I do not know where he would get the most patronage, but this seems
plain to me that if the patronage would be equal he ought to be encouraged to locate where he could be the
most help in our church. What would you think of encouraging him to establish a bath house in Sydney.
We cannot tell what turn the work in Ashfield will take but it seems to me that we should strive to
cut down our expenses there as soon as possible.
Eld. Corliss feels the need of some money from the Conference and I think it would be well for you to
send him some. He says that the [page break]
[7 – WCW – 87]
Dec. 30, 1894
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 3 of 3
conferences where he has labored send monthly remittances to their laborers without their begging for it
and he thinks that after earning the money he ought not to have to ask for it. I tried to persuade him to write
to you monthly as we have requested others to do, stating what he needed, but he said no, that you must
know that he needed money and he will not beg for it.
At present, matters are very quiet in Ashfield. There appears to be a change of program for the
ministers are treating us quite decently in public and will probably carry on their work hereafter more in
private. Sometimes we are thankful for the change and sometimes we regret it. Thus far their public efforts
seem to have deepened conviction regarding the truths presented at the tent but the people hesitate to bear
the cross. Pray for the workers and for the people.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 88]
Dec. 30, 1894
Eld. W.A. Colcord
c/o John Higgins, Young St., Parkside, Adelaide
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: Yours of Dec. 18 came to hand a few days ago and was read with much pleasure. When I meet you in
Melbourne I shall desire to hear more about the work in Adelaide. Our week of prayer meetings are passing
along very quietly over here and will close tonight.
We are having a good visit from our Afrikaner friends. Last week they were at Cooranbong, this week
they go back to Melbourne and then to Auckland by way of Hobart and the Bluffs.
I am glad that you have taken time to criticize the two tracts in reply to Canright and I certainly hope
that you will give time to getting out tracts on Sunday laws and the civil Sabbath very soon. I think we must
get out Sentinel No. 3 as soon as possible. The discouraging feature about the Sentinel is that we have not yet
put in motion any comprehensive plan for its circulation except by the sale of single copies and in this there
seems to be too much labor and too many discouragements.
I am profoundly convinced that we shall not accomplish what we desire with the Sentinel until we
have a pamphlet to go with it and until we issue circulars so that our inexperienced brethren can leave it with
the people for examination and then call later on to receive subscriptions according to the plans proposed at
the camp-meeting. I trust that [page break]
[7 – WCW – 89]
Dec. 30, 1894
Eld. W.A. Colcord
c/o John Higgins, Young St., Parkside, Adelaide
Page 2 of 2
you will be able to give this matter of your first consideration.
I was sorry to see so much matter about Holser in one number of the Echo. Echoes made up largely
of matter on this one topic are not received with favor over here and I cannot discern that the publication of
this experience of Holser’s is likely to accomplish much good for our cause.
I hope you will give considerable thought to the matter of making the future members of the
Sentinel present more of the fundamental principles in the abstract and the same as illustrated by English
history rather than to dwell so much upon recent occurrences in the colonies. I hope you will develop in the
Sentinel two series of historical articles one Biblical following similar lines to Jones’ Civil Government and
Religion and the other historical and illustrated bring out the struggles for religious liberty in England.
With kindest regards,
I am yours truly,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 90]
Dec. 30, 1894
W.D. Salisbury
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: I must write a few lines in answer to yours of Dec. 17, 18, and 24. I will not endeavor to answer your
questions about type until I see you. I like the look of the pica sent but have some fears that pica is too large
for our pamphlet work.
The manuscript for the “sermon on the Mount” have been receiving a final reading by Mother and
she has made some additions. I will endeavor to learn before coming to Melbourne how much these are
likely to make.
Many thanks for your statement regarding the business of the Echo Co. I think you have given me all
the facts I need in working up the report.
I am glad that you have plenty of work from the outside and I hope that our own work will increase. I
hope you received “His Glorious Appearing” which I sent you by post. I am sorry that your urgency about the
manuscript for “Christ and the Sabbath” led Sr. Bolton to send it away without my seeing it. Dr. J.H. Kellogg
does not wish us to publish his “Digestion and Dyspepsia” in its present form. Perhaps he has written to you
about it.
In your letter of Dec. 24 you speak of the pressure of work and the necessity of having another
pressman. I am very thankful that this [page break]
[7 – WCW – 91]
Dec. 30, 1894
W.D. Salisbury
Page 2 of 2
necessity has come and I am not in favor of working to exhaustion the men we have when there are other
brethren understanding the work who are suffering for employment. When Chelberg and others were
dismissed a little more than a year ago it was because of the necessity of retrenchment, and with the hope
on the part of some that we could soon restore them to their old places and I have always felt that it was
proper and right when work returned so that we can use more help to offer it first to our old hands who were
dismissed not because of their incompetency or unfaithfulness but because of our misfortunes and as far as it
is consistent it seems to me that each one should be restored to his own department. I think that Chelberg
has passed through two apprenticeships with us, one in the pressroom and one in the bindery and I believe
he would be much more accurate and efficient in either of those places than Bro. Rose, therefore I should
feel that he had the first claim upon the work and that he gave greater promise of being useful. If Chelberg
does not wish the work I shall not object to your trying Bro. Rose, but I have faint hope that he would
become very proficient and I believe that he is quite easily contented with a small amount of work. He is
rather slow of movement and it seems to take but little to keep him busy all day. With these suggestions I will
leave the matter for you and the other members of the board to arrange as you think best.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 92]
Granville, N.S.W.
Jan. 2, 1895
Australian Tract Society
Pay to the Parramatta Tract Society, seven pounds (£7.) Sterling and charge the same to my account.
W.C. White
Granville, N.S.W.
January 2, 1895
Echo Publishing Company Ltd.
Pay to the Australian Conference on tithe from Parramatta Church thirty-one pounds (£31-14-0.)
fourteen shillings, and charge the same to my account.
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 93]
Jan. 4, 1895
To the Executive Committee of the New Zealand Conference and Tract Society
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brethren: Yesterday morning I received a copy of the minutes of your Conference Committee meeting held
Nov. 27, and I hasten to give you my views regarding it and to reply to letters received from Brn. Wilson,
Steed, and Crothers.
I am sorry that there is no increase of the tithe in your Conference and I will call your attention to the
necessity of keeping before our brethren the growth of the work and the necessity of sending more laborers
into the field. In a recent letter to Eld. Wilson I expressed quite fully my views regarding the way that we
should treat the matter of debt. Since that letter was written I have received a copy of his letter to the G.C.A.
and I will again express my sincere regret that you sent such a letter to them without asking my opinion
regarding the influence and probable results regarding such proposition in such a manner at the present
time. I shall pray the lord to overrule all for the advancement of his work, but without his special blessing I
should expect that your letter would result in no good to New Zealand and in great harm to other branches
of our work. When I meet you I can explain why this would naturally be the result.
As regards persons to attend your camp-meeting I will do what I can to secure the attendance of Eld.
Colcord and I shall probably be present myself. I desire to go by Hobart and the Bluffs and will do so if I can
get off early.
In view of the importance of our educational work and the fact that farms are so low from Sydney to
Auckland I am surprised at your decision regarding Eld. Rousseau at ending your meeting. If I find that our
school work will permit him to leave here at that time I may encourage him to come at the expense of the
school.
I hear that there are two places open for the meeting, one near Ponsonby and one over toward
Mount Eden or Onehunga. I sincerely hope that you have found a good place for the meeting on the opposite
side of the city from where our church stands. I think it would have much more influence over at Epson than
near Ponsonby or Surry Hills.
I am glad that you have decided to pay the General Canvassing Agent from Conference Funds. I think
this will be necessary in Australia also.
As regards the time when Bro. Whittle can come to New Zealand I will say that we shall plan to
release him in time to attend your camp-meeting. We may release him a week or two earlier. This we will do
if possible. I think there will be no trouble over his travelling expenses fares are so low nowadays that I would
pay it myself rather than have any controversy, the only question that will be raised no doubt is regarding the
propriety of establishing a precedent contrary to the customs and advice of the G.C. I will confess that it pains
me much to see some of these resolutions and to think that they are entered upon your [page break]
[7 – WCW – 94]
Jan. 4, 1895
To the Executive Committee of the New Zealand Conference and Tract Society
Page 2 of 2
records as the decisions of your committee, I fear that your frequent references to the financial crisis will
help to bring about that which you most ____.
I will now refer to some points in the individual letters which I have not time to answer separately.
I acknowledge with pleasure Eld. Steed’s letter of Dec. 27 accompanied by a manuscript for the
Church Visitor No. 3 and I will take this opportunity to request that the president and secretary of the
conference make use of the Visitor as a means of communicating with and laying reports of progress before
all the Australasian churches.
Our work at Ashfield has been resumed with vigor and there is a good attendance now the holidays
are over. We shall not forget the friends at Castle Hill although it is difficult at present to do anything for
them.
Sr. Tuxford’s letter of Dec. 21 I will answer after further consideration with our brethren in
Melbourne. I think that what she proposes about unboxing all the books and taking another inventory will be
necessary unless it is decided to have a large part of the stock sent to Melbourne.
I was glad to hear from Bro. Crothers in his letter of Dec. 25 about the good work done by some of
your canvassers and I see from it that you desire Bro. Whittle to come over there soon. I had a good visit with
Bro. Whittle about this yesterday and he seems willing to come to New Zealand if he is sure that you want
him. It is only natural that he should have some fear that his work would not be acceptable under the
circumstances existing when he enters upon it. I have tried to encourage him and I told him it was right for
him to ask you to make a statement of your wishes regarding his coming and of the terms and conditions
under which you expect him to labor.
Our friends from So. Africa enjoyed their visit here very well and to us it was a very pleasant
occasion. Wednesday they went back to Melbourne intending to stop there till next Tuesday and then go to
Hobart Tasmania and from there via the Bluffs to Auckland. They will stop at Wellington, Napier, and other
point, and we bespeak for them all the kind consideration which you give to your most honored guests.
When I learn definitely about their movements I will endeavor to inform you.
Tomorrow Eld. Rousseau takes the Peregrine for Melbourne and Bro. Sisley and I think to go Sunday
evening. If possible, I shall arrange to go from Melbourne to Auckland via the Bluffs and Hobart. In making
that trip, I should like to visit Kalkoura, Wellington, Napier, and Gisborne, and if you have any advice as to
how I can take in the most places in a short space of time, I shall be glad to receive them.
With best wishes and Christian love, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 95]
Jan. 7, ‘95
Brn. Cole, Belden, Anderson, and Baron, and Sister Mary Ann McCoy
Page 1 of 2
Dear Friends: We were very pleased to receive Jan. 5 your letters of recent date and I hasten to reply. I must write
very briefly for there is but a short time till the mail closes and because in a few hours I shall be off for
Melbourne to attend the annual stockholders meeting of the Echo Pub. Co. Bro. W.C. Sisley will be my
companion on the journey. Eld. Rousseau went by str. Jan. 5. I expect to be in Melbourne till about Jan. 20
and then to go to the New Zealand camp-meeting, via Hobart and the Bluffs. This trip will no doubt keep me
from home about three months and by that time, we shall be ready to push forward our school buildings, I
hope.
I have taken the liberty to write you an “ominous” letter in which I shall answer all of yours in one,
for this will take less of my time. It may be that I can find some copies to enclose, giving the news.
I am glad that Sr. McCoy wrote me so fully about her plans and prospects for returning to Pitcairn.
We hope that she will be able to find passage to Auckland on a comfortable ship, and in time to attend the
camp-meeting. If not so soon, she should feel free to go whenever providence opens the way. It appears to
me that her dream represents just what Russell would say and what other of her friends in Pitcairn would say
if they could be consulted. We shall pray that the Lord may guide and comfort and shelter her in all the long
journey, and in the labors of love which she may perform for the afflicted ones in her old dear Pitcairn home.
We were all deeply interested in the account given by Bro. Baron of his experience in his new home.
Surely our prayers have been answered in the raising up of kind friends to help him to shelter and to land.
And far beyond our plans or hopes there seems to be a broad field for work. May the God of all grace give
him wisdom that he shall know what to undertake and how to labor for God “The Lord God is a sun and
shield. He will give grace and glory. No good think will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
The failure to get the Langley house the finding of shelter in the house of Mr. Thompson and the
securing of a garden, also the opening of the Sunday School are about what we looked for and asked for; and
for these things we should render acceptable praise. But the responsibilities and opportunities connected
with a day school are quite a surprise to us and while we almost tremble at the responsibility we thank God
that the people have so much confidence already in him and pray that this too may work out to the honor of
God and the diffusion of the knowledge of the Most High.
There was so little said about the plans for a little house, and the lists of materials that I hardly know
what is wanted. I shall no doubt have more information in the next letter as to the actual necessity of
building. Meanwhile I will learn the cost of the material. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 96]
Jan. 7, ‘95
Brn. Cole, Belden, Anderson, and Baron, and Sister Mary Ann McCoy
Page 2 of 2
We are very thankful to hear how matters are turning at Norfolk. The account given us by Brn.
Belden and Cole of the landing, the reception by the people and their kindness to them is all matter for
profound gratitude. And we are so glad that there is work to be done for the people which they appreciate.
We also rejoice that the gift of the meeting house walls has been consummated and that the work can now
go forward as soon as the workers are able to take hold of it.
It certainly seems to be providential that you have secured so nice a place for Bro. Belden and on
such fair terms. We wish we could visit you all and spend a week or two but this is not among the
possibilities, I suppose. We are glad that Sr. Belden’s skill in nursing and her love to labor for others has such
a wide field, and we pray that she may bring spiritual comfort as well as bodily relief.
Today Byron Belden is in Sydney, looking up the things that his father has sent for. I hope he may
find all that is essential. It is doubtful if he will be able to get off on this schooner that oatmeal for Bro. Baron.
I am a little surprised but in the main much pleased with the proposition made by Eld. Cole regarding
his going to Fiji when he is free to leave Norfolk. I shall lay this proposition before the Board of Foreign
Missions, with copies of your letters in which I am sure they will be much interested. I think that Bro. Collins
would be good help for you there. He could canvass wherever the field will be helped by that sort of work
and I have an idea that he could do much in that way and then he would be earnest in the evangelistic work.
But I am not sure that we shall wish to spare him and I know that it would be much to his advantage if he
could have another term at the Bible School. But if you get the sanction of the F.M.B. to go to Fiji and if you
ask for Collins, I suppose you will be pretty likely to get him. I think he would like that kind of work and that
we should in this as in all else, do our best for the outlying mission fields.
I hope you will write quite fully to the F.M.B. and that you will send me copies.
Our meetings through the week of prayer have not been very largely attended but they have been a
real blessing to those who came out. The election of church officers passed off very pleasantly here and at
prospect and we look for good news from Kellyville and Sydney later on. Some fine people are taking their
stand and some of those most interested are still trembling before the cross, fearing to lift it. Eld. Corliss is
weary and worn with constant labor but he still pushes forward with the work. Pray for him that his physical
and spiritual strength may be renewed.
We had a very pleasant visit from Sr. Wessels and her family and just before they went away, Sr.
Lindsay promised to give £1000. to help forward our school enterprise. Was that not liberal?
And now I must close. All the family send their best wishes, and we all pray for your welfare. May the
peace of God be with you all.
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 97]
Melbourne, Australia
January 10, 1895
Elder A.T. Robinson
Claremont, Cape Colony
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: The “Nineveh” will sail tomorrow and I will hasten to write you a few lines. I do not remember when
I wrote you last and I have not my letter book to see what was written. I have among my unanswered letters
yours of June 27, making inquiry about “The Life of Christ.” I think I must have answered this query long ago
but not being sure of this I will say that there is little prospect that Mother’s “Life of Christ” will be through
the press until the near close of 1895. It would be useless for me to go into extended explanations and I will
only say that we shall get it out as soon as we can.
Mother has a similar work which will soon be put in the hands of the printers, entitled “Sermon on
the Mount” it will make about 200 pages and will be issued in a style similar to “Steps to Christ.” I think it will
make a most useful book for our canvassers to use as a help. We shall try to issue it in leatherette for 1/9 or
2/- and in cloth for 3/-. I will endeavor to send you page proofs as fast as the chapters are set.
There is much I would like to write you about but the greatest event of the month has been the visit
of the Wessels family. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 98]
January 10, 1895
Elder A.T. Robinson
Claremont, Cape Colony
Page 2 of 2
I was down at the wharf to meet the “Nineveh” when she arrived in Sydney December 19 and was
very glad to meet Brother Sisley, Brother Lindsay, Sister Wessels and her children. It was our good fortune
that Mother had a large house, so that we could entertain them all and we enjoyed their visit immensely.
They spent a few days with us in Granville, then went up to Morrisett to see our school location and on
January 3 came back to Melbourne. I came over early the next week and had the pleasure of meeting them
here on Tuesday January 8; at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, they left here for Tasmania and New Zealand. They
were all in good health and of good courage, and seemed to have very pleasant thoughts of Australia as they
left us. We became warmly attached to them and were sorry to see them go.
You will be pleased to know that Mother’s health is fairly good. She was worn at the close of campmeeting but is getting rested again. I am enjoying good health. My plans are to spend two weeks here then
visit Tasmania and the southern towns of New Zealand and reach Auckland in time to attend their annual
camp-meeting which begins the middle of February. We learn that Elder J.E. Fulton and wife of the North
Pacific Conference have reached Auckland, we think they will make good help in that Conference.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
(A.M.)
[7 – WCW – 99]
January 10, 1895
Elder S.N. Haskell
28a Roeland Street, Cape Town, S. Africa
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: The “Nineveh” sails tomorrow and I must complete my letter to you. The day before yesterday we
bid goodbye to Sister Wessels and her children, as they took the “Pateena” for Hobart. It is their plan to
spend two days there, and then proceed by the east coast of New Zealand to Auckland. They will see as much
of the country as they can without breaking their journey and will sail for San Francisco on the “Mariposa”
January 26.
With this I send you some enclosures which will give you scraps of news. When I left Sydney, our
brethren laboring in Ashfield were of good courage, and Mother’s family as well. I came over with Brother
Sisley, Elder Rousseau came a few days before us. We are to spend about two weeks here, attend the
stockholders meeting of the Echo Co., holding a Missionary Convention, and counseling together about the
work of the school, the conference and the Tract Society. Then Brethren Sisley and Rousseau will return to
New South Wales and I shall go to New Zealand to attend the annual camp-meeting.
We had a very pleasant visit with Sister Wessels and her children. They were with us a little more
than a week and Mother enjoyed [page break]
[7 – WCW – 100]
January 10, 1895
Elder S.N. Haskell
28a Roeland Street, Cape Town, S. Africa
Page 2 of 2
their visit very much. Sister Lindsay surprised us one morning by a donation of £1,000 toward the erection of
our school buildings. This was wholly unsolicited on our part, they saw our needs and gave according to the
liberality of their big hearts.
At this writing, Brother Sisley and I have just returned from Sister Israel’s where we took dinner.
Sister Israel is as well as usual, Brother Israel has just returned from a profitable visit to Ballarat. Jessie is
working as a compositor and proof reader in the office and May as a stenographer and bookkeeper in the
Tract Society. Tomorrow we expect to see Sister Graham from New Zealand, who is an experienced
bookkeeper and business woman, who will take charge of the books of the Society.
If I had time, I would describe the room in which the Tract Society’s offices are located. It is the front
room on the second floor of the Echo Building. They are very neatly and conveniently arranged and
everything looks quite businesslike. I think we are working out quite successfully, many of your ideas
regarding the tract society work, and when I have time I will write you more fully about them.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
(A.M.)
[7 – WCW – 101]
January 10, 1895
Elder G.T. Wilson and New Zealand Conference Committee
Page 1 of 3
Dear Brethren: On the afternoon of Monday, January 7 we received our American mail in Sydney just before I took
train for this place, in company with Brother Sisley. We had about 60 pages of interesting letters to read, and
this occupied very pleasantly our spare time on the journey.
Our letters brought us word that the Mission Board have sent Elder J.E. Fulton and wife of the North
Pacific Conference to labor in New Zealand, and that they were expected to sail from San Francisco on the
“Mariposa” which brought us these letters. We suppose that Elder Fulton and wife are now in Auckland, and
you have been fully informed regarding their coming and the work which the Mission Board expects them to
do.
There is no doubt but what some of our people in New Zealand will be disappointed at first to learn
that so young a man as Elder Fulton has been sent to New Zealand in response to your oft repeated requests
for a man who could labor in the large cities; but I think that in a short time this feeling will wear away for I
believe that Elder Fulton is a young man of ability and that he will win his way into favor with our people and
with the people of any community where he may be sent to labor. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 102]
January 10, 1895
Page 2 of 3
I have not been intimately acquainted with Brother Fulton and his wife for several years. I knew
them both as students at Healdsburg College where they were highly esteemed by teachers and classmates
and I have heard good reports from time to time since they left the school of their progress and their work.
Brother Fulton is a student, and as a laborer has always borne the name of being an earnest, faithful, and
successful man, and since he entered the ministry, I have often heard him spoken of in the terms of highest
approval. But I need not write these things, first because you know the interest of the Mission Board in our
welfare and you will conclude that they have made the wisest selection for us that was possible. Second
because I believe it is in your hearts to give everyone who is sent to labor among you a hearty reception and
the most favorable opportunity to prove his abilities as a worker in the cause of God. It is my opinion that Sis.
Fulton is worthy to share all the confidence that is placed in her husband.
Now I must write you a few words about my work and plans. In Sydney I purchased a ticket to
Melbourne, Hobart, Bluffs, Wellington, Auckland and back to Sydney for £10.0.6. I shall do my utmost to
hasten our business here so as to leave Hobart about the 24th of January. You can reckon up the time and see
about how many days I will have to spare, and I would like your counsel as to where I shall spend this time. I
desire to see all I can of the South Island. I would be very glad to visit Kalkoura, and of course I wish to spend
a little time in [page break]
[7 – WCW – 103]
January 10, 1895
Page 3 of 3
Wellington. When the camp-meeting is over, I shall desire to return soon to Sydney for by that time we shall
begin erecting our school buildings. If there was any reason for doing so, I could run down the coast, touching
at Gisborne and Napier, and then across to Wellington, making short visits at Hastings, Ormandville,
Palmerstone etc. after the camp-meeting but if there is anyone to be visited or anything of value to be seen
in the South Island, I desire to take it in before the camp-meeting as I may never have the privilege of passing
over this route again. The advice you may give me may be forwarded to Hobart or the Bluffs as you may think
best.
For the next few days we shall be very busy here. Our architect (W.C. Sisley) has drawn up plans for
very simple but inexpensive and commodious school buildings which he will submit to the Union Conference
Committee this afternoon. I shall try to bring tracings with me, both of the plot of our school grounds, and
the plans of the buildings.
Next Monday, we hold the annual stockholders meeting of the Echo Company. We shall enjoy
presenting at that time, a balance sheet which shows about £80 gain, and we have reason to hope that our
business will steadily improve.
Tuesday afternoon we bid goodbye to Sr. Wessels and her children, who left on the “Pateena” for
Hobart. Tomorrow afternoon, they will leave Hobart for Auckland, and I trust that my former letter
mentioning the plan of their trip, has led you to arrange for persons to meet them, and make their short visit,
as interesting and profitable as possible. With kindest regards, I am,
Yours Truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 104]
January 10, 1895
Mrs. Margaret Caro
Napier, New Zealand
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Sister: With this I send you some copies of letters enclosed weeks ago, they may be out of date now, and of
no interest but it will not take you long to burn them, if they are not worth reading.
There are so many things I wish to write to you about that I hardly know where to begin. I need not
tell you that I have listened with deepest interest to every word of news that has come to me and mother
regarding the Sunshine’s and the shadow that has fallen upon your pathway during the past year. I have
rejoiced with those that did rejoice and mourned with those who mourned. I have also watched with deepest
interest the movements of Edgar and Errick as reported by my friends in America and with no small solicitude
have I followed the Doctor’s movements as he visited Europe; I cannot tell you the joy of my heart to hear of
his safe return as far as Battle Creek to learn that he was there baptized and fully united with our people; and
I was also much gratified to learn through letters from Dr. Kellogg about the missionary socials held on the
occasion of his visit and the interest which was taken by all our people in his short visit at Battle Creek.
Personally and as officially connected with the various enterprises of our work, I have had a full
portion of joys and sorrows [page break]
[7 – WCW – 105]
January 10, 1895
Mrs. Margaret Caro
Napier, New Zealand
Page 2 of 3
during the past year. Just at present, our hearts are full of rejoicing, there is a rift in the clouds and we not
only see the silver lining, but the glory beyond. I can also say that Mother is good courage; she was somewhat
worn at the close of camp-meeting, but is improving in health.
The Australian members of the Union Conference Committee will now devote a few days to the
examination of school plans which our architect (Brother W.C. Sisley) has prepared for us. Next Monday
begins a Missionary Convention and a meeting of the stockholders of the Echo Co. About the 20th I shall go to
Hobart and from there to Auckland via the Bluffs and the east coast.
Last Monday we bid goodbye to Sister Wessels and her family who left on the “Pateena” for Hobart.
Tomorrow afternoon they leave Hobart for Auckland via the Bluffs, Wellington and Napier. They desire to see
all they can of New Zealand without breaking their journey to Auckland. At Auckland, they may have time to
visit the Hot Lakes before the “Mariposa” leaves for San Francisco, January 26. I have told them what I could
about the various places along the coast, and I wish that they might see Napier as we saw it when Elder Olsen
was there. I wish they had more time to spend in New Zealand because they are deeply interested in our
Australasia work in all its branches.
Perhaps I ought to describe the party, although I think you are already acquainted with them. Sister
Wessels (or Mother Wessels as she is generally called) is going to the General Conference with her [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 106]
January 10, 1895
Mrs. Margaret Caro
Napier, New Zealand
Page 3 of 3
two youngest sons, Daniel and Andrew, aged 16 and 14, also her daughter Annie, the wife of Brother Harmon
Lindsay, who is also a member of the party. They spent a few days very pleasantly with us at Granville and we
became very much attached to them. They expect to spend a year in their trip around the world before
returning to their old home in Cape Town.
If the doctor is at home, give him my kindest regards and congratulations on a safe return from so
long a voyage.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
(A.M.)
[7 – WCW – 107]
January 10, 1895
Mrs. S.J. Reed
Rosslyn Rd., Napier, N.Z.
Page 1 of 2
Dear Sister: As I look at the date of your letter of September 14 which accompanied the beautiful gifts you send
for my little daughters, I can hardly believe that I have permitted four months to pass without
acknowledgement the kindness which prompted this gift and thanking you for the souvenirs which have been
greatly admired by my friends who have seen them and which will delight the hearts of the children for
whom they were so kindly prepared.
They were brought to me by Brother Crothers and in the midst of the work and anxiety of campmeeting I mislaid your letter and for some time forgot it; but a few days ago when our friends from South
Africa were about to leave us and I began to gather up things to send to my children, it came to my mind that
I had never answered it. I sent your gifts with some things which I have collected by Sister Annie Lindsay who
with her husband, mother, and two brothers is on her way from Cape Town, South Africa to the General
Conference. You have no doubt heard of the family and of the noble work they are doing in South Africa, and
of their liberality to our institutions in America. They expect to sail from Hobart tomorrow afternoon and you
will know [page break]
[7 – WCW – 108]
January 10, 1895
Mrs. S.J. Reed
Rosslyn Rd., Napier, N.Z.
Page 2 of 2
about the time their boat reaches Napier. They will not be able to break their journey as they must meet the
“Mariposa” at Auckland in order to reach the General Conference.
I thank you most heartily for the gifts sent to Ella and Mabel. I appreciate the kindly thoughtfulness
for these two little girls you have never seen. Because of their long separation from us, they appreciate very
much anything that gives them a better understanding of the country where their father has been working.
With kindest regards to yourself and all the members of your family, I am,
Your Brother in Christ,
W.C. White
(A.M.)
[7 – WCW – 109]
North Fitzroy
January 14, 1895
Mr. A.G. Mackenzie
Granville, N.S.W.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: I have received three letters from you which have been read with interest, and I must now write you
a few lines in response.
I have been very busy from the beginning and the prospects are fair for a continuance of work until I
leave here. We are now in the midst of our Missionary Convention, and tonight the stockholders meetings
will begin.
I will ask you to make up a package of the various things that I left which I need and send as you
think best. Please let this package contain, first the parcel marked L.A. Romero; 2nd the stamp frame; 3rd my
notebook with memoranda of correspondence; 4th M.S.S. of Wilcox’s “Missionary Manual”; 5th my cash book
for the first part of 1894; I think you will find it among a package of little books in one of the desk drawer. You
may add to these things anything which your judgment suggests as proper to send or which any member of
the family may bring forward.
I am glad to hear Dr. Kellogg’s good report from Prospect.
I will submit to Rousseau what you say about the alteration of the road. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 110]
North Fitzroy
January 14, 1895
Mr. A.G. Mackenzie
Granville, N.S.W.
Page 2 of 2
I am glad that you are going forward with the work on the mimeograph, we shall be able to send you
matter from time to time for practice. I thank you for your expressions of interest and desire to help, I am
sure you will not miss any opportunity to gain experience either in the deep matters requiring wisdom and
discretion or in the smaller matters requiring skillful use of the fingers.
I was glad to read Alick’s letter and return it with this. I am glad for the plan about Julia’s work which
you mention.
I am pleased to hear of your good letters from Elder Steed. I do not think you can make anything
now out of the old promise to bring the church land under the Act.
Thanks for the clipping regarding Sunday work, I handed it to Elder Colcord.
Brother Sisley will remain with us until the 19th of February when he will sail on the “Arawa.” Perhaps
he will leave Sydney a week earlier so as to attend the New Zealand camp-meeting.
I trust you will be able to assist Sister Campbell in getting Mother’s accounts up to date; it will be a
great help to us all if this can be accomplished.
I pray that you all may be guided in your plans for the work of the Missionary Society. I dare not urge
you to take the responsibility proposed, neither can I encourage you to refuse it. I will pray the Lord to guide
you all in that the right decisions may be made and that responsibility be placed upon those who God would
choose to bear it. With kindest regards, I am,
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 111]
January 17, ‘95
Mrs. E.G. White
Cooranbong
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Mother: I have received several letters from you all of which have been read with deepest interest. Our
hearts were filled with rejoicing at what you have told us about your labors in Sydney and their effect upon
Brother Hardy. We are sorry that you have such taxing work, but are oh so thankful that God gives you
strength and that His spirit is working upon the hearts of men.
I have read with interest what you have written about the work of Elder Corliss, Brethren Collins,
Pallant, and others. As soon as the American mail is off, our conference committee will give close attention to
these matters. I am thankful for your proposition to appropriate $100 to assist the conference in employing
these men. I learn that our conference is paying to laborers about $50 a week more than we receive. I hear
that the tithes are improving somewhat and I wish there might be a large increase.
I am glad that you and the girls are making a visit at Cooranbong. I hope you will find rest from the
cares and perplexities which have been gathering about you. How I wish I could be with you now for a few
days. I hope you will stay till you get rested.
Our work here is moving along quite satisfactorily, except that it does not go as fast as we would
wish. The stockholders meeting [page break]
[7 – WCW – 112]
January 17, ‘95
Mrs. E.G. White
Cooranbong
Page 2 of 2
of the Echo Publishing Co. passed off about as usual. Two changes were made in the board, Brethren William
Bell and E. Theobald retiring and Brethren Faulkhead and Robert Hare taking their places. We shall organize
next Monday evening. Our balance sheet shows a small gain for the past half year and this gives us some
courage about the future.
We are making some progress in our plans for school work. The board has decided to establish an
industrial department on the lines that we have talked about. Brethren Shannan and Higgins are here in
consultation with Bro. Sisley about the manner of constructing and the cost of school buildings. It is a great
help to us to have Brother Sisley in our councils. There are many things which I have proposed in times past
but which I could not make very plain that he has had much experience in and he explains them so nicely that
all can understand. His experience in connection with the industrial efforts in Battle Creek and his study of
this matter leads him to give a decided testimony in favor of the plans we propose for an industrial
department. What he has said to us regarding the results of this kind of work, has done much to encourage
us to go forward. I can hardly express my gratitude at the progress we are making in arriving at harmonious
views regarding the work to be done. We praise the Lord for what he has done for us. We place our hand in
his and we trust him to lead us in safety where we cannot go alone. The way looks dark and forbidding, but
he who spake light out of darkness can lead us on and provide for our daily wants. With best wishes, I am,
Your son,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 113]
January 17, 1895
Mr. N.F. Burgess
Honolulu, HI
My Dear Brother: I hasten to write you a few lines before the closing of the Vancouver’s mail, hoping this letter will
reach you two or three days before the arrival of the “Mariposa”.
There are several of our friends on the “Mariposa” whom you will be pleased to meet and become
acquainted with and who will be very glad to see you. I refer to Mrs. Wessels of Cape Town, South Africa and
her children, and Brother Harmon Lindsay, her son-in-law, who are on their way from their home in South
Africa to Battle Creek, where they will attend the General Conference. They spent nearly a month with us
here and we enjoyed their visit very much. They are taking great pains to become acquainted with the
various places which they visit and they will appreciate very highly any attention that you may be able to give
to them and any plans that you may suggest by which they can make the best of the few hours that they have
to spend in Honolulu.
Sister Wessels and Bro. and Sr. Lindsay are prominent supporters of the work in South Africa and
elsewhere. They take a deep interest in the progress of our work in all lands.
Next month our leading architect, W.C. Sisley expects to sail on the “Arawa” and he will be very glad
to meet you on his arrival in Honolulu. With best wishes, I am,
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 114]
Subscription List of the Church Visitor – New Zealand
Edward Hare
Joseph Hare, Sr.
Mr. Arthur Wade
Mrs. Margaret Caro
Mr. John Glass
Mr. John Woods
Pastor D. Steed
Mr. John Paap
Mr. Andrew Simpson
Mr. Arthur Mountain
Pastor G.T. Wilson
Mrs. M.H. Tuxford
Mr. W.M. Crothers
Pastor J.E. Fulton, care E. Hare
(e)
(e)
(s)
(e)
(e)
(e)
Turner St., Auckland, New Zealand.
Kaeo, New Zealand.
Gisborne, New Zealand.
Napier, New Zealand.
Hastings, New Zealand.
Ormandville, New Zealand.
Campbell St., Palmerstone North, N.Z.
Kalkoura, S.I. New Zealand.
Blenheim, New Zealand.
Wellington, N.Z.
Turner St., Auckland N.Z.
South Africa List
Elder S.N. Haskell
Mrs. N.H. Druillard
Eld. A.T. Robinson
Mr. Edmead
Mr. Robertson (Edmead, Robertson, and Co.)
Mr. J.H. Tarr
28 Roeland St., Cape Town, South Africa.
28 Roeland St., Cape Town, South Africa.
Claremont, Cape Colony, South Africa.
(e)
Claremont, Cape Colony.
“Tarsus” Cathcart, South Africa.
Beaconsfield, South Africa.
H.B. It may be better for the present to send all in one package to Mrs. N.H. Druillard and ask her to
distribute them to those who should have them.
W.C.W.
[7 – WCW – 115]
January 17, 1895
Treasurer, General Conference
Battle Creek, Michigan, U.S.A.
Please pay to the order of Echo Publishing Company Ltd. one hundred pounds (£100.) sterling and
charge to my account.
Respectfully yours,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 116]
94 Dhumamtollah Street, Calcutta
Monday night, Nov. 19, ‘94
Elder W.C. White
Page 1 of 5
Dear Brother, I came in today at four p.m. from the crowded streets in which I have been working, tired and
hungry, expecting to receive from Mrs. Masters as her custom is, cheering encouragement; but she did not
return until fifteen minutes later when to my surprise I found that she had met during the day with quite an
ugly fall while trying to escape injury from a furiously driven conveyance as she was entering the approach to
one of the mansions she was visiting and in consequence she had only sold five rupees worth of helps and
taken but two orders for Ladies’ Guide. However, nothing serious has happened and we thank and praise
God for that. The day has been hot and we felt unusually depressed during dinner. You can imagine the
change that came over matters when a percon (attendant) with the usual “sclam” (greeting) handed us the
mail containing your letter of the 18th of Oct. and its numerous accompaniments. We felt cheered and make
haste to thank you.
Reading so much about the opening work of the camp, and seeing the names of so many persons
familiar to us recalls pleasing recollections and led to a wish that we were sharing the blessings by being
present with you. We shall wait with interest the arrival of the next Echo. I am very sorry to say my copy of
this paper has not been sent [page break]
[7 – WCW – 117]
Elder W.C. White
Page 2 of 5
me as yet; and if Fairley did not send me along the one he gets, we should not see it. Can you help me in this
matter? I am deeply interested in the Australian Sentinel and have paid for five copies. I hope they will not go
to Hobart. Kindly ask after them also if you can spare time.
I told you of our work the other day. We have met no one whom we know in Calcutta, and feel
lonely at times; but the Lord can and is introducing friends. One of the first helps Mrs. Masters handled here
was the little book “Solid Rock”. It was sold to a Miss Gilbert. This lady belongs to a sect known as the
Australian Baptists. She is a self-supporting Indian missionary, and has been in Bengal upwards of eleven
years and has a good knowledge of the Bengali tongue, having learned to read and write it. She works for the
natives visiting and holding Bible-readings (from our copy of Bible Readings). The students who attend the
large colleges and the girls at the big schools of which there are many in the city. At times she is called away
to other fields of usefulness in the country. Mrs. Masters met her at the bungalow occupied by a native, a
barrister at law and wife. They have spent some time in England. She (Miss Gilbert) receives board and the
use of two nicely furnished rooms with them, and seems most comfortable, for which she in addition to her
other work instructs their son of some nine years in the Bible and Christianity. This good person came a
couple of days later to tell us that she believed in external life through Christ only, how much she thought of
the little book and to ask if she could get more containing advanced light. We have since become [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 118]
Elder W.C. White
Page 3 of 5
intimate. She was up till recently in receipt of pay, but the new conviction deprived her of this, and the Lord,
she says is now providing for her. Miss Gilbert has a mother in Geelong who obtained of a canvasser, and
sent it to her daughter, a leather bound copy of Bible Readings. We learn from her that an able preacher
from America named Miles Grant visited Calcutta some time back, and convinced many of the soon coming
of Christ, and of conditional immortality. This man’s religious views and preaching met with determined
opposition and resulted in his return to America, and in a separate gathering from time to time of his
converts for scripture reading and prayer; strange to say this copy of Bible Readings was the book from which
they conducted their Bible class and the book is held in such esteem that a wealthy indigo and marble
merchant named Atkinson has applied both to England and America for a copy. They are anxiously expecting
both. This gentleman, on learning of us, sent a pressing invitation to have us to tea. We were introduced by
our friend Miss Gilbert and enjoyed it. Mrs. Atkinson is absent at the hills and has the book with her, not
wishing to part with it until the other copy comes. He seemed delighted to know that we had a copy to which
he was in the meantime welcome to and his first was, “What do you understand about the Sabbath?” On
learning our views and practice regarding it, he said that he was perfectly convinced that we were right. He
hopes to frequently see us, and that he may be able to introduce us to his wife on her expected return home.
Mention is made of a book written by Bishop Thaburn, an old [page break]
[7 – WCW – 119]
Elder W.C. White
Page 4 of 5
Indian missionary, at page 164 in the Medical Missionary of July 1893. This gentleman is now in America. Mrs.
Masters visited his wife, who is a medical practitioner of considerable note in Calcutta. No. 64 Dhurramtollah
St. After explaining the nature of her work and showing several of the helps she is using and canvassing her
for Ladies’ Guide. She brought a copy of Social Purity, commended her ardor for having entered the
missionary field, expressed a desire to see more of her and gave her a valuable testimony for the Guide; and I
hear she has written an article for the local paper entitled the White Ribbon, which she writes in favor of the
Social Purity pamphlet.
Fairley writes regularly. He seems of good courage and why not? The work is the Lord’s, not ours; the
truth must and will go, for He hath said so. I shall have to send Fairley’s letter back to him as it came here to
my address.
When are we to expect the canvassers? We would give them a hearty welcome. There is any amount
of scope for them, unlimited territory. When will the tent be pitched in India? There is a lovely open level
space of meadowland, consisting of about five thousand acres situated in the most fashionable part of
Calcutta, gracefully sprinkled with lovely clumps of shade trees, the “Maidan” upon which an S.D.A. tent
could just now be pitched to advantage in contrast to the large pavilion only recently erected in which is held
the celebrated Columbo Skating Rink of the season, when thousands of well-dressed people of both sects
both day and night save on the Christian Sabbath. The people are living without God in their minds, much less
in their hearts. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 120]
Elder W.C. White
Page 5 of 5
The living preacher is urgently needed and unless he can be sent soon one seems inclined to think he will be
too late.
Mrs. Masters and I wish to be remembered to your dear mother, and to all our friends. With best
wishes to you.
Yours faithfully,
G. Masters
[7 – WCW – 121]
January 18, 1895
Ella and Mabel White
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Daughters: In a few hours, the American mail closes and I hasten to write you a short letter. Last month I asked
Brother McKenzie to write for me, because my time was so filled up that I could not do the writing that I
wished. I see that he told you something about my work, and about our sending away the people to Norfolk
and Lord Howe’s Islands. Well, we have received some nice letters from them, and I will try to send you
copies.
The morning that Brother McKenzie wrote you that letter, I went to Cooranbong with Mother
Wessels and her children. We had a very nice time there. One whole day, Elders Corliss and Rousseau and
Bro. Sisley and I were out in the woods talking over our school plans. Two afternoons were spent on the river,
and our South African fiends enjoyed that very much. We had one good boat belonging to the school, and
another belonging to the conference, which was used in the ship mission work in Sydney, so we can go up
and down the river very comfortably with a large party. Sister Wessels and her daughter, Sr. Lindsay, thought
the place selected for our school was very nice and before they went away, Brother and Sr. Lindsay gave us
$5,000 to help erect the buildings. After coming back from Cooranbong, I spent several days with them
driving about in the country and in Sydney. After that [page break]
[7 – WCW – 122]
January 18, 1895
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 2 of 3
they came to Melbourne and sailed from here to Tasmania and New Zealand. The same steamer which brings
you this letter will carry them to San Francisco. When they reach Battle Creek, they will hand you a little
package that I sent containing a box of shells sent to you by Sister Cole of Norfolk Island, also two beautiful
souvenirs, one being specimens of New Zealand ferns, the other of seaweed gathered near Napier; these are
sent to you by Mrs. S.J. Reed of Napier, N.Z. I will enclose her letter with this and I will suggest that you write
her a nice little letter, thanking her for the beautiful gifts. Sister Reed is a very kind, Christian woman, she
teaches a large class of children in the Sabbath school and loves them very much. If you should ever come to
this country, I should like to have you see her.
Well, your grandma has quite made up her mind to remain in this country until the Lord directs her
to go elsewhere and I am fully persuaded that there is an abundance of work here for me, and that it is my
duty to plan to remain here until certain that it is right to go elsewhere; therefore I shall write to the General
Conference, asking them to let you come to Australia with someone who is coming this way after the General
Conference. I cannot now tell who will be coming, Mother may write for someone to come from Battle Creek
to work for her; the Conference may send some families over here, or some teachers. I think someone will be
coming with whom you can come. I shall take time to write a long letter for the mail, telling Mary and Brother
Edwards how to prepare for your coming, and what to do with the house and what there is in it. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 123]
January 18, 1895
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 3 of 3
I suppose Brother Herbert Lacey will be coming over after the school closes, I would be glad to have
you become acquainted with him. His sister May is a member of Mother’s family, she was one of the
students in the Bible School, and is a good Bible worker. If you should come over here, we might arrange for
her to take care of you as Mary does now. I am sure you would like her very much and if I can do so, I will get
one of her pictures and send it to you.
I wish very much that I could be with you on this long journey, but as that cannot be, I will ask you to
be brave little soldiers. Plan to take care of yourselves the best you can, and be very kind and thoughtful to
those who may be chosen to care for you on the journey.
Your father,
W.C. White
(A.M.)
[7 – WCW – 124]
January 17, 1895
Mr. Harmon Lindsay
Passenger, “Mariposa”, Auckland
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: IT seems a long time since we saw you off on the “Pateena” and we have as yet heard nothing from
your party direct. Brother Shannan brings us word of your safe arrival in Hobart. We trust you have had a
very pleasant and enjoyable trip, and we hope that our New Zealand friends received my letters in time to
meet you.
We have been having a very profitable council over our school plans. We have considered the
subdivision of the land, and have given much attention to Brother Sisley’s plans for buildings. We desire to
erect three buildings, a girls' hall that will cost us about £1,500 and a boys' hall and a school building for
recitation rooms, which together would cost us much more. We may be obliged to use the girls’ hall for all
purposes at first, but shall add the other buildings as soon as possible. As soon as our plans be perfected, we
shall go with them to all our churches, and see what our brethren can do in the matter of furnishing funds for
the buildings.
We trust that you will arrange matters so as to let us have the £1,000 at as early a date as possible.
My brethren desire me to ask you to send us some word from Auckland, telling us how soon we can depend
upon receiving it, so that we may know just how fast we should [page break]
[7 – WCW – 125]
January 17, 1895
Mr. Harmon Lindsay
Passenger, “Mariposa”, Auckland
Page 2 of 2
prepare for buildings. I felt a little delicate about urging this matter, first because I know that your
thoughtfulness will prompt you to put it in our hands as soon as reasonable, and second, because I have
thought that you might wish to confer with Elder Olsen before arranging for its transfer. If however, you
should find that this is unnecessary and should desire to transmit the gift to us at an early date, it would
mean much to our work here by enabling us to push forward the buildings more rapidly and to our better
satisfaction.
We are heartily glad that Brother Sisley has consented to remain with us another month, I am sure
that this will be greatly to the advantage of the work in these colonies in every way. His money and I expect
that he will be a help to us in other councils as well. I am sorry that you will be deprived of his company.
I will endeavor to enclose with this copies of letters received from the Islands which I think you will
all enjoy reading.
Give my kindest regards to Mother, to Daniel and Andrew, and reserve a large portion to yourself
and Annie.
Yours in haste and much love,
W.C. White
(A.M.)
P.S. Tell Annie that my letters from home make me very happy and that my prospects for the future are
brightening. Later: encouraging word from Papa Lacey.
W.
[7 – WCW – 126]
January 18, 1895
Elder J.E. Fulton, Care of E. Hare
Turner St., Auckland, N.Z.
My Dear Brother: I was glad to receive yours of January 6, and to know that you had arrived safely in Auckland. I hope
to see you in a few days and then we can talk matters over much more satisfactorily than to communicate by
writing. I am glad that you have come as soon as you did, it is well for you to become somewhat acquainted
before the camp-meeting. Please to remember that there is much for you to learn regarding the different
methods of thought, as well as the different methods of living, and of work among the people of the colonies.
Do not cling to your Americanisms, but study to become a colonial. Place yourself in the company of
competent critics and encourage them to point out those things in your manner and speech which appear
peculiar. Improve your time in studying the institutions of the colonies so that you may converse intelligently
upon colonial topics wit whomsoever you meet. Broaden out as fast as you can, and pray God to make this
transfer of field a blessing to you in every way.
It is expected that Elder Colcord and I will attend the Auckland meeting. One or two others may
come, but I cannot say.
With kindest regards to yourself and Sr. Fulton, I am,
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
(A.M.)
[7 – WCW – 127]
January 18, 1895
C.H. Jones
Pacific Press
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: I have but little time to write but must answer briefly yours of December 12. I am glad to hear what
you say about the large circulation of tracts and the arrangements you have made for publishing editions in
Oakland. It encourages us to hear your words of approval regarding the changes we have made in our
subscription book business. I am deeply interested in Elder Olsen’s propositions regarding a wider circulation
of the “Signs” I think it is time that we did something in this line. No doubt, as you suggest, that his plan
might require some modification but it is an effort in the right direction.
I have a letter from Fulton announcing his safe arrival in Auckland.
I am heartily sorry to hear what you write about the McIvors’ family, it is a peculiar case. He was so
surrounded with temptations and difficulties in Palmerstone North that I proposed while visiting there that
he work his way to San Francisco on the “Pitcairn” to ascertain if there was a suitable opening for him and his
family in California. Some months later he attended the Wellington camp-meeting and expressed a desire to
go. Elder Olsen hesitated about giving his consent, but after the camp-meeting closed, and we were on the
steamer [page break]
[7 – WCW – 128]
January 18, 1895
C.H. Jones
Pacific Press
Page 2 of 2
going to Auckland, he reluctantly gave his consent in response to appeals made by Mother and myself. Then I
telegraphed the McIvors advising him to go to and we instructed Christiansen to take him. Imagine our
surprise to learn during the Melbourne camp-meeting that they had hastily sold everything, and the whole
family was in Wellington expecting to go. They had virtually thrown away their household stuff in their
inconsiderate haste, and represented that they had nothing to go back to, therefore we permitted the whole
family to go, praying that God would open the way for them, and that they might develop into useful workers
in the health missionary line. He has good mental ability, which if properly trained and disciplined, would fit
him to be a useful man some day in Scotland. I shall always be sorry that Dr. Maxom did not give him a trial.
When I have time, I will look up the letters which I wrote to him and send copies to you. If anyone
says that we urged them to go and that they plead to remain in New Zealand, I must insist that there is some
grave mistake. This is the first I have heard any intimation of any such occurrence.
The “Mariposa” which brings this letter to you will also bring the Wessels family from S. Africa. We
enjoyed their visit with us very much. I am sure they will appreciate very highly whatever attention is shown
them during their short visit and in preparation for their long overland journey.
One week from today, I expect to start for the New Zealand camp-meeting. The trip will occupy
about three months of my time.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 129]
January 18, 1895
Elder A.O. Tait
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: The “Mariposa” brought me four or five letters from you of various lengths which I must endeavor to
answer, if but briefly.
I thank you most heartily for the samples of publications sent and for the letters explaining your plan
with reference to supplying sample copies it will be helpful to us in making up our list. We have intended to
do this business properly but not having a regular list it has been sometimes forgotten and sometimes done
irregularly, your letter comes just in time.
It always does me good to hear about the large editions of tracts which you issue, I must sincerely
hope that great care will be taken that these tracts are well edited. We find that it is hard to circulate large
tracts because they cost so much and so in our publication of Elder Prescott’s “Christ and the Sabbath,” we
have given it a careful revision so as to bring it down to 32 pp. of our tract size. I really think that the tract has
been benefitted in every way, and I hope that Elder Prescott will be pleased with what we have done.
As regards the publication of Mother’s chapter on spiritualism in tract form. I will present the matter
to our Book Committee and after getting their criticisms will ask Sister Davis and Bolton [page break]
[7 – WCW – 130]
January 18, 1895
Elder A.O. Tait
Page 2 of 2
to prepare it for such independent use. If all goes well, we will send you a copy of the M.S.S. as soon as ready
for use.
Now I must say a few words in response to yours of November 22. IT has seemed to me that Elder
Olsen enjoys a large degree of the confidence of our people. He is a man who fears God and desires the
advancement of the Cause in all its branches. I have been three years away from the States and do not know
how that other men have been developing but I cannot think of anyone likely to bear the responsibilities
which Elder Olsen now carries any more faithfully or efficiently than he does.
W.C. White
(A.M.)
[7 – WCW – 131]
January 18, 1895
Brethren Cady, Chapman, and Caldwell
Page 1 of 2
Dear Fellow-laborers: IN a few hours the American mail will close and I will pen you a few lines, fearing that if I miss this
mail, my letter will not get off on the January trip of the “Richmond”.
We have been much rejoiced to hear of the progress and prosperity of your work. We shall be very
happy to have a report from you once a month. Whenever you feel free to write a brief report for the “Echo”,
we shall be glad to print it, or such portions of it as our room will permit. And when you prefer to address us
personally we shall be more than pleased to receive your letters. We often make abstracts and send them to
our churches, and we should print more perhaps in the “Echo” if we did not fear publishing those things that
might work against you.
Our work in Australia is moving forward encouragingly. Elders Starr and Hickox are much blessed in
their work in Queensland. They have left the Rockhampton church in a healthy growing condition and are
finding many interested ones about Brisbane. By the time this reaches you, they will have progressed about
five weeks in their tent meeting in Toowoomba. In Ashfield there are about 25 who have signed the Covenant
and some are keeping the Sabbath. In Victoria our churches are growing. In Broken Hill there is much to
encourage us. I may be able [page break]
[7 – WCW – 132]
January 18, 1895
Brethren Cady, Chapman, and Caldwell
Page 2 of 2
to send you copies of a letter from there.
Just at the present the Union Conference Committee are in counsel with Brother W.C. Sisley and
some of our brethren who are carpenters and builders regarding the plans for our proposed school buildings.
In a few weeks Elder Rousseau will open what we call an Industrial Department on our school grounds, in
which a few young men will be permitted to work six hours a day for their board and receive instruction
morning and evening in two studies.
In a week I shall sail for Auckland to attend the camp-meeting. Mother is now at Cooranbong, taking
a couple of weeks of needed rest.
Brother Sisley expects to sail for America on the “Arawa”, leaving Auckland February 23.
I will try to enclose with this copies of letters from Elder Cole and Brother Baron, who has just
located on Lord Howe’s Island.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
(A.M.)
[7 – WCW – 133]
January 18, 1895
Mr. Harmon Lindsay
Battle Creek, Mich.
Dear Brother: Your letter of November 28 to my mother has been placed in my hands for an answer. I read it to her
when the mail came in, and the document prepared by Mr. Boal for her to sign. I find that she is not willing to
sign it in its present form, and I have not found time to prepare one which she would accept. I do not think
she would have objected to the document if it had only contained a disavowal of any intention to influence
the children against Mr. Walling but when it proceeds to give him her testimonial as believing him to be a
“worthy man whom they ought to respect and to whom they should show obedience” she utterly refuses to
give any such testimony.
I will do my best as soon as I can give it my attention to prepare a paper that will be satisfactory both
to her and to Mr. Walling. This will not be so easily done now as her fears are aroused that he is seeking to
get something for publication which will appear to be inconsistent with some of her letters in his possession.
Trusting that you will explain this to Mr. Boal in an acceptable manner.
I remain,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
(A.M.)
P.S. I may be able to enclose some copies of letters which you will enjoy reading.
W.
[7 – WCW – 134 is a repetition of page 133]
[7 – WCW – 135]
Jan. 18, 1895
To the General Conference Assembled
Dear Brethren,
The executive committee of the Australasian Union Conference and the directors of the Echo
Publishing Co. write us asking the General Conference to take over and publish the Bible Echo as they do
Present Truth in London.
This request is made in response to an invitation from the secretary of the Foreign Mission Board
________ at the same time we desire to call your attention to a request made one year ago upon this subject
as indicated by a copy of the minutes of the Aust. Union Conference held January 1894 and enclosed ____.
With best wishes, we are,
Your fellow laborers,
W.C. White, Pres. Union Conf. & Echo Pub. Co.
L.J. Rousseau, Sec. of Union Conf.
W.D. Salisbury, Sec. of Echo Pub. Co. Ltd.
[7 – WCW – 136]
16 Best St., North Fitzroy, Victoria
Jan. 18, 1895
Miss Mary C. Mortensen
Page 1 of 2
Dear Sister: For some months I have been promising myself that I would write you a long letter for the next
American mail, but the months come and go, and each time I seem to be a little more crowded with work
than the last, and many of my most important letters go over without any answer at all. This month I have
written to about one-third of those to whom I wished to write and to less than half of those from whom I
received letters in the last mail.
Our work here is moving on very encouragingly as a whole. We see many enquiring for truth and
many accepting the faith. Not a very large number in any one locality, but a few in many places. There seems
to be a great work before us here and neither Mother nor I feel like running away from it. We are surrounded
with financial difficulties, and we are many times very sad that we cannot put on faster with our school, but
we believe that God is leading and that He is teaching us precious lessons by our disappointments, and we
look to him for support and guidance.
My cherished desire is that this shall become a training ground for home and foreign missionaries
and that Australia, which is so near to many of the greatest mission fields, and having so many who are
familiar with these fields, may become a center for operations in Polynesia, Malaysia, India, China, and Japan.
It will be great economy to the General Cause, if this plan can be carried to execution. And as long as there is
a fair prospect of this being accomplished, I feel that this is the place for me to work until someone stronger
comes to take my place, and then I shall go elsewhere with a light heart.
Mother has quite fully settled down to the idea of staying here till the Lord sends her somewhere
else. This being the case and the Mission Board giving us to understand that her views of duty will be their
guide to a large degree, I think I am now free to plan a little regarding my future, and the future of my
children. Very naturally, I desire to have them with me. Their training, in many ways, can be more perfect
where they are, but it is not good for them, or for me that we be continuously separated. I need their
company very much and it is likely that in their future government, I may do more for them if I do not
become too much of a stranger to them, their tastes and ways and habits.
I have now decided to ask the Mission Board to send them to me or at least to consent to their
coming. And I think that the sooner they come, the better so that they are in good hands. I have supposed
that someone would be coming after the General Conference who could be able to take good care of them.
In times past, when I have thought of bringing them, the serious question has been what shall I do
with them when here? Who can I trust to care for them? During the last few months, I have become
intimately acquainted with Sister May Lacey, daughter of Bro. D. Lacey of [page break]
[Second page of this letter is on page 138.]
[7 – WCW – 137]
Jan. 18, 1895
Mr. Herbert Lacey
College, Battle Creek, Michigan, U.S.A.
My Dear Brother: The recent American mails brought me two letters from you, and as the last one tells me that the
business mentioned in the first has been adjusted by Eld. Olsen there is little need for me to dwell upon it.
Just now Bro. W.C. Sisley is with us and is making plans for our school buildings, and helping us in our
committee counsels.
Last month, Sr. Wessels and her children were here, and we did have a very pleasant visit with them.
The chief object of this letter is to tell you that ever since our first meeting, I have had a deep
interest in your sister May and that since a more intimate acquaintance during the last few months, I have
grown to love her dearly, and have asked her to be my wife. She has about decided to accept my petition and
today I received from your father a very kind letter telling me that he would offer no objection. This makes
my future look very bright and I hasten to tell you how happy I am. I most sincerely hope that you will be
pleased with the thought of having me for a brother.
And now I have a great favor to ask of you. And that is that you take a little time to cultivate the
acquaintance of my little daughters and that you tell them about your Tasmanian home, and about your
family and especially about May. Please point her out to them in the school group and tell them all about her.
This will be a great help to them and to me. For when they come over here I wish them to feel that they know
and love their new mother.
Yours,
W.C .White
[7 – WCW – 138]
Jan. 18, 1895
Miss Mary C. Mortensen
Page 2 of 2
Hobart, Tasmania, and sister to Herbert Lacey who is now completing his course at the B.C. College. Sister
Lacey is a girl of broad views with much natural ability and has a big heart. She loves children dearly and has
much power to control them. She was one of the foremost students in our Bible School and was also one of
the most successful visitors and missionary workers. I have asked her to be my wife, and if time has no
marked surprises for us, I expect in a few months to be establishing myself in a modest little home, as near to
Mother as my work and my limited finances will permit.
Now I have told you my plans as far as they are formed. And I must leave with you the difficult task
of placing the matter before the children and of preparing their minds to like someone that neither you or
they have ever seen. I will send a photograph as soon as I can get one, and shall study to develop something
of an acquaintance before they meet. I shall ask Bro. Lacey to visit them and tell them about his family, and
his home and thus break as much as we can the unpleasantness of the thought of coming to meet a stranger.
As regards the plans for their coming, I will ask you to consult with Eld. Olsen and follow that plan
which to you both seems good. I must also ask you to use what skill you have in the matter of closing out the
furniture and household goods. I will try in the next mail to outline some general plan but of course, I cannot
go into details.
Mother talks considerable about asking you to come over here to be her housekeeper. I hope she
will and that you will decide to come. She greatly needs a manager and economist at the head of her
household. But of course, I shall leave her to make her plans and proposals about this.
And now I must close, for it is time to send this to the post.
With best wishes, I am,
Your brother in Christ,
W.C. White
P.S.
I find that I have a little more time, and I think I ought to tell you more about Sr. Lacey. In her home,
she was the oldest sister and the real caretaker of the family. In the family, and in the church she was the
most love. In the school, she was most highly esteemed by all who knew her. She is about the size of Miss
Houlder who is at the San. She is twenty-one years of age, but is much older in experience. She is thoughtful
and generous in all her impulses and has a wonderful faculty of winning the confidence of everybody and
putting everybody at ease. But if I say more, you will hardly think I am a correct judge, so I will refer to Bro.
and Sr. Tenney, John Reekie, and Sr. Florence Grattage Branstrutter. They are all well acquainted with her,
and can verify what I have said.
In haste,
W.C. White.
[First page of this letter is on page 136.]
[7 – WCW – 139]
Page 1 of 9
DISTRICT NUMBER SEVEN.
W.C. White, Supt.
That portion of the General Conference territory known in the United States as District Number Seven, we at
the antipodes prefer to designate as the Australasian Union Conference. In this vast territory of more than
three millions of square mile and having a total population of upwards of four millions of people there are, at
present but two annual conferences, known as the New Zealand and Australian Conferences. These were
united during the visit of Elder Olsen, at the beginning of 1894 in forming the Australasian Union Conference
which meets once in two years for the consideration of question of mutual interest and for the election of an
executive committee to advise in general missionary operations and to manage the institutions and
enterprises which both annual conference unite in instituting and sustaining.
New Zealand, - this colony is about the size of Colorado. It has 104,471 square miles of territory and
a population of 634,058. Its larger towns and densest population are along the coast. The proclamation of the
third angel’s message has been mostly confined to the coast towns till the last two years. There are eight
churches in the New Zealand Conference. Five of these are in coast towns and three are inland. Five of these
churches worship in meetinghouses of their own.
Seventy-six have been added to the conference during the year, making a membership of 326. These
have paid $3,034.54 tithes, and have contributed $242.83 for the support of missions. Only two ministers
have been in the field during the year, one licentiate acting as a local [page break]
[7 – WCW – 140]
Page 2 of 9
preacher, without remuneration and one colporteur evangelist. Most of the time nine canvassers have been
in the field and they sold $5338.54 worth of books.
New Zealand is a most interesting field for all classes of laborers. The people outside of large towns
are generally kind and hospitable; and to a considerable degree, independent of thought and courageous in
action. But New Zealand is a field that is expensive and hard to work because of the wide separation of its
populous portions. Therefore it will always call for men of strong physique and of dauntless energy.
During the year, more attention than formerly has been given to colporteur work in Wellington and
among the many ships of all classes which visit that port. The results of this effort are quite encouraging.
Another line of work which has received special attention is correspondence with those who have purchased
books, or whose names were gathered by canvassers or others and sent to the secretary of the Tract Society.
It appears that there is no kind of labor which is more needed or which brings so large results for the effort
put forth as wise and timely correspondence with these isolated person seeking for truth.
In New Zealand there is a wide field of usefulness for men who while supporting themselves as
hawkers, canvassers, or tradesmen, will penetrate into the interior and scatter the precious seeds of truth by
means of short conversations, by the distribution of papers and tracts, and by gathering addresses of persons
to whom our corresponding secretaries may send literature and letters. Especially effective are such labors
among those who enjoy but few religious privileges. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 141]
Page 3 of 9
Australia, - The conference bearing this name is supposed to include all the Australian continent with
its 3,030,771 square miles of territory and its 3,112,500 people; and in addition to this, Tasmania, having
26,215 miles of territory and 152,619 in population. In this immense territory there have been ten ministers.
Three were engaged in teaching and editorial work, and seven in laboring among the churches or carrying the
message to new fields. These have been assisted a portion of the year by one licentiate and three Bible
workers. The nine churches of the conferences are located in four colonies. One in South Australia, two in
Tasmania, four in Victoria, and four in New South Wales. The size of the territory of this conference and the
location of its churches may be illustrated by supposing you had a conference including all of the United
States west of the Mississippi River and that there was one church at Los Angeles, three near Oakland one in
Sacramento, four in Southern Oregon, and two in the Faralone Islands. The natural difficulty and unavoidable
expense of managing such a conference can be seen without argument.
The membership of the conference has increased by 96 during the year, and now numbers 753. The
tithes for the year amounted to $6,275.56, and the contributions to missions $415.89. There are forty-one
canvassers in the field who have sold publication to the value of $23,392.57.
A most excellent influence has followed the conscientious and earnest labors of many of the
canvassers. Here and there, all over the field, persons are inquiring after and embracing the message. And
several small companies have been brought out as the result of a few [page break]
[7 – WCW – 142]
Page 4 of 9
weeks of labor in visiting, holding Bible readings, organizing prayer and social meetings, and Sabbath-schools
by the state agent or an experienced colporteur or minister sent by the conference in response to the call of
the canvasser who began the work. It was in this way that a small company was brought out in
Muswellbrook, N.S.W. and a very earnest and active company in Broken Hill, Australia’s greatest mining town
which lies five hundred miles north of Adelaide. The work in Rockhampton, Queensland was begun in the
same way also. With more laborers and the means to support them, we believe that there might be such an
enlargement of the work in Australia as would call for its division into two or three conferences, each of
which would soon grow to a membership larger than that we now have in the whole continent.
The Opening of Queensland and Western Australia.
Two years ago we saw that the time had come for the opening up of the Queensland field. Hundreds
of books had been sold and there were scores of interested ones searching for more light on the subjects
treated in the books. The Australian Conference had neither the men nor the means to engage in the work
unaided and an appeal was made to the General Conference for assistance. In response, the General
Conference offered to support two men for a year, in Queensland and when three were sent instead of two,
approved of the action. You have followed the reports of Brn. Starr, Hickox, and Bernoth must have been
impressed with the thought that the way was prepared before them and that special blessings have rested
upon the effort to plant the standard of truth in that large colony. Queensland bids fair to become a
stronghold and a point from which to send workers to the “regions beyond”. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 143]
Page 5 of 9
Western Australia is now in a position similar to that of Queensland two years ago. Hundreds of
books have been sold there in the last three years and the field is all ready for the preachers. But what can
we do? The Australian Conference is in a worse condition financially to enter upon new and expensive
enterprises than ever before. The financial distress which prevails throughout the colonies, is felt by our
people as well as others and though our numbers have largely increased and there are more workers than in
former years, the total amount of tithes received stands about the same as several years ago. Last year the
conference ran in debt about two thousand dollars and this we felt forced to do to meet the requirements of
the field that labor already expended should not be lost. We have no more men than are needed in the
colonies where the work is already in progress but God is fitting up some younger men to be laborers and
therefore, we could select two good men to open up the work in Western Australia, if the General
Conference feels free to assume the financial responsibility of the enterprises.
We therefore appeal to the General Conference, asking them to send two ministers or one minister
and a licentiate to Western Australia as soon as possible with the exception of supporting them in the work in
that field for two years. We also ask the General Conference to extend its support to the work in Queensland
for another year.
We also ask, in view of our financial embarrassments, that the General Conference pay the traveling
expenses to these fields of Bro. A.W. Semmons and wife, of J.E. Fulton and wife, and of Bro. C.E. Palmer and
family. We ask according to our needs and your generosity. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 144]
Page 6 of 9
The Publishing and Subscription Book Work.
When the great financial crash overtook the colonies about two years ago, it completely paralyzed
many lines of trade, and nearly put a stop to the work of our canvassers. It is only by united effort and mutual
sacrifices that the work has been kept going. But all felt that the work was of more than monetary
importance, and that the books must be placed in the hands of the people even at great sacrifice. So the
Tract Society and the Echo Company incurred large expense in the training of workers and the canvassers
held onto the work while making a very scanty living and the Lord has blessed this labor done as so great
sacrifice beyond anything we have seen in the past.
Years ago, the Echo Publishing Co. conducting the canvassing work in all parts of Australia and
Tasmania. Two years ago, it gave half of its territory to the Australian Tract Society, and at our last
conference the whole of the canvassing work was turned over to the Society. This change seems to give
general satisfaction to our people.
And now the Echo Publishing Company asks two things of the General Conference. 1. That it be
made the General Depository of all S.D.A. publications, for all of the Australasia and that books be furnished
at such prices without loss to the Echo Co. 2. That the General Conference take complete control of the Bible
Echo and bear all the expenses of its publication.
In past years when the Echo Co. was making a liberal profit from the Subscription Book Business, it
cheerfully bore all the losses on the Echo. But now the most we can hope is that the handling of the [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 145]
Page 7 of 9
books as wholesale agents, will pay the expenses of the work. Then, if the printing department pays its way,
and carries the general expenses of the office that is all we can expect of it, and there is no department from
which to draw to meet the losses on the Bible Echo. Probably I ought not to leave this subject without
speaking of the influence of the Bible Echo. It has always been a powerful agent for the advancement of the
message and since it has been published weekly, it has increased power. It is the only preacher that many of
our people have and it cannot well be spared. Those who have become familiar with the argument against
our papers, that where they have been widely circulated, the canvassers cannot do so well, will be pleased to
know that in Australasia, the canvasser find that they can do best, where the Echo has been read.
The Australian Sentinel, - This journal has been stared during the past year by the Union Conference.
Its needs I do not need to argue for you are all aware that the issues with which it treats are the leading
issues of the times. Of its suitability to the work, I may say that it is received with favor and is having a good
influence. When we have more tracts and one or two good pamphlets on the same subject, we expect to
organize a general canvass and train many workers to push this line of literature. Meanwhile we ask the
General Conference to take charge of this, when it does the other journals of its class.
The Australasian Bible School
The Bible School opened Aug. 24, 1892 in rented buildings in Melbourne. During the first term there
were eighteen boarding students and seven day students. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 146]
Page 8 of 9
A large portion of these were young men and women who had been engaged in Christian work and who
attended for the sole purpose of fitting themselves to labor more acceptably in the cause. A marked feature
of this first term of the school was the peace of God which was felt to be an abiding presence in the home.
The second school year began June 6, 1893. During this year, there was a total attendance of sixtynine. Forty of these resided in the home and twenty-nine were day students. Every student in the school was
a member of the Bible class. During the vacation that followed this years’ work, a missionary institute was
held covering twelve weeks and having an attendance of about thirty-five.
The third years’ work began April 4, 1894 and like the previous year, continued twenty-four weeks.
There were forty students in attendance. Twenty-nine were boarders and eleven, day students. The hard
times had kept at home many who wished to attend and we were glad to see the forty present. At the close
of this term, it was thought best to abandon the rented buildings and wait for the opening of the school till
buildings of our own could be secured.
We have great reason to rejoice in the work accomplished by the school in its work of the first three
years. The conference is strengthened and unified by the influences of the school, and many are quietly
laboring wherever their work is, more effectually for the good training received at the school.
The Union Conference Committee have purchased a site for the permanent school near Morrisett,
N.S.W. and at the time this report is [page break]
[7 – WCW – 147]
Page 9 of 9
being written, Bro. W.C. Sisley is with us making plans for the buildings which we shall begin to erect as soon
as the sufficient amount of means are at our command, to warrant making a beginning.
“The Regions Beyond.”
It may be time to close this report, but we cannot forebear to call your attention to the fact that
Australia is very favorably located as a center from which to prosecute missionary work, in many of the
strongholds of heathenism. Sydney is the great center of trade with the Pacific Islands. Commerce with
Polynesia is rapidly increasing and there are opportunities to take passage in regular lines of steamers or on
sailing vessels to almost any group of islands you may wish to visit. The Union Conference Committee have
outlined a missionary tour through Northern Queensland and the East Indies which we hope you will consider
for these are great and promising fields and we believe that they can be pioneered in the way proposed at
less than one tenth of what it would cost to send the Pitcairn around there. In the East Indies we expect to
find fields for canvassers and we trust that our brethren in So. Africa will have men speaking both Dutch and
English to send to the fields needing such workers. We believe that Dr. M.G. Kellogg and Bro. Thomas Whittle
would be two good men to make this trip and we hope that you will decide to authorize them to do so.
In sending of two families to Norfolk Island, and a family to Lord Howe’s Island, we have anticipated
your wishes and we trust that the letters we have sent you telling of their reception will convince you as they
have us, that the Lord had prepared the way before them.
May the God of all grace guide you in all your deliberations.
[7 – WCW – 148]
Page 1 of 3
WORKERS’ DIRECTORY.
----The nature of the work in which each person is engaged or authorized to engage, is indicated thus:
(m), minister; (e), editor; (c), Conference Committee; (a), state agent; (s), secretary; (s.s.), Sabbath-school
worker; (l), Licentiate; (m.l), licensed missionary; (t), teacher; (d), director; (b), business manager or member
Board of Directors; (tr.), treasurer; (m.m.), medical missionary.
----Anderson, C.J.
Baker, W.L.H.
Baker, Mrs. W.L.H.
Beldon, S.T.
Bernoth, M.
Bolton, Miss Fannie
Burnham, Miss E.J.
Caro, Mrs. M.
Cole, J.M.
Corliss, J.O.
Corliss, Miss Lulu
Colcord, W.A.
Crothers, W.M.
Daniells, A.G.
[page break]
(m.l.),
(m),
(s),
(m.l.),
(l),
(e),
(e),
(l),
(m),
(m),
(s.s.),
(m),
(a),
(m),
Norfolk Island (via Sydney, N.S.W.).
Launceston, Tasmania.
Norfolk Island, (via Sydney, N.S.W.).
Toowoomba, Queensland.
Granville, N.S.W.
Echo Publishing Co., N. Fitzroy, Victoria.
Napier, New Zealand.
Norfolk Island, via Sydney, N.S.W.
G.P.O., Sydney, N.S.W.
G.P.O., Sydney, N.S.W.
Echo Pub. Co., North Fitzroy, Victoria.
Banks Terrace, Wellington, New Zealand.
16 Best St., North Fitzroy, Victoria.
[7 – WCW – 149]
Page 2 of 3
Faulkhead, N.D.
Fulton, J.E.
Glass, John
Goodey, Miss Rose
Hare, Robert
Hare, Joseph Jr.
Hickox, A.S.
Higgins, John
Israel, M.C.
Ingels, Miss Anna L.
Kellogg, Dr. M.G.
Michaels, C.P.
Mountain, Arthur
Muckersey, Henry
McCullough, S.
Paap, John
Pallant, Jesse
Rousseau, L.J.
Reekie, Ainslie
Salisbury, W.D.
Semmons, A.W.
Simpson, Andrew
Smith, James
Starr, G.B.
Steed, David
Teasdale, George
[page break]
(tr.),
(m),
(c),
(s.s.),
(m),
(d),
(m),
(d),
(m),
(s),
(m.m.),
(a),
(s),
(c),
(m),
(d),
(m.l.),
(m&t),
(c),
(b),
(m.l.),
(m.l.),
(c),
(s),
(m),
(l),
Hastings, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.
Kaeo, New Zealand.
Young St., Parkside, Adelaide, S. Australia.
Epuni St., Wellington, New Zealand.
Ashfield, N.S.W.
Kalkoura, New Zealand.
25 Henry St., Leichardt, N.S.W.
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
Windsor, N.S.W.
Ashfield, N.S.W.
Banks Terrance, Wellington, N. Zealand.
Campbell St., Palmerstone N., New Zealand.
[7 – WCW – 150]
Page 3 of 3
Tuxford, Mrs. M.H.
White, Mrs. E.G.
White, W.C.
Whittle, Tom.
Wilson, G.T.
Wilson, Mrs. G.T.
Woods, J.H.
(s),
(m),
(m),
(c),
(m),
(s.s.),
(c),
Prospect St., Granville, N.S.W.
Prospect St., Granville, N.S.W.
16 Best St., North Fitzroy.
Echo Pub. Co., North Fitzroy, Victory.
[7 – WCW – 151]
Year Book
Page 1 of 3
AUSTRALASIAN UNION CONFERENCE.
----Executive Committee. – W.C. White, A.G. Daniells, G.T. Wilson, S. McCullough, L.J. Rousseau, Joseph Hare, H.
Muckersey, A. Reekie, James Smith.
Officers. – Pres., W.C. White; Vice Pres. A.G., Daniells; Sec., L.J. Rousseau; Treas., Echo Publishing Company.
Book Committee. – W.C. White, A.G. Daniells, James Smith, W.A. Colcord, J.O. Corliss.
Committee on Transportation. – A.G. Daniells, Chairman; W.C. White, Sydney; W.D. Salisbury, Melbourne;
G.T. Wilson, Wellington, Wellington; E. Hare, Auckland.
Editorial Committee of Bible Echo. – A.G. Daniells, W.A. Colcord, J.O. Corliss.
Committee of Management for Bible Echo. – A.G. Daniells, H. Muckersey, James Smith.
Secretaries for Department of Religious Liberty. – Gen. Field Sec., W.A. Colcord; Con. Secs.: for New Zealand,
G.T. Wilson; for Queensland, G.B. Starr; for New South Wales, S. McCullough; for Victoria, W.A. Colcord; for
South and Western Australia, A.G. Daniells; for Tasmania, W.L.H. Baker.
----[page break]
[7 – WCW – 152]
Year Book
Page 2 of 3
AUSTRALIA.
----Ministers. – A.G. Daniells, J.O. Corliss, W.A. Colcord, M.C. Israel, L.J. Rousseau, S. McCullough, G.B. Starr,
W.L.H. Baker, R. Hare, A.S. Hickox, Dr. M.G. Kellogg.
Licentiates. – Geo. Teasdale, M. Bernoth.
Missionary License. – J. Pallant.
Conference Officers. – Pre., A.G. Daniells; Vice Pres., M.C. Israel; Sec., S. McCullough; Treas., N.D. Faulkhead;
Ex. Com., A.G. Daniells, M.C. Israel, S. McCullough, W.C. White, Jas. Smith, L.J. Rousseau, T. Whittle.
Tract Society Officers. – Pres., A.G. Daniells; Vice Pres., M.C. Israel; Sec. & Treas., Anna L. Ingels; Assist. Sec.,
Rose S. Goodey; Directors: Victoria, M.C. Israel; Tasmania, W.L.H. Baker; South Australia, J. Higgins; New
South Wales, J.O. Corliss; Queensland, G.B. Starr; these to act with the Conference Committee.
Sabbath-School Association Officers. – President, J.O. Corliss; Vice Pres. C.P. Michaels; Sec. & Treas., Miss
Rose S. Goodey; Assist. Sec., Miss Lulu Corliss; Ex. Com., W.L.H. Baker, and J.H. Woods, these to act with
officers.
----[page break]
[7 – WCW – 153]
Year Book
Page 3 of 3
NEW ZEALAND.
----Ministers. – G.T. Wilson, David Steed, J.E. Fulton.
Licentiates. – Mrs. Margaret Caro.
Missionary License. – Andrew Simpson.
Conference Officers. – President, G.T. Wilson, Vice Pres., Arthur Mountain; Sec. & Treas., Mrs. M.H. Tuxford;
Directors: Dist. No. 1, Joseph Hare Jr.: No. 2, W.M. Crothers; No. 3, John Paap; Gen. Agent, W.M. Crothers.
Sabbath-School Association Officers. – Pres. G.T. Wilson; Vice Pres., A. Mountain; Sec., Mrs. G.T. Wilson; Ex.
Com., D. Steed, A. Simpson, Mrs. G.T. Wilson, A. Mountain, Mrs. M. Caro.
-----
[7 – WCW – 154]
Page 1 of 2
STATISTICAL SUMMARY
of the
AUSTRALASIAN UNION CONFERENCE. – Dis. No. 7.
----Report of
At June 30,
Number of churches . . . . . . . . . .
Membership of churches . . . . . . . . .
Companies not organized . . . . . . . .
Total number of Sabbath-keepers . . . .
Number of Sabbath Schools . . . . . . . .
Membership of Sabbath Schools . . . . .
Attendance at Sabbath Schools . . . . .
Ministers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Licentiates . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Colporteurs & Bible Workers . . . . . . .
Canvassers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Australia
1893. 1894
7.
9.
650. 752.
6.
5.
732. 850.
24. 28.
782. 897.
583. 695.
77. 10.
1.
1.
1.
3.
35. 41.
-----
[page break]
&
New Zealand.
1893. 1894.
6.
8.
259. 326.
2.
2.
330. 376.
24. 26.
488. 534.
270. 448.
3.
2.
1.
1.
1.
1.
5.
9.
[7 – WCW – 155]
Page 2 of 2
Tithes for the year ending June 30, 1894.
First-day Offerings . . . . . . . . . .
Christmas Offerings . . . . . . . . . . .
Sabbath-School Donations for Polynesia.
Sabbath-School Donations for Foreign Missions.
Total Contributions to Missions . . . . .
Subscription Books sold, retail value . . .
Sale of Trade Books and Tracts.
Number of Echoes sold and distributed . .
Number of Sentinels sold and distributed
Number of Sentinels printed
Number of meeting houses
Value of meeting houses
Indebtedness on meeting houses
Value of conf. property, tents, seats, etc.
Indebtedness of conference
Australia
$6,275.56.
117.31.
75.79.
222.79.
298.58.
23,392.57.
199,993.
12,000.
15,000.
1893. 1894.
3.
4.
$1,569.96.
3,477.18.
-----
&
New Zealand.
$3,034.54.
49.92.
88.32.
133.59.
221.91.
242.83.
4,478.00.
860.54.
1893. 1894.
4.
5.
$10,560.
4,290.32.
703.20.
[7 – WCW – 156]
Granville, N.S.W.
January 27, 1895
Eld. A.G. Daniells
16 Best St., North Fitzroy, Vict.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: You will remember that we were rather crowded when we left Melbourne. About 11 p.m. there was
more room and from Albury we had a compartment to ourselves. The night was warm, but we slept some,
and were ready for work on our arrival at Sydney.
We were met by Brn. Corliss, Kellogg, and Semmons and went at once to see the place offered us by
Mr. Booth. It is certainly in a nice locality and in some respects it is a good building but it is rather narrow and
not very roomy. Today we have asked Brn. Sisley, Kellogg and Mackenzie to investigate the matter
thoroughly and prepare a report if possible before Sisley goes to New Zealand, we have also requested Brn.
McCullough, Semmons, and Hare to look around Petersham, Summer Hill, and other nice suburban places for
houses suitable for a bath house on a more modest plan.
It is proposed that Brn. Hare and McCullough pitch the tent in Petersham everyone speaks highly of
the work done by Brn. Pallant, Collins, and Semmons and it seems to be the opinion that both Collins and
Pallant will be needed in connection with the effort in Petersham.
Elder Corliss appears to be perfectly willing to go to New Zealand or to work anywhere we think best
but his preference is to go to New Zealand, I think. His wife is not willing that he should go alone and it has
been their plan that Lulu should go with him, they intend to break up housekeeping and to store their goods.
Sr. Corliss intended to stop with Mother or go to Cooranbong where Burr is stopping with Bro. Lawrence.
After giving the matter some consideration I asked Eld. Corliss to consider another plan viz. that he take his
wife with him to New Zealand and send Lulu to Melbourne to work with the Tract Societies Secretaries
helping all she can and studying to perfect her experience in secretary work, Lulu is assistant secretary of the
S.S. Association and during the absence of the secretary it would seem to be appropriate that she take more
burden of the work than hitherto. Eld. Corliss is desirous that she should perfect her experience in this line
and it appeared to me that this would be about the best opportunity to do so. Lulu has worked very faithfully
during the tent meetings in Ashfield and I think her work has been of value to the conference. I think she is
worthy of any assistance we can now give her to enlarge her experience and her field of usefulness.
When I made the above proposition I was not aware of the proposed changes in the secretary’s
home, I am somewhat surprised that this matter was not mentioned in my presence while in Melbourne, if I
had known how matters are drifting there I should not have been so free to propose [page break]
[7 – WCW – 157]
Granville, N.S.W.
January 27, 1895
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 2 of 2
Lulu’s coming for there may be some difficulty in securing some suitable place for her to board, but I trust
that you can secure for her a suitable place and I hope that you will think best to encourage her to come. Eld.
Corliss asked on what conditions she would be received and I expressed the opinion that we would not do
less for her than to furnish her board; and I was doubtful if under the circumstances we would be able to do
more, he said if he were sure of her board he would trust the rest to future counsels. Our friends here think it
would be well for Lulu to go to Melbourne and Mrs. Corliss to New Zealand, and we ask you and your
colleagues to give this matter immediate consideration and to telegraph your decision to Eld. Corliss by
Tuesday noon.
I send with this a letter from Eld. Starr written to us jointly, we are sorry for Sr. Downs and pray that
this unpleasant affair may turn out to her advantage in the end.
Tomorrow morning we go to Cooranbong to locate school buildings Wednesday I sail for Auckland.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
A.G.M.
[7 – WCW – 158]
Campground, Epsom, N.Z.
February 13, 1895
Geo. B. Starr and A.S. Hickox
Toowoomba, Queensland
Dear Brethren: This is Wednesday noon and this afternoon the Tarawa carries our letters to Sydney. We are in the
midst of the third N.Z. c-m and it seems much more like the camp-meetings of America in the early days than
any I have attended in the southern hemisphere. The ground is rather small and too far from the city. There
are 28 tents and about 80 adults camping on the ground. The distance from town, with the heavy rains
during the first four days have hindered the outside attendance. Sunday night and last night, the tent was
full. At the other meetings there has been from forty to sixty outsiders.
Bro. W.C. Sisley came Monday morning and seems to be enjoying the meeting very much. He was
pretty sick all the way from Sydney, but is quite well now. Between meetings he is hard at work making plans
for various buildings that we have in contemplation. Among these are a cottage for Prof. Rousseau and a
small house for me, and a larger one for Mother. He has with him copies of the plans for our school buildings.
These we shall show to our people tomorrow.
He is now planning to go up to the Bay of Islands next Monday so as to make a short visit to the
Bedgegoods, and other relatives. He can get back the day before the Arawa sails.
