REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON CHURCH MATTERS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 132, 16 July 1853, Page 4

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON CHURCH MATTERS.

To ihe Editor of the Lyttelton Times. r Sir, —I beg to send hereAvtth-three documents for publication in your columns : i. A Resolution passed at the last meeting of the Committee on Church Matters, held at Christchurch on the Ist July, 1853. 2. A Petition to the Queen.. 3. An address to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Your kind compliance with this request will confer an obligation on Sir, Your obedient servant, Conway L. Rose, Secretary to the Committee on Church Matters. Resolved,—-That, though it is no part of the specific duties imposed on this Committee to express any opinion on the past policy of the Canterbury Association with respect to the disposal of the Ecclesiastical and Educational Fund, yet considering that a pointed appeal has been made by the j Special Agent of the Association to this Committee for its opinion on this subject, and that this appeal has been prominently referred to in the Public Journal of the Settlement:—considering also that it is stated in a letter of Lord Lyttelton to the editor of the Times, dated Jan. 25, 1853, " that the Colonists themselves had to some extent recommended such investments," (meaning the investments of the Ecclesiastical Fund in Land, referred to by the Public Auditor), " and have expressed their satisfaction at hearing that they have been made," which statement has been noticed and commented on in English neAvspapers: -—this Committee considers itself called upon to record Avithout delay its views on the matter in question.

That this Committee, accordingly, while it earnestly desires to acknowledge the deep debt of gratitude which is due to the noble and disinterested Founders of this Settlement, and is extremely reluctant to pass any censure upon their proceedings, feels bound notwithstanding to express its opinion that the Avholesale commutation of Church Revenues for Waste Land has been inconsiderate and umvise.

In expressing this opinion, hoAvever, the Committee is anxious to guard against the inference that.the sum invested in Land is excessive, when compared with the total amount received by the Association on account of the Ecclesiastical and Educational Fund. But Avhen such large, and in a great measure, as the Committee cannot but believe, uncalled for and wasteful expenditure had been made; first, on account of Ships' Chaplains—an expense Avhich the Committee believes ought not, if incurred at all, to have been charged on this Fund ; and secondly, on account of Mr. Jackson's mission to the colony, Avhich does not appear to have been necessary, and was, in fact, entirely fruitless of any useful result—and when £10,000 had been set apart for the endowment of the Bishopric, and about £4,000 paid out of Capital for the stipends of Clergy and Schoolmasters, and for the erection of certain buildings :—to have invested in Waste Lands the Avhole of what remained was, in the opinion of the Committee, an injudicious and ill-advised step, and that for the folloAving reasons : 1. Because it was sure to involve the Ecclesiastical Establishments of the Settlement in very serious embarrassment, and to cripple the energies of the Church at a time, when it Avas of vital consequence that a good beginning should be made, and that the work of the Church should be carried on from the first Avith that completeness, efficiency, and adequacy to the Avants of the Settlement, of Avhich so many promises were made by tha Association in the earlier stages of its undertaking.

2. Because, while the immediate loss and embarrassment was certain, the future- gain was, and is, extremely uncertain, both in point of time and degree, it being impossible even in the Colony, with the advantage of local knowledge and experience, and therefore quite out of the question in England, to calculate even approximately the probable future value of land, and the number of years Avhich must elapse before it can become sufficiently productive to meet the requirements of the Settlement. 3. Because the interests of the original Land-purchasers, from Avhose contributions the revenue arose, and to whom therefore the chief consideration was due, were thus sacrificed for an uncertain? and distant benefit, which may accrue' .if'at all, Avhen they have ceased to live, or may have gone elsewhere. 4. Because, if the promises which were held out, and the expectations which were encouraged, by the Association at the commencement of their undertaking, had been faithfully fulfilled to the utmost of their pbAver, far greater confidence would have been inspired in the minds, both of the Colonists and of the English public, the beneficial effects of which would undoubtedly have been felt erelong in an increased emigration of the most valuable classes of society. 5. Because, Avhile a portion of the Fund might perhaps, in the first instance, have been fitly invested in eligible Land-EndoAv-ments in the Colony, other Securities might have been found for the larger portion, such as, without entailing future loss, would have produced a very considerable present income. The Committee is, therefore, of opinion, for the reasons above stated, that the Managing Committee of the Association acted under ill-advice in investing in Waste Land the whole available balance of the Ecclesiastical and Educational Fund after the large expenditure before adverted to ; and is irrisistibly led to the conclusion, that the necessities of the Association, arising out of the large overdraughts on the Miscellaneous and Emigration Funds, were more considered in the arrangement than the interests of the Church and Education. Resolved, further, that the Secretary be requested to forward a copy of the foregoing resolution to the editor of the Lyttelton Times Tor publication in that Journal.

