C.M. House, London
August 12th, 1815
My dear Sir
	Mr Youle’s return after obtaining his object of admission into Holy orders gives me an opportunity of entrusting a Letter to you to his care.
	My last to you was dated Dec 6/14. We have since received yours of Sep 20th, 22nd, 29th, 30th (various) and of Oct 12th/ 1814 with the Certificate and the Account respecting the Active.
	You will have received ere this, I hope, the Goods shipped on board the Northampton. Finding, by your last letter, that you would probably want more than we had sent, the Committee have now shipped on board the Ocean, by favour of Government, other goods, according to your order, which amount, as by Invoice enclosed, with expences, to £438.11.4, which you will please to place to the credit of the Society.
	Your Curiosities are very acceptable. Many admire them. Shunghees head has surprised and delighted every one. We wish every portable and curious to be collected [sic], and sent to us as we are forming a Museum.
	A strange fellow, George Bruce, whom you doubtless know, has been introduced to us. We have clothed him and are now giving him some instruction. He has, I trust, some serious wishes and [f] intentions of doing good, if he can get back to New Zealand. We shall obtain a passage for him, I dare say, from Government, in a little time.
	You will have anticipated by my last of Dec 15 that we have paid your Drafts on Acct of the Active. When the remainder come, we shall not dishonour them. The Committee feel with you, my Dear Friend, the great opportunity opening before them. Your reports of the Chiefs &c. have delighted us all. You will see in the Numbers of the Missionary Register now sent, that we think them likely to increase the Zeal and ardour of our members. We would not be too sanguine. Our delays and discouragements in Africa teach us to sow in patience and hope, and not seldom “in Tears.” Some difficulties indeed, of that Mission  are of a Nature very peculiar and such as we have no reason to expect in New Zealand; yet we would never forget the general lesson of quiet and submissive acquiescence in the will of God which those difficulties ought to teach us.
	In the Number of the Missionary Register for last Month (July) p. 395, you will be delighted to see what a noble thought had entered into the heart of a liberal woman. Should the “Missionary” ever sail from our Shores and reach you in safety you will know how to dispose of the Active to advantage. I ventured to return to the friend who sent me that letter, a sketch of an annual voyage, on which I thought the “Missionary” might be well employed. Making Port Jackson [f] her home she might leave it— say on New Years Day annually, and after visiting New Zealand, might touch at every Missionary Station belong[ing] to whatever Society it might, among the Islands, and might then visit also such stations on the coasts of China and India, and in Ceylon, and the Islands of the Indian Archipelago; and perhaps pay a second visit to New Zealand before she made Port Jackson: or, if she could not do this so as to be ready for starting on the next New Years day, or if more than two visits annually to New Zealand should be found expedient, then either the Active might be still kept for that express purpose, or a smaller vessel might be procured. I should propose that all freight of Missionary goods whatever be free; and that Missionaries be charged nothing for passage, but simply for their maintenance. When the regularity of the “Missionary’s” arrival at every station came to be felt, year after year, Port Jackson would become a depot of the Scriptures and Tracts in various languages of the East and of the Islands, sent thither by the Public Societies, in order to their dispersion on the Coasts where they would be understood & received.
	Now had I set myself down to imagine such a plan, it might have seemed a wild-goose scheme; but when such designs are put into the hearts of munificent Christians, it is but natural for us to try to give them the best direction.
	We are in expectation of the report of your visit to New Zealand, and have the best hopes that it will confirm our zeal in behalf of that noble [f] race.
	We are fully aware, with you, of the great and continual exertions which must be made to accomplish such objects as we are attempting in New Zealand. But we would rely, with all simplicity, on our Heavenly Master, while we use, with diligence and perseverance, all the means in our power.
	After some time we shall be able to send you an English Clergyman, or two, and perhaps some Lutheran [sic]. I believe that I have stated before that Lutheran Clergymen have this great advantage over our own, that two or three of them can consistently with the laws [of] their Church, and by the allowance of ours, ordain any natives, or others, who may be worthy of being admitted to the Christian ministry. To plant, therefore, two or three such men in New Zealand, after a few years, may be of great importance to the extension and permanence of our Mission.
	Your arrangements with respect to the settlement of the Missionaries at New Zealand met the entire approbation of the Committee.
	We thank you sincerely for your delineation of the respective characters of the Settlers. They accord much with my own views of them; and will enable us to form a more accurate judgment of their various communications.
	Be so kind as to send some copies of the Missionary Register now forwarded to the Settlers, together with the Newspapers & Magazines. Our 15th Report has been delayed. We will send copies by the first conveyance. With kind regards to Mrs M
I am ever Dear Sir
affectionately yours
(signed) J. Pratt