It is some time since I wrote to you and I forget what I have told you and what not. You may have
learned from others that one of the reasons why Sr. May Lacey could not be sent to assist you in the Bible
work was that she had an engagement to work for Mother, and that Mother would not release her for that
work. Also that I have lately made an engagement with her of quite another character, and for all the time
May and I are planning to marry soon after I get back from this trip. I am sure that you will be very glad for
me, although this may interfere with your wish to have her help as a Bible worker in Toowoomba. I had it in
mind to write you about this some weeks ago, but for a long time, I have been very sorely pressed with a
variety of perplexities and work that have prevented my writing. May will soon make a visit to her old home
and if Mother continues to feel well, she will probably go with her to Tasmania and take part with Elds.
Daniells, Colcord, Baker, and myself in holding a Tasmanian Convention in Hobart, sometime in April.
We were very sorry to hear of the sudden collapse of your tent, I am surprised and saddened to see
our tents go to pieces so rapidly in these countries. It must be that we have failed to get the best of cloth. No
doubt you have received from Eld. Daniells instruction as to what you ought to do. My mind would be that
considering all the circumstances, it was best for Bro. Hickox to get good help and make a new tent as soon
as possible. I think that our tents are sometimes strained too much because they are not quickly and
continuously slackened during rains. And now I must close.
Your brother,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 159]
Feb. 6, 1895
Eld. A.G. Daniells
North Fitzroy, Vict.
Dear Brother: Your letter of Jan. 29 was handed to me by Eld. Colcord and read by me after we had left Sydney. I
am now sending back to Eld. Rousseau the copy of the letter to Semmons which you marked for him and me.
I think that the plan of giving written instructions is indeed a good one and I will try to work on the same
principles.
When we got back to Sydney, we thought best to send for Brn. Reekie and Lawrence and of course,
when they came, we had to spend a lot of time with them, and this threw me back in other work. We spent
half a day at Ashfield but accomplished little for the men we wished to see did not return according to
expectation. Therefore, much of the Conf. business was left to Rousseau to complete. This, with the school
work, he feels to be a very heavy burden.
I hope that you and other members of the committee will feel free to encourage him all you can. I
think that he feels it quite keenly that my propositions that he should take some responsibility me nothing
but silence from other members of the committee. I feel it very keenly too, for it leaves the matter in such a
shape the he hangs very heavily on me, causing a waste of time and so burdening me with detail and that I
cannot do the work that I ought.
I have sent you a copy of what I wrote to Sr. Ingels so I do not need to repeat anything about the
Tract So. work or “home” I am real glad you have given Lulu a place, and we are pleased that she is with Sr.
Colcord. I hope she will do well in the office.
I am sorry, as Sr. Ingels says, that so much was said about classes for the girls in training at the T.S.
office, but much more am I sorry that we have not yet been able to start something in the way of instruction
in bookkeeping. Has not the time now to come for that work to begin? Eld. Corliss is very desirous that Lulu
shall improve her time while in Melbourne in mastering bookkeeping. Please do all you can for her in this
line. It seems to me that Lulu, Jessie, and perhaps one or two others might be organized into a class and thus
lessen the expense to each.
I hope to write a short letter to McCullough before this goes, and if I do, I will try to send you a copy.
Time is limited and there is lots to do, and we are yet dull from our voyage.
I wish you were with us at this meeting. You would see a very different spirit from what we met at
Napier. I fear we shall not have a large attendance, either from our own folks or from the citizens. But
whatever it is, we shall do the best we can to improve the time while they are together.
Let me know as soon as you can what conclusions you come to about the Hobart meeting. If the time
I have proposed is not a good one, I shall readily adapt my plans to the best good of the work.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 160]
February 20, 1895
Mrs. E.G. White
Page 1 of 3
Dear Mother: Yesterday morning, our meeting closed and in a few hours, three-fourths of the people were gone.
Over forty went south on the two Strs. that sailed about noon. There are about twenty of us on the ground
now, and most of these will remain here over next Sunday. We have plenty of good tents, floored and fairly
well furnished, we hope to be quite comfortable.
I have just written a three page letter to Eld. Daniells, copy of which I will enclose and as in it I give
quite a history of the work, I will not repeat this, but will go on to other things.
Your letter of Feb. 12 came to hand Monday morning, with my American mail and we have been
having a feast reading. We are glad to bear from home and pleased to know that Edith is well again. We hope
that the others will soon be well from their attacks.
It seems good to hear of donations like that of Bro. Henry Kellogg in a time like this when we are in
such pressing need of funds.
As regards our school work and plans; I feel that the clouds are breaking away and that light is
coming in day by day. Corliss had some excellent testimony regarding the land which helped us much. The
brn. were generally pleased with our plans and seemed specially pleased with the plans for the Industrial
Department. This department will assume large proportions if we let it, and if we manage it wisely.
I am very much pleased at the interest that Bro. Metcalf Hare takes in the school work. He is ready if
we think best to close up his business in Kaeo and move to Avondale. He will move on his own responsibility
and hold himself ready to act a part in our work of preparing for the school, erecting the buildings, or
anything that may be needed. But if we do not wish to employ him, he will engage in work on his own
account till school opens, and then he will enter as a student.
It seems to me that he is the right sort of a man to stand by the side of Rousseau as a worker and
counselor. He might act as our treasurer and bookkeeper and at the same time buy material, and aid in the
work of constructing the buildings. He is very close and careful and understands many lines of work. His
whole heart seems to go out to the school and I believe that the Lord has been fitting him up to help us in
this time when we need a man that can do many things at once. He will sell out his business at quite a
sacrifice, I think. Next week I go to Kaeo and shall learn definitely, I hope, when he can leave for Avondale.
I shall advise Rousseau to let building operations rest till we see how this matter turns, for if Metcalf
Hare is to work with us, I desire to see his plans and management from the beginning. It seems to me that he
could take the responsibilities that otherwise we might have to distribute between three or four. And this
division under our present circumstances would be expensive. With an economical and practical man like
Hare, our Industrial students could do all the building we have the money to pay for at present with aid of
Rousseau as principle. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 161]
February 20, 1895
Mrs. E.G. White
Page 2 of 3
Some fine young men have offered themselves as ready to enter the Industrial Department. They are
not boys, but men. Bro. Woodhams is a brick-maker and says he understands the whole business. That he is
prepared to make by contract if the plan is preferred. Bro. Ross Lewin, who was converted at the Wellington
c-m is a tentmaker of experience. You will remember his letter about his wife in Sydney. Bert Guilliard of
Napier is a stone cutter and will complete his five years apprenticeship in three or four months. These can
bring good recommendations. They are all workers. Others would come if we invited them.
I am very solicitous about the opening and wise management of this dep. I do not wish to see a
haphazard management, with prospect of many changes in either plans or leading workers. We cannot put a
number of men at work on salary. It seems to me that Rousseau and Hare should plan to cover all the work at
first.
I do not see any light in connection Bro. Kellogg with this work. He has a special work that God has
fitted him for and why is it best for him to leave that special work and engage in ordinary work, of a character
that many can do. If Dr. Kellogg’s work in N.S.W. is done for the present is a teacher of Bible Hygiene and if it
is not best for him to engage in the evangelistic work because of his age and lack of force. Then why not
improve this time for him to visit Adelaide and Broken Hill? The people of Adelaide and especially those of
Broken Hill are hungry for truth and would draw him out. In Parramatta it is the opposite. His start there was
not propitious. Appointments were made and postponed and them the news of the death of his wife
depressed him so that the first talks were very tame indeed. It is a pity.
If he has lost his burden for the northern trip, I shall not urge it, especially in view of your protests.
When we are ready for a bath house, I think he would be excellent help in fitting it up. But that like many
other good plans hangs by the gills. If Dr. should go first to Broken Hill and then work Adelaide, we would
know by the time of his return what we wanted to do about some of these things. There is a splendid interest
in Broken Hill that needs attention. Shall we let it wait for years till we get just the corps of workers selected
to please us or send the workers we have?
It seems to me that it will have a most depressing influence on our brethren if we follow a plan that
will appear to those looking on that we undervalue the talent of our colonial brethren and crowd them out,
and push Americans in to every important place. How would it look to Thompson, Hardy, Smith, Shannon,
Higgins, and others if we select a feeble old man who is a minister and medical missionary and press him in to
do the building work and let them all stand aside. Are we called upon by the necessities of the case to put
ourselves in such a disadvantageous position. It seems to me that it is not necessary.
I fear that we have not planned wisely for the Doctor in holding him to the work about Sydney where
his labors must be compared with younger and more popular men. I regret that his mind has been so much
divided. He was never strong when his attention was divided. It is but a little time back that we ordained Dr.
Kellogg to the work of the Gospel Ministry. If God Leads us to do this, does he not call upon the Doctor to fix
his mind on the work and make his time count in it. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 162]
February 20, 1895
Mrs. E.G. White
Page 3 of 3
I am much surprised at what you write regarding the interview with Eld. McCullough and has feelings
about the division of responsibilities among the members of the Ex. Com. If he had shown you the letter
which Eld. Daniells wrote to him and in harmony with which Eld. Rousseau was acting, I do not think that you
would have felt that there was ground for complaint. I will not quote from memory, but will ask that he show
you the letter.
The real question, I presume, is over the handling and disposition of the money raised by the
Ashfield company. And this question should be settled according to principle and not according to authority. I
understand that it is a principle among our people that as soon as is reasonable and safe, we always place the
financial burdens and management of local funds upon members of the local bodies. We do not favor
cultivating a dependence upon the ministers. In harmony with this it is the usual practice for the ministers
holding tent meetings to take the collections while the tent stands towards tent expense. When the tent
meeting closes, it is customary to form some temporary organizations and let the company select a treasurer
who will receive collections, ____ etc. and disburse the same according to the wish of the company. Tithes of
course go to the Conf. Treasurer. In all my experience I never heard of ministers claiming the collections of a
newly organized church or of an unorganized company for the payment of tent expenses in another place.
Nor have I know of ministers delaying the appointment of a local treasurer, that they might handle the funds.
Nor have I heard of their taking the collections from the local treasurer and using it for tent expenses in
another place without making full reports to the Conf. and letting the company raising the funds have full
credit for it.
The last Sabbath I was in Ashfield, it was proposed that a treasurer be chosen. This move had my full
approval and I was much surprised to learn afterwards that Eld. McCullough objected to this and desired to
handle the Ashfield money himself. I will not make further comments, for I have not heard his statement of
the plan or object he was working for. But if it was to have this to mix with the Petersham collections. I can
say that I object, for it is not the right principle I asked Rousseau to lay before him our views regarding the
principle and I will ask you to inquire of Rousseau about it. If it was a question of authority there might be
some feeling, but if it is, as I think a question of principle, and of the right education of the new converts,
then I think that no minister should be unwilling to listen to the views of another minister.
I do not understand your proposition about location of a site for our houses. I would like to be with
you when a place is selected. If the place you have in mind is on the Avondale tract, I can say that I like the
eastern ridge. If it is other lands down towards Dora Creek settlement, then I am perplexed. If there is reason
for immediate or early action, go ahead and “stake out our claim”. If not, I would be very pleased to be with
you.
What are your plans about Tasmania? My work here needs more time than I thought when I left you.
It would be better for me to not try to reach Hobart till the first of May. In my letter to Daniells, I leave the
matter with him to correspond with the brn. in Tasmania and [letter cuts off at this point.]
[7 – WCW – 163]
February 20, 1895
Elder A.G. Daniells
N. Fitzroy, Victoria
Page 1 of 3
Dear Brother: Our camp-meeting closed with a short praise service yesterday, Monday morning, and by the middle
of the afternoon, the Tasmania and Mararoa had taken between forty and fifty of the campers and had borne
them away to their homes in the south. This meeting has in most of its features been more like a workers
institute, than an ordinary camp-meeting. There was a good kind teachable spirit from the first and all the
way through and much instruction has been given in the form of Bible Studies, Eld. Corliss was at his best,
and has done most excellent work. The people appreciate very highly his sermons and Bible Studies. And they
want him to work here for a few months.
The business meetings dragged a little because of the weariness of the president but there was a
large degree of patience and consideration manifested by the brethren, and all moved off harmoniously. In
the feelings of the delegates there was a marked contrast to what we met in Napier three years ago. Of
course, there were a few wild stabs by one or two to whom consideration and forbearance are unknown
g4races, but in these there was no bitterness and they received little attention from chairman or delegates.
At the beginning there was but little outside attendance and there was much talk of pulling right
away from Auckland after the c-m and going to Christchurch to open up the work there. But after full
consideration, it was thought best that Elds. Corliss and Steed remain in Auckland, and that Elds. Wilson and
Fulton work some of the country interests nearby. Then. after this effort, go to Christchurch.
We had been thinking that as this place is quite a distance out of town and as the attendance was
small, that it would be best to go to Parnell. So a good lot was secured and a house selected for the Steed and
Corliss families. But, when Monday night came the tent was nearly full. It was overflowing the night before,
but we had not been expecting a large attendance after Sunday. Eld. Corliss told them our plans and asked
them what location of the tent would accommodate them best. That is, what location of the small tent which
we thought to leave in this part of the place. They largely voted for the present location and showed so much
interest that we all felt that it was right to hold the beg tent here another week. The facts are, the people of
Auckland are just waking up to the fact that our meeting is here, and that it is worth their while to attend it.
Next Monday I go to Kaeo and then am back here March 8. Then I go to Napier and we hold a ten
days Institute there from March 15-25. Two tents will be pitched back of the meetinghouse, and
representatives will be invited in from Gisborne, Hastings, Ormandville, and Palmerstone North. Colcord will
occupy the evenings with a series of studies on Religious Liberty. Crothers the afternoons with Tract So. Work
and I the early morning with S-S and Church Officers Work. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 164]
February 20, 1895
Elder A.G. Daniells
Page 2 of 3
Tomorrow, Colcord will visit the Bree family and then stop at Gisborne on his way to the Institute.
After the Institute, we will stop at Palmerstone North and Wellington and Colcord will visit Blenheim and
Kalkoura, while I stop at Ch-ch and other places down the coast.
From the above, you will see that it will be difficult for us to reach Hobart before the last of April.
And if that meeting can be held as well the first of May, I would be glad to do a more thorough work in behalf
of the school. I plainly see that now is the time to interest our people in it, and get the donations and pledges
and if we but half do the work now, it will be twice as hard later on.
At this meeting, we took the morning hour for four of five days to present school plans. Sunday
mornings we asked for donations and pledges and without urging, they handed in about ten pounds and
promised two hundred and forty pounds, payable in three, six, twelve, and eighteen months. I thought that
this was very good considering the small attendance at the meeting. But we must not let this matter rest, we
must present it in all the churches and I am persuaded that I ought to do as much of this work as I can before
leaving the colony.
In view of these things, I suggest that the Tasmanian Convention, if it must be held early, be carried
forward without my presence, but if it is thought best that you ____ to hold it later, that I will endeavor to be
there. Please correspond with the Tasmanian brn. and with Baker, Mother, and others who may be asked to
take part and arrange as seems to you will be best.
If you think best to respond to the request of Eld. Baker to visit Launceston, I shall heartily approve.
It may do much good to give him a helping hand just now. While there, you should visit other places as much
as possible, and if matters so turn that the Convention can follow while you are there send us a wire and we
will hasten forward Colcord. But I think I could not run away from this school work. Colcord could get there
the middle of April by skipping Kalkoura. This would not please Bro. Paap, who has reserved his school pledge
till Colcord comes down there. If you think best to visit Baker now, and decide to have the Convention later,
let me have full information about the plans. If you are there to preside, I shall be very glad. If you wish to
leave that work for Colcord, or me, we will do the best we can. My desire is to serve the cause to the best of
my ability and I am pleased to let my brn. say how that shall be. Those nearest Tasmania most plan out the
work there; and as we are now here, I see that we must not only plan for, but push the work over here.
The N.Z. Conf. decided to join Aust. in issuing a year book. Today we shall push the matter of getting
the reports in readiness. As I write this, Eld. Corliss is giving a Bible study in the big tent to a company of 17
persons, among whom are A. Simpson, A. Carrow, Eld. Steed and family, Martha and Isabella Brown, and
Esther Smart; all of whom are expected to engage in the work here in Auckland. Also, Elds. Fulton, Wilson,
Srs. Teasdale, Hare, and a few others.
Bro. Woodhams thinks to enter the Industrial Dep. of our school at once. Ross Lewin a month or two
later, and Bert Guilliard, in about four months. They are all good fellows, and we think favorably of them.
[page break]
[7 – WCW – 165]
February 20, 1895
Elder A.G. Daniells
Page 3 of 3
Your letter of Feb. 12 came to hand Monday a.m. Feb. 18. But it was not fully read till yesterday.
Both it and the enclosures are of deep interest, but I specially prize your letter for it tells me all about the
many things I wanted to hear of. Thank you much for so long and comprehensive a letter. We are glad to
know that you are still well, notwithstanding the crush of work; and also to know that the workers in the
Tract So. Office are doing so well. Yours to Colcord was also interesting. My American mail was cheering also.
Your statements re tithe and Echo Expense are very interesting. The one about the Echo gives me
much relief. It may not turn out quite as well as the figures show, but it certainly ought not to be so bad as
what our first reports indicated. The statement re Queensland work I will forward.
With this I send you a copy of a letter written by C.H. Jones to Eld. Olsen, re Signs of the Times. From
this you will see: - 1. the general plans and principles on which they are going to work, and 2. you will see the
sort of estimates that Jones makes for their consideration. This is the sort of an estimate that the Union Conf.
Com. ought to have from the Echo Co. and is what I had in mind. With this in hand, you can talk matters over
with Bro. Salisbury and I think he will now consent to give us one on similar lines. When he sees that our brn.
at home can trust each other with these inside facts, his fear to do the same here will vanish away. Especially
will this be so when he sees we all take broad views and mean to work unselfishly to build up all branches of
the work. I trust that the Aust. and N.Z. Tract Societies will take special pains at this time to deal
considerately with the Echo Co. I was somewhat surprised to learn that orders for tracts had been sent from
N.Z. to the Aust. Tract So. that the So. should have turned over all Sub. Books on way from London to the
Echo Co.
I am deeply interested in your proposal to stop using the Library binding and to take up the cheaper
cloth binding in its place. I think I advocated this a year ago. I shall bring the matter before the manager of
the N.Z. So. and I hope the change will be made at once.
Before I left Granville we did what we could on the accounts of the Union Conf. and all were left with
the secretary. I sincerely hope you may be able to open up the books, although some things are yet blind to
us. We called down Reekie to explain the accounts and he claimed that he had been over them all with the
Sec. and written in the explanations. The sec. thought some explanations had been written in, and said that
these papers were all in the hands of the vice pres. This was all news to me, and very naturally took some of
the burden off my mind. I hope you will be able to fix things up and get the books open.
I enclose with this some letters from Eld. Haskell that I believe you will be interested in. Scores of
your old friends enquire for you and ask when you will visit N.Z. again. With best wishes and kindest regards
to Sr. Daniells, and your fellow workers, I am,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 166]
February 5, 1895
Miss Anna L. Ingels
Page 1 of 2
Dear Sister: On the fourth day of our long voyage from Sydney, my attention was called to your letter in the rack
at the foot of the main stairway, and I read it and the accompanying letters from Eld. Daniells with much
interest.
Before this, I had talked with Olive and had learned from her, her views and I also had formed my
own opinions as to wherein she and Annie had led each other astray regarding the work and their relations to
it. It is natural and girlish, but I am very sorry, both because of the loss it will be to them, and because of the
anxiety and disappointment and care that it has been to you.
As regards the changes that have been made in your plans, they have my full approval. You could not
well do otherwise. If we could have foreseen what has come to you and your co-laborers in the way of extra
work and if we could have planned out so good a place for the workers to board as now seems open to them,
we should not have entered upon the plan you are now abandoning.
There was no need that you or anyone else should tell me that you had done your best to help the
girls and to make the “home” a success. I know you would do that without telling. I am sorry that my letter to
Eld. Daniells impressed you with the idea that I was displeased. I was surprised that while in Melbourne, I
heard no list of it but am not sure that I should have mentioned it, if my lack of information had not led me as
I thought into a serious trap. But the word that Lulu can have a place in the T.S. work, and that she can board
with Sr. Colcord sets my anxiety at an end in that matter.
I shall take time to talk with Harold Bree about the plans for the “home” and wherein they failed.
Also, with his parents if I see them. Olive gave me the secret of the whole matter when she told me that she
and Annie thought that they ought to have “proper dinners” and a few minutes later, that it was the getting
of the “proper dinners” that took so much of their time.
Now I am inclined to think that these vegetable dinners may have more to do with Annie’s heart
trouble that she thinks. I have no idea that she has organic disease of the heart, but suppose the trouble is
functional. I have also learned that a large proportion of the cases of functional trouble with the heart comes
from the stomach. In fact, I am satisfied that Mother’s heart trouble arises largely from indigestion. It is so
with hundreds, in fact with more than three-fourths of such cases. Bro. Higgins eats enormously of
vegetables and no doubt has impaired his powers, and it may be that Annie has inherited weakness right
there. I inherited a weakness in digestion which has troubled me all my life and if eel a real desire to suggest
a line of thought which in time may benefit Annie. It may be I ought to write this to someone else, rather
than to you but the thought came in this connection and [page break]
[7 – WCW – 167]
February 5, 1895
Miss Anna L. Ingels
Page 2 of 2
so I have written it out, thinking to send a copy to Eld. Daniells.
With this I send copy of a brief letter to Mother which tells about our trip. As soon as we landed, I
sent a cable message that we were well to Granville hoping that word would be passed on to Melb. for I
thought Mrs. Colcord would be anxious.
We find the camp located about four miles from Auckland in a small paddock surrounded by
sheltering trees. There are 26 tents up and goodly number of people present I should think about 80. The
work of fitting up the camp was delayed nearly a week on account of not getting all the tackling from
Wellington in the first shipment, and then rain came on, so (as usual) we are a few days behind time in
preparation for the meeting. The regular meetings will begin Wednesday Feb. 6. Eld. Wilson and wife are well
and busy as ever. Eld. Steed and family are here and seem the same as of old. Eld. Fulton I have met, but have
had no visit yet. Brn. Simpson and Mountain, Wesley Hare, and John Paap are here with their wives. Metcalf
Hare is here, but his wife stayed to let Wesley’s wife come. Mrs. Tuxford is here, her same genial self, and
Arthur Carrow looks real well and hearty.
Eld. Corliss and wife have found a good room in a house close by and Eld. Colcord and I have a good
roomy tent with a fly.
The prospects are that there will not be a large attendance from any part of the conference, but
there is a fair representation from each church already. It appears to me that the working element of the
conference is well represented and that our meeting is likely to be devoted largely to the instruction of
workers.
I am very glad that you have sent over copies of some of the papers read at the Melbourne
Convention. If we get time to go into the Tract So. Work at all at length, we shall be very glad to use them.
I shall do what I can to collect material here for the Church Visitor No. 3. It seems to me that we
ought to get some good things from the questions that come up during the meeting.
I have not yet been able to learn anything about Rose Goodey. At first I thought I had some news,
but it was only a rumor based on a letter from Melbourne. She is not likely to be present at this meeting, I
think I shall write to her as soon as I get time.
My interests in the various branches of our work in Australasia is intense, and I shall always be glad
to hear of the progress made in the department in which you are engaged. If there comes to your hand
anything that is likely to be a help to us over here, I should be very glad to have you send me some copies.
With best wishes for the progress of your work, and kind regards to yourself and your fellow
workers, I am,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 168]
February 21, 1895
Page 1 of 4
My Dear Daughters: If I remember aright, my last letter to you was written from Melbourne and was rather short, for it
was written in a great hurry. Elder Rousseau, Bro. Sisley, and I had gone over to Melb. to attend the Annual
Stockholders meeting of the Echo Publishing Co. and to unite with our brn. there in perfecting plans for our
school, and we were so pressed with that work that it was hard to get any time to write.
This month is not quite so bad, but yet I am in a great strait for time to write what I ought and must. I
will tell you where I am. I am in a tent on the campground. My typewriter sets on my trunk. My bed is in the
corner, and opposite is a big, rough table covered with my letters, which I have sorted out to see which must
be answer first. Just back of me, Bro. Sisley is working on a small table making plans for a cottage for
Grandma and one for Prof. Rousseau and one for me.
I hear the breakfast bell and must go for my daily portion of porridge. Well, breakfast is over and
now I will go on with my letter. In the next tent to mine lives Sr. Hare, Edith and Arnold’s mother. She is
staying on the campground a week after the meeting to have the good of Eld. Corliss’ morning lessons and
the evening sermons. Right across the way in another tent are Bro. & Sr. Corliss and Eld. Colcord.
When I went to Melbourne six weeks ago, I had my ticket for this place via Tasmania and the south,
but a telegram came saying that the meeting was two weeks earlier and so I hurried back to Sydney and
came direct to Auckland. From here I go to Kaeo next Monday then to Napier where Brn. Colcord, Crothers,
and I hold an institute of ten days duration March 15-25. Then to Palmerstone North and Wellington and
then to Hobart, Tasmania where I hope to meet Mother and Sr. May Lacey at the home of her father. We
expect to hold a ten days institute there and then we shall return home by way of Melbourne. When we get
back to New South Wales, I shall probably spend some time on our school work.
And now I must tell you something about our trip over here. There were five of us. The ship was
small and uncomfortable and it was full of passengers. Elds. Corliss, Colcord, and I had a very little stateroom,
and Sr. Corliss and Miss Bree, a student return to her home, were in a distant part of the ship. Wednesday at
5 p.m. we left Sydney and scarcely were out of the harbor before we met a heavy sea. We were all tired
when we went on board and were all sick. It was rough all night and it was worse Thursday. We were trying
to sail against a terrific gale and made little progress. The big waves swept over our little ship and pitched us
about as if it was only a big chip. When she plunged her nose into the sea the stern was thrown high out of
the water and the propeller would whirr in the air and shake the ship from end to end. Then a big wave
would shake it till it made us think of a big dog shaking a rat. Thus it was till Friday noon or later. Then it
gradually grew calmer. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 169]
February 21, 1895
Page 2 of 4
From noon Thursday till noon Friday, we advanced only 85 miles. At one time we sailed only seven
miles in three hours. For two days and nights, the engineers had to stand with hand on the throttle to cut off
the steam as soon as the propeller was lifted out of the water lest it be broken by rapid movement. There
were some funny sights in the Social Hall when the floor was nearly covered by people sprawling in all
positions and attitudes, who had crawled out of their staterooms to get better air.
I manage to get down to the bathroom and take a hot bath each day during the storm, and this
helped to relieve the dreadful headache which seemed unendurable. For years I have not gone three days
with so little food as on this occasion. The first calm day, I ate five times and tried to make up for lost time. I
could do no studying on this trip and wrote only two letters, although I had planned to do a lot of work. The
last days of the trip were quite comfortable.
We found the camp-meeting located about three miles out from Auckland in a small paddock. It is a
well laid out ground, but rather crowded. There were 28 tents in all and there were 75 to 80 adults and some
children encamped. The meetings have been quite regularly attended by those on the ground, and during the
last week there has been a good interest and quite regular attendance from the public. When we came to the
last meeting, the people asked that the tent remain and the meetings continue, so they are held through this
week, and several families are remaining on the ground to have the benefit.
During this c-m, I have done very little writing. I thought it better to give my time to the work of the
meeting. Twice I had to preach and four mornings we were presenting our plans as for school work. Twice I
gave lessons on the work of church officers and this with attending all the business meetings and work on
committees has kept me busy. Sunday morning we asked the people to make contributions and pledges
towards the School Building Fund. We did not urge them, but calmly laid out the plans and the necessities of
the case. Then all bowed their heads in silent prayer and made their decision as to what they would do, and
then we sent men around with the subscription papers and the result showed £10 cash and £240. In all,
£1280.00
And now desire to go to the churches and solicit their aid in bringing this fund up to £600. Then we
have the same work to do in the churches of Australia. Eld. Daniells will take the burden of the work there I
think. If I do this work thoroughly, I cannot get to Tasmania as soon as they wish and the Institute may not be
held till in May. The weather is better in April, but we may have a good time in May. We may visit Adelaide
also before returning to Granville.
For a long time, we have been much perplexed over our school plans, but now matters are clearing
up and there is a good outlook for progress. Since the Sydney camp-meeting, we have made important
modifications in our plans, and we believe that the Lord has been teaching us many precious lessons. We are
slow to learn but the Lord is patient.
We have given up the idea of building up a large village settlement and of selling large numbers of
small tracts of land, and are shaping our work on very modest and economical lines. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 170]
February 21, 1895
Page 3 of 4
While I was coming from Sydney to Auckland, your letters of Dec. 27 and 31 were being carried to
Sydney. Grandma read my letters and then sent them over here and they came last Monday morning a lot. I
have been very busy reading them, but have not read them all yet.
In your letters, you answer mine in which I first spoke of my definite expectation of remaining in this
country for some time. I can hardly tell you how much this matter has worried me for the last year. I could
not feel that it was right for me to plan to return to America, and it did not seem safe to plan to stay here.
The result was a most painful suspense for me and for you.
The Mission Board has asked us to go to So. Africa, but Mother could not feel it duty to plan that
way. I saw lots of work here and I feared to have Mother return to the States, for as she grows older, I feared
that she cannot bear the work and worry of former years, and I feared that the burdens of the work in
America would soon kill her. When she was of good courage, she talked of staying here and when perplexed
and discouraged, she talked of going right back to California.
Under these circumstances, I could not make any plans, and it has made my heart ache to write to
you, and not be able to answer your questions about our future. When Mother decided to stay here till the
Lord plainly indicates her duty to go elsewhere then I began to plan to send for you. I am sure you will be
ready to come at the first change.
Ever since your dear mother died, I have been very lonely. No one can tell how lonely. During the
year that we lived in Battle Creek, you grew to fill a large part in my heart and mind and life, and when I felt
you, I was like a man lost, dazed, and more lonely than ever. Of course, I have often been in the society of
those who were kind and pleasant companions and the question has often come to mind, why not marry and
have a home? One of my last talks with your dear mother was upon this subject. She called me to her
bedside and very gently put the question, “Will, do you think it is wrong for persons losing a companion to
marry again?” I said no. I think the Bible teaches that it is right. She said, “I think so, and I wish you to
remember that it is my wish that should you meet a woman whom you can love and who will be good to our
children, that it is my wish that you should marry.”
About three years ago, I met May Lacey at the home of her father in Hobart. She was then the same
age as your dear mother was when we were married and I was impressed that Sr. Lacey was very much like
her. Not so much in looks as in manner and spirit. She had the same hopeful spirit and kind, thoughtful
manner. The same restful ways and calm dignity. Her brother Herbert you know. Her father was for many
years a superintendent of the police in India, but has spent most of her life in Tasmania. Two years ago, she
came to the Bible School and I have become very well acquainted with her there and could see that she had
talent and ability in any line she gave her thoughts to. She was one of the most helpful ones around the
home, always ready to lay aside her studies to help another, and yet she managed to get her lessons. In the
Home Missionary work she was best, as a visitor and Bible worker, and I think five were brought to the truth
through her Bible reading the last year. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 171]
February 21, 1895
Page 4 of 4
When May Walling went home, Mother was left for a time without anyone but Sr. Campbell to give
her treatment and this with other work was too much. So, after the Ashfield c-m, Mother employed Sr. Lacey
to be her nurse and to help in the general work of the household. Her coming was a great help to Mother and
her presence brought light into the whole house. During the former administration, there had been much
complaints about the extra work made by visitors and Mother was all the time worried, but lately matters
have moved along pleasantly, although we have had more work and more company than ever. Mother is
more cheerful and buoyant when cheerful and courageous persons are with her.
I was very glad when Sr. Lacey became a member of Mother’s family, for I wanted Mother to
become acquainted with her. For in so important a matter as uniting for life with one to be my wife and your
guardian and mother, I desired the counsel of your grandma, whom you know the Lord has blessed with
much experience and wisdom. About two months ago, my judgment was fully satisfied and I felt free to
express the feelings of my heart so long held in subjection. The answer which I wished to hear came just in
time for me to mention it in my last letter to Mary and in a postal letter card to Eld. Olsen. I have hoped that I
could send you a photograph by this mail, but fear I shall fail to get one in time. It may come at the last
moment. We expect to be married sometime in May or June. If you were here I should be so glad. Sr. Lacey
will make a visit to her family in Hobart soon and if your grandma goes over with her to the Institute, we may
be married there. If not, probably at Granville when we get back. It is our hope that we may sometime have a
modest home near the school so that you can get on with your studies, and where I shall feel that you are
among friends when called upon to go to distant parts of the colonies. So you see, we shall have a home of
four, although not just the same four you were thinking of.
I am very glad that you have written to me so freely about your feelings regarding coming over here,
and your unwillingness to part from Mary Mortensen. I expect that you would feel just so, and I am heartily
glad that you do. If you could feel any other way towards one who loves you as Mary does, and who has been
so faithful to your every interest, it would make me very unhappy, for it would show me that you were
lacking in affection and gratitude. I can never hope to express the extent of my appreciation and gratitude to
her for the faithful and intelligent care and training she has given you. I do not want you to love her any less,
and I believe as you grow older, you will look back and appreciate more than you can now her loving care.
What I want you to do is this. Always love Mary as you do now and let your hearts grow big and love
others also. I shall not ask you to love the one I love for my sake, for I know very well that you would do this
without my asking. And I also know that you could not help loving her when you come to know each other.
If Mary will come over with you I shall be very glad. She can always be like an “auntie” to you, and if
she is in the school and it is best for Sr. Lacey to travel with me sometimes, I should feel safe to leave you as
boarding students in the school. And now I must close.
Your loving father,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 172]
February 21, 1895
Mary C. Mortensen
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Sister: Last Monday the Australian str. brought us our American letters and among the lot yours and the
children’s of Dec. 31, ’94.
As my time to write is very limited, I shall not repeat any of the news written to them nor can I speak
at length of any matter. So I will enter at once upon the consideration of matter of their coming over here
and preparation for the journey.
I am very much pleased with their letters and am glad that they have spoken so freely their feelings
about coming, and about parting with you. You certainly would have done wrote to interfere with them in
this expression of their thoughts.
I should have been surprised and sad if they had felt otherwise. I do not want them to ever love you
less nor do I wish you to love them less. But I wish them to leave their hearts open to love others also. I know
you will do all you can to encourage this, and I have no fears for the future, for I know that the Lord is lending
us, and that he will keep our hearts and minds. I do not say this in any offhand way, as though I thought that
you or the children could part or change your relations without pain. We have known that the change will be
painful, and that grace will be required to keep us in peace, but God will help us if we love and fear Him. And
this we do.
I desire that Ella and Mabel come at the first favorable opportunity. I shall ask the Mission Board to
arrange for their passage and much will depend upon when others are coming. There are three steamers on
the line. On two of these there is no second saloon. But on the Arawa, the second class accommodations are
very good and comfortable. Bro. Sisley will sail on her and can tell all about it. She leaves San Francisco April 4
and June 27. The first date is too soon and the other is pretty late. The savings would be considerable, nearly
eighty dollars on each full ticket.
As regards your coming, I have believed for a long time that you could be a great help to Mother as
matron or housekeeper in her family, or as a nurse and to give her treatment. I have also thought that you
would be excellent help in our school, either as a general matron or as matron of the children’s department.
The experience and training you have been receiving during the last three years would be very helpful, and of
great value to our work here. Would you be willing to come soon and enter Mother’s employ with the
expectation of working into the school work later on when we get things running and there is demand for the
work you are so well fitted to do. If so, I will at once set the matter before our school board and get them to
plan accordingly.
I shall delegate Bro. Sisley to act for me in arranging many of these matters. As regards the house, I
shall have it offered for sale. My books and papers should be shipped here. If a good family would take the
house furnished, I would be satisfied. If you should [page break]
[7 – WCW – 173]
February 21, 1895
Mary C. Mortensen
Page 2 of 2
have a chance to sell all, or a part of the furniture, I should be glad. But if it must be given away, I would
rather give it to the Orphan’s Home than to give it to private parties under the name of a sale. If all or a part
was left in the house, I would be satisfied with small rent, providing the parties were careful and trusty. If
later on changes come, and it was necessary to sell or clear the stuff, I would leave the same order. Sell what
will bring 2/3 to ¾ its value, and give the rest to the Home. What we give away, brings full price.
I would be glad to have the Side Saddle brought, unless someone would give $12.00 for it. All the
bedding, clothing and such stuff would be better brought. Perhaps you could send some things to Cal. by
returning delegates. From there they come free. I suppose that the children have quite a collection of Curios.
These they may bring, or if they chose, they may lend them to some of the museums where they would be
well kept.
There are two or three boxes of old books, old letters, notebooks, autograph albums, etc. etc. The
notebooks I want. The letters I do not needs, but there are documents, such as the reports of sermons and
the like that would be useful. Pack up what you think I will want, and please take a memorandum of the rest,
so I can see what is there.
If you can secure safe storages somewhere, I would prefer to leave the old letters, and similar
matters that should not be destroyed where it would be safe and could be sent for if wanted. Ask Edwards
about this. There may be room in R.&H. attic.
It seems strange to give up the idea of sometime returning to B.C. and having a part in the office of
the F.M.B. but so it must be.
I shall talk freely with Bro. Sisley about the matter of your coming over here, and he and Elder Olsen
will be good ones to give you counsel. I would not like to urge your coming if you felt averse to it, or have
convictions of duty elsewhere, but if you feel free to come, I think there is a broad field of usefulness for you
here.
If you were coming, I should not fear to have you come with the girls whenever you thought best but
still it would be more pleasant to come with others. Herbert Lacey and wife may be coming about June.
If you should come, I would willing to incur some extra expense that you might visit some on the
way. I would like to have the children visit their grandma, aunt, and cousins in Boulder. Perhaps you would
wish to see you parents. If it did not cost much, I would be glad to have you and them visit the Chicago
Medical Mission, Union College, and Healdsburg College as you are coming.
If you should not come, then I would want them to be sent with those who will take good care of
them. I will now leave this with you and the For. Mis. Board.
Bro. Sisley can tell you all about our school plans. He was in our councils in Melbourne.
Praying that the Lord may guide you in all your decisions, I am,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 174]
Feb. 22, 1895
Mrs. E.R. Kelsey
Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.
Dear Mother: With this I send you copies of letters that will give you quite an idea of my movements and plans.
From the dates, you will see that for some time I have been planning to write, but did not find time. How I
wish I could see you today, and have an hours’ talk.
From these letters you will see that I am planning to spend some time here in Australasia, and that I
expect soon to have a companion and a home of my own, and that I am sending for my children.
The uncertainty and suspense of the last year have worn on me heavily and it is a great relief to be
able to have a plan for my future work and to begin to work to that plan. The Lord has been very good to me,
in giving me affections of a noble young woman whom I soon expect to marry. I will send you a photo as soon
as I can get copies. I wish you knew her for it would be a real satisfaction to you to know that I am associated
with one who will be a real help to me and a suitable guardian to the children. I do not know that I have ever
said anything to you about second marriage, but I do not think you will blame me or be sorry that I am taking
the step.
When I married your daughter Mary, I thought that she was perfect, and I never got rid of that
feeling, although my judgment told me that there are no perfect people in this world. For years I have feared
that the memory of her would forever forbid my finding a companion because there would come up
unfavorable comparisons in my mind, and it seemed to me wrote to offer my hand to anyone as long as my
thoughts run that way. But I am now free of that perplexity. I have found a woman with a large heart and lots
of sound common sense. One who loves children and who is happy in making others happy. I can think of her
with the same feelings of perfect confidence as I had in Mary and without any thought of comparison. Of
course, my increased age and experience has taken away some of the blindness of youth, to the fact that
your dearest friends are open to improvement. But I have found a woman that I can love with all my heart,
and I believe you will rejoice with me. I do not think that this step will ever lead me to cherish less dearly the
memory of my dear Mary.
It would be a great pleasure to me to hear from you and a comfort to know how you regard this
important step that I am taking. I shall always regard you as much my mother as when we were together and
I hope you will always regard me as your son and treat me as such, if there is ever a time when I can in any
way serve you or do anything that can add to your happiness. Give my kind regards to Hannah and to the
girls. And now, goodbye,
Your son,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 175]
February 20, 1895
Eld. S. McCullough
Dear Brother: Another week has passed and our good meeting has closed. I enclose copy of my letter to Eld.
Daniells which gives you some of the news. I also send a copy of my letter to Mother. I am sorry that we are
both still in ignorance as to your present address. May I not hope to hear from you occasionally? Eld. Corliss
and myself and many others are intensely in your present work, and we feel that we ought to have the latest
and freshest news from that work. We hear through Melbourne that you have a good attendance. Good.
And now my dear brother, I wish to caution you about two matters. The first is about your running to
Mother with every perplexity you have and loading her up with unnecessary burdens. I shall have to speak
plainly, because it is a matter of more importance than you would naturally suppose it to be. And I do this
freely, because we have talked the matter over several times. You will remember how I have crossed your
plans, and protected Mother from these things when I could and I should dislike to think that you could not
remember what I have said. It is true, I have tried to be kind, for I thought you did not realize the results of
some of your talks, but I certainly tried to be understood. I may not have told you the number of sleepless
nights spent by her thinking over your account of Sherritt’s death, but I did tell you that such things nearly kill
her. Still I do not think you appreciate the seriousness of detailing to her little perplexing incident which seem
to show that somebody is inconsiderate. These dwell in her mind and do no end of harm. In the name of our
blessed Master, who has promised to every man strength to meet the trials of the day, I beg of you to unite
with me in trying to encourage and strengthen her hands and to withhold her knowing anything about them.
The other point is that you still strive to be systematic in your work and that you take care not to
undertake more than you can do. If you plan to many things and talk out your plans and made some
beginnings and then because there is too much for your strength, let some of them slip through untouched
or unfinished, your influence will be weakened, and you will not realize why.
Please ask yourself this question. Why did I tell Sr. White about Rousseau’s work and talk on Ashfield
collections? Was it for sympathy or for her backing? If the first, was it necessary? If the last, was it fair?
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 176]
February 20, 1895
Eld. L.J. Rousseau
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
Dear Brother: My last letter from home brought me the sad news that you were still having boils, and also that you
had come home from Sydney sick with fever. I trust you are well again ere this reaches Aust.
I have written quite fully to Eld. Daniells and send a copy to May asking her to read and let Mother
read and then send it to you. You will see that the battle is going well, but that we must press it now to the
gates. I dare not hurry home and leave this work re school.
You will be glad to know that Metcalf is planning to join you in work there. He seems to have his
whole heart in it.
I am very sorry to find that in my hasty departure I carried away with me the account with Collins,
and also the orders received for good to be bought and sent to our brn. in the islands. This list I ought to have
left with you or Byron. I now send it to you and ask you to have Byron or someone else if he is not there buy
the goods and send them over. Here is the list.
For Charles Baron, Lord Howe’s Island: A square Iron Water tank, 400 gallons capacity or thereabouts. It would be well to consult Capt.
Garth and see what he will charge for carrying it over.
For C.J. Anderson, Norfolk Island: Good Sole Leather, 10/ worth.
One ball of hemp.
One bent closing awl blade.
Sixpence worth of wax to be placed in a tin box.
Send as many old uppers as friends will donate.
A good history of Pitcairn Island (Second hand).
Good English dictionary.
“
A good Bible commentary.
“
If it is not convenient for B.B. Belden to get and send these things, please ask Bro. Caldwell to attend
to it. Borrow money from Mother and I will see that it is replaced.
I shall be anxious to hear from you about the progress of the work and to know if you are ready for
men to join the Industrial Dept. I also desire to know how you get along in negotiations with Mrs. Brown.
With much love and in great haste, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 177]
Campground, Epson, N.Z.
February 20, 1895
W.D. Salisbury
Dear Brother: Yours of Feb. 7 came to hand a few days ago and I will try to get off an answer this afternoon. I have
written quite fully to Eld. Daniells about the camp-meeting, and will let you get from him information on that
matter. I have barely time to answer your queries.
I have handed your bills to the pres. of the N.Z. Tract So. and he says they will exchange work in
collecting. I will see them in regard to this.
Enclosed find the Gibson letter. I am almost sorry we did not venture to send our order for R.&H.
books direct to them. Hope we can do so soon.
I enclose a letter from Eld. Tait about sending out samples of books published. I think you should
send samples to members of the F.M. Board to editors of our leading papers and to secretaries of our
General or International Societies. Also to superintendents of principle missions. Do not forget the S.D.A.
Book Committee.
The N.Z. Tract So. will send their orders of books to Echo Co. in future. I cannot learn why the other
order was sent wrong.
Eld. Colcord is now in the employ of the N.Z. Conf. and we have a full program for him. I fear he will
not do much on “His Glorious Appearing.” He will try to help to get the reports ready for the Year Book. He
does not like to mix ministerial and editorial work, real wel. I do not think it will be to our advantage to try to
follow the American edition in style, size of page, or anything. We desire to be free from author’s claims on
this. And indeed it is a rehash of many books now. I am in favor of resetting it so as to work on quad crown.
I am sorry to hear that Mrs. Fahler has not brought in the money that Rousseau arranged to borrow.
Have you seen her or written to Rousseau about it. If not, please do so.
Please tell Bro. Smith that I have his Miller and will try to write something to him by this mail. I think
his letter very concise. Mine will appear garrulous beside it, I fear.
I meant to write to Bro. Smith today, but time will not permit. I meant to exhort him to give study to
the ads in Echo and to plan ahead, and write up new ads simple in form, but something so we can have a
change. It would be well to study the Signs ads of 1883-6.
It is comforting to see that the F.M.B. have been very liberal with us regarding the Echo expense.
They have granted our full request.
What has become of “Christ and the Sabbath”? Shall we see an ad and shall we receive sample
copies. The N.Z. people have taken quite a fancy to the “Apples of Gold Library”. Can we do anything in this
line?
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 178]
Page 1 of 2
PROBABLE COST OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS.
-----82 ½ sqs. of flooring
61 sqs. of roofing
verandah
steps
100 sqs. of weatherboarding and studding, and painting the same
328 ft. of 7 weatherboarding and 8 skirting fixed
2 stairs and landings
Cement floors for shower baths
Bathroom partitions and doors
Bath and fittings complete, water and outflow expected
Windows fixed complete
Doors, casings, & fanlights to complete
Folding doors complete
Stud partitions
1000 of shelving fixed
Painting inside
Plastering at 1/- per yard
200 of ½ water pipe at 5d. and 1 doz. taps at 4/200 of drain pipe at 6d.
[page break]
£165-0-0
152-10-0
16-0-0
1-5-0
200-0-0
12-12-0
22-17-0
15-0
4-17-0
3-0-0
106-18-0
78-18-0
7-0-0
24-0-0
17-0-0
36-2-0
127-17-6
6-12-0
5-0-0
________
£988-3-6
[7 – WCW – 179]
Page 2 of 2
£988-3-6
40-0-0
40-0-0
30-0-0
3-10-0
30-0-0
20-0-0
__________
£1151-13-6
___________
___________
Stone Foundation
4 Chimneys at £10 each
Caller
Fanlight fastenings
Cistern and tank
1C Wardrobes at 25/-
Addition to No. 1 which included 6 wardrobes
No. 2 or school building
No. 3 or Boy’s Home
356-3-10
746-18-0
930-5-0
________
£3193-0-10
Bricks
“
“
268,944
102,366
105,504
________
476,816 Total
for all buildings, but chimneys not included.
For Brickwork add 1/8 to the full
amount for each building on the
basis of £1 per 1000.
For Brickwork there will be
required an additional girder
over dining hall, costing about
£9-10-0. Size 18 x 6.
------
[7 – WCW – 180]
Page 1 of 2
NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF CHURCH OFFICERS IN THE NEW ZEALAND CONFERENCE.
-------------------------------Kaeo . . . . . . . . . . . .
Elder,
Deacon,
Clerk,
Treasurer,
JOSEPH HARE SR., Kaeo, Wahroonga,
WESLEY HARE,
“
“
Richard Brigshouse, “
“
Wesley HARE,
“
“
Auckland. . . . . . . . Leader,
Deacons,
EDWARD HARE,
G.W. TEASDALE,
THOMAS WARD,
MRS. TEASDALE,
MISS E. BREWER,
Turner St., Auckland.
Newton Rd., Auckland.
Gisborne. . . . . . . .
ABBOTSFORD SMITH,
R. RENNIE,
R. RENNIE,
MRS. NEAL
Care R. Rennie, Low St., Gisborne.
Low St., Gisborne.
“ “
“
Harris St., “
Napier. . . . . . . . . . Elders,
H.A. SMART,
S. LYNDON,
W. WOODHAMS,
JAS. MCKNIGHT,
F. EVERSON,
F. FISOMLE,
E.H. GUILLIARD,
Mrs. W.W. REID,
Carlyle St., Napier, Hawkes Bay.
Emerson St., “
“
“
Kawa, Kawa,
“
“
Shakespeare Rd., “
“
“
Spit, Napier,
“
“
Dickens St., “
“
“
Cravens St., “
“
“
Roslyn Rd.,
“
“
“
Elder,
Deacon,
Clerk,
Treasurer,
JOHN GLASS,
DAVID GREAVES,
MRS. E. BLACKWELL,
MRS. M. GLASS,
Hastings,
“
“
“
Elder,
Deacons,
J. WOODS,
H. FINSCH,
F. REDWARD,
H. FINSCH,
MRS. A. REDWOOD,
Norsewood, Hawkes Bay.
“
“
“
Ormandville,
“
“
Norsewood,
“
“
Ormandville,
“
“
Clerk,
Treasurer,
Elder,
Deacon,
Clerk,
Treasurer,
Deacons,
Clerk,
Treasurer,
Hastings. . . . . . . .
Granville . . . . .
Clerk,
Treasurer,
[page break]
Auckland.
“
“
“
Newton Rd., Auckland.
Williamson Avenue, Auckland.
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
[7 – WCW – 181]
Page 2 of 2
Palmerstone North . Elder,
Deacons,
Clerk,
Treasurer,
Wellington. . . . . . . Elders,
Deacon,
Clerk,
Treasurer,
Kalkoura. . . . . . . . .
Elder,
Deacon,
Clerk,
Treasurer,
H. HARRIS,
W. CODLING,
MRS. HARRIS,
MRS. STEED,
Rangitikei St., Palmerstone North.
Foxton Line,
“
“
Rangitikei St.,
“
“
Campbell St.,
“
“
A. SIMPSON,
A. MOUNTAIN,
(none elected)
MRS. A. MOUNTAIN,
MRS. M.H. TUXFORD,
Blenheim, Marlborough.
Epuni St., Wellington.
JOHN PAAP,
JOHN HARRIS,
MRS. J. HARRIS,
MRS. J. PAAP,
Wheatlands, Kalkoura.
“
“
Wheatlands,
“
Epuni St., Wellington.
Banks Terrace, “
[7 – WCW – 182]
February 22, 1895
J.E. White
My Dear Brother: Your welcome letter of Dec. 27 came to me here after having been read by Mother in Granville. We
are very glad to know that your trouble with the government authorities is over and I wish you had told me
something more about it. Last month we had word that the Moring Star had been seized for sailing without a
pilot. I hoped that no one had written to Mother about it, and so I did not tell her what I had heard. I hope
you told her more than you did me.
I am interested to hear all you say about the Gospel Primer. We wish we could get out something
similar here. The Book Com. have asked Salisbury to correspond with you about it. If you think that you could
assist us in the matter of getting the use of cuts, please tell us what you can do.
We are glad to hear about the progress and prosperity of your work. It seems that something to
attract the attention of the people works well with the Negroes as well as with the South Sea Islanders. The
arrival of the ship creates an interest and other advertising can be dispensed with. I wish I could spend a
week with you.
Our perplexities about our school plans are clearing away to a large degree so that we can begin
work. I cannot write much about it, but will send you copies of our circular letters as soon as we get them
out. We have opened an Industrial Department in which young men will work six hours a day in the field and
receive board and tuition in two studies. We do not expect to make it pay, but we do expect to help a
number of young men who need elementary instruction.
The cold wave that you mention must have occasioned great suffering in all parts of the south.
England seems to feel the same.
With this I send you quite a batch of copies. From the age of some of them, you will see that for a
month or two I have planned to write to you, but did not find the time. From my letter to Ella and Mabel and
to Mary Mortensen, you will get the history of my movements and quite a full inside view of my prospects
and plans. You may think me rather soft to send you these copies. But I remember that in years past, you
were confidential with me and that I appreciated your confidence, and I believe you will be lenient in your
criticism of my letters.
I know that you will rejoice with me in the prospect of having a companion, and a home, and that I
now feel free to send for Ella and Mabel. If you were personally acquainted with Sr. Lacey, you would be able
to congratulate me more heartily than is possible without acquaintance. I hope you may sometime have the
pleasure of her acquaintance. I shall send you a photo as soon as I can get some. Do not look for a little
sallow, pinched up body, nor for a “stuck up lady”. She is a good, big, wholesome woman, as full of life and
goodness as can be. May is as tall as I am and weighs a few pounds more. I tip the scale at 148 and she at
153. Her vitals have not been crushed by corsets, nor her spirits by idle ambitions. Wherever she is, there is
sunshine and comfort and peace. Now I must close.
Your brother,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 183]
February 20, 1895
To the S.D.A. Foreign Mission Board.
F.M. Wilcox, Sec. Battle Creek, Mich., U.S.A.
Page 1 of 10
Dear Brethren: My last communication to you was from Melbourne, written five weeks ago. We were then in the
midst of committee councils with reference to the publishing and subscription book work, and also about our
school plans and school buildings. We had called Bro. J.G. Shannon of Hobart and Bro. John Higgins of
Adelaide to Melbourne to meet Bro. Sisley. They spent nearly a week with us and besides making estimates
regarding the cost of the buildings proposed, their acquaintance with Bro. Sisley and his plans for work in
connection with our institutions will be of value to them and his acquaintance with them will aid us in
deciding how to plan and whom to employ when we are ready.
I can hardly express to you our appreciation of this visit of Bro. Sisley. He has made us a good and
satisfactory set of plans during his short visit, and he has entered heartily into all our perplexities and plans
and in our committee meetings has taken an active and very helpful part. I think he has become quite well
acquainted with our financial status. He has cautioned, advised, and encouraged according to the character
of the work and as his judgment dictated. I esteem his talks to the Union Conference Committee and to our
leading builders about the ways to use young men and train them from being unskilled laborers to become
successful workers as of untold value. It has been a delight to me to hear the encouraging experiences and
the courage he infused into our brethren, takes a tremendous load off from my heart.
When we returned to Sydney the leading builders among our brn. of New South Wales were called
together and he spent some time with them. He has helped us to get acquainted with the strong and weak
points of these men as we could not have done ourselves. Every hour between meetings and councils has
been spent on his plans except when we were talking over the various features of our present plans and our
future prospects. He will be able to be you a good general idea of our situation and prospects. His attendance
at this N.Z. camp-meeting has given a good idea as to how matters stand in this Conference and he has been
a real help in presenting our school plans.
We thank you most heartily for sending Bro. Sisley this way, and we wish we could have kept him in
this field. He will be able to all you why he was not willing to remain with us. We would gladly have made him
our Business Agent and financier as well as architect and builder. And if he thinks best to come back, we will
give him a most hearty welcome and plenty of work so long as he can stay.
The Echo Company Limited
You have received the balance sheet and directors' report, and have read in the Echo about the
organization of the board. Two of the older members of the Board, Brn. Wm. Bell and A. Theobald retired and
their places were taken by N.D. Faulkhead and Eld. Robert Hare. In the organization of the board we sought
economy and efficiency. For two years Salisbury has been with us and he has won a large degree of the [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 184]
February 20, 1895
Page 2 of 10
confidence of our people generally and by the workers in the office, he is regarded as good authority in
whatever subject he speaks. I am pleased to find that while he is regarded as severe in discipline and
inflexible in opinion that he seems to have the confidence of all and is on most friendly terms with all. He
seems to be liked best by those best acquainted with him, and most closely associated in the work.
We made him president, Muckersey V.P., Smith Sec., Faulkhead Trea. Now that Salisbury takes the
position of manager, Capt. Muckersey is no longer an employee. In many ways we were sorry to have him
leave the work. He is a faithful and unselfish man, and his whole heart is in the Message and his ambitions
are bound up in the Echo Co. But he did not understand the business and could not do much that would
make the work lighter for others. Therefore economy dictated the change.
In the directors meeting we talked over the matter of the G.C.A. taking over the business quite at
length. Brn. Daniells, Bell, and Muckersey were anxious that the change should be made. No one had any
serious objections to it. But the more we discussed it, the more we felt perplexed to know how it could
arranged and how to shape the matter. We believe that most of the Stockholders would willingly give up
their stock and that the others could be easily settled with.
The only grave objections were: - 1. The expense of closing up the Company. 2. The injury of our local
credit when the company is closed up. 3. The possible hindrance of important local works if we are simply an
agency.
The question was asked if the G.C.A. takes over the business will our relation to it be like that of the
London House. We thought it would. Then we considered the fact that the London business had just been
organized as a Limited Liability Stock Company. For what reason? Probably to secure a local standing. If this
reason was sufficient, is it not a reason why we should not break up our Co.? It was pointed out that in the
London Concern, the G.C.A. has nearly all the stock and can freely control. But it also has a large majority of
the stock here and it can just as freely control if it will. Would not the G.C.A. be pleased to have the brn. in
England take a thousand pounds worth of their stock? If so, would not the position of the two houses be
similar.
The Directors of the Echo realize that they are your servants and stand ready to carry out the will of
the G.C.A. the owner of two-thirds of the stock either in carrying on the business as at present organized or
as they may be advised by the G.C.A. We did not think it wise to present the question to the stockholders till
we had a clearer idea as to what your wish would be, and what the new relation would be. To simply unsettle
their minds would do no good.
The Subscription Book Business.
The canvassers are sticking to the work with commendable perseverance and are taking a fair
number of orders. We are thinking of discarding library bindings and using the cheaper muslin binding. The
transfer of the Sub. Book Bus. of Victoria, So. Aust. Tasmania and West Aust. to the Tract Society seems to
give good satisfaction to the Agts. and as far as we can see, is likely to work for the interests of the cause. We
are very anxious to hear from the G.C.A. regarding prices and discounts and to know their wish about making
the Echo Co. general agt. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 185]
February 20, 1895
Page 3 of 10
While we were engaged in consultation in Melbourne about school, conference, and book business,
your December letters came, telling us about Fulton’s coming to N.Z. and of your plans for Palmer. So we at
once revised all our plans for Crothers, and telegraphed for Palmer. Since attending the camp-meeting we
have been confirmed in the opinion that this is right. Eld. Wilson is a good man and his labors among the
churches have been good and we find the general tone of the Conf. steadily improving. But he lacks executive
ability and when several things are pressing, gets confused, and fearful, and hesitating. His lack of foresight
and his vacillation at the critical moment were the subject of considerable comment during the meeting and
one of the committees.
The N.Z. Conf. is sorely disappointed that you were not able to send them a man of ripe experience
and executive ability whom they could place at the head of affairs. This is what they have expected and Eld.
Wilson has talked so freely of his lack of ability and desire that the new man should come, that many feel that
a change was necessary.
They like Fulton, and have nothing to say against him, but he is not the sort of man they had in mind.
He is retiring and there was no suggestion made to place responsibility on him beyond the presidency of the
S.S. Asso. Crothers went onto the Conf. Com. in place of A. Simpson. This makes the Com. much stronger than
last year. I should have been glad if Crothers could have gone to Aust. and let Palmer work in N.Z. But when
we saw how weak they would be without the decision, and experience of Crothers, we did not think best to
make change. Crothers was given a license to preach.
We are glad that Palmer is coming soon. We shall set him at work in Australia and give him every
chance to grow into the position that a Field Agent should occupy.
The Bible School.
You are aware that this enterprise has been in the fog for some time. My hesitancy about the place
selected, the cautions of the F.M.B. and the aversion of Brn. Daniells and Rousseau to the place, put us where
there could be no progress. I had not a doubt but that the Lord had led us in the purchase of the place but I
wondered if it might not be for some other purpose.
This opened the way for many to criticize our plans and to urge various modifications or radical
changes. A strong effort was made in favor of getting a small tract, say forty acres near Sydney and thus
placing our school where the older students would have easy access to the city for missionary work.
When we came to camp-meeting, Mother read us many documents telling us what we ought to aim
at and what to avoid. In these messages of counsel, there were facts and principles advanced that not only
discouraged the plans for settling near the city but also many things to show that my ideal of building up a
large village settlement was not good. Eld. Daniells had felt averse to this plan from the beginning, and I
remember that Eld. Olsen looked serious when we discussed it. But I thought it was one of the things that
was necessary and must be pushed through by faith. We all gave it up quite willingly. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 186]
February 20, 1895
Page 4 of 10
In relinquishing this plan, we had to relinquish a prospective profit, upon which we had been
depending to help pay for our buildings. One thing that made it easy to do this was the fact that as we
approached the time to subdivide and sell land, it became more and more clear to us that if we sold only to
those having means and ability that we should tear the backbone out of many churches; and that if we sold
to others, our payments would be very slow and our perplexities great in the matter of collections.
After giving up the idea of developing a large village settlement, we found it easier to see how that
the place we had bought, would serve our purpose but more difficult to see where we would get the
necessary funds with which to erect our buildings. I regret to say that the camp-meeting was allowed to close
without any decisive action being taken regarding the location of the school and thus our work in Aust. is set
back some months. After the c-m a few more places were visited and after a few days, a minority of the
committee voted to go on with the work on the Brettville Estate on Dora Creek. When Bro. Sisley came, we
argued the question all over again on the land; and then when we went over to Melbourne the decision to go
on there was confirmed and the work of clearing the ridge where the buildings will be placed is going forward
in a moderate but steady way.
Just before our meeting for council in Melbourne Sr. Wessels and her children made us a short visit
and we persuaded them to visit the school site. They were much pleased with many features of the place and
after enquiring into our financial situation, Bro. & Sr. Lindsay gave us £1000 towards the enterprise. This we
accepted with thanksgiving, knowing that it was providential and especially as it came at a time when we
needed some encouragement.
School Finance.
It has not seemed best to try to raise funds for school work while we were in confusion as to what
we were going to do. This question of location has been like a bone in the throat that could not be gotten up
or down, and nothing could be done till was disposed of.
A few payments have been made on pledges made at Brighton c-m with this and some that we
borrowed, we made the first payment of £300. The £600 sent us from London has been held till a few weeks
ago, and was then used to make the last payment. The surveying and subdivision are now in progress and
soon we shall place it under the “Real Property Act” which will enable us to sell and make deeds in the
simplest form, and at the least expense. (For while we have abandoned the idea of a large village settlement
we do expect to sell about 100 acres in lots ranging from one to twenty acres.)
The buildings, plans of which Bro. Sisley will show you, are expected to cost us about £3500 when all
completed.
Therefore, we estimate the probable outlay as follows:Original purchase, surveying, subdivision, etc. .
£1000.
Improvements, including roads, bridges, fencing, etc.
1000.
Buildings, girls home, boys home, recitation, primary workshops, laundry, etc…..
3500.
Purchase of outside properties to sell again . .
500. £6000. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 187]
February 20, 1895
Page 5 of 10
This might be met as follows: Sale of land, outside properties, and part of tract
£1000.
The Annie Wessels Lindsay gift (for purchase of tract)
1000.
Raise by donations in Australia. . . . . .
1400.
“ “
“
“ New Zealand. . . . .
600.
Gift of the General Conference. . . . . .
2000. £6000.
You will ask how do we arrive at these figures? Something as follows: - you will remember that at
first, we asked the Gen. Conf. to give us £2000 to go with £4000 to be raised here. To this it consented. When
Eld. Olsen was here, we canvassed the question of the ability of the brn. in these colonies to raise £4000 and
believing that it was too much, we changed our request.
At that time, about £600 had been sent to you from So. Africa for us in response to Mother’s appeal
for help to build churches. Then, the way did not seem open for the church work to go forward and we
proposed to have it transferred to the school account. After Eld. Olsen had presented this to you it was
proposed to set apart £2500 for our school, including the £600 from So. Africa and that we should raise the
same amount to go with it. Since the visit of Sr. Wessels, we have felt to regret that it was ever proposed to
transfer the £600 from church to school building. And we now ask you to let it go back where it was first
intended. We are emboldened to make this request, 1. because it was first given for this purpose. 2. because
providence seems to indicate that the time to build has come and we cannot see our way to build without
such aid.
In asking that this £600 from So. Africa shall go to meeting-houses, expect it will be cut out of the
£2500. And suppose you will cut down that appropriation to £2000. (round numbers.)
The Union Conference Committee has also instructed me to ask you to permit us to receive the
£1000 gift from Bro. & Sr. Lindsay as outside of the pound to pound arrangement and not count it as coming
from the G.C.A.
If you grant these requests, we shall be able to go forward with our work on the following lines. We
will use the Lindsay gift to pay for the land. Then we shall raise money by donations from our brn. as fast as
we can and when we have £500 we will ask you to put the same amount beside it and we will begin to build.
The buildings are planned so that we can use the first one, the girls’ hall, for all purposes at first, and we hope
to use our industrious students to help in putting up the other buildings.
It seem to us that in the present condition of the colonies, that an effort to raise £2000 is as much
we should undertake.
In this meeting, just closed, we presented our plans quite fully and on Monday morning we
presented the financial features of the work about as I have put it in this letter, and read a resolution of the
leading brn. that £600 be raised in New Zealand. We presented the fact that this could not be raised without
sacrifice and then after silent prayer passed the subscription papers and the result was a subscription of
£250. This was a little more than I expected considering the small attendance at the meeting. I now desire to
come ________ [page break]
[7 – WCW – 188]
February 20, 1895
Page 6 of 10
attendance at the meeting. I now desire to visit the principle churches and carry forward this work as far as
we can.
Ownership of the Property
The property is now deeded to W.C. White and Ainslie Reekie, who hold it as joint tenants. If one
should die, the other would have full control. We do not wish to bear this responsibility longer than is
necessary. There are two plans in our minds for a change. The most desirable is to secure an act of
Parliament legalizing our Union Conf. The other is to have someone receive Power of Attorney from you and
then we will deed it to the G.C.A.
In all the matter of getting an act of Parliament, I have not felt that we were yet prepared to
undertake it. Before we introduce a bill for this, I think that Brn. Corliss and McCullough should take time to
get acquainted with many members of Parliament and acquaint them with our views, position and work.
The probable cost in N.S.W. will fifty pounds and upwards. The governments fees are £25 and
attorney’s fees are likely to be £25. When we first talked with Sir Joseph Abbott, it appeared that it would be
an easy matter to get a bill. But after the arrest of R. Shannon and the lectures in Leichardt Town Hall on the
subject, he turned against us and we thought it best to go slow.
On account of the uncertainty of this matter, it might be to the advantage of the cause for you to
appoint someone to represent you and then let the property be deeded to the G.C.A. We would have been
very much pleased if Bro. Sisley had decided to remain with us. We should have been pleased to have him
bear that responsibility. I have urged our brn. here to nominate someone other than myself. And I am not
displeased with your unwillingness to ratify their nomination. But I would be pleased to see you chose
someone who is in these colonies on that we could hardly look for the enterprise to support a man like Bro.
Eastman. As matters have now turned, I think it providential that Bro. Eastman did not come. He would no
doubt be dissatisfaction with our present modest plans of operation.
Work on the Place.
As regards the work to be done on the place, it seems to me that it would be best to put it in the
hands of Brn. L.J. Rousseau and Metcalf Hare. Bro. Hare is now willing to sell out his interest in the store at
Kaeo and move to Avondale, on his own responsibility. When settled there, he will go to work on his own
account or he will work for the school at a reasonable wage if we wish. He has had lots of experience clearing
land and also handling timber. He has had full experience in running a sawmill. He can build a house or a boat
and has had much experience as a salesman and can keep books. He is a close, conservative man and may
lack breadth in his plans, but he has a high regard for Bro. Rousseau and this would help him some. It appears
to me that Rousseau and Hare would make a good team to work together in clearing, making roads, putting
up the workshop, and getting material for the girls’ hall ready for the builder. I would like to see Rousseau
hold the Power of Attorney. Next to him I would chose M. Hare. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 189]
February 20, 1895
Page 7 of 10
The Conference Work.
Development. – There is much I would like to say about the growth of the work in the District, but
time will permit but a little. The increase in number of workers, and members will be of special interest. Here
are the figures for each half year, from Dec. ’92, Dec. ’94.
Dec. 92 Ju. 93 D. 93 Ju. 94 D. 94. Increase.
Ministers in Australia, . . 7
7
9
10
10
3.
Ministers in New Zealand 2
3
2
2
3
1.
Total
9
10
11
12
13
4.
Licentiates in Australia 2
1
1
1
3
1.
“
“ New Zealand 2
1
1
1
2
6.
Total
4
2
2
2
5
2.
Churches in Australia
7
7
9
9
13
6.
“
“ New Zealand 5
6
8
8
9
3.
Total
13
13
17
17
22
9.
Membership in Australia 492
656
700
752
914
422.
“
“ New Zealand 254
259
284
326
367
113.
Total
746
915
984
1078 1281 535.
Estimated Number of Sabbath keepers in Dist. No. 7. including those in Norfolk Island, Dec. 31, 94. 1500
The tithes paid by the Australian churches from year to year is about as follows: 16 Mo. 1889 £1661. 9 Mo. 1890 -- £1127. 15 Mo. 1891 -- £1961. 1892 -- £1112 10 Mo. 1893 -- £1240. 11 Mo.
1894 -- £1412. Total £7516-5-2.
Indebtedness of Aust. Con. about £714.
The tithes of the New Zealand Conf. for 15 Mo. to Dec. 31, 1894 was about £880. Indebtedness of N.Z. Conf.
about £114.
The officers of both of these conferences are greatly troubled over the financial state of their
conferences. They hate debts, and are willing to work hard and on moderate wages. And they have turned a
deaf ear to many calls and plans of work, otherwise commendable for fear that the debt would be increased.
Various plans of retrenchment have been proposed but the imperative demands of some new place or new
branch has increased expenditure in another way.
It now looks as if we were shut up to three things: - 1. a very great increase of tithes. 2. stopping
camp-meetings and sending some of our workers out of the field. Or 3. Help from abroad.
As regards tithes, it appears that our brn. are doing as well as the average, notwithstanding the hard
times, and the fact that many who paid tithe three years ago are now out of work and have to be helped by
their brethren to get necessary food. If it were not for our school enterprise we would go to the churches for
donations to the Conf. in addition to tithe but just before asking for help on the school, this does not seem
advisable. We look for a small and steady [page break]
[7 – WCW – 190]
February 20, 1895
Page 8 of 10
increase of tithe in both of these conferences, but nothing unusual.
2. The holding of camp-meetings have unified, strengthened, and built up our people as no other
effort has done. But this is not all. The camp-meetings have brought one message to the notice of thousands
in a most forcible way and the interests which follow them are very remarkable. You have heard of the work
which followed the Brighton meeting, and of the influence of the Ashfield meeting. At this little meeting,
forced to an early date, and poorly advertised, with heavy rains for two-thirds of the time we thought but
little was being done to stir Auckland. But just as we were about done with the meeting, all Auckland has
awakened to our presence and everywhere the meeting is spoken of with praise. What we intended to be the
last night, saw the tent fall, and the people insisted on the meetings being continued right where we are and
they come out well. Eld. Corliss is presenting the truths of the message with wonderful power and conviction
has already taken hold of many.
But to make the work effective, we find that there must be much visiting of the people at their
homes. The house to house work is an absolute necessity in this part of the world. First to encourage the
people to take their stand and second to answer them is representations of false shepherds. In view of this,
we deem it necessary to organize a strong force to follow the interest awakened by camp-meeting. This
makes expense and involves our conference in debt. Then if new meetinghouses are built, the churches do
not get to paying tithe as big and so fat as otherwise.
Considering these things, we have been contemplating the ____ expedient of suspending campmeetings to avoid awakening interest that it would seem to be criminal not to follow with adequate labor.
3. The only alternative that we can think of is to ask for help from abroad. We know that it is not
common for the General Conference to support laborers in conferences that have once announced
themselves independent and self-supporting. And for a long time our views were bound about by this
thought. But we are now fully convinced that it is our duty to ask the General Conference to take control of
some of the unoccupied territory in Australasia, and establish missions in three of the great divisions.
Our Situation.
When the Australian Conference was organized there were three or four churches in Victoria, one in
Tasmania, and one in So. Aust. and three or four little companies. If they had then organized a Victorian
Conference and had permitted Adelaide and Hobart to join temporarily, it would have been well. Then they
should have appealed to the Gen. C. to open up missions in the other colonies.
Suppose that when there were three churches in Iowa, one in Missouri, and one in Minnesota, that
all the territory west of the Mississippi had been organized into a “Western Conference” and you had
expected those five or six small churches to work the whole field. You would say their ambition is working
against the good of that great and promising field. Just so it has been in Australia and New Zealand. [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 191]
February 20, 1895
Page 9 of 10
Having made the mistake in organization we have tried to make the best of it and carry the work
through on the plan begun on. And during the year just closed, we have studied many expedients to cut
down the expense of the working force. Six months ago, we suggested that you plan other work for Dr.
Kellogg not because we could not use him to advantage but because we had more laborers than money.
Another expedient to keep down expenses was to give no encouragement to some young men who wished
to work for the Conf. but to insist that they canvass. Another plan we have thought of lately is to encourage
Dr. K. and Semmons to take up medical and nursing work, hoping that it would pay them fully or in part.
The last named proposition looks reasonable to us now, and Mother approves it. But the plan of
keeping back our young men she has condemned and has reproved us for it and we have abandoned it.
When I was arguing the case with Mother, I told her of our conference indebtedness and that we must curtail
somewhere and asked if she would consent to our sending away some of the older men to give the young
men a chance. She said no. We cannot spare men of experience and ability. Again I pictured to her our
financial condition and the horrors of debt. Then she said “If this is your situation, why in the world does you
committee bestir itself and place the facts and an appeal before the General Conference?” I told her it was
not the custom of our people to use funds of the General Conference in prosecuting the work in organized
conferences. Mother then said “I do not know your rules nor regulations but I know from the light given me
that the cities of Australia ought to be worked and that they ought to be worked now. This set me thinking on
new lines and here are some of our conclusions and propositions.
We are satisfied that it is unprofitable and expensive for one committee to try to manage so large
and varied a field as is now included in the Australian Conference. It makes lots of travel and lots of
correspondence and worry and in some ways, the work is not done so well, as if a committee had only one or
two colonies to plan for. We have sometimes talked of organizing a conf. to include New South Wales and
Queensland. But such a conf. would be too big and unwieldy. It would resemble in form a tadpole having a
head and a tail, N.S.W. would dominate and the Queensland churches would be glad to drop off.
We Now Propose.
1. That the churches in New South Wales organized into a conference within a few months under the
name of the “New South Wales” Con. Let this Conf. take its share, per capita, of the Conf. debt. The location
of the school in this Conf. will secure to it a strong management. Its financial strength will not be equal to its
necessities but it may as well struggle for a time with poverty as to continue a drag on the other parts of
Aust.
2. Let Queensland be set apart as a Gen. Conf. Mission with the expectation of organizing it into a
Conf. at no distant day.
3. Let western Australia be set apart as a Gen. Conf. mission and worked as the Gen. Conf. may
direct.
4. Let Victoria, Tasmania, and So. Australia stand as the “Central Australian Conference” with the
expectation that a strong [page break]
[7 – WCW – 192]
February 20, 1895
Page 10 of 10
effort will soon be made to raise up churches in So. Aust. and hoping that the time is not far distant when
South Australia would stand as a Conference by itself. This accomplished, we should endeavor to so develop
the work in Tasmania that it could also stand alone.
The sparse population of parts of Australia may be mentioned as against these requests and the
arguments made in their favor. But this cuts a very small figure when you consider that the population is so
far beyond our efforts that if there were more people, our perplexity would stand just the same.
The facts are that there are excellent fields for labor in every one of these colonies. They were
always good fields, but since the financial collapse people are more serious and now, just now, in the midst of
the poverty and distress is the time for us to work, for it is now that the people are ready to listen.
The New Zealand Conference
In the New Zealand Conference, the conditions are very similar, although not quite so bad in the
matter of territory. When there were only three or four churches, a conference was formed and the struggle
to be self-supporting was premature, and has resulted in a policy that granted the growth of the Conf. for
several years, and has made matters ____ and unsatisfactory. Our convictions are that if N.Z. had been
treated as a mission for two or three years longer than it was and if a good man had been sent to work with
Eld. Daniells about a year after ________ that we should have had a conf. two or three ____ as strong as
what we have.
And now the question arises, in view of the unnatural effort to be self-supporting and its results
would it not be well for the Gen. Conf. to assist the N.Z. Conf. to open up the work in the large ____ of the
South Island.
Where are the Laborers?
We have already acquainted you with the facts about the financial condition of the Aust. Conf. for
the past year, and now it is employing laborers to the extent of ten pounds a week more than its tithe will
pay for and this means that we must part with three of our workers. Then, there are several promising young
men that are pressing their way into the service in spite of advice to canvass, small pay, and hard work. These
men must have a chance. And there is worlds of work that they can do as well as the preachers.
I think we could spare a good Bible worker to join the brn. now in Queensland, and that we could
select a good, well-balanced company for Western Australia. We could also furnish a good man to go with
Eld. J.M. Cole to Fiji if you think best to send him there. Then, if you have special work for Dr. M.G. Kellogg,
we can let him go also, for he has done all we had in mind in asking that he come to Australia.
It will hurt us tremendously in Vict. and N.S.W. to let these workers go to the distant parts of Aust.
“But it is better to be sad than to be sorry.” With the exception of Dr. Kellogg, who was called to come here
for a short time and a special work, we do not wish one to go up from Australasia but we wish the Gen. Conf.
to use them in opening up the outlying colonies. May the Lord direct you all. Amen.
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 193]
Epsom Campground
Feb. 21, 1895
Building Committee of Avondale College
Brethren, After talking the matter over with Eld. White, we have decided that it will be better for me to
purchase in America all the hardware for Bethel Hall. Therefore, unless I receive orders to the contrary, I shall
as soon as I can after reaching home, buy for you the following bill of goods and send them to Sydney as soon
as they can be gotten off. I shall ask the F.M.B. advance the money necessary for this purchase and charge
the same to your acct.
All trimmings for doors.
“
“
“ windows except pulleys and weights.
“
“
“ wardrobes.
“
“
“ cupboards.
Hat and coat hooks.
Base knobs.
Drawer pulls.
You will see by this that you will buy all the hardware necessary in finishing the outside of the
building. All nails &c. It will not pay for me to buy the window weights and the axle pulls you will need when
you can make the window frames.
W.C. Sisley
P.S. I notice that two of the windows shown in the rear elevation of Bethel Hall are figured wrong.
They should be 16 x 30 instead of 16 x 36. They are drawn the right size.
Please see to it that they are properly figured on the working plans so that no mistake may occur.
W.C.S.
[7 – WCW – 194]
Summary Statistical Report of the New Zealand Conference.
For Quarter Ending, __________________ 1895.
Number of Churches . . .
Companies not organized,
Number of Sabbath-schools,
Number of ministers,
Bible workers and colporteurs,
Tithes for the quarter,
Sabbath-school con. to missions,
Membership . . . .
Total no. Sabbath-keepers,
Membership, Attendance,
No. Licentiates,
No. canvassers,
First-day Offerings,
Other offerings to F.M.
Total Contributions to Foreign Missions
Total Amt. Rec. on Book Sales.
Subscription books sold (retail value). . .
Trade books, pamphlets, and tracts sold (r.v.). . .
Number Echoes sold and distributed. . .
Australian Sentinels sold and distributed. . .
Number of meetinghouses, their total value
Present indebtedness on meetinghouses. . . .
Value of conf. property, tents, tent furniture, etc.
Present indebtedness of the conference. . .
Collected for Bible School, Rec. for Gen. Home Mis. Fund.
Report of Progress.
No. conversions reported,
Churches organized. . .
Sabbath-schools organized,
Number baptized. . .
Companies formed. . .
Tract Societies organized
[7 – WCW – 195]
Feb. 24, 1895
Mr. D. Lacey
Glenorchy, Tasmania
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: We are just at the close of a very interesting camp-meeting and tomorrow I shall be on my way to
Kaeo where I must spend ten days and then I go to Napier to attend an institute for instruction of Tract So.
Sabbath-school and church officers in connection with a series of discourses to the church on Gospel liberty.
Eld. Colcord, Bro. Crothers, and myself are expected to attend.
As I write, Eld. Corliss is preaching in the large tent to an attentive audience of fully two hundred
people. During the first half of the c-m we feared there would be little outside interest but at the close, the
people requested that the tent remain and the meetings continue and so far the people have attended real
well. We are a long way from town and their coming is an effort. Many are convinced on the Sabbath, already
and this week they will be plying their ministers for excuses to keep Sunday. Four persons are to be employed
for a few weeks to visit and some of the Auckland church are working too. This visiting will make effective the
work of preachers. In Ashfield it was the faithful visiting that had much to do with the success of the tent
effort. We hope that some will take their stand for truth here.
I am astonished to think that it is nearly five weeks since I received your kind and fatherly letter,
giving your consent to my request for your daughter May. This letter made me very happy and since hearing
from you, May has given me her whole heart and we [page break]
[7 – WCW – 196]
Feb. 24, 1895
Mr. D. Lacey
Glenorchy, Tasmania
Page 2 of 2
expect to be married within a few months. My mother has entered most heartily into the plan and she is
working and planning for our future welfare and happiness.
I thank you with all my heart for the great gift you have bestowed on me and I am very happy at the
thoughts of my future, and also very happy in the thought that I shall have a hearty welcome into your dear
family as a son and brother. I hope Herbert will take kindly to the idea of my being his brother. I have written
to him briefly.
Just before I received your letter I had a telegram from N.Z. that the Auckland meeting must be held
two weeks earlier than had been planned and this broke my plan to visit you when I had first planned I was
sorry not to see you soon, but very happy to meet May again after she had heard from and therefore was
more free to respond to my proposal for an early marriage. Yesterday I received a good, affectionate letter
from her telling me of the good meetings she attended with Mother and giving me all the news. There has
been much sickness in the family since I left and everybody has been overwhelmed with work.
I send you with this copy of my letter to Eld. Daniells in which I refer to our proposal to hold a
General Convention in Hobart soon. I have not yet heard anything from Tasmania about it, and I do not know
how the proposition looks to you and others. If it is decided to hold this Tasmanian Convention soon, it would
suit my work better if it could come in May, for I cannot get away from here as soon as I had at first hoped.
I would be very glad to hear from you about it, as soon as a decision is made. My personal feelings
say hurry through this trip, and I cannot feel free to run away from it.
Please address me care of Mrs. M.H. Tuxford, Banks Terrace, Wellington, New Zealand and it will be
forwarded to me wherever I am.
I have a good letter from Herbert about school work which I could not answer this month but will do
so next month. It is about his return. Give my kind regards to your daughters, to Sr. Lacey, and her children. I
hope to see you all, and May in eight or nine weeks.
Your brother and would-be son,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 197]
Str. Waihora, 500 Miles from Auckland
Feb. 3, 1895
Misses Norah and Margaret Lacey
Glenorchy, Tasmania
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Little Sisters: It is nearly three years since I met you at your father’s house, and then our acquaintance was quite
brief, but I have cherished whatever I have heard from you and feel that I am quite well acquainted with you.
Perhaps you will object to my calling you my “little sisters” for I hear you have grown a lot in three years, but
I think of you as I saw you and shall call you so till instructed otherwise.
You will not expect any apology for my writing to you since you know my love to May and I need only
say by way of introduction, that it is a real pleasure to do so. May has told me of the kind thoughts you have
to me, and of your willingness to welcome me as a hearty welcome into your family. I wrote to Herbert by
the last mail telling him of my love to May and expressing the hope that he would be pleased with the
thought of my being his brother. If he gives me the same hearty welcome that you do, I shall be very happy.
Now I must tell you where I am, and under what circumstances I am writing. I am at the far end of
the dining room of the Waihora right over the propeller. It is 9:45 p.m. and they are still singing in the Social
Hall overhead, after a rather long service held by the captain. For fear that someone would be annoyed or
offended by the rattle of the typewriter, I got off into this place, but it is not a [page break]
[7 – WCW – 198]
Feb. 3, 1895
Glenorchy, Tasmania
Page 2 of 3
nice place to write, for there is too much noise and too much motion.
We left Sydney Wednesday afternoon at five o’clock. There are five of us. Eld. Corliss and wife, Eld.
Colcord, Olive Bree, and myself. May and several others were down to see us off and I tell you I did not like to
go and leave her. But I told her that as separation for a considerable part of our time was likely to be our lot,
this would be a chance to see how we would endure it. Well, Mrs. Rousseau said, “What if you find you
cannot stand it?” “Then of course, May will have to go with me,” I said. And thus it will be. If she stays at
home, I shall have a good home to go to, and if she goes with me, I shall have a good helper. Well, I started to
tell you about our journey. We found it rough as we went out of the heads. It grew worse all day Thursday,
Friday, and Friday night. Friday and Friday night, the pitching of the boat was terrific. We ran but 90 miles in
24 hours. Sabbath was rough, but it gradually grew calmer, till today it has been quite pleasant.
Our staterooms are little narrow, cramped up places, and we have been quite uncomfortable, but we
rejoice in the fact that the voyage will sometime come to an end, probably about Wednesday forenoon.
We shall not get to Auckland till the camp-meeting is begun. It will continue for two weeks and when
it is over, I expect to visit the principle churches as rapidly as possible, and then come over to Hobart as fast
as I can. I cannot now tell just how long it will take to complete my work in N.Z. but I can make an estimate at
the close of the c-m. I think that Eld. Colcord will come with me to Tasmania, and I have asked the brn. to
consider the matter of holding a general meeting for Tasmania in Hobart sometime in April. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 199]
Feb. 3, 1895
Glenorchy, Tasmania
Page 3 of 3
Epsom, N.Z. Feb. 24.
The two pages written to you on the str. were laid aside and forgotten and now I must write one
more to go with them. Since writing the above sentence I have been on half a dozen committee meetings
and have begun to pack up for my trip north. Everything is astir on the campground. Tents are coming down.
