St. Stephen's Anglican Church, Maori Pa, Kaiapoi Native Reserve. The Maori mission was established in 1859 under the charge of the Rev. J. W. Stack, who resided at St Stephen's, Kaiapoi, on a glebe of twenty acres, reserved by the Government for the Church endowment at the time of the allotment of the Kaiapoi reserve to the Maoris. Attached to the mission-house there was a boarding-school for native children. In 1865 Sir George Gray laid the foundation stone of St. Stephen's Church, which was formally opened by Bishop Harper a few months later. The original building, which has since been enlarged, was erected of timber cut by the natives in the local bush, which was named Church Bush, and the Maoris also took part in its erection. In 1870 the school and mission-house were burnt down, and, owing to want of funds, were never rebuilt. The Government objecting to build on church property, four acres of the glebe were transferred by Bishop Harper to the Government for school purposes; and Mr. Henry Reeves and Mrs Reeves were appointed teachers of the school then erected by the Education Department. In May, 1873, the Rev. G. P. Mutu was ordained deacon, and appointed assistant curate at the mission. He held the office, with a short interval, till April 1893. In 1884 the Rev. Mr. Stack resigned owing to ill-health, and from that date till 1894 the mission lacked the supervision of an English clergyman until the appointment of the Rev. R. A. Woodthorpe, M.A., in that year. Mr. Woodthorpe resigned his office in the beginning of 1898, and the Rev. Wynter Bblathwayt, of the Otago diocese, was appointed on the 16th of May, and is now (1902) in charge. The church has seating accommodation for about 200 persons, and services are held three times each Sunday. The services are choral. The choir consists of about fifty members, nearly all of whom are Maoris, who all wear surplices, and the female members have college caps. The Sunday school in connection with the church has at present a roll number of thirty children. There is also a sewing guild and a young men's and young women's class, which meet weekly. Messrs Hoani Hape, Taituha Hape, and H. C. Blathway are lay readers. The Rev. Wynter Blathwayt, chap lain to the Maoris in the Canterbury district, resides at St. Stephen's, Maori Pa.