Touchstone  July 2004
 

 By Yvonne Wilkie
 Director of Archives

‘Many tales can be told about the conditions of the manse by those who lived in one. There is the one in which the manse family were advised to move their bed away from the leak in the ceiling.   No decision was made for 12 months whether to fix the damaged slates or replace the entire roof. An anonymous donor came to the rescue and organised the replacement and payment for a new roof.

Or there is the tale where a ‘lady of the manse' wrote to her sister complaining that the office bearers had not really ‘seen the light' as they were unwilling to install electric lighting in the manse yet they had done so in their own homes several years earlier.

Descriptions of the all too common lean-to that housed the flush toilet and wash house and the arduous labour needed bringing the section under control cause us to wonder at the apparent ambivalence towards the well-being of manse families.

The maintenance of physical structure of the manse was the duty of the Deacons' Court or Board of Managers. No regulations existed on who held the responsibility for the overall up-keep of the manse interior and the surrounding property.  In 1923 the Home Ministry Committee recommended “that a congregation should place in their manses suitable floor covering and the heavier furniture.”   It is evident from the records, however, that few adhered to this regulation and Home Missionaries were on the whole poorly housed.

The economic pressures of the Depression years of the 1930's affected the level of stipend parishes could pay.  Thus the concept of ‘free housing' as an addition ‘in kind' to the basic stipend slowly evolved.

A 1944 report from the Maintenance for Ministry Committee described the majority of manses throughout the country as ‘badly designed, cold, damp and in need of repair'. The impressions recorded of one manse are representative of other descriptions found in Archives papers :
"There were six huge rooms, all with a twelve foot stud and very dark.  The front room was typical of the whole house. The wall paper was black with yellow chrysanthemums and the ceiling stained timber…it was all very dark.   Over time we painted and papered the whole house…The novelty for us was the 'coal room'.  It held five tons of lignite, delivered at one pound per ton.  With the coal range and five fire places most of which were kept going day and night in winter coal was essential."

In this case the Deacons' Court paid for the paint and paper but that was not always so. The women's organisations in one city parish raised sufficient funds to redecorate the entire manse for a newly arrived family.  Over a period of several months the women and ‘the lady of the manse' painted and wall papered ‘amidst much laughter'.

In 1957 the ‘standard terms of call' began to specify provisions of Manse furnishings.  No longer did that infamous piece of blue or green ‘feltex' need to be taken up, cut and re-sewn yet again to fit another manse room.  Floor coverings were to be provided in all main rooms.  The same year the Church Architecture Committee produced guidelines for the design of a manse to accommodate the changing life styles of post-war New Zealand.

By 1974 the manse and its fixtures were clearly listed to include : floor coverings, blinds, heating in the lounge and study, white ware, book cases, built-in wardrobes, and garage space. Today when a profile for ‘Call' is submitted the condition and appearance of the Manse holds considerable importance for the potential family - a far cry from 60 years ago.