Goods are being carted away, and by tonight, there will be only a few tents that are standing, besides the
large one which will remain for a week or two more. Elds. Corliss and Steed and six or seven visitors will work
here for a few weeks till they see who will accept the message.
There is a remarkable interest here and it is extending all over the surrounding country. Last night
the big tent was full and one man had come 14 miles. Fifteen or twenty were over from Onehunga, four miles
away and they plead for meetings to be held there at once. We expect that Elds. Wilson and Fulton will begin
work there in a few days. We believe that now is the time to work the Auckland district.
You will be pleased to know that I have asked the Mission Board to send my little girls over to me.
Ella was thirteen last Jan. and Mabel was eight in November. Their last letters were full of rejoicing that there
was a prospect of their coming over so that we may be together. Of course, if my work continues as at
present, I can be with them but a part of the time, but being with them part of the time is a lot better than
being eight thousand miles away and not meeting for three years and a half. And now I must bring this
rambling letter to a close. Accept my brotherly regards and best wishes for yourselves and all members of
your dear family.
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 200]
Feb. 25, 1895
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Mother: Sabbath morning we watched anxiously for your letters by the Arawa but they did not come till
afternoon and until after Bro. Sisley had gone. He left us at 2:30 p.m. He was in good spirits and carried away
good impressions about the work in New Zealand.
With your letter and May’s came some from Melbourne and a lot from Norfolk and Lord Howe’s
Islands. These I cannot answer today, but I have written to Byron about filling their orders and I send a copy
to you. Please furnish him the money needed and I will see that a full settlement is made when I come back if
Emily has the accounts written up so that we can know how matters stand. I shall be sending you some
money from here in a week or two.
Much of our perplexity can be removed if Emily does her work thoroughly and brings everything up
to date. When this is done and the facts before us and when we get our statements from B.C. we shall then
know what money we have at command to use in building and improving a place at Avondale.
I most sincerely hope that you will not make a move towards building while we are in the dark about
these matters. I do very much desire to be with you when you select location and when you adopt plans for
building. To get a place that will accommodate your family properly, there needs to be much study given to
the plans and I desire to unite with you on this.
I would gladly hurry home to engage in these matters if there was not an imperative call of duty
here. But there must be a very thorough work done in all our churches in setting before them the ____ and in
raising money before we launch out to spend money. This is the work I wish to do over here and I plainly see
that if I run away from the field with this job half done, that no one else will take it up and it would be twice
as hard for me to take it up at a later time.
I am very glad that the place is paid for and that Eld. Rousseau is able to meet his appointment with
Mr. Nott. This work of subdivision and appraising the values is very important and urgent. But I do not see
much urgency in beginning to build. The matter of most importance and upon which everything else hangs is
the work that we asked him and Fannie to do. I am oh so glad that you let Fannie go on with that work. If we
fail to get our plans before the people and thus fail to get money from them, we get none from the Gen.
Conf. and then every step we take is involving us in perplexing debt.
Next in importance to the raising of money is the matter of getting some land cleared so we can set
trees in July and August. After these matters have been well attended to, before we get our money and our
material with which to erect the buildings.
On the same str. that carries this letter, I expect that Bro. W. Woodhams will go to enter the
Industrial Dept. Three or four weeks later, Brn. Ross, Lewin, and Saunders will come. They are sturdy men
and will be a good set to begin work. Woodhams brings your rugs. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 201]
Feb. 25, 1895
Page 2 of 2
You will see from my letter to Byron what I suggest about his work. When Rousseau comes down
again, he must take time to consult with McCullough and then advise Byron what to do. It is not right for you
or me to decide what he or others shall do about joining the tent company in Sydney. These matters must be
decided and the burden borne by the officers of the Conf. who are nearest the work, McCullough, Rousseau,
and Daniells.
Mother, I do not want to get the Australian Conference on your back, it is not your part of the work.
And if Eld. McCullough would learn to work with his co-laborers and with them bear the burdens down and
that you will make the visit to Tasmania that we have talked about. I have a horror to the thought of your
going into building before we know how your finances stand. It will be very easy just now for us to get
entangled and lose the confidence of our brn. in America. But if we move very carefully now and raise the
money which must come from the brn. in these countries and keep from personal entanglements we shall
win their confidence and respect and shall get more help from them as a result.
I do not see any need of having Emily go to Tasmania. The smaller our company, the more freely we
can move about and the less burden we shall be. At the same time, I see that she would be a real help in
looking after matters at home in your absence.
As regards the visiting in Petersham, there is no doubt but that ________ could be used. Cannot they
get some of the sisters of the Sydney church to help for the privilege of attending the morning classes. It
seems to me that it would be well for Bro. Collins to bring his family to Sydney and then he would not be held
so close to the tent. It is a pity that Pallant should have the books to look after just when there is a hurry of
work. But this happens only once in several weeks, and after a few months this will stop. I really wish our brn.
would not be so emotional over these matters.
Miss Walker was encouraged to go to Queensland because we felt that the completion of her
training was a matter of much importance and we thought that Eld. Starr was best prepared to give her the
instruction that she needed. If I am correctly informed, Annie and Mariah Pierce from Ballarat will soon be
moving to N.S.W. and after they have had a visit with the Reekie family they would no doubt be willing to
engage in Bible work. They are women of much experience, wisdom, and tact and would be splendid help in
Sydney if we could afford to employ them. Please mention this to Bro. Rousseau when he comes down.
Now I must close and write a few words to May. I am now dangerously near the time to go to the Str.
Clansman.
Your son,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 202]
Feb. 25, 1895
E.B. Belden
Dear Cousin: Before I left Sydney, I had an order from Anderson of Norfolk for a small bill of goods, leather, and
books. Also an order from Baron for a water tank. These I should have turned over to you to fill after
consulting with Eld. Rousseau, but they pressed me so hard with other matters that this was wholly
forgotten.
Last week I sent the list to Rousseau asking him to have you buy the goods. I also send a copy to
Caldwell. Now I send a copy to you. If you have had instructions from Rousseau, follow them. If the matter
hangs in uncertainty, please see that these goods go off on the next ship going to these Islands.
In letters just received from Baron, he asks for flour to be sent. He was it in 50 lb. bags. I have just
sent cable to Mother asking that a hundred pounds of flour be sent to him. He also asks for £2 in money to be
sent. I am sorry that he asks for the money, but I will authorize you to send it if you can do so. I think there is
on the island a branch of some N.S.W. banking co. Please enquire.
Mother tells me that your father has sent in orders for quite a lot of goods. Please fill the orders and
let me know the amounts. Anderson and Baron drew nearly all that was their due for a year, but your father
did not draw much. Of course, his orders are for exceeding his wages, or allowance, but it is supposed that he
is now getting a start and that we shall not be called upon so frequently after he is started. Please borrow the
necessary funds from Mother and when I get home, we will turn all over to the Union Conf. Keep a careful
account of the time that you spent in this work.
About your future work, there was a time when we thought to perfect a plan for you to settle in
Sydney but the plan of starting a bath house in Sydney knocked that all in the head. I suppose you will soon
be done with the fruit. Then you will want to enter into something. I am real sorry that our plans have been
so unsettled that we have not been able to advise you what to do.
I will now suggest that you consider two plans of work: - 1 that you settle in Newcastle and begin to
canvass and then take up missionary effort as the way opens after you get well acquainted. 2. That you offer
your services to the Conf. to help in the Sydney work. I wish you were able to locate in Sydney and attend
Business College till you had the full mastery of bookkeeping. Probably you will say that I have in fact
proposed but one plan and that a hard one because the Conf. is too much embarrassed to take on more help.
Well, I am of the opinion that the Newcastle plan is a hard one, especially at first but it is the best I can think
of. And may be a hard plan is better than none. Please consult with Eld. McCullough and Rousseau in all of
these matters. Before I left home, I meant to talk with you, but had in mind having Rousseau with me and
then was so weary that I forgot it.
With much love and in great haste,
Yours,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 203]
Str. Clansman, Russell
March 7, 1895
Elder Robert Hare
Petersham, N.S.W.
Page 1 of 5
My Dear Brother: About two weeks ago, I received your short letter accompanied by notices of your meetings, one of
which I handed to Edward. The same str. brought us a longer letter from Eld. McCullough, in which he gave
very encouraging accounts of the meetings in Ashfield, and also of the opening up of the work in Petersham.
We rejoice to know that the blessing of the Lord is resting upon your work in both of these important places
and we pray that there may be gathering into the church, both in Petersham and Ashfield. When I get to
Auckland, tomorrow I expect to find later letters giving us more information.
You will see from what I have written that I am returning from a short visit to Kaeo, your old home. I
spent eight days there and could gladly have spent another week, but for appointments in Napier which
cannot be postponed, because Eld. Colcord is anxious to complete which cannot be postponed because Eld.
Colcord is anxious to complete his work in New Zealand and get back to his editorial work in Melbourne.
I will give you a brief diary of the week. Wednesday morning, Feb. 27 your brother Metcalf met me
at Wahroonga and we went up to Kaeo on horseback. I took breakfast with him at the store and found his
wife and boys were well, and that Metcalf and his wife were ____ in believing that the time has come for
them to say goodbye to Kaeo and connect with the school work at Avondale. During the week, he has
completed negotiations by which he sells his interest in the store to Joseph. Today he hopes to complete the
division of the real estate which is now held by him, Wesley, and Joseph, undivided and to sell his interest in
timber in the bush, and when this is done he will be free to go. He hopes to get down a week from today and
thus be ready to take passage for Sydney on the next com[pst]ing str. March 18.
After a good breakfast with Metcalf at the store I went up to your father’s. You know that he lives on
the first hill, among the big pine trees. It is a pretty place and they have the house fixed up so it is quite nice
and real comfortable. Your father was quite well. He gave me a most hearty greeting and wished me to make
his place headquarters. Sr. Hare was as well as usual and so were Susie and Wilmot. Wilmot is not working in
the bush, but finds work near home for one and another in the valley. He says that his experience at the Bible
School has revolutionized his ambitions and plans about his life work. He is now working for an examination
for public school teacher. Minnie had not returned from a long visit to Gisborne. She came up on the str. this
trip and is real well and of good cheer.
After dinner, I had a chat with Judith and Josie at the store and then went up the valley to visit old
Mr. Gouiton, who is very feeble and sadly desponding. Having had no sound religious experience, he looks to
his feelings and as he grows more feeble and feels worse and worse, he thinks that God has wholly rejected
him beyond mercy. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 204]
March 7, 1895
Elder Robert Hare
Petersham, N.S.W.
Page 2 of 5
Thursday I went down the river with Joseph. He is so busy that I find this is the best chance to have a
talk with him about our school work and other business of the Union Conference. While we were down, I
attended court at which he was one of the judges, and saw them haul up the Maoris and examine them
regarding unpaid debts and give to them their orders. Mr. John Shepherd was interpreter and I was much
pleased to watch his work. The morning we were down, the Clansman was back from the annual free
excursion, and we saw the people come off. A large number and most of the Maoris. I was much interested in
the appearance of a tall, white-haired woman, moderately tattooed about the lips, wearing a fur-lined cloak
and a black straw hat the style that my mother wears. It struck me that she had a history, and could tell an
interesting story if she would. Her daughter was a very pretty girl and a nice young man showed her much
attention. Evidently, they had a white father. Afterwards Joseph told me they were the family of the
interpreter.
After the court had dragged out its pitiful work, we crossed over to ____ and then to Lawrence’s
store. Mr. Lawrence keeps his store in good shape and appears to have a good business. He insisted on our
going to the house to lunch, although it was late and again to tea, although it was early. Your sister Martha is
looking well, and always gives us a hearty welcome. She has four as healthy, hearty children as you will find
anywhere. They are large for their age, and have very happy intelligent faces.
At the shipyards we found the work going on in a moderate way. There is a big ____ on the stocks
where the Aeota was building a year ago. Mr. Lane and several of the family have been suffering from La
Grippe, and Mrs. Lane is worn with the care and work. I had a little talk with Mr. Brown about their facilities
for sawing and delivering a shipload of finishing timber at Avondale, while Joseph was transacting some
business with Mr. Lane. Have now left the matter with Metcalf.
Friday and Monday I spent visiting up the valley. Lutz and family and Brigshouse and family are about
as of old, except that there seems to [be] a growth in Christian experience. I had a most excellent visit with
Lets and Sophia on Monday. Geo. Crosley looks a different man. His face is full of joy and his wife shares to a
large degree the same blessing. Jennie Brigshouse is at home on a visit. I had a short visit with her and her
mother. Edwin Brigshouse and Lizzie live just above Campbell’s schoolhouse. They seem quite happy and
Edwin has been working with him, urging him to recognize the goodness of God by vocal praise and prayer.
He and Wilmot recognize the goodness of God and their obligation to him and their duty to openly serve him,
but, But, BUT, the miserable pride and unbelief that troubles us all, holds them back from taking a manly
stand.
An old man named Wm. Bramley and a middle aged man named Wm. Fairburn are meeting with our
people and will join at some early date.
The officers nominated for election next Sabbath are, for Elder, Joseph Hare Sr. Deacons, Wesley
Hare and Richard Brigshouse. For Clerk, Joseph Hare Jr. Librarian, Maude Hare. There are others who will be
able to bear burdens by next year if they continue to grow as now. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 205]
March 7, 1895
Elder Robert Hare
Petersham, N.S.W.
Page 3 of 5
For Sabbath we had planned a full program but it rained very heavily and no one came to meeting at
all. Sunday afternoon I talked about missionary work in all parts of the world and in the evening, upon
education and our school plans. At the close, some pledges were made to the building fund. In all, my visiting
after that, I kept this matter before the people, and now our subscriptions from Kaeo including the £100 from
Joseph and the £40 each from Wesley and Metcalf amounts to £204-10-0. This is a noble start towards the
£600 which we estimate as New Zealand’s part of the £2000 which must be raised in Australasia.
Tuesday I went with Wilmot as guide up to Isaac Shepherd’s place. We had a very pleasant visit
there, although it was rather short. About fifteen months ago, Mrs. Shepherd’s sister from Brooklyn, N.Y.
came out and about nine months ago, caught cold which terminated in tuberculosis consumption. She is
failing fast. She was baptized by Eld. Wilson and has a bright hope. Another sister is here now and they are
thinking of bringing out from Ireland the family, five children of a brother of Mrs. Shepherds who lately died.
We got back to Mr. Campbell’s at 5 p.m. where I had appointed to take tea. I had a very pleasant visit
with him till 4, and then went to Bro. Salt’s and visited till 11. Salt has not been doing well. When his family
came from Norfolk Island, they were very happy for a time but in the kindness of his heart, he took into his
family some persons who made them much perplexity. Then he lost heart, took up the pipe and is rather
harsh with his wife and family. He has appealed to members of the church to visit his home and help him and
as they do not do so, he lays all his trouble upon others. I tried to show him where his help lay, and he
promised me to try again.
Wesley and Maude are well and of good cheer. Their three boys are doing well, and they have taken
one of Maude’s sister’s boys. Matthew is getting so feeble that they cannot well care for him and in
accordance with his wish, Wesley has applied for a place for him in the Costly Home in Auckland. I hope he
will find a place.
Elsie and her children are all well, except John, who looks thin and is not strong. Mr. Webber has
been working in the bush, but is at home now, preparing to engage in a small fruit canning enterprise. He
seems to be a sensible, thrifty man and he gets along with his big family pretty well when John is away. But
he defies all authority and his mother has not the courage to take her stand against the wishes and views of
her favorite and spoiled son. Feeling that our people do not appreciate his talent, he not long ago began his
public career by preaching in the Wesleyan Church. I have told him and his mother very plainly where I think
his danger is, and that it is essential for him to build up a Christian character, before entering upon the work
of a teacher of Christianity. I am confident that the very best thing for the boy would be to take a three-years
apprenticeship in some good trade. If you can secure a place for him somewhere in Australia, it would be the
best thing I can think of. He needs discipline of a trade.
The tea bell rings, and I must go. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 206]
March 7, 1895
Elder Robert Hare
Petersham, N.S.W.
Page 4 of 5
Wednesday, I spent visiting Wesley, Bramley, Fairburn, Samuel, Joseph, Josie, and your father.
Minnie came home, and brought good news for myself. This morning, I came down horseback, with Joseph
and Judith and Martha are going to Auckland on this str. Mr. Lawrence and Murtel and several others. I hear
that Judith is to be married at Edwards about March 20.
Our plans are to hold an institute in Napier, March 15-25. Brn. Colcord, Crothers, and I with possibly
the help of Mrs. Tuxford, are expected to do the teaching. The Napier church, with delegates from Hastings,
Ormandville, Gisborne, and Palmerstone North will make up the meeting.
From there I shall go to Wellington, stopping at all these small churches on the way. I desire to do all
that I can, while here to place the school plans before the people, and to do all we can to secure the £600
that is apportioned to New Zealand. This may take more time than I like to spend, but it is work that I dare
not slight. If it is not attended to promptly, and with vigor, our school work will drag very slowly along. Pray
for us that we may have wisdom and courage.
I have not yet heard what the plans are for the convention in Tasmania. Eld. Daniells wrote that Eld.
Baker was urging him to come at once to Launceston, and I advised him to go. He may decide to hold the
convention when he is over there. If not, they must wait my time for I cannot run away from my work here
half done.
I wish I could have a long talk with you about our work at Avondale, and the part and place that
Metcalf can take to be of the most service. It seems that in many lines, he has the experience that we need
and I am glad to find that his interest and ambitions are bound up with the school. This is good. Oh that we
may have wisdom to make a wise division of work and responsibility.
You may be aware that the Union Conference Committee has been disposed to leave a large share of
the responsibility of this work on me. At the same time, the F.M.B. plainly shows their opinion that this is not
best. Their efforts to send us a man from America have failed, and now I am disposed to think that since we
have given up the idea of making a big deal in land, and that we have narrowed down our plans so much, that
it is not best to ask for a man from abroad.
My wish is that we may get two or three men of good experience here in the colonies to come and
stand by the side of Eld. Rousseau and that they together work up and carry forward the planning and
execution of our school plans. I cannot think that it is wisdom for me to be involved in the details of the work.
First, I am not built nor educated for that work and second, I can help some by being in the field and working
among our churches in behalf of the school.
When I found that Metcalf wished to connect with the school, I felt that God was answering our
prayers, that he would raise up good men to aid in this great and important enterprise. As you have
opportunity, please talk freely with Rousseau, McCullough, and Reekie about this, and give them all the
information you can regarding Metcalf’s experience and ability. Also his limitations, so they may plan well for
[page break]
[7 – WCW – 207]
March 7, 1895
Elder Robert Hare
Petersham, N.S.W.
Page 5 of 5
future work. It is of much importance that we make a correct start.
Sunday p.m. March 10 – On Friday morning, at the usual hour, we reached Auckland, and by 10 a.m.
I was in camp, reading the last lot of my American letters that had straggled in from Melbourne. None of us
rested much the last night on the str. It rolled beautifully and it was hot and stifling. Judith and Martha went
to friends in Ponsonby, and I took some of their luggage up to Edwards, where I found my letters.
All at the camp were of good courage. The attendance has held out splendidly and some were
keeping the Sabbath. Much visiting has been necessary to make the work effective. Eld. Corliss has been
working very hard, and is worn. Eld. Steed and family are of good cheer. Brn. Simpson and Carrow greatly
enjoy the morning classes. Martha Brown, Alice Steed, and Minnie Teasdale are the only lady visitors. Esther
Smart is still their cook, but she goes south Tuesday on the Manipoura, Edith Brebner goes to Napier at the
same time to attend the convention.
Brn. Wilson and Fulton have held a few meetings at Onehunga but the attendance is small and they
will soon discontinue, I think. Probably Eld. Wilson will visit Helensville, and organize the brn. of the place into
a church before he goes south. Fulton’s work is not yet determined.
Friday night, Eld. Steed spoke to a fair audience. Sabbath morning, after Sabbath-school, we held a
combination meeting. Eld. Corliss talked fifteen minutes, then White, Wilson, Steed, and Fulton followed with
five to ten minutes each. The Promises, Praise, Loyalty, and the Joys of Obedience were the themes. After
these, nearly all the congregation joined and there were some most excellent testimonies from those keeping
their first Sabbath, and some their second. A Mr. Nicholson of Parnell bore an excellent testimony. He was as
full of joy as he could hold. He said that he could hardly believe his senses. Three weeks ago he came over to
hear the “faddists” and he had heard the truth of God’s word. This was his first Sabbath, and his heart was
full of blessing as he kept it holy.
One week before, six had signed the covenant and after this meeting fourteen more signed making
twenty. There are four men, five or six very nice women, five or six very intelligent young people, and several
women of ordinary intelligence, apparently of some solidity of character. We hope there are many more who
will decide to obey.
Soon the Teasdale family will move into the country. Edith Brebner will go from Napier to assist Mrs.
Tuxford in Wellington. Thus Auckland church loses its Librarian and Treas. and its Tithe Collector. I have
suggested that Eld. Steed be encouraged to settle where he and his family can share in the burdens of the
church. He may be chosen Elder and his wife will help where she can.
I would like to visit you and note the progress of your work. To not forget that we are in the time of
the latter rain and now we are to pour out of the truth to the people with simplicity and rapidity and without
fear. Do not fail to bring them to the point of decision early. Get the books into their hands so they can read.
Do not forget this.
Please let Eld. McCullough read this and it will lighten my work in writing to him.
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 208]
Onehunga, N.Z.
March 10, 1895
Elder S. McCullough
27 West St., Petersham, N.S.W.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: Your letters of Feb. 18 and 26 are before me, and I am so glad that I can now take a few minutes to
reply. I am writing in the front room of a cottage on the hill overlooking the Manakau Harbor. It is a cottage
that Brn. Wilson and Fulton occupy while conducting meetings in this place.
Friday morning I returned from Kaeo and Tuesday I go to Napier. Thus I have only this afternoon and
tomorrow to answer my Aust. letters and get off my American mail. I have just completed quite a lengthy
letter to Eld. Hare which I begun on the str. and I have suggested that he let you read it. Please ask for it, and
I will thus be saved the time of repeating what I have written in that letter.
You will rejoice with us that twenty have already signed the covenant at Epsom. We hope for many
more. This interest will be developed as rapidly as possible that Eld. Corliss may go to Christchurch with some
workers, and see what can be done to open up the work in that great town. I feel that an effort should be
made there while Eld. Corliss is in this field.
Our earnest prayers ascend in behalf of your work in Ashfield and Petersham. I am heartily glad that
you have three good and faithful men to assist in the care of the tent and in visiting. There is no doubt work
for many more and I hope you will not forget that the Pierce sisters are soon coming to N.S.W. from Ballarat.
They are good, intelligent women and could help much if they felt free to do so.
I am sorry that Pallant’s time have been broken by the work of shipping books and I am glad that this
work will not last long. It is cheering to hear that Sr. Collins is coming soon to join her husband. Do not forget
to work in all the volunteer help that you can. This is a good opportunity for the sisters in the church to get a
training for the work. Do not be discouraged because your helpers are sometimes wanted to help in other
places and in other branches.
I am glad to learn from your letter of Mar. 26 that your perplexity over the Ashfield collections did
not arise from any consideration of “authority” and therefore that it was the matter of “principle”. That being
the case, I am sure that we shall come to a full agreement when we have an opportunity to talk the matter
over together.
Never for a moment have I doubted your love for the work and for its advancement. And not for the
world would I do anything to take this away from you. Neither do I doubt your love for me. True friendships
are not so easily broken. I do not want to harbor the thought for a moment that I have any less love for you,
because something has come to my notice that leads to think it my duty to speak to you in council, criticism,
and reproof. And I do not want you to harbor any such thought. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 209]
Onehunga, N.Z.
March 10, 1895
Elder S. McCullough
27 West St., Petersham, N.S.W.
Page 2 of 2
You will excuse me for not entering into a discussion of the points in your letter. I do not understand
what your plans and policy are. I have thought that you were opposing that which appears to me to be in
harmony with correct principles and the customs of our people, I disclaim having prejudged you. From the
very fact that I had not heard from you a statement of your position, I wrote more fully than would otherwise
have been necessary stating various positions and their incorrectness as it appeared to me, but I did not
accuse you of taking these positions, nor do I now accuse you. I am willing to wait till I see you to learn what
your plan or position is. I do not get any clear conception of it from your letter.
Your reason for telling Mother about this matter was sufficient. I am heartily sorry that she asked
about it, for the account received in answer seems to have troubled her mind for a considerable time. For a
long time I have tried in a feeble way to protect Mother from these burdens, which I am satisfied that she
ought to be spared from and during the last half year, I have made a special effort. No doubt it is too much to
expect that those who do not know how these matters work on her mind and delay the great work that has
been given her of God, - no doubt it is too much for me to expect that they will understand my intense
anxiety or that they will feel that my interference in this matter of detailing to her unpleasant occurrences of
magnitude great and small, is at all in place. I can hardly expect it.
When I sent you my letter, I knew that it would not be pleasant reading. You say it was like iron in
the soul. I knew it would give you pain, and if I could have borne that pain myself, instead of your bearing it,
and if I would have gladly done it, ten times over. But my bearing the pain instead of you would not have
saved Mother from her part of the suffering, and the only hope I had of protecting her was to put the matter
before you in a plain light. Forgive me where I have caused you unnecessary suffering.
One point more, I ought to mention and then I am done. You say that Eld. Daniells did not write to
you about the relation that he wished Eld. Rousseau to sustain the Conf. work in N.S.W. I am surprised at this,
for I read in a copy of one of his letters and I thought it was in a letter to you that he wished the members of
the Com. who were in N.S.W. to counsel and plan together, and that their decisions would be accepted by
the Victorian members. He suggested that I should act as chairman of the com. while present, and that Eld.
Rousseau should act as chairman after I was gone. It may be that this was in a letter to Eld. Rousseau himself.
Please ask him about it, when you can do so.
And now, my dear brother, I want you to be assured that you are often remembered in my prayers.
We are very different in temperament and habit and that is one of the reasons why we should cling to each
other. For by the grace given us of God, we can help one another. Please do not think me your enemy,
because I speak in a decided way of those things where it appears to me that you are in danger of hurting
yourself or of marring the work you love so dear. If I was not your friend and felt assured of your friendship, I
should sometimes hold my peace. But you may be sure I shall speak plainly so long as I think it may do any
good.
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 210]
Onehunga, N.Z.
March 10, 1895
Page 1 of 2
My Dear May: This is Sunday night, and I am writing in Eld. Wilson’s parlor, while all the folks are at meeting. I
would like to have gone but there is so much writing to do, and the time is so short. I came up here with the
hope of having all day Sunday and Monday to write uninterruptedly, but how vain are all such hopes. There
were a lot of matters to talk about, and I did not write a stroke till after three o’clock this afternoon.
And now I am so weary. How I wish I could lay aside my work and chat with you for an hour. It would
be much nicer than having to sit here and pound this old machine. This afternoon, I have finished my letter to
Eld. R. Hare a copy of which I send I send to Mother, and which I desire that you read and them post it to Eld.
Starr, Toowoomba, Q. I have also written a two page letter to Eld. McCullough, a copy of which I enclose to
you. I fear some of these will weary you but somehow I feel like sending them to you. It may be it will do
some good for you to know how I regard the matters referred to in these communications.
I was very glad on my return from Kaeo to get your good and newsy letter of Feb. 25. I hope the
Sydney str. will bring me another tomorrow morning. I think you are making considerable progress with the
typewriter. Your spelling is good and you have written quite a clean sheet. I will make just two suggestions, be careful to draw the carriage back the full distance and indent your paragraphs uniformly. I prefer ten
points, better than five.
We were glad to know that you were not long sick. I did not think you would be. I hope that new
style influenza will not go through the family the second time. How glad we were to read what you wrote
about the Petersham and Ashfield meetings. I am so glad that Mother had freedom. How we devour any
news about the work in these places.
I spent considerable time Friday reading the American letters. I do not wonder that it made your
head ache to read them all. When I can answer them, it is hard to tell. I am falling farther and farther behind
with my writing. When I do get a little time to write, it is done so hastily that some point is unguarded or
blunt and then somebody is offended and more writing is required to show them that no harm was intended.
Jesus said, “Be ye as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.” I must study this more. Pray for me, that I
may have wisdom, patience, and moderation.
Eld. Fulton has just come in from the meeting and says that there was a good company out tonight,
about fifty I think. We shall be very happy if there is yet an interest worked up in this place.
Last Sabbath I met at the Epsom tent the oldest of the camp girls that came over with her mother
and the little boy. They say that their mother lives in Ponsonby. I hope to see them Tuesday, before I go.
Esther Smart and Edith Brebner will be going south on the same str. with me. Edith to the convention
and then to work for Mrs. Tuxford and Esther to deliver some books. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 211]
Onehunga, N.Z.
March 10, 1895
Page 2 of 2
Up to the present time I have not heard a word from our brn. in Tasmania as to whether they want
an institute or not. If there is a letter for me from Eld. Daniells tomorrow, I may learn something about it. I
hope it may be so.
My desire is that the institute be held and that Mother shall attend it. When it and our visit there is
over, we can make a short visit at Melbourne and it may be that they will wish us to attend an institute in
Adelaide before we return to N.S.W. These institutes in each colony, may have to take the place of campmeetings for next year.
I suppose that Eld. Baker will be going to Adelaide about the first of June, and it appears to me that it
would be real good for the work in So. Australia, if we could hold a general meeting in Adelaide at that time.
There are a number in Broken Hill that would come down, and there is the company at Kangarille and think
some others that would be much benefitted by a general meeting. I long to see the work move forward in all
these colonies.
I had a busy time at Kaeo. Not once did I open my typewriter and seldom did I have time to look into
a book. It was tramp, ride, and visit, all the time. I have written quite a full chronicle of the week’s
experiences in a letter to Eld. Robert Hare. A copy of this I send to Mother and I want it to go on to Eld. Starr
after you have read it. I am so glad that Metcalf intends to give his energies to help to build up our school
work.
It seems to me that Esther Smart would make a good cook and housekeeper for them in the
Industrial Department. What think you?
Yes, I watch for the home letters in the next American mail, with much interest. I have little fear
regarding the spirit it which my girls will accept my plans for making a home for us and them. Of course it will
strike them as strange at the first, but they will soon come to see the reasonableness of it all and when they
get over here, they will be as happy as two birds after a few weeks.
I have some splendid letters from Edson which went to Melb. and around by Wellington. I wish to
read them at Napier and then I will send them to you and Mother.
The Melbourne Church are ready to begin building a meetinghouse. They want the Echo Co. to hire
£300 at the bank and lend to them to make a beginning or to buy the land. They ask me to telegraph if the
Echo Co. shall do this, but they omit to give me any information about the place selected or their present
plans and estimate of cost. I do not like to telegraph under such circumstances but must do something
tomorrow. I shall wail till evening, hoping for a letter from Eld. Daniells, telling me what their plans are and
where the lot is.
I see a lot of work that ought to be done before I return to Sydney and it will take some time if done
properly. I have hurried to and fro several times, leaving much work untouched and now our plans are settled
about school work, I feel that I must clear up all this unfinished business and visit the places needing visits,
before settling down to work at Cooranbong. And this is consistent, because we are not prepared to push the
work at Cooranbong, till we have raised some money to build with. Must our wedding wait so long?
Yours,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 212 is a repetition of page 185.]
[7 – WCW – 213]
Onehunga, N.Z.
March 11, 1895
To the S.D.A. Foreign Mission Board, F.M. Wilcox, Sec.
Battle Creek, Mich., U.S.A.
Page 1 of 5
Dear Brethren: In my letter of Feb. 20, I laid before you some plans regarding the work in these colonies which I
trust you will consider with care. For lack of time, they were not stated as fully as you may wish and in this
letter I will endeavor to go a little farther in the matter of carrying these plans into execution.
The New Zealand Conference
The interest in the tent meetings at Epsom increases and it now looks as if the workers would be
held there for some time on account of the new ones that are coming to the meetings. March 2 was a rainy
Sabbath, and but few came out but of these, six signed the covenant. Mar. 9 after Sabbath-school, Elds.
Corliss, White, Wilson, Steed, and Fulton each talked a few minutes and then about twenty others from the
Auckland church, and the new coverts. Sunday night, the tent was full and here at Onehunga, there were fifty
out to hear Eld. Steed.
We rejoice to see that the unpleasant feelings which some hold towards our church here on account
of harsh and erratic action of its local leaders through a series of years has not affected the community at
large so much as some had feared. We also find that back of all this, and much wider in its influence, is the
memory of the meetings held years ago by Eld. Daniells and the conviction that he preached the truth. It now
looks as though Auckland was a promising field for work.
We propose that Eld. Steed locate in Auckland, settle his family here. That he became the elder of
this church. He is director of Dist. No. 1, including Auckland and Tarinaka Provinces. After the other laborers
go to other parts it is expected that he will remain and work in this part of the North Island. At first, I
suggested his locating here, because it was the best place for his health, but now it appears that it the best
plan every way. The Lord has blessed him in the last year, and he has grown in experience and in power.
After a few weeks more work here, Eld. Wilson will devote his principle energies to the work in the
south half of the North Island, and the northern end of the South Island.
As soon as the work here can be left with Eld. Steed, Elds. Corliss and Fulton will probably go to
Christchurch to open the work in the Canterbury Province. This however, is subject to circumstances and
especially to your council. Please consider these facts.
Canterbury is the great grain producing province of N.Z. It is populous, and well to do. Christchurch is
its center. In character, this city which with its suburbs has a population of over 30,000 is decidedly English.
Hundreds of our subscription books have been sold in Christchurch and in the country around and for three
years, we have had the most urgent appeals and forcible arguments in favor of carrying [page break]
[7 – WCW – 214]
Onehunga, N.Z.
March 11, 1895
Page 2 of 5
the message to this part of New Zealand. The reason that this has been delayed was the desire that the work
there should be opened by a strong force of workers for it is a place where there has been all manner of
fanaticism and there will be prejudice at first. For a year the brn. here have waited for the man asked for by
the Union Conf. Now he is here but he is a young man, hardly strong enough it seems to lead out in the work
in such a place.
Eld. Corliss is here in N.Z. He has had much experience in opening up the work in the large towns and
cities and in these colonies has been greatly blessed in this work. He is willing to remain in N.Z. long enough
to inaugurate the work in Christchurch, if it desired. His methods of labor are such that it proves to a real
training school to those connected with him in labor. Therefore, his work here and in Ch-ch will have a much
greater effect upon the Conf. than simply the raising up of two companies of Sabbath-keepers. This is his
method.
To start with, he urges the Conf. Com. to give him as many helpers as is possible. Then he gives them
a Bible Lesson every morning at 8:30. He studies hard, and makes this lesson a matter of real value. These
morning lessons are open to all members of the church, and earnest appeals are made for the members of
the church to volunteer for service in visiting and sometimes real good help is secured. This is a source of
strength to the church after the ministers are gone. All who have had the privileges of these classes here say
they are greatly benefitted by these studies, and that such privileges they never enjoyed before.
The only objection which I see to the carrying out of this plans is that the N.Z. Conf. cannot afford it.
They cannot do it without having help from you, or by running hopelessly in debt. This is why.
Their gross receipts for the last year was about £620. Next year we hope for £650. Deduct £65 tithe
and there is less than £600.Wilson’s wages and traveling expenses will run into £3-10-0 a week. Steed’s about
£3-5-0; Crothers £3-5-0; Fulton’s about £3. These with one colporteur or Bible worker at £1-10-0 would call
for £14-10-0 a wk. Thus, without the help of Corliss and the three visitors to work with him, the only way the
conf. can keep down debt is to dispense with the Bible worker and let Crothers canvass part of his time, so
his profits may cover part of his wages.
We have made a careful estimate of what it will cost to carry to completion this effort here in
Auckland, and the effort to open up work in Ch-ch and it will be not far from £250-0-0. It depends to some
extent upon the size and character of the interest in Ch-ch. If matters should take an unexpected turn, and
the work develop rapidly, it might come within £225. But I shall expect it to run to £250. This is just so much
above what the N.Z. Conf. can raise in tithes.
Now the request which we place before you, is that the F.M.B. appropriate £250 for the opening up
of the work in these two cities, Auckland and Christchurch.
In considering this request, please remember that up to the present time, the F.M.B. have spent very
little money in the N.Z. work. If this field had received proper help at the first, it would no doubt no be able to
do this work unaided, but it was starved and stunted in the beginning, and now is in great need of a lift. O
Give it Now. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 215]
Onehunga, N.Z.
March 11, 1895
Page 3 of 5
If you encourage us to go forward with the work in Ch-ch, the N.Z. Conf. Com. will do all they can to
make it a real training school for workers. Bro. Crothers will gather his canvassers and concentrate all their
energies on the Canterbury District, and as far as possible upon Ch-ch itself. Thus, the work of the three Bible
workers will be supplemented by the aid of four to six canvassers. Fulton and Crothers, I hope, will take an
active part in the mission work and will learn all they can from this experience.
If we should miss this opportunity to enter Ch-ch, I fear it will be a long time before we can hope to
enter it with a sufficient force of laborers to accomplish what we desire. If it was not that our people are
straining every nerve and muscle to build the school, we would go to them for donations for this work, but
under the present circumstances we cannot do this.
Division of Labor in Australia.
In your consideration of our plans for the division of Australia into two conferences and two missions
you may wish to know what we could do in the distribution of laborers. I will roughly outline a division which
I shall submit to the consideration of the Union Conf.
1. Queensland, - Let Geo. Teasdale and wife take the place of Eld. Hickox and wife so that Hickox
could go to Western Australia. Thus your Queensland list of laborers would be, - Geo. B. Starr and wife, Geo.
Teasdale and wife; Brother Bernoth (German), and Sr. Walker, a young lady of real piety and ability, lately
sent up to engage in Bible Work.
2. Western Australia, - Let Eld. A.S. Hickox and wife and Jesse Pallant and wife be set apart for the
work in W.A. and let Eld. Corliss go with them to inaugurate the work with the expectation of his working
with them for four to six months.
3. New South Wales, - Let Elders McCullough and Israel and Bro. John Collins be the laborers in this
new conference if it can bear so many laborers and if not, leave Israel in Victoria. Mother and I can help some
and this would no doubt be the Home Conf. of Eld. Corliss.
4. Fiji, - Let Dr. M.G. Kellogg and Eld. J.M. Cole go to Fiji and open up the work in that great field.
Canvassers could be sent to join them, if there is found to be a field for them and teachers as soon as they
are needed.
5, - Central Australian Conference, - Elders A.G. Daniells; Robert Hare; W.L.H. Baker; with some help
from Eld. W.A. Colcord would make the working force of this big conference. There are a number of
promising Bible workers that could be called into the work if there is support for them. Daniells and Hare
would spend most of their time in Victoria Baker is expected to go soon to Adelaide for there has been no
work in So. Aust. since Curtiss left, except visits of a few weeks or days. We need a man to work with him and
shall no doubt be able to find one, but I cannot name him today. Maybe Eld. Israel or Herbert Lacey when he
comes if school work is not ready.
I have tried to make a careful study of temperament, experience and education in arranging this
grouping. I will call your attention to a few points only. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 216]
Onehunga, N.Z.
March 11, 1895
Page 4 of 5
When Eld. Hickox had been with us a time, we learned that notwithstanding his long experience in
the organization and education of churches. In fact, he had never seen a church organized. Therefore, we
were glad to be able to place him with Eld. Starr who has had unusually full experience in those lines. We also
find that Eld. Hickox is a complete convert to the disconnected in his discourses. Now in the eyes of the
colonial people, eloquence is the great overshadowing virtue in a minister, in a minister, and next to that,
they desire that their preachers shall be easy, logical, and connected. They do not praise scattering
discourses. Now it so happens that among our preachers who are also teachers, there is none who skip so
lightly from point to point or subject to subject, as Eld. Starr. He sometimes reminds me of Asahel, whom
Apocrypha says was so light of foot that he ran upon the tops of the corn. So you see, we now have in
connection a double portion of disconnection. Teasdale is a student and one who would be benefitted by
working with Eld. Starr, and his influence would be helpful also.
Pallant has grown rapidly while connected with the work in Ashfield, and we think he would be a
good companion for Hickox. If you were forced to economical methods, he has the advantages of being an
excellent canvasser and as W.A. is yet a good book field, he could cut his own fodder half of each year if you
wished him to do so.
Our perplexity about N.S.W. will be to select a Pres. When the present effort in Sydney is terminated
and when we get well under way with our school work, it will probably be a good plan to associate Eld.
McCullough and John Collins in work in the towns and villages from Newcastle up the Hunter River. There are
promising fields in Maitland and other agricultural communities along the river, and these places are within
forty miles of our school, which will be a center of support for any work that may be established within fifty
miles. Eld. Israel, who has done such good work in and around Melbourne in visiting and holding Bible
Readings, would be greatly prized as a laborer in the group of churches near Sydney and it seems that they
ought to have the benefit of his labors. We should encourage him to build a modest cottage at Avondale
where his girls could care for their mother and work in the school. With expenses reduced, he might live on
the scant salaries that N.S.W. will probably afford.
In Fiji, Dr. Kellogg’s experience as a physician would count and at the same time he would not suffer
the dangers and hardships of a long pioneer trip among savages. He would not be too far away to come back
and help in the establishment of a bath house or small Sanitarium when the time comes for that work. Eld.
Cole would be in easy communication with Norfolk and could visit there and Lord Howe’s, once a year. There
is no mistake, Dr. Kellogg’s heart and mind are bound up in the Island work, and I think he will help more in
that work where his heart is.
I need say little about the work in the C.A. Conf. for that is the field where the strongest churches
and workers will be and they will have the best prospects for paying way and of calling new laborers into the
work. Please give us your views regarding this plan. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 217]
Onehunga, N.Z.
March 11, 1895
Page 5 of 5
School Work.
You will wish to know what progress we are making with our school work and how our courage is
about raising money. I hear from Eld. Rousseau that the work of surveying and subdivision is going on well,
and that the Industrial Department was to open March 5. This is good.
Since the close of camp-meeting in Epsom, I have spent a week in Kaeo. While there, two things
were accomplished. Some small pledges to the school were secured, bringing up amounts pledged by this
church to £204-10-0. This is a good beginning towards the £300 to be raised by New Zealand. We are aware
that this is the most able church to do large things financially in the Conf. and yet this start will have its
influence. We took great pains to persuade everyone to do something and were quite successful.
It is our plan to push forward this part of our work as fast as we can. The other settled while I was in
Kaeo was that Bro. Metcalf Hare sold out his interest in Hare Bros. Store and is now preparing to go at once
to Cooranbong to assist Eld. Rousseau in the work we have to do there.
I took pains while in Kaeo to inquire regarding the experience and ability of Bro. Hare and I learn that
he has had much experience in the bush, cutting and getting out timber. Also in clearing land. He is a
carpenter and a shipbuilder. He is perfectly familiar with sawmill work and could set up and superintend a
mill. His has not the free, dashing ways of a successful trader and has been on the conservative side in
connection with the store business. He is close and economical in habit, and rather conservative and critical.
I think he would be useful to us as our treasurer and perhaps our bookkeeper and at present, while
our funds and force of workers are small, our foreman and builder. When work grows and we can employ
other carpenters, and need other foremen, he can be our superintendent. His knowledge of colonial timbers
ought to be of real service to us in planning how to build and what to use.
The effect upon our brn. in these colonies will be much more pleasing than if we imported an
American to bear these responsibilities. He will move to the place on his own responsibility and put him up a
house. If we want his help, he will work on his own account till school opens, and then he will enter as a
student. If left alone with large responsibility, he would probably be too conservative but associated with
Rousseau, I think he is just the one who will be of excellent service.
The Melbourne brn. are ready to begin to build a meetinghouse and they need £300 for a start. If
you allow us to use the £1000 given us by Bro. and Sr. Lindsay and will encourage them to put it in our hands
at once, this will release meetinghouse money now tied up in the school land and they can go on with the
work. Please to act at once on this matter.
As you like definite requests, I will put it thus. If Harmon Lindsay Jr. passes the £1000 through your
hands then there is coming to us this £1000 plus Mother Wessels £500 plus some smaller sums. Send us this,
minus the £600 from London. Orders on Echo will do. If the Lindsay £1000 comes to us direct, hurry it on.
Yours,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 218]
Onehunga, N.Z.
March 11, 1895
Mr. Herbert Lacey
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Brother: Your welcome letter of Jan. 4 came to hand about three weeks ago, but I was so pressed with work
that I could not answer it by the mail that closed Feb. 22. But I talked the matter over with Bro. Sisley and I
hope that he has seen you and told you much about our situation and prospects. If you have not already had
a talk with him, it would be well for you to seek an interview and question him about us.
I am heartily glad that you will complete the Classical Course in June. We have all along expected
that you would return to Australasia as soon as your course was completed. We have greatly needed the help
which we think you could have given in the school and in all our planning for future organization of our
faculty, we have counted you as one of the number. We bear in mind, also, that all our plans are subject to
changes which may wrought by the action of the Mission Board or by the providential developments of our
Master’s work here, there, or elsewhere.
We have never discussed very fully the lines which we expected you and the other teachers to carry.
I have supposed, however, that you would be expected to teach Latin and Greek as far as there is demand for
these studies and assist in teaching the Bible History. Then fill in the time with Natural Sciences or
Mathematics. I shall send your letter with a copy of this to Eld. Rousseau asking him to express his views on
this question for he knows better than I about it.
Your associates in the work will be Eld. L.J. Rousseau, Geo. Teasdale, Margaret Hare of Kaeo, and
Jessie Israel of Melbourne. Eld. Rousseau will probably be the secretary and business manager of the school
and during the first term at least, will have to give a large part of his time to the Industrial Department and to
business matters. Margaret Hare and Jessie Israel will assist in the English branches and carry some studies at
the same time. They will desire to do enough work to cover expenses. Teasdale is now engaged in tent labor
and can be called in at the opening of the school, or later, as we may need.
We desire to open up our regular school in Feb. 1896. It will require our very best efforts to get ready
for full work at that time. For six months we have been greatly perplexed over the questions as to what we
ought to try to do. What kind of school we should endeavor to build up. Now we are settled on that point and
our present work is to lay these plans before our people and ascertain what they are willing to do and able to
do in the matter of contributing to the Building Fund.
If the brn. here respond freely and the Mission Board encourage us to do so, we shall strike in to
build in about three months, and push the work as fast as ever we can. I think we shall make a beginning next
Feb. even if it is rough quarters for the loss of a year, is a very serious matter to our work in these times.
[page break]
[7 – WCW – 219]
Onehunga, N.Z.
March 11, 1895
Mr. Herbert Lacey
Page 2 of 3
If you come to Australia as soon as convenient after the close of the college, I would suggest that you
visit Lincoln on the way and any other place where you would gather information that might be of special
value to you and to us. No doubt, you would wish to spend some time in California. You will bear in mind that
you are coming to a land where we have heard of all the latest improvements in methods of teaching such as
Sloyd and other developments of the Kindergarten principles and that our desire to adopt these improved
methods is limited to our ability to command teachers that understand them. Therefore if you and your
future companion can bring us knowledge of any of these things, it will be valued. Also remember that we
are starting out our school with an Industrial Department which opened with the fifth of March and if it lies in
your way to visit any of the industrial or mechanical schools in Chicago or elsewhere it would be greatly to
your profit and ours for you to investigate them with thoroughness. Bro. Sisley is acquainted with some of
these schools and Prof. Prescott with others, please talk with them and discuss with them the work that
seems to lay before us here and get counsel from them regarding the investigations that you may make to
the greatest profit on your way to this country. You are not likely to go over the road again; so make the most
of this trip.
Please take time while in Battle Creek to talk freely with the secretaries of our International
Associations and Societies regarding the developments of the work in these countries and the relations
which we ought to sustain to these Gen. Conf. Associations. The information you will thus gain will be [of]
immense value to us and to you.
It would be well to begin with the Secretary of the F.M.B. Tell him of my anxiety that you shall be
well instructed in the views of the Board regarding the work in these countries and the part which we may
act in carrying out their plans for mission work in the adjacent missionary fields. Ask them to instruct you
regarding the work of mission fields, etc. etc.
Have a visit with Bro. Edwards regarding mission finance and accounts. Talk with the officers of the
G.C.A. Publishing Dep. and get what information you can regarding their work and plans. With the plans and
work of the Educational Secretary and his co-laborers, you are no doubt well acquainted. Bring us all the
freshest ideas.
Please take special pains to learn all you can of the plans and work of the Med. Mis. & Benevolent
Asso. What are its plans about foreign extension? On what plans does it develop branches and what is the
workings of these branches. We are face to face with the question of establishing bath houses, bakeries, etc.
If we encourage private enterprise, it could go on at once. But that is beast, I fear not.
Then in planning your trip, remember that the Hawaiian Islands, Samoa, and New Zealand lie in your
path. In Honolulu, there are a few Sabbath-keepers, and unless things have suddenly changed, there is urgent
need of ministerial labor there. Could you not arrange with the [page break]
[7 – WCW – 220]
Onehunga, N.Z.
March 11, 1895
Mr. Herbert Lacey
Page 3 of 3
F.M.B. to stop off for a month or two and labor in Hawaii? The expense of travel would not be increased and
to them it would only be the time to pay for extra. You might also ascertain if a month spent at Samoa would
be desirable. I have no clear convictions on this point. But at Auckland, you ought to break the journey and
spend some time. If the work in this conf. should chance to be in such a condition that you could work to
have thus become well acquainted with some of the people in the N.Z. Conf. If not, after a weeks’ visit you
could come along on the Union Cos. Str.
You may ask what would be gained by thus breaking the trip. Much every way. You are connected
with a school whose highest aim is to train young men and women to be missionaries. Therefore knowledge
of mission fields on the part of its teachers, is of inestimable value. In many respects, Honolulu is the
metropolis of the Pacific. A thorough study of native life there will give a key to many matters which seem
strange and obscure to the one who studies mission field only from books. There you will meet old
missionaries who will give you lots of information and you will also meet with the various methods of work
and with their results.
If it should be so that you could stop at Samoa, you would there come in contact with cruder
elements.
In New Zealand, you will find many of the most hearty supporters of our school, and if you could fall
in with some line of work that would enable you to visit Kaeo, Auckland, Napier, and the little churches
between there and Wellington it would be a splendid thing for you and the school.
You can see that if you try to carry out such a program as I have outlined above, that your time from
the close of College would be occupied till September or October. In October, we shall hold camp-meeting or
begin Colonial Institutes to take its place. You could engage in Conf. or school work till the new school
opened.
I have often written to the F.M.B. about having the workers coming this way stop along the way as I
have mentioned above and they assent to the advantages of the plan, but up to the present time have not
been able to lay their plans far enough ahead to make the proper arrangements. Please talk with Eld. Olsen
about this first and then with the secretary.
If you should reach here sooner than the time I have named, there would be two fields of usefulness
open to you. 1. A part in the “rough and tumble” experience of our Industrial Department which would be
good for your health and make you familiar with the humble and hard work that is before us, in teaching men
elementary branches because deprived of school privileges when they were young. 2. Conference work. If
the Mission Board adopt some of the plans for the extension of the work that we are submitting to them, we
should be in need of the help you could give to aid in the work in So. Aust.
We wish you to be with us when we begin at Avondale and if you engage in teaching there, you
could not be free in time.
Now I must close.
Your Brother,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 221]
Str. Manipoura, Poverty Bay, N.Z.
March 13, 1895
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 1 of 4
Dear Brother: Just as I was going to the boat yesterday afternoon, I found your letters of Feb. 28 and Mar. 6 at
Edward Hare’s. I hastily glanced over them to learn if there was any more information on the subject of
Melbourne meetinghouses and finding nothing, stopped on my way to the str. and sent a message to the
Echo to go to the bank and hire the £300 as requested that the work may proceed without delay. This
message goes just a week later that Salisbury expected. I did not get back from Kaeo till Friday Feb. 8, and I
was somewhat surprised that in Salisbury’s letter there was no information regarding the location of the lot
selected. I thought I should get something from you Monday, and hoped it would be mentioned by you and
so waited.
After getting to the str. I closed up a lot of letters. When I closed yours it seemed light, but in my
hurry forgot two of the most important enclosures that I had taken out for Steed to read and which were in
my pocket. You will find them enclosed. You will have a chance to note the difference of time going via
Sydney and via Bluffs.
At the time of my leaving, the work in Auckland stands about as follows. The interest at Epsom is still
good. Sunday nights the tent is full. Other nights from 50 to 100. Twenty have signed the Cov. Many more
acknowledge the truth and ten or more have promised to keep the Sabbath that have not yet begun. Still
others are deeply interested. We can plainly see that the work done here in past years has had a marked
influence on the community. It gives us courage to thus find evidence that work done faithfully and with the
blessing of God has a permanent influence. You will note what I say to the Mission Board on that point. The
seed has not rotted in the ground, but still has life.
At Onehunga the interest is small. There were a goodly number out the first night and the subject
chose, Dan. 7 was carried rather too far to please them. The attendance is settling down to about twenty
who are interested.
Eld. Corliss has been working very hard and effectively. He conducts an interesting class every
morning and does more than half of the preaching. He is getting worn and must rest soon. He and Wilson
contemplate visiting Rotorua, Hot Springs in a week or two as soon as they can safely leave the work at
Epsom.
The work in Epsom will be left with Eld. Steed as soon as possible, and Eld. Corliss will go down the
coast to Napier and across to Wellington visiting the churches on the way. Then he will go to Christchurch
and if it seems favorable to begin work there, he will send for his fellow workers.
I really hope that Ch-ch may be entered before he leaves N.Z. Probably Fulton will go with him and
make Canterbury his field of labor. Crothers will gather in his canvassers there, so that their work will
________ the Tent Company. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 222]
March 13, 1895
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 2 of 4
Thursday Morning, Feb. 14: - Here we are in Hawkes Bay. The sea is calm, and the sun is bright and
we are all waiting for the little str. to take us ashore. You will from the way I began, that I wish to write a long
letter but the prospects are that I shall have to cut it short, if it goes on with this str.
Yesterday I gave a little more study to the figures you sent me about the Echo Expense and I see that
according to this, there is likely to be a total loss of about £350 for the year. If so, the one-third of the Echo
Co. will be £50 and the 1/6 of New Zealand £25. They are pressing for something definite. Shall I settle with
them on this basis or shall I wait for something more definite from you?
It would seem that 27 per ct. profit was rather large to make off from an enterprise of this sort and it
may look so to the Mission Board. On the other hand, the Echo Co. is in fact an agency of the G.C.A. and they
do not wish it to run in debt. Well, I think may be as well to let the facts go home to the real directors of our
work and let them advise on the way we shall manage such matters.
I am glad that Michaels is pushing the Echo and I believe he will do his best and better than any other
man we have. The prospects for N.Z. are not flattering. This is decidedly a conservative government and
retrenchment is the order of the day. I think it was necessary but you know that energy is required in times of
retrenchment to keep business from strangulation. I will encourage Crothers to put forth all the power he can
but he now has many things on his hands and the Echo is one of the matters that will have to wait its turn.
Besides the £25 the N.Z. has to pay to the Union Conf. There is an £18 loss on the transaction of the
business and about the same on account of overstock. So you see, when all is added together, N.Z. has lost
about £65 on the Echo business for the year. It is too much.
At the camp-meeting it was decided to have all the Echoes posted from the office of publication. This
will save much labor at Wellington and many losses and the Echo will get a better return for what it sends
out. In most cases the people will get their papers sooner. But of course, there will not be that ease in
increasing and cutting down clubs and that may restrict circulation.
What would you think of encouraging them to make Sr. Steed the Dist. Sec. of Auckland Dist. and let
this Dist. open an account with the Echo Publishers and transact their periodical bus direct. It would be a
saving of time and probably would increase the volume of business. But of course there would be the ever
present danger of complication of accounts.
I am most heartily sorry for the muddle over Union Conf. Accts. I see no way out but call Reekie to
Melbourne or to have Faulkhead take the books to Sydney and let them give the matter a thorough overhaul.
I fear that in his work with Reekie, Bro. Rousseau had only the school acts. in mind. We must go over the
matter to straighten out all the various accounts at once and make full record of what we learn and what we
guess at. It is really too bad, but what other way can we do. If Reekie could be there when I get over from
Hobart, it might be a good time. Think of this and tell me your mind. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 223]
March 13, 1895
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 4 of 4 (Page 3 is on page 224.)
At Dr. Caro’s, 11:30 a.m. – Here I am again, domiciled for a time at this hospitable home. Erick is here
and gives cheer to live to everything he comes in contact with He is a big fellow, I tell you. The doctor is well
and happier than ever. Mrs. Caro is well and up to her eyes in work. Miss Georgia Hunt is helping her and also
a young man who is learning the business.
After breakfast four letters were handed to me, and among them, yours of Feb. 21. This supplies the
information I have been wishing for about meetinghouse lots, etc. It also states your advice re Queensland
tent and your work on Prescott’s tract. It would be fine if you could visit Queensland and if you see your way
to go, do so. But I dare not urge you to leave unfinished work the way you have in hand where you are. I do
not know the details but in a general way, I have some idea of the importance of the work and of the great
need of following it closely till it is well underway and has settled down to regular lines and till each worker is
familiar with her part.
I rejoice to hear that you are working up the class in bookkeeping. If Sr. Graham can conduct it I shall
be very glad. Let her try and give her all the help you can. I am real glad that Lulu Corliss likes her work, is
liked by her associates and her work well. Her father and mother are very much encouraged by the fact that
she is contented and that she is liked. Eld. Corliss was specially pleased to know that she was writing for you.
Thank you for telling me so fully about your dealings with the Echo. I hope there may be a liberal and
generous spirit on the part of both Tract So. and Pub. House and that the spirit of cooperation may grow.
Forgive me if I manifested anything like lack of confidence in your intentions to do so.
When Crothers come I will endeavor to convert him to the dropping of Library bindings and adopting
the cheaper cloth. When I proposed it a fortnight ago he did not seem ready to take the step.
Thanks for copies of letters re Tasmanian Convention. I shall hold myself in readiness to do whatever
seems best. Hope you did not get a wrong idea from what you think is best. I should enjoy meeting you there
but want you to know that I am ready to do the best I can without you if you feel that duty calls you
elsewhere. While I heartily believe in these conventions, I do not think we should let them break up all other
lines of work. Whatever takes up more room or more time than it ought is in greater danger of being
crowded out.
As I came up on the Manipoura I found the place back of the smokestack where you and I sat night
after night talking till 10 & 11, and my mind ran over the history we then discussed and the plans which have
developed so much faster than we expected and how I wished you were with me and we could review the
past and deliberately and without interruption study the lessons of these three years’ experience and
together think of the future. There is a strong tie between us and I know it shall never be broken and by the
help of the Lord I am determined that it shall not be strained.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 224]
March 13, 1895
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 3 of 4 (Page 4 is on page 223.)
While they are lowering the luggage, I can write a few more words. But this part of my letter is likely
to be disconnected.
As regards the controversy over the handling of the collections in Ashfield, I have little to say.
Mother wrote me twice about the matter. And I was grieved that such things should be brought to her
attention. She did not tell me that Eld. Rousseau had spoken to her about it but told me that Eld. McCullough
had. IN the past her sympathy for Eld. McCullough has been very strong and when no other ministers were
near to council with, he has valued the privilege of consultation with Mother. Sometimes he has manifested a
lack of judgment, and has detailed to her heartrending details that it was necessary to tell her and these
things have given her many sleepless nights and made her feel that life was unendurable in Granville, and
that she must move.
Almost every time I have been away from her for a few weeks these and similar perplexities have
pressed in and she has become very much unsettled and when we are living on the eve of a general
upheaval, there is little progress made with our work. I regard this as the work of the tempter to harass and
unsettle and thus paralyze us so nothing will be accomplished. I have talked with Eld. McCullough about the
necessity of protecting Mother from these things, but of course he does not appreciate the matter as I do
and is not naturally cautious on such matters.
If you have a copy of my letter to McCullough you will see that this was the principle point I made. In
my letter to Mother I tried to answer her questions, but you see I was at a great disadvantage, not having
heard a word from McC. Now that I know that the matter has been laid before you, I shall feel it my duty to
do all I can to protect Mother from being worried with the small differences of opinion and sentiment
between the workers.
I feel greatly to appreciate the consideration that you and Eld. Rousseau have manifested in
refraining from trying to get Mother to commit herself on every question wherein you are or may be in
disagreement with your fellows. I hope you may sometime have a favorable opportunity to talk with other
ministers on this point. There are principles underlying all these matters which it worth the while of our brn.
to think of.
As regards the Church Visitor I think we are too late for satisfactory work this quarter. Let’s plan to
get it out early in the next. It would be well for you to send out a circular letter starting our design and asking
them to carefully study the matter in Nos. 1 & 2. McCullough’s financial and statistical reports might
accompany this.
I am sorry to confess that I did not ask what progress they have made with the copy for the Year
Book. I think I will send a wire today stirring them up to the necessity of haste. I am so behind with my writing
that I get hurried and forgetful. Someday I may have someone to help me remember some of these things. I
hope so. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 225]
Napier, N.Z.
March 14, 1895
Miss Emily C. Campbell
Melbourne, Vict.
Dear Sister: For some time I have had some enclosures waiting for a letter to go with them. But time to write has
been very limited. I am writing this in the large front chamber of the Caro mansion right over the doctor’s
office, the same place I occupied when Mother was here.
The doctor is pretty well and seems none worse for his long trip of over thirty thousand miles. Erick is
at home. He is a fine fellow. Tall and strong and good looking and happy. Mrs. Caro is busier than ever. Miss
Hunt is helping her and she has a young man as an apprentice also.
The work in Auckland is progressing finely. Twenty had signed the covenant when I left, and others
are expected to do so soon. There is a small interest at Onehunga and we hope it will grow.
Edith Brebner has at last secured her mother’s consent to leave home for a time to get an experience
in the work. She came down with me. After the institute here she will work for Mrs. Tuxford doing the
housework and helping the societies work to learn how. Esther Smart also came down with us. She goes on
today to Christchurch where she has a delivery of books to make. Afterwards she may connect with the Tent
Company which will locate there.
Now to business, - 1. The credit bill from London is very encouraging. 2. Crothers wanted to pay a
debt in Michigan. So I gave him an order on R.&H. on Mother’s account for $335.00 and took his order on the
N.Z. Tract So. This order I gave to Mrs. Tuxford and asked her to send the money in a draft to Mother. I trust
that Caldwell has the handling of the cash and accounts and that it will be reported to you. 3. Sisley handed
me £8 and I gave him an order on Mother’s acct. at Pac. Press, Oakland for $38.96. Charge this to me. 4. I
gave Joseph Hare an order on Pac. Press for £38 on Mother’s account, and I sent to her a draft for £55. Please
charge my account with the one and credit it with the other.
I send you a copy of a page written to Edson, also copy of a long letter to Eld. R. Hare. This latter one
you may hand to Eld. Daniells after you have read it. Was sure you would be pleased to hear from there.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 226]
Napier, N.Z.
March 15, 1895
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Dear Brother: We reached this place safely yesterday morning and in the evening, Bro. Crothers and Sr. Tuxford
came up from Wellington. This morning early, Eld. Colcord came and four or five have come in from
Palmerstone North, Ormandville, and Hastings. No one comes from Gisborne.
The Gisborne people were much helped and encouraged by the visit of Eld. Colcord. They like him
very much. He also has a good time in Ormandville. At Hastings only a few attended.
The chief object of the letter is to remind you of the Year Book, and the importance of your sending
at once to Melbourne all the reports and information that you wish it to contain.
Here is a partial list of what is needed: Condensed reports of Conf. Proceedings. Tract So. Proceedings. S.S. Asso. Proceedings. Full Statistical
Reports of each. Also, revised lists of officers of each. And Revised Directory of Workers, giving their
addresses.
The people here seem to be well and of good courage.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 227]
Napier, N.Z.
March 15, 1895
Messrs. Lane and Brown
Tama Tama, Whangaroa Harbor, N.Z.
Dear Sirs: In a letter just received from Mr. J.E. Graham, Supt. of our Polynesian Mission, he says: “The Pitcairn will have to be re-coppered within six or eight months from the time she starts out on
the next trip. If we take in some New Zealand port, it may be that the coppering can wait till we reach there.
Will you please ascertain how much it would cost there and write to me? Address J.E. Graham, Pacific Press,
Oakland, Cal. U.S.A.”
I think you have the dimensions of the Pitcairn so that you could make an estimate. If so, I would be
much pleased to have you write to Mr. Graham direct and get your letter on to the str. leaving Auckland
March 23.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
P.S.
I hardly need say that the estimate should be for first class work in every particular. Please specify
the thickness or weight of copper, etc.
W.C.W.
[7 – WCW – 228]
Onehunga, N.Z.
March 12, 1895
Ella & Mabel White
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Daughters: This is Tuesday morning. I am up before sunrise that I may write to you, for this will be a busy day. At
2 p.m. I take the Str. Manipoura for Napier and I have some business here and Epsom and in Auckland to
attend to before I go.
Yesterday I wrote my letter to the Mission Board and sent a copy to Eld. Olsen. He will no doubt let
read you read it if you wish.
Last week I had a busy time in Kaeo but I need not write to you about it because I send you a copy of
my long letter to Bro. Hare telling all about it in detail. Blackberries are very plentiful up there and as I went
from place to place on foot there was abundance of them, big, ripe, luscious fellows all along the road. I ate
them freely and they did me good. If you had been with my, we would have spent half a day picking a good
lot for somebody to can.
On our way from Auckland to Kaeo, our str. went into the Bay of Islands as usual to take on coal at
Opua and to discharge and take on general cargo at Russell. But this time it visited another place, a little bay
where there was a big farmhouse which years ago was a mission station. There were two cart horses, two big
bullocks and three big, long, woolen sheep to land there. There was not wharf and the water was shallow, so
we could not come closer than from our house to the college. And how do you suppose they got them
ashore? I will tell you.
On these steamers, there is always a big, wooden cage, large enough to hold a horse or a bullock and
in Auckland, this was swung ashore, and the animal to be shipped driven in, and the door shut behind him.
Then with the ships machinery this cage is drawn up high above our heads and swung over the deck and then
let down. When down on the deck, the front door of the cage is opened, and the occupant walks out.
So in order to land these animals which our farmer friend had bought at the auction sales in
Auckland, they were one by one driven into the cage. When it went high above the upper deck, they were
scared and stamped about but could not get out. Then they were swung out over the water. Then let down
till there was a foot of water in the cage. Then a man who stood on one corner of the cage and clung to the
chains, would knock out the pin that held the cage door, push it open, a rope from the creatures head was
thrown to some men in a row boat and they began to row and pull, and the man on the cage would push the
poor fellow till he plunged into the water and began to swim. Some of them acted as if they were old
swimmers, and some as if they had never been in the water before. But the men in the row boat held up
their heads and pulled them along with the rope and they were soon in shallow water where they could
stand on the sandy bottom. Here they stood to rest before going ashore. The sheep had their legs tied
together and were let down into a row boat and thus taken ashore. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 229]
Onehunga, N.Z.
March 12, 1895
Ella & Mabel White
Page 2 of 3
I have not received any letters from you since I wrote last. Your February letters which went to Aust.
will be coming back in a week or two. I am very anxious to read what you write after learning more about my
plans to stay over here and to make a home here. I am almost sorry for what I wrote about your coming in
my first letter, for it led you to think that I might separate you from Mary without a reason or without having
made suitable provision for your happiness and welfare. At that time I had not asked Sr. Lacey to be my wife,
and therefore could not plan for our future as I can now. But I had made up my mind to send for you soon,
however my affairs turned here for it seems plain to me that it is not the wish of our Heavenly Father that we
be separated longer. I long to see my daughters and not have the pleasure of your company. My work may
often take me away from home but there will be an opportunity to see you occasionally. Sometimes we can
have a drive or a horseback ride together, and sometimes a boat ride on the river. If we should settle near
the school, there are fine bathing places in the creek and I should want you to learn to swim so if you wanted
to go down the river in a boat, I should feel safe about it. I think we could afford to keep a pony if we live up
there and if Ella wants to learn to catch and saddle it. There is plenty of grass and if we can get a tough little
pony that will not need much grain and if you girls will enjoy taking care of it, I think I can afford to buy one. I
have written to Uncle Edson asking if he cannot buy me a plain, inexpensive organ and send it over. They cost
a lot here and there are many poor ones. He knows how to select a good one, and can buy them. [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 230]
Onehunga, N.Z.
March 12, 1895
Ella & Mabel White
Page 3 of 3
Tuesday night, March 19, 10 p.m. – It is just a week since I began this letter, one page of which I
enclosed at Auckland. We reached this place early Thursday morning. At the wharf we were met by two brn.
who expected to see a lot of people with me. I came up to Dr. Caro’s where I have been stopping with Eld.
Colcord. On Sabbath I spoke here in the forenoon and in Hastings, 16 miles away in the p.m. Sunday I had a
class at 6 a.m. and another at 9 p.m. since then one class a day at 6 a.m. It is a nice time for a class for
everybody is rested and their minds are fresh. Tomorrow I have the morning class and the evening meeting
when I am to present to them our school plans.
Yesterday and today I have been writing my American letters here in the back room of the church
and tonight I must finish up if it is possible. Today I have been getting along nicely with my letters, but
yesterday I could not do much for in the forenoon I was called to go see a poor brother who has a bad leg and
in the afternoon, to help give a pack to a sick man, the brother of Sr. Esther Kelley Anderson. Tonight I shall
not go to the house but shall write as long as I can keep awake and then shall lie down on my rug here on the
floor. There are some short letters that I must write, so you will excuse me for not sending you a very long
and newsy letter this time.
I meant to have written quite a letter to Mary this time, but I am so weary that I cannot keep my
mind on business and so will ask her to follow her judgment in the matter of selling off our stuff and making
preparation for your journey. How I wish I could be with you, if it was only for a few hours. I shall look
forward with much joy to the time of our meeting.
Your father,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 231]
Napier, N.Z.
March 10, 1895
Mr. E.M. Morrison
Healdsburg, California, U.S.A.
My Dear Brother: Your letter of Jan. 6 found me here a week ago, after going to Aust. and back vis. Wellington. Eld.
Colcord, Bro. W.M. Crothers and I are now in the midst of a ten days convention here with the Napier Church
and a few representatives from neighboring churches. Tomorrow night we are to present our school plans
and then we shall see what the Napier people are willing to do to help along the school.
From here we go to Palmerstone North and Wellington and then to Christchurch and via Bluffs to
Hobart where we hope to have another convention of ten days duration. My mother accompanied by Sr. May
Lacey are expected to meet us there.
Last September we had quite made up our minds to send for you to come over here to help us in the
canvassing work, but when we came to talk over our plans at camp-meeting, we changed our plans
altogether. While we were planning to send for you, I wrote to Hickox, telling him I had written to C.H. Jones
to send over Baby Hickox and I expressed the opinion that you were soon coming and might bring the child.
You did not tell me how your throat is now. I hope, well, I hope you will soon get a place as a
teacher. I trust that whether teaching or in whatsoever way you work, that you will use your experience and
knowledge of foreign lands and people to help those who are fitting for Foreign Mission work. With best
wishes to Sr. Morrison and Ethel and hoping to hear from you again, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 232]
Napier, N.Z.
March 18, 1895
W.C. Sisley
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Brother: It is four weeks ago yesterday since you left Auckland and we suppose that you are now at home and
that you are in the midst of the committee work that always follows a Gen. Conf. What a pleasure it must be
to your family to have you at home after so long an absence, even though your time is largely occupied with
business; for it must be that they have a little time with you each day. I hope you have seen my little girls and
that you have told them what you could about how matters are over here.
The work here is moving along nicely. The interest continues good at Epsom and it is extending into
the country. Six signed the Covenant March 2 and fourteen Mar. 9. Wish I could give you the report of
yesterday’s meeting, but for this we must wait. At Onehunga there is a small interest and we hope there may
be a small company raised up there. One of the first to sign the Co. at Epsom was a lady living a Onehunga.
Then you know Bro. Boor from Rockhampton is there.
The brn. are now talking about the possible necessity of building a small meeting house at Epsom.
They will plan to rent some land and build a plain, small house on runners so that they can move it when
their lease is out. They propose to build for £300 or less.
The meetings here are opening up well. There are not so many here from other churches as we
might wish, but there are six or eight, and these with the Napier people make quite a fair sized class. They
seem hungry for instruction and that makes the work of the teachers easy. This is not only the largest church
in Conf. but it is also the best supplied with sensible leadership and it is in a healthy state.
During my visit to Kaeo, Metcalf Hare sold out his interest in the store to Joseph, and today I suppose
he is in Auckland, on his way to N.S.W. His brothers are sharp enough in their criticisms of his business
management, where it does not agree with their ideas, but they unite in giving him a first class recommend
as a carpenter and builder as a man to put up and run a sawmill or as a good man to work in the building fund
the amount of £20 and this brings up the Kaeo contribution to £204-10-0. This is a fair start.
About three weeks ago, Eld. Rousseau sent out a circular letter to all our Australasian churches
stating our progress and our plan of work. This letter has been read by this time and it will make my work
much easier in the churches yet to be visited.
In his letter, Rousseau stated that the classes of the Industrial Department would begin March 5. I
shall watch with deepest interest for a report of the commencement. Some good fellows are going over from
here. Hope they may get good ones also from N.S.W. and Vict. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 233]
Napier, N.Z.
March 18, 1895
W.C. Sisley
Page 2 of 3
Our hope for the future is in our young people and great is the responsibility resting on the teachers
and managers of our schools, in the fitting them for future usefulness. You are aware that quite a number of
young men have been sent to the B.C. College from this Napier Church. Frank Lyndon, Edgar Caro, Tomas
Watterworth, Will Bruce, and Maui Pomare are among the number.
All of these have gone largely through the influence of Mrs. Caro and most of them have received
substantial help from her in the meeting of the expenses of their schooling. She has had an intense ambition
for the advancement of the message and for the welfare of the young people within the range of her
influence and she has exerted herself to the very utmost to help them to go on with their schooling.
Her business has been profitable. She has worked incessantly and being rapid and very successful
worker has made a lot of money and has spent it as fast as earned. During the last year additional and
unexpected burdens have come until she is nearly overwhelmed. Yet she has been so anxious that the young
men who were completing courses at the college should be well fitted for work that she has encouraged
Lyndon and Watterworth to take the one year special course at the San.
Having sacrificed so much to see these young men placed where they can get the best advantages,
she is naturally desirous that they may be appreciated by the managers of the school and that they may be
given an opportunity to learn that for which they are spending precious time and money. But in answer to
inquiries, the statements are made that they are mostly employed at menial work and that they are given
very little opportunity to practice what they are being taught in the matter of how to nurse the sick.
Lyndon had a good business training before he left N.Z. and with four years of study at the B.C.
College he surely cannot much need gardening and cleaning stables as a discipline. Watterworth was a
monumental mason and a man of solid maturity and although he may not be as supple as some younger
persons, it would seem that his age and the fact that he will soon return to a distant land, are reasons why he
should have special consideration.
My special purpose in writing to you is to ask you to make acquaintance with these men and find out
how they are getting along. If they are doing well, encourage them and if they are not doing well, encourage
them and advise them and consult with Brn. Olsen and Dr. Kellogg about their welfare. I also want to entreat
yourself in Maui Pomare. Everybody says that he is a talented fellow and it seems that many are taking part
in a line of treatment that is likely to ruin his prospects for usefulness. I am told that he is praised and
flattered until it will be quite a miracle if he does not lose his head and get such high fly ideas that he will be
of no use to his people.
They say that Dr. Kellogg has suggested that he take a literary course at Ann Arbor, then a medical
course and then a post graduate course in London. This means years of study and when done, he will
naturally feel too wise a man to work among the Maoris. These people are easily puffed up and when they
get a big idea regarding themselves once into the head, it is hard to get it out. It strikes me that the ones who
have been supporting such students ought to be consulted before [page break]
[7 – WCW – 234]
Napier, N.Z.
March 18, 1895
W.C. Sisley
Page 3 of 3
such far reaching and costly plans are put into their heads. What do you think about it?
Here are a few facts about the schooling of this young man. His ambition has been until lately to fit
himself as soon as possible to act as a medical missionary among his people. For this, the same ability is
needed as to do the same work among the American Indians. He is supposed to be the heir to considerable
property and yet he has control of nothing. Up to the present Mrs. Caro has met his bills for transportation
and schooling. But now she has reached a point where she is forced to curtail her liberalities. Therefore the
future schooling of Bro. Pomare should be provided for by the Med. Miss. & Ben. Asso. or by the Mission
Board.
I shall write to Eld. Olsen laying these facts before him but he is so busy with hundreds of such
matters that I beg of you to take time to become acquainted with all three of these young men that you do
what you can to cheer and counsel them about present work and that you talk these matters over with Eld.
Olsen so that he may have the benefit of your thoughts about their future work.
Watterworth has been suffering, we are told, for about two years with something like sunstroke and
yet it appears that no one knows much about it and that very little effort has been made to help the trouble.
He now thinks to return home and take up work in his father’s monumental works. In this position he will
have much opposition and perplexity, I presume and he should come fortified with good cheer and
confidence in his brn. at the great headquarters of the work.
Lyndon has been fitting himself for the ministry and will in a few months be ready to enter the work.
We really need such men here, but we do not want him to come lacking in experience, so as to be subject to
discouragement, nor do we wish him to come with so limited an experience and knowledge of the general
features of our general work that he would have to grope along as many do but partly understanding our
relations to other parts of the work.
It seems to me that it would be best for Lyndon and for the work in this colony for you to find him a
place in some good Conf. where he could be put to work for a year or two. Please do what you can.
You could but notice when here, the large preponderance of American ministers. This has been
necessary up to the present but we think the time is coming, when it can be otherwise. Our school, the
superintendence of the Union Conference and the opportunities we now have to provide change of fields
and different groupings of men all give us advantages for the training of men here. But I am ambitious for
these young men who have been in our American schools, that they be fitted to take first rank or at least that
they be given that broad experience that will enable them to work their way into the first rank. It is not
pleasing to me to see so many of the responsible positions held by Americans and yet it has seemed safer to
date for they were the only ones who had enjoyed the broad experience that would fortify them against
letting change get one-sided. And now I must close. Pray for us.
With kindest regards to Freddie and the girls, I am,
Yours,
W.C. White
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Napier, N.Z.
March 19, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich. U.S.A.
Page 1 of 8
My Dear Brother: It seems to be a long time since I set myself down to write you a long letter. For some months my
opportunities to write have been limited and when mail day came, and I looked over what I had to say, it
appeared that I could best satisfy my correspond by writing to some others on those matters that they were
connected with and then to you on special matters. Thus, by enclosing to you what I had written to others
you would get all. Well, the first part of the plan has worked nicely but interruptions and shortness of time
have many times broken up my work so that the latter part of the plan was not accomplished. The closing of
the mail robbed me of much of the time I had set apart to write your letter and the str. has gone with only a
few words written directly to you. Thus, many of the matters that lay closest to my heart have been passed
over without notice or with only very brief mention.
I often wonder how that you, with your burdens and cares a hundred times more than mine, can find
time to write us such interesting and comprehensive letters. We read them with pleasure and with surprise.
In some of them you have asked my opinion on many plans and principles and I have promised myself that I
would give these prayerful study and write you fully. But I seem utterly unable to do much that requires
study for the time is all taken up with the issues of the day. “To will is present with me, but how do I find
not?”
In this, I will mention some of the matters spoken of in yours of Dec. 4 & Jan. 3.
We were much interested in your plans for special work during the Week of Prayer. The work of
preparing people to move from B.C. is an important one and should be pushed forward steadily and
persistently. Sometime, lots of them will go and you know how different it is if they go with an intelligent
faith and a preparation or if they go with a blind confidence that God will miraculously supply to them when I
a distant field that which he meant that they should learn while within easy access of His appointed agencies
for instruction.
Our Week of Prayer does not accomplish for our churches all that it should. It comes in the midst of
the hot and busy season. Suppose you think of how it would work to hold your W. of P. in the middle of July
and within a few weeks before or after camp-meeting. It may be a melting time, physically but it is a languid
time also. If you think of any way to improve matters, we shall be glad to hear.
According to our present plan, our annual camp-meetings, or conventions are likely to be held as
follows. N.S.W., Oct. Vict., Nov. Tasmania, Dec. N.Z., Jan. These will all come in our school vacation. But
general meeting in Queensland will come in August and in So. Aust. in Sept. or April. [page break]
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Napier, N.Z.
March 19, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Page 2 of 8
Lately I have received two interesting letters from Capt. J.E. Graham, and copy of his to you stating
how he had left matters at the ship. I hope that that in the making up of a crew for the next voyage that Peter
Hanson will not be overlooked. He was always a faithful man on the Pitcairn and one in whom all had
confidence. Some thought he stuck too closely to Capt. Christiansen but I do not blame him for that, I was
criticized on the same score. But the Mission Board did not want to have their Capt. discharged either by the
crew or the missionaries nor by a combination, I think that Peter will stick close to any good captain that you
can give him. He has special claim on a position because he was encouraged by us to fit for it and if I am
correctly informed, he has studied hard and passed a very good examination.
In one of Graham’s letters, he speaks of the Pitcairn, making a long cruise next time. And I am
curious to know what plans you are making regarding this. From what I have seen and heard of the long
cruises of Pitcairn, I do not regard them as profitable as such short and quick trips as she has just completed.
Of course, the people over in this part of the world would be glad to see the Pitcairn again, and I would be
glad if she could make headquarters at Sydney and work in the Western Islands can be left without her visits;
and to make short trips over here and do thousands of miles of sailing for a few short visits, seem to us to be
a very unprofitable way to spend the time of the missionaries and the crew and a poor way to use up the
money of the F.M.B.
It has seemed to us for a long time that one-fourth of the money that it would cost to send the
Pitcairn to these Western Islands would carry a company of two or three men to more places in less time and
at less expense by using the commercial lines of steam and sailing vessels which touch at almost any point
you may wish to visit and which would carry the workers with as much comfort as the Pitcairn.
I most sincerely hope that the Pitcairn will not be sold for a song, and that the building of another
missionary ship will not be entered upon till this other method of getting workers to the Islands and of
exploring new fields has been giving a fair trial. I believe there is lots of good work in the Pitcairn yet; and
that she is as economical a ship as you can have for the inter-island work that has been opened up. She need
not come all the way back to San Fran. every time but you can send out missionaries and provisions to Tahiti
or Hawaii, and she can keep plying back and forth between the places where work is in progress, and in
visiting new fields near where these workers are.
We have had opportunities to talk with men who were conversant with the Morning Star and other
vessels having auxiliary steam power and their testimony has always been against it. There is a new motor
fighting its way to the front, which uses gas generated from oil, and in theory it is a fine thing. Capt. John
Skinner, brother to Bro. T. Skinner now at St. Helena is using one on a boat built by Lane and Brown of
Whangaroa and in which Hare Bros. of Kaeo have an interest. But up to the present time, he has not made it
work to satisfaction. We are watching and will report his progress with it. Meanwhile, let us build no boats till
we see how our work turns and how these motors go. [page break]
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Napier, N.Z.
March 19, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Page 3 of 8
In connection with this about the Pitcairn, I will express a thought about the Polynesian work. There
is little doubt but we shall always be harassed by the French governors wherever the French control but that
is not reason to give up work in these islands. When we go to other places we shall find difficulties. But of
course, the very broad and cheering plans held by some of our workers when first getting acquainted with
their fields have to be modified. No doubt while Bro. Read is with you a policy will be developed. In a recent
letter from Elliot Chapman, he speaks of a possible necessity for his returning to the States for a time and he
suggests that the Wellman’s could take up the work that he is now doing.
This has suggested to my mind the fact that in the beginning his mind was such on the work in Fiji
and that it might be well for you to consider the propriety of making up a company for work in Fiji composed
of Dr. Kellogg, Eld. F.M. Cole, and Elliot Chapman.
You may ask if I have changed my mind about the sending of Dr. Kellogg on a trip north with a good
canvasser. No, I think that trip ought to be made, but it looks by the way the board is dallying over the
question without making any suggestions or inquiries as if they took no interest in it and intend to drop it
after keeping us in suspense for the biggest part of a year. I say, this is how it looks.
It is true that Dr. Kellogg is getting pretty old and since the death of his wife, he has been much
depressed. But he has so many qualifications for this sort of work that it seems to me that if send out with a
good, careful man with instructions to be careful, that they might do good work. Bro. Thomas Whittle is
ready to go at any time. He is now in Queensland and now canvassing. Bro. Crothers is much interested in
that trip and would be glad to take a part in it, if his work can be planned so he can leave it for a year.
In my letter to the Mission Board, which goes with this, I spoke briefly of the grouping which we
could make of our workers so as to supply Western Australia, provided the F.M.B. will open up a mission
there. There is no doubt but what the present time should be improved in opening up the work there, and
yet it seems utterly beyond the power of the Australian Conference to do it. Do you not think the F.M.B. will
take up the work? It seems to me that it would be vastly more promising of results than some other fields we
are contemplating entering, and here are two special reasons for working in Australia just now.
1. The F.M.B. has made a great effort to have these colonies well supplied with books. It has
advanced many thousands of dollars that this work should go forward for a portion of which it must wait a
long time for its pay. Now, having made so great an investment can it afford to let the good work begun by
the books stop and the effect of its sacrifices and our labors be lost? I think you will say no. The books have
done a noble work, but this work must be followed by the preachers. We have the men but not the means to
send them to the work.
2. Just now, we are making a strong effort to build up and conduct a training school for workers. The
number of families to support it are few, and it will be a hard struggle to make the school a success. We look
for an important part of its patronage and support to persons embracing the message who feel that have
found a pearl of great price, it is best to sell all that they have and buy it. So there are not a [page break]
[7 – WCW – 238]
Napier, N.Z.
March 19, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Page 4 of 8
number who have attended the school and other who plan to do so who will use the savings of years and
then when this is exhausted they will start out again to take up their old work or some new employment
better suited to their doing good to others. To this class I say we look for a considerable part of our support.