To the Queen's most excellent Majesty. The humble petition of the undersigned Members of the United Church of England and Ireland Avithin the Canterbury Settlement, NeAV Zealand, Humbly Skeweth, That by an Act of the 15th year of your Majesty's Reign, intituled " An Act to remove doubts as to the Constitution of the Bishopric of Christchurch in New Zealand, and to enable her Majesty to constitute such Bishopric, and to enable her Majesty further to subdivide the Diocese of NeAV Zealand ;" The Diocese of NeAV Zealand Avas divided into tAvo portions Avhereof the one remained subject to the Bishop of NeAV Zealand, and the other intituled in the Act the Diocese of Christchurch, and comprehending the Canterbury Settlement and certain other portions of the Middle Island as well as the island commonly called SteAvart's Island, became a distinct and separate Diocese, to be placed under the ecclesiastical superintendence of a Bishop of Christchurch, so soon as such Bishop should be consecrated to his office. That for the fitting maintenance and support of such Bishop a sum of ten thousand pounds (£10,000) has been set apart by the Canterbury Association ; such sum being invested as your petitioners are informed by the special Agent of the Canterbury Association in unexceptional securities, and producing a clear net income of £600 per annum : and that no impediment therefore hoav exists to the immediate appointment and consecration I of such Bishop. „

Under these circumstances your petitioners humbly beseech your Majesty to issue your Royal mandate for the consecration of a.Bisbop of Christchurch at as early a period as may be consistent Avith your Royal pleasure—and your petitioners will ever pray, &c, &c, &c.

To His Grace the Abchbishop of Canterbury, PftIMATE OF ALL ENGLAND AND Metropolitan. Mat it please v/otjb Gbace,—We, the undersigned Members of the United Church of England and Ireland in the Canterbury Settlement, NeAV Zealand, desire to express to your Grace, as Primate of our Church, the feelings of regret and disappointment with Avhich we have received intelligence that the appointment of a Bishop to the recently constituted Diocese^ of Christchurch, is likely to be deferred for an indefinite period. Your Grace is doubtless aware that by an Act of the 15th year of her present Majesty's-; reign, intituled " An Act to remove doubts as to the constitution of the Bishopric of Christchurch in New Zealand, and to enable her Majesty to constitute such Bishopric, and to enable her Majesty further to subdivide the Diocese of New Zealand;'' The Diocese of New Zealand was divided into two portions whereof the southernmost, comprehending the Canterbury Settlement, and some other parts of this Island, together with Stewart's Island,' was placed under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of a Bishop of Christchurch so soon as such Bishop should be consecrated to his office. By this Act any doubts which might previously have existed respecting the legality of such partition of the Diocese of NeAV Zealand were, we are assured, entirely removed. For the support of a Bishop of the diocese thus legally constituted, an endowment of ten thousand pounds (£10,000) has been provided, such sum being invested, as Aye are informed, by the special Agent of the Canterbury Association, in unexceptionable securities, and producing a clear net income of £600 per annum. We are therefore unable to account for the delay Avhich has taken place in the appointment and consecration of a Bishop of Christchurch ;- a delay productive of incalculable injury to the interests of the Church in a country Avhere the difficulty of communication renders the efficient episcopal superintendence of the present Diocese an absolute impossibility. To no one, Aye are Avell assured, is this disheartening fact more painfully obA'ious than to our present venerated Bishop, who, as is well known, is most anxious to be relieved from a portion of the heavy responsibility noAV pressing upon him. Relying on your Grace's sympathy and fully assured of youransious desire for the efficiency and Avelfare of every branch of our Holy Church, Aye implore you to take such steps, as you may in your Avisdom approve, for obtaining for the newly constituted Diocese of Christchurch the episcopal superintendence to which it is entitled by Act of Parliament, and Avhich has been long since promised us by the found-.^. ers of the Settlement. With every feeling of respect and veneration: we desire to subscribe ourselves, Your Grace's faithful humble servants,

