CHURCH LEADER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 97, 24 April 1940, Page 8

CHURCH LEADER.

BISHOP DESIGNATE.

29 YEARS IN DOMINION.

HIGH SPIRITUAL POWERS.

The Venerable William John Simkln was born on June ]•">, 1883, at Rugelev, near Lichfield, in the County of Staffor], being the eldest son of Mr. W. B. Simk'm, who died only last January. He was educated at the National Sclhmil. liiwreifv. and at S. Oswald's College, Ellesniere, one of the schools of the Woodard Foundation. At 14 years of age lie entered the office of a firm of solicitors in his native town, of which firm his father was managing clerk, and according to the custom of that time was apprenticed as a solicitor's clerk for a. period of seven years. Unable, for financial reasons, to go to a university, he entered the Theological College at Lichfield in the year 1905, and in 1908 passed, in the first class, the universities' theological examination, the examination required as the qualification for ordination of those who Lad been unable to obtain the benefit of a university degree. For this result he was awarded the "Potter-Selwyn Prize," a prize awarded annually bv the college from the endowment raised by the American Church to commemorate the services rendered to that church by Bishop Selvvyn, and named after the Bishop of New York and Bishop Selwvn. Archdeacon Simkin also passed the examination of the University of Durham for the diploma of licentiate ill theology. Positions in Hawke's Bay. The Bishop designate was admitted to the Diaeonate on June l.». 1908, j n Lichfield Cathedral by the then Bishop of Lichfield, Dr. Legge, and was ordained to the priesthood oil September 21 of the following year by the same bishop in the Church of St. Mary, Shrewsbury. He served as assistant-curate in the" parish of Christ Church. Stafford, from 1908 to 1911, when Bishop Averill, who had been recently consecrated Bishop of Waiapa. invited him to come to work in Xew Zealand and appointed him to be vicar of Wairoa, Hawke's Bay. He was instituted oil Easter Day, 1911, bv the Venerable H. W. Williams, Archdeacon of Waiapu and later Bishop of Waiapu. and remained there until the end of 1917. While at Wairoa he served for aome years as chairman of the school committee and of the hospital board. His next position was that of domestic chaplain and private secretary to the Bishop of Waiapu (the Right Rev. W. W. Sedgwick), and secretary of the Di icese of Waiapu. In the following year, 1919, Bishop Sedgwick appointed him Archdeacon of Hawke's Bay and superintendent of the Maori mission in t'ie archdeaconry. As secretary of the diocese he was also secretary of the Tc Aute College Trust Board.

These appointments entailed a tremendous amount of detailed work, and his painstaking care in every sphere earned for him the respect and affection of the whole dioceee. Particularly among the Maori clergy vu Ms wise advice

valued, and many clergy and laity in the Diocese of Waiapu to-day remember well the generous hospitality given to them by Archdeacon and Mrs. Simkin.

Fourteen Years In Auckland. In 1926. Bishop Averiil, who had been translated to the See of Auckland in 1914, and w ho in 1925 had entered upon the office of Primate and Archbishop, invited the Archdeacon of Hawke s Bay to accept the offices of secretary of the Diocese of Auckland, provincial secretary of the General Synod, and private chaplain and secretary to the archbishop. The Archdeaconry of Manukan had recently be?n created on the severance from the Diocese of Auckland of that part which is now the Diocese of Waikato. and Archdeacon Simkin was appointed to the newly-created archdeaconry. He lias been also secretary of the Melanesian Mission Trust Board and of the St. John's College Trust Board, of which board he was elected a member in 1930. St. John's College Trust Board controls, by a committee of the board. King's College, and the Archdeacon has been chairman of this committee since 1935. He has also been a member of the Dilworth Trust Board since 1929, and vice-chairman . since the of Sir Algernon Thomas in 1937. 'He has been a member of the General S\nod since 1919. and is recognised af an authority on the Constitution and Canon Law of the Church of this province. In 1925 he \ras appointed a member of the commission set up to prepare a scheme for the establishment of a provincial pension fund, and when the Provincial Board was created in 1929 he was elected chairman, which position he still holds. When, in 1926. the Diocese of Waikato was created, he was chairman of the commission set up to apportion the endowments of the Diocese of Auckland. He is also a member of the standing committee of the Diocese of Auckland, and of the Board of Nomination. Compilation of Charcfc Kecords. In addition to the duties attaching to the various offices he has held, the Bishop-designate has devoted himself to the task of placing on permanent record matters of importance in the history of the Church in Xew Zealand. He has compiled (a) a history of the foundation of the Church in the Diocese of Waiapu, covering the period from 1828 to 1876, this being a work of standard reference; (b) a complete list of the Statutes of the General Synod (1859-1825), together with tables setting out the changes made from time to time in the constitution of canons; (c) a history of the College of St. John the Evangelist, a work of great value giving to the Church an authentic record of the creation of the many trusts attached to the college; and (d) in conjunction with the late Bishop Williams, a historv of the circumstances attending " the creation of the several dioceses included in and associated with the Church of the province. He has also edited th? published proceedings of the General Synod since 1928.

The has been intimately connected with the cathedral project for the city of Auckland. Some years ago he prepared and piloted through the General Synod the. statute which secured for all time to the Dioc?se of Auckland the site on which the cathedral is to be erected, and also introduced and piloted through the Auckland Synod the statute for the creation of the cathedral district. Spiritual Leadership. During the past 22 year? the Archdeacon has been engaged mainly in the administrative, work of the Church, but at no time during that long period has he lost touch with the primary duties of his priestly office. His work as archdeacon, both in Hawke's Bay and in Manukau, has involved many visits to parishes and many clergy have reason to to hiin for his counsel and ready help. His spiritual powers have been readily appreciated bv the m his archdeaconry, and by those Tn other parts of the diocese, aiid the fact that after 14 years as Diocesan eccretary he has been elected to fill the office of Bishop is an acknowledgment of hi« spiritual leadership. In his position as Bishop his spiritual gifts and administratis ability will find scope to an c-ven gieater extent in the service "of the diocese.

The Bishop-designate is a man of wide sympathies and of unswerving lovaltv to Ins Church. lie and .Mrs. Shnkin are «eJI-Known throughout the Diocese for their hospitality at Selwyn Court, \uckland Mr e . Simkin who was formcrlv Miss Iterance Emberton, of Stafford r."gland, is a very kindly hostess She lL 1 rh D6e i y in , tcreste<i the work of J® S?} ff ' " n< J- as d,ocesan secretary of the Mothers Lnion for the past "ten years has done much to further the work of the union throughout the diocese.