Now if the F.M.B. shall see fit to throw a goodly portion of its efforts to spending the unoccupied parts of
Australia at such a time, it will count double wes treble. It will help to establish the educational work on a
basis that we can train and send workers to other mission fields.
It may be that that I did not say quite enough about the setting off of Queensland and West Aust. as
Gen. Conf. mission fields. It seems to me that it will in every way be better than to attach them to some big
and unwieldy conference with so few laborers that they would get but little labor and instead of being rapidly
developed would drag out a miserable existence.
Queensland has the population of Vermont, Oregon, or Washington and is eleven times the size of
Michigan. Queensland is nearly four times as big as Texas and it takes a letter nearly two weeks to go from
Melbourne to Perth and returns. Its population as one knows. It is changing so rapidly. Probably there are
over a hundred thousand and it may be 150,000 by this time. People are rushing in from all quarters and now
is the time to strike.
It seems to me that Eld. G.B. Starr will make a good superintendent of the Queensland Mission and
that we can find two or four good men to with him on the Advisory Committee. If all goes well, I expect to
persuade Mother to go up there with me in August or Sept. when we shall try to hold our first general
meeting in Brisbane. We can go by rail from Sydney and from Morrisett to Toowoomba, which are both on
this line, it is not a very long ride by the fast train.
You are aware that for many years Eld. Corliss has had the work in West Aust. on his heart. He has
studied the field and has good faith in it, and this is one reason why I wish him to go with those who open up
the work there. But the chief reason is that after watching his work and its results, I am persuaded that it
would be the best thing we could do for that field and for the workers that are to remain and carry on the
work there.
It appears to us that Elder Hickox is well fitted for the work in that field and that his association with
Eld. Corliss will be a good experience for him. He is in many ways a most excellent worker and I think you will
be able to use him as Supt. of the work in W.A. to good advantage. The experience he has been having with
Eld. Starr, is excellent and when he has been with him for a year and I think there is no association that would
be more helpful than a few months with Eld. Corliss. Sometime I would like to work a few months with Eld.
Corliss. The Lord has blessed him in a marked degree, both as a preacher and as a teacher of the workers.
The other propositions about the grouping of workers do not seem to need comment. I think you are
acquainted with most of the men, and if you see fit to suggest other arrangements, we shall give your views,
weighty consideration. I feel confident that you will like the plan in its general features. [page break]
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Napier, N.Z.
March 19, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Page 5 of 8
We rejoice much in the reports you have sent me about the progress of the work in the southern
states under the labors of Barry. Also of the work done by Elder Boyd and others. We do not think well of the
plan for a church with the apartments one for the white folks and one for the colored members. We also
rejoice that you can speak encouragingly of the work done by Edson and Will Palmer. A few days ago. I had a
splendid letter from Edson, telling about their work and the interest that was stirred up at Memphis. We
have read this to some of our people to great profit.
We wait with deepest interest to hear the reports from the Gen. Conf. There will no doubt be many
changes that we least anticipate, but I don’t look for anything that will call Mother and me away from
Australasia for a couple of years or more. When the schemes that we now have in hand are worked out and
matters are well established here, then I should enjoy coming back to B.C. to take up a part of the work
which I left in coming over here.
I watch with interest the progress of your large plans for the spread of the truth through the wider
circulation of the Signs. Hope we may learn many useful lessons to follow with the Echo. I have no advice to
give about its editing that will be half as good as your own thoughts. In fact, I am losing my knowledge of
American laborers and work, faster than you would suppose.
We are most heartily thankful for the liberal action of the F.M.B. as regards the expenses of the Bible
Echo. As near as I can now estimate, the losses for the last year are about £350. As the F.M.B. has taken £200
of this we shall be able to divide the £150 between our various societies. But they would not have willingly
borne so much another year. Therefore the £300 for next year must be made to cover all the losses is
possible. How happy I would be if we could come below it, and have to draw less from the F.M.B. than was
voted.
We shall watch with interest to see if the work of breaking down the Tract So. organization is
sanctioned by the Gen. Conf. We have been gradually uniting the management of the So. with the Conf. but
we have tried to keep all the working or workable elements. We are making more of our directors than
formerly. It is true that our districts are larger in Aust. each colony is a Dist. and in N.Z. there are but three
districts. Having failed to get any work from laymen, we have made directors of our ministers in both fields.
From them, we get some work and a satisfactory supervision.
There is one large and important question regarding our Aust. So. that I have not a decided opinion
on, as yet, and that is shall we divide it or try to hold it together after the Conf. is divided. There is little doubt
but what we could satisfy the N.S.W. churches by giving them a dist. depository and a dist. sec. And it seems
to me it would be well to do this if you wish the missions still to be worked the Aust. Tract So. But if you wish
the Missions each to have its own Book Concern, then N.S.W. will probably set up for itself also. There is little
doubt but the change will come in a year or two but for the present I should like to see the field held under
the management we have had such a time to establish and which has not yet had a fair trial of [page break]
[7 – WCW – 240]
Napier, N.Z.
March 19, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Page 6 of 8
its strength and usefulness. It seems to me that it would be economic to continue the work under its present
management for a year after the division. What do you think? I am glad that you have received the
Australasian Handbook so that in your study of these questions you have much information at your demand.
You may remember that I promised to send you a copy of the Statesman’s Yearbook, but there were less
imported last year than usual and I was not able to get one for you or for myself. I hope to be more
successful this year, but may miss it again.
Since I left Sydney, I learn from Bro. Mackenzie that he has been offered his old position as head
clerk of the common law department by his old employer, Mr. Lawrence. He thinks that his salary will be
something more than £3 a week, and he has the Sabbath. This is likely to be a trying place for him, but I pray
that he may have grace to endure all the temptations that will come with his increase of prosperity and
temptations. Of course, it is some disappointment to me to lose a man who is so capable after taking so
much pains to help him get hold of our work. But what I could offer him was very small and far from being
sufficient for his family. So everything considered, I am heartily glad that he has the opportunity to get his old
place with a good salary.
I would like to write you a long letter about the propriety of making an effort to open bathhouses in
our colonial capitals but have not time to do so. If I get time to write to Dr. Kellogg about it, I will send you a
copy. With this I do send you a copy of my letter to Bro. W.C. Sisley about our N.Z. boys who are at the
Sanitarium Training School. I thought that having just come from here the boys would be glad to see him, and
that he might learn how they feel more freely than anyone else. But I do wish you to take time to see them
and to learn for yourself what they are doing and what they plan to do.
I think that you can appreciate the feelings of one who has worked so very, very hard to earn and
save, that these men may have the very best opportunities to learn and fit themselves for all around work
then she hears from a number whose testimony agree that no special attention is given to them, although
men of more than usual experience and who plan soon to return to their distant home.
As regards Pomare, I wish to lay his case especially upon your mind and heart. He is said to be very
bright and we are glad of that, but is it not a great pity for such a one to have his promise of usefulness
spoiled by flattery and praise? Till lately, he has manifested a commendable ambition to fit for work among
his people but if the report which we hear is true that he has been encouraged to plan to take a literary
degree at Ann Arbor, then a medical degree, and then a post-graduate course in London, there is little
wonder if he gets his mind on work far above that of his Maori people.
Another reason why I wish you to take his case on your heart is that Mrs. Caro has carried his
schooling as far as she can and now must lay the burden down. You will know best as to who can take it up. If
it is the F.M.B. then we plead with you to take personal charge of the case, and father him. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 241]
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March 19, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Page 7 of 8
Books and Publishing, - I am sorry to tell you that we have made very little progress with Mother’s
“Sermon on the Mount” during the last three months. When she gave the Mses. its last examination, she
cited considerable to the Beatitudes which throws the book a little out of balance, and makes it too large for
our plans. The long and short forms have been given me for examination and I hope to go through them
soon. But I find that traveling from place to place with all the visiting and meetings that we have in hand gives
me but little time for the reading of Mses. Hope to get through it this week.
As soon as this Mses. is ready we shall send you one or two copies and at the same time will send a
copy to London so that Gibson can select and work up some illustrations for it. In one of my letters I spoke of
having three sets of plates made by R.&H. for use in the U.S. but in other letters to Nelson and the Book
Committee, I think I have made it plain that we desire to place this work in the hands of the G.C.A. If not, I
will now say that that is our wish. It seems to me that it is time that I had an answer from my letters to
Nelson as sec. of the G.C.A. and from the sec. of the Book Committee.
Gospel Temperance is absolutely the property of the Good Health Publishing Co. Steps to Crist of F.H.
Revell. Gospel Workers of Review and Herald. Christian Education, the same, I think. Now I wish that all of
these were in the hands of the G.C.A. or that Mother owned them so that she could place them in your
hands. Perhaps you can deal with these publishers so as to get control of them. I have thought that it might
be accomplished in this way. We will be willing to place future books in your hands, provided an agreement
can be arrived at, and then you can make terms with these various publishers in connection with the giving
out of the printing of the new books for the purchase of those that they control.
If you wait for us to make an offer regarding the royalty on the “Life of Christ”, I fear you will wait a
long time. It is only once in a long time that I can get Mother’s mind onto such matters and now we are
separated and I shall not see her for some time. Meanwhile, the work of illustrating them ought to be going
forward.
It would please me much better if the Book Committee would take the matter into consideration and
make a suggestion as to what it considers the right thing. In the past, we have depended much on the
opinions of this committee, and as far as I can remember, we have always abided by the decision. The
present royalties on Mother’s larger works and the selection of publishers for Steps to Christ and Gospel
Workers are among the matters settled by this Committee.
I approve of what you say about the general trend of our book work and the future of the
canvassing. I am thoroughly in earnest about getting out a number of works to sell for 25 cts. and 50 cts. and
some for 75 cts. but I am confident that if we rush into cheap and flashy booklets like “His Glorious
Appearing” that we shall soon spoil our field and demoralize our workers. At first, I was pleased to see the
book, but on examination we find that some of the cuts are sensational, and some are used at the expense of
larger works. There are too many cuts. Then, the literary work is very sloppy. It seems to have been thrown
together and is far from being commendable. It is too bad at [page break]
[7 – WCW – 242]
Napier, N.Z.
March 19, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Page 8 of 8
a time like this, when our people have so much zeal and confidence that they will circulate tens of thousands
of a book of tract within two or three months from its appearance that we should slacken our vigilance in the
matter of thorough criticism and let anything go out to the people that is loose and weak or that is one-sided
and extravagant.
What has become of our Denominational Book Committee? For the last year or two, I have heard
nothing from it or of it. Is it dead or sleeping? Has the G.C.A. taken its work or the F.M.B.? I see they are both
dabbling in the work that used to belong to the Book Committee.
I do not see that it will pay to republish the four volumes of Spirit of Prophecy, nor the older volumes
of Spiritual Gifts. Only a few really need them, and they can pick up one here and another there. Neither do I
believe it is best to issue a very cheap edition of the Testimonies. If the G.C.A. could buy from the Pac. Press
the present set of plates, they could no doubt issue them in strong muslin bindings for £1.00 a volume, and
then a fifth vol. could be made up of Nos. 31-34. But I do not feel any burden to urge our people to buy full
sets of these Testimonies. Many could be sold, but few would be read. Half of our people are to buy and read
them in this form.
Your plans for making up a series of such classified selections for translation, meets my hearty
approval and I hope the work may be carried forward. And it appears plain to me that the same or similar
selections would be vastly more useful and effective for the English readers in all lands than to place before
them the whole set. But for those wishing the full set let us go on printing about as we do at present.
Bro. Tait asks if we have any objection to the publication of an index to the Testimonies prepared by
Bro. Rossetti. We will refer the question to the Book Committee. If the Book Committee examines it, and
approves of it, we shall not object.
I had to laugh at your embarrassment in telling me about the power of attorney. I am not ambitious
to have it, and do not blame the Board for its hesitation over the matter. I really think that I can serve the
school better in the field that at Avondale. And when I am at Avondale, I would prefer to work as an advisor
than as a manager. Stanley will tell you why he did not stay and how he thinks that Rousseau and Hare will
work together.
I wish I knew what to write about help for Mother. May Lacey is with her now, but when we marry
Mother will need a nurse, who can also guide in the household affairs. The only time she has to talk of
household matters is when taking her message so the one giving it, is really boss of the household, whoever
else has the name. This work requires strength, for Mother takes very heavy treatments. Emily is not strong
enough for this work. Do what you can for us.
Yours,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 243]
Napier, N.Z.
March 19, 1895
Mr. W.H.B. Miller
Oakland, California, U.S.A.
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Brother: It is some time since I have written to you and now it is not under the most favorable circumstances.
It is after 11 p.m. and I am weary. Eld. Colcord, Bro. Crothers, and I are in the midst of a ten days’ convention.
My class comes at 6 a.m. Eld. Colcord gives a Bible Study every evening and Bro. Crothers fills in the day with
lessons on Tract Society work. The morning lessons are on the work of the church officers and the evening
lessons on Gospel liberty.
You have heard from others about our last stockholders meeting and the changes that has been
made in the board. One of the most pleasing features of the meeting in my estimation was the indications
that the time had come to place more responsibility onto Salisbury and thereby release me from the
presidency of the Echo Co.
The matter of your return was quite fully discussed by the Board and we voted to notify you that we
were ready to invite you back. You have no doubt received a letter from the Sec. Bro. James Smith, and as it
was a short one, you may think strange that not more was written. It was arranged among us that I was to
write to you fully and this I expected to do so that it was apparently impossible to do as I had promised. For
this I am sorry.
And now I am so pressed with work and worry that I shall not be able to write all that I wish but I will
do the best I can for the mail closes in a few hours, and I must not let you wait another month.
When I was in Melbourne I found that the custom work of the Echo Co. is steadily building up and it
appears to us, that in spite of all the difficulties of hard times that it can be built up so as to give quite a
support to other parts of the business and as matters are turning with the Echo Co. it seems quite necessary
that this should be so. Our Book and Tract work barely pays its way. The Echo is published for the Union Conf.
and it is not right to make much off of it, while it is so heavy a burden financially to its publishers. Therefore
we turn to our custom work as a means of paying expenses and of accumulating some profits to replace what
has been lost in the past.
I rejoice to say that our experience during the past year is of a character to give us hope that this can
be done. Under Salisbury’s firm and impartial management, a good degree of discipline and efficiency are
maintained among the workers and Bro. Woods seems to be blessed in his efforts to bring in work. He is
getting the patronage of a good, solid class, and the promptness and accuracy with which the work comes
out of the factory are winning many words of approval. This gives us courage and hope.
But for some time, the volume of our work has been limited by the capacity of the factory to turn out
the work. We could go out and [page break]
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Napier, N.Z.
March 19, 1895
Mr. W.H.B. Miller
Page 2 of 3
hire compositors or job printers but you know how hard it is to get men that understand and appreciate the
sort of work that you want done. Job work is something that has to be built up not only by promptness and
faithful work in all departments, but the very foundation of its success lays in the artistic taste of the
compositor.
After a careful review of the situation I became satisfied that our job work could be steadily built up
and increased if we had more skilled workmen in the Job Dept. and that there was no place in the work of the
Echo Co. where one man could help more to advantage than in the job room. Therefore, I was in favor of
offering you a position in that department.
In doing this, we did not lose sight of the difficulties and objections that would offer themselves to
your mind and to the minds of your family and your friends. Neither did I lose sight of the plans which I had in
mind when you left Melbourne with which you were familiar. And I shall not be at all surprised to hear some
criticism from you and from them. But this I shall not fear because I sincerely believe that your going was a
step in the path of providence and that it has been and will be a lifelong blessing to you and Bessie. And I am
also confident that in our present plans there is no prejudice nor slight manifested to you and your ability but
that we are making a proposition that is consistent with the condition of the business and one which your
judgment will approve when you come to be with us and see all our circumstances and surroundings.
When you went away, we both recognized the fact that promises could not be well made as to the
exact position that you should occupy on your return. That would be determined by the development of
circumstances. You well knew my ambitions about the development of the publishing features of our work
and that I wished you to get all the knowledge necessary to its superintendence. I thought that you would be
required to set in the capacity of Supt. You have worked with this in mind and I am heartily glad that you
have done so. Time will prove that this was right.
But in the meantime our business has passed through severe reverses. Instead of growing, it has
been forced to retrench and now we are working much more modestly and economically than when you
went away. We have turned over important portions of the work to other parties and we find that the
business in its present proportions will not support a business manager and a superintendent. The double
work must be forced upon one man for reasons of economy. This I regret, but so it is. The action of the
stockholders and directors have placed Bro. Salisbury in the position of pres. and manager and we say he
must be superintendent of the works also. We have no objection to his placing portions of the
superintendent work upon faithful foremen but we say that we cannot afford to employ a man to give the
greater part of his time to general superintendence while our manager is on the ground, and is drawing a full
salary for work in the capacity, for the bus. is not big enough to demand it or to support it.
These points being acknowledged, the best thing we had to propose to you, was the foremanship of
the job room. Here your skill and taste are sure to count, and here more than in any other place at [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 245]
Napier, N.Z.
March 19, 1895
Mr. W.H.B. Miller
Page 3 of 3
our disposal, will you be able to use the experience that you have been getting during your stay in California.
Bro. Woods understands that if you accept our offer that it will result in the transfer of the
foremanship of the type room from him to you and has no objection to this. He is willing to spend more time
in bringing in work and when in the type room, will be content to take a second place.
I expect that both you and your friends will ask the question “Was not Bro. Miller fitted to take the
foremanship of the type and job room without going to California?” Yes, undoubtedly. But when he went we
looked for an enlargement of the business which now looks to be improbable, or in the distance. The
reverses that have come to the business force us to a change of plans.
Another question, “Did not the Echo Co. pay Bro. Miller £3 before he went away and is he not now
fitted to do better work?” Yes, undoubtedly. But the reverses in business have forced down the wages of
workmen in general, is a large percentage since he left us. At the same time the cost of living is lessened and
£2-16-0 ought to go as far as £3 did two years ago. It must also be remembered that the Echo Co. has shared
in the expense of the American trip and therefore cannot be called upon to pay wages higher than it does
others on that account. Had you gone at your own charges entirely, or were you one who for years had been
working for low wages at various offices to get an experience then in employing you it would be proper to
pay wages that would answer as a bonus for bringing information gotten wholly at your own expense.
Now my brother, there may be many more questions that will arise but I believe you will be able to
answer them satisfactorily. I am convinced that if you decide to return soon and will come with a heart full of
love to your fellow workmen and a determination to impart to them what has been so freely given to you if
you come with this in mind and will deal impartially with all who may be under your care irrespective to old
acquaintances or relationship; you will be able to impart encouragement and blessing to many. You will win a
position of influence and may do much to so build up the business of the Echo Co. that it can pay better
wages to yourself and others.
As regards your returning by way of London, I have little to say. If you had plenty of time and plenty
of money, I am sure that you could make it a pleasant and instructive trip. But to go over the road hastily and
at large expense I think it would cost more than it is worth. I have watched the effect of this trip on some that
have hurried over the road and I can see no good except that they can say that they have been there. As
regards the time of your return, I do not remember what was said about it. I think that they would be glad to
have you come soon. Salisbury will write about that.
If you were to visit Battle Creek, New York, and London, I would advise you to lay out a year for it
and secure employment for six months in Battle Creek, three mo. in N.Y. and three mo. in London. In that
way the trip would do you lots of good. And in that case, the Echo Co. would extend the time of their promise
to furnish funds to bringing you back. That is you would not forfeit their promise of transportation but the
years delay. I hope you will decide to return direct.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 246]
Napier, N.Z.
March 20, 1895
Dear Mother Kelsey: This is American mail day and I have just returned from the post office where I posted a number of
letters to old friends and to prominent workers in the cause. And now I learn that there is a supplementary
mail and I hasten to write you a few words before the forenoon meeting begins. We are in the midst of a ten
days convention. Eld. Colcord speaks each evening on Gospel Liberty. I conduct a Bible study each morning at
six on the work of church officers and Bro. W.M. Crothers conducts two classes a day on the work of the
Tract. So. off.
From here I work my way south and about the first of May, I expect to meet Mother and Sr. May
Lacey in Tasmania. We are to hold a ten days meeting there and then we go via. Melbourne to Sydney.
With this I send you some copies of letters that will give you more news than I have time to write
today. I am looking with interest for a letter from you. It seems a long time since I have heard a word from
you. How is your health, and how is Hannah? How are the girls?
We are waiting with suspense for the reports of the Gen. conf. How I would have enjoyed being
there, and making you a visit on the way back. Well, you see I have sent for the girls. But I have so little time
to think of my own affairs that I have not marked out their movements very minutely. Have asked Eld. Olsen
to plan for them.
Please tell me how matters go in Boulder. What think you of the branch sanitarium they have started
there? I hear nothing from it.
And now, goodbye. Love to you all,
Your son,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 247]
Illegible
[7 – WCW – 248]
Napier, N.Z.
March 27, 1895
Mrs. E.G. White
Page 1 of 3
Dear Mother: This is Wednesday afternoon and I have taken some time today from my visiting that I may write to
you and to Eld. Daniells. Our convention closed Sunday night but Monday there was an early meeting and in
the evening a meeting on the school. Last night was missionary meeting. So tonight is my first free night from
meetings and then I must visit.
Yesterday morning, Colcord went to Palmerstone North where he will speak two or three times and
then proceed to Wellington and take the first str. to Kalkoura, the home of Br. Paap
Tomorrow morning Eld. and Mrs. Corliss are expected here, and I am waiting to see him. Otherwise, I
should have spent today and tomorrow at Ormandville and Sabbath and Sunday at Palmerstone N. But
hearing that Eld. Corliss wanted to see me, I remained here and am putting in every hour as best I can in
work. I shall spend tomorrow with him and introduce him to as many as I can. My plan for him is to spend
Sabbath and Sunday here, Tuesday in Ormandville, the following Sabbath in P.N. and then proceed south to
Christchurch, leisurely visiting along the way. It may be that he will visit Kalkoura also. He needs rest.
I have opposed every plan suggested for us ministers to go together, feeling that if we scattered out,
we should do more for the little companies along the way.
After a careful study of the dates with Colcord, we telegraphed to Eld. Daniells that we prefer to
have the Tasmanian Convention appointed April 26 – May 6. It is possible that we could give ourselves time
to get there and rest a few days. We are both working pretty hard at present.
Eld. Colcord wished me to excuse him from the Tasmanian Convention, so he could hurry home to
his editorial work. This I could not do. This convention is of great importance. For two years we have been
promising that such a meeting will be held and as this is the first one, much depends upon its being made so
interesting that the people will want another next year. By these general meetings we keep the churches
alive and teach them how to work. If they can be well established, and the people taught to come at a
sacrifice, much has been done to advance the cause of truth. Otherwise, much is lost.
I most sincerely hope that you will decide to attend for if you do, it will be the best time for you to
bear your testimony to that people and if it is known that you are coming, it will do much to secure a full
attendance. It will be a great load off my mind when I hear that you will attend. I do hope you will go with
May and that you will lay aside writing altogether for a few weeks, while there. You certainly need the rest,
and after the meeting, we will have a turnout, and see something of the country before going on to
Melbourne.
Meanwhile, Eld. Daniells will be asked to fill Colcord’s place as editor of Echo and Sentinel. [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 249]
Napier, N.Z.
March 27, 1895
Mrs. E.G. White
Page 2 of 3
I am much interested in what you write about your work in Parramatta and of your desire to be
located where your influence and that of your family will count more than it does there. There is no mistake
about Parramatta being one of the most wearying places to work, but I do not think our efforts there have
been in vain. Whenever the Lord makes it plain that the time has come to go elsewhere and points out the
place, I will take part in the inconvenience of moving with cheerfulness, but I think we should be very aware
that we are moving right.
The expense of moving is a secondary matter, but it may be right to take it into consideration. The
cartage will be something. The refitting of floor coverings and the replacing of that which will not stand
moving will be more. Then the loss of time, to the workers in the family will be still more.
In selecting a new place, it is best to remember how conveniently we are located as regards the Post
Office, and the trains and what a healthy place we have. I fear it will be very difficult to find a place that has
all these advantages.
Unless there is a positive duty to move at once, I very much wish that the matter could be postponed
till my return and until we see what changes may be wrought in our plans by the action of the Gen. Conf. and
by the development of our school work. It does seem to me that it is a most unfortunate time to make a shift
that involves so much.
As regards the work of Bro. Caldwell, it appears to me that the section of the church in electing him
as leading elder, places a very large responsibility on him on him, and perhaps upon us to help him in the
matter of teaching them how to work. He is laying out some broad plans which if carried to success mean
much to the church, but if they are but half sustained and drop out half tried, then it is worse than if never
introduced. He needs all the help we can give in educating the church how to work. When this effort has
been carried to success, then I shall feel like asking to be allowed to depart and work elsewhere.
There is much I would like to say about your future work and mine, and the prospect of our working
together, but there is not time today. I want to do what the Lord has for me to do and I earnestly hope that it
will not separate us great distances or for long at a time. I am more glad than I can express that the one who
is to be my future companion loves to be with you and that you enjoy her company. Thus my marriage will
not separate us. Of course, the children must be planned for and I study with deep interest what you say
about their care. When we meet, I shall want to talk of all those matters. I look with much interest for the
word coming from home after they get a full understanding of my wishes and places.
I thank you for sending me the Colburn letter. Such interests ought to be followed up, and I am glad
that Dr. Kellogg is to stop there. The idea in mind in sending Miss Walker to Queensland was to place in the
best surroundings to complete her education.
I am glad for Maggie Hare that you can give her some work; and I hope that she may be taught that
all of your work must be done carefully and neatly. It is not best for a beginner to hurry, but it always well for
them to do their best. Maggie should be impressed with lessons of carefulness and neatness about her work.
[page break]
[7 – WCW – 250]
Napier, N.Z.
March 27, 1895
Mrs. E.G. White
Page 3 of 3
When in Auckland, I met two members of the camp family, and learned that they had a good
passage. I meant to visit them, but time did not permit.
I shall write to Dr. J.H. Kellogg, that it is in every way more appropriate for him to use his own
portrait in connection with the matter he is to furnish the book. Yet if for any reason father’s plate is wanted,
I think it is to be found at Review & Herald Office.
As regards the Mse. for Sermon on the Mount, I confess guilty to being the cause of the delay. I have
read the Mse. as it was long-thinned out and am forced to say that I believe its symmetry has been injured by
the additions and that there is danger of making a serious mistake in its publication. I did not mean to say this
without further study, but the urgency of some letters that I have read force me to say something.
I hope to give it attention soon and will report at soon as possible. I wish there was someone to read
to me for sometimes I can listen when too weary to read. Last Sabbath I took these Mse. with me to Hastings,
hoping to read before the meeting, but when I got there, I was so weary that instead of going to Bro. Class’
place, I found a spot shaded and sheltered, and lay down and slept till 1 p.m. Then woke up and studied an
hour and went to the meeting without dinner. Well, it does seem strange that a few hours cannot be taken
for this work. I will try.
Meanwhile, we will ask that all the copy but this first chap. go on to London with instructions to
Gibson to work up the illustrations with the criticism of the brn. at B.C. It will never do to wait for sketches to
come to Melbourne and go back. I will write to Salisbury about this matter.
I am not favorably impressed with the proposition to print an edition without illustrations. If several
clean copies of the Mse. are made so that translators can begin work, it is well. Let three copies be sent to
B.C. and one to London and one to Melbourne. Possibly two copies are enough for B.C. and it would be well
to send one to Basel or to Conradi in Hamburg.
Dr. and Mrs. Caro have been very kind to me and to us all. She is overwhelmed with financial
burdens and I shall carry out your instructions regarding the expenses of Pomare if she will consent.
Your son,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 251]
Granville, N.S.W.
February 13, 1895
To the Board of Directs of the Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association
Dear Brethren: The brethren of the Australasian colonies have heard with much satisfaction of the work done by
your association in Chicago and other cities for suffering humanity; and they have long desired to be doing
something in the same line for needy souls in such cities as Melbourne and Sydney. But whenever we have
thought of the matter we have been deterred from entering on the work, partly from a sense of our
inexperience and consequent inability to come with the perplexities by the way.
As time has passed on however, we have been more and more impressed that we ought to be
engaged in such a work as you have so magnanimously inaugurated. The executive committees of the Union
and Australian Conferences have held several joint meetings at which this subject has been quite carefully
considered. At the result they appointed a committee to look about Sydney for some opening in the way of a
bath house. One was found in the offer from the proprietor of bath house in an eligible position, the details
of which will be communicated to you by Bro. W.C. Sisley, who was chairman of the final committee
appointed to look into this work.
Our object in addressing you this communication is to seek counsel and advice regarding the extent
to which an institution of this kind should be shipped to meet the demands of such a city as Sydney and its
surrounding country. We have thought that the proper thing to do would be to organize here a branch of
your society under which we might separate the work contemplated, provided that you shall so counsel us.
You are doubtless aware of the fact that financial matters in this country are in a bad way and that
the brethren are just now struggling to raise the necessary funds to erect building for the Australasian Bible
School. This work now in hand requires much sacrifice on the part of many and it seems almost impossible
for them to undertake more just at present. If your society could see its way clear to do something financially
to assist them now in starting this much needed enterprise, we are sure that such help would be greatly
appreciated and it would be a stimulus towards the dissemination of true missionary principles as taught by
your association.
Keeping that matter as it will be presented to you by Bro. Sisley may engage your serious attention
and secure your cooperation in our anticipated enterprise, we remain sincerely,
Yours in the work,
Committee,
W.C. Sisley
M.G. Kellogg
A.G. Mackenzie
[7 – WCW – 252]
Napier, N.Z.
March 27, 1895
Elder L.J. Rousseau
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
My Dear Brother: this is Wednesday evening, and tomorrow morning early I expect to meet Bro. and Sr. Corliss. They
left Auckland yesterday and so I wait for them here. Friday, I go to Ormandville and Palmerstone, I shall visit
next week and then go on to Wellington. Colcord is a week ahead of me and Corliss will follow a week or two
later. Thus, we aim to give the churches all the help we can.
Well, it seems incredible when I think that I have not written you a letter since I left N.S.W. till
tonight and that all I have heard from you was the circular letter and a few items through my folks. It is
strange when we consider that of all the enterprises in the world, there is nothing that I am so much
interested in just now as the one in which you are engaged.
Your circular letter was splendid. It hit the mark splendidly and was well framed. It made happy to
read it, and I shouted for joy. The facts thus placed before the people are much appreciated by them, and the
knowledge of these facts make my work much easier.
You have evidence that I have not forgotten you in the copies which I have sent you of letters that I
have written to others. And at each time when writing, I planned to write to you but the time slipped away
and the mail closed before I was half-done writing.
The raising of money goes forward slowly. Up to the present time, I think that about £300 have been
pledged. We shall work hard to bring this up to £400 before we are done, but there are many who do not
give anything because they have not been thinking about the school and they do not see its importance. I
went up to Hastings and worked hard for two days, and got £1. More will come later if someone will follow
the matter up, but who has time to do this?
The pamphlets that you are getting out seem to be greatly in demand. I feel so bad to think that
about I ever consented to take one of your manuscripts with the promise of working on it. It has seemed
impossible to give it any attention, but I hope to soon. I was so glad that Mother let Sr. Bolton hope you come
and I hope the work will go forward without delay. I believe we are losing much by our failure to use the Bible
Echo to work up enthusiasm in the school work.
Please tell me how you are getting along with your work. What and how and where are you
operating? Who are with you and how do you organize the work? I have faith in what you are trying to do
and am sure it will succeed but not without many disappointments and trials.
I suppose that Metcalf Hare is now with you. Plan with him about materials. How would it work to
ask the Kaeo people to pay their pledges in Kauri Timber? Think of this. Where shall we buy sash doors and
blinds? Talk up these matters as you have time. Now I’ll close.
With love to all your big family, I am,
Yours,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 253]
Napier, N.Z.
March 29, 1895
International Tract Society, 451 Holloway Road, London, N.
John I. Gibson, Manager: Pay to the order of Mrs. Margaret Caro (£30) Thirty Pounds Sterling, and charge the same to the
account of Mrs. E.G. White.
Napier, N.Z.
March 29, 1895
Review & Herald, Battle Creek, Michigan, U.S.A.
Pay to the order of Mrs. Margaret Caro (£30) Thirty Pounds Sterling and charge the same to the
account of Mrs. E.G. White.
[7 – WCW – 254]
Napier, N.Z.
March 27, 1895
W.D. Salisbury, Pres.
Echo Pub. Co., North Fitzroy, Vict.
My Dear Brother: I have received several lengthy letters from you which I can answer but briefly for time to write is
very limited.
Your letter about the money for purchase of church lot was to me rather disappointing, in that it
gave no information about the lot. Bro. Smith mentioned a place quite well down towards the city in a recent
short letter and Eld. Daniells say the plans have fallen through. Whether all these things refer to one and the
same, I cannot tell.
The F.M.B. granted our request for an appropriation of £200 on the Echo expense for 1894 and £300
for 1895. This is to take the place of all other votes on Echo expense.
I am willing that the question of what would be a legitimate profit on the printing of the Echo should
go before the G.C.A. which has 2/3 of the stock. They are dealing with similar questions in other lands, and
can advise us advantageously. If I am to take any responsibility I would prefer to wait till I can be with you
and discuss all the principles involved before all the committee men having to do with the matter. We must
make the handling of every matter educatory.
In ordering Daniel & Revelation or any other works printed only at Review and Herald, I advise you to
send the order to the masking them to fill it, on conditions that they give us the discount given to Pacific
Press, which I suppose is 70 per ct. f.o.b. in B.C. Then tell them that if they are not ready to do this to forward
the order at once to Pacific Press, Oakland.
Do not fail to send samples of our new Tracts to prominent workers in all parts of the world.
Especially faithful must we be with those not printed elsewhere, such as the answers to Canright. Send a
good bunch of our edition of Christ and the Sabbath to Prof. Prescott with a letter telling why we condensed
it, and asking if there is anything which we have greatly injured.
As regards the “Sermon on the Mount”, it seems to me that it is best for us to manage that in the
following manner: 1. As soon as clean copies are ready, send one to Gibson and two copies to the G.C.A. Battle Creek.
Ask the G.C.A. to take the work of illustrating the work in hand with the Echo. Both parties agreeing to put
the work in Gibson’s hands.
2. Let us aim at having eight new cuts and eight selected ones, but give Gibson discretion to use
more selected ones if he finds those that are suitable.
Let proofs and sketches go to the art man of the G.C.A. and with his approval, let Gibson go on and
get them out, and send a set to Melbourne as soon as possible. We cannot well wait for sketches to come to
Melbourne.
And now I must close,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 255]
Palmerstone North, N.Z.
April 2, 1895
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Onehunga, N.Z.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: This is Tuesday morning and I am seated in Bro. Coddling’s parlor, attempting to answer briefly some
of the most urgent of my many unanswered letters. Yours came first. Home letters next.
I think I sent you a card from Ormandville but am not sure. I went from the train to t home of Bro.
Redwards. Sabbath, I spoke from Romans 8:15-18. Bro. Redwards had prepared for the quarterly meeting but
Bro. Finsch was not ready so we appointed for Sunday at 2 p.m. After meeting, I went hope with Bro. Finsch
and in the evening visited Bro. Woods. Sunday morning visited the Srs. Ingwoldsen and Brn. Inglebrechtson
and Ammonson. Nineteen took part in the ordinances and we had a precious meeting. The presence of the
Lord was felt in large measure. In the evening I spoke on the Coming of the Lord and our preparation.
Monday morning I visited five families at Makotuku and then came down on the afternoon express
to this place. Here I find that the church is of good courage. I shall visit some this afternoon.
I have received but two letters from you since I left Epsom, and both of these are dated March 22.
The first speaks of the health and movements of Eld. Corliss and the second of the letters from Edwards
which are enclosed.
We should thank the Lord that Bro. Corliss has recovered much faster than we could have hoped. He
expects to speak in Napier tonight, and here Sabbath and Sunday. After a few days in Wellington, he wishes
to push on to Ch-ch and while looking about and preparing for the series of meetings hopes to gain strength
for the work.
I am very glad that you have found two of Edward’s letters, and I thank you for the copy. It conveys
to me several facts which I had overlooked, if ever informed about and suggests several lines of profitable
thought. As regards the £200 from Arnold for the Wellington meetinghouse, it seems to me that his
preposition is clear and in harmony with business principles and justice. If you can find his other letter, the
one which you mentioned in which he intimated that you must get this £200 from the profits on book sales, I
wish you would send me a copy. It may be of much service to me.
With reference to reports from the New Zealand Conf. and Tract So. It seems to me that it will be a
wise plan to send the reports to the sec. of the Union Conf. and at the same time send a copy to the brn. at
Battle Creek. Then if there is any delay in the work of the sec. of the Union Conf. the friends at B.C. are not
left in ignorance.
I have read your circular letter to the churches with much interest. I think that they will be much
cheered by the facts it contains. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 256]
April 2, 1895
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Onehunga, N.Z.
Page 2 of 2
I hope that they will also respond to the appeal for help. As you have particularly asked my suggestions about
this letter, I will say that if I had been with you when it was written, I should have suggested that more
prominence be given to donations and less to pledges and that whatever pledges were taken be for only
three months.
In raising money for the school we took pledges for long time because a large amount had to be
raised but even here, I think we have done no better than if the time had been shorter. I find that our brn. in
N.Z. have not a very full appreciation as yet of our school scheme, and are not yet prepared to make the
sacrifices that will be necessary before our school can be erected. We must make an effort to get them to
read the work “Christian Education” I shall push it where I go.
As I have visited our people in Napier, Hastings, and Ormandville, I have been impressed with the
importance of visiting these small companies often for the following purposes. 1. To note the development of
the officers and to encourage them to activity, also to take them with you in labor for the members, and to
show them how to visit and labor for those discouraged, and those enquiring for truth. 2. To help both
officers and members to see the work lying before them, and direct their minds to the sources of all help and
strength. 3. To encourage the desponding and to reclaim the wanderers. 4. To attend the various meetings
and bring before them the magnitude and the encouragement of our work.
I am confirmed in the opinion express to several at the c-m that you had been working for the best
interests of the conf. in spending most of your time in the churches. And I believe that there are many places
where souls may be added to the little churches by judicious labor. In and about Ormandville, Makotuku, and
Norsewood, there are many families that know something of the message but who do not sense its
importance. They hesitate and tremble. These cannot be driven into the fold but by kind, tender, and
judicious labor, they may be won to the Lord. I have hoped that you could plan to work some weeks among
them. I have often wished that you were with me on this trip. And I should be much pleased if we could
sometime work together in this line of labor. When you do come down, do not limit yourself to time, but take
time to do thorough work in Gisborne, Napier, Hastings, etc. etc.
The Hastings church is in a sort of languid condition that gives me anxiety. Bro. Greve has been
growing in grace, and is active but some are dying of inaction. Cannot you get them working with tracts and
papers in the ordinary ways and have a librarian? I wish you’d try.
The more I think about the Epsom meetinghouse, the more I am persuaded that we ought to push
ahead with it. I am sorry that it is to cost so much as £100. But it may be better to make it that size than to
dampen the ardor and energy of the local men who are interested in it. I think that the Union Conf. Com.
ought to appropriate to it no less than £30 and possibly more. I telegraphed to Joseph Hare and he will
advance £30 next week on my account. This I will be responsible for till the Union Conf. Com. acts on the
matter. I hope you will be able to wind up your work there and work your way down this way. Do not let the
meetinghouse business hold you there in Epsom.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 257]
Metropolitan Hotel, Christchurch, N.Z.
April 10, 1895
Miss Mary A. Davis
Granville, N.S.W.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Sister: Last Thursday April 4, I reached Wellington expecting to settle down there for a week’s work on
letters, Mse. &c. But it was not to be. I found that the pres. and sec. of the Tract So. were in the midst of
moving and my best chance to talk business with them was to take hold and help move. Then I learned that
the str. on which I intended to sail to Hobart had been taken off and therefore I must go a week earlier or a
week later than I had planned.
It was the desire of Eld. Corliss that I be with him a day or two in Christchurch and so Sunday I sent
him word that Penguin was to sail next day. Monday at 12:20 I met him at train and at 4 p.m. we were off.
We were due here Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. but we met headwinds and a very rough sea and did not get to
dock till 5:45 p.m. Mrs. Corliss was very sick most of the time. I was glad to keep in my berth Eld. Corliss
suffered but little.
We left Lyttleton on the 5 p.m. train and were about 30 min running up here 7 miles. By 7:30 we
were taking tea at the hospitable wife embraced the message at Brighton and they welcomed us heartily.
Today and tomorrow Eld. Corliss and I will look about the city endeavoring to get acquainted and to
form some opinion as to where it will be best for him to locate and where to begin work.
Friday afternoon I plan to run down to Temuka to visit Mrs. Goodey and Rose, and then I shall sail for
Hobart on the str. that goes from here to 14th and from Dunedin the 16th and reaches Hobart 20th.
At Wellington, I received a cablegram from Mother saying that “Children here May.” That is good.
How I wish I knew the particulars about their coming. Who is with them, and just when expected? The str. on
which I hoped that they would sail is the Arawa which leaves S.F. April 4, and is due in Sydney April 30. The
Alameda is due April 28.
If I cannot be there to meet them, I know that you will give them a hearty welcome and that you will
do all you can to lessen their disappointment at my absence. Perhaps it will not be asking too much if I
request that two or three of you who know them go down and welcome them at the wharf.
I most sincerely hope that Mother will not allow this arrival to deter her from going to Hobart to
attend the Convention. The people of Tasmania have been waiting three years to see her and hear her
testimony and I am sure that her attendance will do much good that important gathering. I have written to
May that I do not think it is necessary to incur the expense of more than one to go with her. For if they are
well located on the sleeping car in Sydney and met at Melb. there is only the change at Albury and the
porters will help them. Then at Melb. they will be placed on the str. and met at Hobart again. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 258]
Metropolitan Hotel, Christchurch, N.Z.
April 10, 1895
Miss Mary A. Davis
Granville, N.S.W.
Page 2 of 2
Let all letters coming to me in April be sent to Glenorchy, Tasmania. I suppose that copies of the
periodicals have been copied by Mother or May. If not, send one set of the Conf. Bulletin. Hold other papers
till my return.
Sermon on the Mount. – There is no great advantage in getting out an Australian edition without
illustrations in advance of the other editions. The most urgent matter is to get good manuscripts into the
hands of the General Conference Association or the S.D.A. Book Committee or the Int. Tract So. at Battle
Creek.
By reference to my copy book, I see that in my letter of Nov. 30, I promised to send a copy of the
Mse. soon to the Book Committee. I wrote them quite fully of my plans, but they are no doubt waiting to get
the Mse. before answering.
It appears to me now that the best for us to do is to place the Mse. in their hands at once and ask
that the G.C.A. take the work of illustrating and publishing in hand according to the plans in my letter of Nov.
30, then let a set of the plates be sent to the Echo Co., and let them get out a good edition that will sell well
and be a credit to all parties interested in the work.
Please write to F.D. Starr, Sec. of the S.D.A. Book Com. and send copies to A.O. Tait, Sec. Int. Tract So.
also to J.N. Nelson, Sec. G.C.A. stating that it is our wish that the Book Committee shall examine the work and
if it is approved by them that we wish the G.C.A. to take it in hand to illustrate and publish if they are
agreeable to doing so, according to the outlines of my letter of Nov. 30.
I think that the work should have from 16 to 20 illustrations I would advise that there be eight or ten
original pictures and that the others be selected in London.
Tell them that if they are not ready to push the work forward without delay to please place it in the
hands of some house that will.
If Mse. have been sent to parties other than those named in this letter, please ask that they be
turned over to the proper ones.
Tell Salisbury not to begin to set the work till the proper type comes for we want to have all our
works of this class uniform and in the very best form.
If you can cut down the work some in the first part, it would be well. Those pages which you marked
as possible to leave out should be eliminated. But I will speak more of this as soon as I can read the two
copies in my hands.
This has been written in great haste, for every minute I expect Eld. Corliss to call me away to examine
halls.
Please let Bro. Caldwell and other members of the family read this letter or at least the first page.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 259]
Christchurch, N.Z.
April 10, 1895
Mr. W.D. Salisbury & Eld. A.G. Daniells
Dear Brethren: This morning when I first awoke, I thought of many matters about which I desire to write to you and
if I had been permitted to write then, I should have given you quite a letter. But Eld. Corliss came and I have
been tramping and riding all day with him and now my mind is not so clear.
At the G.P.O. there was a postal to Corliss from Colcord, who is “stuck up” at Littleton and does not
know where we are or anybody else. We have telegraphed him to come up here and I hope to see him soon.
He is no doubt fearfully homesick and I dread to meet him, for he pours out his sorrows on me as if I was the
cause of it all.
We shall both sail on the Tarawere which is due in Hobart April 20. What a pity it does not get there
Friday instead of Sabbath.
At Wellington, I received copies of the Yearbook. I like it very well. The editors deserved praise for
the clear and concise form in which everything is presented. The printing is well done also. It is a great pity
that the New Zealand addresses were not corrected. Bro. Crothers says that he sent word that they were
moving the Depository from Banks Terrace to 57 Tory Street and that of course carried all the addresses of
ministers and workers with it which had been at Banks Terrace. Was he too late or was there an oversight?
It is also a pity that Rose Goodey was not asked to resign her offices and the proper names put in the
place of hers.
My advice to you is to bind up only a few at a time as called for and as soon as I get to Melbourne, let
us fix up a list of corrections and some additional matter and print an eight pager to slip over the rest of the
book and just under the cover. In this, we can give the addresses of the newly elected officers of the several
societies of the General Conference and a few facts about our school.
Of course, you have noticed that some of the footings on page 8 are not what they should be. This
also can be referred to and corrected. And it may be thought best to give the list of church clerks just elected
and their addresses for Aust. and N.Z.
I will ask Eld. Daniells to consider the advisability of beginning work in Adelaide and of having a
convention in Adelaide as a starter. Is the work in Tasmania so that it can be left or must they hammer away
there all winter?
It will not be easy to get such a hall as we want here in Ch-ch. It looks as if this would be a find place
for a tent for a summer campaign, but it does not look right to put the work here off longer for it has now
waited for three years. Reports from Epsom are still very encouraging. Pray for us.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 260]
Holmes Temperance Hotel, Manchester St., Christchurch, N.Z.
April 11, 1895
Brn. Crothers, Wilson, and Steed
I have but a few minutes to write, and so I take the liberty to send you an “omnibus letter”
addressed to you all for I cannot take time to write three letters.
After tea, I met Eld. Colcord at the Hotel door and we went out to Winston and spent the evening
visiting with Eld. Corliss and wife and with Mr. and Mrs. Rouse. This morning I hired a good turnout for the
day and we have been looking about for halls in the suburbs. Eld. Corliss has a very sore foot and therefore a
horse and buggy was a necessity. We see little prospect of getting a favorable place in the suburbs and there
are very few halls within our reach in the city. It will be hard to decide what to do.
I am now writing just before dinner and at 1 p.m. we start out again. This morning we improved the
time in discussing various and sundry plans for the advisability of changing the name to “Colonial Sentinel
and Herald of Liberty” and of having two series of historical articles, one on Bible history, and one on English
History. One or both of these could be illustrated so there would be one good picture in each number.
Tomorrow I can buy a ticket to Dunedin, 2d. return for 25/. It may be that I can get a cheap ticket
from Dunedin to the Bluffs and if so, I may take this opportunity to see the interior of New Zealand. Is it likely
that Harry Camp would wish to use the returns? Please send me a delayed wire (this is to Crothers only) to
Dunedin, telling me all you can about Camps whereabouts so that I may see him. I desire to see him, and
Clayton. I will look up the matter and if Gore is on the line and I can stop off a train, I will try to do so.
Colcord had a pleasant visit at Kalkoura, and seems to be in excellent courage. Our people in the
various churches seem to be much pleased that the various ministers have taken so much pains to visit the
little companies and they appreciate it very much.
We all watch with deepest interest for news from Epsom. When I get to Tasmania, I shall hope to
hear from there once a week. My address will be Glenorchy, Tasmania till the 6th of May, then Melbourne for
two weeks and then Granville.
I hope that Eld. Wilson is getting rested from the over exertion of the camp-meeting. Ministers who
work as ours do must have now and then, seasons of rest. Eld. Corliss needs the rest he is having here. I hope
he may be rested and fresh when the work begins here.
Pray for those who must make important decisions here in regard to place of meetings.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 261]
Woods Family Hotel, Dunedin, N.Z.
April 14, 1895
Miss Mary A. Davis
Granville, N.S.W.
Page 1 of 2
Dear Sister: Since writing to you four days ago some of our plans have taken an unexpected and decided
turnover. We found by thorough searching that we could not get control of a suitable hall in Christchurch and
so have postponed work there till we can enter the place with a tent. Eld. and Mrs. Corliss and Eld. Colcord
are going with me on the Tarawere to Hobart.
I came here from Ch-ch Friday by rail. When I got to Temuka I was met at the train by one of Mrs.
Goodey’s girls, who told me that her mother was away from home for two weeks and that Rose was away
also for four or five days. So I did not stop there as I had intended.
At the Dunedin Post Office, I found six letters which Mrs. T. had forwarded from Wellington. Two
were big envelopes and I said to myself, “There are my American letters,” but it proved otherwise. Perhaps
you can imagine my anxiety when you considered that I had received a telegram saying that the children
were coming in May, which I half-believed was a mistake (and I now know that it was), but which did not
intimate who was with them. You can see that this, with general curiosity about the Conference, put me in
intense anxiety to know the news.
Well, my big letters proved to be filled with manuscripts and copies of articles and letters. They were
very good indeed but were not just what I wanted most. May’s postal card said she was in Sydney to see
about tickets, but did not say who the tickets were for. Mother lays out in her letter plans for the family
which she is away, and then expresses a decided opinion that she should not go. She expresses much
sympathy because Ella and Mabel are unnecessarily full of anxiety and trouble, but gives me no clue as to
what it is about, or who is with them. Well, I am sure that there is no intention to torture me, but it seems as
if I was left where the curious man on the train found himself. He was seated behind a man with one leg, and
became intensely curious to know how the poor fellow lost his leg. Apologetically he asked, “May I ask a
question?” “Yes,” said the one-legged man, “just one.” “Well, how did you lose your leg?” He replied, “It was
bitten off.” There the conversation had to end, but the curious man was not much easier on his mind than he
was before. I am full of conjectures, but know nothing.
The Manuscript. – I spent this forenoon carefully reading the 48 pages on the Beatitudes and
carefully comparing it with the other two copies of the same which I brought with me. I am highly pleased
with the Mse. in its latest revision. I have put three or four pencil marks on it, but that is all as far as I
remember. I think it will now make a splendid beginning of a good book.
I did not exactly understand how much you meant to omit on pages 26 and 27. I run my pencil
through a few lines and rather would like to keep part of page 26. But you will know what is best. On page
[page break]
[7 – WCW – 262]
Woods Family Hotel, Dunedin, N.Z.
April 14, 1895
Miss Mary A. Davis
Granville, N.S.W.
Page 2 of 2
44, I have suggested a change of expression and queried another, which are capable of being misunderstood.
My opinion of the three copies of the Mse. which I have been examining is that the first was rather
brief; the second slightly disconnected; and the third is splendid. True it is longer than the second, but it is
too good to be shortened. Rearrangement and leaving out some of the side thoughts has added to its unity
and greatly increased its strength. I am satisfied that its value has been enhanced sufficiently to compensate
for all the delay in time of publication.
Now let us get it out just as soon as we can, and get it out right. To make the copyright effective, it
must be issued simultaneously in England and America. To sell well, it must be well illustrated. The steps
which we must take are as follows.
1. Arrange with someone to publish the work. To accomplish that, we should place a complete copy
of the manuscripts in the hands of the S.D.A. Book Committee with request that as soon as approved, it be
placed in the hands of the Gen. Conf. Asso. for publication.
2. Get the work of illustrating the book underway immediately. To accomplish this, we should place a
copy of the Mse. in the hands of one of the officers of the G.C.A. (Olsen, Tait, or Nelson) and send another
copy to John Gibson of London. I will write to Olsen and Gibson and get it off today if possible so they can get
to work.
3. The work of typesetting and platemaking can go on at the Echo office as soon as the new type
comes from London which the Echo Co. are importing for this book. Meantime, it will be greatly to our
advantage if we can know where the cuts are to go in before the text is set. For to get this work out cheap,
we must print the cuts with the text. This means of course, that we cannot use process cuts nor those that
are old and black.
I have proofs from Salisbury showing how it will look in London Primer, and how in Small Pica. The
Small Pica looks far better to my eye and if set in that, the book will be approved by the old people. Use it.
The chapter headings that Salisbury has prepared will do very well. There is a sameness about them,
but if well placed, they will do.
According to your estimate, when we add title 2. List of III. 2. Adds, 2. it will make 196. Fourteen full
page illustrations make 28 pp. more and there would then be 224 pages in all. That is just 14 sigs. or seven 32
page forms. I do not seriously object to that but please take great care to keep it within that limit.
A book of 224 page would properly sell for 75 cts. in America and for 2/ in Eng. and 2/6 in the
colonies. In cheap covers for 50 cts. 1/ and 1/6. I advise that you keep the divisions pretty much as they are.
Watch the running over of the last pages of each chapter, and pack as much as we can into a small compass.
When once well done, we shall not begrudge the time spent to get it right.
I will enquire for Meyer’s book in Hobart. Tomorrow I will post the three copies of the Mse. and the
proofs to you.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 263]
Bismarck, Tasmania
April 24, 1895
Granville, N.S.W.
My Dear Daughters: It seems so strange for me to write to you in any other place than 67 Kendall St. And it is so strange
that I am way over here, and you just where I have so often written to you when you were way around the
other side of the world.
We had a smooth run from New Zealand to Hobart and reached the dock at 11:30 Friday night. It
was a clear night, and I was out watching the entrance to the bay and the river. When the ship was fast, I
went ashore, had a short walk, and then went back to the ship and slept till 4:30. Then we bundled up our
hand luggage and went across to the station and took the 6:20 train to Glenorchy where Mother and May
had been for a few days, at the hospitable home of Bro. Lacey. We found that Mother and May were well,
and they told us the news about who you were coming with, etc.
Your grandma feels like hurrying home to meet you and so do I, but I know you would not wish us to
slight our work here just that we may see you a few days sooner. The people here have been waiting for two
years for this meeting, and now we want to make it just as interesting and profitable as we possibly can. I
have thought some of sending for you to come over here to meet us, but it would be too bad to set you
sailing again so soon after the long and tiresome voyage, and I think it will be best for us to be patient for a
few days or weeks more.
I think we will get back to Granville about three weeks after your arrival, and I know that you who
have waited so bravely for three years will not become impatient over three weeks more.
I have written to Sr. Campbell asking her to take charge of you and direct your movements and plan
your work till I come home. I know you are both busy and active girls, and that you will not be happy unless
occupied with something to do. You will surely find something to do that will be useful and instructive and Sr.
Campbell will direct your work and perhaps take a little time to show you the beauties of Granville and
Parramatta.
Ella, if you like, you may ask her to give you some lessons in writing on the typewriter. If you do not
hurry but are careful in your speeding, you may learn to write so that you can sometimes do some copying
for me and this would help me in my work a lot sometimes.
Mabel will find that she can help about in the house in doing such things as she is accustomed to.
Get acquainted as fast as you can and make all the friends you can, and the time will pass quickly.
Your loving father,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 264]
Woods Temperance Hotel, Dunedin, N.Z.
April 14, 1895
Brn. Wilson and Crothers, and Sr. Tuxford
Dear Friends: The Tarawere is here and Elds. Corliss and Colcord and Mrs. Corliss are somewhere in town. I have
not seen them yet, for they left the str. before I got down this morning.
Yesterday I took from the Post Office half a dozen letters which Sr. Tuxford had forwarded. I hoped it
was my American letters, but it was not. One of them was from Mother and said that my children were to sail
from S.F. April 4. According to that they will reach Auckland about 23 or 24 on the Arawa, she is due in
Sydney Apr. 30.
I have no information as to whom they are coming with but from one expression in Mother’s letter, I
infer that it is with Bro. and Sr. Palmer. Palmer will of course be anxious to get to the end of his journey and
so will my girls. But as I have been thinking over the work that Palmer will have to do and the cooperation
that ought to exist between him and Bro. Crothers, it has seemed to me that it would be an excellent thing
for the future prosperity of our work if he could stop long enough in New Zealand to become acquainted with
a few of our brn. and for them to become acquainted with him, and especially that he may meet Bro.
Crothers.
The plan which suggests itself to my mind is this. Ascertain what it will cost for Palmer to change his
ticket for one via Wellington and if it is not too much, meet him when he arrives and persuade him to stop off
and after looking about Auckland, go down the coast and visit Crothers in Wellington and sail to Sydney from
there.
If there is someone in my party that will look after my girls, let them go on to Sydney. Or possibly
Mrs. Palmer would prefer to go straight on. If it seemed best for the whole party to stop off at Auckland and
the change of ticket was not much, I would ask Mrs. Wilson to board my girls and show them around a bit.
But just now, it occurs to me that this part is probably coming second cabin and if that is so, it would
not do for them to stop off for the second on the Union Strs. is not good and to change the tickets to first
would cost altogether too much .
I presume that all you can do, is to invite Palmer to stop off and visit Wellington, if he is free to leave
the balance of the party. If he is young and courageous, he could finish the journey steerage as I and many
others have done.
If it should so happen that Crothers could run up to Auckland and spend the time with Palmer that
the str. is there, that might suffice. Please ascertain what you can about the probable time of her stay.
If the str. is there in the day and it is fair, I would like to have the party to see Mt. Eden and some of
the beauties of Auckland. I will authorize Eld. Wilson to expend anything from 10/ to a pound as he thinks
best, in providing a way for them to see a bit of the land, before going back to the ship. Of course they will
want to see Bro. and Sr. Hare for they are acquainted with Edith and Arnold.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 265]
No. 2 Personal.
Dunedin, N.Z.
April, 15, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Dear Brother: There are a few matters more that I ought to speak about, and I prefer to put them on this sheet
marked personal. They are not specifically private, but go better alone.
My letter to the F.M.B. written Feb. 20 was written in great haste and without all the consideration
that such a letter ought to have. On page three, the first half, I spoke unguardedly of the work and
management of Eld. Wilson and of the feelings of the people or some of them, towards him. A portion of
what I wrote was capable of being misunderstood and some things said that I regard as facts, might for his
sake have been left unsaid.
I have only the kindest feelings towards Eld. Wilson and did not realize that I had written anything
that would hurt him till his wife brought me the copy of the letter I had left for him to read and pointed out
what she thought was a reflection on him and what she felt sure would discourage him. I looked it over and
listened to her view as to how the letter would be understood and then made some changes with my pen
and sent it to the post, or rather handed it to Bro. W.C. Sisley to post in S.F.
The letter was finished Friday night, and this was Sabbath morning and Sisley left soon after dinner.
Otherwise, I should have at once rewritten the page.
When Eld. Wilson read the letter, he felt very bad about it, and was quite depressed for a week or
two. For a time he had no courage for anything and thought of resigning. I did what I could to help him, and
that not by retracting any of the statements but by showing him their truth and that they did not mean what
his imagination had pictured. After my return from Kaeo, I found that the letter was still troubling him and as
I was very anxious that his co-laborers should read it that they might grasp the general plan for the work
there outlined and as most sincerely regretted saying what I did about Wilson, I took the liberty to rewrite
page three and I sent you a fresh copy in my last. But I had not time to tell you what it was.
I now request that the original page three of my letter of Feb. 20 be burned, and this page sent a
month ago be put in its place.
I confess to some anxiety about the future success of the work of Eld. Wilson. He is exceedingly
conscientious and puts many truths in their most uninviting form. I fear that it will take a very long time for
him to learn how to hold a popular audience. His best work seems to be among the small country churches
and it may be that he will someday learn how to show the tenderness and love that I really think is in his
heart. At first, he repels many that ought to be won by tenderness.
Pray for us that we may know how to help one another and that our efforts to correct faults may not
do double harm.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 266]
Bismarck, N.Z.
April 24, 1895
Miss E.C. Campbell
Granville, N.S.W.
Dear Sister: We are nicely located for three days in a four roomed cottage close to the meetinghouse. As I write,
Mother is in the parlor writing. May is in the kitchen getting dinner. Her father is in the same room making
plans for houses at Avondale. Norah and Maggie are on their way home with Bro. Tottenhoffer, who will
bring up Eld. Colcord and Sr. Lacey this p.m. Bay and Ella will come up on foot. By reading the enclosed to Eld.
D. you will get particulars of our plans and movements. After reading it, please send it to Eld. McCullough.
My work since landing here has been to rustle about and plan work for others. How nice it is to be
with people who love to work and who respond heartily to any reasonable plan. We are of good courage, I
have hardly an hour to write till this morning, and this unexpectedly, because Bro. Tottenhoffer went to town
in my place.
Yesterday I wrote a very brief letter about the work at home, and left it to be posted. For fear of
some miss, I will repeat. It is Mother’s wish, after talking matters over with me: - 1. That the platform wagon
be placed in the hands of a trusty wagon-maker to repair and paint. 2. That the Phaeton wait, hoping that we
may be able to trade it off in exchange for a buggy suitable for country use. One suitable for use in Sydney,
Granville, or Avondale. 3. That Bro. Caldwell remain in her employ till we reach home, unless there is some
opening for him elsewhere that he wishes to occupy. 4. That he spend three or four days looking about for a
suitable buggy and to work and to work up a trade waiting for Mother to see and approve before closing any
bargain. 5. That to fill up time not required for other work that he be set to work that he may be set to work
by Marion making five or six clean, clear copies of all those chapters of the Life of Christ that are supposed to
be ready for the Book Committee and the translators.
With this I enclose a letter sent to Ella at Auckland. It is not likely that they will stop there, but if they
should not arrive as you expect on the Arawa, you will from this gather the reason.
I have asked in a letter to Marion that she and Fanny and Byron plan to meet the children so as to
break as much as they can the disappointment at my absence. I will now ask you to meet them also, if it is
convenient. The chief object of this letter is to ask you to take charge of them after their arrival and direct
their movements till I come home. If it is convenient to come up the Parramatta River, it would give them
good impressions of the place to begin with. Then you may find time to let them see a little of the
surroundings. And as soon as you can set them to work. In this they will be the most happy of all. Give Ella
some lessons on the typewriter and let Mabel help about the housework. I will write them to look to you for
guidance.
In haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 267]
Bismarck, Tasmania
April 24, 1895
Eld. R. Hare
85 Palace St., Petersham, N.S.W.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: –
I have a copy of your letter written to Eld. Daniells and also a short note without date and a signature
that looks like “M. Gone” expressing the wish that we may have a good meeting in Hobart.
The present prospect is favorable to our having a well-attended and interesting meeting. We are yet
struggling with the questions of place for meetings and entertainment, but hope all will be arranged today
and tomorrow. As regards laborers, we are very fortunate in having Mother and Eld. Corliss in addition to
those whom we were sure of when the meeting was planned.
Providentially, we are here a week before the Institute is to begin and we are using the time to do
what we can here in Bismarck. As soon as the Institute is over, Elds. Corliss and Colcord and Mother and I will
hasten on to Melbourne and then as soon as we can, Mother and I will return to Granville. Eld. Colcord may
precede us to Melbourne and Eld. Corliss may precede us to Sydney. He has an earnest desire to be with you
and to help in the battle there. And we are very glad that he has health and courage for the work.
You no doubt heard of our plans for Christchurch, but when we go down there we found that there
was no suitable hall that could be secured, and the effort there must wait till we can go in with a tent. This
freed Eld. Corliss to come to this Convention and afterwards to work where most needed.
Of course, I am not particularly acquainted with your circumstances and surroundings, but from
what I have learned from your letters and Mother’s and McCullough’s, it seems to me that much is at stake in
the way we meet and silence the opposition that is running so high in Petersham. When the ministers of
Ashfield declared that they would crush out Adventism at any cost, it was a critical time for our work. A very
little of harshness or bitterness on our part would have given the enemy occasion to triumph, but the firm,
courageous, and patient spirit in which the opposition was met gave us the sympathy of a large part of the
community. This was a great victory and we shall long reap the good influences of this ending of what looked
so discouraging. This victory was given in answer to many earnest prayers by ministers and people. In your
present perplexing position, trust in the Lord of Hosts, pray much, and teach our people to pray and to labor
in the spirit of meekness. In God we shall surely prevail.
Do not allow your courage or zeal to slacken one little bit, but press the battle, for reinforcements
are coming. It seems to me it would be well to let the work in Parramatta wait till later on, when the battle at
Petersham is fought and won. It does not seem to be the boat of army tactics to leave the field when a battle
is one, to go in [page break]
[7 – WCW – 268]
Bismarck, Tasmania
April 24, 1895
Eld. R. Hare
85 Palace St., Petersham, N.S.W.
Page 2 of 2
to repair the forts, then there is no immediate danger of attack.
It seems to me that we should order our present movements with view to pushing the battle right
into the heart of Sydney. But we must not plant to so fully absorb the energies one working force in the
center that there will be no one to respond to the calls for labor that come in from surrounding places. I am
fully persuaded that the Lord has opened a wide door for our labors in and around Sydney and that he would
have us push the battle to the gate and through the gate into the city. There may have been a time in the
history of our work when we could be doing right to enter a town and strike a few blows and get a few to
listen to the message and then go off a long way and enter another place and make a moderate effort and
get a few there. But if ever that was the best way (a thing that I greatly doubt) it certainly is not the best way
for us now. We are too near the end for such work. And now we ought when we enter a place, to feel that
we are near the end, and this is the time for that community to receive the final warning. We must never
forget that our work is to give a worldwide warning, and we must not let our desire to build up
congregations, divert our minds from the world of giving the warning messages.
Oh, how I long to see the message go to all our large cities. And when those who hear a little and
then ask that the message be more fully brought to them in their various neighborhoods, we should be ready
to respond to these calls, and give it to them. In this way, the message will make more rapid progress.
It seems to me that we ought to diligently seek to enthuse our churches with a desire not to call the
ministers from the field to build fences and paint, and do work that they can do as well, but rather to do
these things and also to do more to encourage and support the messengers, to carry the warning message
that the people may prepare for the coming of the Lord.
I am sorry that the building of a meetinghouse in Ashfield is forced upon us just now. But if it is the
Lord’s time, it is the best time, although we would gladly delay it. We will follow in His providence.
How I long to be with you and to visit the school, and do all I can to help forward the work there.
How glad I am that matters are moving and that we are pressed with work. Last year I had a double
portion of waiting, delay, and disappointment and I tell you it is a blessed change to see something moving.
What would you think of our soon opening up meetings in some good hall in Sydney. Sunday nights
only, while the work is in the suburbs is being carefully followed during the week. Eld. Corliss would be good
speaker for such an effort.
Eld. Corliss will also be good help in the work of getting our principles before members of Parliament.
His experience in this work in Washington will be of much value to us. It seems to me that now is the time for
this effort, for if we are to endeavor to get an act enabling the Union Conf. to hold property, we ought not to
let the time pass without an effort. And now, goodbye.
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 269]
Bismarck, Tasmania
April 24, 1895
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: Sunday night I spoke to a house nearly full and announced that Mother or Corliss would speak
Monday night and Colcord Tuesday night. Tottenhoffer let me have a horse, and Branstrutter a trap, and we
drove down and told our plans. Mother and Corliss were ready for anything, but as there was work for Corliss
in Hobart from Tuesday onward; we sent him and Mrs. C. up Monday. They found a full house. Tuesday a.m.
they drove down and Mother and May and Bro. Lacey and I came up in the p.m. At 7:30 Mother spoke to a
full house and is to speak at 3 p.m. today, and at 7:30 tomorrow.
There is a cottage of four rooms within a stone’s throw of our meetinghouse which has been rented,
all furnished during the summer and as it was just vacated a few days ago, we have rented it for a week and
this is where we are staying. It is a providential opening for us and we desire to make the most of it.
Eld. Colcord has a hard time on the str. and when we first landed there was no definite plans for his
and Eld. and Mrs. Corliss entertainment. This was rather trying to one weak with seasickness. Then came
sixteen letters. Well, when I found him and Eld. Corliss Monday noon, he was much discouraged and felt that
he should go to Melbourne at once. That evening, Bro. Lacey and I found him and brought him up to
Glenorchy and gave him some treatment and yesterday just as I was leaving, he consented to come up and
speak here tonight. I have some hope that he will remain to attend the Institute. We can plan for his work to
come early and let him go May 2.
I am very glad to hear that the Sentinel will be out soon. I know that this has made extra work for
you, but I hope you will not let him feel that it has been an unreasonable burden. Poor fellow, he has been
lashing himself and me unmercifully with the prospect of great dissatisfaction and criticism from you and Sr.
B. because he has left so much of his work with you. If you can spare him severe criticism, it may be great
blessing to him, and his associates if he is ever asked to go away from home again.
With this I send you a copy of my letter to Eld. Hare. From it you will see how I feel about the work in
Sydney. I am satisfied it is a critical line for our work in N.S.W. If our brn. cower or run away from the
opposition, the word will soon be passed around and the enemy will triumph. It seems to me to be an
inopportune time to leave the work and to go back to Parramatta.
If the F.M.B. do not open the way for us to open up West Aust., would it not be well to encourage
Eld. Corliss to spend the winter in work in and about Sydney. He would engage in the work of organizing the
Ashfield church with much interest and if it is necessary to build a meetinghouse, he would work for it with
enthusiasm. When he looks at his work for the past year, and considers that he has had no part in organizing
the companies he raised up and when he sees the loose [page break]
[7 – WCW – 270]
Bismarck, Tasmania
April 24, 1895
Eld. A.G. Daniells
Page 2 of 2
way in which parts of the work in some of our N.S.W. churches seems to have been done, he feels that it
would be a pleasure to have a part in the organization of the Ashfield church; especially so if two or three of
us could be present to assist him and to unite in counsel about the work with the hope that it might
strengthen us all and tend to unity of plan and similarity of methods in future organizations.
You will not think this desire a strange one when you consider that he had a part in the raising up of
the churches in Brighton, Hawthorne, and Epsom, as well as Ashfield and that in none of these has he had a
part in the organization.
If it is at all reasonable, I should like to be with them when the Ashfield church is organized and unite
with Elds. Corliss, Hare, and McCullough in the study of the principles underlying that work.
How I wish I could have a day or two now, to talk with you about plans of work for Queensland and
South Australia. Does the outcome of the summer’s work in Launceston remind us of the necessity of
strengthening our companies when we enter important places? Shall we make plans to open the work in
South Aust. soon after this meeting? If so, where? What are the demands for labor at Broken Hill? Shall we
try to have a general meeting first in Adelaide? Or will it be well to strike Broken Hill first and have the
general meeting in Adelaide when we can make it a small camp-meeting and then follow with a strong corps
of laborers in that city.
No doubt, by the time we get to Melbourne we shall have the American mail which brings some
word regarding the views and wishes of the F.M.B. about these matters. If we are not encouraged to enter
W. Aust. this winter, how would it do to encourage Corliss to work in and about Sydney? Let Teasdale join
Starr, and send Baker and Hickox to So. Aust. Then if it is possible for you to do so, plan for you to go with
them and help them to get a good start. Then, if the churches demand labor, we could depend upon Israel for
Tasmania and Hare for V.
I was glad on reaching Hobart to learn that Palmer was to sail April 4. The letter that came this mail
give him a first class recommend, and would lead us to hope that he may do as well as Bro. Crothers.
It is a little awkward that I am away from home when my children will arrive, but I trust that they will
have good care and shall not spoil my plans for work by rushing off before the time.
The cable message I gave to Eld. Corliss to send Saturday evening did not go and when I learned this
Monday p.m. I sent it although it appeared that it was too late to do you any good. This, with the fact that
Shannon’s going has been delayed, lead me to feel quite uneasy about the matter and I wait with interest for
your next letter.
Tomorrow or next day we hope to see Eld. Baker. It seems to be a misfortune that his coming is so
long delayed. When he comes I shall hope to learn what he has done towards preparing for the Institute.
And now I must close.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 271]
Bismarck, Tasmania
April 25, 1895
Eld. L.J. Rousseau
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
My Dear Brother: This is Thursday morning, I have just returned from a walk in the forest with Mother and thought I
might write you a few lines before breakfast. We are living for a few days in a pretty little cottage which
providentially was vacant and ready furnished for our use. It is about 15 rods from the meetinghouse and
thus very handy.
The Institute begins tomorrow evening. We hope to see Eld. Baker today in Hobart. Eld. Corliss is in
Hobart, assisting the officers of the church in arranging for place of meetings etc.
Mother and May reached Hobart Wednesday April 17 and Elds. Corliss, Colcord, and I early Apr. 20.
We all attend the meetings in Hobart Sabbath. Sunday night, Eld. Corliss spoke in Hobart, and I came up here.
Monday, Eld. Corliss spoke here. Tuesday evening, Wednesday 3 p.m. and tonight Mother speaks.
Wednesday evening, Eld. Colcord. So you see, we are doing our best for Bismarck during the week, feeling
that we may have to leave soon after the convention.
I think that I have written you that Esther Smart is willing to come to N.S.W. and help in the school
family, if she can arrange for the delivery of her books in May. If not, she must wait to do it herself. Since
landing here, I have learned that you have Lillie Oliver with you, and that there is little prospect that you will
need three girls. I have also learned that Mother would be glad to employ Sr. Smart in her family. As soon as I
can, I shall write to Sr. Smart all about it, but she may already be on the way, and so I write to you at once
that there may be no more confusion than is necessary.
Have you anything to suggest about our presentation of the school question here in Tasmania? Give
us all the advice you can, and be sure to give us all the latest news. I have not heard a word from you since
your work was started, and I desire to know who is with you and how matters are moving.
In Hastings, N.Z. there is a boy named Horace Harker who is thinking of coming to the school. He is
16 yrs. old, I think. He is from an intelligent family. He has three sisters, who all have a good name as
consistent Christians and missionary workers. His father is of a good English family, but is a reckless drunkard.
His mother is dead. The children live, when at home, with a Catholic stepmother who is suspected by
Harker’s people on condition that she does not have anything to do with Harker.
Horace bears a good name, and says he is willing to do his best. His sisters are planning to cloth him.
I have been well impressed with his appearance and thought I might help him a little myself. At Palmerstone
North, I learned that he has been hurt a little by the idea that as his father was a gentleman, that he should
look for something better than ordinary work. But those who told me this did not think that he was incurably
tainted with that idea. He is well, strong, and [letter cuts off here.]
[7 – WCW – 272]
Bismarck, Tasmania
April 25, 1895
Miss Esther Smart
Irwell, N.Z.
Dear Sister: We had a pleasant trip to Hobart, which place we reached early the morning of April 20. At the home
of Bro. Lacey I met Mother and May who had been there since Wednesday. They were well and of good
courage. As there was a week before the Institute was to begin, we have been holding some meetings up
here. I spoke Sunday night, Corliss Monday, Colcord Wednesday, and Mother Tuesday and Thursday evenings
and Wednesday p.m. There has been a good attendance, all through.
I had a talk with Mother about our plans, and asked the latest news from the school. She says that
Eld. Rousseau has employed Lillie Oliver to help at the school and she has doubt if he needs three girls.
Mother also says that she has determined to employ another cook and housekeeper for the one she now has
does no planning, and has to be directed in everything. She would be very glad to employ you for her
housekeeper. She is thinking of shifting and arranging to have a smaller family. She needs one who is
accustomed to taking some care and responsibility and she would be very well pleased to employ you if you
are willing to work for her. You already know something of the work, so I need not go into particulars about
it.
I hope you will be pleased to accept the position for Mother’s work is very important and she ought
to be surrounded with those who can bear some responsibility and thus keep things right in the house when
she is absorbed with her other work. Please if not already on the way to Australia, come as soon as you are
free or write to Mother at Granville replying to this.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 273]
On Str. Pateena, Low Heads, Tasmania
May 13, 1895
Miss Ella May White
Granville, N.S.W.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Daughter: I have received two letters from you since I wrote to you last. The last one was forwarded to me
from Melbourne and came to us in Launceston, yesterday. I assure you, Ella dear, this letter gave us all very
much pleasure. We were glad to know that you are well and of good courage and that you are busy and also
that you are having some opportunities to see some of the beauties of the country around Granville. But
what gave us the most pleasure was the way you addressed us. Your new mama was very pleased that you
should address her as such, even before you have seen her. She is a dear, good woman and one who will love
you with all the strong affection of a most loving and generous nature and it gives us great pleasure to know
that your love is reaching out to her already.
We are now on the str. that carries us to Melbourne. Grandma and Mama have a nice deck cabin and
I have a berth in a good room below. We left Hobart at 2:15 and have been running down the river Tamer for
three hours. Soon we shall be out of the heads and in the open sea. We hope to be in Melbourne by noon
tomorrow. Then will begin a very busy week for me. First there will be my American mail to write for the
Vancouver Str. Then a series of committee meetings which I somehow dread. Then some work with the
bookkeepers and then preparation to return home. I sincerely hope that we can get through with it all so as
to leave in about eight days. If we can, we may be home May 23 or 24.
When I wrote to you last, we were in the midst of our Hobart Convention if I remember correctly. It
was well attended and did much good. But it was too short to accomplish all that we desired. It closed
Sunday night May 5. On Monday, we hired a team and took Mother, Mrs. Lacey, and her daughter, Minnie
Hawkins, and went to visit some of our people. First we visited the elder of the church, Bro. John Large. It was
his little girl that gave me the little dolly which I sent to you nearly three years ago. (I guess I sent it to
Mabel).
Afterwards, we visited Sr. Shannon and then took time, though it was late, to visit the Malcolm
family. We got back to Glenorchy at 8 p.m. I was very glad to have Grandma visit these folks and I am sure
that they enjoyed our visit.
When I came to Tasmania, I did not know whether my marriage with Miss Lacey would take place
there or in Australia. But when we found that her father and sisters wished it to be there at that their home
and that Sr. Lacey and her daughters all united in wishing us to have the wedding in Glenorchy, we decided to
comply with their invitation and so arranged to be married Thursday afternoon, May 9, 1895.
there were ten of us in the family and eleven of May’s old friends came in, so there were 21 present.
Mr. Palfryman, a Methodist minister married us, as none of our ministers were qualified according [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 274]
On Str. Pateena, Low Heads, Tasmania
May 13, 1895
Miss Ella May White
Granville, N.S.W.
Page 2 of 2
to the laws of Tasmania. Mr. Palfryman is an old friend of the Lacey family and he performed the ceremony
very nicely. I need not tell you how we were dressed for this you will see for yourself when we get home. The
rooms were nicely ornamented with ferns and flowers and everything was made as pleasant as it possibly
could be. We were married a little before four o’clock and at five we were ushered into the dining room
where there was a nice dinner waiting for us. At six, most of our friends were gone and we laid aside our fine
raiment and packed up our trunks and valises and at 8:30 took the train for Launceston.
We three had a first class compartment in the ry. carriage to ourselves and as we had lots of rugs and
blankets, we made ourselves very comfortable for the night. Grandma had one seat, Mama had another, and
I took half of the cushion and made me a nice bed on the floor. We rested well and were met by Eld. Baker,
who took us to the home of Bro. and Sr. Rogers, where we have been well cared for.
How I wish the work in Melbourne was done, and that we could come right on to Granville. I do so
long to see you and Mabel. They tell me that you have grown to be a large girl, and I am so glad. There are
many little things that you can learn to do for me that will help to make my work lighter.
I was very glad to hear what you wrote to me about Mary Mortensen. I think she will be happy with
the one who wishes her companionship, and I believe she will be very useful in the field to which she expects
to go. I wait with interest for more information.
Since I began to write, they have driven me back just over the propeller because they wanted to lay
the table, and it is not a good place to write, so I will rest till tea is over.
Well, tea is over, and now I will resume. While the others were eating, I went on deck and had a nap.
So you see, no time is lost.
Dear Ella, I do not know what our future may be, but I hope that we may have had a little home up at
Avondale where you and Mabel can go to school some and where Grandma can live with us and have all the
advantages of being close to those who will be glad to serve her in any way that they can. This will give us a
chance to have a rural home, and it will give you and Mabel a chance to study into and learn how to manage
various lines of work. You see, we could have a pony if we can get a quiet one that you could manage and
care for, also a cow of our own. Then there would be a chance to keep fowls and perhaps some bees.
Well, perhaps it is not best for me to go much farther in the building of air castles, but I really hope
that we may be able to have home up there, and if you and Mabel enter heartily into the matter of making a
home there, we are pretty sure to have a good time.
And now I hope you will have a good time at Granville and be happy and make others happy. We
shall come to you as soon as we can. When I get to Melbourne I shall see Charlie and Clara Colcord and if you
have not yet written to them, I think it would be glad to hear from you.
And now I will close, with much love in which your Mama and Grandma join me.
Your father,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 275]
Str. Pateena, Bass Straits
May 13, 1895
Miss Mabel E. White
Granville, N.S.W.
My dear Little Girl: I was very glad to receive your letter about two days ago which was addressed to “Papa, Mama, and
Grandma”. We were all much pleased to receive the letter and this is my first opportunity to write an answer.
I have just written two pages to Ella and so I do not need to repeat what I have written to her.
We had a very nice visit at the home of Bro. Lacey. They made us very welcome and we were quite
happy there. I wish you could have been with us to get acquainted with your six new aunties. They are a very
kind and jolly lot and you will be sure to like them. We hope that they may sometime be our neighbors up at
Avondale.
Bro. Lacey or “Grandpa Lacey” as you may sometime learn to call him, is a very kind and hospitable
man and the whole family seemed to enjoy our visit. They gave us a nice wedding and many times I thought
of you and Ella and wished you were there to be with us.
I am glad that you have been down the Parramatta River and that you have been to the Botanical
Gardens and to the zoo. If I had been with you, I think we might have ventured to have a ride on the
elephant. I was never on an elephant’s back, but would like to have a ride on one someday. In the Review of
Reviews, there is a picture that represents the animals in the Sydney Zoo as starving. Is it correct? It
represents the lion as saying “My kingdom for some horse!” and the big bear saying “All I want is a bear
living.”, etc. Do they look bad?
Last Friday, we hired an open hack and Grandma, Mama, and I, with Brn. Baker and Teasdale and
their wives, took a ride about Launceston. At the “Gorge” we all left the Hack and walked a long way up the
gorge and there ate our lunch in a summer house. It was a very wild and pretty place. There was a deep river
on one side of our path and great rocks on the other side. Up by the summer house there was a little valley
and some nice flowers, and also a large flock of milk-white doves. All along the path there was lots of ivy
growing up the rocks and in every little glen and alcove, there grew beautiful tree ferns. I would have been
very glad if you and Ella had been with us to enjoy it all. When we were driving after dinner, I told the driver
to take us home by 3:30 instead of 4, as we had agreed and it was a good thing, for soon after the folks were
in the house and while we were getting the trunks from the depot there came a heavy dash of rain that
would have drenched them if they had been out in it.
I have suggested to Ella that you and she write to Charlie and Ciara Colcord. I am sure that they will
be glad to hear from you.
Now my dearie, I want you to be a good girl and have a good time and when we get home, we shall
be a very happy little family. [Letter cuts off here.]
[7 – WCW – 276]
Melbourne, Victoria
May 16, 1895
L.J. Rousseau
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Brother: I have received several interesting communications from you late and as I write this, have just
opened your telegram stating that the committee’s report on valuation of subdivision was mailed this
morning, we wait with interest to receive it, and shall give it due consideration.
I cannot take time this morning to answer your letters fully or even to refer to the various points of
interest. The question which Brother Mackenzie has asked regarding our authority for having the deeds of
the Avondale tract in the name of White & Reekie is difficult to answer. When we paid the first £25 to bind
the bargain for the land, I expected soon to receive a power of attorney from the G.C.A. and so the contract
was made by W.C. White in behalf of the G.C.A. and so the contract was made by W.C. White in behalf of the
G.C.A. then as to the power of attorney did not come, I proposed to the Union Conference Committee that
the deeds be made to White & Reekie. It now appears from your statement the minutes that this matter
regarding the minutes that this matter was never formally acted upon by the committee. Elder Daniells wrote
to me that it would please the Victorian members as well as if I took the deed in my own name alone, but
McCullough and I thought it better to have it in the name of White & Reekie, believing that the two names
would give more confidence to our people and so it was thus arranged. I did not anticipate any [page break]
[7 – WCW – 277]
Melbourne, Victoria
May 16, 1895
L.J. Rousseau
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
Page 2 of 3
legal complications, supposing that the parties who paid the money would receive the deeds without the risk
of technical difficulties.
I now regret that this matter has taken the form that it has. It would have been better perhaps to
pay one month’s interest unjustly than to be dragged into a controversy in which we cannot present the
documents to show our relationship to the G.C.A. and our authority to act for them. We have nothing
whatever to show our relationship to the G.C.A. and if we try to make a stand by showing that we were
acting for the Union Conference which is the representative of the General Conference in Australasia, we
should be perplexed to answer questions regarding its organization, constitution, etc. because its
constitution was never perfected and because Elder Olsen carried away with him all the copies. I should very
much dislike to be called upon to give evidence, because as matters now stand, a sharp lawyer in cross
questioning could make our position appear very ridiculous. We might say that the president of the General
Conference gave me verbal authority to purchase land and to hold it in whatever way we deemed best, until
such times as the G.C.A. should find it convenient to send us a power of attorney or we might endeavor to
show the relationship of the Union Conference Committee to the General Conference, and then present
some resolution which the committee could now make, covering the action taken by Reekie and myself. I fear
the first would not be accepted without proof, and that the second would lead into many complications and
difficulties. At present, we have not a quorum of the U.C.C. and it will not be convenient [page break]
[7 – WCW – 278]
Melbourne, Victoria
May 16, 1895
L.J. Rousseau
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
Page 3 of 3
to secure one, unless you think best to come down here early next week.