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. "Hi narrata ferunt alio; mensura que ficti Creseit, et auditis aliquid novus adjicit auctor, Illic Credulitas illic temerarius Error." Sir, —Will you alloAV place to some remarks on the question of objections to registered claims to vote under the Constitution Act. The latter part of clause 30, of the Governor's Proclamation —noAV a part of the Act —enacts": " But the person so objecting shall, ten days at least before the day appointed for the formation of such Electoral roll, cause notice in writing of such objection, and of the ground thereof to be given to the Resident Magistrate or other person acting for the district, and also to the person objected to'" The spirit and tendency of English legislation ia the present day is to make .laws intelligible to all, by adopting the " language common to her Majesty's subjects";—by svveeping away_ technical words and legal phrases, to get rid of

laAvyer-craft. The above clause is worded in the plainest untechnical English. I apprehend, Sir, when very plain Englishmen talkjto me in ordinary speech of this person and that person, metaphysical subtleties on personal identity are not clouding their brain ; nor do they mean me to understand this one's wife or that one's daughter, much less the servant of either. Royalty of old expiated its offences on the person of a Avhipping boy. But when the Judge aAyarded a flogging to a rogue he did not mean it to be given either to his wife or to his daughter indifferently, or to some luckless young " buttons" on the establishment. By the common laAv a man has a right to notice of any case brought against him; now *it is laid doAvn for the construction of statutes : '' When a statute is general it is subject to jthe control and order of the common laAV-^-itis pot presumed to make any alteration in the common laAv^-for if Parliament had that design they would have expressed it in the Act." " A caums omissus (oversight) can in no case be supplied by the court; for that would be to make hays. It is safer to adopt what the Legislature has actually said than to suppose what they meant to say. When there are conflicting decisions upon the Avords of a statute, the court jnust refer to that Avhich ought to be the source of all such decisions—the words of the statute $tself:[ Decisions of one court do not bind another of similar jurisdiction. Were Judges and LaAvyers more commonly agreed upon law and practice, we could spare a feAV of the useless among them. The foregoing simple rules, — those of criminal and civil law,-r-the passage on objections to votes in the Reform Act, where the mode of service is expressly laid down, —and the particularly plain Avoids of the clause 3Q quoted before,—rpoint alike to one interpretation. Ist, as to criminal law. Lord Chief Justice Paiker " Was of opinion (and the provisions specially introduced into many Acts of Parliament to make a service at the dwelling house sufficient seem to justify the inference,) that the law in other cases is understood to require a service upon the person." '" In general it is necessary that service of the summons should be on the person of the defendant, unless Avhere personal service is dispensed Avith, as is sometimes the case by star Jutes." Your flippant correspondent " Elector," taking example by the ignoramus vyho wrote on ." Chinese Metaphysics," needed only to have looked into a Law Encyclopedia under the headings ' service' and ' summons,* and ' combined his information.' He would then have acquired that "little more knowledge of law /combined Avith a little more common sense" which, with lamentable unconcern for his own Avants, he desires in the Magistrates : men pror bably of about the same very average capacity as himself, for seeing through mill stones. Raw opinions and trashy anecdotes will not Suffice to interpret laAv, or to enlighten the public. Leaving such materials for your—• Haberdasher of small wares, Iv politics and state affairs ; I will turn to the practice at Civil LaAV : " It shall be lawful for the Resident Magistrate upon proof of personal service of a summons upon the defendant to hear, &c." The practice in the Wellington Court accords Avith the Avords of the laAv and Avith the opinion of a high legal functionary bold enough to " prejudge a clause 1" as this Elector has it. Rule 19 of the Supreme Court says: " If a sole defendant against Ayhoin a Avrit of summons shall have issued, shall keep out of the Avay purposely to avoid being served therewith." Must the plain inference be pointed out for especial dunderheads, that service on the person is necessary ? The remedy in this case of evasion is expressly laid clown by the rules, and a mode of service is especially prescribed. Lastly, Sect. 7 of the Reform Act enacts: " The person so objecting shall also give or cause to be given to the person so objected to, or leave or cause to be left at his place of abode as described in such list, a notice according to the form, Sec.'' Noav Parliament is especially precise as to the mode of service. And, to apply one rule for construction already quoted: in clause 30 of the proclamation, the Governor leaves no alternative of service at ithe abode. We are not, therefore, to presume he',did intend to leave

