CHURCH RULING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 183, 5 August 1935, Page 3

CHURCH RULING.

CLAUDELANDS AREA. COMMITTEE'S CHALLENGE. TAKING LEGAL ADVICE. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) HAMILTON, Sunday. A committee of St. Aidan's Church, Claudelands, in a circular issued to parishioners dealing with the recent move to form a parochial district at Claudelands, expresses the opinion that the ruling of the chancellor of the diocese, that no alteration could be made ..to the cathedral statute without the consent of the Greater Chapter, because a provision to that effect was made in the statute, was not sound in law.

The committee stated that it was taking legal advice on the point that no Diocesan Synod had the power to surrender its rights, and that the clause in the cathedral statute providing that the Greater Chapter's consent was necessary before synod could alter the statute was not legal, and could be over-ridden. The committee stated that the consent of the people of Gordonton would be obtained before their area was included in the new district. It also reported that when the necessary information was obtained a special session of synod would probably be called to pass theamended bill.

In conclusion, the committee advised that the present position was that the parochial district had in reality been established without the name, and it brought the following points under the notice of parishioners: (1) The Lesser Chapter has no control over the church of St. Aidan; (2) the Dean of Hamilton has no control over the church of St. Aidan or the Rev. W. M. Smallfiekl (the former priest-in-charge); (3) the Rev. W. M. Smallfield is not a curate of the cathedral and is entitled to be designated the vicar of the church of St. Aidan; (4) no office-bearer of St. Peter's has right of interference in- the affairs of St. Aidan's.