If this matter can be compromised by the payment of a few pounds, I believe it will be much better
for us than to continue a controversy. Please talk this matter over with Mackenzie and ask him to permit this
letter to count as a letter to his. If you think that we cannot compromise this matter but must push on with
the controversy, please give us your comments on what I have said above.
I have just received your circular letter of May 13. I think it is excellent, and will be of interest to our
people and of much value to the school enterprise. I have just requested that a draft for £60 sent by Elder
Loughborough to me for the school, shall be sent here for my signature, after which I will return it to you.
In our meeting yesterday, it was recommended that Brother Hickox join Dr. Kellogg in labor in
Broken Hill, and that George Teasdale join Elder Starr in labor in Queensland.
Yours in haste and much love,
W.C. White
(A.M.)
P.S. By reference to yours of April 30, I see that you have been perplexed about money. I am sorry for this,
when I see you I will talk over the situation with you. I am sorry for this, when I see you I will talk over the
situation with you. I fear that matters will not be very satisfactory until we get our Union Conference
accounts straightened out and know where we stand. I was a little pained at the insinuation that I had
willingly left you in a tight place, but have decided not to take it seriously, but only as an expression of your
perplexity.
I was thankful to receive a copy of yours of March 4, the original had never reached me. The letter of
March 8 I had received, but do not object to a second copy.
Yours in haste,
W.
[7 – WCW – 279]
Melbourne, Victoria
May 16, 1895
Granville, New South Wales
Page 1 of 2
Dear Sister: We have received several short letters from you, all of which have been read with the deepest
interest. For a week or two we have been read with the deepest interest. For a week or two we have had but
little time to write and I shall not have time this morning to refer to more than two or three letters, some of
which require immediate attention. We are well and of good courage. Mother is stopping with Brother and
Sister Israel, May and I take our dinners with them and we lodge with Brother and Sister Faulkhead.
Yesterday morning, Mother went with us to inspect several lots from which we hope to select one for our
Melbourne meeting house. May is spending considerable time with the dentist, who is trying to make a gold
mine of her mouth.
From my American letters, I learn that a draft on London for $300 has been sent to me. This is a
donation from Eld.er J.N. Loughborough to the Bible School, and knowing as I do that the Bible School is
rather short of funds, I think best to request you to send the draft here, so that I may endorse it and send it
back to them without delay.
I shall remember your request that we bring money. Mother has a credit here at the Echo Office, and
I will arrange to bring what will be needed for a few months at least. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 280]
Melbourne, Victoria
May 16, 1895
Granville, New South Wales
Page 2 of 2
We have been very much cheered by the word which you have sent us about the children. We can
see that you are doing your best to entertain them and to make them truly happy, for this I feel more
thankful than I can express. Their last letters gave us very much pleasure.
I have received several communications from Sister Davis, which as yet I have not been able to
answer. We shall hold a meeting of the Book Committee this afternoon at which time many of the questions
introduced in these letters will be thoroughly discussed; after this I hope to write to Sister Davis, telling her of
our decisions and plans. Brother Salisbury has received the M.S.S. and I have her letter of May 13 in which
she says that our requirements regarding the M.S.S. have been met in every particular and that a copy will be
sent to Battle Creek by the Vancouver mail unless we object, I have no objection and hope the M.S.S. will go.
If anything comes up this afternoon, I will write immediately.
W.C. White
(A.M.)
[7 – WCW – 281]
On train to Wellington, N.Z.
April 4, 1895
Pastor G.T. Wilson
Onehunga, N.Z.
My Dear Brother: Yours of Mar. 27 came to hand April 2. I had just a sent you a letter telling you of my effort to get
money into your hands at once from Bro. Joseph Hare.
As regards the $2,000.00 sent by the F.M.B. to the Union Conf. Com. I must confess that I have
hardly known how it would be handled or on what plan it would be apportioned. The instructions and
information from headquarters regarding it to me, have been very meager.
As regards the division between Aust. and N.Z. I think of suggesting that we make the same division
as we do of the school funds. Of that, we apportioned 3/7 to N.Z. If this division is approved by the Union
Conf. Com. the next question will be upon whom will devolve the apportionment on the fund to individual
placed. Will it be best for the Union Conf. Com. to do this, or shall we turn it over to the N.Z. and Aust. Conf.
Committees? It seems to me that in matters of this sort we cannot be too careful to do everything with the
greatest care so that sectional and ____ feelings will not arise and complaints grow into grievances.
Therefore, I suggest that the Colonial Conf. make request and the Union Conf. approve in each case.
This may seem to take more time than we like, but if in the future when there comes up a question
as to whether the north or the south has had more than its share then it will be good to be able to fall back
on the fact that the appropriation was made by the sanction of the Union Conf. Com.
Please give me your views on all these points and get the views of Eld. Steed also. I will talk them
over with Crothers and Mountain. When I get to Melbourne I wish to have all these matters closed up
satisfactorily.
If there are any other matters that you wish the U.C.C. to consider when we meet, please write them
out and state your views on each point raised.
I pray that you may have health and courage, and that the Lord will grant you wisdom to use your
time and strength just where he wants you to labor.
Tuesday and Wednesday a.m. I visited most of our people in P.N. and last night, we had a meeting at
Bro. Morris’ place. I would have remained longer to present school plans, but as Eld. Corliss was to come
today, I thought best to push on.
When you come along, I hope that some will be ready to help our school that are not now ready to
do anything.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 282]
May 19, 1895
Elder O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 1 of 4
My Dear Brother: Since I wrote to you last, Elders Corliss, Colcord, and I have completed our New Zealand trip,
attended the Tasmanian Convention, and are now all here in Melbourne.
We reached Hobart early Sabbath morning, April 20, after a pleasant and comfortable trip from New
Zealand. On the early train we went out to Glenorchy where I found Mother and May at the hospitable home
of Brother and Sister Lacey. Mother was well and of good courage and was able to do her usual amount of
work during the Tasmanian Convention.
The Convention was well attended and we feel much encouraged regarding the results of the
meeting and the future of the work in Tasmania. It is greatly to be regretted that some of the officers in the
matter of appreciation of the times in which we live and the character and spirit of the work which ought to
be done; otherwise than this, the convention was fully equally to our expectations. During the convention,
our brethren in Tasmania expressed quite a strong desire that a laborer should be located in that colony who
could take charge of the work there in all its various phases and who would be able to educate the officers
and the members of the churches regarding the various lines of work and who would take them into his
counsels regarding the work in that field. I will enclose to you a copy of a letter which I began to write to
Elder G.T. Wilson that will give you a statement of their feelings better than anything I could take time to
write today. I will say that this letter has not been sent to Elder Wilson and it may be that I shall not think
best to send it after receiving the criticisms of the Australian Conference Committee, I have read it to them
and have not yet heard their views regarding the questions and propositions therein raised.
We are now in the midst of our councils here regarding plans of labor in the various colonies, and the
distribution of laborers. I read to them a greater portion of your very kind and interesting letter written at the
close of the General Conference, in which you expressed your personal views regarding some of the
questions that we have submitted to the Mission Board. I cannot express to you our feelings of gratitude and
thankfulness for the very kind, considerate and liberal way in which you have treated us. We thank the Lord
with hearts full to overflowing and we thank you and your co-laborers for all the kindness and consideration
manifested to us in all these matters. I cannot [page break]
[7 – WCW – 283]
May 19, 1895
Elder O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 2 of 4
take time today to speak particularly of anything, but will just hurry off a few lines that you may know how
much we appreciate what has been done for us and to give you an intimation of what we are planning to do
in the various colonies.
At the first meeting of the Union Conference Committee we did little more than to make a review of
the field, and speak of the condition of the work in the various colonies and of the wishes and expectations of
our people. Then I read some of my letters to you and portions of your letters in response. To some of our
brethren, the deliverance from financial embarrassment and the relief consequent upon this who has been
wrought by your liberality toward us was really like the opening and of the propositions to be brought before
the Board have come at a time to be of great service to us, because at this meeting in which we are now
engaged, we must outline the general features of our work for the next twelve months.
At our first meeting of the Australian Conference Committee, letter were read showing that Dr.
Kellogg has been greatly blessed in his labors in Adelaide and Broken Hill and that his work is much
appreciated by the people in those places. In Broken Hill on our brethren have pressed him to begin public
meetings, this he has done and the meetings have grown upon his hands until it seems necessary to send
someone to work with him. We have thought that Brother Hickox was as good a one that we could select and
have voted that Elder Hickox and Dr. Kellogg be encouraged to conduct a series of tent meetings in Broken
Hill. It is thought by our brethren that a tent meeting can be conducted there through the Winter season. The
Committee also voted to recommend Bro. Teasdale to join Elder Starr in labor in Queensland and that Elder
Wilson be invited to come to Tasmania and make that his field of labor.
The question has been raised on our committees as to what relation the Queensland mission and the
West Australian Mission will sustain to the Union Conference. We take it for granted that when these
become regularly established missions of the General Conference that they will sever their organic
connection with the Australian Conference, and the question then arises as to how the General Conference
will desire to deal with them, will it deal with them directly or through the Union Conference? And this is a
question which we would like to receive instruction upon at your earliest convenience.
I am very glad to learn through a letter to Bro. Salisbury that you are studying the questions
regarding the relations of the Union Conference to the local conferences, the G.C.A. and F.M.B. and that you
are working out some plans for us to operate upon with regard to finances and other matters. We greatly feel
the need of such instruction [page break]
[7 – WCW – 284]
May 19, 1895
Elder O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 3 of 4
and we shall receive it with deepest gratitude. We feel the need of having our duties outlined in many
particulars but especially do we need instruction regarding the management of funds, so that there shall not
be a continuance of ill feeling and continual nagging from the managers of the London home. Some of the
letters written by Bro. Gibson to us and to the New Zealand Tract Society are quite unpleasant to read and
they must be very unpleasant to write; the only way that we have been able to bear them patiently was the
belief that he did not understand the situation.
I am somewhat surprised that the burden of this work should be left wholly with you. It seems a pity
that some of the financiers who have been criticizing us could not have devoted some time and energy to the
working out of a remedy, but as they have not taken this matter in hand, I am exceedingly thankful that you
have, and I am sure that the plans developed will be both most merciful and just. I can see one important
reason why this sort of a thing should receive your attention and that is your acquaintance with the work in
foreign fields and your deep interest in its prosperity in every particular.
I wish you would send to me a copy of the constitution of the Union Conference as worked over by
yourself at the house of Elder Daniells after the close of the camp-meeting. I suppose that copies of this had
been left in the hands of the secretary, but he says he has nothing and I cannot find among my papers a copy.
I thought perhaps you had left copies at Elder Daniells’ house but on examining the papers left there, I found
they were duplicates of some of the first drafts. Somehow or other, this matter has slipped my mind when
writing to you until now. I need not tell you that we wait with deepest interest for the information which the
next American mail will bring us regarding Brother Sisley’s coming, and also the decisions of the G.C.A.
regarding the Echo Company as a depository for Australasia.
The New Zealand people seem perfectly will to trade with us if without loss to themselves. The Echo
Co., could handle the N.Z. business with very little additional expense and whatever percentage there is in
that business for the Company is certainly much needed. There is in that business for the Company is
certainly much needed. Our trade book business is in a very unsatisfactory condition all round and we wait
with interest for the word from you which shall encourage us to purchase our books from the manufacturers
with the understanding that we are to have the same prices as are now given by one publishing house to
another.
I want to thank you most heartily for all the care and kindness you have manifested for me and to my
children. I approve of every step that you have taken and I feel to thank you much more than I can express
both for the decisions you have made for the interest you have manifested for me and to them, and for the
tenderness with which you [page break]
[7 – WCW – 285]
May 19, 1895
Elder O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 4 of 4
have exercised more than a father’s care. I shall never forget it, and pray that I may learn by this example
how to anticipate the wants of others and to care for them.
On Thursday, May 9 at the home of Brother and Sister Lacey in Glenorchy I was united in marriage to
Sister May Lacey. The wedding was a very quiet affair, there being about a dozen old friends of the family
present.
My children have been well cared for since their arrival in Sydney, they are kept busy and seem quite
happy and are bearing their disappointment in not meeting me with a good degree of fortitude. We were
very pleasantly surprised a few days ago to receive letters from both Ella and Mabel, addressed to “Papa,
Mama, and Grandma”. You can readily see that this feeling on their part makes us very hopeful and happy.
Please express my kindest regards to Sister Olsen and the boys.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
(A.M.)
[7 – WCW – 286]
16 Best St., North Fitzroy
May 17, 1895
Eld. F.M. Wilcox
Dear Brother, -I have your short but very welcome letter of March 28 and must write a few words in reply. I have
also a long and very interesting letter from Eld. Olsen written the same date, in which he has kindly given us
an intimation of what plans you are favoring regarding Australasia when the Mission Board shall meet. This
with your short letter gives us great satisfaction. Our hearts are melted as we consider the kindness and
liberality of our brethren toward the work in this field in this, our time of utmost need.
Our brethren in Melbourne hope within a few weeks to secure grounds for a meetinghouse so that
the work of building can commence before the wet weather. It is possible however that we shall have to wait
until next spring. The decision of the Mission Board about Annie Wessel Lindsay’s gift gives us heart and
courage. Next month I hope to give you many particulars about the progress and plans for our school work,
and I shall endeavor then to report the result of our effort to raise money in New Zealand. I think however
that there has been up to the present time about £400 pledged by the New Zealand brethren. Some of their
pledges are on long time, but some payments are due next month. At the Tasmanian meeting we did not
receive much for the school. This matter will need to be presented there next November when they hope to
hold a camp-meeting in or near Hobart.
Please write to me fully what the plans of the Mission Board are regarding the Queensland and West
Australian Mission and do not fail to tell us very distinctly what relation these missions will bear to the Union
Conference and what the duties and responsibilities of the Union Conference Committee will be toward the
work in those fields. There are many reasons why this should be clearly defined. We are so far away from the
headquarters of the Mission Board that the workers in these fields will naturally look to us for counsel and
they will urge that the work be directed by the Union Conference Committee and that some members of the
committee shall occasionally visit these fields. We will want full instruction on all these points and also with
regard to our financial relations and the manner of handling accounts and funds.
The enclosed card will acquaint you with the fact that I was united in marriage on May 9 to Sister
May Lacey, formerly of Hobart, Tasmania.
Yours in haste and in much love,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 287]
May 17, 1895
W.H. Edwards
My Dear Brother, -I must now write a few lines in response to yours of March 26. I feel embarrassed to write to you
because I have several unanswered letters which deserve careful attention, but my time is too limited to
write more today. Please express to Eld. Loughborough my hearty thanks in behalf of all our brethren and
especially our young people who are waiting for school buildings for his generous gift of three hundred
dollars toward the Bible school. I receive encouraging reports from Eld. Rousseau which indicate a good
degree of prosperity is attending our initial effort at Avondale.
I am thankful to the General Conference that it has dealt with me so liberally. I am sure I did not
deserve it, and I wish it was within my power to do at this time as I used to do years ago when I thought they
had paid me too much but I will refrain until I see how my accounts stand. I hope on returning home to give
some attention to my accounts so that I may make reports and may know how I stand.
As regards the sale of my furniture and my house, I desire to leave it wholly to the judgment of
Brother Lindsay and yourself with such counsel as Brother Sisley may give. The house cost me something
more than $1400 but as property has dropped in value, and as a loss must sometime be sustained, I think
that it is better to sell the place now at whatever you may be able to get above $1000. The position and the
size of the lot are very favorable and are worth nearly that amount without the buildings. Please do the best
you can for me.
The children are waiting for me in Granville. They had a comfortable voyage most of the way. I hope
to see them one week from today. The enclosed card will convey to you the information regarding my
marriage.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 288]
Glenorchy, Tasmanian
May 7, 1895
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Auckland, N.Z.
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Brother: A few days ago, I received two very welcome letters from you accompanied by a copy of yours to the
F.M.B. which I have not yet read. I hope to examine it soon. Since coming here, our time has been very fully
occupied with the meetings at Bismark and the convention here which has just closed.
I consider that the convention has been a very successful one. It has not been what we planned, but
it has been a very busy meeting and it has accomplished much good. The presence of Eld. Corliss and Mother
enabled us to develop some lines of work much more fully than we had planned; and the scarcity of time and
absence from the meetings of the officers of the churches prevented our dwelling as much as we had
planned upon the duties of Church Officers.
Eld. Colcord left us Friday May 3. He spent Sabbath and Sunday in Launceston and spoke four times.
Monday, Elds. Baker and Corliss followed and Eld. Corliss was to speak there yesterday and tomorrow. Next
Friday, Mother, May, and I follow and Mother will speak next Sabbath and Sunday. We expect to sail Monday
May 13 for Melbourne and hope to reach Granville May 23. Then I shall see my children who have been
waiting for me since Tuesday April 30. They write that they arrived safely and are very glad to be on shore.
Many of the brethren here in Tasmania remember your visit with much pleasure and they ask to be
remembered to you. In one of our meetings where we met to discuss the future of the work in Tasmania,
there was manifested a strong desire that a minister should be stationed in Tasmania who would not settle
down to work in one place and forget all the rest, but who would carry the whole island in his heart and go
from place to place where there are small interests to develop them and who would visit the churches
occasionally to instruct them how to work and to show them how to work by working with them.
Some of the brn. went so far as to suggest that Tasmania was able to support a minister, and ought
to be a conference by itself. Some thought this was going too far, but desired that some arrangement be
made by which the work could be superintended by a man who was located in the field and who was
conversant with the condition and wants of the work in all its phases.
from my brief acquaintance with the field, I am inclined to believe that much would be gained to the
cause if the work was here in charge of someone whose interests were bound up in Tasmania and who would
plan and work for all its interests, great and small, and who was determined to depend upon the tithes raised
here and would rein up the people to pay faithfully.
There are numerous places a few miles out from Hobart where a few are interested in the message
and many places where there are one or two or three keeping the Sabbath. These are the places that are
[page break]
[7 – WCW – 289]
Glenorchy, Tasmanian
May 7, 1895
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Auckland, N.Z.
Page 2 of 3
most needing attention and which promise the best results. Of course, there is work to be done in the cities
but it is not so urgent as this work in the byways and hedges.
There are among the brethren here quite a number who have done some work as canvassers and
there is little doubt but what they could be encouraged to engage in the work again, if they were watched by
one interested in the field who would encourage them at the time of year when they are most free and
would labor to keep them going when tempted to quit the field.
From what I see and hear, the people in Tasmania are rather slow and serious and would bear with
plain dealing and plain preaching, more joyfully than the people of some other of the colonies. Here in
Hobart and more so in Bismark, there are a lot of Germans who are kindhearted, earnest, and simple people
who need to have the educational and energizing influences of general meetings very much. They are mostly
farmers and have their own homes, but their produce brings but little and they handled but little money, and
pay but little tithe. But if a minister was located near them, they would contribute produce for his living quite
freely, I am sure.
In our meeting for the consideration of the future work here in Tasmania after the brethren had
spoken quite freely about the openings for labor and had expressed their views regarding the character of
work to be done first, and the kind of a man that they wanted, they asked what the prospect was of their
getting such a minister. I told them that such workers were few and that among those that I knew, there was
none who seemed better suited to the field and work who could possibly be moved than yourself. I tell you I
was glad that you had been here and most of them felt that they knew you. They asked if you could be
secured for this field, and I had to tell them that I did not know but that if they were sure that they wanted
you and should express themselves to that effect, that I would lay the matter before you, and the Australian
and New Zealand Conf. Committees and see what could be done.
The brethren passed a unanimous vote asking the Aust. Conf. Com. to invite you to come a labor in
Tasmania. They also resolved “That we deem it to be for the best interests of the work in Tasmania that we
hold a camp-meeting in Hobart in November next.” It was also voted that the two or three pounds left over
from what was collected on Hall Rent should be deposited with the Aust. Conf. as the first of a Tasmanian
Camp-Meeting Fund.
I am more and more convinced from what I see here that the work in each of these colonies ought to
be worked up from some center of thought and consultation within the colony itself. This is the only way I
can see to secure that attention to small interests that they deserve and also the only way I see to secure the
support for the proper number of workers.
I believe that if a man and his wife have had a good degree of experience with our work in its various
branches would come here and say “Now I will identify my interest with the brethren in Tasmania for the
building up of the work here so long as the brethren will stand by us and the Union Conference think we
should work in that field.” Then if he would situate himself so that his expenses were very [page break]
[7 – WCW – 290]
Glenorchy, Tasmania
May 7, 1895
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Auckland, N.Z.
Page 3 of 3
small, so that he could live on a salary that was commensurate with the small incomes of the brethren. I
believe that he would be able to stir them up to a more general and more faithful payment of tithes, and that
before long there would be enough raised in Tasmania to pay the minister and to support one Bible worker
besides.
You may ask, “What relation would the work in Tasmania sustain to the Australian and to the Union
Conferences.” In answer, I will say that we might consider four propositions. 1. Let the organic relations
remain as they are but with the understanding that the workers in this field are to counsel with the brethren
here in an informal way, and that they are to strive to bring up the tithe to cover the expenses of the field. 2.
Let Tasmania stand as a mission under the direction of the Aust. Conf. 3. Let Tasmania stand as a mission
under the direction of the Union Conference. 4. Organize it into an independent Conf.
I am not prepared to speak fully of the advantages and disadvantages of these various plans till after
consultation with my brethren in Melbourne. It appears to me that an effort to organize a Tasmanian
Conference this year or next would be premature.
If Tasmania was set off as a Mission under the direction of the Union Conference the plan of
organization would be similar to that of the General Conference Missions, such as Russia, Germany, England,
etc. The Managing Committee are appointed by the Gen. Conf. Com. One com. takes charge of all lines of
work and appoints secretaries to take the special care of the several lines. In In most cases, the Managing
Com. which is called “The Advisory Committee” is composed of five members. This Com. has power to choose
from its own number or otherwise, a Treas. Recording Secretary and as many Corresponding Secretaries as
the work demands.
In a case like Tasmania, we should find persons to take most of these offices without compensation.
Only one would be likely to require pay and that would be one to act as Treas. and take charge of the Book
and Tract Depository. The secretaries caring for S.S. and Conf. Correspondence could be found who would
work without pay. It may be possible to arrange for this one also to work without pay, but this one who cared
for the Book Bus. would have the most work of the lot.
To make this plan of work a success we would need some help from the F.M.B. when the time came
to make strong efforts for Hobart.
If Tasmania was a distinct mission of the Australian Conference, there would be a local Advisory
Committee to counsel about work and Conf. Finance and the Tract So. and S.S. relations would stand as at
present, I suppose. These are simply suggestions of plans that are developing in my mind and when I get to
Melbourne, the committee may sit on them so solid as to smash them all. You may think that my writing to
you is premature. Perhaps it is but I felt like writing while the matter was fresh on my mind. The effort to
write out these plans show me just how far they are clearly developed, and wherein they are incomplete. The
criticism that will come from the reading of this letter will do much to set me on the right lines for their
perfection.
And now a few words about the work in New Zealand. Before I received your letter in which you
suggested that it might be well for Eld. Fulton to begin work in some small place in the South Island, I [end]
[7 – WCW – 291]
May 13, 1895
Eld. F.D. Starr
Battle Creek
My dear Brother, -I have received two letters from you which are waiting answer. At the present moment both of them
are out of my reach. I hope to find and answer them next month.
The chief purpose of this letter is to call your attention to the fact that we have sent to the secretary
of the G.C.A. the completed manuscript for Mother’s new book, “Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing”. And
I now request you as secretary of the Book Committee to use your efforts and influence for the pushing
forward of this work, I include in this not only its early publication in the English language by the G.C.A. but
also its translation and publication in the foreign languages. Since writing to you first about this work, my
plans regarding the manner of its publication have been somewhat changed. Our present desire is that the
G.C.A. but also its translation and publication in the foreign languages. Since writing to you first about this
work, my plans regarding the manner of its publication have been somewhat changed. Our present desire is
that the G.C.A. shall take the work in hand, illustrate, and publish it and arrange with the various parties in
different parts of the world regarding the work of printing. From the first letter which I wrote to you and a
copy of which was sent to J.N. Nelson, both the Book Committee and the G.C.A. can see what our ideas are
regarding royalty. I trust that they will bear in mind that I am not fully acquainted with all their present plans
and arrangements. Therefore it seems to me that it is not worthwhile for me to rack my brain to make
further propositions to them, but that it is best to ask them [letter cuts off]
[7 – WCW – 292]
May 17, 1895
TO THE GENERAL CONFERENCE ASSOCIATION
Dear Brethren, -You have no doubt read my recent letter to the S.D.A. Book Committee regarding the publication of
Mother’s new work, “Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing”. By this mail complete manuscript of the work is
being sent to you. By the next mail, we shall be able to post you proofs, showing the style in which we are
issuing the work here. You will also receive by this mail several communications from Sister Davis regarding
the manuscripts, the plan of the work, the illustrations, etc. We will ask you to give these due consideration.
Since receiving letters from you asking that the publication of this work be placed in the hands of the
G.C.A., we have decided to comply with your request and to give you the first opportunity as publishers. We
suggest that you take entire charge of the work, not only of its publication in the foreign languages, but also
in the English and that you take entire charge of the work of illustrating the book. It is with this in view that
Sister Davis has sent you sketches and suggestions about the illustrations. It is with this in view that we have
kept Brother Gibson of the London office posted with reference to all our plans, so that he might intelligently
and without loss of time, go to work for the illustrating of the book. Hoping to hear from you by return mail, I
am,
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 293]
“Norfolk Villa”, Prospect St., Granville, N.S.W.
May 31, ‘95
Eld. J.M. Cole
Norfolk Island
Page 1 of 4
My Dear Brother, After an absence of just four months, I returned to Granville yesterday. Here I met my children from
whom I have been separated nearly four years. They are both well and happy and gave their new mother a
hearty greeting.
You will see by the enclosed card that Sister May Lacey and myself were married at the home of her
father about three weeks ago. You will remember meeting her at the Sydney camp-meeting. You can
appreciate better than I can tell you the joy that is brought into my life by having a loving companion; and the
pleasure of meeting my children once more.
I know not what the future has in store for us, but we are now planning to spend a few months here,
and then locate near our school. Probably Mother will buy a small tract of land and build a cottage large
enough for herself and my family; then we will rent the place from her, and she will board with us. This will
save her the expense and perplexity and worry of maintaining a large family. We will also build a small
cottage nearby to furnish rooms for copyists, stenographers, etc. and encourage most of her workers to
board with some good family close by.
I may find time later on to write you something about the work in New Zealand and Tasmania; but
this morning I must confine myself to a brief of the matters referred to in your letters. While in New Zealand I
received a letter from you asking my counsel about your going to Fiji, I did not answer you because I knew
not what to say. I suppose I ought to have written telling you why I was not free to give any advice, but day
by day I hoped that something would occur to enable me to form an opinion which I could write to you.
In Tasmania, I received another letter telling us about the slow progress of the work. I am very sorry
that matters drag so slowly, but do not know that I can suggest anything that will help you much. It has been
my intention to place all my correspondence regarding the work in the islands before a special committee;
and this I hope to do next week, possibly in time to send you word by this mail, which does not go until next
Tuesday. But I will write briefly this morning, fearing that something will occur to prevent my getting off the
longer letter in time.
I see that the Gen’l Conf. have voted that you should go to Fiji and that they have sent Dr. Braucht
and wife there also. They went out on the “Pitcairn”, which sailed from San Francisco May 1st, 1895.
Bro. C.H. Jones, in a letter written May 2nd, tells us about the departure of the “Pitcairn” on her
fourth voyage. After speaking of the [page break]
[7 – WCW – 294]
May 31, ‘95
Eld. J.M. Cole
Norfolk Island
Page 2 of 4
plans of the Board, and some necessary changes he says: “The missionaries now consist of the following named persons: Dr. F.E. Braucht and wife, Eld. E.
Hilliard and wife, Eld. J.D. Rice and wife and child, E.S. Butz and wife, and R.T. Prickett and wife.
Past experience has demonstrated that the Foreign Mission Board cannot outline definitely just
where missionaries should be located and just what shall be done when the boat reaches the islands so on
this cruise only general instructions have been given. You know that they are pushing the school enterprise
on Pitcairn Island. Bro. McCoy has been putting up three large buildings, one for a boy’s dormitory, one for a
girl’s dormitory, and one for a school building. The school is to be conducted on the same general plan as our
schools in this country. This will of course demand teachers. We could not find on short notice just the
persons we thought best for this work. However, it is expected that Brother and Sister Butz will take hold of
the work at Pitcairn Island for one year, and we hope that Sister Andre will remain to assist them”
In a letter from Secretary Wilcox of April 25th in answer to my proposition that Dr. Kellogg and
yourself be sent to Fiji, he says, “With regard to Dr. Kellogg going to Fiji I cannot write intelligently because I do not know what
action has been taken by the Committee on Polynesia on the Pacific Coast. It was recommended some time
ago for Dr. F.E. Braucht and wife to go to Fiji in connection with Elder J.M. Cole to open up the work there,
but the committee on the Pacific Coast was given power to rearrange matters as might be thought best upon
further consideration and consultation with Elder Gates, Capt. Graham, and others in California. I trust we
shall be able to go over all the matters connected with the Australian work very carefully at the next meeting
and give you a definite idea with regard to the mind of the Board as pertaining to the same.”
In my letter from Eld. O.A. Olsen written at Oakland, Cal. Apr. 18, he speaks of your working in Fiji
with Dr. Braucht; but as I cannot now find the place will not attempt to quote.
Bro. Jones, in speaking further of the Island work says,
“Bro. Elliott Chapman thinks that he must return to this country for a few months, at least, on
account of his wife’s health. We do not want to give up the work at Tahiti, and as the way seems to be
hedged up at Raiatea, the plan is to let Brother Cady locate at Tahiti and have general charge of the work in
the Society group, and have Brother and Sister Wellman come to Tahiti to look after the printing business in
the absence of Brother Chapman. Sister Lillian White will probably go to Raratonga to assist in school work.
Brother Cady will go with the ship on this cruise in order to become better acquainted with the situation of
things, then return to Tahiti and take up the work there. Bro. and Sister Rice will probably locate at Raratonga
to engage in teaching and other labors as the way may open. Dr. Caldwell writes that there is a special call for
teachers at this time, and he thinks we ought to enter the field. Bro. and Sister Hilliard and Bro. Rowen
Prickett will probably [page break]
[7 – WCW – 295]
May 31, ‘95
Eld. J.M. Cole
Norfolk Island
Page 3 of 4
locate at the Tonga Islands to up open up new work; and if Brother J.R. McCoy is willing, he will be taken on
board at Pitcairn Island and left with these brethren to assist in the work. Bro. and Sister Owen, who are now
in Raratonga, will be taken on board and go to Fiji in company with Dr. Braucht and wife. I see by your letter
that there is some prospect of Brother Cole and others going to Fiji. If it is found that these brethren are
already there, then some other arrangements will have to be made; but this will have to be left for Capt.
Graham and those in charge to decide.
We have a most excellent crew, the best, I think that ever went out on the “Pitcairn” as follows: J.E.
Graham, Captain; Peter Hansen, Mate; R.K. Shur, Steward; Wm. Flooding, Cabin Boy; J.E. Werge, Bo-Sun. The
sailors consist of the following: G.W. Nelson, Peter Rosenfeldt, Chris. Treulieb and John Chilton. Peter
Rosenfeldt is a fine young man who has embraced the truth under the labors of Bro. LaRue in China. He has
been a sailor for fifteen years, and as far as we can judge is a converted man, and earnest and devoted. We
might say the same of all the others. Peter Rosenfeldt and Chris. Treulieb when boys were members of the
same church (Greek church) in Russia. It is quite a remarkable coincidence that they have now both
embraced the truth and come together here on the “Pitcairn”.”
You will notice in this that Bro. Jones speaks of the possibility of Bro. Owens’ going to Fiji with his
son-in-law; but all is subject to the judgment of Capt. Graham after his arrival on the ground. It is my opinion
that Owens’ going to Fiji would not in any way change our plans regarding your location there. Owen is not a
minister and could not do the work that you would be expected to do.
As regards the time when the “Pitcairn” will be in Fiji, you can probably make a better estimate than
I. It is planned for her to go first to Pitcairn; then to Tahiti; next to Raiatea, thence to Raratonga and after this
I suppose they will proceed to Fiji.
Whether it will be best for you to proceed to Fiji before their arrival or not, I am not prepared to
advise. I have not received a word of instruction from them about this matter, and hardly feel free to take
any responsibility. Think it will be necessary for you to act upon your own judgment as regards time of going.
I have some anxiety regarding the work in Norfolk if you should leave there while the building is
unfinished, and other matters are in such an unsettled state. I will caution you against allowing the feeling
that there are too many workers on the island now causing you to make any hasty move. I feel loth to
encourage you to go away from Norfolk until you understand more fully the wish of the Mission Board.
If you feel perfectly free to go, and do so upon your own responsibility, I think it would be alright,
and satisfactory to the Board. But if matters in Norfolk are in an unsettled state and you fear the result of
leaving now, I would advise you to wait for further instructions, I think you will not misunderstand my
position. If it was a question of your moving from one field to another, under the jurisdiction of the [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 296]
May 31, ‘95
Eld. J.M. Cole
Norfolk Island
Page 4 of 4
Australasian Conf. I should feel that we were called upon to give definite counsel; but as it is a question of
removing to other territory, and as I have no intimation as to the plan of the board beyond what I have
already mentioned, I do not feel free to give advice.
I trust that your request for money will be responded to. If you had found it convenient to send me a
copy of your letter to Eld. Daniells, it might possibly have facilitated our action; but I trust it will be alright as
it is.
Knowing that you are deeply interested in all that pertains to the work in Australasia, I will copy here
the recommendation of a Committee which were adopted at a meeting of the F.M.B. held April 25.
“1. That the Foreign Mission Board continue the support of the work in Queensland for the next
General conference term on the same basis as the work has gone forward during the last two years.
2. That the Foreign Mission Board assume charge of the work in Western Australia and that the
Australasian Union Conference be requested to select a minister of experience to be accompanied by a
younger man to go to the field to carry forward the work under the pay of the Foreign Mission Board.
3. That in harmony with the request of the officers of the Australasian Union Conference, the six
hundred pounds from South Africa donated to the church building fund which has been transferred to the
school fund, be returned again to the church building fund.
4. That in harmony with the request of the Union Conference, the Wessels-Lindsay gift of one
thousand pounds to the school enterprise in Australia be given to that purpose as a special appropriation
from this Board.
5. That in the raising of the school building fund, the two thousand pounds appropriated by this
board be advanced when the same amount is raised in Australia. This does not embrace the idea that no
portion of the two thousand pounds shall be advanced when the same amount is raised in Australia. This
does not embrace the idea that no portion of the two thousand pounds shall be advanced from this board
before Australasia makes up her full two thousand pounds but that no money shall be appropriated by this
board faster than an equal amount is raised by District No. 7.
6. That in response to the petition of the Australasian Conf. the traveling expenses of Semmons and
wife, E.R. Palmer and wife, and J.E. Fulton and wife be paid to that field.
These recommendations were unanimously adopted in the meeting of the Board this morning. You
will see that the Gen. Conf. is willing to assume the support of the work in both Queensland and Western
Australia.”
We would be glad to have a visit from you and Sister Cole before you go to Fiji, but we know that
time is precious and money is scarce; therefore we shall not ask you to come this way. I sincerely hope that
you will not allow the perplexities which surround you to dim your faith or break your courage. Take time to
pray and plan and having become fully convinced of what the Lord would have you do, move forward calmly
and with firmness, casting all your cares on him, for he careth for you.
We all unite in sending greeting and be assured our prayers shall follow you. Yours in great haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 297]
May 31, 1895
Eld. S.N. Haskell
1 Cape Town
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Brother, Yesterday afternoon Mother, May, and I reached home where we met Ella and Mabel, who came on
the Arawa, and had been waiting for us just thirty days. It lacks but eighty days of being four years since I saw
them, and you could imagine the happy greeting better than I can describe it. They have both grown in
stature and in knowledge, and they gave me and their new mama a very hearty greeting. It is truly a great
pleasure to be with my children again, and especially as I have a loving companion to assist me in making a
home.
I think I wrote to you briefly from Napier, N.Z. and yet I find that I am considerably indebted to you. I
can assure you that I value your letters and I am glad to read extracts from them to your many friends in
these colonies. If I had time to copy out the most encouraging portions, I would give them a much wider
circulation. We often think of you and pray for your prosperity and Mother and I often talk about you and
your work. We would be very happy to see you and should enjoy your society at our home, and your
assistance in various parts of the Conf. work; but we have hardly felt free to ask you to come to Australia
because we believed that there was yet an important work for you to do in Africa, and also because we
feared that after the Mission Board had done so much for us, they would think it selfishness, pure and
simple, for us to take any steps to encourage you to come from Africa to Australia.
I was sorry when I saw the recommendation of the F.M.B. calling you back to the United States or
rather inviting you to come; and when I read your letter, expressing your determination to visit
Johannesburg, I was glad that you were planning to go up there. I believe there is a great work to be done in
those new places, and I hope that the way will open for you to visit Zambesia before you return to Cape
Town.
The opening up of a mission in Zambesia I regard as a very important enterprise, and it seems to me
that it would be time well spent for you to visit that field, and give the workers there such assistance and
encouragement as your long association with the message will enable you to do. I have always had a deep
interest in that field, but now since Brother and Sister Tripp have gone there, I feel interested, not only to
understand the general features of the work, but also to know particularly the character of the work to be
done and the methods adopted for its prosecution. As I dictate this letter, Ella is writing to Mary Mortensen
Tripp, who for five years has been her governess and foster mother.
In your letter of Dec. 19, you encourage a correspondence and the transmission of funds directly
between individual churches and the missionaries. I hardly dare express an opinion on this. There seem to be
some serious dangers. I have read some interesting articles, both for and against this line of work. The results
of this work are often spoken of as the disintegration of the missionary society. Often in our [page break]
[7 – WCW – 298]
May 31, 1895
Eld. S.N. Haskell
1 Cape Town
Page 2 of 3
foreign missionary meetings, both here and in America, I have written on a blackboard the names of all the
worker in the field under consideration. Then I have described the characteristics of each one, and told what I
could about his field of labor; then have asked someone to volunteer to write to that person. In this way, we
would go through the whole list and I have hoped that this correspondence would be an encouragement to
the missionaries. I have thought that this much could be done with perfect safety, and no danger to anybody.
What do you think of it?
I was much interested in yours of Dec. 28; telling about the canvasser’s convention and the variety of
methods. I have taken the liberty to send this to Bro. E.R. Palmer, our General Canvassing Agent.
In yours of Jan. 8 you speak quite freely about my coming to Africa some time. I can assure you I
would like to do so, if I was convinced that it was duty. In fact, I have begun to study up reasons for planning
a trip over there. Mother is quite confident that it is not her duty to go to Africa, and I do not feel free to urge
her to go. And now that it is planned for Eld. Prescott to be present at your next Conference in Dec. I think
there is very little reason why that I should run away from important work here, where I would be a
comparative stranger. I have been very much pleased to hear that Eld. Prescott would make this visit. I think
he will be a great help to us here and that the experience which he will gain will be of great service to the
cause in future years.
In your letter of March 8, you speak of the changes in the Claremont College since Mrs. Druillard has
been connected with it. I am glad that under her care, the Sabbath sickness and the early morning feebleness
have decreased. I am sorry that so much of Eld. Robinson’s time is occupied in the same way and much of my
time also. I wish we had business men to attend to the business affairs, so that we could devote our energies
to the spiritual part of the work. When Bro. Sisley was here we wanted him to stay and help us in our school
work, and while he wants it understood that his personal preference would be to leave Battle Creek, and that
he is willing to respond to the decisions of the F.M.B. yet he made it so terribly plain that for him to come
here would be largely a waste of his time and that it would take his three girls away from Battle creek just at
a time when they needed the training that they could receive nowhere else, that we did not feel any heart to
urge him to remain, and we have had but little hope that the Mission Board would be able to send him back. I
am sure that we greatly need such a man here, and I am very sorry that he does not find it consistent to
come.
In your letter of April 30, you speak of the importance of having Great Controversy translated into
Dutch. I shall write to the Book Committee, encouraging the translation and publication in that language.
I have been very sorry that the editors of the Sentinel have felt [page break]
[7 – WCW – 299]
May 31, 1895
Eld. S.N. Haskell
1 Cape Town
Page 3 of 3
it their duty to meddle so freely in matters which it appeared to me did not concern them and which they did
not very well understand. It is true, I have not yet thought on their lines as much as they, and I have not yet
read what Mother has written on the subject and yet I have felt that it was possible to be too radical or too
one-sided on some of these things.
It may be that our brn. have gone in too deep in the obtaining of lands up there, but now it is best
for us to take hold with them and make the best we can of the circumstances and it may be that more good
will come of it than anybody anticipates.
I must now close for the time is spent. I will enclose a copy of my last to Eld. Olsen, and also of my
todays letter to Eld. Cole. These will give you some items about our work that I have not time to write to you
about.
I have asked our brn. in Melbourne to send fifty copies of Sentinel No. 4 to Cape Town. I think it is an
excellent number, and I believe that it will please you all. We have decided to do everything in our power to
make it useful to our people in all the British Colonies. To this end, we ask you to stir up Elds. Robinson and
Thompson to write for it. Please write for it yourself. To make it possible for you to use it. Please write for it
yourself. To make it possible for you to use it freely in So. Africa, we have decided to change the name to
“The Southern Sentinel”. Please read it and work up an interest in it among the Afrikaners.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 300]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 1, 1895
Eld. A.T. Robinson
Claremont, Cape Colony, S.A.
My Dear Brother: While I was in New Zealand, I received your very welcome letter of Feb. 7 and this is my first
opportunity to reply. During this trip, I changed my manner of work. On all former trips, I have been in
company with good visitors and have excused myself to do the most necessary writing. But this time, I laid
the writing aside and gave my first attention to meetings and to visiting. It was an excellent experience for
me, and the people seemed to enjoy it. As a result, I know their views and needs as I never could have done
otherwise. But now I find that I have hundreds of pages of unanswered letters and some of my conferences,
complain of gross neglect of correspondence.
On Jan. 30, we left Sydney Elds. Corliss, Colcord, and I and on May 30 I came back in company with
Mother and my wife. It was four months to a day from the time I left. Here we met Ella and Mabel who
arrived on the Arawa April 30. They are well and happy and I need not tell you that it is a pleasure for me to
be with them after a separation of nearly four years. They gave their grandma and me and their new mama a
very hearty welcome and there is every promise that we shall be a very happy family.
According to present plans, Mother will buy a few acres of land at Avondale and put up a moderate
sized cottage near the school. She will rent the place to me and she will board with us. This will enable her to
lay down the care and perplexity of maintaining a large family. Her workers will board with some other family
and we will have a four roomed cottage detached for offices.
We were much cheered to hear of the blessings which attended your conference and institute that
followed. We are much pleased to know that you are planning to hold a camp-meeting and it would be a
great pleasure to be present, but I do not anticipate any such pleasure. There is an immense amount of work
piled up before us here, and this is not a good time to leave it, even for half a year. I was much interested in
your suggestion regarding the possible good to result from an exchange of laborers and I would be glad to
hear from you further on that subject. I had thought of the same thing, but my mind was on the exchange of
some of the field men, and not on heads of departments.
We are much rejoiced at the prospect of soon seeing Professor Prescott here and are glad that he
can attend your first camp-meeting. I am also glad that Eld. Haskell has decided to remain with you during
the season. We would be glad to see him over here, but in view of all the other liberalities that are shown us
by the F.M.B. I have not dared to ask that he be sent here. Then, I have felt that he had a work yet to do in
So. Africa. I have been sorry to see in his letters evidence of restlessness. Mother has sent him by this mail a
long letter of comfort of and encouragement. I hope he will attend your first c-m.
By this mail we send some Sentinels. Please use them as sample copies. Please write for it, and
circulate it also.
Yours,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 301]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 2, 1895
M.C.P. Michaels
27 West St., Petersham
Dear Brother: While in Melbourne we devoted much time to a consideration of the circulation of the Sentinel. It
was thought best to make a vigorous effort to encourage our brethren and sisters in the churches to make a
canvass for yearly subscriptions. It is proposed that Vol. 2 be made popular by running two series of historical
articles showing the evils of interference by the state in religious matters. One will give the illustrations from
English and the other from Bible history. Elder Corliss will write the former and Eld. Daniells the latter. One or
both series of these articles will be illustrated; so we can depend upon one good picture in each number of
the Sentinel.
It has been thought best to request you to work up a canvass on the plan that we have sometimes
talked about which is something as follows: - 1. Encourage each society to supply itself with a good number
of Sentinel No. 4; mark with blue pencil some of the most interesting articles; place inside the first cover a
Cir. letter stating briefly the object and aims of the journal and the issue calling for such a publication. Also a
prospectus of Vol. No. 4, giving such facts in regard to its contents as will awaken an interest to read it. 2.
Secure in each church volunteers to take part in the canvass, and give them a thorough training for the work.
3. Send out the canvassers with instructions to work on the following lines: - a. Let the worker go from house
to house in his district, leaving the sample copies with the request that they be given an examination during
the week at the end of which time he will call for the Journal. When the week is up. b. Let the agent go from
house to house asking the Journal has been read, if its contents were interesting and after calling attention to
some of the principles features of the new vol. solicit a subscription for the four numbers issued in 1895. The
price being only one shilling, it will not be much of a barrier to the success of the canvass. The four numbers
of 1895 will include the sample copy, and the first three numbers of Vol. 2. It may be well to encourage those
who seem interested to pay 1/3 for No. 4 of Vol. 1 and all of No. 2.
I will request you to give this matter immediate consideration and to work up a suitable canvass as
soon as possible. Brn. Daniells and Rousseau will be here on Tuesday and if we could have something ready
for their consideration then it would greatly facilitate the rapid progress of this line of work. If I remember
correctly, you have some doubt as to the efficiency of this plan; but I beg of you to give it a fair trial. It has
been worked well in Scandinavia, and in America, and I believe it will succeed here. I am actin in harmony
with the wishes of Eld. Daniells in asking you to give this early and thorough attention.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 302]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 2, 1895
Mr. E.M. Palmer
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: You will remember that in one of our committee meetings, we had some conversation about
arranging a canvass for the Sentinel, so that our brethren and sisters in the church could take a goodly
number of Sentinel No. 4 and leave a copy at each house on the district assigned to the workers,
accompanied by a circular letter briefly stating the object and aims of the Journal and asking that its contents
be examined; also intimating that the canvasser will call in about a week, at which time he would be pleased
to know what the reader thinks of the Journal and also to receive his subscription for it if he is pleased to
become a regular reader.
If I remember rightly, you expressed confidence in this plan of work and stated that it had been
followed quite successfully by some of our brethren in the states. This I said at the time that I had much
confidence that this plan of work would succeed. I have seen it operated very successfully in Scandinavia; and
I labored very earnestly to secure a trial of this method in the States. After many delays and disappointments
it was put into operation in a few places, and as far as I have heard, with very encouraging results.
The chief objection to this line of work was the hearty condemnation which book canvassers were
willing to give to the plan without giving it a trial , or having any experience as to what might be done in this
way.
In my opinion, there is the possibility of our opening up to our people a comparatively easy and a
moderately successful line of work, which when thoroughly understood will furnish encouraging employment
to scores and hundreds of faithful and willing workers who cannot see their way clear to enter the canvassing
field; and also for those who do not feel that it pays to go over and over the ground in a house to house
effort to sell single copies of the Journal. I feel confident that there are many persons who would take a
district and work it faithfully in this way, who would not be willing to work the same district on the plan of
selling single copies.
My object in writing this letter to you is to request you to give this matter study, and if you believe as
I do, that much good can be accomplished by undertaking this line of work, I request you to use your
influence with the other officers of the Tract Society to secure for it a proper trial. And also ask you to take
the initiative in working up a canvass to be learned by the workers, and in preparing the circular letter to be
left with each copy of the Sentinel.
These must be a good prospectus prepared of Sentinel, Vol. 2, too. This might be printed on back or
on [page break]
[7 – WCW – 303]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 2, 1895
Mr. E.M. Palmer
Page 2 of 2
a separate sheet as you think best. I am aware that in the preparation of such important documents, it is best
to have the thoughts of more than one person; therefore I shall ask Brother Michaels to give some attention
to this matter. But knowing that he has already condemned the plan, I have not very high hopes that he will
give it much attention. I shall depend almost wholly upon you and your co-laborers to Melbourne to get this
matter into working shape. If you think best to send me a copy of your first draft of the circular letter, I will
be pleased to receive it, and if a careful examination calls up any thoughts that may be of use to you. I will
send them along.
Our journey to this place was a very pleasant one. Mother, May, and I had a compartment to
ourselves all the way down, and were very comfortable. We found our friends all well here. Ella and Mabel
gave us a hearty greeting. They were glad to hear from you, and to know that you and Mrs. Palmer and the
baby were as well as usual.
With kind regards, I am,
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 304]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 2, 1895
Mrs. L.J. Rousseau
Cooranbong
My Dear Sister: May and I were very glad to receive your kind letter of May 5th. We thought to answer it while in
Melbourne, but with the exception of one half day spent on American letters, I did no writing there. We
lodged with Brother and Sister Faulkhead out at Preston and took our dinner with Brother and Sister Israel,
who cared for Mother also. May spent most of her time with the dentist and neither of us had time to write
letters.
We were very glad to meet Eld. Rousseau in Melbourne, and are looking forward with pleasure to a
short visit from him here. I suppose he will come tomorrow noon. And then we will hand him your letter
which is waiting here for him.
We rejoice very much to know that your health is much better than it used to be and we pray that
this blessing may be continued. We would also caution you against over-exertion, or injudicious taxation
which is unnecessary, for that might in a few hours break down what it would require months to build up
again. I know that God is very merciful to us and often sustains us during unusual physical taxation and we
may confidently ask him to do this, that we may carry forward necessary work to a reasonable extent. But we
must be careful not to presume upon his mercy by overtaxing ourselves by unnecessary work, or by engaging
in necessary work beyond reasonable limits. I advise you to watch yourself carefully on this point, for I fear
that your ambition may sometimes carry you too far.
You may think it very absurd for me to give this counsel at a time when you are left alone, and can
see no way to avoid doing two or three days work in one: but is it not at just such a time that caution is
needed.
I was very sorry that Brother Teasdale could not remain with you until your husband returned; but
no doubt Eld. Hickox has told you the circumstances which called for his early arrival at Toowoomba. We
were very glad to meet Brother and Sister Hickox here on our arrival, and although our opportunity to visit
was quite brief, we heartily enjoyed the few hours that they remained with us. They left Thursday evening on
the mail train well and in good spirits.
Mother, May, and I reached home Thursday at 12:30. We found all were well here and received a
very hearty welcome from our friends and especially from Ella and Mabel.
I look forward to the time when we may settle at Avondale and “be neighbors”.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 305]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 2, 1895
Mr. D. Lacey
Glenorchy, Tasmania
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: Mother, May and I left Melbourne Wednesday at 5 p.m. and reached Granville a little after noon
Thursday May 30. It was exactly four months from the time I left the house for this New Zealand trip. From
Melbourne here, we three had a first class compartment all to ourselves. We made up good beds and slept
pretty well. Mother has endured the journey very well, and is now hard at work on her writings.
By leaving our train at Strathfield, we got home an hour before we were expected and gave our folks
a little surprise. They had laid out to give a very nice reception and were in the closing agony of the
preparation. Ella and Mabel were in Parramatta shopping. Well, we took the team and went to the station for
the luggage, and on the way back, who should meet me but May, leading the two girls. They have taken a
great liking to her from the first and there is every reason to believe that we shall be a very happy family. Last
night, Mabel said, “They have been home just two days, but it seems as if we had known her for years.”
Friday afternoon, just before 4 p.m. I received your message to meet Minnie. I was in the midst of a
big letter that had to go at once, but got off on 5:30 train. Went to Post Office to learn when Tambo was
expected, but could learn nothing. Then went to the wharf and learned from the night watchman that she
had been in about six hours. Then I searched Semmons’ place and found her well and cheerful. She says
[page break]
[7 – WCW – 306]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 2, 1895
Mr. D. Lacey
Glenorchy, Tasmania
Page 2 of 2
they had a splendid passage and that she was not sick. She found her way up to Bro. Semmons’ place alone,
for although he and Bro. Belden were looking for her and spent most of the afternoon going to the str. they
were an hour or two too late, having been told that the Tambo would not be in till after 3 p.m. whereas she
was in about 1:30.
I received from Minnie the letter from Sr. Lacey to Mother, and was told that she had one for me “in
the box”. Yesterday Minnie was at the afternoon meeting in the Petersham Town Hall. There were more than
a hundred present, and it did seem good to see such a nice congregation and so many of them new in the
truth.
Mother, May, I, and the children had driven down after dinner and Mother spoke to them at 3 p.m.
After the meeting we drove around to where Eld. Corliss has settled. He has a nice, convenient place, but
three minutes’ walk from Stanmore station. Then we drove around to Eld. McCullough’s and took tea and
then home.
Today, I have been writing to Eld. Wilson about coming to Tasmania. The Aust. Conf. Committee has
invited him to come. How I wish that several of our brethren in Hobart and Bismark would write to him, for it
is much nicer when you are going to a new field to know that you are to be heartily welcomed by several. The
Aust. Conf. Com. is now planning to hold a camp-meeting in Hobart, according to the request of the brn. at
the Convention.
I was glad to hear from Minnie that you had encouraging news from Branstrutter and that you are
planning to come over in two months. If I do not hurry, you will get settled first.
Yours,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 307]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 2, 1895
Miss Esther Smart
Irwell, N.Z.
Dear Sister: I have lately received two letter from Bro. W.M. Crothers telling us of the success that has been
attending your work since c-m and expressing regret that you were thinking of coming over here to Australia.
He also speaks of two of your relatives who have begun to observe the true Sabbath, and suggests that it
would be better if you should not go so far away from them just now.
After reading these letters to Mother, she told me to write to you that if anything has transpired, to
make it your duty to remain there and if you feel that this is the case then she wishes you to be perfectly free
to do what you think is best.
Her mind has not changed regarding her wish that you shall be a member of her family, her feelings
and wishes are the same as when I wrote to you before, but she would not willingly be the means of calling
you away from a work which you may regard as providentially placed before you by the Lord.
If this letter finds you in Irwell, please understand that there is place for you in Mother’s household,
if you wish to accept it, but if you are convinced that you have a plain duty to stay where you are, that we will
not say a word to urge you away from the post of duty.
Please give us your decision as soon as convenient.
I enclose a copy of a letter to Mr. & Mrs. Rouse, which gives a few facts that you may be interested
in.
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 308]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 2, 1895
Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Hare
Kaeo, N.Z.
Dear Friends: Sr. Hare’s letter of March 13 was received in due time and when we were in Christchurch, Eld. Corliss
and I made a short call at the home of Mr. & Mrs. Gay. He is a sturdy, intelligent looking man, and she is a
nice, nervous, apologetic little body. At first, she seemed embarrassed by our visit and wanted it understood
that she was not exactly keeping the Sabbath, although she seemed to think that it was right. It is probable
that she has opposition and perhaps ridicule from her husband and sons. They live in a comfortable little
cottage and he has a nice garden, and a carpenters shop back of the house. He is lame, and thus partly
disabled for ordinary carpenters work. The question of getting a living is no doubt an obstacle to obedience.
I will enclose copy of a short letter just written to the Coddling’s which gave some particulars about
our movements, so I need not repeat. You can imagine better than I can describe, the joy of meeting my little
daughters and the pleasure of having a loving companion and my girls to make home bright and happy.
“Truly goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life.”
Margaret is a member of Mother’s family now and is employed in copying her writings. She looks
well, and seems to enjoy her work. Next week I shall see Metcalf. They say that his family are well and that he
is very busy, clearing school lands for garden and orchard.
I look back with much pleasure to may short stay in Kaeo, and shall hope that my work may bring me
that way again, next year. May joins me in kind regards to you both. I hope soon to write to Grandpa.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 309]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 2, 1895
Mr. and Mrs. Rouse
Guelph Cottage, Wilson’s Road, Christchurch, New Zealand
Dear Friends: You will be pleased to know that in our recent councils, we have not forgotten to make ample
provision for sending a company of workers to Ch-ch next spring. It would not do for us to say just who will
come for the changing aspects of our work in Sydney and Melbourne may lead us to shift our plans several
times; but we hope that it may be possible for Eld. Corliss to take the lead in the work.
You may also be interested to know that I was married on May 9 to Miss May Lacey, whom you may
remember meeting at the Brighton c-m. In company with my mother, we arrived home May 30, just four
months to a day from the time I left for New Zealand. My two daughters, who had been here waiting to see
us for a month were quite delighted to see their papa from whom they had been separated nearly four years.
During our stay in Melbourne, Mother spoke once in Brighton. She had a good audience and seemed
much pleased to have the privilege of meeting with the company there. They are quite a good little church.
At Launceston, I had a short visit with Mr. Rogers, who brings a good report of Mr. Rouse’s friend
and convert, the canvasser. Mr. Rogers is taking steps to secure a home near our school at Avondale.
There is quite a stir over the Sabbath question, here in Ashfield, Petersham, and Canterbury. The
ministers of various denominations are uniting to “crush out Adventism”. Our trust is in God. The wrath of
man shall praise thee, and the residue of wrath shalt thou restrain.
With kindest regards to you both, I am,
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 310]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 2, 1895
Mr. Thomas Coddling and family
Dear Friends: Believing that you would be pleased to receive a few line from me, I take this opportunity of
acquainting you with the news regarding our arrival home. Very early April 20, we reached Hobart where I
found Mother and Sr. Lacey, who had come three days before me, and were at the hospitable home of Sr.
Lacey’s father. Our convention was a profitable one. There was a good attendance, and the results were very
encouraging. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were present at two or three of the meetings. Eld. and Mrs. Corliss visited
them.
As you will see by the enclosed card, Sr. Lacey and I were married May 9. That evening, we took train
for Launceston where we had good meetings Sabbath and Sunday. Our voyage to Melbourne was quite a
rough one, and Mother was quite sick. In Melbourne we spent two weeks in various lines of work and in
consultation regarding future labor.
Eld. Rousseau brings us a good report of the work that is in progress at Avondale. He says that the
students are doing well in their studies. Some of them are gaining as much as they did when spending all day
in study. They are cheerful and willing, although some are so little acquainted with the work that they are
doing that their work counts but little as yet. I believe that this means of qualifying some young men for work
in the Master’s cause who have no other way to get the advantages of the school, we shall cheerfully meet
the burdens of the enterprise.
May 30, shortly after noon we reached Granville, where we found our fiends well, and glad to
welcome us home. My two little girls, who have been waiting here since April 30, were especially glad to see
us. They give their new mama a hearty welcome, and there is very good reason to believe that we shall be a
very happy little family. My children have grown in stature and in knowledge, and it is a great joy to me to be
with them again.
I look back with much pleasure to my stay in New Zealand. and often wish that I could look in and
see what you all are doing. My stay at your house was very enjoyable to me, and I shall not forget your hearty
welcome, and thoughtful kindness to me.
Praying that you all may be kept in the shadow of “His wing” and guided daily in paths of
righteousness, I am,
Your brother and friend,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 311]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 2, 1895
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Care E. Hare, Turner St., Auckland, N.Z.
Page 1 of 5
My dear brother: I think I have received two letters from you since I wrote you last; but I find only one in my package
of unanswered letters and that is dated May 2nd.
I notice with much pleasure the action taken by the Gisborne Church in inviting Brother Lawrence to
locate in that place. I am very glad that they have taken this step and also that you sent a copy of the
resolution direct to him. I hope to visit Cooranbong next week and will talk the matter over with him. Elder
Rousseau tells me that he is doing good work for the school but I feel inclined to encourage his going to
Gisborne, believing that it may be easier to find persons to take his place in the school work than to find
another one who would be so well suited help in Gisborne. I greatly desire to see proper steps taken to
prevent the disintegration of that church. You know our work is aggressive and when a church ceases to grow
it is in danger of falling into decay. When I visit Cooranbong I shall ask Bro. Lawrence to report to you his
decision as soon as possible.
We are all deeply interested in your report of the progress of the work in Onehunga and Auckland.
We were made sad by the news that one large family had given up the truth; but we hope that the remainder
of the company will prove faithful. What you tell us of the building and dedicating of the little church is all of
deepest interest to us. We hope that the good work may go on, not only in Epsom, Newton, and Remuera,
but that it may also extend to other parts of Auckland. All along I have entertained the hope that some effort
would be made in Surrey Hills and Ponsonby. Before Eld. Fulton was taken away from the Auckland Dist., the
same reason led us to stand firmly against the proposition to take the workers from Auckland to the South
Island immediately after camp-meeting which now leads us to encourage the most ____ and valiant efforts to
utilize the interest which has been in Auckland by our recent camp-meeting. I think that I hinted at this in a
previous letter; but since our recent meeting of the Union Conf. Com. in Melbourne, I have felt clearer
confidence in this point, and have been impressed that it is my duty to write to you about it. During these
meetings, the committees were planning to distribute our workers for the same purpose and reasons that
you have been planning to send Eld. Fulton to the South Island. We have an intense desire to open up the
work in certain localities, where there is promise of excellent results; but feeling that the movement of
workers at this time was a matter of solemn importance, we believed that it was our duty not only to pray
and to plan individually about the matter, but also to review each proposed step before the committee, and
in the presence of our brethren of experience. And also to ask what counsel Mother had for us in the [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 312]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 2, 1895
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Page 2 of 5
matter. She spoke very decidedly and clearly pointed out the importance of our following up with
thoroughness and with vigor the work where the message has begun to be presented; where an interest is
already aroused and souls are investigating that have not yet made a decision for or against the truth. She
condemned our proposition to weaken the forces against the truth. She condemned our proposition to
weaken the forces of laborers in Sydney, and when we proposed that the Victorian camp-meeting be held in
Ballarat, that an interest might be awakened there, she requested that a second camp-meeting be held in
Melbourne. She says that the first one has aroused an interest in many minds which says that the first one
has aroused an interest in many minds which should be developed by another camp-meeting. Now is the
time to work the cities and we ought not to leave the large places where there are many souls whose interest
is partly aroused, to go away to some other place where a few only will be influenced by the meetings.
In accordance with this we are now planning to hold our Aust. Conf. in connection with the Victorian
camp-meeting in Melbourne next October.
It seems to me that some of the principles underlying the advice given to us might have a bearing
upon some of the decisions that you are making with regard to the work in Auckland and the South Island,
and this is why I write you so fully about it.
I was glad to hear that you intend soon to visit Parkhurst and I suppose that before this letter
reaches you, you will have begun your southern journey.
I am very glad to hear what you say about Eld. Fulton and the value of his labors in the N.Z. Conf. I
agree with you most heartily in this opinion. I have expected from the first that it would be so. And I see no
conflict or lack of harmony between these statements and those which I made to the Mission Board that Eld.
Fulton was not the sort of man that the N.Z. brethren has been expecting; nor do I see that it is inconsistent
with our plans to have an old and experienced laborer like Eld. Corliss come to New Zealand and take a
leading part in the opening up of the work in Christchurch.
The same appreciation of the importance and the difficulty of getting the attention of the people in
these times which leads us to group together several efficient workers in our cities, will also lead us to secure
the greatest ability and the largest experience that is within our reach. I hope that all of our brethren will take
broad and very liberal views regarding these matters; for this is not a time for us to study self or personal
interests and ambitions; this is not a time to contemplate what men think of us, or of our efforts. This is a
time to study the work, to study the people and to measure every effort by the standard of God’s approval;
and to accept with gratitude the part which he gives us each to do, whether it be considered by men to be
honorable or otherwise; “casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.” We are in constant danger of
being too fearful of what may be said of us or to us. We must cultivate more faith in God and this will result
in more love to our brethren.
I am very much pleased to acknowledge that it was more anxious and fearful regarding the
correspondence of your committee about the N.Z. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 313]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 2, 1895
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Page 3 of 5
Tract Society finances than the results appear to warrant.
I am also very glad to tell you that our brother’s petition in behalf of New Zealand based upon the
statement of our situation at the close of the camp-meeting, seems to have met with favor on the part of Eld.
Olsen; and there is a prospect that we shall receive assistance from the F.M.B. in opening up the work in
Christchurch.
I hope that Brother Caruthers will be successful in grouping a corps of canvassers in and about
Christchurch, and that the Tract Sec. will be able to furnish them some literature for distribution which will
tend to arouse an interest and prepare the way for our laborers next spring.
In a few days I hope to write to you again giving you particulars about the progress of all of our work,
full report of our recent counsels and presenting some plans and propositions regarding the future
distribution of laborers.
While in Tasmania I wrote you quite a lengthy letter about the situation and wants of the cause
there; but I did not have time to finish it, and so carried it to Melbourne and presented it to our brn. there
that I might have their opinion regarding the plans and proposals it contains. Our meetings were cut short,
and I have not yet received the criticism of the committee regarding some features of the letter, in fact it has
not been returned to me but is still in Melbourne.
The principle point, and that of greatest personal interest to you was duly considered by the
committee and I will tell you what it was: While in Tasmania we found that the brethren desired and needed a minister to locate in that colony
who was well acquainted with the various branches of our work. At the close of the convention they passed a
resolution asking the Australian Conference. A few days later this matter was considered in a meeting of the
Union Conf. Com. which expressed its approval of the proposition that you be transferred to the Tasmanian
field, provided the New Zealand Conf. Com. gave their consent; and as you are a member of that Com. this
would include your approval. No doubt this proposition will take you somewhat by surprise, and I will here
quote from my letter of May 7th, referred to above as in the hands of the committee, what I had written
regarding the matter.
“Many of the brethren here in Tasmania remember you visit with much pleasure and they ask to be
remembered to you. In one of our meetings where we met to discuss the future of the work in Tasmania,
there was manifest a strong desire that a minister should be stationed in Tasmania, who would not settle
down to work in one place and forget all the rest, but who would carry the whole island on his heart and go
from place to place where there are small interests to develop them, and who would visit the churches
occasionally, to instruct them how to work by working with them. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 314]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 2, 1895
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Page 4 of 5
Some of the brethren went so far as to say that Tasmania was able to support a minister and ought
to be a conference by itself. Some thought this was too far. But desired that some arrangements could be
made by which the work could be suspended by a man who was located in the field and who was conversant
with the condition and wants of the work in all its phases.
From my brief acquaintance with the field, I am inclined to believe that much would be gained to the
cause if the work here was in charge of someone whose interests were bound up in Tasmania, and who
would plan and work for all its interests great and small, and who was determined to depend upon the tithes
raised here, and would rein up the people to pay faithfully.
There are numerous places a few miles out from Hobart where a few are interested in the message
and many places where there are one or two or three keeping the Sabbath. These are the places that are
most needing attention, and which promise the best results. Of course, there is a work to be done in the
cities but it is not so urgent as this work in the byways and hedges.
There are among the brethren here quite a number who have done some work as canvassers, and
there is little doubt but what they could be encouraged to engage in the work again if they were watched by
one interested in the field, who would encourage them at the time of year when they are most free and
would labor to keep them going when tempted to quit the field.
From what I see and hear, the people in Tasmania are rather slow and serious, and would bear with
plain dealing and plain preaching more joyfully than the people of some of the other colonies. Here in Hobart
and more so in Bismark, there are a lot of Germans who are kindhearted, earnest, and simple people who
need to have the educational and energizing influences of general meetings very much. They are mostly
farmers and have their own homes; but their produce brings but little and they handle but little money and
pay but little tithe. If a minister was located near them, they would contribute produce for his living quite
freely, I am sure.
In our meetings for the consideration of the future work here in Tasmania after the brethren had
spoken quite freely about the openings for labor and had expressed their views regarding the character of
work to be done first, and the kind of a man they wanted, they asked what the prospect was of their getting
such a minister. I told them that such workers were few, and that among those that I knew there was none
who seemed better suited to the field and work who could possibly be moved than yourself. I tell you I was
glad that you had been here and most of them felt that they knew you. They asked if you could be secured
for this field, but I had to tell them I did not know but that if they were sure that they wanted you and should
express themselves to that effect, I would lay it before you and the Australian and New Zealand Conf.
Committees and see what could be done.
The brethren passed a unanimous vote asking the Aust. Conf. Com. to invite you to come and labor
in Tasmania. They also received, - [page break]
[7 – WCW – 315]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 2, 1895
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Page 5 of 5
‘That we deem it to be for the best interests of the work in Tasmania, that we hold a camp-meeting
in Hobart in Nov. next.’ It was also voted that the two or three pounds left over from what was collected on
hall rent be deposited with Aust. Conf. as the first of a Tasmanian camp-meeting fund.”
When you received the report of our committee meetings you will see that we planned to hold a
camp-meeting in Hobart in Nov. This is a large enterprise, considering the number of Sabbath-keepers in that
field. But we feel deeply the necessity of pressing forward the work there.
I earnestly desire that you will give this matter prayerful consideration and I trust that you will arrive
at a favorable decision. I will not now enter further in an argument regarding the advantages of this move,
but will ask you to correspond with me freely about it, asking any questions or making any suggestions that
come to your mind. It would please the Aust. Conf. Com. if you could be in Tasmania if you could be in
Tasmania by the first of September.
You will naturally ask what provision could be made for the work in New Zealand; but this is a
question rather difficult to answer. It would be necessary for the Executive Com. to choose one of their
number to act as chairman until the next camp-meeting. It would also be necessary to select someone to
carry forward till that time the work which your wife is doing as sec. of the S.S. Assn. But these matters we
can speak about more fully after learning what yourself and your conferees think about the change of field.
And now a few words about our return home. We reached Granville at noon Thursday May 30, and
received a very hearty greeting from our friends at home and from my children. They gave their new mother
a hearty welcome. Our prospects seem favorable to our being a very happy family. On Sabbath afternoon
Mother spoke to our people in the Town Hall at Petersham. There was a good congregation, more than one
hundred and she spoke with unusual freedom.
The Lord is blessing the work in and around Sydney. Our enemies are making a bitter opposition, but
we expect this to be overruled for the advancement of the truth.
With much love and in haste, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 316]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 3rd 1895
Mr. W.M. Crothers
57 Tory St., Wellington, N.Z.
Page 1 of 3
My dear brother: While in Melbourne, I received two letters from you; one dated May 6th and another without date
accompanied by copy of yours to Eld. Stead of May 14th. I read them over hastily while in Committee but was
unable to give them any deliberate consideration until yesterday.
Before answering your letters, I will give you a very brief sketch of our movements since leaving New
Zealand. We enjoyed a very pleasant passage from the Bluffs to Hobart, which place we reached very early
May 20. Having nearly a week before the opening of the convention we improved the time by holding
meetings in Bismark. This is a rural district in the mountains about eleven miles from Hobart. Brn. Corliss,
Colcord, and I spoke there once each and Mother three times.
The convention was well attended by our people of Hobart and Bismark. And there was about a
dozen present from other parts of Tasmania. There was much difficulty in securing a suitable hall, but finally
our people raised a good fund, and the meetings were held in one of the best halls in the city. The outside
attendance was not very large for there is much prejudice against our people in Hobart. We think it will
require a camp-meeting to arouse the people that they may hear the truth. At the close of the convention we
planned our departure so that Elder Colcord, Eld. Corliss, and Mother might each speak two or three times to
the little company in Launceston. It is now planned that Eld. Baker shall work in Longford and Little Hampton
and other neighboring towns where there are a few interested in the truth.
May 13th we sailed for Melbourne. We had rather a rough passage; Mother and May were quite sick
but I slept through most of the storm.
In Melbourne we spent two weeks very busily engaged in committee work, the result of which I may
be able to send you on a separate sheet. I will briefly refer to a few points of greatest interest.
The Aust. Conf. Com. have sent Eld. A.S. Hickox to Broken Hill to join Dr. M.G. Kellogg, who has a
growing interest on his hands there. Brother George Teasdale has been called from Launceston to
Toowoomba, Queensland to join Eld. Starr. In our planning for general meetings, it was decided to hold the
Australian Conference in connection with a small camp-meeting for New South Wales. This may be held at
Avondale.
During our stay in Tasmania, I became very much interested in behalf of the work there and formed
quite a different opinion of the prospects and the possibility of the progress of the work in that colony [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 317]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 3rd 1895
Mr. W.M. Crothers
Page 2 of 3
I believe it is a good field, but whoever labors there must not cling to the two large towns, Hobart and
Launceston, but must push out to the country places and work here and there and everywhere where there
are a few interested in the truth.
At the close of the convention the brethren plead that a minister might be sent to labor among them
who would feel that Tasmania was his home; and who would identify himself with all the interests of that
field. Who would plan for all branches of the work from a Tasmanian standpoint, and who would encourage
and teach others how to work.
As they described the work to be done and the kind of a labors they wanted, I could think of no one
better suited to the field than Eld. G.T. Wilson. I told them that there were very few fitted by experience to
do the work that they were describing and that among the few who could do the work and that could be
possibly spared from their present position, I thought Eld. G.T. Wilson was the one they would like best.
Most of them had seen Eld. Wilson and they were well pleased with his labors, so they voted
unanimously asking the Aust. Conf. Com. to invite him to come to Tasmania. This request was presented to
the committee shortly after I reached Melbourne; and they unanimously voted a hearty request that Eld.
Wilson should come to Tasmania to labor for the Australian Conference. The matter was also considered by
the Union Conf. Com. which voted to recommend Eld. Wilson’s transference to Tasmania, provided the New
Zealand Conf. Com. will consent. Sometime this week we shall present the matter formally to the N.Z. Conf.
Com. But I write this much to you, and have written somewhat more fully to Eld. Wilson that you may be
considering the matter.
The more I think of this matter the more satisfied I am that it would be a good move, provided that
all parties interested acquiesce freely in it and leave their hearts and eyes open to see its advantages and
receive its blessings.
I think I will send you with this a copy of my letter to Eld. Wilson and also copy of my letter to Sr.
Smart.
I have read and carefully considered what you have written regarding the interest aroused by her
recent work, and therefore have written her as you will see. I am sorry that what we have said to her has
seemed to be an interference with your work. If I have transgressed in any of the written or unwritten laws,
or any principle of equity, I beg your pardon. It was a lack of thoughtfulness on my part and may have
resulted from the feeling that others would consider, as I do, that to provide Mother with good helpers who
can take care and save her from burdens and perplexity, is one of the best ways to help forward the cause in
whose interest she is laboring. It will surely be quite a disappointment to us not to have the help which we
believe she could render in our household. But Mother is very conscientious about permitting what may
appear to be her personal interests to interfere with plan of work in other branches of the cause. We freely
release Sr. Smart, if she feels that she has a duty to remain where she is. I will let Rousseau reply to your
criticism regarding his correspondence with Bell. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 318]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 3rd 1895
Mr. W.M. Crothers
Page 3 of 3
As regards the proposition that Eld. Fulton should go to Springboro, I need to add but little to what I
have written to Eld. Wilson. The demands for labor in that place have never been presented before me. It
cannot be a very large place for it is not mentioned in the Australasian Handbook. I see by reference to the
Railway guide that it is thirty miles from Ashburton line, at 1099 feet altitude. I suppose that it is the terminus
of one of the cockspur lines which I noticed were quite numerous. But from what I have heard of the interest
in an about Auckland and from what I have heard of the interest in and about Auckland and from the
counsels and instructions that Mother has been giving us about labor, I should think it a much wiser plan for
Fulton to continue to labor during the winter in the Auckland Dist. provided that he and Eld. Steed can labor
together harmoniously. I do not see wisdom in the proposition of Eld. Stead that he confine his labors to
Epsom and that Eld. Fulton be asked to go alone either to Surrey Hills or to the city elsewhere. I shall have
much more hope of success if these brethren would plan to labor together. A change of speakers with care
will better educate the little church at Epsom. And if efforts are to be made in other suburbs of Auckland, two
men are more likely to develop a healthy interest than one.
In the councils of the Union Conf. Com. we have suggested that Eld. Corliss should devote his efforts
during the winter to work in and about Sydney; and that he hold himself in readiness to take part in the
opening up of the work in Christchurch, as early as the weather will permit the use of a tent. Then he could
attend the New Zealand camp-meeting and follow it with a few weeks labor, if an interest had been aroused.
After this he would expect to attend the councils of the Union conference and then proceed to western
Australia.
Eld. Olsen expresses himself in favor of granting our request that the Mission Board shall give
financial aid in the opening of the work in Christchurch.
I will write about transfer of canvassers to your field after further consultation with Brethren
Daniells, Rousseau, and Michaels. I fear it will not be possible to secure Craddock for that field. I had a talk
with Eld. Corliss about this, and he thinks that it would not be best to ask Craddock to go to New Zealand;
more about this later.
We have been interested to hear about the success of your little shop. We hope that it may be a
help, and not a burden to your work.
I hope that you will be able to send canvassers to Christchurch and that their work may open the way
for the tent meeting to do the greatest amount of good to the greatest number of people.
With kindest regards and hoping to hear from you often, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 319]
List of Supplies for Lord Howe Island
200 lbs. flour in 50 lb. bags.
25 “ sage.
2 bags of rice.
6 lbs. of soda.
1 “ washing blue
24 “ salt.
Half a pound cream tartar, some oatmeal, and corn flour
One pair of strong lace boots, No. 7, men’s.
“ “ “
“
“
“
“ 4, ladies.
Also requests that a good, cheap, warm, cloak be purchased for old lady in whose house they have
been living since they went there without paying any rent.
Lumber for House.
12 sheets gal. iron. 7 ft.
12 ft. Ryde capping.
24 feet small guttering.
Water tank.
500 ft. flooring.
Studding and plates: - 5 – 12 ft. long.
200 ____ boards, 4 – 20 ft. 14 – 14 ft. all 3 x 2. H-wood
200 ft. Baltic match boards, Glass, 12; 12 x 18. with putty.
for wainscoting.
Nails. Packet 2 ½, 12 lbs. 3 & 4 in.
4 pair 2 in. butt hinges and screws for windows.
3 pair T hinges.
2 cheap door locks.
6 lb. tin stone colored paint.
24 lbs. cement for fire place.
8 sheets of old iron for chimney.
pc. of redwood, 1 ½ x 12 for windows.
4 doz. common grey calico.
“ of kauri
“
“ doors.
If you think better to let us have boarded sides we should require 500 ft. more flooring, but we
would not want the calico and only 100 ft. of wainscoting.
(signed)
Charles Baron
[7 – WCW – 320]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 5th, 1895
Mr. A. LaRue
Hong Kong, China
My Dear Brother: I have just returned from a four months trip to New Zealand and Tasmania. In Hobart, Tasmania May
9 , I was married to Miss May Lacey, daughter of D. Lacey, formerly in the Indian service. I have now reached
home again and met my two children from whom I have separated for nearly four years and you can imagine
better than I can tell you how happy I am to have the society of my children and companions.
Mother is quite well considering her age, and the amount of hard writing that she is doing. I have
taken the liberty to enclose with this a copy of one of her letters to me, which I received while in New
Zealand; also a copy of a letter sent to Bro. Tait. I will also enclose copies of letters received from
missionaries in various parts of the world. Some of these you may have seen, but some may be new to you. I
will also enclose copy of letters to Eld. Haskell and Eld. Robinson and one containing a little news about our
Australasian work, addressed to Bro. G.A. Anderson, who was one of the sailors on the first voyage of the
“Pitcairn”.
I wonder if you have seen the Australian Sentinel? I will endeavor to send you sample copies. The
first two numbers dealt rather largely with local affairs but the later numbers are more general. And we shall
endeavor to make the second volume popular. It appears to me that this might be of use to you and I will ask
you to give the matter consideration. I will request Sr. Ingels to give you the lowest figures at which it can be
furnished.
Please tell me when you have time to write what papers you use and how many of each and whether
you pay for them, or if they are furnished by the Mission Board.
The General Conference has taken over the Echo, and we wish they would order us to send you a
large club.
With kindest regards and best wishes for your work, I am,
th
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 321]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 5th, 1895
Eld. F.H. Westphall
Cassila del Correo 481, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: I see by the morning paper that the mail for Buenos Aires closes tomorrow, so I will write you a few
lines to tell you about the progress of the work in this country. And to enquire in what way we can cooperate
with you and you with us, for the advancement of the work in which we are engaged. I have always had a
deep interest in the work in South America and when secretary of the Foreign Mission Board felt a special
burden to set on foot some plans that would provide that great country with some faithful workers to carry
them the last gospel message. I was much rejoiced when I heard that you had gone to the field, and I have
read with much interest some copies of your letters sent to me by Eld. Wilcox, Sec. of the F.M.B.
I should be very glad if you would occasionally send the “Bible Echo” a short summary report of the
work in South America, or very brief items of experience. The General Conf. Assn. have taken over the “Echo”
and I hope that they will instruct us to push it out on the same liberal plan adopted for the “Present Truth”
and “Signs of the Times”. Can we not make the Echo a paper that is specially suitable for the English speaking
people in the southern hemisphere? Will you not kindly give this matter consideration and if you find that it
can be used to advantage in your work, ask the Mission Board to plan for its introduction and use in the
South American work?
I am told that in certain localities and among certain classes in South America, there is a feeling of
antagonism against the United States and things coming from that country. If this is so it might be that the
Echo would be received with favor.
I also desire to call your attention to the Australian Sentinel of which I will send you sample copies
that I will ask you to carefully read and lend to others. We desire to make this journal a power for the
defense of liberty and for the proclamation of the Third Angels Message; not only in Australia, New Zealand,
and Tasmania, but also in South America and South Africa. To this end its publishers have decided to invite
correspondence from all of our workers in these countries and it is intended by the editors that each number
will contain a brief review of progress in all the English colonies in the southern continent and if you please in
the republics of South America of the controversy over questions of religious liberty and of the state’s
encroachment upon the same. We are also planning to make the journal popular by running two series of
historical articles. One on Bible History and one on British History, each illustrating the evils of interference in
religious matters.
If we are fairly successful in reaching our ideal, I think the paper will be admirably suited to the South
American field. Please give it a trial. The price of the journal is so low that it will [page break]
[7 – WCW – 322]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 5th, 1895
Eld. F.H. Westphall
Cassila del Correo 481, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Page 2 of 2
not be an obstacle in the way of its circulation. I think we can furnish it to subscribers in any country
belonging to the Postal Union at 1/3 a year.
With this I will send you copy of a letter I have written to Brother G.A. Anderson, which gives a
review of some of the things which we have to be thankful for.
Praying that you may have health and abundant blessing in your work and hoping to hear from you
regarding the subjects of this letter, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
Granville, N.S.W.
June 5th, 1895
Mr. F.C. Kelley
Bogota, Columbia, S.A. via New York, care of U.S. Minister
My Dear Brother: If I remember correctly, I am indebted to you for a letter; I cannot remember in what year it was
written or what it was about. But I can tell you that I have watched with deepest interest your movements in
preparation for a mission to Chili and have read with pleasure reports from papers and letters from the sec.
of the F.M.B. regarding your movements.
I am sending you with this copy of a letter which I have written to Brother Westphall and I will ask
you to read it as if written to yourself and answer it in the same way.
I often think of our association in Oregon and in Oakland, and wonder if we will ever meet again. The
card which I enclose will rent of her and she will then board with us.
If you should find time about once in three months to write to me or to Sr. Ingles a brief sketch of
your which might be encouraging or instructive to our people, we would make copy or extracts to be read in
our missionary meetings.
Praying that the Lord’s richest blessings may be with you, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 323]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 4th, 1895
Mr. C.J. Anderson
Norfolk Island
My dear brother: I am at home at last after four months absence, and will write you a few lines to go on the
Katoomba. I see by reference to my letter book that I have not fully answered your welcome letters of Dec.
31 and Jan. 9. I read it to several of our friends and gave an order to Bro. Belden to purchase the leather you
wanted and send it to you. As soon as I get time to do so, I will try to look up the books that you have asked
for and if I can buy what you want very cheap, I will purchase for you.
I was real glad to receive your description of Lord Howe Island and your first impressions of Norfolk.
If your further experience in Norfolk leads you to change your views I shall be glad to know in what way your
estimate of the place is altered. I suppose that you are helping in the erection of the church and I trust that
before this you have secured the use of Bro. Salt’s house. I had a talk with him about it when in Kaeo, and he
said he had written to his brother-in-law, asking that you be permitted to use the house.
I shall be glad to hear from you and to know what progress you are making; 1. in church building, 2.
in farming, 3. in cobbling, 4. in making friends with the people.
Have any of you received the Gen. Conf. Bul.? I am sending a full set to Bro. Belden, and will ask him
to let you read them. If you desire a set for your own use, I think we can get one from the Aust. Tract Soc.
I am so pressed with a variety of work and am so often away from home that it would be both a
convenience to me and a benefit to yourself, if you would write your orders for books, leather, or provisions
on a sheet by itself. Sometimes I want to loan the newsy part of my island correspondence, and in this way
the letters are sometimes lost. And thus the business might get out of my reach before it was attended to. I
hope to give some time during the next month or two to the correspondence and accounts of our brethren in
the islands, so that I may write you by the next mail steamer how matters stand.
With this I send to Bro. Cole copy of a newsy letter written to G.A. Anderson of Napier and I will ask
him to let you and Bro. Belden read it.
I most earnestly hope that our brethren who go to the islands will make double efforts to maintain
all the life, vivacity, and energy that we look for in more densely populated countries. I know very well that
the influences of climate, of association, with those who have formed habits of ease and moderation and the
isolation from those things which stir a man and in the use him with ambition and vigor are powerful to
mould one so that he becomes like those with whom he is associated. Be sure to brace yourself against these
things. The object of your going to Norfolk is to influence its people in an opposite direction.
Yours,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 324]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 4th, 1895
Eld. J.M. Cole
Norfolk Island
Dear Brethren: There are a few more things which I wish to say to you before this mail closes, for I have just fished
out from the pile another of your unanswered letters. Some of the matters referred to in yours of Jan. 26
have already been answered in my letter to you and to your co-laborers.