any ; or, Avhen he said notice was to be given to the person, that he meant us to understand notice was not to be given to the person. He has not adopted the Avhole parallel passage in the Reform Act, there is no evidence to lead us to infer the omission is unintentional. Even if it were so, a Court of LaAv has no right to supply the omission, and usurp the functions of the Legislature. Lord Chief Justice Parker's common sense mode of drawing an inference seems too common for your correspondents. It is vulgar. I They reject it. Like the chimney sweep compelled to Avash his face on a Aveek day, they " hate things that ain't accordin' to reason— that is reason^as they misunderstand it. I do not ask -to, obtrude upon your leaders a rash opinion supported by no weight of evidence. But I think; I have adduced sufficient to prove that one Avidely different from that of your correspondents rests, even if it be unsound, upon some much better authority than theirs. One " Elector" grossly confuses interpreting an Act with prejudging a ease! Does not even knoAV that as soon as passed every act is " properly brought before" a Court, which must then take cognizance of it. Ignorant of the duty, he criticises the conduct of a Magistrate. Does he pretend that the case (not the act) was " properly brought before" the Court the other day ? then Avrite him down an ass. Another 'Elector by qualification'— Who feels rag freehold's worth and walks elate, A little prop and pillar of our State, Talks of a ' fact staggering his eyesight'! (a wall-eyed elector this, doubtless), —and of bringing common sense and right reasoning to bear on the ' legal technicality' (God help him) of the plainest of English Avords in a clause, Avhich I am bold to assert he has not even read. He reminds one of the man of only two ideas: the one a confused, the other an erroneous one. Let us hope this pair * worthy in themselves' will both be happier in the choice of their candidates than they are in the elucidation of their subject, or in the display of their legal acumen and research. Lord Denman says: ' when you are called upon for your opinion/make yourself master of the facts.' Had your tAvo electors instead of ' dreaming' and needlessly ' astonishing' themselves, first ascertained the fact (not to be seen, O notable elector, otherwise than through thy mental "vision) that, of three professional gentlemen not in practice here, two interpret the act as the Bench have done, and a third considers there is authority for their decision, they would I trust have been more diffident of their own, lessdiberal of their strictures on another's opinion. And Avould, at least, have avoided a display of such Avant of that " common sense" Avhich, by denying to others, they arrogate to themselves, but will both Avisely go in search of before re-entering' upon the arid arena of legal criticism. I am, Sir, Your's &c, Plain English. Lyttelton, 9th July.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir, —From the address! in your last Aveek's paper, and 'from certain placards posted up in different parts of Christchurch, I see that Col. Campbell persists in coming forward at the ensuing election as Candidate for the Superintendancy. .......... ** Perhaps you will allow me to call the attention of the Canterbury Electors to the sixth clause of the Constitutional Act, Avhich provides that the Superintendant shall be legally qualified as an Elector, and duly registered-as such. There is no such name as James Campbell on the Register, and it is in vain for the Colonel to assert his right to stand as a Candidate on the ground of his name having been unjustly omitted from the list. The fact of its not beingthere is decisive fagainst him. He has, moreover, signed the Roll, excluding himself without any proviso, as in the case of many electors ; thus testifying to its correctness, and maintaining his own ineligibility to vote. Therefore he is not " a fit" or " proper person" to be nominated as a Candidate. The returning officer could not call for a shew of hands'in his favour, or declare him elected in the event of his obtaining a larger number of votes than auy qualified person, I therefore trust and believe that my brother

electors will not stultify themselves by endeavouring to record their votes in his favour. Before closing this letter I would refer to a piece of unfairness which the writer of Colonel Campbell's address has indulged in. He speaks of Messrs. Tancred and Fitz Gerald as " Candidates avlio are pledged advocates of the dying interests of the late Canterbury Association." If by this obscure sentence he Avould infer that either of those gentlemen would advocate the interests of the Committee of Management in opposition to the rights of the Colonists, the accusation is too grossly unjust to need refutation, and will, I am sure, be treated with scorn by every Canterbury Colonist. I am, Sir, An Elector.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir, —I Avas thunderstruck this evening in Christchurch, in seeing some placards issued about in Colonel Campbell's name, advocating cheap land and friendship for the labouring classes. Do I recollect right, or am I dreaming ? Did not Colonel Campbell, sometime ago, advocate the introduction of Convicts here ? Now he is trying the dodge, " Down with the Chinamen." Does he think the labouring men of Canterbury prefer the outcasts of society to honest men ? If Aye really do Avant more labour here (but I very much doubt it), then my cry shall be— doAvn Avith the convicts, and up Avith the Chinamen. I am, Sir, A Lover op Consistency and A Labouring Man.

Christchubch Market, Jult 9.r—There Avas a more than ordinarily full attendance today ; but few transactions took place in the way of business. The prices of grain, and every other description of .produce remain stationary, Avith the exception of oats, which continue to advance, prime samples being held at 10s. to 12s. The subject of the proposed Cattle ShoAV again formed the subject of conversation, and final arrangements, we believe, Avere made for holding if about the last Aveek in September. The Avant of more extended accommodation for parties attending the Ordinary begins to be much felt, not one half of those Avho attended for that purpose to-day Being able to get seats at the table; 'We hear-, hoAA-ever, that immediate arrangements are being made for greatly extending the present accommodation, and Avhich but for the late bad weather Avould have been concluded before this time.