UNION OF CHURCHES.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 1, 2 January 1924, Page 4

UNION OF CHURCHES.

I Tho Archbishop of Canterbury, in a | Christmas letter issued from Lambeth Palace, discusses the question, of tho j reunion of Christian churches, and j states that reunion, especially between [tho Anglican and Roman Churches, has made only the sm.'.'iest headway. This I will not come as a surprise to those who have followed the course of recent I negotiations. For some little time the ' chances of reunion between the Anglian and other Protestant bodies seemed hopeful. In many essential matters substantial agreement was reached. ' The Nicene Creed was put forward as ' embodying the belief of large numbers ; in all the churches; the two sacraments were largely accepted; and even the ' historic episcopate, by which is meant ' the lact of episcopal government apart from any theory as to its origin or nature, was accepted as a basis of union by several prominent divines in non-Anglican communions. The crux was found to be the question of orders. To many this question was fundamental. Briefly it was just this. A large number of Anglicans believed that a direct gift had been handed down from the Apostles in ordination, that this Apostolical succession was unbroken, and that no orders were valid outside this succession. The non-Angli-can Protestant churches took the view that the call to the work of the ministry was an inner call, and that orders were valid if this inner call were present quite apart from question of Apostolical succession. The Anglicans proposed that all ministers should receive a commission from the Bishops of a united church, but the other bodies wanted to know how far their existing orders were recognised as valid. To that question no answer could be found satisfactory to the. bulk of members of all the churches. . As regards reunion with the Eastern churches, the Anglicans found that union between themselves and the Orthodox church was hopeful of attainment. There was noi the outstanding question of the validity of orders, and difficulties that aros< when the question of union with Rom< was mooted were, absent. This is tin reunion, as far as the Anglicans an concerned, which seems most likely t< result first. The conversations a Malines, to which the Archbishoi specially refers, were between a smal and non-representative body of Augli cans and representatives of tbe Churcl of Rome. These have not resulted li much headway being made. Tbe Churcl of Rome lias certain doctrines which i regards as fundamental, and the Angli cans cannot accept these doctrines with out losing their position as a nationa church. The Anglican Church couli doubtless split up, and part could job the non-Anglican Protestant bodies an< another part the Church of Rome. Bu this would not mean reunion; it wouli merely mean the disappearance of tin Anglican Church. The Archbishop sec the immense difficulties, which for somi time to come may prove insuperable but these difficulties will not be mad< lees by any hasty, superficial attempi to solve them. It may be that they li< deep in human nature, and that tru< reunion is not to be sought in outwar< organisation, but in spiritual unity Religious controversies arc less bittei than they used to be, and there is i growing disposition for mutual charity

New Year's Eve was ever a time when the younger generation 'let themselves 1 go," and this year was no exception to the rule. One marine suburb appears to have suffered extra heavily at the hands of a gang of merrymakers. The lifting off of gates from their hinges is an old, old practice, which this year appears to have gained in favour. Not ] only were numerous gates removed, but they were carried considerable distances ! away from their original resting places. j Street lamps were utilised as targets by j the celebrators, and judging from the ; appearance of several of the lamps, 1 their aim was fairly accurate. The wcll- | known "On this beach you must not" signs were pulled down, while rowing boats were taken from their moorings , and conveyed to other parts of the bay. In addition, there were numerous minor cases of a similar nature, while the cost of the chalk that was used in scribbling • "Happy New Year," and similar phrases ' on every place imaginable, must have I been considerable. A daring robbery was perpetrated in i Ashburton last Wednesday night, when a sum of between £50 and £60. the property of the Re>. J. F. Wiseman, Anglican minister, was stolen. The theft was committed in Mr. Wiseman's room whilst he was asleep. The money was in notes and silver. The notes were in a wallet in the coat and the silver in a trouser-pocket. The burglar j made no sound, for Mr. Wiseman was I absolutely undisturbed, and no clue was left. The reason why Mr. Wiseman had so much money on the premises was on account of the fact that he intended going for a holiday, and also because on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of last week the banks were closed. The heavy thunderstorm on Christmas Day was responsible for several "blow- ! outs" in connection with electrical instal- | lations in Christchureh City. The most serious occurred on the premises of the Kaiapoi Woollen Manufacturing Company, Limited, in Manchester Street. A piece of tbe conduit piping in which the electric wires in the building are enclosed was fused on the ceiling of the engine room. The melting of the metal is an indication of the fierceness of the j heat which was conveyed along the wire. Attached to the smaller switchboard was I a meter, and a hole roughly seven inches ! by three was blown out of it by the j same agency that melted the inch iron I piping. Tlic meter was completely I ruined, ail the coils being burned out on j some of the wires connected with the | switchboard. Outside, the insulating j material on one of tlie direct current : service wires was completely burned off. i The thrush has been responsible for I a great deal of mischief in his day, but his latest exploit is that of attacking the trout at the Dannevirke hatchery. Recently the curator noticed that fry were lying on the concrete floor, and he could not uccount for this. A watch ; was set, and it was seen that thrushes preyed on the. young fish as they swam j along the top of the trays and dropped I them on the floor, where they devoured i them. Wire netting has since been : erected across the roof to protect the fry. An omelette eating competition, which : is held every year at the little town of ' Stcevoort, near Tongres, had a tragic ending last month (says a "Central' JCews" Brussels message). The omelettes are made of buckwheat, and are very , indigestible, and one of the competitors i collapsed at the table, and when picked i j up was dead. ]

I "Its a queer wind that Mows no- ! where." To all appearances the city at leisht o'clock this moraine resembled a

■Sunday in all its quietude. The streets contained few people, the shops were closed, but the "weathercock" which indicates that the races still had a day to go stood out boldly—a city pawnbroker ,had his shop open ready to do business.