When I was in N.Z. I had quite a visit with Salt. He has been much discouraged and feels bad that
others have not been able to lift him up. Perhaps the real source of his trouble is lack of self-control an
indulgence of his appetite for tobacco. I had a long talk with him and tried to encourage him and I have told
you his trouble with the hope that in your correspondence you may be able to point him to the source of
strength and courage. I talked with him about the house and he told me what he had written to his brotherin-law. He seemed to think that there was little doubt but that you were using the house before this.
I think your proposition to take to Fiji the surplus books left in Norfolk is right, and will be in harmony
with the wishes of the Mission Board. In his last letter Eld. Olsen asks me what I think of the propriety of
taking to Fiji most of the books which the Pitcairn left last year in Wellington. There must be about twenty
boxes of them left. Please tell me what you think of this. Is Fiji a better place to store such things than the
other islands, where there is so much trouble with various sorts of bugs? I shall not know what to write to
Eld. Olsen till I hear from you about the dangers in Fiji from insects and dampness.
I am very glad that in Fiji you will be associated with a good medical miss. and that another family is
going there also. I trust that you will not forget when you reach there that those islands are considered a part
of Australasia, and that Australia is a natural point from which to receive books and papers. You will be glad
to know that the Gen. Conf. has taken over the Bible Echo and I hope that they will adopt for its circulation
the same liberal plans that they have introduced for the “Signs of the Times”. Please correspond with the
Pres. and the Sec. of the F.M.B. freely about the work in Fiji and see if they will not encourage you to use a
liberal quantity of Echoes and Sentinels in your work there.
With best wishes for the prosperity of your work, and hoping to hear from you often, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 325]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 4, 1895
Mr. S.T. Belden
Norfolk Island
Dear Uncle: You will be pleased to know that we are home again, and that all are well and happy. I do not know
that I am indebted to you for letters, but I thought I would write you a few lines and I have enclosed copies of
letters to Elds. Olsen and Robinson, which will give you some inkling of our plans. After reading these please
hand them to Eld. Cole, that he may read them also.
You will see by my letter to Eld. Cole that I caution them against hurrying away from Norfolk too
soon. I think it would be a serious error for him to leave there prematurely, for I am sure that you will meet
with many perplexities after he is gone and will often wish that you could have his counsel. He has had a long
and varied experience among the people of the Polynesian islands, and no doubt he sees and understands
many matters in a different light than he did the first year he was among this people. I hope that he will feel
free to give you and he was among this people. I hope that he will feel free to give you and Brother Anderson
the results of this experience, and I trust that you both will take pains to talk with him about these matters,
and ask questions that will draw him out to give you the benefits of his experience. There are lots of things
that he can tell you if you seek opportunities to question him, and are really desirous of having his views that
a man does not feel free or does not think about to talk it offhand. So improve your opportunities to draw
him out, and get all the help you can before he goes.
Ella and Mabel had a prosperous though not a very enjoyable trip from San Francisco. It is nearly four
years since I saw them last and they have grown in wisdom and in stature. They arrived here Apr. 30 and had
to wait till May 30 before we came. They gave me and their new mama a hearty welcome and May seems to
hover them as naturally as if they had been her own chicks. The prospects are that we shall be a very happy
family.
Mother is somewhat weary of maintaining so large a family and so I have proposed that she buy a
piece of ground at Avondale and build a cottage large enough for a family of six or seven; then I will rent the
place and she can board with us.
I have not seen Byron yet to have any visit. I met him and Sarah at the Petersham town hall, where
Mother spoke Sabbath afternoon. They are well and of good courage. It was very pleasant to visit our people
in the various parts of Melbourne. There are now five companies meeting every Sabbath, and the North
Fitzroy congregation is just as large as it was before they began to divide up.
The interest in the suburbs of Sydney seems to be excellent. We hope the way will open for the work
to be carried into the city itself.
Yours in love and in much haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 326]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 3, 1895
Mr. G.A. Anderson
Napier, N.Z.
Page 1 of 4
Dear Brother: Knowing that you are deeply interested in the progress of the message in all parts of the world, and
especially in Australasia, I will try to write you a brief summary of the movements of workers and the plans
for future labors.
Just before I left Australia to attend the N.Z. c-m, the Australian Conf. Com. had a very serious talk
about our financial situation. We saw worlds of work to do and there were many willing souls who wanted to
take part in the work, but we had not the funds to employ them. In fact, during the last two years the Conf.
had become involved in debt, in following the important interests awakened by our camp-meetings. We
were in a sore strait. It seemed like stealing to go further in debt, and like murder to slacken our hand, and
not give the message of warning to those who are ready to perish.
After a full discussion of the situation, the committee felt that the only thing we could do was to
press forward with the work and pray the Lord to open up the way before us, as He opened the sea for the
Israelites to pass when He commanded them to go forward.
During the Auckland camp-meeting, I presented to the Mission Board some facts and figures about
our work and gave as clear a statement as I could of our difficulties and our perplexities. I stated our financial
perplexities and presented the difficulties of carrying the work in the cities and the need of a strong corps of
workers which meant expense. Among other things, I presented the request of the Union Conf. Com. that the
General Conference take over Queensland and W. Australia. Then in a later letter, I asked help for the N.Z.
Conf. in the opening of the work in Christchurch, N.Z.
It was with fearfulness that some of these requests were made and you can appreciated our
pleasure at receiving in the last American mail a letter from Eld. Olsen and one from the Sec. of the F.M.B. in
which we are told; 1. that the Gen. Conf. will take over Queensland and Western Australia. 2. that they will
meet the traveling expenses of Brn. Semmons and wife, Fulton and wife, and Palmer and wife. 3. that they
will allow us to accept the gift of £1000 from Bro. and Sr. Lindsay for our school and will also stand to their
offer to give us for school buildings £2000 as fast as we can raise an equal sum to go with it. They will send it
to us in installments as fast as we raise the money to go with it. This, you will see, is very liberal indeed. 4.
Eld. Olsen expresses himself in favor of having the Mission Board make an appropriation to aid the N.Z. Conf.
in opening up the work in Christchurch. Thus you see, our brn. in America are willing to do all that they can to
encourage us in this our time of need.
You will no doubt rejoice that Eld. Gate and wife have been sent to Hawaii. I believe that this field
needs a worker and that Eld. Gates is the best one we have for the work to be done there. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 327]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 3, 1895
Mr. G.A. Anderson
Napier, N.Z.
Page 2 of 4
No doubt you have read in the General Conf. Bulletin and the Review about the distribution of
workers in Polynesia. Elder Reid who was appointed to go to New Guinea, has been permitted to take a
course of medical studies to better fit him for mission work. Elliott Chapman and wife will return to California
for a time on account of her heath. A. Wellman and wife will also go there to take charge of the printing. Miss
Lillian White will probably go to Raratonga.
In a recent letter from C.H. Jones, he speaks of the missionaries going out on the “Pitcairn” as
follows: “The missionaries now consist of the following named persons: Dr. F.E. Braucht and wife; Eld. E.
Hilliard and wife; and R.T. Prickett and wife.
Past experience has demonstrated that the F.M.B. cannot outline definitely just where missionaries
should be located, and just what shall be done when the boat reaches the islands; so on this cruise only
general instructions have been given. You know that they are pushing the school enterprise on Pitcairn
Island. Bro. McCoy has been putting up three large buildings; one for a boy’s dormitory, one for a girl’s
dormitory, and one for a school building. The school is to be conducted on the same general plans as our
schools in this country. This will of course demand teachers. We could not find on short notice just the
persons we thought best for this work. However, it is expected that Bro. and Sr. Butz will take hold of the
work at Pitcairn Island for one year. And we hope that Sr. Andre will remain to assist them.
Bro. and Sr. Rice will probably locate at Raratonga to engage in teaching and other labors as the way
may open. Dr. Caldwell writes that there is a special call for teachers at this time, and he thinks we ought to
enter the field. Bro. and Sr. Hilliard, and Bro. Rowen Pricket will probably locate at the Tonga Islands to open
up new work; and if Bro. McCoy is willing, he will be taken on board at Pitcairn Island, and left with these
brethren to assist in the work. Bro. and Sr. Owen who are now at Raratonga, will be taken on board and go to
Fiji in company with Dr. Braucht and wife. I see by your letter that there is some prospect of Bro. Cole and
others going to Fiji. If it is found that these brethren are already there, some other arrangements will be
made; but this will have to be left for Capt. Graham and those in charge to decide.
We have a most excellent crew; the best I think that ever went out on the “Pitcairn”: as follows, - J.E.
Graham, Captain; Peter Hansen, Mate; R.K. Shur, Steward; Wm. Flooding, Cabin Boy; J.E. Werge, Boson. The
sailors consist of the following: - G.W. Nelson, Peter Rosenfeldt, Christ Treulieb, and John Chilton. Peter
Rosenfeldt is a fine young man, who embraced the truth under the labors of Bro. LaRue in China. He has been
a sailor for fifteen years, and as far as we can judge is a converted man, and earnest and devoted. We might
say the same of all the others. Peter Rosenfeldt and Chris. Treulieb, when boys, were members of the same
church (Greek church) in Russia. It is quite a remarkable coincidence that they have now both embraced the
truth and come together here on the “Pitcairn”” [page break]
[7 – WCW – 328]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 3, 1895
Mr. G.A. Anderson
Napier, N.Z.
Page 3 of 4
My last letter from Eld. Cole indicated that there is some progress in the work at Norfolk Island. The
building of the church goes slowly as we might naturally expect. And the opposition to the place of their own.
Eld. Cole feels anxious to get off to Fiji, but I am writing to him not to hurry away, leaving things in Norfolk in
an unsettled state. Today we are closing up some letters for Norfolk to go in the Katoomba, a steamer of the
A.U.S.N. Co. which touches there on its way to New Hebrides.
Bro. C.D. Baron seems to be getting along nicely on Lord Howe’s Island. You will remember that he
undertook to rebuild the school house which had blown down. In his March letter, he says: “We hold our Sunday-school in the school house now. The children like the school and we long to
see the instruction take effect upon their lives. A few weeks ago when the lesson was on Christ’s Sermon on
the Mount, one little fellow told his mother that the teacher taught them that if one should slap them on one
cheek, they should give the other cheek for a slap. Then he offered one cheek to be slapped and then the
other. But next day he quarreled with a playmate and the good lesson was forgotten.
“We are loaning some of our books. At present the health books are most useful, for the people here
have to do all their own doctoring. One lady was given some treatment by Mrs. Baron, and then loaned
“Ladies Guide”. The book was read eagerly, and now the corsets have been cast aside, pork discarded and
the teapot sentenced to annihilation.”
In his last letter he reports progress as follows: “Mr. Icely, the visiting magistrate, made his usual visit a month ago. He was pleased with the way I
had erected the school house and commended us for what we are doing. He had visited the N.Z. campmeeting where he had quite a long talk with Bro. Corliss. When Mr. Icely arrived here he was suffering from a
severe cold, which he seemed to have communicated to nearly everyone on the island; two persons have
been very ill. In both these cases we were able to afford relief by the application of water treatment. We feel
sorry that we do not know more about the hygienic treatment, but are studying the subject and gaining some
little practical experience.
I am getting along slowly with my piece of ground. It is covered with thick grass which has to be
cleared off before the ground is of any use. So far I have growing two kinds of potatoes, peas, haricot, and
French beans, beet root, a few cabbages, bed of cauliflower, turnips, radishes, pumpkins, vegetable marrows,
tomatoes, and a few small banana trees.
I find my time well occupied in one way and another. Now that the days are getting so short, after
getting wood, grinding corn, and spending one afternoon of the week visiting, I do not have much time left to
work in the garden. Of course if we had a house on the place, I could put in much more time at it.
I have given up holding readings at the school house; but hold one in our house every alternate week
and the Sundays I miss here, have one at the south end of the island. I am able to reach more of the folks in
this way. So far have given readings in three different homes, [page break]
[7 – WCW – 329]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 3, 1895
Mr. G.A. Anderson
Napier, N.Z.
Page 4 of 4
and with members out of ten families of the fourteen on the island. We are already having some inquiries
made with regard to the truth. I feel the need of a chart and small portable blackboard, such as our workers
use in giving readings.”
Last week I received letters from Eld. Haskell, who says there is an encouraging work going forward
in Cape Town now. You may have noticed that he was invited by the Mission Board to return to America and
attend the camp-meetings, but he now feels that his work in Africa is not yet done, and has decided to visit
the Sabbath-keepers in Johannesburg. I would not be surprised if he decided to go on from there to
Zambesia.
I will not write in this letter about my own movements and plans; but will endeavor to enclose you a
copy which will tell you what we are endeavoring to do.
I often think of you and pray for your prosperity.
May “the peace of God which passeth all understanding. . . . keep your hearts and minds through
Jesus Christ.”
Yours truly,
W.C .White
[7 – WCW – 330]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 4th, 1895
Mr. Alfred Nobbs
Norfolk Island
My dear brother: In looking over my pile of unanswered letters, I find that I have never acknowledged to you the
receipt of your letter of Jan. 30, written on behalf of our brethren and friends in Norfolk and expressing their
appreciation and thanks for the building materials sent to assist in the construction of a Seventh-day
Adventist church on Norfolk Island. The letter was received in due time and was read to our brethren here;
who take great pleasure in hearing of the prosperity and progress of the work in Norfolk Island. I ought to
have sent a copy of this immediately to the Sec. of the Foreign Mission Board; but a multitude of other cares
caused me to forget. I will now have it copied and will send it forward by the next mail steamer. I am sure
that our brethren in all parts of the world are interested in the work going forward on your little island, and if
you will kindly send me from time to time an account of the progress being made as it appears to you, an old
inhabitant of the island, I shall read it with intense pleasure and it may in some instances be more useful, or
usable than the same information if furnished by one of our brethren who have come from abroad.
I take the liberty to enclose with this copy of a letter which I have written to Bro. G.A. Anderson,
whom you will remember as one of the sailors on the “Pitcairn” during her first voyage. You may read this
letter and hand it to Eld. Cole, who will pass it along from hand to hand, and then sent it back to Bro. Baron
by the “Katoomba” but we now learn that she does not call at his island.
We hear that the enemies of the Lord’s Sabbath are trying to push you out of the position which you
have held so long as teacher of the school in Norfolk. I sincerely hope that they may fail in this effort; but
should they succeed, the Lord will no doubt make it plain to you what you ought to do next. Be assured that
our prayers shall follow you that you may have wisdom and grace to be a true child of God by manifesting
love to those who treat you ill.
It is very encouraging to notice the vigor with which our brethren are pressing forward the work in
Polynesia. It rejoiced my heart to see so many medical missionaries sent out, and to see that openings are
made for them providentially in places and in ways that we had least expected. I am sure that you will be glad
to know that Eld. Gates has been located in Honolulu and that Eld. Reid is pursuing medical studies to better
fit him for the work in New Guinea. You will also rejoice to know that the work is onward here in Australia.
Wherever our brethren go to labor, there is bitter opposition, but as they present the truth with firmness and
humility, the Lord gives the victory and many souls are won to obedience to the work.
My friends and family unite in sending greeting to you and to all our dear brethren and sisters in
Norfolk.
Yours in love,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 331]
Norfolk Island
January 30th, 1895
To Our Brethren in a Far Away Land, “Whom having not seen we love.”
Dear Brethren: We proffer you our sincere thanks for the material which you so kindly purchased and sent to us,
that we might be able to build a suitable place where we can meet on the Sabbath of the Lord, and worship
him according to the dictates of our own considerations and the word of God which saith, “Remember that
thou keep holy the Sabbath-day; six days shalt thou labor; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy
God.”
We are aware that it must cost you some self-denial as it required money to purchase this material,
and we understand from Brother Cole that money does not grow on the bushes, but it comes from your hard
earnings; therefore we the more highly appreciate your gift, and trust that we shall put it to a good account,
so that you will never regret your deed of love to us.
We are at present busily engaged in getting further materials for the building, viz: battens, wallplates, and windowsills; and also burning lime; as we propose building a wall across the now open end of the
old building; which I presume Brother Cole has given you a full description of. When the building is
completed we will have a comfortable place for worship. Looking at the state of the work generally, we do
not think it wise for Brother and Sister Cole to leave before the church is completed.
Wishing you Godspeed with every blessing and prosperity in carrying forward the important message
which has been entrusted to you by God; we, your brethren in like precious faith, with thankful hearts,
subscribe our names,
Alfred Nobbs
for
31 Grateful Friends.
(C.)
[7 – WCW – 332]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 5th, 1895
Mr. C.J. Anderson
Norfolk Island
My Dear Brother: Yesterday we sent you some letters by the Katoomba which sailed at five in the afternoon. This
morning at ten o’clock I received from Eld. McCullough your very welcome and interesting letter of May 19th.
He must have been very busy for he sent it to me without a word of comment and I have no means of
knowing whether he has written to you or not, or whether he has given any attention to your order. I hope to
see him tomorrow and may learn something about this. I am now writing you a few lines thinking that there
is a bare possibility that it will overtake the Katoomba at New Castle.
We are very much interested in what you have written about the progress of the work of Norfolk;
but we are sorry to learn that the work on the building moves forward so slowly. I think you will do well to
encourage Eld. Cole to remain in Norfolk and press forward this work. Being acquainted with the people, he
ought to be better able to stir them up to activity than anyone else.
We are glad that the time has come for the organization of a little church. If not permitted to grow
rapidly, we hope it may grow steadily. Tomorrow I expect Brethren Daniells and Rousseau over from
Melbourne. Bro. Daniells will spend a few days here on his way to Toowoomba, where he goes to assist Eld.
Starr for a few weeks, because there is a big battle on over the Sabbath question. While they are here I hope
we may appoint an agent to look after your purchase and to attend to the correspondence when I am away.
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 333]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 5th, 1895
Mr. David Stead
Epsom, Auckland
My Dear Brother: In looking over my pile of unanswered letters, I find yours of April 16th which reminds me that I
should send you a few lines by the steamer that sails tomorrow. I will enclose with this copy of letter recently
written to Bro. G.A. Anderson, giving some island news and referring to the liberality of the Gen. Conf.
The enclosed card will acquaint you with the fact that Sr. Lacey and myself were married May 9th.
After this we spent a few days in Launceston and two weeks in Melbourne and reached home May 30th,
where we met my little girls, from whom I have been separated nearly four years. They have grown in stature
and knowledge in this time. And they are now very happy to be with me and their new mama. May seems to
hover them as naturally as if they were her own chicks, and there is every prospect that we shall be a very
happy family.
Our convention in Hobart was quite encouraging; the people turned out well from Hobart and
Bismark; and about a dozen were in from other parts of the island. Our only serious disappointment was the
absence from the meetings of the officers of the church, their consequent indifference to the work which
needs to be done and their inability to give the people a wise leadership at a time when they are stirred up
and ready to work. Before the convention we had nearly a week to spare and put in the time at Bismark. I like
the people there real well. I believe that some of them could be trained for efficient colporteurs. They all
enquired for you and were very pleased that I could tell them what you are doing. I visited many of the
families at their homes.
Arthur Carrow came this morning and gave us many particulars respecting the progress of your work.
We were very glad to hear about it and about the new meeting house.
As regards your propositions re. Fulton’s work. I will say that all along I have hoped that he might
remain and work with you so long as the interest demands it. I have not had very high hopes regarding the
work at Surrey Hills; but I have felt that we would not be justified in leaving Auckland until some meetings
were held in the meeting house, and it was seen whether there was an interest or not. I think it would be an
unusual hard undertaking for Bro. Fulton to go alone into the city of Auckland. My judgment would be that if
you are both permitted to remain there that you should unite in your labors and work shoulder to shoulder in
whatever way and place were thought best.
With best wishes for the prosperity of your work; and with kind regards to Sister Stead and children,
I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 334]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 6, 1895
Mr. Jean Vuilleurmire
Cassillia de Correo 481, Buenos Aires, Argentina, S.A.
My Dear Brother: I extend to you a hearty greeting, and welcome as a laborer in the southern hemisphere. It is truth
there is quite a strip separating your country and ours, but this does not prevent me from feeling somehow
or other as though our work was one. And that we need and can impart to each other, sympathy, counsel
and encouragement more freely than ever before.
You are now working in a country in which I have long had a deep interest, and I pray that your
labors there may be blessed abundantly and that your old strength and courage may be increased by your
experience there.
I am sending you with this copy of my letters to Brn. Westphall and Davis. I shall endeavor to send
you from time to time copies of the Bible Echo and the Australian Sentinel, which hereafter we shall call the
Southern Sentinel. I invite you to contribute to both of these journals. Your experience in writing for
“Blessings” has made you acquainted with the advantages of short articles for such a small paper as the Echo.
Do not fail to send us an occasional contribution.
I wish you to give special study to the contents of the Sentinel and to tell me if that paper can be
used to advantage in Argentina and Brazil. I also request you to make a study of the church and state
controversy in those countries and to write some articles for our Sentinel on these issues that will be
interesting and appropriate for readers in South America, Australasia, and So. Africa.
I would like to write you a long letter about this and other matters, but I have only a few minutes
more before the mail closes.
The enclosed card will acquaint you with the facts regarding my marriage. On May 30 I returned to
Granville after four months absence in New Zealand and Tasmania, and met my daughters, Ella and Mabel,
from, whom I have been separated nearly four years.
I shall be very glad to hear from you.
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 335]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 5th, 1895
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Auckland, N.Z., Care E. Hare, Turner Street
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: Yesterday I sent a letter to the post for you and this morning I received your very welcome letter of
May 29th accompanied by one from Sr. Wilson of the same date, and read them to Mother, who is deeply
interested in all that pertains to the progress of your work. I shall take the liberty to copy extracts from Sr.
Wilson’s letter to send to a number of persons who will be cheered by the reports of the progress and the
interesting experience connected with the conversation of the ladies she mentions.
I receive with pleasure your hearty congratulations. It is truly a great pleasure to have my children
with me, and to have the company of a loving companion.
I appreciate what you have said regarding our intercourse in Epsom and Onehunga. I was much
surprised and pained at the time, not so much for myself as for you. I know that I make many mistakes and
do not deserve the kind consideration almost universally given me by my brethren. My thoughts for you,
Brother Wilson, are desires for your welfare, and that you may be of the greatest possible service in the
cause of the Master. I am fully aware that some things that I have done and said have been understood
otherwise. And I know that the steps which I have lately taken in suggesting to you a transfer from New
Zealand to Tasmania may be construed otherwise than intended.
It is my belief that it would in many ways be a relief to your mind and the means of strengthening
you as an efficient laborer if you could now, after having the experience of the last two years, take the
superintendence of a field which would which would not call forth so much perplexity, so much care, so
much correspondence, as the New Zealand work necessarily brings upon you.
When in Tasmania I was thoroughly convinced that the nature of the field and the character and
tastes of the people were much in harmony with your experience, methods of labor and tastes and
preferences, than the field in which you are now at work. And I hope you will give the matter a candid
consideration, believing that the proposition is made because of our anxiety for the welfare of the field and
our belief that God’s blessing will rest upon you in taking hold of the work there.
The counsels of the Union Conf. Com. are not yet completed. Some matters were laid over for our
consideration here the last of this week, and I will ask the Sec. to send you the minutes as soon as he can get
them copied.
Arthur Carrow is here. He came up this morning and took dinner with us. We were very glad to learn
from him many particulars about the work in Epsom. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 336]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 5th, 1895
Eld. G.T. Wilson
Auckland, N.Z., Care E. Hare, Turner Street
Page 2 of 2
I rather hope that Arthur Clayton will not come over. He impressed me as being rather superficial
and somewhat self-confident. I had some talk with Laura Harker while in Hastings, about her brother Harold.
She thought to write her sisters to ascertain if they would give some assistance towards his support. What do
you think of the propriety of his entering the Industrial Department of our school? I have been favorably
impressed by the boy, and Rousseau is willing to receive him on my recommendation; but I would much
prefer to have your opinion.
Brother Carrow tells me that Eld. Fulton has been working at Surrey Hills, but that there is no outside
interest. I am sorry to hear this. If there is an opening in other places in Auckland where the present interest
of the people can be utilized, I think it would be well to follow it up, but if it shall turn out that the interest is
not so general as we have supposed, as soon as the brethren in Auckland see and understand this so that
they will not be rebellious; it may be alright for Fulton to go to the field, but I sincerely believe that we should
do our utmost to utilize the interest aroused by the camp-meeting before looking elsewhere.
I have sent to Brother G.A. Anderson a letter containing some Polynesian news, which you will be
interested in reading. I shall be very glad to hear from you how Brother Anderson is getting along.
We were much interested in Sr. Wilson’s account of your work at Gisborne. I shall try to encourage
Brother Lawrence to move there.
We are sorry to hear of the trouble which has arisen in the Ormandville Church. When you go there
Brother Redward will tell you of the trouble which arose during our Napier convention. He will be able to give
you copy which I wrote them.
We are glad to hear of the organization of a church at Parkhurst; and also of the interest where
Brother Nash lives.
Mrs. Wilson will receive my hearty thanks for the good reports and also for the interesting letter, and
kind regards for our present and future happiness.
Yours in hope,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 337]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 6, 1895
Mr. Joseph Hare, Jr.
Kaeo, N.Z.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: I have been pleased to receive your letters of Apr. 22 and May 12, and must apologize for not having
sent forward to the publishers before today, your order for Sentinels. In the multitude of my unanswered
letters that accumulated during my recent trip, yours was lost and I could not find it till yesterday. Today I
send the list to Sr. Ingels, with the request that subscriptions begin with Sentinel No. 4. I also post you a set of
the G.C. Bulletins which I can spare and will ask that request that the subscriptions begin with Sentinel No. 4.
I also post you a set of the G.C. Bulletins which I can spare and will ask that when your bound copies come,
that you will pass this on to someone who will make good use of it.
I note what you say about my rapid movements and the difficulty of knowing where to write me. It
was something unusual for me to be several days ahead of my schedule time; but circumstances and the
wishes and movements of others hurried me along quite rapidly. Please do not think me neglected or
indifferent because your letters sometimes wait several days or weeks for an answer. I have decided that
when I am traveling among our people it is better to lay aside the writing as I did this year in Kaeo and give
my first energies to the work of visiting. I did very little writing after I left Auckland until now, and
consequently I have about two hundred pages waiting reply.
When we reached Hobart we found Mother and Sr. Lacey at the home of the latter’s father. After
the convention was over; we had a quiet little wedding on the afternoon of May 9th. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 338]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 6, 1895
Mr. Joseph Hare, Jr.
Kaeo, N.Z.
Page 2 of 2
I appreciate your kind words and accept your congratulations with much pleasure. I think there is every
reason to believe that I shall have a very happy home, but I do not intend that this shall take my mind or my
time from the work. I do not think I should have married without weighing all the advantages and all the
costs of the step very carefully, I know it will be harder to leave home but as I have never permitted the love
of home to hold me in the past, I think I will not allow it to deter me from the performance of duty in the
future. Before my marriage, I was persuaded that this step and the associations consequent upon it, would fit
me to do better work and more of it. Some asked me if I thought it was right for people in this age of the
world to be married. My answer was yes, if by so doing they are fitted to accomplish more and to do better
the work which the Master has given us to do. I think this is the great consideration and it is in view of this
that decision should be made.
I am glad to hear about your meetings and to know that the Wesleyans have a new minister. I am
sorry for the efforts of the Plymouth brethren, not because any of our people will be shaken; but because
they foster bigotry and clannishness wherever they go.
At Melbourne we had a very interesting meeting of the Union Conference Committee. We were not
able to complete the work and when it was decided that Eld. Daniells should go to Queensland, we adjourned
the meetings to be resumed here, beginning this afternoon or evening. In the course of a week or two we
shall be sending you copies of the minutes and then I will try to write again.
I am sending with this copies of letters written to Brethren Stead, Belden, and Anderson, which will
give you some inkling of what is going on in various places and of our plans regarding the work. I also send a
copy of my letter from Bro. Nobbs showing their appreciation for help in the building of their church.
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 339]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 6, 1895
To the Editors, Publishers, and Business Managers of the Bible Echo and Sentinel
North Fitzroy, Victoria, Aust.
Dear Fellow Laborers: There are a few thoughts which I wish to suggest to each of you, and as time to write is limited and I
fear most of my plans will be forgotten before I have time to write a long letter, I take the liberty to write
briefly to you all.
I believe that the time has come when it is our duty to push the Echo and Sentinel, as we have not
yet done. During the past year, very able and successful efforts have been made by a few and these efforts
give occasion for much encouragement. But the time has come for us to make a united effort and a
continued one.
I have not yet seen Bro. Michaels, but I have written to him and to Bro. Palmer about working up a
canvass and circulars for a popular and general effort to get yearly subscriptions for the Sentinel. Copies of
these letters I send to Sr. Ingels. Now if the editors will vigorously cooperate with these men, I am sure that
this important line of work can be started very soon. This is a favorable time to work.
To make this plan of canvassing a success we need a good live prospectus, showing what Vol. 2 of
the Sentinel is to be, or at least what the editors will try to make it. It is desirable that the Prospectus shall
name some of the subjects to be treated and also name a few of the articles and some of the Special
Contributors.
As soon as the Prospectus and the circular letters are ready let some apt and intelligent workers
make a beginning and then give their experience. Let the first work be done under careful supervision.
While pressing forward the work on Sentinel and Echo in all the ways already adopted, let us
broaden our efforts and as far as is possible, let us push them into the regions beyond. Two days ago I
telegraphed to the Aust. Tract So. to mail copies to workers asking them to introduce the Sentinel and to
send to its editors useful information from their various countries on the Church and State Controversy.
I have written to F.H. Westphall and Jean Vuilleurmire of Buenos Aires, Argentina. To F.J. Kelly,
Bogota, Columbia. T.H. Davis Valparaiso; F.H. Hutchins, Belize, British Honduras; and A.J. Haysmer, Kingston,
Jamaica, W.I. Also to A. LaRue, Hong Kong; and to Haskell and Robinson in So. Africa. My letter to
Vuilleurmire, I send copy to Colcord.
I think it would be well to send two to five copies of Sentinel No. 4 to each of those men. Also some
sample copies of the Echo. But do not stop with these, but carry the work father as you find active men who
may be interested to read and circulate these journals.
Please give earnest study to the pushing of these two papers, and if there is any way that I can help,
please communicate with me about it.
Yours in the work,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 340]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 9, 1895
Eld. W.J. Stone
737 5th Ave. Helena, Montana, U.S.A.
Dear Brother: This will introduce to you Miss Emily C. Campbell, who for three years has been Mother’s secretary,
and traveling companion and who is now on her way to Battle Creek to spend a year or more in the Medical
Missionary Training School.
Sister Campbell has some relatives in Montana and will go from here on the Vancouver Steamer in
July or August; and will then proceed on her way to the east, via the Northern Pacific Ry. stopping for a few
days in Helena where her friends will come to meet her.
I have advised her to correspond with you and arrange to have you meet her and if convenient, to
entertain her on her arrival. You will no doubt be glad to see one coming from this far away continent who
can tell you so much about the work here, and the workers. And be assured that any kindness shown to Sr.
Campbell will be as highly appreciated by Mother and myself as if shown to us personally.
At present, our work is very encouraging in all its phases. Eld. Starr is having lively times in
Toowoomba, Queensland, where there is a big battle on, over the Sabbath question. And here in Sydney,
there is a widespread interest and general and bitter opposition.
With kindest regards, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 341]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 9, 1895
Eld. F.M. Wilcox
Page 1 of 3
Dear Brother: It is so long since I have had time to write you a proper letter that I hardly know where I left off, or
what I said last. During my recent trip to New Zealand and Tasmania, I made the work of visiting of first
importance and therefore all of my correspondence is badly behind.
I see that in my short letter of May 17, that I expressed the expectation that we should soon settle
upon a site for the Melbourne meetinghouse. But in this we are still disappointed and delayed. We may now
wait till next spring (October) before attempting to build and in the meantime shall keep looking for a good
lot cheap.
My report of progress at the school grounds must wait till next month, as I have not yet been on the
ground.
In my notebook, I find in connection with the notes on your letter of Dec. 4 memoranda on several
points on which I think I have not written. The most important is in regard to the Home Missionary.
We were considerably disappointed, and inconvenienced when the regular lessons were allowed to
die out and felt worse when we saw they had been abandoned. The weekly lessons have never been of any
use to us and if it had not been for the cheapness of the Home Missionary, its circulation would soon have
dropped very low. Several times I have been commissioned to write to you asking for a return to the
systematic plans adopted when the paper was first established. I rejoice very much at the promise of a return
as I read it in the April No.
And now I will plead for a restoration of the Missionary Dep. in the Review edited by the Sec. of the
F.M.B. or someone in touch with the correspondence that he receives. There are many of the letter that you
have copied and sent around at considerable expense that would have made splendid reading in the Review
if they had been edited a bit.
I see no good in making the Home Missionary a popular journal for the publication of miscellaneous
church matter. It was started as a work of reference and study and it is large enough for that but it is not
large enough to hold all the reports from missionary operations that ought to go before our people. But in
the Review there is room.
The enclosures that you have sent me have been very interesting and if I was working months in one
place, I could find use for all but as our workers move so fast from place to place, a minister does not find
time to present much on Missions and is it not better to trim up the letters a little and then print them in the
Review. I think it would please the readers and strengthen the missionary spirit.
You have asked for my criticism on your Mse. for Manual. But some way, I have lost it and cannot
find it. Perhaps this is providential to save me making criticisms that would appear to you to be severe [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 342]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 9, 1895
Eld. F.M. Wilcox
Page 2 of 3
It seems to me that it would be much better for the present for you to get out a series of circular
letters treating the most important subjects and then when a worker is going abroad and when a candidate
needs instruct, send him such of the set as apply to his case. By following this plan, you can at any time revise
one or more of the letters when you find that additional experience enables you to hit the mark better. Even
in the preparation of these letters, you ought to have the assistance of a committee of men who have been in
mission work and if possible in widely differing fields.
I am much interested in the rapid development of the work in Mexico. $12,000.00 for a Sanitarium is
none too much, but $12,000.00 for the running of the school, one year is a lot too much. Perhaps there was
an error in the writing out of your notes of this point. See letter of March 3.
We were very glad to receive your April letter, while our Com. was in session in Melbourne. And I
assure you we are all very thankful for the hearty kindness and liberality of the Board towards our work here.
We pray for wisdom to use it right.
Is it intended by the Mission Board to carry the work in Queensland till it stands as a conference? If
so, will it not be natural for it to pass under the direction of the Union Conf.? So far, the work has all be
operated by the Australian Conf. and for a time yet, this may be better, but when we get the officers of the
Union Conf. well trained to their work, will it not be more natural for these missions to be under its direction?
What are the plans for the management of such matters in other parts of the world.
We are glad that the gifts of the Afrikaners for meetinghouse building, is to go to that work. We are
also thankful to be allowed to accept the £1000 from Bro. and Sr. Lindsay is with you, I trust that you will
encourage him to pass it in as soon as possible, and that you will not delay in forwarding the same. If it is not
to be done that way, I ask you to encourage him to send it to us direct. It would do us lots of good just now.
I was much pleased with the interest manifested in the information that another worker might be
sent us if needed. I do not think we ought to ask for anymore American ministers unless it be one who could
take a very leading place in the work, or was intended to take charge of our school enterprise.
There are a number of young men over there who came from here that have nearly completed their
education and it may be that from them, there are one or two ready to come back. For some years we looked
forward to the return of Herbert Lacey, as soon as his course was completed and now I suppose that he is
through we should be glad to have him come back at once, if he is willing to take hold of the hard and
humble work that we are now engaged in. Then, there is Lyndon and in California there is Stephen Hare. We
want these young men to have the very best opportunities for a broad development. If they can be employed
there, where they will grow, it may be best, but when more men [page break]
[7 – WCW – 343]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 9, 1895
Eld. F.M. Wilcox
Page 3 of 3
are needed and can be employed over here, we would prefer to have some of these come back, than to bring
over Americans of similar ability.
With this I send you copies of my letters to Elds. Haskell and Cole. I really hope that the Mission
Board will encourage Eld. Haskell to remain in Africa till after the first camp-meeting. I do believe there will
be a breaking away and growth there, and it seems as if Eld. H. could be a great help to them in a thousand
ways. We would be very glad to have a visit from Eld. Haskell over here but have not dared ask it, thinking he
had a work there, and also fearing that your board would think it a piece of extravagance to add his expense
for Australia.
Please inform us what the wishes of the board are regarding the work and movements of Eld. Cole.
Are you communicating with him? If so, do you wish us to cooperate with you in any way. He seems to look
to me for counsel and I know not what to say. If you should see fit to send me copy of your instruction to
him, I would do what I can to advance your plans.
I am heartily glad that you are sending a medical man to work with him. I hope that they will use lots
of publications there, and we shall be glad to have them trade with the Echo Pub. Co. From here we have
almost weekly communication, and the fact that Fiji is a British colony, and that it is considered as a part of
Australasia, all point to the propriety of their trading with us. What say you to this?
What are the prospects about Bro. Sisley’s coming over to help us in our work here. Various letters
from Eld. Olsen and others had raised our hopes very high on this point, and when the last mail came we
were all of a tremble to get the word that he would soon start but imagine our surprise to read the letters all
through and find no reference whatever to the matter. We could hardly believe that a matter that interests
us so much, and which had been spoken of so often with promise that it would be settled as soon as possible,
should be so quietly ignored. In his own letter, there was not a word of reference to the matter.
When he left, I had little hope that he would return because he made it so terribly plain to us all that
1. It would be virtually throwing away most of the value of his 20 years’ experience as a builder. 2. It would
take his three girls away from B.C. just at the time when they wanted to take up studies that they could not
well pursue elsewhere.
This is the only reason that we did not urge him vehemently to come back. I believe that he knows
that nothing would please us better than for him to return. This is the thing that would please us all and
please us better than anything else that has been thought of.
We are now in a very embarrassing position. I signed the first contract for the land, W.C. White, for
the General Conference Asso. Now the vendors insist that that shall be put on the deeds and our Solicitors
have sued for delivery of the deeds. When we are asked for our authority to act for the G.C.A. we can show
but very little.
Someone should be here with a power of attorney.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 744]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 9, 1895
Eld. A.O. Tait
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: I have often planned to write to you and have prepared my notes, but in looking for evidence that I
have written I find it not. The notes are not checked and there are no copies in the letter book. During my
recent trip through N.Z. and Tasmania, I have made visiting my first work, outside of meetings and therefore
the writing has had to wait and so I now have hundreds of pages of unanswered letters and it seems to be an
endless job to catch up.
While away, it has not been possible to get Mother’s views on the various points that you have
submitted to me but since coming home, I have made a beginning and soon I hope to catch up. Repeatedly I
have called the attention of herself and her secretary to your requests for copies and they always promise to
try to remember. I hope still to catch her up. I have called the attention to herself, and her secretary to your
requests for copies and they always promise to try to remember. I hope still.
Mother’s health is pretty good considering the work she does and her age. She usually takes a walk
with me every day, after dinner and I see that she is able to go farther than a year ago. She is now hoping to
finish the Life of Christ in a few months.
I will thank you most heartily for sending me the Bulletin. I received two copies, and also in another
lot, about fifteen more. Did you send these or were they sent to fill some order. To whom are they charged?
Did you supply the Polynesian missionaries such as Cole? As yet, I have had time only to read the Conf.
Proceedings but, I anticipate much pleasure in reading lessons.
You have no doubt seen what I have written to the G.C.A. and the Book Com. regarding Mother’s
Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing. We hope that the G.C.A. has taken it in hand and that we shall soon
hear that the selection of illustrations, and the making of new cuts is well underway. It is hard to plan way off
here, and we hope someone at the “Hub” will plan for us. I also hope you have seen what I wrote to Eld.
Olsen about the reprinting of the Spirit of Prophecy, Testimonies in very cheap form, etc.
During 1882-5 Elds. Butler and Haskell talked up similar plans about reprinting the old volumes of
Spiritual Gifts. Mother was opposed the plan. She said that the people would be better served by the new
editions. She says that in our labors, our sermons, and our books, we must always strive for improvement
and not cling to the old.
Day before yesterday I had a good opportunity to talk with her about all the propositions you had
made regarding the reprinting of her books. She expressed herself as not in favor of reprinting the Spirit of
Prophecy or the older forms of the same, Spirit of Prophecy. As regard the Testimonies she would be willing
to see them printed at a dollar a volume, but does not favor cheapening them too much, for that would
mean poor work or loss to the publishers. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 745]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 9, 1895
Eld. A.O. Tait
Page 2 of 2
it was against this sort of work in cheapening our trade books, that the same Testimony protested
that stirred us up to push the Subscription Books.
Mothers desires is that the work of classifying the Testimonies and bringing them out in works like
Gospel Workers, Christian Education, and Christian Temperance may go forward. This does not give the
matter in such a mass as to be discouraging to the reader and by being classified it has more force and
power.
The questions regarding condensed editions of Steps and the Indexes to Mothers writings, we must
refer to the Book Committee. That com. can judge what is good and what is just.
I am sure that you will not feel that these brief references are not an adequate answer to you
earnest and lengthy letters presenting plans for publication and circulation of these works, but it is late at
night and I have not time to enter into the matter fully tonight. So, I will put yours of Feb. 3 and Apr. 25 back
among the unanswered letters, hoping that when they come to the top again, I shall have more time to write.
We are heartily glad that the Home Missionary has gone back to the old plan of furnishing a lesson
each month on each of the four leading lines of work. The weekly lessons were never of any use over here.
We colonials are a quiet, slow-going lot, and cannot get around to so much of one thing as was here laid out.
Then, the lessons were rather thin, dwelling upon unimportant dates and details.
There is a general feeling of revolt against the system of uniform lessons for all grade in the Sabbathschool. With this I will send you copy of a letter I have written to the officers of the Int. S.S. Asso. Unless there
is some immediate relief, there will be a great deadening of the S.S. work, and a disintegration of the
influence and unity of the Int. S.S. Asso.
You will see that we have offered the publication of Mothers new book, to the G.C.A. We hope they
will respond very soon. We shall leave it with them to arrange with Revell. I do hope that they will not let a
little spleen prevent endeavoring to establish a relation that may be of immense service in the future.
We are not doing any translating of books or tracts over here, except as the New Zealand Tract
Society are planning to bring out a few Maori Tracts, and their progress is likely to be slow.
When I have time, I will give you my views on royalties.
Mother and I are decidedly of the opinion that from considerations easily within the range of human
judgment, that it would be better to have several homes for old people in different localities and that the first
one ought to be in a milder and better climate than Battle Creek. But in view of all the warning s against
multiplying buildings in that place and the disapproval so pointedly express because of the persistent
enlargement there, given through Mother, it is to us a strange thing that the Home is urged forward in that
place. We do not see any light in it.
Thanks for your congratulations. I am very happy in my new relations. My wife is a noble young
woman, good and true.
Yours,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 746]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 9, 1895
Prof. W.W. Prescott
College, Battle Creek, Mich., U.S.A.
Dear Brother: Your short but welcome letter came to hand some time ago, but this seems to be my first
opportunity to answer. You need not make any apology to me for failing to write. My delinquencies in this
line would prevent me from criticizing others.
We are truly glad that the G.C.A. is helping the Healdsburg College. There has been much liberality
there, and much lack of effort to raise funds, and clear off the debt. The school was planned for the whole
Pacific Coast and the rival school up north, cuts into H’b’g College in many ways.
We were glad to notice that the educational interests received so much attention at the General
Conference. And I was particularly impressed by the prominence given to plans for Industries, because we
have been forced to study these things, and it would now appear that all of our schools are diligently
studying the same problems.
We are very happy in the thought of soon having a visit from you and Mrs. Prescott and we have
appointed our Australian camp-meeting to be held in Melbourne in October. We are truly sorry that your
stay with us cannot be longer. I also wish that we could arrange some sort of general meeting in New Zealand
while you are with us. If you could persuade the Afrikaners to delay their meeting a few weeks, we could
arrange the program nicely. Our plans for general meetings are to hold the Australian Conference in campmeeting in Melbourne in October. Then, a c-m in Hobart, Tasmania in November, and the N.Z. c-m in January.
What I would like to propose is something as follows.
1. That you sail to Honolulu early in July on the Australia of the Oceanic lines or better, the last of
June, so as to have a few days there and then take the Vancouver Str. leaving Vancouver July 7 and reaching
Honolulu about July 13, on to Fiji. Break the journey there and come on a month later reaching here about
August 26. Spend three weeks with us in N.S.W. and then one week in Adelaide before c-m. Then attend the
Hobart camp-meeting, and also the N.Z. c-m which we could bring forward to December to suit you. If this
will not work, then;
2. Buy ticket through to Sydney on the Oceanic line. Go to Honolulu early in July on the Australia, and
then come along to Auckland N.Z. on the Alameda, leaving Honolulu Aug. 1 and reaching Auckland Aug. 15.
Aug. 16 inspect Auckland and surroundings. 17 & 18 hold a general meeting. 21 sail for Napier, Aug. 24-26
have general meeting in Napier for the Hawkes Bay District and proceed by rail to Wellington 27th. Sail the
30th for Sydney, which you would reach Sept. 4. Spend three weeks in N.S.W., one week in Adelaide, and then
the Melbourne c-m. The African Strs. sail near the close of the month. You could get off the last of Oct. If
Nov. would do, you could attend the Hobart meeting. Wish you could.
Come as soon as ever you can.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 347]
WHEREAS, In pursuance of the power and authority conferred upon the Executive Committee of the
Australasian Conference, which is the seventh division of the General Conference Association of Seventh-day
Adventists by Ole A. Olsen, the President of the General Conference association of Seventh-day Adventist,
the said Executive Committee of the Australasian Union Conference have purchased the Brettville Estate at
Cooranbong, N.S.W. for educational purposes; and;
WHEREAS, At the time of completing such purchase, the Constitution of the General Conference
Association of Seventh-day Adventists had not been duly registered in the said colony of New South Wales, in
consequence whereof it was deemed expedient to nominate some person or persons who should be
empowered to accept a conveyance of such land for and on behalf the said General Conference of Seventhday Adventists; and;
WHEREAS, It being impossible at such time to call a meeting of the Executive Committee of the
Union Conference to nominate such persons or persons, it was at that time mutually agreed between Arthur
G. Daniells, Lemuel J. Rousseau, William C. White, and Stephen McCullough, and Philip Ainsley Reekie,
members of the Executive Committee of the Australasian Union Conference that William C. White and Philip
Ainsley Reekie should be the persons who should accept such conveyance of the said estate, and in whom
the legal estate thereof should vest for the time being as joint tenants; therefore it is,
RESOLVED, That the action of William C. White, President, Arthur G. Daniells, Vice President, Lemuel
J. Rousseau, Secretary, and Stephen McCullough, and Philip Ainsley Reekie for the Union Conference
Committee in nominating the said William C. White and Philip Ainsley Reekie as the persons to whom the
said estate should be conveyed be and the same is hereby confirmed.
[7 – WCW – 348]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 10, 1895
Mr. Herbert C. Lacey
Battle Creek College
My Dear Brother: I have but a few moments to write to you this morning but will take the liberty to send you a copy of
a short letter to Prof. Prescott in which you will see what I have planned regarding his movements in
Australasia. I have not yet heard what the Mission Bd. will direct you to do; but I hope they will recommend
you to come this way without delay. And if this should be done, I wish you to consider the advantage to
yourself and to your future work of being with us during the visit of Prof. Prescott. If you could be with him in
the New Zealand meetings, it would be well but if for any reason this should be impossible, I should very
much like to have you here during September when we shall expect that all the plans of our school work will
be reviewed on the grounds by Brn. Prescott and Rousseau, and some member of the Com. Following this
comes our Melbourne and Hobart camp-meeting which you should be present to become acquainted with
our people and assist what you can in laboring for our educational interest.
Your father has expressed a strong desire that you should return by way of England and I have
mentioned this in my letter to Eld. Olsen. I trust that you will give this and all other matters relating to you
return and future work due consideration and pray that you and your advisers may be guided in every
decision by the Spirit of wisdom.
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 349]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 7, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 1 of 10
My Dear Brother: I will begin to write this morning, knowing that my time will be broken, and that it will be difficult for
me to find time to say one half that I would like to in answer to your many interesting letters.
First of all I will tell you that Sister May Lacey and I were married at the home of her father,
Glenorchy, Tasmania, on the afternoon of May 9th; four days after the close of the Tasmanian Convention.
After this we spent three days in Launceston, and two weeks in Melbourne. Bro. Baker and Teasdale have
been holding tent meetings at Launceston and will soon organize a little church there. In Melbourne, my time
was pretty well taken up in committee meetings. Mother spoke twice in Launceston and four or five times in
Melbourne. We reached home May 30th. This was four months to a day from the time I left for New Zealand;
and just thirty days after the arrival of Ella and Mabel. They thought that four weeks was a long time to wait,
but they were well cared for and when we came home I found them well and happy. They were very glad to
meet their grandma, father, and their new mother, and gave us all a hearty greeting. At the close of the
second day, Mabel said to Ella after speaking of her new mama, “Just think of it, they have been home only
one day, and it seems as though I had known her for years.” Both she and Ella say that “It is nice to be with
Papa and to have someone we can call mama.” It seems so new to Mabel that she keeps practicing it in her
play, goes about humming, “papa, papa, mama, mama.” Well, you know what a funny little body she is. May
seems to hover them as naturally as if they were her own chicks. As far as we can discern, there is every
reason to believe that we shall be a very happy family.
I think I wrote you in my last about the Tasmania Convention. Therefore I need not repeat that. In
Melbourne two weeks passed very quickly and the committee work which was not completed there will be
resumed here today. I hope that the secretary will be able to send you a copy of the minutes by this mail. I
will not begin to comment upon the business transacted until I have the minutes before me, and can mention
things in their connection. One or two points of most general interest I will refer to, however.
We are all very much pleased with the thought that Prof. Prescott will soon visit us. At first thought I
was a little sorry that he was coming here first, feeling that we would be better prepared to get good from his
visit later on; but I have changed my mind and believe that his visit will be of most value to us if he comes
when we are just forming our plans, than if he should come later or near the time of opening the school. No
doubt he will be somewhat disappointed at the backwardness of our work, and it would have suited our
ambition a little [page break]
[7 – WCW – 350]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 7, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 2 of 10
better to have had the work further along when he came. But I am satisfied that the permanent interests of
the school will be better served by his visiting us as soon as possible; thus permitting us to have the benefit of
his counsels in all the work of laying the foundation for the operation of our permanent school.
I feel that we need all the help he can possible give us in presenting our people. First, the necessity
and value of education. Second, the advantage of our uniting to build up one first class training school. Third,
the necessity of sacrifice and economy and liberality, that the school may have funds with which to do its
work.
During my recent trip in New Zealand, I found that our brethren and sisters in Kaeo, Napier, and
Wellington who have attended the camp-meetings and who understand and appreciate the times in which
we live and the importance of our work; were ready to make large sacrifices in behalf of the school; but when
I got to the little churches, where the members knew but little of our general work; it was exceedingly
difficult to get any assistance at all.
In Hastings I preached twice and spent one whole day visiting from house to house and the total
results of the two days labor was the promise of one pound.
We are preparing to issue some pamphlets which will present the importance of our educational and
other plans before those who will read. We trust that this will prepare the minds of some to listen more
intelligently to what may be said at our next camp-meeting.
We have arranged the time of our next Australian Conference to correspond with the plans of the
F.M.B. regarding Prof. Prescott’s visit. It will probably be held in camp-meeting in one of the northern
suburbs of Melbourne.
The general outline for conventions and special efforts are as follows: First, the last of next week Eld. Daniells goes to Queensland to assist Eld. Starr for two or three weeks
in Toowoomba, where the battle is raging hotly over the Sabbath question. Then if the business of the
conference will permit, he will visit Rockhampton and possibly Townsville.
Second, during the next four months we hope to push forward the work vigorously in Sydney and
suburbs. The Disciples, Baptists, Presbyterians and other are combining to oppose and break down our work
in Petersham and Canterbury. The Plymouth brethren are also at work with more than ordinary bitterness
and vigor. We are beginning to feel that instead of standing to repulse their attacks it will be better for us to
make a general charge all along the line. I think we shall undertake to publish reports of some of the sermons
then organize a company of colporteurs to place them in every house in each of the suburbs where our
brethren have been working and there is a special interest.
A council was held here today to study the present status and demands of the work, and to suggest
plans for future operations. At the close it was suggested that we prepare to work according to the following
outlines: - That Elder Hare and Brother J. Collins open up a series of [page break]
[7 – WCW – 351]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 7, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 3 of 10
meetings, probably with a tent in Marrickville, a suburb of Sydney, not far from Petersham. B. that Eld.
McCullough with the assistance of Eld. Byron Belden carry forward the work in Ashfield and Canterbury. It is
now expected that the Sabbath keepers in Canterbury will join the Ashfield church when organized. C. That
Eld. Corliss instruct and organize the Ashfield church, assist in the initiatory steps of building a meeting house
there, and then leave that work to be completed by Eld. McCullough that he may enter Sydney itself, secure a
good hall and hold two evening meetings a week. While doing this it is hoped that he may prepare some of
his sermons for publication; and these will be placed in the hands of our colporteurs to be freely distributed
in the homes of the people. Brn. Pallant and Semmons will be expected to assist in this effort in the city and
in the distribution of the printed sermons.
Bro. McCullough pleaded for delay in the matter of entering Sydney. They said, “Let us take the
outposts first before storming the citadel.” But there are serious objections to a delay in the efforts in the
city. Nearly half of the laborers in the Australian Conf. are now working in and around Sydney. There are
Corliss, Hare, McCullough, Collins, Pallant, and Belden. It is not likely that more than half of these will return
after the October camp-meeting. That meeting will no doubt arouse interests in Melbourne that must be
followed up. South Australia, which has waited more than two years, will soon insist on having its share of
labor and western Australia must not be forgotten; therefore we endeavored to encourage the brethren to
make rapid movements and a bold strike now; believing that it may be a long time before we shall have so
many workers here again.
Third, - in southern Australia, the labors of Dr. Kellogg have been very much appreciated. In Broken
Hill, which is just over the line in New South Wales, but which is commercially connected with southern
Australia, and is counted as a part of that field, the Doctor has been preaching and laboring from house to
house, and the interest has steadily grown on his hands. He felt deeply his need of assistance and called for
help. We have sent Brother and Sister Hickox there with a tent. The climate is such that a tent can be used
through the winter. We hope that a good work may be accomplished there.
Fourth, - in Victoria Eld. Israel is now left almost alone to hold the fort. Eld. Colcord assists him by
speaking Sabbaths and Sunday evenings. Eld. Israel speaks Sabbath and Sunday, holds Bible readings from
house to house, and patiently labors with the local elders to teach them how to conduct meetings without a
preacher and without trying to be preachers themselves.
Fifth, - As I stated in my letter of last month, we desire to secure a man for Tasmania who has some
experience in all lines of our work and who will identify his interests with the Tasmanian work, striving to
develop it in all its branches. We have submitted to Eld. Wilson of New Zealand the request of the Tasmanian
brethren that he make that field his field of labor.
Sixth, - in planning for opening up western Australia we think that it would be best to enter that
colony with a corps of laborers who could make a stir in the principle cities. We would like to have Eld. Corliss
take charge of the work there for the first few months. Considering [page break]
[7 – WCW – 352]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 7, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 4 of 10
the work already in progress here in Sydney, and the expectations of the New Zealand brethren that he will
take a leading part in opening up the work in Christchurch we have thought that it would be best to let
western Australia wait for about ten months.
Sunday morning, June 9th. During my recent visit to Melbourne I formed the acquaintance of Bro.
and Sr. Palmer. He is hard at work getting acquainted with the condition of our book field, and the various
ability and wants of our agents. I think he will manage the work very well when he becomes acquainted with
his new field.
Bro. C.P. Michaels has been put at work on the “Bible Echo”. He seems to enjoy the work and is
pushing it with great vigor.
Bro. T. Whittle has been working in northern Queensland. At first he went up to deliver on salary but
lately has been canvassing on his own account, and has done very well in the northern towns on the east
coast at Thursday Island, and in the larger towns in the Bay of Carpenteri. He now proposes that if the Tract
Society will buy a van and two horses, he will take a stock of books and push into the interior of northern
Queensland, canvassing or peddling, as the case may require. The committee thinks that this will be an
excellent enterprise. We believe that his recent trip along the coast and his proposed trip into the interior will
be a beginning toward the accomplishment of results that we had hoped for in the proposition that he and
Dr. Kellogg should visit northern Queensland and the islands to the north and west. His proposal to on his
own account with the assistance from us named above will minimize the expenses. We fell, however, that he
ought to be furnished with a license to preach and that he should be given a good supply of Echoes and tracts
for free distribution. If the Australia Tract Society furnish him with the outfit because of the commercial
aspects of the expedition will it not be right for us to furnish a good supply of literature for free distribution;
to be charged up with the other Queensland expenses to the Gen. Conf.?
The Bible Echo. We are very thankful that the G.C.A. has taken over the Bible Echo and now we
desire to know just how you want it run. At our recent meeting of the Union Conf. Com. we received quite a
full report from the Com. of management or the Publishing Com. of the Echo. We settled some questions
regarding the work of the past year, gave some advice with reference to the prosecution of the work until
instructions should be received from the G.C.A. and then we requested the Pub. Com. of which Salisbury is
chairman, and Daniells and Michaels the other members, to correspond directly with the Executive Com. of
the G.C.A., making full reports of their methods and plans, and asking for full and definite instructions.
We sincerely hope that the Com. will be instructed to push out the Echo on plans of similar breadth
and liberality to those adopted for the Present Truth and Signs of the Times. It has seemed to me that it
would be right for us to plan to make the Echo suitable for the English readers in all parts of the southern
hemisphere; and that it would [page break]
[7 – WCW – 353]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 7, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 5 of 10
be well for the G.C.A. to increase its circulation, not only in Australasia but also in Polynesia, South America,
the British West Indies, and India, China, Japan, and South Africa.
If you do not object we shall correspond with the workers in these fields, asking them to contribute
occasionally to the Echo and suggesting that they use it in their work. On what terms may we furnish it in
clubs to the workers in these fields? I trust that this and many other like questions will be submitted to you
by Brethren Daniells and Salisbury by letters in this mail.
There is much that I wish to say to you about the Sentinel but have not time to write today, think I
will get it in my next letter.
V. G.C.A. Book Business: -- Last night I was reading over several of your letters which I have briefly
referred to, but have not fully answered. In yours of Jan. 3, you speak quite fully of the G.C.A. Book Business,
and the need of a general manager with experience and breadth of plans to take in the wants of the cause in
all parts of the world. I have thought much of this and have wondered if it would be for the advancement of
the work to let Gibson and Nelson change places for a year or two. Please think of this. I have also thought
much of the probable necessity of opening up small publishing houses in South America and India. I look for a
rapid development of the work in South America; if we send in good men and do not hamper the work by
protracted delay and dependence upon the movements in other lands. Would not Capt. Eldridge be a good
man to open up a branch in Buenos Aires and develop it into a paying enterprise? Please think of this also.
As regards India, the advantage of having a publishing house there is the cheapness with which work
can be produced. I will copy an extract from a recent letter received from Brother Masters on this point.
Please consider this when planning other enterprises for India. Here is what he says: “Printing can be done in Calcutta either in the native language or in English, cheaper than in any
other country and I am thinking that if the London Pub. establishment could be brought over here before it is
further molested, it would be well. I posted to your address some time ago a little book just about as big as
“Steps to Christ”, printed in Hindustan, which cost only six pie, ½ penny (one cent). This will give you an idea
of how cheap the work can be done. I also sent one of these books to F.M. Wilcox. It contained the books of
Luke and Acts.
There is no law in India forbidding Sunday labor and as there are so many firms of religion, so many
gods worshipped it will take a long time to get a law of this kind into operation.
We like India very much and have got along quite nicely, but for the sickness. We have each sold a
good number of books, and formed the acquaintance of some real earnest Christians who have been very
courteous and friendly notwithstanding their knowledge that we are Seventh-day Adventists.” [page break]
[7 – WCW – 354]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 7, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 6 of 10
We are much interested in the success of your efforts to widen the circulation of the Signs and we
hope that it may reach 100,000. We are also glad to welcome back Eld. Wilcox as editor. During his absence
the Signs seemed to be growing mechanical in make-up and sharp in tone. These sharp thrusts which some of
our brethren love to make, spoil the paper for any usefulness in this part of the world.
We wait with considerable interest to see what attitude the G.C.A. will assume toward Mother’s
book, “Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing” and also her “Life of Christ”.
Mother has given considerable thought to the request made by the G.C.A. in behalf of the canvassers
and publishing houses, that she accept ten cents per book royalty instead of fifteen. And she has authorized
me to say to you that in consideration of the hard times, and the reduction in prices that she will hereafter
accept twelve and one half cents instead of fifteen. I argued in favor of her acceding to the request as
presented; but she says, “No. The reduction of one third the royalty is too large a proportion considering the
reduction of the price of books, and if I have to bear such heavy expenses to get out my books as in times
past, I must have something to do it with. I cannot accept less than 12 ½ c. until I see what attitude the G.C.A.
will assume toward my future publications.”
I think if all would look at the matter as it is they could see that 12 ½ c. (which is not all royalty, but is
in part a share of publishers profit, because the author owns the plates and illustrations) is much less than
ten cents to the author who furnishes manuscript only, leaving the publishers to make and illustrations.
Since returning home I have resumed the examination of the manuscript for the “Life of Christ”. If
our work is not interrupted by some unexpected calamity, I think this book may be completed in a few
months.
South Africa. – In your letter of Feb. 26 you speak quite fully of the work in South Africa. We have
been much pained by the utterances of the Sentinel, which appear to us to [be] unnecessary meddling in
business that does not concern them and that they do not understand. I think it would be better if our
brethren in distant fields would pray more and then have confidence that God will lead his servants who are
struggling with difficulties that they know but little about.
At a recent meeting of our Union Conf. Com., Mother came in to give us about various features of
our work. In speaking of the conflict with the governments here, she said we must be careful not to take bold
and defiant positions unnecessarily and prematurely; for the people are enshrouded in so great darkness that
unless they are first enlightened our action may have an opposite influence to that which we desired it
should. She said that the defiant attitude of our brethren and the unqualified utterances made in the Sentinel
and elsewhere, were cutting short the work of the angel whom God has sent to enlighten the whole world
with his glory. These are not her exact words, but the thoughts as near as I can express them. I will ask her to
write them [page break]
[7 – WCW – 355]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 7, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 7 of 10
out and forward to you.
I feel much satisfaction of your choices of Brother Tripp as Supt. of the work in Zambesia. It seems to
me that if Eld. Haskell feels like visiting that Mission and the trip can be made without injury to his health, it
would be a good plan for him to go up there and give the brethren the benefit of his experience and
counsels. I hope the work there may prove successful. I look to some such places for a refuge for our people
when they are driven out of the cities; and therefore I do not regret as some appear to that our brethren are
obtaining control of large tracts of land.
The Work in India. – The more I think about your plans for India, the better they seem to me and I
believe that Eld. Robinson is admirably fitted to take a part in the fulfillment of these plans. I know of no
place in the world where a sanitarium would count so much for the cause as in India, and that seems to be
the very best way to make a beginning there. Perhaps he could do some printing in connection with the
sanitarium and make that the center of our publishing work during the first years of work there.
I am sorry that Capt. Masters and wife find that they cannot endure the climate. You have no doubt
heard that they are on their way back to Australia and New Zealand. Bro. Lacey tells me that we should send
young person’s there as it is very difficult for old people to endure the climate.
European Trip of A.T. Jones. – We are heartily glad that Bro. Jones has been chosen to attend the
camp-meetings in Europe this year and we hope you will not let him run right back to the States as soon as
these meetings are over. One cannot learn the condition of society in these countries in a few weeks. I have
read a letter from him expressing an interest in the American-German work. In it he says he has learned to
read the German and hopes soon to speak it. A three or four months’ residence in Germany would be
invaluable to him attaining a proper use of the language.
There is some book editing that needs very much to be done that he could accomplish better there
than any other place in the world and Conradi is the best man to help him. I refer to the revision of the
History of the Sabbath. The last revision of that work was a botched job, and the style and plan of the last
English edition was a series of blunders. It does not sell as a subscription book, and never will; and as a trade
book it is too bulky and expensive.
When the first edition was brought out some years ago it was the most scholarly and best written
book we had; but since that time much valuable history has been found that should be added. The most
important part of this is in the German libraries. Eld. Conradi has made diligent research and is quite familiar
with the most valuable history, but he is not a fluent English writer. Now what I propose is that the G.C.A.
secure from Charles Andrews all rights to this work, and that A.T. jones be appointed by the Book Com. to
revise it from the [page break]
[7 – WCW – 356]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 7, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 8 of 10
beginning to the end, with instructions to preserve as far as possible the work of Eld. Andrews. And that Eld.
Jones and Conradi be employed and instructed by the Gen. Conf. Com. to make a faithful research in the
continental and British libraries, and bring out a work that will be clear, concise, and up to date. Then let it be
published by the G.C.A. in London and Battle Creek, and put on the market at a proper price.
Polynesian Work. – We are immensely pleased with your plans for the island work. We believe that
medical missionaries and teachers such as you are sending out are the right sort, and that your scheme for
the movement of the “Pitcairn” will be both economical and profitable. It certainly seems necessary to
entrust much responsibility with the Supt. of the mission and Capt. of the ship, and we rejoice in the success
which Eld. Graham has attained in this work. I am glad that Peter Hansen has gone out in the place of Capt.
Hicks, whom I did not know. I also approve of your plans for Bro. McCoy. It would have made us very happy if
the sec. had given us more information regarding your plans for Eld. Cole. We would like to have known
when you expect him to go to Fiji and whether you have sent him full instructions about his movements and
work.
Eld. Cole is getting quite uneasy. He feels that he ought to get off to Fiji and continues to question
me as to what he shall do. But I have received no instructions and therefore cannot answer him to his
satisfaction. My enclosed letter will show you what I have written him. It would be a great privilege to us to
receive some information from the board regarding the plans for his work, if we are expected in any way to
cooperate in the execution of those plans.
I have an interesting letter from Dr. Caldwell regarding his work in Raratonga. I hope he will decide to
accept that appointment of Supt. of their new hospital. Because if he can successfully hold such a position,
his influence will keep the way open for others to work as evangelists, whereas if he refuses this position of
influence to work as an evangelist, some day he will find the hospital Supt. working against him. I cannot yet
understand why it is necessary for him to sever his connection with the Mission Board if he accepts such a
position, but if that is the alternative, I hope he will take the hospital.
Books Stored in Wellington. – I am very thankful that you have mentioned these books. The silence
of the board respecting them has been somewhat of a perplexity to me. I have made earnest efforts to
secure the sale of as many as possible; but with limited success. About a dozen boxes are still stored at
Levin’s Warehouse. And there is probably half as many more on the shelves of the depository. Sometimes we
have ordered books from Melbourne and Sydney, which appeared on our list but when looked for they could
not be found. This was sometimes due to their having been sold in New Zealand and sometimes to errors in
the record as to where the things were stored. I have been thinking for some time of proposing that these
books be brought over to Melbourne, and taken into the stock of the Echo Co., so that someone would be
fully [page break]
[7 – WCW – 357]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 7, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 9 of 10
responsible for them; but with the understanding that they may sometimes be returned if we can find no sale
for them.
I am glad of your proposition to send them to Fiji. My convictions are that the books should be
separated into three lots; a. those that may be disposed of from Fiji; b. those that may be disposed of from
Melbourne; c. those that are not likely to disposed of here, and should go back to San Francisco in the
“Pitcairn”. Let lots a and c be shipped by freight from Wellington and to Fiji, is time to meet the “Pitcairn”.
And let lot b be shipped to Melbourne and charged up to the Echo Co. The New Zealand Tract Society should
be encouraged, of course, to keep all that they want or are likely soon to need, before making shipment to
Melbourne or Fiji. Please take these suggestions into consideration and then give us definite instructions and
we will carry it out to the best of our ability. In planning to store a large quantity in Fiji, please take into
consideration to probability of expense in storing and lows from dampness of the climate and the abundance
of insects.
Australasian Students. – In Feb. I received a letter from Herbert Lacey inquiring what our plans and
wishes were regarding his return. This I answered quite fully in my March letter of which I think I sent you a
copy. I hear that he is thinking of returning in September. It would be better if he could come a month earlier
and still better if he could come with Prof. Prescott. You will see by the enclosed copy of my short letter to
Prescott that I plan for him to spend two weeks in New Zealand. Perhaps that time should be lengthened to
three. If I can have a telegram stating when Prescott will sail, it will give me time to arrange for the general
meetings in New Zealand. I think it would be an excellent plan if Prescott, Lacey, and Wilson could conduct
these meetings and instruct our people on educational questions.
I must not forget to mention that Bro. D. Lacey, Herbert’s father, is desirous that he should return to
Australia via England, because of the educational advantages of the trip; and also that he may meet relatives
whom he has not seen for many years, and from whom he might naturally expect to receive material
financial assistance later on if he makes a proper effort to maintain their good will and confidence. Fearing
that I could not properly present this matter to you, I asked Bro. Lacey to present it himself, and I hope he
has already done this.
We shall endeavor to arrange for some general meetings in Sydney and Adelaide before the campmeeting so that Prof. Prescott can meet nearly all of our people and speak to them on educational subjects.
How if Lacey could be with Prescott in these meetings and with Prescott and Rousseau in their
counsels here, I think it would do much to fit him for his future labors.
In my letter to Cicely which you have read, I spoke of Linden and Watterworth, from Napier, who are
at Battle Creek; and now I desire to call your attention to Stephen Hare from Kaeo, who is in California. [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 358]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 7, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 10 of 10
I think his studies are complete and his parents very naturally desire him to return to New Zealand; but they
are willing to leave him in your hands to plan for his best good. I suggested to them that it might be best for
him to acquire a broader experience before his return. I wish that you and Eld. Prescott might give this
matter special consideration. In some future letter I will write about our medical students. We are very glad
to read what you have written about students at Ann Arbor, and I quite agree with you in your anxiety for
them, and I quite agree with you in your anxiety for them and in your hesitation to encourage young men to
enter the university for long courses of higher education.
Enclosures. – I am sending with this copies of letters to Haskell, Wilson, and Crothers, and also by
Rousseau’s request, minutes of our Union Conf. Com. meeting. We resume business this afternoon and
tomorrow go to Cooranbong to settle prices of the land and decide about temporary buildings.
You will see from my letter to Wilcox that we were disappointed at the silence about the return of
Cicely in our April letters. We heartily desire that he shall come; but he made it very plain to us that he
considered it next to possible.
I am sorry that we have a lawsuit on our hands without any documentary evidence to establish our
authority to act or our relation to the G.C.A. I hope to be able to tell you next month what the result is. I wish
the G.C.A. would issue the power of attorney to either Eld. Daniells or Rousseau as they may think best. I am
satisfied that either one of them would move carefully and follow faithfully your instructions.
By the Vancouver steamer which goes in about eight days, I will try to send you a letter telling
something of my personal plans and of home affairs.
I am very happy in my new relations and Ella and Mabel are very contented and happy with their
new mama. There is every prospect that we shall be a very happy family.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 359]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 10, 1895
W.H. Edwards
Battle Creek
My Dear Brother: As usual I have been pressed with Com. meetings the reading of manuscript, and correspondence
about local matters until the time left for my American letters, but Eld. Rousseau and Sr. Campbell were
comparing accounts and I was much interrupted by calls for explanations and instructions. Last night I wrote
as long as I could keep my eyes open, to Brn. Wilcox, Tait, and Prescott, who now I have but a few moments
in which to write you.
I have received your statement of account and your kind letter regarding the sale of my property and
household furniture. These last letters I have carefully put in the package of unanswered letters from you
which is growing larger and larger, and which I continue to promise myself will be answered by next mail.
The purpose of this letter is to ask you to ship through to Cal. the most valuable and less bulky of my
household goods. I fear from what the children tell me that some things have been sold which should have
been sent to me to better advantage. When I wrote about the sale of furniture, I was hurried and worried
about other matters, and did not think to specify that all small and valuable articles such as knives, forks, bed
and table linen, bedding including hair mattresses, should all be reserved. Whatever there may be left of
these, please rescue them and have them properly packed and shipped to Oakland to come along with Prof.
Prescott or Herbert Lacey from San Francisco, also have my books, photo album, memoranda books,
containing notes of sermons with all photos and other small household ornaments, packed up to come with
the rest. If the hair mattresses seem to be too bulky, let them wait for a time. If I was there to attend to them
myself, I would have them shipped in a roll to Chicago, and then carry them right into the Tourist’s Sleeper
and thus get them through without expense. If you find anyone going through to California who has not a full
amount of baggage, you might let them check through some of these things. I would like a good, medium
sized ladies trunk for my wife. You may buy one for me if you can find opportunity to check it through.
I met the children May 30 after a separation of nearly four years. I need not tell you that they are
very much pleased to meet me, their grandma, and their new mama; they love her already. She is happy in
her care of them. There is every reason to believe that we shall be a very happy family.
(signed) W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 360]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 10, 1895
prof. W.W. Prescott
My Dear Brother: Late last night I wrote you a short letter and this morning will add a few lines before running to catch
the train to meet an appointment with the Union Conf. Com. In my letter written last night I endeavored to
outline a program for your movements. I will now say a few words about the journey itself. It is not likely to
be very cold at the time of your trip, therefore you are likely to neglect to provide yourself with the necessary
rugs and wraps. If you have had experience in sea travel, you are familiar with the advantages of keeping
warm. There is nothing which induces sea sickness so effectively and quickly as becoming chilled; therefore it
is advisable to have a super-abundance of wraps and rugs. You will also find it greatly to your comfort to have
two steamer chairs or ship lounges. The wicker lounge is the most comfortable, the wooden chairs with cane
seats and backs are good if they are large and roomy. The canvas chair, which is less expensive is really more
comfortable unless it is large and roomy.
Cabin passengers are furnished with a fair amount of fruit, but if you bring a good assortment of
grapes and apples in a basket you will not regret it and you will be glad to have the basket to refill at
Honolulu and Samoa. You will also find that some Sanitarium biscuits will taste very good, and if you can eat
carbon biscuits you will find them excellent to prevent sea sickness. As regards luggage, you can take a goodly
number of valises and bundles into your cabin with you, also one steamer trunk, which will slip under the
berth if not more than fifteen inches high. Your larger trunk, which will go into the hold, then will permit you
to inspect once a week.
When Mother and I came over we paid three or four pounds extra for a nice deck cabin, just back of
the captains room. It is a good place and as your time on the ship will be valuable, both for rest and study, I
would suggest you secure this room if possible.
Mother and I have considerable household stuff at Battle Creek and Healdsburg that we would like
to have brought this way. I will write my friends to prepare several trunks and boxes ready to be checked
through if anyone should be going west without a full amount of luggage. I shall also ask that quite a quantity
be prepared for shipment when you come. Each person entering this colony is permitted to bring household
goods free of duty to the value of 50 pounds. What is prepared to come with you we will give to you and you
can treat it as your own and then turn it over to us, if you like, after your arrival.
Yours in haste,
(signed) W.C. White
P.S. If you will telegraph us the date of your arrival in Auckland, I’ll arrange appointments for gen. meetings
so that the greatest amount of works can be accomplished in the shortest time. If you choose you may use
the a.b.c. code or simple wire the month, thus: “Echo, Melbourne, August, Prescott.” This would mean to us
that you would expect to be in Auckland Aug. 15 and that I am at liberty to arrange meetings for you
according to my letter. [letter ends here]
[7 – WCW – 361]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 11, 1895
Mr. J. Smith
“Echo” Fitzroy
My Dear Brother: I received your letter of June 4 several days ago, but this seems to be my first opportunity to answer
it. We have had a busy time since I reached home, and especially since the arrival of Bro. Daniells and
Rousseau. Sunday and yesterday forenoon, we were working on American mail. Yesterday afternoon we held
a meeting of the Union Conf. Com. which continued until after 11 last night. This morning Brn. Daniells,
Rousseau, and Reekie go to Cooranbong and Eld. McCullough to Gosford with Bro. R. Shannon to see Bro.
Parsons, who owes Shannon for land purchased, but seems unwilling to pay. He will go on with me this
evening to Cooranbong, and tomorrow we hope to settle many important matters.
I am in harmony with the suggestions in your letter of June 4 and shall try and remember them.
When I have time to look it up I will send you a copy of a constitution that was adopted when a conference
was organized in South Africa, and a copy of my letters with a draft which I made for them at that time. Then
I will expect you to criticize the same and make suggestions regarding the changes that have occurred to your
mind.
I suppose the work of the Finance Com. will wait until the return of Eld. Daniells from Queensland.
Many thanks for your well wishes, which, if not expressed to me in words while I was in Melbourne
were understood by me all the same and appreciated. There seems to be every prospect that we shall be a
very happy family. The children already manifest, not only a willing obedience, but real affection for their
new mother. She is not only exercising an affectionate care for them, but seems to be quite discreet in her
management.
I think I will take the liberty to send to you copy of my recent letter to Eld. Olsen. It was written in
much haste, and is therefore incomplete and somewhat broken up; but I believe you will kindly overlook its
imperfections. I had to send off the original without reading for correction and will serve your copy the same
way. After reading, please hand to Eld. Colcord then send to Capt. Muckersey and Eld. Israel.
We are all well and of good courage.
Yours truly,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 362]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 11, 1895
Bro. E.J. Waggoner
451 Holloway Rd. N. London, England
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: It is a long time since I have written to you and I think I am indebted to you for a letter or two; but it
does not matter however, I will send you a few lines to accompany the enclosures which are the real
occasion of my writing this time.
I also enclose you a card which will acquaint you with fact of my recent marriage. I think you can
more readily imagine than I can describe my pleasure at having my children with me again, and the society of
a loving companion who makes us a happy home.
You will remember Herbert Lacey, who came to Healdsburg College from Tasmania; my wife is his
oldest sister. She is about a year and a half younger than Herbert. By and by I hope to send you a photo of my
present family in a group.
A few days ago, I enjoyed reading a copy of your letter to Bro. Castberg of Christiana. Mother says
that I may copy the greater portion of this and send it to the Cor. Sec. of our Religious Liberty Department.
When you can do so, I wish you would tell me what you think of our Australian Sentinel. I would like
to have you write for it occasionally. It would much increase its influence here if each number contained
something from England. I have suggested to the editor that they endeavor to give in each number, a very
brief review of the progress of the Church and State Controversy in each of the Australian colonies and also
as far as possible in South Africa, Great Britain, and Canada. We are also reaching out for a connection in
South America. I will copy here a portion of a letter sent to Bro. Westphall of Buenos Aires: “I see by the morning paper that the mail for Buenos Aires closes tomorrow. So I will write you a few
lines to tell you about the progress of the work in this country, and to enquire in what we can cooperate with
you and you with us for the advancement of the work in which we are engaged. I have always had a deep
interest in the work in South America, and when secretary of the F.M.B. felt a special burden to set on foot
some plans that would provide that great country with some faithful workers to carry them the last gospel
message. I was much rejoiced when I heard that you had gone to the field and have read with great interest
copies of some of your letters sent to me by Eld. Wilcox, Sec. of the F.M.B. . . . .
I also desire to call your attention to the Australian Sentinel of which I send sample copies that I will
ask you to read and hand to others. We desire to make this journal a power for the defense of liberty and for
the proclamation of the Third Angels Message: not only [page break]
[7 – WCW – 363]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 11, 1895
Bro. E.J. Waggoner
451 Holloway Rd. N. London, England
Page 2 of 2
in Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania, but also in South America and Africa. To this end, its publishers
have decided to invite correspondence from all our workers in these countries. It is intended by the editors
that each number will contain a brief review of progress in all the English colonies in the southern continent
and if you please, in the republic of South America also, of the controversy over questions of religious liberty
and the encroachment of the state upon the same. We are also planning to make the journal popular by
running two series of historical articles: one on Bible History, the other on British History. Each to illustrate
the evils of interfering in religious matters.
If we are fairly successful in reaching our ideal, I think that the paper will be admirable suited to the
South American field. Please give it a trial. The price of the journal is so low that it will not be an obstacle in
the way of its circulation. I think we can furnish it to subscribers in any country belonging to the Postal Union
at 1/3 a year. . . . .
Praying that you may have health and abundant blessing in your work and hoping to hear from you
regarding the subjects of this letter, I am etc.”
You will be pleased to know that Mother is enjoying comfortable health considering her age, and the
amount of hard work she is doing. She is up by four o’clock almost every morning, and it is surprising the
amount of writing she does do. Whenever I can I take a walk with her after dinner and I notice that she can
walk further without weariness than she could a year ago.
I have been sorry to hear of your poor health. I fear that your work is too confining.
With kindest regards to your and to Jessie and the children, I am,
Yours truly,
(signed) W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 364]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 11, 1895
Eld. W.A. Colcord
My Dear Brother: As you can imagine, it has been a busy time for us since our return home. Yesterday noon we closed
the American mail, then I attended a com. meeting at the home of Eld. Corliss until after 11 pm. Now I am
preparing to go this afternoon to Cooranbong. But before leaving I must write you a few lines: first, to tell you
that in cleaning out my desk, I found your pen, which was entrusted to me some months ago for delivery. I
will now ask Bro. Caldwell to post it to you. It had slipped back into a pigeon hole, and was covered up with
some letters and documents and I did not think of looking for it in such a place.
I send with this a letter addressed to editors and publishers of the Echo and Sentinel. Please give it
immediate attention and do what you can to get our work where it can go forward. Our people are already to
work if we will only furnish them something to do. I know that it is quite a task to get out a good prospectus,
but I am confident that you can do this if you will give your attention to it.
I will enclose a letter J. Vuilleurmire. What do you think of the propriety of asking such ones to write
for the Echo. I am sending Bro. Smith copy of a letter I have just written to Eld. Olsen, with the request that
Brn. Muckersey, Israel, and yourself be permitted to read it. Perhaps you can arrest it before it is sent out of
the office and read it first. This letter contains much more news than I have time to write today.
I will now close, subscribing myself,
Yours truly,
(signed) W.C. White
C.
M.B. – Pen by this same mail. W.F.C.
[7 – WCW – 365]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 11, 1895
Eld. D. Stead
Belmont Terrace, Ada St., Remuera, New Zealand
My Dear Brother: Yesterday I received your letter of June 4, accompanied by a statement of the cost of the Epsom
meeting house. Many thanks for the statement, and for the information contained in your welcome letter.
We had a busy day yesterday getting off the American mail. And before it was furnished, I hurried away to a
committee meeting, which continued till 11 pm. This morning I am preparing to go to “Avondale”, therefore
cannot write at any length. In the meeting of the Union Conf. Com. the proposition of the N.Z. Com. that
thirty pounds be donated, and thirty pounds loaned for the erection of the Epsom meeting house was
approved. The necessity of building a meeting house in Ashfield was also briefly discussed.
We are pleased to hear that the interest continues good in Epsom, and we rejoice that the one who
has been opposing you has terminated that work with so little injury to the Sabbath keepers. I am sorry for
some reasons that the question of baptism was not presented earlier and I hope you may be blessed in
making it clear to the people.
I am glad that there are a few Sabbath-keepers in Onehunga. Let us hope that the number will
increase, and in our reference to the work there let us present it to the brethren in as hopeful an aspect as
the case will bear.
I am not surprised at the results of the work at Surrey Hills. At the same time I am not sorry that the
effort was made; but I am sorry if Bro. Fulton is feeling perplexed and discouraged. No doubt you can do
much to encourage him. This will not be accomplished so much by urging him out to labor alone in very hard
fields, as by uniting with him in labor and thus showing that you have a deep, brotherly interest and
confidence in him.
I can readily see how Bro. Wilson could have two plans and two opinions regarding his going to the
South Island. I have often been in a similar position myself. When Considering the difficulties of an enterprise
or viewing it from one aspect, I could see no light in it; but at another time when other considerations came
up for notice, it seemed to be the right thing to do.
Please do not think that I am criticizing your letter. I am writing this that you may see that the things
referred to may occur when any man is in perplexity without anyone meaning harm. It is quite likely that
after Eld. Wilson proposed to the com. that Eld. Fulton go south, that he received some of my letters urging
him not to leave the Auckland Dist. too soon. I am sorry that the work and worry are wearing on you so
much, and this is another reason why I should be in favor of having Eld. Fulton connect with you in the work.
With kindest regards to you and your family, and hoping to hear from you often, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 366]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 11, 1895
Eld. E.J. Waggoner
451 Holloway Rd., N. London, England
Dear Brother: I have been deputed to notify you of the change in the address of our workers, as follows: The Australian Tract Society’s address is now No. 16 Best St North Fitzroy, Victoria; where all mail
should be addressed to its officers, Eld. A.G. Daniells, Eld. M.C. Israel, Miss Anna L. Ingels; and also to Eld.
W.A. Colcord and C.P. Michaels.
Toowoomba, Queensland is the address of Eld. G.B. Starr, Mr. M. Bernoth and Mr. George Teasdale.
Address. Eld. S. McCullough, Mr. Jesse Pallant, Mr. John Collins, and Mr. A.W. Semmons, Ashfield
N.S.W.
Eld. J.O. Corliss’s address for 4 months from this date will be “Tynwald” Temple St. South Annandale,
Sydney, N.S.W. After that No. 16 Best St., North Fitzroy, Victoria.
Eld. Robert Hare, No. 85 Palace St. Petersham, N.S.W.
Dr. M.G. Kellogg and Eld. A.S. Hickox should be addressed at Broken Hill, where they are now
laboring. N.S.W.
Eld. W.L.H. Baker is located at Launceston, Tasmania.
Prof. L.J. Rousseau, and all teachers, students, and others connected with the school should be
addressed, “Avondale” Cooranbong, N.S.W. Miss Fannie Bolton, Harris St., Granville, N.S.W.
Mrs. E.G. White and myself, “Norfolk Villa” Prospect St. Granville, N.S.W.
Please not these addresses and send mail to them direct. And if there are any of our Australian
people whose address you do not know, please forward their mail to No. 16 Best St. North Fitzroy, Vic. and
the Tract Society people will re-mail it to the proper address.
