By the time Anne Ward's deputation had talked with Julius Vogel, the temperance lectures by the American Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) world missionary Mary Greenleaf Clement Leavitt had been well received in many towns in New Zealand. Leavitt reached Christchurch in May, giving her first lecture at the Theatre Royal on the 10th.[18] Leavitt then spoke at the St. John's Church Temperance Society's Annual Meeting on the 11th,[19] and on the 13th she held a meeting for ladies only at the YMCA rooms.[20] It is likely that at one of these meetings, Leavitt met and became close with Anne Ward.