Mounted on two powerful touring machines, with side-cars and equipped with spares to meet almost every emergency and a small tent for camping out, four Dunedin motor cyclists visited New Plymouth a few days ago on their way to "Auckland. The long tour commenced at Dunedin on Saturday afternoon last, and the cyclists had a good run to Christchureh, where, after having one of the side-car chassis strengthened jthcy just managed to catch the boat ito Wellington. A broken side-car axle and an old tube are mementos displayed by the riders. The tube blew out at Palmerston South, and since 'then has been trailed at the rear on one of tho side-cars. The tourists aro now on their way to Auckland, being quite prepared to camp on the roadside if, after t!ic iecent rains, the Awakino road is impassable.

The German mark _ay stand for the symbol of nihility. On a post card from Germany received in Dunedin are five stamps, one of which is green and has printed across it the words "10 milliarden" and the figures "10,000,000,000 m"-— i.e.. ten thousand million marks. Two other stamps are orange, worth five milliards apiece, and two are brown, worth one milliard each. That is, the postage on this post card, which would cost us one penny to send to Germany, amounts to 22 thousand million marks! By this same mail a Dunedin business linn received a mail packet from Germany carrying about £3 worth of goods, and bearing postage stamps of the nominal value of three thousand four hundred million marks.

Some idea of the number of people travelling on the railways can be gathered from the fact that 1241 people were s?rved with meals at the Marton dining room on Saturday last. At the refreshment counter 3351 persons were attended to. The alterations and extension to the dining room at the Marton station have been completed, and it is now so equipped that 205 people can be served at a sitting instead of 132 as previously.

Births registered in Auckland last month were 145, exactly the same number a s in December, 1922. Deaths were 118 as against 120 and the marriages were 212 as against 219. For tho year the births totalled 3253 compared with 3201 in 1922! marriages 2000 as against : 1048; and deaths 1577 a3 against 1610. i Marriages before the registrar were 505 jas against 464 in 1922.

Following a flight at Palmerston North on Wednesday (says the "Manawatu j Times'") Percy Coleman landed safely in a paddock* and alighting from the I machine, left the engine runr.ing. The ! machine started off on its own, with I the surprised owner in hot pursuit, in I vain, to catch the runaway. The latter defied its pursuer for some distance coming to a stop at last, upside down. It is reported that the propeller is extensively damaged, and that other parts of the" machine have not escaped entirely free.

An Italian publicist estimated that altogether there were 200,000 qualified medical practitioners in Europe, of whom 48.000 were domiciled in Great Britain and Ireland. Next came France with 32,000, Germany 26,000, Italy 24,000, Russia 20,000, Austria 13,000, Belgium 12,000, and Spain 8,000. The proportion of doctors to the population was much greater in England than in any other country. Brussels, however, enjoyed the distinction of being the most doctorridden town in Europe, the proportion there being 2 to 4 every 10,000 souls (or

bodies)

A sensational runaway occurred in Upper Bank Street, Whangarei, on Monday afternoon. Mr. Donald Cleaver was driving a baker's cart loaded with loaves when the horse took fright and bolted. The cart overturned, and the animal, breaking free, careered on down the road. Olr. Cleaver was thrown heavily and received such injuries that he had to be removed to the hospital. He was severely injured. The horse ibutted full into the rear of Mr. H. W. Crawford's Overland car and drove in the back of .the car.

A large scrub fire yesterday swept the country from below the Huka Falls to the Aratiatia Rapids. Several visitors to Aratiatia with their motor cars had narrow escapes. The fire at one time came dangerously near the Wairakei Hotel, but no damage is reported. Some of the beautiful bush near the Aratiatia Rapids has been destroyed.

Despite a decrease in the totalisator returns on the opening day of the Auckland Trotting Club's meeting the three days' fixture finished up by showing an increase of £31 IS 10/ compared with the summer meeting last year. The meeting concluded on Monday when the principal event, tlie President's Handicap, was won by the ibackmarkcr Sheik, with two other visiting horses in Acron and Linden in tho places. A feature of the meeting was that the principal handicap event each day, including the Cup, was won by an Australian-lbred horse.

A new hall at the pa on the banks of the Waipa at Ngaruawahia was opened a few days ago. This building contains over 4000 square feet of floor space. On Christmas Eve a ball was held in tho hall, and was attended by a large number of dancers.

At Ngaruawahia during the holidays an office at the residence of Mr. T. Clayton was broken into in the middle of the afternoon, during the absence of Mrs. Clayton. On her return she found that the door of the office had been forced, the safe broken up, and over £130 in cash stolen.

During the past twelve months the Hamilton Fire Brigade fully justified its existence by the property it saved from destruction. The total value of the buildings and contents where outbreaks occurred, was £24,000, and the total loss to property owners was no more than £4200. .

A contemptible theft was perpetrated at Devonport on Monday afternoon when a lady bather who was having a dip on the waterfront near the Victoria wharf found upon returning to the dressing shed that her clothing had been stolen.