Yours etc.,
W.C. White
Per C.
[7 – WCW – 367]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 10, 1895
Mr. John Anderson
Hillside, Arthur St., Newton, Tasmania
My Dear Brother: I find among my unanswered letters, yours of April 23rd, which reminds me of my desire to see you
before I left Hobart, and of my failure to do so on account of the shortness of time and the pressure of my
work. We had good meetings in Launceston and a pleasant trip to Melbourne; although it was pretty rough
for two or three hours during the night. At Melbourne we found the brethren well and very busy. After two
weeks spent there we came home; where I met my two little daughters from whom I have been separated
nearly four years. They are well and happy to be with their father again and under the care of their new
mother.
With best wishes to yourself and family, I remain,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 368]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 5th, 1895
To the Executive Committee of the International S.S. Asso.
C.H. Jones, President
Page 1 of 3
For some months I have been planning to write to you regarding some features of the Sabbathschool work which to write to you regarding some features of the Sabbath-school work which have
particularly attracted my attention, while traveling and working the children’s lessons and the great
difficulties which our primary teachers experience with the present series of lessons.
As regards the general aspects of the S.S. work in Australia and New Zealand, I can say that it appears
to me that there is a good degree of efficiency on the part of the officers of the Australian and New Zealand
S.S. Asso. They are all busy people loaded with many other cares and sometimes the S.S. work has to wait its
turn a longer time than is beneficial. I think that they all feel that it is somewhat difficult to impress upon the
teachers and officers of the individual schools the importance of following the instruction in the S.S. Worker. I
cannot tell you how it is or why, but the feeling prevails that the Worker is an American journal, and that
while its instruction is interesting to all and very appropriate for the for the American schools that somehow
or other it does not exactly suit the condition of schools over here, and therefore it is not necessary to follow
its instructions, but simply to get what good you can from them, and then follow “Colonial Methods”.
I have often tied to study up some way by which either you or we could do something to change this
feeling; but so far I am at quite a loss to know what can be done, and am not prepared to make any
suggestions. If it were possible for us who are working in this country to take time to think and plan and
write; and if our writings were worthy of publication, this might help to remedy the evil. But what I most
desire is to study up some prescription that will not put additional work upon us over here; for it seems as
though our hands are more than full already.
I think I have observed some improvement during the last year in the work of our teachers in the
Victorian schools. We were able to hold two or three short conventions in Melbourne a few months ago, in
which the Sabbath-school work received a fair share of attention. One of the most important results of these
meetings was the increased feeling of responsibility on the part of officers and teachers. We have only made
a beginning. The time devoted to this work only permitted us to touch upon the a.b.c. of the teachers duties
and the officers work. And we earnestly hope that some way will open for the holding of other conventions
at which more time can be given and the subjects treated more fully. We are somewhat crippled in our work
for want of books on convention work. In 1890, I sold my library of S.S. books to the Col. S.S. Asso. thinking I
could replace them at other times. Now when I find [page break]
[7 – WCW – 369]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 5th, 1895
Page 2 of 3
myself in need of books of reference, I cannot get what I want. It is very likely that since I left the States,
some better books have been printed than those I used to depend upon, and I should like to receive from you
the names of those which you find most useful. One that I did value very much was “Sunday-school
Conventions and How to Conduct Them.” We have British edition of “Teachers and Teaching” which we value
very much. But I find that what is needed here at the present time is inexpensive books that can be bought
for one or two shillings by teachers who do not realize how much they need the help of books. I have been
able to pick up in the books a few copies of Fish’s books: - “Art of Questioning”; “Art of Securing Attention”;
“Lectures on Teaching”; etc. but the supply seems to be limited. It is evident that the sale of this class of
works has been very slow, and that the book dealers do not care to load their shelves with them. If you
anything new that is good, costing from 25 to 50 cts., I would be glad to know about it and to receive sample
copies.
The principle object of this letter is to lay before you our perplexities about the Primary lessons.
There was a time when the plan of using uniform lessons was first adopted, that it seemed to work pretty
well; but during the last year I have found that there was great difficulty in getting the young members of the
schools and particularly the little children to become interested in and to learn their lessons. During the latter
months of our study of the book of Luke, this difficulty rapidly increased. I have never seen teachers so sorely
perplexed and I think I was never so severely punished myself in my efforts to teach a Sabbath school lesson
as when asked when on my New Zealand trip to teach some of these lessons to the infant classes. Since
entering upon the study of the Sanctuary question matters have gone from bad to worse, until we have
reached a crisis. In school after school I find that those teachers who have had successful experiences with
their classes express great dissatisfaction with the unnatural effort required to drag the poor innocent
children through the sanctuary studies for the sake of being in the wake of the old people. Some of our
teachers “mull” along in a pitiful style, but many of those who feel more deeply their responsibility to the
class make no pretense of following the lessons. The subject of the sanctuary is naturally quite difficult and
our present series of lessons have, to me, been very disappointing. The time given to the subject is too brief
and the treatment has been quite mechanical, so that the interest among the senior classes is not what it
ought to be and the effort to force the little children to study the same subjects seems to many of us to be
very unfortunate and a great deadener to their interest in the S. School, if not absolutely cruel.
As I go from place to place, teachers and officers come to me and say “what can we do? Will you not
write the Executive Com. asking for graduated lessons? Will you not ask that the lesson book by Bro. Bell be
revised and improved and put into general use? And if this cannot be done at once, may we not order some
of the old books and thus give our children something to study that they can comprehend?” [page break]
[7 – WCW – 370]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 5th, 1895
Page 3 of 3
The officers of the Australian Association are pressing me to give consent that they correspond with
New Zealand and South Africa and arrange for the publication of something suitable for the children unless
there is some immediate prospect of relief from our present misery. Please give this matter your immediate
consideration and believe me.
Yours sincerely,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 371]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 12, 1895
Dr. M.G. Kellogg
Broken Hill, N.S.W.
My Dear Brother: Brother Hickox will explain to you why he did not bring your things with him, but I might add that the
reason he did not receive the letter from Eld. Daniells was as follows: - Eld. McCullough, in whose care the
letter was addressed, and his family were all out when the postman brought the mail with that letter and so
the postman just stuck the letters under the door. It so happened that they had oil cloth on the hall floor, and
you know how accommodatingly the edges of pieces of oilcloth always raise up to receive things underneath,
and this oilcloth was not less obliging than others and when Bro. McCullough came to pull up and move, he
found your letter with some others, one of considerable importance safely embedded in the dust beneath
the hall oil cloth.
I will send your trunk to Sydney tomorrow to be shipped to you via S.S. Wyrallah of the A.U.S.N. Co.,
which sails from here at noon Friday. The trunk is marked Broken Hill, N.S.W. via Adelaide, and S.S. Wyrallah.
As it was locked, I had no way of inspecting the contents but they seem to be well packed so that
when upended they do not shift much and we think it will carry alright.
There [are] some loose books here also which we could have gotten into the trunk so as to pack
them, but do not think there are sufficient number to make it worthwhile to pack them in a separate box.
Your name is often mentioned in family prayers, and we all desire that the Lord of all Grace shall
strengthen, prosper, and bless you with his richest blessings and that your labors may tell to the glory of his
name and the salvation of from you at any time.
Sincerely yours,
W.C. White
Per C.
P.S. Since writing the above, we have received the following telegram. “Ship my things immediately
Broken Hill call Harrold Bros. Adelaide, May way bill.” But as we are unable to imagine what it means will ship
the trunk as stated above you can look after it at Adelaide if you wish any change made there.
W.F.C.
[7 – WCW – 372]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 11th, 1895
Australian Tract Society
Please look to your mailing list and change Mr. Price’s address from Guilford to Merrylands.
His papers have been and are being returned to us through the P.O. Department. This causes both
them and us no little trouble, which would be avoided if the papers are properly addressed in the first
instance.
Yours truly,
W.C. White
c.
H.B. – Kindly note that Mr. Byron Belden’s address is Old Canterbury Rd., Canterbury, N.S.W. And Mrs. J.
Hamilton is stopping in his house at present.
[7 – WCW – 373]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 16, 1895
Mr. S.N. Curtiss
Oakland, Cal.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: I find by reference to my notebook that your letters of Jan. 4 and 9 have not been answered yet.
I used the Densmore typewriter for four months and was very well pleased with it. Previous to this I
had used the Caligraph four years, the Remington about six months, the improved Hammond for two years
and I am now using the Smith Premier. There is no machine that I should like better than the Hammond, if it
would do manifolding. It is easy to like carry and its work is unsurpassed. The No. 1 Caligraph was simple and
easily carried and the arrangement of its keyboard is more scientific and convenient than that of the
Remington. I consider it a great misfortune that the Remington keyboard has come into general use. It is
decidedly a left-hand board, and with the additional burden of a shift key to be operated with the left hand is
quite inconvenient. On a single case machine, of course it is not so bad. The Remington I do not like, and
when you compare the Densmore with it, it is quite a good machine. It is easy to carry about, simple in its
construction and easily kept in order. The cut of its type is very good, but its touch I do not like, the keys
come up with a thud and make the ends of my fingers tingle. It does pretty good manifolding, but under a
heavy strain, ours frequently gives way; the part which operates the type breaks, and lots of soldering is
required.
We have found the Smith Premier the most satisfactory office machine of all we have tried. It has a
light and elastic touch, keeps its alignment much better than the Densmore, and is strong and durable. When
I first purchased one I expected that the rods operating the Type Bars would give way, but having put our
machines through severe trials of almost constant manifolding for month after month without breakage, I
have lost all fear now. I have found that the Smith Premier requires the least repairs of any machine that we
have had.
Many thanks to you for sending me copies of the Bible Students Library. I am pleased to hear of the
large sale which the Pacific Press is making of some of its good books. I desire to caution you about two
things; first, the hasty issuing of books that will sell without a very careful examination by the Book
Committee; second, the pushing out of certain books, loading up the Tract Societies in a way that they will
regret and which will become a burden to them and will result in ill-feeling and a loss of confidence in the
publishers. I think we cannot be too careful in these matters, it is best to follow the golden rule. I hear many
intimations from different parts of the world that your method of publishing and pushing out the “Pitcairn”
book was unjustifiable and rather selfish. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 374]
Continuation of letter on page 375
Page 2 of 2
I will be pleased to receive your subscription and to furnish any required information regarding the journal or
other literature upon the subjects to which it is devoted.
With kindest regards, I am,
For the Publishers
Granville, N.S.W.
June 16, 1895
Mr. S.N. Curtiss
Oakland, Cal.
Page 2 of 2
No doubt those who had most to do with the issuing of this book became quite enthusiastic over it,
and could see in the matter and make-up of the book many merits which others find it difficult to discern.
And it may be that the missionary object to which the profits have been devoted has been allowed to serve
as an excused for cheap paper, dirty printing, sham binding, and a price that would have been exorbitant had
the mechanical execution of the book been a credit to the house which issued it. I was very sorry to hear of a
new and improved editions so soon after our societies were heavily loaded with the first edition, which it will
take them a long time to dispose of.
I have said very little about the book up to the present time. Of course, I could not refrain from
admitting that it was poorly printed and put upon the market at an exorbitant price but this is my first
expression of my true sentiments regarding the work and of my fears that the manner of its publication and
sale will seriously injure the reputation and influence of the Pacific Press.
I will endeavor to enclose with this a copy of a newsy letter which will acquaint you with our
prospects and plans.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 375]
Page 1 of 2
Respected Friends: As we have left with you a copy of the Sentinel and Herald of Liberty we take pleasure in calling your
attention to the fact that there is, at the present time, a general agitation on the part of thinking men,
concerning the subjects treated in this journal.
We invite your particular attention to the articles entitled Religious Liberty on page 118, and the
quotations from eminent authorities with reference to Church and State, page 116.
In the department headed Religion in the State Schools, you will find the “Position Stated” briefly but
clearly. On page 121 you will find some startling statements regarding the distribution of public money
among various religious denominations.
On the first page of the journal begins an article entitled “Danger Signals” containing much valuable
information regarding the history and the prevalence of State interference in religious matters, which we
believe you will read with much interest.
Although especially calling your attention to these articles, we will ask you to give the whole journal
a careful examination.
It is the purpose of the managers to make vol. 2 even more wide awake and readable than the first
volume has been. The articles mentioned in the prospectus will be of appropriately illustrated, thus adding as
very appropriate feature to the journal.
The Sentinel is issued quarterly and will be sent post free to your address for 1/- per year. I will call
again in a few days, when [page break]
[letter continues on top of page 374]
[7 – WCW – 376]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 16, 1895
Mr. Stephen Hare
Healdsburg, Cal.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: For several months, I have been thinking about writing to you, but as we approach the time for the
closing of the American mail, there is usually such a pressure of business that something is forgotten or has
to be laid over and yours is one of the many letters that I have postponed from month to month hoping for a
more convenient season.
During my recent visit to New Zealand, I made my home at the house of your father, and found your
parents as well as usual. They are cheerful and remarkably well preserved for people of their age and
experiences. The have certainly had their share of the vicissitudes and battles of life. And it is interesting to
see them growing old gracefully and sharing such a large degree of the affection of their many children and
grandchildren and the confidence and profound respect of all who know them. It was with much satisfaction
that your mother permitted me to read some of your letters which I perused with interest and pleasure.
I rejoice with you that the long courses of studies has been completed and that you are now ready to
go forth to uninterrupted labor in the field. I shall watch with much interest to hear of the decisions that have
been made regarding your present plans and ambitions for the future.
Many of your friends and old acquaintances will be glad to see you back to New Zealand, and I shall
also rejoice when the time arrives that it is best for their own individual interests and for the advancement of
the message that our young men who have gone to America to become acquainted with and receive an
education and experience in the work, shall return to their home field.
The question as to when they should return requires much study and deliberate consideration from
various points of view. We must acknowledge that in many ways the work in these colonies is more difficult
and perplexing than in the United States. The isolation of the field which sets the laborers off by themselves,
and gives them but few opportunities to counsel together and to learn of one another, is one of the most
serious obstacles.
My convictions are that in these colonies and especially in New Zealand, the people expect much
more of a minister and criticize him more freely than they do in the States. I well remember when talking
with Thomas Breakhouse about his returning to New Zealand. My surprise at his expressing the opinion that
there would be no great advantage in his returning early to that field, and his seeming to think that an
American minister with some experience would do better; but since I have become quite familiar with the
work in New Zealand, I can understand his position. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 377]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 16, 1895
Mr. Stephen Hare
Healdsburg, Cal.
Page 2 of 2
Notwithstanding the difficulties of the work in these fields, I am desirous that the young men who
have gone from here shall return, because in some ways I think they are better fitted for the work on account
of their acquaintance with the habits of the people. My ambition for our young men who have been in the
American schools is that they shall gain such broad experiences as will fit them to take the front ranks in the
work over here, or at least so that they may be able to work their way up to the front ranks. To do this they
must be strong men, strong in faith, and possessing a broad knowledge of the scriptures; they must be hardy
men, willing to be placed in the most difficult positions, able to cope with perplexity, discouragement, and
opposition from themselves quickly to changes and to shape the form of their defense or manner of their
attack as the changed circumstances of the battle may require.
With these things in view, I told your parents that I believed that it would be for your best interest
for you to labor for a time in America; associated with men of mature experience.
I also desire that you give diligent study to the character and spirit of our various organizations. Each
of our young men should take pains to do this before their return. The Conference, the Tract Society, the S.S.
Asso., the educational institutions, the Health Institutions, and the publishing houses’ work should each be
given as faithful and full study as possible. In such studies many things would be learned that would be
exceedingly helpful to a worker located in these fields, where each individual laborer is expected to
understand and to be able to present to the people, not only all the doctrines but all the methods and plans.
This require a sound knowledge of the principles and spirit of our organization in all its branches.
Please think of these things, talk with the Conf. officers about them, and let them influence your
plans as far as consistent.
You will be pleased to know that we are making some progress with our school work. Some months
ago we rented a twelve-roomed house near our school ground, and on the 5th of March we opened what is
called our Industrial Department. When I visited the place last week, I found a score of young men there
working six hours a day for their board and tuition and carrying two studies a day. The house is not large
enough for the present family, and so there are four tents pitched nearby, which furnish lodging rooms for a
number of the boys. They are working in two companies, one under the foremanship of Bro. L.N. Lawrence,
formerly of Michigan and the other under the direction of your uncle Metcalf. The boys seemed well and in
excellent spirits. They work hard both in the field and at their studies and are making good progress.
We hope before many weeks to make a beginning on the permanent buildings.
I will take the liberty to send a copy of this to your parents and will also send you a copy of my letter
to them.
With kind regards and hoping to hear from you soon,
In haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 378]
Granville
June 16th, 1895
Mr. W.M. Crothers
My Dear Brother: Shortly after writing you last, I received copies of your two circular letters which I have read with
interest. Both are good. In the one about correspondence, there are a few verbal errors, which I have no
doubt you have detected. I believe the plan to be a most excellent one and I trust that you will go on with this
work. I am very sure that our societies need help if we expect them to accomplish anything on this line.
Your request for canvassers has been placed before our brethren here, and some time was spent in
discussing the suitability of different persons. It will not be a very easy matter for us to find such ones as you
want who will be willing to go. The matter of selecting persons and corresponding with you about them was
referred to Brn. Daniells and Michaels. I shall also write Palmer about it, enlisting his sympathy and efforts.
Last week I made a short visit to Avondale, where I found about a score of young men hard at work
clearing, ditching etc. preparatory to the planting of trees and crops. They are all looking well, seem cheerful,
and in most cases contented. Many of them are making good progress in their studies. But some who have
not studied for a long time take hold rather slowly. On the whole, our experimental effort is working out
better and much pleasanter than I had dared to expect. We shall soon begin the plans for their working in the
field during the vacation and must decide before long what our next effort will be.
I shall send you with this an abstract of my last letter from Eld. Olsen, also an abstract of the last two
or three letters from the Secretary of the F.M.B. These I will ask you to read and pass along to the other
members of the N.Z. Conf. Com. and to Sup. Joseph Hare of Kaeo.
I also send to you copy of some of the first drafts we have made for a circular letter to be used by our
brethren in their house to house canvass for the Sentinel. Please look them over and then draw up one such
as you would like to have in New Zealand and send to us as quickly as possible, with any suggestions you may
have regarding this line of work.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 379]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 16, 1895
Mr. E.R. Palmer
North Fitzroy
My Dear Brother: Last night I received your welcome letter of June 14 accompanied by a circular letter to be used in
the canvass for the Sentinel. I quite agree with you in the opinion you express regarding the canvass. The
agents do not need to learn a “gag” but they ought to be well informed by means of a circular letter as to
how to meet objections and how to awaken an interest where given an opportunity on the occasion of their
second visit. I like the circular “To the Public” very well, but wish to direct your attention to one or two
additional points which might be made. I have made a mere rough draft of the same in another form,
thinking that some of the thoughts in it might be approved by you and your counselors. You can see at once
that it is incomplete and one sided and that I have made it about as different from yours as I could. Please
consider it as intended only to suggest the propriety of using some of the facts not mentioned in your
circular.
After seeing Brother Michaels I may be able to write you again, but I hurry this off to let you know
that I have given first attention to this matter.
The prospectus sent to me by Eld. Corliss impresses me very favorably, I shall have a talk with Eld.
Corliss tomorrow, and then may be able to write a criticism.
Bro. W.F. Caldwell has called my attention to the matter of two or three deliveries made for him by
an agent of your society. He seems to be of the opinion that the agent should have rendered an account to
him. He feels confident that there is money which should have come to him. He feels confident that there is
money which should have come to him from these deliveries. But as I am not fully acquainted with the
modus operand of the book delivery business, and the manner of accounting for the same, I have advised
him to lay the facts before you, and to enquire whether the deliverer, Bro. Philip Reekie, has made full report
of his work, and settlement for the same? If so, what are the records; if not what steps shall be taken to
straighten up the account?
I will send you a copy of Bro. Crothers letter containing reference to verbal application which he has
made for us to select some canvassers who may be transferred to the New Zealand field. Please keep this
request in mind, and let us give them help as soon as we can.
How would it do to let the agent himself be the party putting out the circular letter to go with the
Sentinel? I think this is the plan that was sometimes followed years ago.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 380]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 17, 1895
Dr. J.H. Kellogg
Sanitarium, B.C.
Page 1 of 7
My Dear Brother: I was very much pleased on my return to Granville to receive your very kind letter of March 24,
expressing your congratulations and best wishes for Mrs. White and myself. I also received from the hands of
Ella the parcels sent us containing hot water bags, fever thermometer, and the Volatilizer. It was a very
pleasant surprise to us to be remembered by you in this way. The artless so kindly given us will be doubly
valued because they came from you. The hot water bags are a great comfort, especially the long one for the
spine. These cannot be purchased in this country.
The Volatilizer we have put into almost daily use. I am not sure that I fully understand its uses yet,
but in cases of sore throat, catarrh, and colds we have found it a great comfort and more quickly effective
than any other treatment that we know of. I hope it will be some time before we need to use the fever
thermometer, but I assure you I feel very much pleased to have one in the house.
The thirtieth of May was a very happy day for me. One that day we arrived in Granville and met our
Ella and Mabel. They had been waiting here for a month and had somewhat recovered from their long
voyage. Their cabin accommodation in the Arawa was good but the food provided for second cabin
passengers was not up to the standard. It was principally meat and vegetables, with an entire absence of
fruit. Our people at Oakland do not seem to know that while first cabin passengers are furnished with an
abundance of fruit, the second class passengers have none. This is an item that should be remembered by
our missionaries going second class to Europe or elsewhere.
Ella and Mabel were pretty thin when they came off the boat, but they are filling up now, and I think
they will be very happy over here. I am sure that they will be quite happy if the way opens for us to make a
home at Cooranbong, where our school is located. If we do locate there I shall get them some ponies and
encourage them in all sorts of outdoor employment. I desire to express to you my appreciation of the
interest which you have manifested in their welfare since I left home, and for the many kindness which you
have shown them. It has been a constant comfort to me to know that while I was separated from them, they
were living where they could have the best of teachers in the schools and the most perfect care in case of
sickness.
I also desire to thank you for the kindness shown to Sr. Mortenson. The opportunities which you
gave her to acquire education and experience in various lines of practical school work were largely influential
in causing her to be contented with the continued care of the children. Now that she is going with her
husband to such an important mission, I shall be double glad that you have opened the way for her to [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 381]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 17, 1895
Dr. J.H. Kellogg
Sanitarium, B.C.
Page 2 of 7
learn those things which will be of inestimable value in the prosecution of her future work.
For a long time, I have desired to write you many inquiries regarding the young people from
Australasia who are working and studying at the Sanitarium. I have sometimes hesitated to write as much as I
would as I know that you are overwhelmed with work that is very perplexing and of the utmost importance.
Sometimes I have hesitated for fear that the purpose of my inquiries would not be understood and that you
might receive as a criticism that which was not so intended. In past years I have felt very free in writing to you
and it may be that I have presumed too much upon the memory of our many years friendship and
cooperation, making this pass as an excuser and apologist for that which might otherwise appear abrupt and
unqualified in my correspondence. But since you have invited me in your letter of April 19 to write you about
these matters, I shall do so with the greatest of pleasures.
In your letter of Dec. 2, ’94 you have spoken quite freely of some of the students who are with you,
and in yours of Jan. 24, you speak with considerable warmth about Bro. Semmons work and of the opening
that there is for him to return if we can spare him. I believe as expressed in your letter of Dec. 2 that he is as
capable as any that have gone from Australasia to the Sanitarium. I have not been much with him, but I know
that he is highly appreciated by our brethren who have been brought into close contact with his work. For a
long time, I cherished the hope that Dr. M.G. Kellogg and Bro. Semmons could work together, each supplying
what the other lacked, but in this I have been disappointed, both in the efforts made in Melbourne and here.
Eld. Daniells, who had the superintendence of the work in Melbourne while Bro. Semmons was
there, places a very high estimate upon his ability in the lines that you have said he was fitted to labor. He
made many earnest efforts to develop the experience of Bro. Semmons so made many earnest efforts to
develop the experience of Bro. Semmons so that he could push out and be an independent worker. but in
this he was not successful and as far as our experience goes it has led us to believe that someone else must
do all the teaching and organizing and that Bro. Semmons is super-excellent as a nurse, and worker in all lines
in which a missionary nurse should work, so long as there is someone to plan and direct his efforts.
I think that the Australian Conf. Com. would very cheerfully send him out to work on the lines
indicated in your letter of counsel to him given before he started if he had sufficient managing ability to make
that work a success; but it has seemed to us from our observation of his efforts in this line and the results of
these efforts that it was necessary to send a teacher and manager with him, if he is to go from church to
church. But since camp-meeting we have had no one who could devote his time to this work. Consequently
Bro. Semmons has been principally engaged in Bible work, but I do not think any restrictions have been
placed upon him which would limit his efforts in the line of a nurses’ work. I know that he is doing something
in that line, and gaining the confidence of our people by showing them what to do in time of necessity. [page
break]
[7 – WCW – 382]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 17, 1895
Dr. J.H. Kellogg
Sanitarium, B.C.
Page 3 of 7
I am confident that if we should dismiss him from conference employment he could take up nursing,
massage, and bath work, and make a living, but have hesitated to do this fearing that it would be a step in a
wrong direction, and would be difficult to retrace.
I have thought that this kind of work ought to be under the direction of our people, conducted as a
branch of the work of the message. With this in view a committee was appointed to look for a suitable place
for him to begin operations. In this search they stumbled on a Hydropathical Institution in Sydney, the
proprietor of which was willing to sell out on what appeared to be very favorable terms. We requested Bro.
W.C. Sisley to investigate the matter and present to the Ex. Com. of the B. and M.M. Asso. the facts regarding
our situation and our wishes, also the facts regarding this institution so that you might advise us what to do.
It is now three months since he returned to Mich. and we have heard nothing in response to our
communications neither from the Board or Bro. Sisley. I presume he is very busy for he has never made any
answer in which I requested him to get acquainted with our Australasian students and tell me how they were
getting along.
I have been pleased to have you write so fully of Brother Branstrutter. I hope you will have work for
him which will continue to increase his knowledge and experience until such a time as we may have an
institution that will give him employment here.
I hear but little about Shannon. He did well at the Echo Office and I think he will sometime wake up
and prove himself efficient. His father is an excellent mechanic and his mother is a very bright woman, and I
should expect him to be a very fair manager in routine work under careful direction.
I am glad to hear so good a report of Edith Hare, but am much surprised that Arnold is giving you so
much anxiety. When I was at the New Zealand camp-meeting, I had several talks with his parents about him
and intended to write to you regarding their wishes and plans for him and Edith. They were deeply
disappointed and grieved over Arnolds course and hardly know what to advise him. He has written them that
with small assistance from them he could work his way through an University course. I told them I did not
think it was possible and that even if it was, it would be a misfortune for him to take a university course
without the preparatory instruction in your nurses school. I suggested that they give him one year in your
special course, and then bring him back to Auckland and put him through the medical school in New Zealand.
What did you think of this suggestion? What are your plans for Edith? Will the B. and M.M. Asso. assist her to
take a medical course? There is no prospects that her father can put her through, and if you are helping
young people in this way, I should be pleased to see Edith included in the number.
Please tell me how Miss Houlder is getting along. In Tasmania I heard that she had been sick. I would
also like to hear about what progress John Reekie is making. John is a very ambitious fellow, and easily
exalted. If you can do anything to prevent his being flattered and spoilt, I hope you will exercise your
influence in that direction. I have felt anxious about him and Pomare and some others as I have heard that
they [page break]
[7 – WCW – 383]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 17, 1895
Dr. J.H. Kellogg
Sanitarium, B.C.
Page 4 of 7
are being lionized and flattered, not so much by yourself as by others.
I should be very glad to hear how Frank Linden and Thomas Watterworth have been getting along. I
believe that they are good boys and I hope that the right plans will be laid for Linden’s work. I suppose
Watterworth will return to Napier to resume work as a monumental mason
I have been deeply interested in all that you have written about Edgar Caro’s past experience and
future work. I am very glad that his old missionary zeal is returning. I have often thought of writing you about
him and asking you if it would not be well to train him as a teacher. We must have practicing physicians,
literary doctors, and teaching doctors also. It is not very long before our work here will demand that a
physician be sent to us. And we would like first of all to have a man who could work in all these lines, but
later on the work will be divided and while we will have bath houses in the various colonial capitols, we shall
also want a small Sanitarium here in Sydney, I think. Also a physician who can spend a portion of each year in
teaching in our schools, another portion in visiting among churches instructing our people and organizing
Christian help bands.
Has not the time come when you can begin to train young men to be teachers by giving them special
instruction and then afterward using them as assistant teachers in your nurses school? Would not Edgar Caro
be one who would be most likely to succeed as a teacher, lecturer and organizer? I know that there would be
serious difficulties to encounter in this plan both in his temperament and education and also through the
special trials and temptations which would come to him at the Sanitarium through the antagonism which has
existed between his wife and some of the teachers in your nurses school. But it may be that Edgar and his
wife will take broader views of matters than they have in the past, and that the teachers and managers at the
Sanitarium will show them such a Christ-like love and forbearance as will enable them to become strong
where they were once weak. I have often thought of writing to Edgar and shall do so as soon as time will
permit.
I was much interested in the list of books which you have underway, that accompanied your letter of
Dec. 6. We are anxiously waiting and earnestly longing for the new cookbook. I hope that you are taking
advantage of the presence of Eld. Tenney, and getting his criticism of this work before it is printed, with
reference to its suitability for Australasia. I think his work as a critic would be more useful than as a reviser.
He is familiar with the colonial manners which will enable him to point some things that the editors can easily
modify so as to adapt the work to this field. We shall be pleased to see your proposed work on Consumption,
Medical Dietetics, and the Liver, also the Chemistry of the Stomach and Longevity. What we need most here
is works on digestion and dress. Our critics here think that your book on dyspepsia is excellent and just what
we want and they fear that your new book will be too learned and technical for colonial use. Please make it
as simple as you can, and as much like the old book as you can, and it will please us immensely. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 384]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 17, 1895
Dr. J.H. Kellogg
Sanitarium, B.C.
Page 5 of 7
In your book on dress, do not omit a chapter on proper clothing for children. Most of the people over
here follow the abominable custom of dressing the children with short stockings and no drawers. They think
it hardens them and makes them grow health; but to me it looks barbarous. On a cold day when overcoats
and gloves are worn, it seems cruel to see their children, although heavily dressed, and well-wrapped about
the body and neck, with the lower extremities unprotected.
We have received the dummies containing the proposed matter for Gospel Temperance, but as yet
have not been able to look at it. We expect, however, to give it consideration next week, and hope to be able
to write you in our next something regarding it. I think it will be well to bring this out in a style something like
Gospel Workers and Christian Education, but can speak more intelligently after reading the matter over.
We are very glad that you have Mrs. Whitney to help about this kind of work and hope that you will
find in Alfred Olsen or some of the other young men persons who will take an interest in literary work, and
will assist you on the various journals that you are editing.
In your letter of Jan. 28 to Mother, you ask her consent to use Father’s portrait in the Biographical
Sketch of Medical Missionaries in the West. Mother and I think it would be much more appropriate for your
portrait to accompany this sketch and would advise you to conquer your modesty this once and put into the
sketch that which everyone will consider most appropriate. I do not know where Father’s steel plate is and
would have to make a long search for it if it was required. But I do not think there is any good reason why we
should hunt it up for this book. I may have written about this before, but mention it now because I am not
certain whether I have or not.
We have been very much encouraged by and interested in the reports sent to us by yourself and the
Sec. of the Mission Board regarding the Medical Missions in Mexico. Every step in the progress of that work is
a lesson to us here, and to our people everywhere. I rejoice that our brethren are contemplating opening up
such work in India. What a blessing it is that you have a large number of young doctors whom you can
educate and train for the work in these important places. Some have expressed to me the feeling that you
were turning a larger number of young doctors than there was work for; but I said never fear. If these young
men each expect to be placed at the head of a Sanitarium as soon as they get their sheep skin, they will be
disappointed, but if they are ready to go out to hard work anywhere and demonstrate that they have tact
and energy and developing a good experience, there will be plenty of places opening for them. From Eld.
Olsen’s letters and the record of appointments by the Mission Board, it would seem that they are given
places fully as fast as they are ready for them.
When plans are developed for the opening up of the work in India, I shall be glad to learn about
them. What are your views regarding the best way to enter China and Japan? We have quite a number of
young people in Australia who deeply interested in these countries who I think would make good faithful
workers if properly trained and [page break]
[7 – WCW – 385]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 17, 1895
Dr. J.H. Kellogg
Sanitarium, B.C.
Page 6 of 7
given good leaders.
What are your plans for the opening up of the work in such fields as the Australian Colonies? I would
like very much to receive any suggestions that you may be able to give about the work in the British Colonies
and would be glad to know whether you think it would be advisable for us to organize Auxiliary Ben. Mis.
Asso.
I have been very much pleased to hear that the mission house in Basel is to be utilized for Med. Mis.
work. I think Bro. and Sr. Kress will do pretty well there. It may be difficult to make the work locally popular
and it may be impossible to make it self-supporting but if it is undertaken as a general missionary enterprise, I
am sure it would do a vast amount of good.
We rejoice with you to note that this work has a powerful influence in allaying prejudice and in
breaking down opposition; as illustrated in the cases of Himes, Ware, McCabe, and others. We believe that a
similar work should be going forward in very many places, yes, in all parts of the world. We rejoice over the
establishment of branches in Col. Neb. and Oregon, and are glad to hear of the unexpected growth of the
work in Chicago. We would be very glad to hear that you were able to establish another branch in New
England and also one in the southern states in some healthy mountain section.
I am quite confident that the time has come for us to make a beginning over here. Quite a number
of our leading brethren are getting anxious about this, and some are willing to make investments. But at
present we have no one with us to lead out as manager of the enterprise. We are very desirous that when a
beginning is made we shall start on plans that are right, and I earnestly entreat you to give us whatever help
you can in the way of forming correct plans to work to, in order that we may be able to take the right steps at
the right time.
Mother has permitted me to read your letters of April 18, 19, and 24, which contain so much
encouraging information about the progress of the Medical Missionary work, and so many helpful
suggestions about school work, that I have asked her to let me make abstracts which I can place in the hands
of our leading workers in the colonies. I would like to speak at length of some of these plans, but cannot do
so today.
I not with interest what you say about the growth of the food business and about the establishment
of branches in Australia. This is a matter we have thought much about. We certainly need something of this
kind here and I believe it could be made pay. I know of a number of individuals who would gladly take up the
work as a private enterprise if we would sanction it, but I have questioned the propriety of beginning in this
way. For we prefer to suffer the inconveniences for a time longer rather than to begin the operations on
plans that will ultimately be detrimental to the work.
If Joseph Smith should come over here would he be willing and able to cooperate with us in such a
way that the business would ultimately belong to the denomination or would he want to work on
independent lines?
Eld. McCoy has asked Mother what she thinks about enlarging the [page break]
[7 – WCW – 386]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 17, 1895
Dr. J.H. Kellogg
Sanitarium, B.C.
Page 7 of 7
facilities at Battle Creek and I see that she does not give a yes or no answer. For a number of years I have
carefully watched the counsel she has given on such matters. Whenever it has been proposed to enlarge one
of our publishing houses or schools, she has said no. But when it has been proposed to establish a new
branch in some center of influence, she has always said yes. According to the light that has been given to her,
we as a people are in great danger of collecting too much in one place. Our action would be much more
pleasing to the Lord if we would make greater efforts to establish our work in important centers in those
parts of the world where our message has not been presented to the people so fully.
Will it not be possible for you to establish agencies in the east and south, where part of the
manufacturing could be done? This might not be as profitable as to enlarge the business in Battle Creek, but
would it not be a good missionary enterprise?
I am interested in what you say about making abstracts of what Mother has written about medical
missionary work. Cannot you send us copies of these abstracts? They might be very useful here.
I am heartily glad that at the end of twenty years of such incessant labor, which very few
constitutions could have borne, you are feeling so well and that there is such a good prospect of your health
improving, if you would but give yourself a reasonable opportunity. I am very glad that you have the
retirement of a home so that at least a few hours each day you can separate yourself from the turmoil of the
Sanitarium. I am astonished to read your wonderful record of cases. I had no idea that these difficult cases
were so numerous.
What you have written about the organization of the Christian Help Bands, and their work is very
interesting to us, and we shall watch with interest to see the development of this work. It is with much
pleasure that I shall place a copy of this portion of your letter before our brethren here. I hope that it will
inspire them with confidence and faith in this kind of work and that this confidence will encourage them to
stand by us in the feeble efforts we are making for the establishment of a similar work. Your plans for utilizing
the vacant lots are worthy of praise and it will do our people in these countries good to hear of such efforts
and someday I hope they will be prepared to work on similar lines.
The call that has come to you from Hawaii for a practical missionary is an important intimation to our
people of what may be done if we will prepare for it.
With kindest regards and the hope of hearing from you often, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 387]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 17, 1895
Eld. G.C. Tenney
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Brother: In your kind letter of April 10, you remind me of my delinquency in the matter of correspondence.
There is little good of making apologies, therefore I will confess that is quite beyond my power to keep up
with my correspondence and that sometimes I even come short of doing my best.
During my recent trip to new Zealand and Tasmania I was differently situated than formerly on such
trips and adopted another plan of labor. On former occasions, I have gone with such men as Eld. Daniells and
Starr, who are excellent visitors as well as first class preachers, and I have felt free to excuse myself from
visiting that I might write important letters. But this year after camp-meeting was over we divided up our
working forces as much as possible. Finding that I had no one to do the visiting for me, I went at it myself,
and enjoyed it most heartily but to do this I had to lay the writing aside and the unanswered letters waiting in
various compartments of various compartments of my valise and trunk are numbered by the score. Several
times I set apart a time and place where I hoped to spend a few days in writing but the unexpected
movements of the steamers or of some of my co-laborers upset these plans.
I think I have written you something about the Tasmanian convention and our visit to Bismark. A few
days after the close of the convention Sr. May Lacey and I were married at the home of her father. About a
dozen old friends and acquaintances came in, which with the family made a company of twenty-one. We
were married by Mr. Palfryman, who permits our people to occupy his church for Sabbath meetings.
On our way home, we spent three days in Launceston and two weeks in Melbourne, arriving in
Granville May 30, just four months after my departure to New Zealand and one month after the arrival in
Australia of Ella and Mabel.
I need not tell you that the children were glad to see us and that they gave Grandma, myself, and
their new mama a very hearty welcome. May gets along very nicely with the management of the children and
the household affairs. The children seem to think everything of their new mama, and there is every reason to
believe that we shall be a very happy family.
I thank you for buying my old sewing machine, but I have no concern about the price. Whoever had
the sale in charge has no doubt done their best and my hope is that no one has been induced to pay more
than the article purchased is worth.
We were all very much pleased, but a little surprised to hear that Mary Mortensen had married Bro.
Trip and was off for Zambesia. I shall expect to hear good reports of their work there for I believe they are
well fitted for the appointment. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 388]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 17, 1895
Eld. G.C. Tenney
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 2 of 3
As you have invited me to make suggestions about the editorial work on the Review, I will name a
few things which I think would make the paper still better than it is now.
1. Correspond with Dist. Supts. and with Conf. Presidents, invite them to make summary reports
every six or eight weeks, giving a birds-eye view of the progress of the work in their districts or conferences.
You may answer that such invitations are not responded to as is illustrated by the neglect of the Supt. of Dist.
No. 7; but I assure you my brother, your invitation has not been forgotten and some day when I get started, I
will report finely.
2. Secure from the Sec. of the F.M.B. interesting correspondence received from the various parts of
the world; carefully edit and condense it, and then run it in the Review. When the Review had a Foreign
Mission Department containing this class of matter, many of its readers were in the habit of turning to this
department immediately after reading the notes on the last page. I think a restoration of that department
would be a good thing, but it may be better still to sprinkle the matter through the paper, thus treating
Foreign Missions as though they were a leading part of our work, rather than a simple side issue. Last year
Bro. Wilcox had many letters manifolded and sent out to the workers in different parts of the field. This was a
great help to us, but much of the influence which this class of correspondence ought to have had on our
people was last because those who received the letters did not have opportunity to present them to the
people. If a portion of this correspondence had been carefully edited and published in the Review, it would
have reached a much larger number of our people.
Years ago when I was Sec. of the F.M.B.. the editor of the Review expressed a willingness to receive
and publish such matter if it was properly prepared, but this conditional clause kept many good things out of
the paper, because the Sec.’s are often too busy to do the editorial work required. Now that you are
connected with the Review, I should like to see you take hold of this line of work. I think you would enjoy it,
and I am confident that it would be a benefit to the Review and also to our people.
3. The employment of persons to act as news gatherers and reporters in various centers, would be of
value. There is much transpiring in different parts of the world that is being passed by unnoticed because
young men have not been formally appointed as reporters. I see many things over here which you would
value and which I promise myself to work up for the Review but multitudes of other cares crowd out this
important work. I think I will arrange for my secretary to do some of this work, I shall also correspond with
our leading workers in the various colonies and ask them each to send you something once about every three
months. If you could arrange with some young men in such places as Oakland, Portland, Walla Walla, Ogden,
Kansas City, Lincoln, Chicago, and Minneapolis, and similar points in the east, to send you once a month any
items they may have gathered, you might get some live matter which would crowd out some of those rosy
reports from young [page break]
[7 – WCW – 389]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 17, 1895
Eld. G.C. Tenney
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 3 of 3
men who are just entering the ministry and who write not because they have anything to say, but because
they want their friends to know that they are there.
4. Our Education and Medical Missionary work are especially worthy of frequent notices in the
Review. Cannot you take time to visit the College and Sanitarium once or twice a month, and interview
teachers and physicians and publish the latest items of an interesting, encouraging nature regarding the
progress being made. I believe it would pay.
And now I will introduce to you a matter which has been much on my mind and the importance of
which I think you will fully appreciate. I refer to the desire which I have had for many years and which is
shared by hundreds of my brethren, that Eld. Smith should revise and condense his book on Daniel and
Revelation for publication in London for the English speaking people of Great Britain and the colonies. This
edition would no doubt be translated into the Spanish and Portuguese for South America, and perhaps into
many other languages. I am told that the sale of this book in the United States is very limited and that we are
selling more here in Australia than is being sold in any other country of its population. You very well know
how unsuitable for this field some portions of the book are and what an immense strength it would be added
to our work if it could be revised, greatly abbreviating the chapter treating on the United States in prophecy,
condensing in other parts as far as consistent and removing as far as possible those expressions which stamp
it as an American book and lead the readers to think that the author has viewed things from the American
standpoint only.
You know the present demand for cheaper books. Everywhere our brethren are calling for something
that will sell for $1.50 or $2.00. If Eld. Smith could see his way clear to prepare Daniel and Revelation for
European sale I believe that it would also meet with a very much larger sale in the United States.
Please think this matter over carefully and talk with Eld. Smith about it. You need not tell him that I
have written you, for I intend to write him also as soon as I can get the time.
I cannot close this letter without making a few inquiries about our young people from the colonies.
Some time ago I wrote quite fully to Bro. Sisley about some of them, but have received no answer. He read
my letter to Dr. Kellogg who seems to be displeased because I wrote him about them and neither the Doctor
or Bro. Sisley have given me any information. I am deeply interested in the welfare of all these young people
and desirous of knowing how they are getting along, and any information you can give me about their
progress and future plans will be highly appreciated.
Yours truly,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 390]
(Personal)
Granville, N.S.W.
June 18, 1895
Dr. J.H. Kellogg
Sanitarium, B.C.
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Brother: There are one or two points in your letter to Mother about which I desire to add a few words. I am
sorry that you felt annoyed because I wrote Bro. Sisley asking him to become acquainted with our students
from Australia and to tell me how they were getting along, and to tell me how they were getting along, and
because I told him something that I had heard regarding their work and feelings. I will here copy all that
portion which relates to persons connected with the Sanitarium believing that when you have given it a
second reading you will feel less annoyed than at first. I have just read the letter carefully and I do not see
wherein I have made any grievous accusations against you. I am sure that nothing of the kind was intended.
“Our hope for the future is in our young people and great is the responsibility resting on the teachers
and managers of our schools in the fitting of them for future usefulness. You are aware that quite a number
of young men have been sent to the Battle Creek College from this Napier Church. Frank Lyndon, Edgar Caro,
Erick Caro, Thomas Watterworth, Will Bruce, and Maui Pomare are among the number.
All of these have gone largely through the influence of Mrs. Caro, and most of them have received
substantial help from her in meeting the expenses of their schooling. She has had an intense ambition for the
advancement of the message and for the welfare of the young people within the range of her influence, and
has exerted herself to the very utmost to help them to go on with their schooling.
Her business has been profitable and she has worked incessantly and being a rapid and very
successful worker has made a lot of money and has spent it as fast as earned. During the last year additional
and unexpected burdens have come, until she is nearly overwhelmed. Yet, she has been so anxious that the
young men who were completing courses at the college should be well fitted for work that she has
encouraged Lyndon and Watterworth to take the one year special course at the San.
Having sacrificed so much to see these young men placed where they can get the best advantages,
she is naturally desirous that they may be appreciated by the managers of the school, and that they be given
an opportunity to learn that for which they are spending precious time and money. But in answer to
inquiries, the statements are made that they are mostly employed at menial work, and that they are given
very little opportunity to practice what they are being taught in the matter of how to nurse the sick.
Lyndon has a good business training before he left N.Z. and with four years of schooling at the B.C.
College he surely cannot much need gardening and cleaning stables as a discipline. Watterworth was a
monumental mason and a man of solid maturity and although he may not [page break]
[7 – WCW – 391]
(Personal)
Granville, N.S.W.
June 18, 1895
Dr. J.H. Kellogg
Sanitarium, B.C.
Page 2 of 3
be as supple as some younger persons, it would seem that his age and the fact that he will return to a distant
land, are reasons why he should have special consideration.
My special purpose in writing to you is to ask you to make acquaintance with these men, and find
out how they are getting along. If they are doing well, encourage them, but if they are not doing well,
encourage and counsel them, and talk with Bro. Olsen and Dr. Kellogg about their welfare. I also want you to
interest yourself in Maui Pomare. Everybody says that he is a talented fellow and it seems that many are
taking part in a line of treatment that is likely to ruin his prospects for usefulness. I am told that he is praised
and flattered until it will be quite a miracle if he does not lose his head, and get such high-fly ideas that he
will be of no use to his people.
They say that Dr. Kellogg has suggested that he take a literary course at Ann Arbor, then a medical
course and then a post graduate course in London. This means years of study and when done he will naturally
feel too wise a man to work among the Maoris. These people are easily puffed up, and when they get a big
idea regarding themselves once into their head, it is hard to get it out. It strikes me that the ones who have
been supporting such students ought to be consulted before such far-reaching and costly plans are put into
their heads. What do you think about it?
Here are a few facts about the schooling of this man. His ambition has been until lately to fit himself
as soon as possible to act as a medical missionary among his people. for this the same ability is needed to do
the same work among the American Indians. He is supposed to be the heir of considerable property, and yet
he has control of nothing. Up to the present Mrs. Caro has met his bills for transportation and schooling, but
now she has reached a point where she is forced to curtail her liberalities; therefore the future schooling of
Bro. Pomare should be provided for by the Med. Mis. and Ben. Asso. or by Mis. Bd.
I shall write to Elder Olsen laying these facts before him, but he is so busy with hundreds of such
matters that I beg of you to become acquainted with all three of these young men and that you do what you
can to cheer and counsel them about present men and that you do what you can to cheer and counsel them
about present work, and that you talk these matters over with Eld. Olsen so that he may have the benefit of
your thoughts about their future work.
Watterworth has been suffering, so we are told for about two years with something like sunstroke
and yet it appears that no one knows much about it, and that very little effort has been made to help the
trouble. He now thinks to return home, and take up work in his father’s monumental works. In this position
he will have much opposition and perplexity, I presume, and he should come fortified with good cheer and
confidence in his brethren at the headquarters of the work.
Lyndon has been fitting himself for the ministry, and will in a few months be ready to enter the work.
We really need such men here, but we do not want him to come lacking in experience so as to be subject to
discouragement, nor do we wish him to come with so limited an experience and knowledge of the features of
our general work that he would have gone along as many do, but partly understanding our relation to other
parts of the work. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 392]
(Personal)
Granville, N.S.W.
June 18, 1895
Dr. J.H. Kellogg
Sanitarium, B.C.
Page 3 of 3
It seems to me that it would be best for Lyndon and for the work in the colony for you to find him a
place in some good Conf. where he could be put to work with a man who would teach and develop him and
thus let him work for a year or two. Please do what you can.”
I thought that it would be very appropriate for Bro. Sisley, just coming from this field where he had
met the relatives and friends of these students to call upon them and learn what he could of their progress,
plans, and their spirit and then talk with you and Eld. Olsen about their future work. I hope he has done this
and if not I hope he will at the first opportunity, and when it is done, and I hope that he and you will write
me, giving me the results of your counsels.
In your letter to Mother you say, “I should have written him and given him a full explanation; but as
he seldom writes me and generally sends his complaints to me by somebody else, I did not feel quite free to
write him about it.” I hardly understand this statement. It is my purpose and plan whenever I have a word of
good cheer or of criticism which pertains to your own individual work to write you about it. But when I have
something to write about a movement or a work in which a large number of persons are engaged, I have
thought it was my privilege to write to anyone or to others who might have opportunity to say a word that
would be helpful or could give me information that would help me to fulfill my duties in these countries.
I will say frankly that your extreme sensitiveness makes it rather difficult for me to correspond with
you as freely as I would like but I shall endeavor to remember the multitude of perplexities with which you
are surrounded and I will ask you to kindly endeavor not to place the worst construction upon that which I
write.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 393]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 18, 1895
To the President and Secretary of the Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association
Battle Creek, Mich.
Dear Brethren: I see by the Gen. Conf. Bulletin that I have been re-elected as a member of your Board. And so I write
you to enquire respecting the work of the Association and the duties of the Trustees of the Association.
It would be very pleasing for me if you would tell me what is expected of the Trustees from the
Asso., what our duties are toward one another and toward the officers of the Asso. are toward the absent
members of the Board of Trustees.
Is it supposed that the absent members, such as Eld. Haskell and myself bear any responsibility
whatever regarding the important work of the Association, if so what are these responsibilities? It would be
very gratifying to me and I presume also to other absent members, if we could be informed from time to time
regarding the work which is being done in our name.
Would it be asking too much if we should request that the minutes of the Board meetings be sent to
absent members? I believe it is the custom to send such minutes to absent members of the Ex. Com. of the
Mission Bd. Gen. Conf. Asso. Gen. Conf. Com. etc. etc. I should also be glad to receive from the officers of the
Asso. a brief statement of their policy, also a statement of the aggressive work that they have in hand and
also of the new enterprises upon which they are about to enter. I should also be glad to know the relation of
the Asso. and its work to the work of the Foreign Mission Board. I see that their work is very closely allied and
in some cases blends together and I am interested to know what division of work and responsibility exists. If
in this I am asking for information which has been published and which I have overlooked a reference to the
published documents will fully satisfy me.
Hoping to hear from you at an early date, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 394]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 18, 1895
Mr. Harmon Lindsay
Battle Creek, Mich.
My Dear Brother: This morning I have read over a number of your letters to Mother and which have never been fully
answered. I will now refer to some of the business mentioned in them.
Yours of Nov. 29 was accompanied by a copy of a letter from Mr. Boal of Nov. 20 and also by a
statement for Walling which Mother was requested to sign to complete the compromise with Walling. This
statement she could not sign but after some study I have drawn up a more brief statement which I hope she
will feel willing to sign. I will send a copy for your criticism whether she signs it or not. I was thankful for your
criticism on the statement drawn up by Mr. Boal.
In the same letter you mention the cooking stove which Mother left in the Miller house. It was Edson
who made the arrangements with McAllister and he told me that he had rented the place to McAllister at a
lower price than we had been asking with the understanding that McAllister would pay the water rent.
I am glad that Mother has decided to offer her property in Battle Creek for sale, but I shall advise her
not to force the matter because I am confident that there will be a partial recovery from the present
depression and I believe that property on Main St. will always be valuable.
Please accept my thanks for the interest you have taken in the valuation of my house and lot in the
sale of my household furniture, etc. etc.
I should be very glad to sell my place and am willing that it shall be offered at a low price, and I
realize that after this is done, we must wait for a customer.
Ella and Mabel have been here about seven weeks. They were here a month before our return from
the Tasmanian meetings. They are well and happy. They were very glad to see me, and are getting along
nicely with their new mother. I have every reason to believe that ours will be a very happy family.
Mother is now planning to build a cottage near the school, large enough for her and for my family.
She will rent it to me and board with us. I hope this will enable her to lay off the cares and perplexities of
maintaining a large family.
In your letter to Mother of March 20, you expressed your deep interest in the work in these colonies
and I see by the recent liberal action of the Mission Board that this interest is shared by many of our
brethren. Our hearts are filled with gratitude and love to our brethren who are doing so much to help the
work along here in this our time of need.
Please accept our kindest regards for yourself and family, and believe me,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 395]
State of Colorado,
County of Arapahoe.
)
)
)
IN THE DISTRICT COURT
William B. Walling,
)
plaintiff.
)
vs.
)
Ellen G. White,
)
defendant.
)
____________________________
In the above entitled cause, the plaintiff claims that I unduly influenced his two daughters, Addie and
May Walling against him, while they were minors in my care and keeping, and that I thereby estranged them
from him, and prejudiced them against him.
While Mr. Walling, the plaintiff, may sincerely believe this, I maintain that I never consciously did so.
If by my said treatment of Addie and May Walling, or by anything I said to them of or concerning their father,
the plaintiff in this case, I did prejudice their minds or disparage the plaintiff in their estimation of him, it was
wholly unintentional on my part and I sincerely regret the same.
WITNESS my hand this 19th day of June, A.D. 1895
Ellen G. White
______________________________
[7 – WCW – 396]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 18, 1895
Mr. J.N. Nelson, Sec.
Gen. Conf. Association, Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: Your letters of March 28 to Mother, and of March 29 to me came to hand in due time and have
received careful consideration. I read both letters to Mother and have several times had lengthy
conversations with her about their contents.
Mother is desirous of doing that which is right and necessary to help forward the publishing and
canvassing work; and after giving careful and prayerful consideration to the propositions made by your
association and the reasons offered for the same, she has instructed me to say that she will accept 12½ c.
royalty on Great Controversy and Patriarchs and Prophets in place of 15% as heretofore. This concession is
made in consideration of and will date from the time of the reduction in prices recommended by your
Association. It is intended that this proposition will apply to the London Pub. House as well as to the R.&H.
and Pac. Press.
There are two principle reasons why Mother was not willing to reduce the royalty as much as you
requested. First, the proposed reduction in the royalty was out of proportion to the reduction in retail price,
and to the sacrifices proposed to be made by the Publishing houses and the Tract Societies.
Second, in times past she has been obliged to bear very heavy expenses in paying for type setting,
plates, manuscript, and for illustrating her books.
This she has done to avoid the evils that might arise through any one company or association getting
a monopoly of the work of printing and wholesaling, thus creating a condition of affairs which would limit the
usefulness of the books. She now feels that she must have a proportionate income to effect this expense and
to give her funds to bring out her new works in the same manner if it is necessary.
You may say that it is not necessary for her to do this any longer, that the G.C.A. is prepared to take
her manuscript for the Life of Christ and produce as many sets of plates as may be necessary for the several
printing houses in Mich., Cal., N.Y., London, Toronto, and Melbourne, and also that the G.C.A. is prepared to
illustrate the work properly and to place it upon the market to better advantage than any of our printing
houses. We most sincerely hope that this is so and we know that it ought to be so. We wait with no small
degree of anxiety to hear from your association the answer which it shall make to our correspondence about
the publication of the Sermon on the Mount, Life of Christ, etc. etc. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 397]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 18, 1895
Mr. J.N. Nelson, Sec.
Gen. Conf. Association, Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 2 of 2
I will make a few comments upon the arguments presented in your letter of Nov. 28. I heartily
approve of what you say about the necessity of reducing the prices of our books, but I wish to express myself
that they should have as high prices now as before the great depressions, are very weak ones indeed. In this
connection I would like to enquire if the workmen in the various departments of the printing houses are paid
the same wages for an hours’ work that they were three years ago?
I will also remark that the figures which you have presented, based upon the cost price of the marble
edged book, are not at all likely to fairly represent the results of similar figures on the other styles of binding.
As regards the six recommendations made, I will say that the first one reducing the style of bindings
to three in number, I most heartily approve of. It will enable our workers everywhere to carry forward the
business with much less capital.
I have no criticism to make on recommendation no. 2. Nos. 3 and 4, I approve. As I have already
expressed myself on No. 5 and 6 I need say nothing more.
Before closing I desire to ask what the policy of the G.C.A. is to be toward authors in general? I would
like to hear from you regarding its recent purchase of the Gospel Primer, that is of the methods used to
secure control of that work. I have heard it intimated that a combined effort was made to crush the book
unless its proprietors would turn it over to the G.C.A. But now since they have gained control of it, the
objections to its sale are quickly vanishing away. Please give me your views regarding this matter.
I do not ask these questions because my brother was owner of the book, but because I am very
familiar with the theories are to be adopted by the Gen. Conf. Association. If they are to be adopted by the
Trustees of the G.C.A. we shall probably feel it our duty to withdraw all the propositions which we have made
regarding the G.C.A.’s handling Mother’s works.
With kindest regards, and hoping to hear from you very soon, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 398]
(Abstract.)
Broken Hills, N.S.W.
June 13, 1895
Eld. W.C. White
Dear Brother: Eld. Hickox and wife arrived safely Tuesday the 10th. We have ordered the tent sent up and have
secured a central location for it at a cost of twelve shillings, payable in advance from this time to Oct. 1st. The
seating will be somewhat expensive but we will be able to sell the lumber again when through with it.
I have held twenty-two public meetings in a hall at an expense of £8.12.6. but as the collections
amount to £9.10.11. there is a balance in hand of 18/-5.
In addition to these meetings I have held two meetings each week at the house where I reside in the
dining room, which accommodates 40-50. The Sunday evening meetings were usually attended by 70 or 80
adults, the weekday meetings from 20 to 50.
I had not reached the Sabbath question when I heard that help would be sent me, and have not yet
spoken on that subject. I have held many Bible readings at the homes of interested persons and a number
have inquired about the Sabbath. Eight adults, a girl of 16, and another young lady of 18 who is keeping it
also, but of this I am not sure. Several others are deeply interested.
I have given several talks on health and temperance in the dining room of our residence, to
audiences of 35 or 40. In every talk, no matter what the subject I am led out to present some phase of
Christ’s character or work.
God has blessed me abundantly, for which I thank and praise his holy name. He alone has the work. I
am glad however, that he has made choice of me as the instrument.
Yours,
(signed) M.G. Kellogg
C.
[7 – WCW – 399]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 19, 1895
Dr. J.E. Caldwell
Raratonga
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: Your very welcome and interesting letter of March 13 came to hand while I was in New Zealand and
this seems to be my first opportunity to make answer. I was very much pleased to hear from and to learn
about your situation and the progress of your work. In the Auckland paper, I found a very nice little notice or
reference to your work, which I cut out and sent to Sec. Wilcox. It was very gratifying to me to learn from this
article and also from your letter that the Lord has blessed your efforts by giving you the confidence of the
native and also of the English presidents.
We are glad to hear about your school and your new house and most pleased of all to know that the
way has opened up for you to connect with the proposed hospital.
I note with interest what you say about your correspondence with the F.M.B. regarding your
connection with this hospital and the reply which they have given you. I cannot say that I fully understand the
decision which they have made or the necessity for making such a decision. I have no desire to criticize the
action of my brethren who have studied certain questions much more than I have but I am free to say that I
believe this opportunity for you to connect with the hospital is a providential opening. I think that your
acceptance of the position offered to you would result with the blessing of God in much good to the people
of Raratonga, both as regards their physical well-being and their spiritual welfare.
Standing at the head of such an institution, although it may be very rude and humble as compared
with hospitals in other countries, you will be brought in contact with hundreds of the people at a time when
they are most susceptible to receive impressions and instruction regarding their temporal and spiritual
welfare. While in such a position you might not be able to labor in the same way as an evangelist. I question if
your efforts would not be quite as telling and more far-reaching than if you stand aside and encourage
someone else to take the hospital work, and you give yourself wholly to the work of an evangelist and
teacher.
If you accept the hospital work and by the grace of God will give daily, so conduct it as to retain the
confidence of the people you can do much to open the way and to assist the other men to come in and act as
evangelists and teachers. Whereas if you refuse to take the hospital work and another physician is chosen for
this position, he may use his influence with the people to obstruct the work which you might do as an
evangelist.
In your position as government servant you would have no greater difficulties to encounter than did
Daniel and the same God who gave him knowledge and wisdom in times of responsibility and fortitude in
times of trouble, will bestow grace and wisdom to you as you may need it. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 400]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 19, 1895
Dr. J.E. Caldwell
Raratonga
Page 2 of 2
I read your letter to Mother, and have talked the matter over with her a couple of times and she
believes with me that this is a providential opening for you to gain a position and influence that may be used
to the glory of God, and for the service of his children.
We are very much encouraged as we see the rapid development of Medical Missionary enterprises in
different parts of the world. I suppose you have learned from the Gen. Conf. Bulletin about the growth of the
work in Mexico and of the proposal to establish a medical mission in India. You are no doubt acquainted with
the movements of the “Pitcairn” which will no doubt visit you shortly after the reception of this letter.
I send you with this copy of a recent letter to Dr. Waggoner, which contains a little information about
my personal affairs and calls attention to the Australian Sentinel. Please tell me if you are receiving this
paper. If so what do you think of it? Have you any use for it in Raratonga? If there is anything occurring in the
Cook Islands bearing upon the questions to which the Sentinel is devoted we would be very glad to have you
write to us about them. We are aiming to make the Sentinel a paper which will be read with interest in all the
Southern Hemisphere.
I will also ask if you are receiving the Bible Echo and if there is not a field for its circulation in the
Cook Islands? We should be pleased to have you contribute to the Echo. If you have any use for periodicals
we will suggest that the Echo, published in a British colony, may prove to be better suited to your field than
any American paper. Please tell me what you think of these propositions. I will also enclose to you abstract of
a letter just received from Dr. M.G. Kellogg which you may read and hand to Capt. Graham. I may be able to
collect some other matter that will be of interest to him, and to some members of the crew, and also to
Missionaries in various islands who were acquainted with Dr. Kellogg. I will also endeavor to get from Mother
copies of some of her recent letters which you may read and then place in the hands of the captain to be
used by him as he goes from island to island. We may send some things which you have seen or do not care
for. We do not know how fully you have been supplied with information regarding matters in this part of the
world, and knowing that isolated workers are sometimes hungry for news, we will send what we can,
believing that you will not be annoyed if some matters are included that you do not care for. The abstract
from letters from Eld. Olsen, I am sure, you will value.
Our work in these countries move forward steadily. There is a widespread interest in the suburbs of
Sydney. Hundreds are convinced and are now agitated over the question, what shall we eat, and what shall
we drink and wherewithal shall we be clothed, if we keep the Seventh-day Sabbath. A Dr. Porter whom Eld.
McCullough calls the king of the Amorites, has come out to meet us with a combined force including the
leading debaters of several other denominations at his back.
You will see by Dr. Kellogg’s letter that a good work is in progress at Broken Hill. Eld. Daniells is now
in Queensland with Eld. Starr, who has a big fight on over the Sabbath question. Pray for us and write us as
often as you can.
Yours truly,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 401]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 19, 1895
Mr. W.H. Edwards
Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Brother: As promised in my last, I will now tackle your package of unanswered letters. About a week ago I
went through my pile and sorted them out in groups and have been working away at these groups of ancient
letters something as a Michigan farmer would work about some old pine stumps that have stood in his way
for 20 years. This package of yours is the last, but as soon as it is disposed of, I shall open up operations on
another drawer-full pertaining to Australasian affairs. Well, to business: In yours of Oct. 4 you enumerate business done for me, including payment of interest on the Jones
note, insurance, taxes, &c. All of which is satisfactory to me.
In this and another letter written a few days later, you give me the reports received from Person and
Holser regarding the royalty on Mother’s books. It has been Mother’s design to leave to leave these royalties
to be appropriated to the educational work in those countries by Eld. Olsen; but I think it is proper that she
should receive a report once a year, showing how much it amounts to and I shall request a report as to all
that has been appropriated. She sometimes asks me about these matters and I ought to be able to answer
her. Accept my thanks for the information you have obtained respecting this and for other information you
have given me regarding the Foreign Missions Educational Fund, accruing from the royalty on Eld. Smith’s
books and some others.
I am glad that you have been able to tell me in a later letter the amount of money in the E.G. White
educational fund, accruing from royalties from Mother’s translated works which are sold in America. In a
letter written you about three months ago, I requested that this should be sent to us in bank draft, believing
that all the money which the Echo Co. should receive from the sale of books would be absorbed in your
orders on other accounts. I expect to hear your response to this in a few weeks.
I am heartily glad that the African gift to our church building fund, made by Sr. Wessels so long ago
has been permitted by the F.M.B. to revert to the purpose for which it was given. As you say in your letters,
this effects the amount sent to us from London, which we used in completing the purchase of our land, and
now as soon as we receive from Bro. Sr. Lindsay the £1000 which they have given. this money will be relieved
so that we can go forward with the erection of meeting houses.
I am satisfied that the time has fully come for us to build a house to accommodate the North Fitzroy
church. We shall probably locate [page break]
[7 – WCW – 402]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 19, 1895
Mr. W.H. Edwards
Page 2 of 3
it in Carleton, a beautiful suburb lying west of North Fitzroy. The house erected there will be intended to
accommodate all our people in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. We had hoped to build in June and July,
but the difficulty of securing a suitable location will throw this work over until next October or November.
Meanwhile our brethren in Hawthorne and the eastern suburbs, find it necessary to build and they
will certainly require some assistance.
Here in Ashfield we expect to select a lot next week, and begin operations without delay. About £200
will be required to purchase a suitable lot and £150 to purchase material and pay for such labor as will not be
donated. The estimated total cost of the building in Hawthorne is £200. In Carleton about £900. The meeting
house just completed in Epsom, near Auckland, N.Z. has cost about £120 besides contributions of labor and
material. It is located on a lot leased at £6 per year. I am more thankful than I can express that Mother
moved out when she did to call for means for this work and that our friends contributed so liberally; for we
have now reached a point where great discouragement would follow if these meeting houses could not be
built. If we had begun the work at once when the money was given, it would not have gone nearly so far as it
will now. We believe that real estate has not reached its lowest point and that labor and material will soon be
on the rise. This with the rapid development of our new churches unmistakably points to the present as the
time for action. How we do wish that Bro. Sisley was here to take charge of the erection of these churches
and of the school buildings.
You express the hope that we have found our school location quite satisfactory and so we have. It
was of the most difficult places to estimate properly that I ever saw but as we go forward with the work, all
connected with the enterprise become better pleased with the site. We are finding true what I hoped for in
the beginning that the original settlers of Cooranbong and Martinsville, lying up in the valley who have made
their living from the timber industry and who formed extravagant habits during the time of the timber
business paid large profits, are moving away and leaving little places that can be rented by our people at
reasonable figures. One year ago when they thought that we would begin extensive operations at once, they
held firm to the old time fabulous prices; but our hesitation and delay has convinced them that our
enterprise will never succeed, and they are now offering their places on more reasonable terms. If we had a
financier now, I believe we could push forward our work quite rapidly.
You ask what the prospects of the Echo are for making expenses since they have given up the
subscription book business. We can answer this question better at the end of a year than now. It will
probably be a hard struggle, as it has been for some years, but we hope for the best.
We are glad that the G.C.A. has taken pity on the New Zealand Tract Society, and offered to forgive
them a portion of their debt. I am not sure that I understand the conditions upon which the offer is made,
but I think the resolution says that if they will hereafter deal on a [page break]
[7 – WCW – 403]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 19, 1895
Mr. W.H. Edwards
Page 3 of 3
cash basis. It does not state with whom, and I understood that it meant that they should pay cash for books
purchased. This seemed rather strange, and looked like the proposition, “Live horse, and you shall eat grass.”
But Bro. Palmer tells me that it means that they shall hereafter deal with their agents on a cash basis. I
certainly hope that they will be able to fulfill the condition whatever it is.
The outcome of the Echo business will depend much upon the action of the G.C.A. The managers of
the Echo Co. are anxious to fulfill the wishes of the G.C.A. in all particulars. They are very thankful that the
Bible Echo has been taken over and we now wait for instruction as to how we shall operate it. If the G.C.A.
will permit the Echo Co. to print a good edition of the Echo, and to make a working profit manufacture and if
they will secure for us a reasonable price on trade books and an additional discount on the subscription
books, so that the co. can supply all customers in Australasia, I think they can pull through the hard times. It
has no ambitious schemes to satisfy in the matter of publishing health or children’s papers that cannot pay.
Its tract and pamphlet publications which have barely paid their way up to the present time, should by and by
furnish a small profit. I think that every reasonable effort is being made to run the business on economical
lines, and I hope that the present management will have the full and hearty support of the G.C.A. and our
people generally.
I note what you say about the work of Dr. Kellogg. He was much depressed for a time after the death
of his wife, but since going to Adelaide and Broken Hill, he has been doing good work which is greatly
appreciated by the people. This has given him much courage. I will enclose you copy of a letter just received
from him.
As regards the Queensland work and accounts, I will say that the arrangements may do when Eld.
Olsen was here was that this work should be managed by the Australian Conference Committee for the
General Conf. This arrangement was several times stated to our brethren, notwithstanding this the idea kept
cropping up that the officers of the Union Conf. were to be consulted and applied for funds. This lead to
some misleading entries in the reports of Elds. Starr and Hickox and also to some confusion in our accounts at
Melbourne. But we are straightening matters here, and in my next, after I have examined your statement
more carefully and consulted with Faulkhead, I shall be able to write you fully about the accounts.
When I heard that the Foreign Mission Board was contemplating the setting off of Queensland, and
Western Australia as separate missions. I suppose that these missions would pass from the supervision of the
Australian Conf. to the Mission Bd. operated through the Union Conf. but when we received the minutes of
the F.M.B. we found that the proposition is “That the F.M.B. continue the support of the work in Queensland
for the next Gen. Conf. term on the same basis as the work has gone forward during the last two years.” After
reading this, we decided to let matter stand as they are till the visit of Eld. Prescott or we received definite
instructions from headquarters.
I will send you on a separate sheet a few statements about personal affairs.
Yours truly,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 404]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 19, 1895
Mr. W.H. Edwards
Dear Brother: I hope during the next month to straighten out my accounts and records so that I can send you a
statement of expenses. I thank you for the kindly reminder that I ought not to set so bad an example in the
matter of reporting.
The annual report of the different funds sent to me has been well studied and Brn. Daniells and
Faulkhead have examined it also.
I will make an earnest effort to find the stock certificates and when found will return them to you.
They have got mislaid with some of my papers and it will take a thorough search to find them.
I will endeavor to report the children’s expenses according to your instruction.
The draft for $300 from Eld. Loughborough came at a very acceptable time. If in all such cases you
would send the second of exchange as well as the first, we could cash the drafts immediately change as well
as the first, we could cash the drafts immediately. Otherwise we must wait for the second or lose three
months in sending it to London for collection.
I am not prepared to pay Mr. Stanton the mortgage on my place. Cannot you arrange for an
extension of time? In case you would find a buyer for the place, would they be likely to want it subject to the
mortgage, or is the interest too high. Would it be possible to hire money at a lower rate? May I not refer this
whole matter to yourself, and Bro. Lindsay, asking you to deal with it as if it was your own? This is what I
desire to do, and if it is necessary to negotiate a new loan or to secure an extension by Mr. Stanton, I am sure
that you would exercise as good judgment as I could myself, and perhaps much better. Please do the best
you can for me, and I shall be more than satisfied.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 405]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 19, 1895
Mr. W.C. Sisley
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: I will endeavor to write you a few lines to go by the Vancouver steamer in answer to your welcome
letters of March 28 and April 23, which I found in one of my desk drawers.
I sincerely hope that long before this you have had a talk with the trustees of the M.M. and B. Asso.
and that you have presented before them some of the facts regarding our work over here, our plans and
desires as regards health and temperance work. I also hope that you have taken time to become acquainted
with our Australasian students as requested in my letter of March 16 and that you have written me quite fully
what you think of their work. I was considerably disappointed that your last letter said nothing about them,
and still more disappointed that it made no reference to the plans which the Mission Bd. have been making
for you to return to this field, and assist in our schoolwork.
We have received several letters from Bro. Olsen and Sec. Bro. Wilcox, stating that you were willing
to come to this country if the Mission Board thought that it was best that the matter had been referred to
the committee that the resolution had been passed recommending you to come if willing. This made us very
happy. We thought that something had occurred during the Gen. Conf. to open the way for you to come, or
to reconcile you to the thought and so we began to shape our plans with reference to your coming with a
power of attorney to be our school financier, architect, builder, and Supt. of our industrial dept. When you
left us at Auckland I had no expectation that you would come, because of the reasons that you offered in
Melbourne against such a move, but as the letters came from our brethren indicating that you were willing to
come, and as we have felt from week to week more and more the need of such help as you can give us, we
were quite happy to believe that Brethren Olsen and Wilcox were correct in their understanding that you
were willing to come. Imagine our surprise when the last mail came and we read our letters with eager haste,
looking for some reference to Sisley’s movements to find not a word either in your letters or in theirs, about
the matter of your coming. I do not yet understand it, nor can I conjecture what our brethren are planning for
us. I hope that your next letter will give us some light as to what you intend to do.
I was somewhat surprised to receive in the last mail the following letter from Dr. Kellogg: Battle Creek Mich., April 19, 1895. Eld. W.C. White. – Dear Brother: - W.C. Sisley showed me a letter
this morning which you had written him about advice to Pomare, etc. I was writing to your mother this
morning and took occasion to mention about some of these cases, as I suppose they have come to her ears
and must have [page break]
[7 – WCW – 406]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 19, 1895
Mr. W.C. Sisley
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 2 of 2
been a source of trouble to her. The shortest way to find out what I have been doing or advising would be to
write me about the matter. I am all the time trying to do all that I can to help along your workers here, and
your work in Australia but find some of the young people here from Australia, but find some of the young
people here from Australia not very appreciative and not inclined to improve their opportunities. I think we
made a mistake in taking in certain ones.
Very truly yours,
(signed) J.H. Kellogg
This with your complete silence regarding the young men of whom I wrote in my March letter puts
me in rather an awkward position with reference to making any effort to help them.
Last week I was up to Cooranbong, and found nineteen young men hard at work in the Industrial
Department. They work five and a half hours in the field each day and spend half an hour after dinner in
domestic work. They take two studies each per day, and this with the Bible lesson given in connection with
family worship is equal to two and a half regular studies. Some of them do a little reading besides. All of them
seem to enjoy their home, although some of them are sleeping in tents. They appear to enjoy their field work
also, and work much better than I had expected. They have cleared ten acres on the Bron tract just east of
the campus. This week they are ditching the marsh, and next week they will clear out some roads. Bro.
Metcalf Hare has one half of the boys in charge and Bro. Lawrence the others. Both do very well as foremen.
The work in the conference is going forward about as usual. Bro. A.S. Hickox and wife have joined Dr.
M.G. Kellogg at Broken Hill. Yesterday I received a letter from the doctor, a copy of which I will enclose. Eld.
Daniells is now with Eld. Starr and Bro. Teasdale in Toowoomba, where there is a big fight on over the
Sabbath question. Eld. Baker is alone in Tasmania. Eld. Corliss is giving instruction to the brethren in Ashfield
and next Sabbath will complete the organization of a church there. Brn. McCullough and Hare are closing up
the work in Petersham, with the view of starting an effort in some new place.
With this I will enclose copies of some of my recent letters to Brn. Wilson, Stead, and Crothers, which
you will understand on account of your being present at the N.Z. Conf. I send these for your own reading
only. Some time you may have an opportunity to talk with Eld. Olsen about these matters. I would prefer this
way to sending the letters direct to him. I should be very happy to have a word of counsel from you regarding
any or all of the matters mentioned in this letter.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 407]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 19, 1895
Mr. C.H. Jones
Page 1 of 3
My Dear Brother: With this I will enclose you copy of a letter just written to the Sec. of the G.C.A. By the next mail I
hope to send you some extracts which Mother has permitted me to collect from letters that she has lately
written to the managers of the Review and Herald, officer of the Gen. Conf. Asso. and the National Tract
Society and to the editors of the Sentinel which will show you what her views are regarding certain questions
and movements with which these brethren have to do. You will then see upon what principles my letter to
the G.C.A. are based.
Will you kindly tell me what you know about the Confederacy of Canvassers and Publishers to crowd
out or crush the Gospel Primer, and the reasons for the same at the General Agents Convention. Also, how
far you think that the objections presented by agents against the Primer will be removed by the fact that it is
now owned by the G.C.A.
I should be very glad to hear your views regarding the present and future policy of the G.C.A. in
dealing with the printing and publishing business. Is it expected that this Association, by gaining general
control will be able to carry out the policy presented by Bro. Henry and so ardently advocated by him and a
few others that authors should receive for their work what the publishers may consider reasonable
compensation and then relinquish all claims and rights.
It is likely that the trustees of this association or the sub-committee to which publication matters are
referred will adopt the repressive policy so strenuously advocated by Captain Eldridge and a few others
regarding the bringing out of new books. Please tell me what your views are regarding the knowledge and
influence of those members of the G.C.A. who are not directly connected with the printing houses. Are these
men becoming intelligent respecting the publishing and printing work? Do they have a voice in framing the
policy of the Association, or are they so absorbed in their local work that when they assemble in their halfyearly meetings they leave all these matters to a few men who are connected with the printing houses?
The fact that some of these men boldly adhered to a policy and followed a course which has been
repeatedly condemned by the Lord and for which they have been reproved year after, leads me to feel that I
must know how far their counsels and influence are to mold the policy of the G.C.A. before any final action is
taken in placing Mother’s books in their hands for publication. Please give me what information you can upon
these matters. We must know the truth before taking steps which may influence our work for a series of
years.
I see very much to commend in the work of the G.C.A. Its influence and assistance in building schools
in various parts of the world is very commendable and the giving of our periodicals a wide circulation is a
grand and glorious work; but I cannot help thinking that [page break]
[7 – WCW – 408]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 19, 1895
Mr. C.H. Jones
Page 2 of 3
you have gone too far in the cutting the price of the Signs. If the effort to circulate the paper corresponds
with the effort to reduce its price there will certainly be a great advancement in getting the truth before the
people.
I am heartily glad that Bro. Wilcox is back in his position as Editor. No doubt he will need assistance
and I hope that the very best men will be chosen for that purpose. During his absence I was pained to see the
Signs falling back into the old rut, and criticizing everything and a sort of formality was coming in. I am glad
that you need a rapid press. Why not buy a duplex from which you can print from the type and do rapid
work?
I note with interest in the letter of May 2nd about the sale of the Testimonies, the demand for a
reduction in their price, etc. etc. If I remember correctly the royalty on these books is 10% of the retail price;
therefore if the price is reduced the royalty would be reduced in proportion and you may feel at liberty to do
this. I think it would be well to issue Nos. 31, 32, and 33 in one volume.
I feel no great anxiety to see a great effort made to put out a large quantity of full sets of the
Testimonies. It has seemed to me for many years that much more good would be accomplished by classifying
this matter and publishing it in separate books, like Gospel Workers, Christian Education, Christian
Temperance, etc. By this means much repetition would be avoided and the purchasers of those books would
be much more likely to read them. I may have sent you copy of my letter to Brother Olsen and Tait on this
subject.
I was very thankful for what you wrote me about the departure of the “Pitcairn”. I copy largely from
your letter in answer to Bro. J.M. Cole, who was urging me to give advice respecting his departure from
Norfolk to Fiji.
In your letter of April 5 you express surprise regarding the action of the Echo Co. in encouraging Bro.
Miller to return. The matter stands thus: - when he went away we promised to take some such steps at the
end of two years regarding his return. He then expressed much fear that because of some change in
management the Echo Co. would fail to fulfill their part of this promise. I assured him that our promise would
be fulfilled. His relatives here, especially his mother, are very solicitous about his return. His mother has
thought and worried over the matter until she has made herself sick several times. All of his relatives are
watching us closely to see if we will faithfully fulfill our agreement. Under these circumstances I have
maintained before the Echo Board that it was our duty to place before him and invitation to return and also
to place the promised means within his reach. At the same time we have placed before him the change of
our business which will make his business at the Echo Office less profitable and honorable than was expect
when he left us. In addition to this we have placed before him the season of the year we desire him to be
with us. With this we have left the matter with him to decide what he will do.
We were very glad on our return from Melbourne where we had stopped on our way back from New
Zealand to meet Ella and Mabel, who had been waiting for us a full month. They had a fairly comfortable
[page break]
[7 – WCW – 409]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 19, 1895
Mr. C.H. Jones
Page 3 of 3
passage, but the food did not agree with them. Bro. Palmer was not aware that there was so great a
difference between the food furnished the first class and second class passengers and it may be best for me
to remind you of the fact that while first cabin passengers are furnished abundance on the table and while
they can go freely to the steward for almost anything they want, second cabin passengers on nearly all the
Pacific Ocean steamers are furnished with a simple and monotonous routine of Irish stew, corn beef,
potatoes, turnips, and cabbage. Biscuits that are not the best with soups that are sometimes good and
sometimes bad, and occasionally an apple pie that is satiable or a plum duff that is indigestible for dessert.
fruit is rarely seen on the table and cannot be obtained from the stewards. Therefore whoever goes second
cabin should supply themselves well with plain biscuits and with a good variety of fruit. Carbon biscuits are
excellent for sea sickness. When I went to New Zealand I made one meal each day on carbon biscuits and
oranges, and I stood the rough weather splendid.
Accept my thanks for your kindness to Ella and Mabel. They enjoyed their short visit with you very
much. I enjoy their company very much indeed and they are very happy with me and their new mother. I
accept your congratulations with thanks. I can say that my highest expectations have been more than
realized in the comfort and happiness brought into my life by my new relations. Someday I hope to send you
a photograph of our family in a group.
I have read again a copy of your letter to Mary Scott Feb. 1 and her answer of Feb. 3, also copy of
Mother’s letter to you of Feb. 17 and today I have presented to Mother some reasons why I think it would be
best to settle this unpleasant piece of business with Mrs. Scott by accepting her proposition to take payment
for the 38th St. property in Healdsburg College stock. For some time, I have felt uneasy about her having so
much stock and have wished that some way would open by which she could be relieved of a portion of it. I
am fully confident that she will resent with all the powers of her being, any effort we may make to collect the
debt on the 38th St. property. This in conjunction with the views which I have held ever since the time that
the contribution was made, that she had endangered her own welfare by her large gift to foreign missions,
leads me to think that it would be right and pleasing to God for us to settle the matter in this way. I am
heartily glad that I have obtained Mother’s consent and we will ask you to arrange the matter in this way
unless in counsel with your brethren, you become satisfied that there is a better way I would advise you, or
rather would suggest that you advise the managers of the conference and college to get control of as much
as possible of the stock held by Mrs. Scott.
With kindest regards to yourself, Sr. Jones, and the children, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 410]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 21, 1895
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hare, Sr.
Kaeo, New Zealand
Dear Friends: Since leaving Kaeo, I have often thought of writing to you but have been waiting to be able to send
you copy of my letter to Stephen. At last, I have found time to write him and send you copy with this.
I have often thought of my last visit to Kaeo, and of the pleasant house spent at your home. I wish I
could see you again to tell you about the progress of our work in different parts of the world and to enquire
about the prosperity of the church in Kaeo. I should like to hear how Edward and Lizzie are getting along. You
know she was quite sick when I left. Perhaps I can learn from Maggie, who is now a member of Mother’s
family.
You have no doubt learned from my letter to Joseph and Wesley that I was married on the 9th of May
and that on our return here the 30th of May, I met my two little girls, who are very glad to be with me again.
They love their new mama dearly and we think they are quite obedient and helpful little girls.
During the last three months I have received from the chairman and secretary of the Mission Board,
letters containing much interesting information and giving us very liberal answers to our many requests for
help. Bro. Caldwell has been making abstracts of these, one of which I send to the Committee men of New
Zealand. In the course of two or three weeks, I suppose they will reach Joseph and you may ask him to let you
read them.
With kindest regards to yourself, Sr. Hare, Wilmot, Minnie, and Susie, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 411]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 21, 1895
Mr. A. Hughes
Cooranbong
Dear Brother: We are thinking of making a trip to Cooranbong next week and if the roads are in a passable
condition would like to drive up with the team so as to have the horses and trap there to run around with.
Knowing that you drove up with your trap not very long ago, we write you to ask you to give us what
information you may be able as to the state of the roads. Is it very hilly, can we take a good load or would a
load endanger the trap? Is the road hard to find? Is there more than one rout and if so which is the best one?
How long do you think it would take me to drive up with Mother and May? If the road is not in fit shape for
her to ride all the way where would it be best for her to take the train? How long would it take to drive with a
light load or none and only the driver to carry?
Rumors have come to us that there is a ferry to cross on the rout and that they charge pretty high
price. How is this?
Any information that you can give us between now and next week Monday’s mail will be thankfully
received and perhaps save us some trouble and annoyance.
Remember me kindly to your wife and family,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 412]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 23, 1895
Eld. W.A. Colcord
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: Last night I spent about two hours in consultation with Brethren Corliss and Michaels, discussing
plans of their work, and making arrangements for the Sentinel canvass.
