Williams,

See Taita School

Wellington Independent 24 November 1873
TAITA.
A correspondent writes, under date 20th November:— At the conclusion of the afternoon service on Sunday, the Rev Mr Fancourt, on behalf of the children attending the Sunday school, presented Mr John Rayner with a magnificently illustrated Bible, as a token of their appreciation of his services as Superintendent of the Sunday school for the last fifteen years. Inside the cover there was a scroll containing 150 names of scholars that had been in attendance, but these do not comprise all the names. Mr Fancourt, in a few appropriate remarks, pointed out the value of such self-sacrificing labors in a practical directions. Mr Beetham (Hutt) explained that the Bible had been purchased with money collected by the Sunday school children, and was entirely the result of their own little subscriptions. Mr Rayner expressed his gratitude for the valuable volume which had been given him, and which he would prize highly as coming from those whom he had endeavored to instruct in accordance with its precepts.
The departure of Mr and Mrs Williams, for Sanson, will be felt by many as a loss to the neighborhood, as both were efficient teachers, and had conducted the school for upwards of three years with great credit to themselves and satisfaction to the parents. I hope they will be equally successful at Sanson, and I confess to feeling a deep interest in the welfare of this "small farm association," and all other special settlements. In other provinces, religion and race have been found to be the best bonds for keeping little communities together. Where a minister formed the connecting link, the settlement has invariably prospered; in other cases language has kept them united, as in the case of German and Scandinavian immigrants. It remains to be seen whether a band of British settlers can work in harmony for the common weal, and become as thriving and prosperous as those possessing a common creed or speaking a foreign language.