Take The Light And Pass It On

In this series I have already spoken of Sister Amy Lill (later Mrs Sutherland) who spent time as a travelling evangelist for Primitive Methodism in this country. She had hoped to serve in the China Inland Mission, but this was not possible. She did, however, lead the way in terms of ministry, and as a supply Home Missionary for the Primitive Methodist Connexion in Inglewood in 1904/1905 she may be thought of as the first stationed woman minister in New Zealand Methodism.

Her older sister, Rose Mary, was born 150 years ago this month in Willowby, near Ashburton. Known as Sister Maisie, she was equally a trailblazer and after the relative peace and safety of South Canterbury farm life, she served for three years at Ubuia, at the eastern end of Papua – the very edge of the ‘civilized world’ for Europeans of that day. Her work was with the local children and was exceptionally demanding - caring for families where there was sickness, engaging in education for the young and teaching the older children how to carry out household duties. In a malarial climate far removed from the physical safety of New Zealand, she eventually succumbed to the disease, not long after her marriage to Ernest Harrison - a lay missionary working on a lonely island (Woodlark Island) off the eastern coast of Papua. She finally, for health reasons, had to leave missionary work entirely and returned to her homeland.

The title of this article is the motto of my old college in Wellington, and it seemed appropriate to use it in respect to both Maisie and her sister Amy, who grew up in a quite remarkable Methodist family. When their father, William Thomas Lill, died in 1939, the Ashburton Guardian, published an obituary of just over two full columns eulogising the death of this ‘pioneer’. In detailing his life in 2024 it is impossible not to acknowledge the continuity between personal faith and community service that marked earlier generations of Methodists, and, of course, Christian churchgoers of all sorts. Their faith was their light, and that light, they firmly believed, was essential to the life of their world. It was to be handed on to the next generation. 

Their children accepted this worldview because they had seen it being carried out in their daily lives as they grew up. In telling the story of William Thomas Lill, I wish to stress that he was simply one of thousands of committed Christian women and men in this country who did their absolute best for their fellow citizens.

Born in Lincolnshire in 1847, he came to Christchurch when he was 21. He went south to Templeton and was a farmworker there for eight years before being employed for a period by New Zealand Railways at Ashburton - a town that had hardly been formed at that time. He married Clara Taylor from a local family and with her father ran a bakery and catering business for a time.

He moved to Willowby in 1881 and spent the remainder of his life principally as a wheat-grower. His obituary claimed that few men in New Zealand had equalled his record for wheat production. He and his wife brought up a large family, many of whom were still resident in the Ashburton district at the time of his death in 1939.

His public service record is quite astonishing. Very quickly he became a mover and shaker in local affairs, starting with the erection of a freezing-works. He was on the Willowby School Committee for many years, and later was on the boards of both the District High School and the Technical School. He was a member of the Hospital Board for many years, and of the Power Board. He was active in both the Farmers’ Union and the A & P Association. He was an elected member of the County Council from 1911, and his financial acumen was an important part of his contribution to the work of the Council. He was a committed temperance advocate, and all the time he was a devoted member of the Primitive Methodist church – as leader and local preacher and nationally. William Lill was, in fact, one of just two laymen to be appointed President of the Primitive Methodist Conference.

At the time of his death many fine things were said of him, and he was variously described as conscientious, honest, a perseverant person and upright. Doubtless many other folks earned such commendations, but in 1874, the year of his daughter Rose Mary’s (Maisie) birth, William might have simply said that he was doing his duty. Our world still has need of such people, but it is an increasingly regulated world and the good that we might want to do is often hedged by restrictions. Do we need to demand the freedom to be a good neighbour? Do we not have a duty towards our whanau?