Among other things we carefully examined the Sentinel Prospectus and have proposed some
changes and abbreviations which we think you will approve. Brother Michaels thought that our quotations of
the press notices were too numerous, but we have marked out only two. We thought that the table of
contents of No. 4 could be omitted. And I think that you will concur in this when you consider that we wish to
use this prospectus all through the year, and when you notice that in the circular letter which will accompany
the prospectus we have called attention particularly to some of the articles in the Sentinel which is used as a
sample copy. The last sentences which are of an exhortative or rallying character, we think could be spared
without much loss of strength.
With these suggestions before you, we request that you bring out the prospectus as quickly as
possible. You have good counselors at hand in the persons of Brn. Salisbury, Palmer, and Sr. Ingels, and
whatever you and they agree upon, we shall accept and use freely.
We also gave considerable attention to the revision of the circular letter a copy of which in is revised
form I enclose. I will send a copy to Brn. Palmer and Salisbury also and we request that the utmost expedition
be exercised in issuing both the circular letter and the prospectus and that a quantity be sent to us on
Wednesday Express so that we can use them Thursday.
To make this canvass a success we shall also need some receipt books. Please tell Bro. Salisbury that
it is our wish that an inexpensive receipt book be gotten out which will not cost the Society more than a
penny each which may be furnished to our workers free. Ask him to plan it out with such counsel as he may
receive from Palmer and yourself and send us along some as soon as he can get them ready.
When our agents get to work with the Sentinel they will have many opportunities to sell tracts and I
would suggest that you go forward without delay in the issuing of those tracts which have been approved by
the Book Committee and that you prepare others as quickly as possible. Last night I left with Eld. Corliss the
copy of Where Sunday Laws came from and the Statement and Appeal. Please send me two or three copies
of each.
There are a few points in Where Sunday Laws Came From that are stated rather too bluntly to suit
me, but with slight modification I think we might use that document to advantage. Would it not be well to
ask Salisbury to procure the cuts used in those tracts and after running a portion of Where Sunday Laws
Came From in the Sentinel could we not use the type without running over in making up a tract?
Another thing I have thought much about is the propriety of [page break]
[7 – WCW – 413]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 23, 1895
Eld. W.A. Colcord
Page 2 of 2
issuing a little tractlette entitled Reasons Why I Should Subscribe for the Sentinel, getting at the matter
something in a style similar to your Sixteen Reasons Why I Should Sign a Petition Against Sunday Legislation.
In a few minutes I start with Mother for Canteroun, where there has been a general all-day meeting
appointed. I hope I may get a few notes there for the Echo.
Yours in haste,
(signed) W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 414]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 23, 1895
Mr. E.R. Palmer
No. 16 Best St., North Fitzroy
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brother: On my return from Petersham last night, where I spent the evening in consultation with Brn. Corliss
and Michaels, I found your letter of June 20 which I will answer at once.
I am very sorry that I failed to enclose my rough draft of the circular letter about which I wrote. With
this I will send you a copy of that and also of the revised and abbreviated form which resulted from the study
and criticism given the matter last night; also send copy of the abbreviated prospectus. These are of course,
suggestive only and we now leave the matter with Bro. Colcord to bring out as he thinks best after receiving
such counsel as Bro. Salisbury, yourself, and Sr. Ingels can give him. We would request that it be issued as
quickly as possible and that a large number of copies be sent to us by the Wednesday’s express.
To make this canvass a success in addition to the prospectus and circular we will need inexpensive
receipt books which we can furnish to the workers without charge. Will you kindly call the attention of Bro.
Salisbury to this and ask that these books be printed in such a way that they will cost us about a penny a
piece. We are asking our brethren to engage in this canvass without any commission and therefore must
furnish them all stationary free. This must be borne in mind in bringing out the prospectus. Let everything be
neat, clear, and impressive but simple and economical.
I trust you will prepare a circular letter to the workers containing instructions as to how to conduct
the canvass. We shall likely have many workers who we shall not be able to visit personally and these will
need explicit directions. I will here quote what Bro. Michaels has suggested as introductory. It strikes me as
being rather brief, but I submit it just as received and trust that you will issue that which is required.
(Canvass when leaving Journal): “Good morning, - Would you ask the gentleman of the house to glance over this journal? I will call for
it again in a few days.”
(When calling for paper): “Is Mr. --- in?.... I would like to see him a few moments. (when he comes) A few days ago, I left a
copy of the Southern Sentinel here. Have you had time to look it over? I presume you are in favor of religious
liberty and you will find that the articles contained in the journal are worth more than a shilling a year. We
would like you to give it a trial for a while. Several of your neighbors are going to try it, and we would be
pleased to place your name on our list for a year. You will find it a shilling well spent.” [page break]
[7 – WCW – 415]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 23, 1895
Mr. E.R. Palmer
No. 16 Best St., North Fitzroy
Page 2 of 2
I note with interest what you say about the old accounts, the expense of the Society, and your plans
regarding agents.
I am inclined to agree with you in the matter of encouraging Hill to work out his debt before going to
New Zealand. As regards Craddock and wife, I think we had better encourage them to go to New Zealand, if
they will do so cheerfully.
Hoping to hear from you often, I am,
Yours truly,
(signed) W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 416]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 21, 1895
Miss Anna L. Ingels
Dear Sister: Your letter of June 17 came to hand a day or two ago, and I will endeavor to reply before it gets old.
For a week I have been at work answering American letters from three to nine months old, and it was hard
work. Much like the digging out of old pine stumps that a farmer had ploughed around for twenty years.
Have nearly cleared up the lot. Have only ten pages from Tait and twenty pages from Europe and twenty
from Polynesia, that are more than five or six months old.
Many thanks for the Chapman letter. It was read with interest. With this I am sending you quite a lot
from New Zealand. But little of it may be new to you, but I thought that you would be glad for that.
I think that you have the right ideas about the Sentinel canvas. Your guess as to why we use No. 4 is
correct. Well, if you will stick to the views you now hold, and go forward with confidence, encouraging
others, I am sure that success will follow. Evening after Sabbath I am to have a talk with Bro. Michaels and
hope that he will see his way not only to try the new plan, but to try it with faith.
I am glad to know what you have written to Eld. Cole. I hope he has not left Norfolk, for I do not
think his work is done. I have cautioned him against haste. If I sent a copy of my letter to Bro. Smith, he will
let you read it.
I am glad to hear about your preparation for presentation of the Polynesian Mission Field. Shall be
glad to receive anything you can send me about it. I hope that the books will sell.
I have read the copy of minutes re Echoes to Libraries. I certainly thought that there was more about
it. I am sure that there was a verbal agreement if not an action of the Committee. I think that the Society
should pay to the beginning of 1895, and I am also persuaded that the list should be cut down. The Sentinel
list ought to be increased.
Thank you for telling me about Rose Goodey. Am glad they did not go to Palmerstone North.
I enclose a letter from Fairley Masters which gives you his address and also some information that
you will value. After reading, please hand it to Sr. Burnham that she may make a note for Echo. You are no
doubt aware that his parents are on their way back to Aust. and N.Z. Their doctors advised them not to
remain longer.
I suppose you are in correspondence with Georgie Burriss. Hope you will ask her to write for the
Echo. Sr. B. & Bro. Colcord will give you an idea as to what they most wish in the way of interesting notes.
Please send me copies of your mailing lists for Echo and Sentinel, to all foreign countries. That is, all
countries outside Aust. and N.Z.
Hope you will get time to issue circular letters re the Sanctuary, Atonement, and some others that
are timely.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 417]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 21, 1895
Dr. M.G. Kellogg
Broken Hill, N.S.W.
My Dear Brother: Your very welcome letter of June 13 was received two days ago. It just came in time for me to make
an abstract, which I took the liberty to send with my letters to your brother John and one or two others. We
were all very glad to have such cheering word from you and we pray that you may [be] guided and blessed
continually. I am so glad that you who have had experienced in spiritual things, are now engaged in spiritual
work, rather than mechanical. It seems that the Lord has a work for you to do on the frontiers of civilization.
Well, in Australia there is lots of this frontier work to be done, and I hope you may have strength and courage
for its prosecution.
Bro. Caldwell has sent the things that you wanted, I believe and he has written to you about them.
With this I send to you a letter received by Mother from Sr. Matthews. She is a good-hearted woman
and I would like to see her well advised. I have written to her briefly suggesting that she correspond with you
and Dr. J.H.K. getting all the information that she can, and to learn if she will be admitted to the school. If it is
really best for her to undertake the course, it seems that we ought not to let the expense of transportation
stand in the way.
I also send you copies of a few of my recent letters from which you will extract a little news and
some clues to my plans. There is so little time to write today, that this letter must be short.
Mother has been suffering with the influenza and now is a little better. Tomorrow she will venture
out to speak, I think. Next Sunday we are to have an all-day meeting at Canterbury to which the brethren of
surrounding churches will be invited.
Next week, Mother, May, the children, and I expect to go up to Avondale to stay for two or four
weeks. Bro. Lacey has rented a house that is now vacant, and we shall camp in it. Bro. Caldwell will drive up
with two horses and the platform spring wagon so we can get around and see the surrounding country.
For a week I have been closely confined to my writing, but now I must give attention to school
business for a time.
The opposition which was raging so fiercely while we were in Tasmania is now subsiding. Our brn.
are sorely perplexed to know where to begin. As soon as we begin aggressive work and it begins to tell, I
suppose that “The King of the Amorites” and the confederacy of the four nations will be attacking us again.
Tomorrow it is expected that the work of organizing the Ashfield church will be completed and
officers chosen.
Bro. Michaels is having good success in teaching our brethren how to work with the Echo. He is also
quite good in leading the meetings, Sabbaths, and week nights. And now I must close.
Yours truly,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 418]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 21, 1895
Brn. Daniells and Smith: There are some enclosures that I have for each of you and as there is not time to write either one a
letter, I will send them along with this short apology so you will have them early next week.
Last night I was at Ashfield where there were about twenty that signed the Church Covenant and at
dozen that applied for membership by letter. Some were absent from sickness and some who expect to join
soon will wait till they can sign the Covenant without any reservations. Tomorrow it is expected that officers
will be chosen and ordained. The decisions about meetinghouse lot will come on next week. This week,
Corliss has been sick, and last Sabbath and today, McCullough was sick. He is feeling better. He seems
pleased with the thought of resuming work in Victoria.
We have read Eld. Daniells short letters with much interest, and hope his visit to Rockhampton will
be much blessed.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 419]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 21, 1895
To the Editors and Publishers of the Sentinel and the Echo
On the fifteenth inst. I received from Melbourne a letter from Melbourne, a letter from Eld. Colcord
accompanied by copy for a prospectus for the Southern Sentinel. This I have examined as carefully as my
limited time would permit, and will say that I am very much pleased with it. I have also had a conversation
with Eld. Corliss about it and find that he is also pleased with it. There are only one or two points about which
we need to comment.
First. The press comments are quite numerous and may take up too much room unless very neatly
arranged by the printer.
Second. We somewhat question the propriety of promising two series of illustrated articles in view
of the fact that the committee of management have done so little as yet toward the providing of cuts. No
doubt they have been waiting for the editors and as matters now stand I think we must ask Brn. Salisbury and
Colcord to plan together and work together in securing of suitable cuts and meantime, I would modify our
promise in the prospectus so that it may be fulfilled by the insertion of one good cut in each paper.
We advise you to go forward with the publication of this prospectus.
The circular letter which should accompany the Sentinels which are loaned for examination is worthy
of much consideration. If this letter is free and easy, and touches upon those points most likely to arouse an
interest to examine the paper, it will greatly facilitate the work of the canvasser. Please give Bro. Palmer all
the help you can on this. I think it will be better to let this circular letter make particular reference to the
number with which it is sent out and this will of course demand another letter when a new number of the
paper is used.
With reference to the Bible Echo; I will say that I think it would be well to issue a prospectus for it as
soon as convenient. If it was a four page folder that would slip inside an envelope, I think, it might be used
quite freely by some.
I have carefully read Salisbury’s letter in behalf of the Pub. Com. to the G.C.A. I think it is a very good
presentation of the subject, and shall watch with much interest for their answer.
Tuesday evening Bro. Michaels called for a few minutes. He told me that he had begun to canvass for
advertisements but that he found the prices so high that he had but little hope of success. He desired me to
make an immediate decision as to what should be done. In his estimation quite a heavy reduction would be
necessary. But I told him that this was a matter I had no experience in, and very little knowledge of, and that
I declined to take any responsibility in the matter. Evening after the Sabbath I am to have a consultation with
him and Eld. Corliss and if anything of interest transpires, I will communicate with you.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 420]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 21, 1895
Eld. W.A. Colcord
North Fitzroy, Vic.
My Dear Brother: Last Monday, I examined the copy you have prepared for a prospectus to the Sentinel, and read you
short letter of June 14 which accompanied it. Today I send you copy of my omnibus letter expressing my
approval and pointing out one or two features which have been criticized. And now I desire to say a few
words about Bro. Michaels letter to you of June 16.
I was present during a portion of the conversation between Brn. Daniells and Michaels referred to in
this letter, and I tried to impress upon the mind of Brother Michaels and others that it was almost impossible
for editors to anticipate the wants and wishes of customers and agents, and that they must not expect you to
remember month after month, the drift of their request and criticisms, except me they wrote you frequently
a review of their experience, calling attention to that which pleased them as well as to that which they
thought possible of improvement.
We know that you are more anxious than any other to fill the paper with that which will do the
people good, and I hope that you will receive these suggestions and criticisms made by Bro. Michaels as
prompted by the same desire and that you will encourage him to write you often and freely regarding his
experiences and what he thinks would help the paper to sell.
In a short letter to me, Bro. Michaels expresses his regret that the Sentinel is not to be issued
monthly. He also expresses the opinion that the historical articles which I have plead for will not help the
paper much. He says, “What I believe is wanted is to fill the paper with the live topics of the day, just as the
American Sentinel is doing then you can expect to see the circulation go up.”
I see that Eld. Corliss feels that he is being asked to make bricks without straw. It is quite plain that
he cannot write articles to be illustrated with much freedom while left in ignorance as to what pictures are at
command. I will suggest that you unite with Salisbury in giving this matter early attention.
Yesterday we got off a large American mail. About the middle of next week I expect to go up to
Cooranbong with Mother, May, and the children to remain two or three weeks. If the weather is reasonably
good Bro. Caldwell will drive up with the team and we shall expect to knock about some, and see the
surroundings.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 421]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 21, 1895
Eld. L.J Rousseau
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
Dear Brother: This morning we have received word from Abbott and Allen that our case is set for trial next Tuesday
June 25 and they notify us to be prepared with all witnesses. I shall send Reekie a copy of this and ask him to
be in readiness to come if sent for later on.
We shall depend upon you to arrange with Lawrence and Onell to be on hand with all their evidence
well prepared, and ready for prompt testimony and I think that you better come also, bringing the minute
book of the Union Conference and if for any reason you find it impossible to come, be sure to send the
minute books by the hand of Bro. Lawrence. I think however that the influence will be much better for you to
be present.
I think we shall plan to have Bro. Caldwell start for Cooranbong with the team on Monday or
Tuesday, so that we can get around freely when we come up. We will probably come up Wednesday or
Thursday, when you return.
Please have the cook-stove put in place, and ascertain if pipe or elbows are needed. Please bring or
send accurate measurements so that we can take back with us exactly what is wanted.
We are as well as usual and got off a big mail yesterday.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 422]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 25, 1895
Elder and Mrs. G.B. Tripp
Zambesia, So. Africa
My Dear Friends: It is with much pleasure that I take this opportunity to express to you my sincere and hearty
congratulations on your marriage and also to tell you of my especial interest in the work to which you have
been called.
When I first heard, through my daughter Ella, that Sister Mortensen was probably married to Bro.
G.B. Tripp, and that soon both would be on their way to Africa, I said that is splendid. I was heartily glad for
both you and my prayers and best wishes shall follow you wherever duty may call you to go.
I have always had a deep interest for the work in Africa, and particularly in the plans and movements
for Industrial Missions. When I saw the delays and confusion which that work seemed to be subject to, I was
sad, for it is a great work and ought not to suffer unnecessary delays. And when we heard that Bro. Tripp was
chosen to superintend that mission, we were glad and doubly glad when we knew that he was to have by his
side such an earnest, economical, and practical a helpmeet as Mary Mortensen Tripp.
I shall take the liberty to write to you occasionally and we shall be made very happy by you, if you
find time to write to us and tell all that is in your hearts about the work you have in hand.
And now I will tell you something about our plans and prospects. When we came home from
Tasmania via Melbourne, we met our girls May 30. Both were rather thin from the voyage for the food on the
ship did not agree with them very well. But they are both filling up nicely now. They gave me and their new
mother a very hearty welcome and have shown more good sense and kindness of heart and affection that I
had dared to expect. They have formed a warm love for their new mama and seem most happy when with
her.
Before meeting them, I made many plans regarding the setting up of a little home and their
occupation so as to fasten their interests and affections with us, but the wisdom and tact shown by their new
mama and their hearty loyalty to her, and their willing acquiescence in our plans and government have led
me to abandon special plans and we are now living with Mother.
For the future, we plan as follows: - Mother will buy a small tract of land near our school and build a cottage
large enough for her and our family. Then she will rent it to me, and she will board with us. This may save her
the trouble of running a big family. We shall find in the school persons who will do much of her outside work
and her regular workers will be encouraged to board in some good family near. We shall build a four-roomed
cottage to use as offices and thus separate the workers from their work part of the 24 hours.
With much love, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
P.S. My wife sends greeting and best wishes.
[7 – WCW – 423]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 25, 1895
Eld. A.T. Robinson
Claremont, Cape Colony, S.A.
Dear Brother: With this I send you several enclosures which you may be interested to read. Most of them are
intended for Eld. Haskell and yourself and I send all to you not knowing where Eld. Haskell will be.
There are many things I would like to write to you but must put it off another month. Yesterday I was
in council with Brn. Corliss, McCullough, Hare, Collins, Pallant, Semmons, and Belden, about the work in
Sydney and its suburbs. We expect to find a hall and begin meetings near the center of the city and we feel
that the work in the suburbs must be kept going at the same time.
This morning the San Francisco mail came, and I learn that it was the expectation of Prof. Prescott to
sail from S.F. June 15. Spend 13 days with Eld. gates and then come on to Auckland and Sydney. He expects
to remain with us till the first of Nov., at which time he intends to sail direct for Cape Town. If we should hear
that your meetings were postponed a month, we could use the time of Eld. Prescott to excellent advantage
but if we get no such work, we shall hurry him over as much ground as we can, and send him on with our
best wishes.
I am waiting with much interest to hear what you think of the Sentinel and to know when we may
expect something for its columns re the conflict between liberty and oppression in So. Africa. We cherish the
hope that this journal may be made acceptable to the people of So. Africa and So. America. What think you?
By this time next month, we hope to have some definite plans about the commencement of our
school buildings. Our Industrial Department is getting along nicely with its work and study.
I would be glad to know what you think of the advisability of issuing a circular letter once a quarter
to the officers of our churches. Perhaps I sent you a copy of “The Church Visitor”. If you will unite with us,
and send some contributions we will try to go on with it and will gladly send you copies of all the general
parts and you can add to this the quarterly statistical and financial reports of your Conf. What say you to this?
And now I must close this hastily written letter and go to Sydney to see our solicitor on some legal
business.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 424]
“The Sentinel is a publication worthy of the attention of the better class of readers.” Mount Baker
(S.A.) Courier.
“The most fearless of any journal published in the colonies. The reading matter is intensely
interesting.” Gouldburn Valley (Vic) Yeoman.
“If anything, it improves with age. Fearlessly it points to what it considers truth and freedom.”
Cobden (Vic) Australian.
“The Sentinel affords many evidences of its honest intent to oppose any intolerance.” Freeman’s
Journal (Roman Catholic, Sydney.)
“With much that the paper advocates, we are in sympathy.” Church News. (Church of England,
Hobart.)
“The articles are well written and the arguments given in such an interesting manner as to become
enjoyable reading.” Daylesford (Vic) Herald.
“We have no hesitation in prediction that it will force its way among the reading public of all the
colonies.” Cocktown (Queensland) Independent.
“It is broader and more tolerant in the expression of its opinions than most of the so called religious
papers.” Tuapeka (N.Z.) Times.
“For style and vigorous writing it is not to be beaten by any other journal of its class. It is, so far as we
know, the only paper published south of the line with the object of educating the people up to the fact that it
is desirable to keep the church and state forever separate.” Bay of Plenty (N.Z.) Times.
------o-----GENERAL SCOPE. The general scope of the journal can be seen from the following table of contents
of the issue of March 1895.
The Next Volume will contain the following departments:
General Articles.
Review of the Colonies.
Religion in the State Schools.
Passing Events.
Editorial Notes.
Special Features. Besides other valuable matter in the general department, a Series of Illustrated
Articles will appear in this volume on the Battle for Liberty of Conscience, as revealed in Biblical and secular
history.
Existing Religious Laws, Prosecutions Under Such Laws, Proposed Religious Measures, or Dangerous
Movements in this Direction, will be noticed under heading of Review of the Colonies.
The agitation over the question of Religion in the State Schools will receive special attention in the
department set apart for that purpose.
This valuable journal furnished post free for only 1/- a year. Order of the agent or the publishers, 14
best St., North Fitzroy, Vic.
[7 – WCW – 425]
Dear Sir or Madam: In leaving with you a copy of the Sentinel and Herald of Liberty, we take pleasure in calling your
attention to the fact that there is at the present time a general agitation concerning the subjects treated in
this journal.
We invite your particular attention to the articles entitled Religious Liberty on page 116 and the
quotations from eminent authorities with reference to Church and State, page 116.
In the department headed Religion in the State Schools, you will find the position stated briefly but
clearly. On page 121 you will find some startling statements regarding the distribution of public money
among various denominations.
The article “Danger Signals” commencing on page 97 contains much valuable information regarding
the history and the influence of government interference in religious matters.
Please give the whole journal a careful examination.
It is the purpose of the publishers to make every number of this journal wide-awake and readable.
The Sentinel is issued quarterly and will be sent post free to your address for 1/- per year. Our agent
will call in a few days and will be pleased to receive your subscription or furnish any required information
regarding the journal.
Respectfully yours,
The Publishers
C.
[7 – WCW – 426]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 27, 1895
Eld. W.W. Prescott and the Executive Committee of the New Zealand Conference
Page 1 of 3
Dear Brethren: two days ago I received a letter from Elder Prescott, written May 20 in which he expresses the
opinion that he and his party will “sail from San Francisco June 15, stops 13 days with Eld. Gates in Honolulu
and then take the regular boat which leaves S.F. June 27 for Australia.” This str. is due to reach Auckland July
18 and Sydney 23.
He expects to leave Australia early in November that he may reach So. Africa in time to attend their
first camp-meeting which they plan to hold in December.
In planning with Eld. Olsen it has seemed to them best to propose that the party come straight on to
Sydney and attend the Australian meetings and then visit New Zealand later.
In my letter to Eld. Prescott of June 9, I made the following propositions based on the suppositions
that he would arrive in Auckland 15. “Aug. 16 inspect Auckland and surroundings. Aug. 17 & 18, hold a
general meeting for all our people in the Auckland District. Aug. 21 sail for Napier. Aug. 24-26, have general
meeting in Napier for the Hawke’s Bay District; then proceed to Wellington by rail Aug. 27. Sail from
Wellington for Sydney Aug. 30, expecting to arrive Sept. 4. Sail from Wellington for Sydney Aug. 30 expecting
to arrive Sept. 4. Spend three weeks in N.S.W. One week in Adelaide and then three weeks at the Melbourne
camp-meeting. The So. African steamers sail near the close of each month from here and from Melbourne
the first week in the following month. If the first of Dec. would do you could attend the Hobart c-m.”
If I sent a copy of this to Eld. Gates or if the letter addressed to Oakland was sent back to him, he will
be familiar with our plans before the landing of the str. at Auckland.
If Prof. Prescott could remain in Australasia long enough to attend the N.Z. c-m, I should approve of
the proposal for him to come here first and then go back to N.Z. But as that will be impossible, it seems to me
to be a much better plan for him to visit the principal churches before coming to Australia.
I will now propose the following program: The Monowai is due July 18, which is Thursday. let Friday
be spent viewing the surrounding country and places of interest. July 20-22 devote to a General Convention
of all our people in the Auckland Province. The 23rd sail for Gisborne and Napier. Appoint for our Gisborne
folks to assemble in the meetinghouse when the str. comes and have a short meeting 24th. Arrive in Napier
morning of 25th. On 26th drive out to Hastings and visit Toamoana and other Maori villages.
Aug. 27-29 hold general meeting in Napier for all our people in the Hawke’s Bay Province. 30, visit.
July 31, have meeting in Ormandville, Aug. 1 hold meeting in Palmerstone North, Aug. 2-4 hold general
meeting in Wellington Aug. 5-7 council with N.Z. Conf. com. Sail for Sydney Aug. 8 or 9, arriving about the
14th. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 427]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 27, 1895
Page 2 of 3
After landing in Sydney, Prof. Prescott will no doubt wish to proceed at once to Avondale, where he
will have opportunity to see the working of our Industrial Department one week before the first term is to
close. This we greatly desire.
From Morrisett, he could proceed by rail to Toowoomba if he desires to visit Queensland. One week
would be required to make visit to Toowoomba and Brisbane; two weeks if the trip was extended to
Townsville. Supposing that he visited Toowoomba and Brisbane only, he could get back to Morrisett about
August 29. Then for two weeks he could spend midweek in meetings with the churches in Sydney.
September 13-16 could be spent with the churches in Melbourne Sept. 20-25 with the church at
Adelaide, So. Australia, Sept. 27-29 at Ballarat, Victoria, and three weeks of October in camp-meeting in
Melb. From that time on his movements must be somewhat affected by the time of the So. African c0m and
the sailing of the Aberdeen White Stars Strs.
If there is any way that we can arrange for Prof. Prescott to attend the Tasmanian c-m we shall do so.
It might be possible to begin that meeting the last of Oct. if the str. does not sail till the 7th to the 10th of Nov.
This would enable him to attend the larger part of the meeting. This must about general program.
The New Zealand Meetings. – Much attention should be given by the New Zealand Conference
Committee to the perfection of all and every plan connected with the holding of the various meetings during
Prof. Prescott’s short visit and the securing of a general attendance at these meetings of our people living in
the districts for which they are held. It would be of great value to the meeting if Prof. Prescott could attend
the N.Z. camp-meeting but I do not see any way for that to be arranged. By spending three weeks as
proposed above, he will see much more than half of the conference.
If the program proposed above is approved by the N.Z. Conf. Com. they should lose no time in
advertising the meetings arranging for the entertainment of those coming in from the country and
impressing upon the scattered ones, the value and importance of such meetings.
Probably the chief objection to this plan from the N.Z. Com. will be that the time is so short. True,
but Prof. Prescott will not be willing to miss seeing our industrial class before it is scattered. Prof. Prescott
may object to the plan because of a desire to land his party as soon as possible in Sydney and thus enable
them to have their good accommodations on the Monowai undisturbed to the end of the long voyage. This is
an important consideration. He may also object to the additional expense of taking the party around by
Wellington and of submitting them all to three weeks of change, and turmoil that they had not counted on. I
will propose several plans to avoid this, for consideration. In non are adopted, they may suggest something
better.
1. Let a portion of the party come straight on to Sydney where they will be met and welcomed by us,
and made comfortable at Mother’s good home. They will no doubt have become so well acquainted with the
ship and its stewards, that they will not fear to do this. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 428]
Granville, N.S.W.
June 27, 1895
Page 3 of 3
2. Let a portion of the party remain in Auckland and when the Wellington meeting is over, Prof.
Prescott could go up the west coast to Onehunga and proceed with them to Sydney.
3. Let all proceed together as far as Napier and then a portion of the party might continue on the str.
to Wellington.
Let the N.Z. Conf. Com. think of these plans and let Brn. Steed and Hare secure all the information
that may be wanted so as to lay it quickly before Prof. Prescott as soon as the str. comes to dock in Auckland.
Please prepare a written statement that you can place in his hands with information including the following
points. 1. The extra cost on three and a half tickets of exchanging tickets so as to sail via East Coast to
Wellington and from there to Sydney. 2. The names of strs. and dates of sailings that would be used in
following the above program. 3. What has been done to secure an attendance at the meetings. 4. What your
facilities are for entertaining a part or all of the party if they should choose to stop off in New Zealand.
It is my opinion that it would be most pleasant for Mrs. Prescott and the baby, also for Miss Grace
Prescott and the baby, also for Miss Grace Prescott and the daughter of Eld. Hickox if they should come right
on to Sydney on the Monowai.
I have not the heart to ask Prof. Prescott to endure ten days of extra and unnecessary sailing by
coming here first, his visit to N.Z. would amount to little or nothing.
Preparation. – I realize that when you receive this letter, your time to prepare for these meetings will
be very brief. Therefore I shall send one copy to Eld. Wilson via Wellington. One to Eld. Steed and Fulton at
Auckland, and one to Bro. Crothers via Wellington. Thus in your correspondence one with another, you can
count on this.
My experience and acquaintance with the N.Z. Conf. have deeply impressed me with the importance
of building up and maintaining a system of provincial general meetings. If there could be about three each
year in each of the principle centers it would build up the conference. This visit of Prof. Prescott gives you a
grand opportunity to advance this line of work. It may be that you will see you way clear to make the
meetings longer than I have proposed. Why not? In most cases a large part of the congregation would attend
through Monday and Tuesday at each principle place.
Before the arrival of Prof. Prescott, the committee ought to look up all the matters pertaining to the
coming camp-meeting as regards place, expense of transportation, expense of freight, expense of living, etc.
etc. and thus be able to lay before him your views and get his mind without loss of time. And so, with all
other matters, look up all the facts. Get them down on paper in a concise form, so you can place them in his
hand at the beginning of your council and thus save wasting your precious time and his.
Take pains not to weary him with details given verbally but have the figures and facts noted down
and then present your various questions regarding policy and plans, clearly and rapidly so he can have time
to think before answering.
Praying that you may have much blessing during the proposed meetings, I am,
Yours in the work,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 429]
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 2nd, 1895
Capt. H. Muckersey
No. 7 Stewart St., Upper Hawthorne
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: Before leaving Melbourne, I had hoped to find time to visit you again, but had so many matters
requiring immediate attention crowded in upon me, and I not only failed in this, but I also was unable to
write you regarding your communication to the Board of Directors of the Echo Pub. Co. which was read at the
last meeting I attended.
After your letter was read regarding the money which you had loaned to the Echo Co., a careful and
searching inquiry was made by myself and other members of the board. Through these inquiries it was
ascertained:
First, that while our brethren were closing up the half-yearly balance sheets, several questions had
arisen between Salisbury and Faulkhead regarding the indebtedness of the co. to the General Conference,
the stock owned by the General Conf. and the manner in which that stock had been taken. As the result of
these inquiries both Salisbury Faulkhead came to entertain the thought that the General Conf. had intended
to contribute £1000 which had never been offered to the co. of Eld. Tenney.
Second, in order to set before the other members of the board, their views and expectations
regarding this search was made among their old letters a number of which were copied that referred to these
matters so that they might a read before the board.
Third, we found that the selection of matter to be copied was done hastily and that the inaccurate
and unfortunate reference to your loan was included without the knowledge of Faulkhead and without
intention on the part of Salisbury. I think that all members of the board who were present were fully satisfied
that it was not the intention of anyone to call the attention of the board to your loan or to any of the
circumstances or conditions pertaining thereto.
Fourth, we found that as far as the board had any knowledge or thoughts regarding your loan that
their views were in harmony with the facts set forth in your letter. The reading of the letter did not work any
change in their views, nor did it make any lasting impression upon their minds.
Fifth, we found that all members of the board were very sorry that the unfortunate passage had
been read but still more sorry that you should mistrust that anyone had brought it forward for a purpose. We
all regretted your absence from our meetings and missed you much in our councils, feeling that our work was
weakened by your absence.
Sixth, we all regretted your proposition to withdraw from the board and hope that you will change
your plans regarding this action.
In your letter regarding the financial proposition of the co. and its standing before the world, you
propose to ignore its relation to the G.C.A.; this we cannot well do. Because first, the G.C.A. holds two-thirds
[page break]
[7 – WCW – 430]
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 2nd, 1895
Capt. H. Muckersey
No. 7 Stewart St., Upper Hawthorne
Page 2 of 2
of its stock; second, because the G.C.A. is its largest creditor; third, because the G.C.A. has a deeper interest
in the welfare of the company than is represented by its stock or by its credit. Therefore to disregard or
ignore its relation to the G.C.A. would be to not place a proper estimate upon its greatest source of strength
and safety.
While I have regarded with admiration the magnanimous part acted by yourself and Bro. William Bell
in relinquishing your mortgages, I have always thought it would be proper to again place them in your hands,
whenever it would be more satisfactory to you for the company to do so.
I can hardly expect you to excuse me for my long delay in writing to you about this matter; but I will
ask you to believe me when I say that the only reason for delay has been the pressure of other work which
has prevented me from fixing my mind upon this matter.
Yours in Hope,
W.C. White
Capt. H. Muckersey
Upper Hawthorne
Dear Brother: Fully two weeks ago I received your letter of June 10th and promised myself that I would answer it as
soon as I could consult my brethren regarding the inquiries made therein.
A few days ago I had a talk with them about it and while we did not arrive at any decision respecting
Hawthorne or Ashfield; yet then I conclude from the decisions made regarding Epsom, and by the opinion
expressed by various members of the Union Conf. Com. that they would be willing to appropriate from funds
in their control, a sum equal to one quarter your expenditures if the church should be built and dedicated to
the usual methods; or one-third of the total investment, provided that with this assistance the church would
be able to complete the meetinghouse and dedicate it free of debt. This, upon the supposition that the
church would be erected soon.
[7 – WCW – 431]
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 2, 1895
Capt. H. Muckersey
Upper Hawthorne
My Dear Brother: You may be interested to know that Bro. D. Lacey has rented a six room cottage about one quarter of
a mile from the Post Office here, on the road running west from the main road just beyond the convent. He is
expected here next week with part of the family, and the remainder of the family will come a month later.”
Knowing that the house was under his control and that he would not occupy it until next week;
Mother, May, the children, and I came up by train last Monday while Bro. Caldwell drove overland, starting
the middle of last week and arriving here Friday. We brought some things and have borrowed some from the
school and are now camping in Bro. Lacey’s house. Mother is driving about and getting rested while I am
working with Rousseau. Mr. Nott is completing the work of dividing the land.
Tomorrow I hope that we may be able to close up our work correcting the valuations. The areas have
been figured out, and in a few days we shall be able to submit you a corrected list of prices and other
information regarding our progress and plans.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 432]
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 2nd, 1895
Eld. J.O. Corliss
Tynwald, Temple St., South Annandale
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: We had a lively time getting off Monday morning, but with the assistance of Byron Belden and the
cool generalship of Sr. Campbell, we reached the train in time. At Strathfield we were put into a first class
compartment, because the second class carriages were all full. We had a pleasant journey up and were met
at the train by Bro. Caldwell. It is quite a pleasure to ride in our four wheeled vehicle instead of the two
wheeled cart which as carried us heretofore. We are very comfortably situated in Bro. Lacey’s house and will
no doubt remain here until he comes, the middle or first of next week. Then we shall return to Granville. We
might remain her while he was settling if it was not that the house requires to be fumigated for the
extermination of cockroaches, spiders, etc. While this is going on it cannot be occupied.
Mother is resting quite rapidly, I think. Rousseau and myself are getting along well in the work of
subdivision, valuation, etc.
Today I had quite a long talk with Charley Paap. He desires to obtain an education and training that
he may become a minister and a successful worker in the cause of the Master. He has felt much
disappointment because his regular schoolwork has been interrupted and has talked of going to Healdsburg
to complete his course, but we have advised and urged that he remain in this country, feeling confident that
if he remains in this school his presence will aid in securing the attendance of his sisters, whom we believe
would be greatly benefitted by attending the school.
I have presented to Charley the fact that every young man who would be a minister must have such
a schooling and education as will be received in our schools and also an experience which can only be
obtained by actual work for the people. I have expressed the opinion that it was well to have some of this
practical work before completing the education and have suggested two ways in which he could acquire the
necessary experience. First, by entering the canvassing field which he seems unwilling to do. Second, by
connecting himself with such a work as you are entering upon in Sydney throwing his whole heart and soul
and strength and mind into the work as an assistant and learner.
This morning he expressed his willingness to enter the work under your direction and tuition,
undertaking to work three months for his board and lodging. I have told him something about the work and
think that he understands that it is solid, earnest work and not a soft map. Now I will request that you with
Elders McCullough and Hare give the matter immediate consideration and I hope that your conclusions will
be favorable.
It has seemed to me that it would be better to take such a young man and work him in with Byron in
the work which you will have for him to do, and thus give Collins, Pallant and Semmons and opportunity
[page break]
[7 – WCW – 433]
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 2nd, 1895
Eld. J.O. Corliss
Tynwald, Temple St., South Annandale
Page 2 of 2
to assist in binding off the work which they have begun than to call them away too suddenly from their work
which they have begun than to call them away too suddenly from their work, and thus discourage both them
and the people that they have been working for. I will use my influence and my vote to have the Conference
Committee authorize Charley’s employment and if that fails I will be one of two or three to contribute the
sum necessary to pay his board.
Hoping that you will give this your immediate consideration and that you will express your mind
freely to me, I remain,
Your Brother,
W.C. White
P.S. - - Before we left Granville, Sr. Campbell was instructed to send you a check for £18. You may
send the receipt to Faulkhead as tithe received from Mother, which would have been paid to the Parramatta
church had not the circumstances of your work demanded its transmission to you without delay. I have no
doubt that Mother will furnish the £5 spoken of at camp-meeting time to assist in the printing of the
sermons. We will look after when we see your first sermon issued.
Please tell me about your Monday and also your Tuesday councils.
In haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 434]
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 2nd, 1895
Eld. S. McCullough
75 Park Ave. Ashfield
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: With this I send you copy of a letter just written Eld. Corliss, so I’ll not repeat. I am sorry to be absent
at the time of the arrival of Bro. and Sr. Masters from India and the Sisters Malcolm, I meant to have talked
with you, Bro. Corliss, and Hare about their entertainment, but there was very little opportunity and it
slipped my mind. I hope that you will present the matter before the brethren and do what you can for the
comfort of Bro. and Sr. Masters and also for the temporary shelter of the Malcolm’s. No doubt you can assist
them such by a little counsel as to where to settle. You have all been looking for houses and know something
about what there is and at what rates. I think it would be well if the Sister’s Malcolm could settle in some
locality where they could attend the class conducted by Eld. Corliss and connect with the other workers
visiting. I hope we shall see our way clear to employ Julia in visiting and giving Bible Readings in connection
with the Sydney effort.
As regards the final location of Bro. and Sr. Masters, I cannot say much without knowing their plans;
but I think it would be well for Eld. Corliss to lay before them our plans and desires regarding the work in
Christchurch and it may be that they will think best to settle there. Counsel together with Brn. Corliss and
Hare and give them such advice as suggests itself to you minds in united council. While we are drawing so
many students from New Zealand’s canvassing work, let us use every reasonable effort to send people to that
field who may be a help to the work there.
Yours in much haste,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 435]
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 2nd, 1895
Eld. S. McCullough
75 Park Ave. Ashfield
Page 2 of 2
P.S.
I regret that my last interview was so brief. I fear that I gave you a very imperfect idea of my
thoughts and desires regarding your work. I know that you work and your position is a perplexing one and
while I have been free to say to you many things with a desire to help you, I have feared that sometimes, for
lack of a perfect understanding of my thoughts and motives, some things intended to help might have been a
discouragement to you. Please do not permit this to be.
I pray for you often and think of your work, for I am sure that you are in a position where either your
own feelings or the best interests of the work must often suffer. And I judge that there will be no hesitation
on your part in deciding which it shall be, if you see and understand that this is the case. Special
circumstances demand special sacrifices on our part of our strength, our monies, and of our feelings as well
as of our rights.
You may say, “Can a man consistently give up his rights? The ____ to please others, or for the
advancement of the work? Christ, our pattern did this very thing in the case where he paid the temple tax. He
plainly showed Peter that there was no reason why he should pay it and then, to avoid giving offense, he
wrought a miracle that Peter might have wherewith to pay for himself and Jesus.
Christ will work miracles in our hearts and in our feelings, that we may be able to pay tribute where
we can see no legal or consistent reason for doing so, but where doing so will avoid giving offense, and will
tend to strengthen the work.
Wishing that the richest blessings of God may rest upon you and upon your work, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 436]
Prospectus
The Southern Sentinel and Herald of Liberty.
-----------------------A Journal published in the interests of the Rights and Liberties of the people.
The Only Journal of the Kind in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Southern Sentinel is especially devoted to the subject of Religious Liberty. Under the name of
“Australian Sentinel and Herald of Religious Liberty”, it has met with general favor and almost universal
approval.
----------o---------OBJECT. The object of the journal is to stand in defense of liberty of conscience for all people; to
compose all attempts to unite Church and State, or to encroach upon the rights of the people by any
compulsory religious measures whatever; to show by reference to the past, the evils resulting from Religious
Legislation; and by a careful survey of the field, to keep the public informed of the true status of matters
along these lines.
---------What the Press Says of It.
---------------------“It cannot fail to interest the reader.” Marlborough (Vic.) Advertiser.
“It’s notes are crisp and pungent.” Victorian Independent. (Congregational)
“A remarkably well gotten up magazine.” Herborough (N.Z.) Express.
“A publication whose sentiments we highly esteem and approve.” Yarrawonga (Vic.) Chronicle.
“Like all good sentinels, it is wide awake.” Cobden (Vic.) Times.
“It is broader in its views than most religious papers” Mount Ida (N.Z.) Chronicle.
[7 – WCW – 437]
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Avondale, Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 7, 1895
Mrs. N.H. Druillard
Claremont College, Claremont, Cape Town, So. Africa
My Dear Sister: I believe it is a long time since I wrote to you, and yet, there has not sailed direct to Cape Town but I
have thought of writing and planned to do so, but time did not permit.
A few days ago, I was looking through my desk, and found a piece of paper that reminded me of a
conversation that I had with Bro. Harmon Lindsay just before he left Melbourne for Hobart and America, in
which he advised me to write to you, telling you of the gift which he and Sister Lindsay made to our school, of
one thousand pounds and asking you to withhold that amount from that which was placed in the bank to
interest.
I do not remember whether I wrote you at the time or not but as I have heard nothing from you or
from Bro. Lindsay about this matter since he left Australia and from the way I found the old memoranda, it
seems that the matter must have slipped my mind.
I do not remember whether I wrote to you at the time or not, but as I have heard nothing from you
or from Bro. Lindsay about this matter since he left Australia, and from the way I found the old memoranda,
it seems that the matter must have slipped my mind.
It was never clear to my mind whether this money was to come to us from Battle Creek or direct
from Cape Town. A few weeks after Bro. and Sr. Lindsay left us I wrote him a letter to Auckland asking him to
place the money in our hands as soon as convenient, but someway this letter was never delivered and a few
days ago, it came back to me.
This is how the matter now stands with us: - 1. the Mission Board has approved of our proposition to
use this generous gift, for the payment of our fifteen hundred acres of land upon which the school will be
located and they have promised to assist us in the erection of buildings to an amount equal to that which we
will raise up to two thousand pounds. 2. We have used in our payment for this land, moneys borrowed from
the building fund and from the meeting house fund to the amount of one thousand pounds. 3. We have now
reached a point when we must go forward with the erection of meeting houses, not only in North Fitzroy and
Hawthorne Victoria, but also in Ashfield, N.S.W. and we need all that has been consecrated to this work to
carry to completion the houses that must be erected during the next six or nine months.
I shall send a copy of this letter to Bro. Lindsay with one which I shall write him tonight. I will send
this to you by a direct steamer with the request that whatever instruction he gives you that will facilitate the
early transmission of this money to our treasurer, the Echo Pub. Co. may be executed quickly.
I am sorry that I have not time to write you a newsy letter tonight. I have not been writing much
lately, but I will try to find copy of something that will give you an idea as to where we are and what we are
doing.
Yours with much love and in great haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 439]
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 5th, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 1 of 8
My Dear Brother: Your very welcome letter of May 23 was received and read by us June 25th. We were very glad to
hear from you and to receive so full and painstaking answers to each one of the many questions that we had
submitted to you for consideration. I have often felt sorry for taking up so much of your time and have also
been surprised that with all of your many lines of correspondence and business, you are able to give so much
attention to our letters.
We are now in Cooranbong, occupying for a week or two a house which Bro. Lacey has rented for a
year. It is a well built, six room cottage, nicely located about ten minutes’ walk from the Post Office and
about twenty minutes’ walk from the school grounds, “Avondale”. The house would be quite comfortable
were it not that the builders neglected to make any provision for fires except in the kitchen.
I find that quite a number of houses in this part of the country are built in this way, which seems
strange considering that wood is so plentiful and the evenings and mornings during three months of the year
are so chilly.
For some weeks Mother has been working unusually hard, and an attack of La Grippe, which has
especially attacked her in the forehead and caused her much suffering. It seems impossible for her to rest as
other people do, and we could think of no other way to stop her constant writing than to come up here,
where she spends much time driving about on various errands and is resting quite rapidly. May and the
children came up with us on the cars, and Bro. Caldwell drove up with the team, and so we can move about
freely without depending upon others.
We find that the work on the school ground is going forward well. There are about twenty-two
young men at work under the foremanship of Brn. Metcalf Hare and L.N. Lawrence. Bro. Hare has the older
boys and takes the more difficult parts of the work. Bro. Lawrence gets along best with the younger boys.
During the last two weeks both companies have been engaged in ditching the large marsh. It has been an
unusually dry season, and we have let other work wait, hoping to get the ditching completed before the
heavy rains set in. Eld. Rousseau reports that the boys are doing good work in their studies; and as far as I
have had opportunity to converse with them I find that they are contented and satisfied with what is being
done for them.
We are now very busy with the surveyor, changing some roads, sub-dividing some large blocks and
putting the finishing touches upon our work of plotting the ground before submitting the plan to the
government that the whole may be put under the real property act. You will readily understand that as we
become more familiar with the ground, some new plans developed in our minds regarding the use of some
sections, and the more profitable manner of subdividing. We hope our surveyor will complete his work today,
and next week we hope to give attention to the matter of erecting some temporary buildings. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 440]
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 5th, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 2 of 8
For some time before we left Granville, Mother’s mind had been dwelling upon the general features
of the publishing work and the dangers which attended the effort to bring it all under the control of the
General Conference Association; provided the business management of the Association is entrusted to men
of a limited or one-sided education or to those who, under the name of financiering, will deal in a selfish and
inconsiderate way with those who may be brought under their power by the circumstances attending the
concentration of so much power and influence in the G.C.A.
These things have been opened up to her mind in the night seasons, and she has written many things
which I did not understand and which it appeared to me there was no necessity for writing; but you know
that I have had many opportunities of learning that my knowledge and understanding come far short on
many occasions of comprehending the status and character of the present movements. And more than this,
that my mind does not anticipate future events, nor grasp the seriousness of the consequences to follow. But
the last American mail has brought me some letters from A.T. Kilgore and C.H. Jones, which help me to
understand what Mother was writing about. What Bro. Palmer has told me about the way that the Gospel
Primer was treated in the general canvassers convention and his astonishment that the G.C.A. should buy
and run the book after so much was said against it by the canvassers, has given me an intimation regarding
the confederacy formed between publishers and canvassers that they may control that which is profitable,
and crush that which they cannot secure control of.
Perhaps you will remember that my greatest fears and objections to the plan of consolidating our
publishing houses was that this effort would result in all being brought under the domination of the
managers of the Review and herald, some of whom were not acquainted with our people in the different
parts of the world or with the demands of the cause in various localities and who would therefore feel that
they were doing God service in building up the work in Battle Creek at the expense of everything else. These
fears will be aroused and transferred to the Gen. Conf. Asso. if its business is to be dominated by two or
three of the Review and Herald managers.
Sunday July 7. – The Sabbath-school and Sabbath meetings were held yesterday in the large dining
room of our rented building. There were about sixty present. The room was crowded to its utmost capacity.
We shall try and make provision this week for a more commodious meeting house, either by sending to
Sydney for a forty foot tent or by commencing to erect our manual training building, a portion of which we
may use for a meeting place until something better is provided. This morning Mother walked over to the
school and talked to the students for thirty minutes after their morning worship. There were twenty-six of us
seated in a room about twelve by fourteen.
At present there are 21 men and boys in the Industrial Department. These with Eld. Rousseau and
wife, two cooks and old Bro. Tucker, make up a family of 26, which is the regular family of the school. Our
surveyor, Mr. Nott, also Charlie Paap, is with them at present. He is considering the advisability of enter the
department. Thus there are 28 in all. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 441]
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 5th, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 3 of 8
Our present term will continue until the close of August. this will be one or two weeks over the six
months which we laid for in the beginning; but we are extending the time so that Prof. Prescott may see the
department in operation and also that Bro. E.R. Palmer may have ample opportunity to train these who will
enter the canvassing work. We hope to send out eight or ten to make a vigorous canvass from the first of
Sept. to the middle of December.
We are now thinking of the propriety of resuming the work in the industrial department early in
December. And we hope that we shall be able to erect a building which will serve us for recitation rooms
before that time. This will enable us to invite the young people belonging to families who are moving in to
come and join the classes. The hours of recitation are from four to eight p.m. While this is quite an unusual
hour I think it will prove to be quite convenient for many who will have hard work on hand and who will be
glad to devote the early portion of the day to labor and the afternoon and evening to study. Thus we will let
the school gradually grow while our buildings are being erected.
We shall endeavor between this and the December opening to provide amply for kitchen and dining
room so that with plenty of tents for the boys to lodge in, a good kitchen and dining room, commodious
though rude school rooms, we can proceed with the school work while the boarding house is being built.
AUSTRALASIAN STUDENTS; in American schools: we have received copies of the little tractlettes
which you made from Mother’s letter to Dr. Kellogg and I desire to enquire if you have printed a sufficient
quantity of these and of the preceding one regarding the cultivation of lands so that you can send us two
dozen more of the one about the students pursuing long courses of study and one hundred of the one
regarding the cultivation of land? If you can spare so many please have them sent to me, and charge to the
Bible Echo Co. with whom I will settle for them.
I think I sent you a copy of my letter to Bro. Sisley asking him to become acquainted with our
Australasian students in Battle Creek to learn how they were getting on and what their plans and ambitions
were regarding future work. I presume he thought that he was too busy to give this much attention for he
has not answered the letter. But he read it to Dr. Kellogg, who seems to be displeased that I did not write to
him instead. I am sorry for this, especially since it had occurred just at the time when Mother was moved
upon to point out the dangers of encouraging students to take extended courses; for you know how strong
the temptation often is to think that Mother has been prompted by men rather than by the Lord in writing
counsels and cautions.
About a week ago we received a capable message from Mrs. Caro of Napier, intimating that M.
Pomare was being sent back to New Zealand suddenly, and asking us to cable a message directing him to
remain. I sent the message to Edwards according to her request. I will now ask you to interest yourself in this
matter and to see that Pomare has wise counsel regarding his movements. Mrs. Caro has invested much in
Pomare’s [page break]
[7 – WCW – 442]
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 5th, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 4 of 8
education and Mother has assisted her somewhat and both feel that they ought to be consulted with
reference to his future movements. It costs too much to send men across the water to make it profitable to
change them back and forth without deliberate consideration. It seems difficult for us to understand why
there may not be someone appointed over there to take an interest in these young people who will also take
time to correspond with those most interested in their future work.
Pomare was sent to America to get a training to fit him to act as a medical missionary among his
people; if a course at Ann Arbor is essential to this, I think we should devise some means of giving him the
benefit of such a course. When he and other students from New Zealand received the impression that Dr.
Kellogg thought it advisable for him to take a literary degree first, then a medical course, and afterward a
post-graduate course in England, we felt that there was some lack of consideration and that too much time
and money would be involved in such a program and also that he would be more injured than benefitted by
some portions of this extensive education. Mrs. Caro, upon which the financial burden of supporting students
at Battle Creek was resting so heavily, felt that she ought to be consulted in such matters. When I became
acquainted with the large amounts that she was expending upon the students and learned how heavily she
was involved as a result, I was convinced that it would be right for her to lay down the heavy burden of
carrying Pomare, believing that either the Mission Board or the B. and M.M. Asso. would take an interest in
him and help him along. Was this too much to expect? If so, we will try to devise some means by which he
can receive the necessary course of instruction.
Conference work: I will now refer to some of the students treated in your letter, and give you a very
brief statement of the progress of the work made since I wrote you last and our present plans. We are very
glad that we have been able to present to you in some of our present letters definite outlines of our plans
and it is very gratifying to us that these have met with such hearty approved by the Mission Board. Since we
wrote last various changes have occurred and new demands for labor have come in, leading us to vary our
plans for the present. While our Committee was in council with Melbourne we received an earnest appeal
from Dr. Kellogg and our people in Broken Hill for help there immediately. Bro. A.S. Hickox was sent in
response to this appeal. And Bro. Teasdale was transferred from Tasmania to take his place. A few days later
Eld. Starr sent in a very earnest request that Eld. Daniells should come to Toowoomba at once to help him in
his battle with editors and preachers over the Sabbath question. Before this I had learned that Eld. Daniells
felt that he had duty to visit Queensland and as I had desired for a long time that he should become
acquainted with the work in that colony, I proposed that the plans for me to visit Queensland be set aside
and that Eld. Daniells should go at once. This is good for the work in Queensland but is depriving Victoria of
labor which they have expected and needed.
The work in Sydney has been carried forward faithfully by Elds. McCullough and Hare since the first
of February when Eld. Corliss went to New Zealand, has been progressing against great condition; but about
[page break]
[7 – WCW – 443]
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 5th, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 5 of 8
dozen earnest souls have embraced the truth in Petersham, and as many were in Canterbury. The Canterbury
people will unite with the Ashfield church and the Petersham people with the Sydney Church. The interest
aroused in the meeting in Ashfield and Petersham has been enlarged and extended by the Bible workers until
they are now holding Bible readings with interested groups in six or eight neighborhoods in the various
suburbs. When the workers met for counsel, all felt that the work in Sydney should be pushed forward to the
extent of our ability now, and that Eld. Corliss was needed as a counselor and leader in this work. Therefore
we felt it necessary to postpone our entrance into western Australia and our plan now is to push forward the
work in Sydney and the suburbs until the first of October when our annual camp-meeting will be held in
Melbourne. After this we expect Eld. Corliss to take a leading part in the work in Christchurch through the
summer and the following autumn, probably in April or May. ’96 we shall expect his to go with other workers
to western Australia. When the Mission Board has approved the plans that we have submitted in outline, we
have not felt that we were sent those plans but that you were saying to us, “We offer no objection to your
plans and advise you to go forward, according to these suggestions as fast as circumstances will permit.”
New Zealand. Elds. Stead and Fulton are still working in and about Auckland; Eld. Wilson is visiting
the churches and Bro. Crothers has been visiting some companies of interested ones in the South Fuland. I
heartily concur in your views regarding the width of sending Eld. Fulton to New Zealand. I think he will do a
good work there, and hope that he will not become discouraged because some of the leading men had been
expecting and looked for an older man.
The last mail brought me a letter from Prof. Prescott stating that he expected to be in Auckland July
18. As soon as I received this I worked out quite an elaborate program, covering his movements from the
time of his arrival in Auckland until he sails for South Africa. The main features of the plan are as follows: “The Monowai is due July 18 which is Thursday. Let Friday be open to viewing the surrounding
country and place of interest. July 20 – 28 devote to a general convention of all our people in the Auckland
province. The 23rd sail for Gisborne and Napier. Arrange for our Gisborne folks to assemble in the meeting
house when the steamer arrives and have a short meeting on the 24th. Arrive in Napier morning of the 25th.
On 26th drive out to Hastings and visit Toamoana and other Maori villages July 27 – 28, hold general meeting
in Napier for all our people in the Hawkes Bay province. 30th visit, 31st have meeting in Ormandville, Aug. 1
hold meeting in Palmerstone North. Aug. 3 – 7 counsel with N.Z. Conf. Com. Sail for Sydney Aug. 8 or 9
arriving about the 11th.
After landing in Sydney, Prof. Prescott will no doubt wish to proceed at once to Avondale where he
will have opportunity to see the working of our Industrial Department one week before the first term is to
close. This we greatly desire. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 444]
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 5th, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 6 of 8
From Morrisett he could proceed by rail to Toowoomba, if he desires to visit Queensland. One week
would be required to make a visit to Toowoomba and Brisbane; two weeks if the trip was extended to
Rockhampton and three or four weeks if extended to Townsville. Supposing that he visited Toowoomba and
Brisbane only, he could get back to Morrisett about Aug. 29. Then he could spend midweek in council with us
about school work and Sabbaths and Sundays in general meetings with the churches in and about Sydney.
“Sept. 13 – 16 could be spent with the churches in Melbourne; 20 – 25th with the church in Adelaide,
South Australia, and 27 – 29 at Ballarat, Vic. Three weeks of October in camp-meeting in Melbourne. From
that time on his movements must be somewhat affected by the time of the South African camp-meeting, and
the sailing of the Aberdeen White Star steamers.
If there is any way that we can arrange for Prof. Prescott to attend the Tasmanian camp-meeting we
shall do so. It might be possible to begin that meeting the last of October, if the steamer does not sail until
the 7th to the 10th of Nov. This would enable him to attend the larger part of the meeting.”
It appears to us that it would be an unnecessary waste of time and strength for Prof. Prescott to
come to Australia, sail back to New Zealand and then back to Australia again. The Aberdeen White Star
Steamer which will take him to Cape Town sails from Melbourne as we could not arrange for him to attend
the New Zealand camp-meeting we thought that it would be best for him to spend three weeks there and
then come to Australia. I have made three proposals regarding the disposition of his party: 1. that all except
Prof. Prescott come straight on to Sydney where they will be met and welcomed by us; 2. that a portion of
the party remain in Auckland until Prescott shall return there and come on with them; 3. that they all
proceed together as far as Napier and that then a portion of the party continue on the steamer to
Wellington. I have sent a copy of this program to the officers of the N.Z. Conf. requesting them to appoint
and prepare for the meetings, and meet Prof. Prescott at Auckland with a written memoranda of their plans
so that he may have everything before him at once. I hope that this will tend to make his visit in New Zealand
a success.
Our school work. – We are glad that Prof. Prescott can visit us before our principle buildings are
located and give us counsel regarding the buildings and plans. We shall do all that we can to make his stay
with us pleasant and shall hope to receive much valuable counsel. We will hold as many important measures
as possible until after his arrival, but there is one matter that I will now present to you which seem to
demand immediate attention.
The deeds of the school land are withheld from us by the vendors solicitor because we will not
consent to enter upon these deeds a statement that Reekie and I have purchased the property and hold it in
trust for the Gen. Conf. Asso. Our solicitor sued for the delivery of the deeds. The case was set for Tuesday,
June 25th but the judge was taken sick and our case was transferred to another court which was already
[page break]
[7 – WCW – 445]
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 5th, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 7 of 8
had a full list. So after collecting our witnesses and waiting a week for the case to come on, we reached the
end of the time of the sitting and our case goes over until September.
Now I will state as clearly as I can the circumstances which have led to this embarrassing situation.
1. When we decided to purchase the Brettville estate, we were expecting someone to arrive within a
few weeks with a power of attorney from the General Conference Association; therefore in signing the
contract for the land. I signed, “William C. White, Per the Gen. Conf. Asso.” At that time we had no solicitor in
our employ. Afterwards when we employed Abbott and Allen, by the advice of Mr. Brunker, who is now
Colonial Secretary, Mr. Allen pointed out the great danger which would arise from my going forward and
doing the business without the counsel of a solicitor. He also pointed out that the manner in which I had
signed this contract might make us trouble.
As Eastman failed to come, it seemed best for us to purchase the property in the name of some
individual who could handle it until such a time as our way was clear to turn it over to the Gen. Conf. Asso. or
to the Union Conference. Some of my colleagues suggested that I take the deeds. At this time, Bro. Ainslie
Reekie was located in Sydney, and I urged that he be associated with me in the matter. My colleagues on the
committee gave their approval to this and the deeds were made out to White and Reekie. The making of a
deed in this country seems to be a serious matter. Many pages were written covering the history of the Brett
family, and other matters which the solicitors managed to work up quite a controversy over, between
themselves and at our expense. During this controversy our Mr. Allen and young Mr. Rollin, solicitor for the
vendors became quite irritated and combative.
3. When we made the last and final payment for the land, the solicitors for the vendors demanded
interest for a month or two which was not due them. We paid up to the latest date that there was any reason
for paying. When we demanded the deeds they refused to deliver them up for two reasons: a. they
demanded interest for another month. b. they demanded that we should write on the deed that we were
holding it in trust for the G.C.A.
You can really see that if we should some time secure an act of Parliament so that this property can
be handled by the Union Conf. or failing in this, if we intended to deed it to the it to Gen. Conf. Asso. but are
left another year in uncertainty as to who will be authorized to act for the G.C.A. it would be very
embarrassing for us to have such a statement in our deeds. Our solicitor and Bro. Mackenzie agree in saying
that the ordinary purchaser of land will employ a solicitor to examine the titles and that no solicitor finding it
entered upon the deed that this property was purchased in trust for the G.C.A. would approve the title
without instituting a lengthy and expensive search into the character and standing of the G.C.A. This would
greatly hinder the sale of the land.
If J.R. Eastman or W.C. Sisley had come with authority from the G.C.A. to hold and manage this
property in their behalf and to represent them as your agents do in other foreign countries, and if the usual
papers had been put on record here and the matter was settled that we were [page break]
[7 – WCW – 446]
Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 5th, 1895
Eld. O.A. Olsen
Battle Creek, Mich.
Page 8 of 8
to do business in the name of the G.C.A. I suppose there would be no hesitation on our part to make the
proposed entry on the deeds. But under the present circumstances we do not dare permit this entry to be
made.
It may be that if the G.C.A. would draw up a statement signed and sealed by the authorizing William
C. White and Ainslie Reekie to purchase and sell property and also authorizing the vendors to sell it to them
that this would meet the requirements of the cause. I hope to send you something prepared by our solicitors
by the next steamer so that if we are beaten in our suit we can make some compromise with the vendors
without making the entry upon the deeds which has been asked for.
I have sometimes thought of suggesting to you that you consider the propriety of sending Eld.
Jerome Fargo over here, with the power of attorney for the G.C.A. He could help us some in the conference
work, and as a counselor he would be excellent. The most serious objections to be raised against this
proposition might be 1. our poverty, which makes it desirable that everyone coming here should be young
and strong and able to work in various lines. 2. The very conservative temperament of Eld. Fargo and his
prejudices in favor of Americans. Please think about this.
If you should ask me as to what my present convictions are as to who among the men over here
could best take this business into their hands, I would say that according to the best light I have upon the
matter I should choose Eld. L.J. Rousseau; for whoever may have the name and the honor of doing this
business and the chief perplexities, it is evident to my mind that he will have the principle burden of the work
and I think that with such men as Metcalf Hare and L.N. Lawrence as foremen and chief assistants, and with
the Union Conf. Com. so his counselors and also with full instruction from the G.C.A. I think that he would
manage the matter very well.
Books and Publishing: There is much I would like to write you about the book business but I think it
will be necessary to leave this over to the next mail.
We are glad that the G.C.A. has begun work on the little book. Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing.
We hope the work will go forward rapidly and that your workers will not be hopelessly confused by the
various propositions that have been made by myself and Sr. Davis regarding the illustrations.
I am also glad to know that you are prepared to go on with the work of illustrating the Life of Christ. I
think it would be useless for the work of translation to begin at present but the work of preparing the
pictures can go forward and ought to be pushed along while the manuscripts are being perfected. I have not
found a favorable opportunity since your last letter was received to talk with Mother about the question of
royalty. Will bear it in mind and talk the matter up with her soon as reasonable. In answer to your question
about the type setting and the proof reading, I will suggest that you employ the Echo Pub. Co. to set the book
first and make three sets of plates or matrices for use in Australia, England, and Canada. By this means the
proof-reading could be done by Sr. Laura. Afterward R.&H. could ____ and make plates for American
publishers.
Yours in hope,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 447]
“Avondale”, Cooranbong, N.S.W.
July 7th, 1895
Mr. and Mrs. H. Lindsay
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Friends: I have been thinking for some weeks about writing you a letter and now that the one I wrote you last
has been returned to me, I must not delay longer. I cannot understand why this letter was not delivered to
you on the steamer, or why it should be so long in coming back to me; but here it is. I shall enclose it with
this, making one more effort to get it to you.
I also enclose to you with this letter copies of letters written to Robinson, Tripp, and others which
will give you some clue to our movements and plans. Just now, Mother, May, myself, and the children are up
here at Cooranbong camping for a week or two in a cottage which Bro. Lacey has rented for the year and
which he will move into soon.
I have been very busy working with Eld. Rousseau to complete the subdivision of the tract and the
valuation of the various parcels of land. We hope our surveyor will finish his work tomorrow, and then we
shall turn our attention to the work of building.
A few days ago our family and Bro. Caldwell, who is writing this letter at my dictation, took one of
the boats and rowed down the creek to Lake Macquarie. It was a beautiful afternoon and evening and we
enjoyed it very much. I thought of the day when we went down the creek together, and I wish that you all
could have been with us that afternoon, and for a week or two while we are driving about and Mother is
getting a little rested. Mother was fearfully wearied when she came up here and soon would have been sick if
she had not had a change. She is resting rapidly here, and will soon be better. As soon as the land values are
settled she intends to buy about forty acres and build a house upon it. First of all, we shall build a stable as
quick as ever we can, and live in it and one or two tents until we can get the roof on a house. Mother is fully
determined to get settled here as quickly as possible.
I wish you could visit us and see how our industrial department is working. There are twenty-one
young men and boys here now, each working six hours a day and carrying two studies. They are making good
progress in their work and in their studies. Most of them are energetic and faithful and with one or two
exceptions they are without means and could not attend the school except as we provide an opportunity for
them to work their way. I am more and more satisfied that we are working on right lines in establishing this
department.
About two weeks ago, I was quite startled in looking through my desk to find a memoranda which
recalled to my mind the request which you made that I should write to Mrs. Druillard regarding the one
thousand pounds which you have given us for the school, asking her to reserve that amount from that which
she was to deposit in the bank subject to interest. I was very busy and perplexed at the time and I fear that I
neglected to write her anything about it. It would be more proper to say that I forgot to write to her. I have
no doubt that what you wrote [page break]
[7 – WCW – 448]
July 7th, 1895
Mr. and Mrs. H. Lindsay
Page 2 of 2
to her and it may be that my forgetfulness has worked no injury. You will see from my letter written to you
soon after your departure that I never had it very distinctly in mind as to how your intended to transmit this
money to us.
My short letter to Mrs. Druillard, a copy of which I enclose with this, will show you what an
important part this one thousand pounds will play in the advancement of our school work and in the building
of meeting houses (indirectly).
The more we see of our place here the better we like it. Our young men have cleared ten acres and
prepared it ready for the plow, and they are now completing a system of ditches which will drain the large
swamp. Next week they will clear out a new road on the north end of the tract, and then we hope to
commence building. It is our plan to put up first of all a building about 26 x 60, two stories high, to be used
finally as a manual training department but which we shall use at the present time for meeting house and
school rooms. As soon as this is completed we hope to undertake one of the large buildings.
The work in the Australian Conf. has been going forward encouragingly since you were here. A very
intelligent class of people have been embracing the truth in Ashfield, Petersham, and Canterbury. Tonight a
series of meetings has been begun by Elds. Corliss and McCullough in a hall in the heart of the city of Sydney.
In a few weeks we expect to see Prof. Prescott. We shall hold our annual camp-meeting in
Melbourne while he is here. I am so glad that the next South African Conference will be held in camp. I wish I
could go on with Bro Prescott and attend that meeting; but I am sure we shall have our hands full of work
here in developing our school enterprise.
Now if you can manage to place the one thousand pounds which you so generously gave us within
our reach at an early date it will make a great difference with the rapidity with which we can push forward
our school work. Please tell me by return mail just how you intend to transmit the money to us, and when we
may expect to receive it.
I see that May has been writing this evening to Anna and I hope she has told her the most important
news. She was very much pleased with the beautiful hymn book which Anna sent her but did not use it much
for about a month because the name was in anticipation of a wedding that had not yet occurred. We were
married on the 9th of May, at her father’s home in Glenorchy, as you will see by the enclosed card. We are a
very happy little family. May has quite won the affections of the children, and she takes excellent care of
them. My future promises to be very pleasant as regards home relations.
I should be glad to learn what Harmon’s impressions of America are after spending three or four
years at the antipodes. I have been away from home nearly four years now, and begin to feel that I am quite
a colonial.
I should be glad to hear how Daniel and Andrew are getting along and how Mother Wessels likes the
United States.
With kindest regards to you all and hoping to hear from you soon, I am,
Yours truly,
W.C. White
“C.”
[7 – WCW – 449]
July 8, 1895
Dr. J.H. Kellogg
Sanitarium, Battle Creek
Dear Brother: Since I wrote you last, Mother and May, the children, and I came up here for a few weeks of
rusticating. Mother had worked till she was all worn out, and here she is resting. Ella and Mabel spend most
of their time in the bush cutting and bringing in wood and they have developed splendid appetites.
Our Industrial School is getting on nicely, as you will see by the short letter that I enclose. It is sure to
grow if we let it.
About ten days ago, we received a cable message, asking us to cable Battle Creek, to have Pomare
remain there till we could correspond about his future work. So we sent the message at Mrs. Caro’s request
and shall wait to hear what it is all about. She has heard that Pomare was being sent home, and she very
naturally feels that she ought to have opportunity to express her mind and wishes before so important a step
is taken by one on whom she has expended so much.
I have thought that it was probably a rumor and that there was no actual necessity for our sending a
cable message but not having anything to work on but her request, I can say nothing more till we have more
data to work on.
With this I take the liberty to send you a copy of my last to Eld. Olsen which will give you some idea
as to our work, and our views on some matters. And now I must close this to hasten it to the P.O.
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 450]
July 8th, 1895
Miss E.C. Campbell
Granville, N.S.W.
Dear Sister: I just received and read your letter of July 6. After giving careful thought to the propositions which it
contains, I find that it would be detrimental to our school work and a great disappointment to Mother and
Rousseau for me to leave here this week. I also find that Mother feels that she needs you to stand at the
head of the household in Granville for some weeks yet, and we therefore unite in requesting you to abandon
the thought of sailing on the July boat.
You will be surprised when I tell you that I have not yet communicated with May Israel about
working for Mother. I have felt that all of our plans would require moderation and adjustment to our new
circumstance if Mother holds to her determination to move to this place as soon as possible. I now see that
this is her settled plan and shall work to it with all my might. Please be patient with the apparent slowness of
our movements. We are working hard every day, - but I will not weary you with a detailed statement of what
we are doing.
I think Mother is writing you the news, therefore I will close this letter with the request that you
send up by Bro. Lacey, my old reference Bible and my hymn book. (Mine also please – C.) and also one of the
volatiles with the medicine.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
P.S.
Have someone meet Bro. Lacey and the girls and take good care of them until they come up here.
Tell Bro. Lacey that this house is full of cockroaches and that I advise him to fumigate it for forty-eight house
before anything else is done. If he will bring up about fifteen pounds of sulfur and a bottle of alcohol, I think
we can get the charcoal here.
When I bought an old house in Battle Creek I doctored it in this way, and it was as clean as a new pin
for two or three years.
W.
“C.”
[7 – WCW – 451]
July 9th, 1895
Eld. S. McCullough
78 Park Avenue, Ashfield
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: Last Friday I received yours of July 3rd, accompanied by the plan of the meetinghouse and report of
the council meeting held July 1. Today I received yours of July 5, and I will take a little time this evening to
reply.
I am much pleased with the record of business transacted at the council meeting. Today I received a
copy of the first sermon and one of the programs. I like the plan of the program very well, but the paper is
too cheap to give it an acceptable appearance.
As regards the location of the Ashfield meeting house, I greatly desire that it shall be in the place the
Lord would have it, and where it will benefit the greatest number. I cannot say much regarding its location in
Croydon, because you have shown me no places there that seemed suitable and I dislike to talk of that about
which I know nothing. I am not sufficiently acquainted with Croydon to know whether there are suitable
places there or not; nor do I know what influence it would have upon the public for us to locate there. It has
seemed to me that Ashfield was a very desirable center. It is a nice place having many well-to-do people.
What I have seen of Croydon has led me to regard it as a place of less prominence and I have feared that the
first impressions regarding our locating there, would be that we had settled in a poor neighborhood; but this
may be only my imagination. If you had talked up Croydon at the beginning and shown me the best places
there it may be that all my objections would have been removed. The location described in your last letter
three minutes from the Croydon station may be just the right place. I greatly regret that you did not invite me
to some of your council meetings in which the brethren who are acquainted with the various localities were
expressing their opinions, if you continue to feel that my approval is essential. I am perfectly willing to leave
this matter for the decision of the brethren in the Ashfield church in conjunction with Elders McCullough,
Corliss, and hare, and the laborers who have assigned them in the work.
I see much force in the proposal to seek a location toward Croydon and Burswood where so many of
our people live and will only add. Be thorough in your investigation and in your councils secure the opinion of
all who are interested as far as you can. Seek the Lord for counsel and he will surely direct your steps.
I am very sorry to hear what you have written about Byron B. Belden and his plans for work. After
giving this matter a little more thought, I will endeavor to write some proposals for consideration in your next
council meeting.
I am glad to read what you write about the arrival of Bro. Malcolm. I am also pleased to learn that
the Sunday meetings in Ashfield had so good an influence. I believe that these general meetings [page break]
[7 – WCW – 452]
July 9th, 1895
Eld. S. McCullough
78 Park Avenue, Ashfield
Page 2 of 2
are very important.
When I meet you again I hope that we will have time to talk about some of the matters mentioned in
yours of July 3, which I cannot well write about tonight. With this I will return your plan for the church
building. I presume I shall be with you before timber is bought and hope then to have the privilege of
examining the plans prepared for adoption.
I have no objections to building the meetinghouse of wood. My preference has always been for
wooden buildings, and I was surprised at your committee’s proposal that it be built of brick. I do not think
much of baptisteries where you can get at the open water, but will not object to it if others think that it is
needed. Whether the main entrance should be in front of the pulpit or in the corner depends somewhat
upon the location and the style of architecture.
With kindest regards to yourself and family, I am,
Yours truly,
(signed) W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 453]
July 9, 1895
Mr. Jas. Smith
My Dear Brother: With this I send you copies of two or three letters which will give you an idea of our whereabouts,
our work, and our plans.
I have just written to the So. African Conf. Com. asking them to delay their meeting so that Prof.
Prescott may stay in Australasia till the Dec. Str. I have also proposed that they rent tents from us.
I will now request you to bring this matter before Brn. Israel and Faulkhead and if possible, get off a
letter by the str. sailing this week, telling the brn. in So. Africa: 1. How many good tents we could rent them,
with sizes and prices. 2. What the freight on them would probably be, to and from Cape Town. 3. What the
prices would be for these tents if they should wish to buy and keep any of them.
It may require very prompt and rapid work on your part to get this information in time, for it is not
long till the July str. sails. Please do the best you can, and if anything fails this str. get it off in good time for
the next mail.
Today we hope to select the twenty or thirty acres that Mother wishes to buy, and then we shall lose
no time in putting up a stable which with two tents we can live in till a house is built.
Bro . Hare is figuring on a building for the Manual Training Dept. 26 x 62, which we may use for a
time for schoolhouse and meetinghouse. The big swamp looks well since the ditches are dug and yesterday
Prof. Rousseau dropped a match and the grass and rushes burned off splendidly.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 454]
Avondale, Cooranbong
July 6, 1895
W.C. Salisbury, Mgr.
Echo Publishing Co., Ltd., North Fitzroy, Victoria
Dear Brother: We have been here a week today, camping in Bro. Lacey’s house. He and two of their girls will be
here this week. Mother was all worn out before coming up here, and now she is getting rested. May and the
children are enjoying the rusticating first rate. Ella and Mabel have developed splendid appetites and are
growing stronger and happier every day.
I think I have some unanswered letters from you, but I have no time to refer to them this morning.
The object of this letter is to ask you to release Jessie Israel from her obligations to the Company so that she
can respond at once to our request that she come here without delay to assist Eld. and Mrs. Rousseau in the
teaching work that they are carrying and which with their other work is too much for them.
You will no doubt say that this is rather sudden and that it comes at a time when you need all the
help you have and more. I know that you have been sending here and there for help and that Minnie
Hawkins cannot go to your assistance. I also know that the loss of one of your old hands in a time of hurry is a
serious matter. I took in all this before consenting to have Rousseau write to Jessie to come.
And now I will lay before you some of the circumstances which I think you will appreciate and which
to my mind, and I think to yours are sufficient reason for request. Our industrial department is doing well.
There are 21 young men and boys in the work and study as a while, matters are going much better than we
had dared to hope for and the confidence of all, students, teachers, managers, and lookers-on, is increasing
in the industrial method.
The present term will close with August and we hope to resume after a three-months’ vacation, the
first of December. Then we hope to have buildings for recitation rooms, kitchen, and dining room, on our
own land, and by using tents for lodgings as at present, we can get on while the large buildings are being
erected. During the vacation, we shall send as many of the men as we can into the canvassing field.
During vacation, however, we shall have to keep some of the younger boys here at work and study,
and we must now provide a teacher to carry on their classes while Bro. & Sr. Rousseau are at camp-meeting.
Jessie Israel is the one we want for this work, and she is the one we want to help just now. Rousseau must
use much of his time in the general work, for we are clearing land, ditching the swamp, making roads, and
very soon must be fencing and selling lots. This with four or five classes and the bookkeeping are altogether
too much, and he must have help. If he gets help immediately, he can give more thought to our general
plans, and the work will go on very much faster. Therefore, please release Jessie at once and encourage her
to come at once.
W.C. White
[7 – WCW – 455]
Blank Page
[7 – WCW – 456]
Missing Page
[7 – WCW – 457]
July 9th, 1895
To the Executive Committee of the South African Conference, Claremont, Cape Colony, S.A.
A.T. Robinson, -- President
Page 1 of 2
Dear Brethren: We are rejoiced to hear that you are planning to hold a camp-meeting in South Africa and we are
pleased to know that Prof. Prescott expects to be with you at that time. We hope that you will plan and
prepare for a large attendance and that all your expectations may be realized.
I suppose your greatest perplexity will be as to how to provide family tents and the query has arisen
in my mind if it would not be both possible and profitable for you to rent one or two dozen of the best family
tents owned by the Australian Conference.
In our work here in Australasia, we find it very convenient to send our tents from colony to colony.
Of course there is much bother and inconvenience on accounts of the customs duties, and we have to
exercise much care in connection with the shipment of the tents and their entry into each colony it is
necessary to have everything arranged so that we can get the duty refunded when the tents leave that
colony again.
If it were not for this arrangement by which we receive back the duty paid on our tents upon their
entering a colony, we should be debarred from the advantages of using one set of tents in three places each
year.
I am not acquainted with the freight rates to and from Cape town, but will ask our brethren in
Melbourne to make inquiries about them. It has seemed to me that as Prof. Prescott is going to Cape Town at
the very time when these tents should be shipped, he could take them through without very great expense
or trouble.
I will ask our brethren in Melbourne to send you the scale of prices which has been adopted by the
Australian and New Zealand conferences for renting tents to one another. I will also request the Committee
to make the same terms to the South African Conference.
Perhaps your experience will be different from ours; this was our experience with the first campmeeting: - the plan of the meeting was new and strange here, and our people generally declared that they
could not attend. It appeared that forty tents would be sufficient, but at the very last they all run in and one
hundred tents were required.
We have found that whenever we take a good lot of tents and pitch them early, and let our people
know that they will be rented at a reasonable figure, they begin to think of friends and relatives whom they
wish to attend and then they write to them inviting them to come for a few days. Many come, but as they get
a taste of the meeting, they decide [page break]
[7 – WCW – 458]
July 9th, 1895
To the Executive Committee of the South African Conference, Claremont, Cape Colony, S.A.
A.T. Robinson, -- President
Page 2 of 2
to remain through until the close.
Two families who are taking a prominent part in the work in North Fitzroy were led to accept the
truth as a result of this kind of effort to get them to the meetings.
I have already written to Brother Robinson and Haskell regarding our plans for the work of Prof.
Prescott while he is with us, and our great desire that he should spend November with us so as to attend a
camp-meeting in Tasmania, if it is possible.
We will now ask you to consider the possibility of delaying your meeting for a few weeks so that this
may be accomplished.
For the last few months the sailing of the Aberdeen White Star Steamers has been rather irregular;
but they seem to aim to leave Melbourne about the first week in each month. It would be a great benefit to
the work in Australasia if Prof. Prescott could remain here until the first week in December.
Please think of this matter and if you can so arrange your work so as to allow him to extend his time
with us it will be a great help to us.
Praying that you may be guided and blessed in all your labors, I remain,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 459]
July 8th, 1895
Eld. M.C. Israel
114 Falconer St., North Fitzroy, Vic.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: I will now write a few lines in answer to your welcome letter of June 5th, which was accompanied by
copies of your letter to Eld. Daniells. Many thanks for both. We are glad to hear from Bro. and Sr. Masters,
but I am sorry that you did not name the steamer on which they come to Sydney so that we could have
looked for them.
Eld. McCullough tells me that the Malcolms have arrived.
Many thanks for the news regarding the work in Broken Hill. We shall be glad to see representatives
from the church at the camp-meeting. We hope that you will be successful in securing a place for our
meeting in Princess Park.
Please ask Faulkhead to pay Proctor’s bill for glasses and charge to Mother’s account.
I find that our school work is moving forward very well. There are 21 young men and boys who with
one or two exceptions are doing good work, both in the field and with their books. Bro. and Sr. Rousseau are
working too hard and from this time on the work will increase.
After a careful review of our plan and prospects we have thought best to invite your daughter Jessie
to come as soon as possible and assist them in the work of teaching and in the general superintendency of
the household affairs. Eld. Rousseau has written her today and I have written Bro. Salisbury asking that she
be relieved at once; so that she can come quickly. [page break]
[7 – WCW – 460]
July 8th, 1895
Eld. M.C. Israel
114 Falconer St., North Fitzroy, Vic.
Page 2 of 2
There are a number of our young boys who ought to remain here during vacation and they will need to carry
one or two studies. Bro. Rousseau thinks that it would be best for us to engage Jessie as teacher and general
helper through the remainder of this term and the vacation. At the beginning of the next term, Dec. 4th, her
work might be somewhat different; but as she is always willing to do what is needed most, and we cannot
anticipate accurately, it may not be necessary for us to outline her work further.
Sister Campbell has received some very earnest appeals from the members of her family to return
home. When she left home it was understood that she would return in two years, but it has now been nearly
four years. She will probably sail in August or September.
Mother has been thinking of proposing to employ your daughter May as secretary and bookkeeper.
What would you think of this? Please consider, first, do you think that May could take Mother’s books and
keep them with the assistance of a good auditor once a year? Second, do you think that she could stand the
strain and excitement which seems to be unavoidable by those connected with Mother’s work, without injury
to her health. Can she by any means be made to see the importance of putting proper limits upon her work
and efforts so as to preserve her health and be of good courage. I would not like to see her undertake to
engage in Mother’s work unless she felt the importance of regulating her work so as to retain her health, and
unless she would do this conscientiously regardless of the continual urgency of the work which with us is
never ending.
Third, if you were satisfied on these two points would you and Sister Israel be pleased to have us
propose to May that she enter Mother’s employ. Please think of this and ask us as many questions as you
like, and give us your answer as soon as reasonable.
Yours in hope,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 461]
July 6th, 1895
Eld. J.O. Corliss
Tynwald, Temple St., South Annandale, N.S.W.
My Dear Brother: With this I send you copy of letter just written to Eld. McCullough, which please read if you have
time. Today we received a copy of your sermon and a program of your meetings. They look well at first sight
and I hope they will be the means of accomplishing much good. We shall look with interest for a letter telling
us about the first meeting.
Eld. McCullough tells me that Byron Belden feels that the Sabbath-school work which he has
undertaken will require nearly all of his time. I think it would be a mistake for Byron to restrict his efforts to
any single line, especially at a time when there is so much to be learned by plunging heartily into the work.
You will remember that when we first were planning for three interests to be carried at once, Collins
was selecting to be tent master for Eld. Mare, but now that it is arranged to concentrate our efforts for he
present to the Sydney interest and the work in Ashfield. I will suggest the propriety of employing Collins to
assist McCullough in developing the work at Canterbury, and the necessary visiting in Ashfield. Then I could
advise that Byron be given one day each week to devote wholly to his Sabbath-school work, and the
remainder of his time be employed in assisting you with the Sydney work.
I hope you will decide to take Charley Paap into your training class and give him a good chance to
develop into a good worker. I think Charley appears much more manly than he did a year ago, and I believe
that he would improve under the instruction that he or you will give to the class.
Yours in haste,
W.C. White
C.
[7 – WCW – 462]
Avondale, Cooranbong, N.S.W
July 8, 1895
Eld. W.A. Colcord
Echo Publishing Co., North Fitzroy, Vic.
Page 1 of 2
My Dear Brother: I have just received and read your interesting letter of July 5 and hasten to reply. Mother, May, and I
and the children came up here one week ago today. Bro. Caldwell came up with the team three days earlier.
other has been working very hard for a long time, and she had worked herself sick, and greatly needed a
change. She is resting well here, and I expect to see a marked improvement in her health soon. Yesterday
morning she began to give them a short talk at the school in connection with their morning worship at six
o’clock.
We are living in a six room cottage which Bro. Lacey has rented for the year, using some furniture
loaned us by the school, and some things we brought from Granville. We are all enjoying this spell of
rustication real well. Ella and Mabel spend much time in the bush. They are now cutting wood on contract,
and have developed magnificent appetites. They had their celebration on the schoo

- Ellen G. White Estate

Transcription

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