CLERGYMEN IN TRADE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 292, 9 December 1899, Page 3 (Supplement)

CLERGYMEN IN TRADE.

<?nME OP THE WAYS IN WHICH CLER ICS SUPPLEMENT THEIR INCOMES.

As tlie topic of the remuneration of the clergy is very much to the fore just now, and is even being made the subject of possible legislation, it will doubtless be interesting to mention a few instances in whicii I Parliamentary interference, but set about increasing their slender incomes in their own way. Of course the most popular form their ' efforts take is usually that of contributions ' to various magazines, and it -is safe to say ' that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of the clergy who can earn an appreciable amount in this way. The writing and coinposing of hymns is also a method closely allied to the foregoing. i One rector in Norfolk figures as a nurserymail in his spare time, his speciality being roses, and many visitors to the Broads will ' doubtless remember the sight his garden affords from the river in flowering time. That he finds it yield profit as well as plen- ! sun- is evidenced by the fact that he spends nearly £101} per annum simply to advertise his various roses and other plants for sale. Another cleric, whose living is in the county of Nottingham, also lets his supplenaeni tary pecuniary efforts run j lIX THE DIRECTION OF HORTICULTURE, his particular fancy being zonal pclargon- : iums and geraniums, which are of first-rate quality. i Although not sold under his name, a ceri tain paste for rejuvenating silk hats is the invention of a Church of England minister, . who directs a snug little business in it j through the medium of a relation, who poses as the proprietor. Down in Surrey one of the cloth employs his spare time in rearing prize strains of poultry, to which he has lately added canaries as a sourse of further profit. In the south-western counties, which are rich in minerals, small collee'tTons of geological specimens are formed, named,' and sold by clergymen to students who are in want of such things. As much of this business is done through the medium of advertisement, the cleric suffers no loss of prestige if he does not let his name appear. i Bee-farming was taken up by a clergyman iin Essex, but up to the present does not i \ appear to have been a particular success, i

It will be seen that it is necessary to live in the country to carry out most of these schemes effectively. For the over-worked, underpaid city curate there seems to be nothing that he can turn his attention to.