The Bush Advocate. TUESDAY, JUNE 6. NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

Bush Advocate, Volume IX, Issue 788, 6 June 1893, Page 2

The Bush Advocate. TUESDA Y, JUNE 6. NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

The determination of, the ton Synod to propuW a .Bishop at Homo may or may not be a very sound-decision ,%om 'a j3q'o)fctinal or olerical point of view, tt'oour way of thinking, however,, the ; Synod has done a most unpatriotic and injudicious' aot; • Practically' they iliaVe declared that none of the New Zealand clergy are good .enqughi far the position, to fill .which, it is ..considered necessary te import a special big-wigfrom,the OW'Country. We do' not belreVe* that a majority of the parishioners it the Wellington diocese, or for the matter of'that'-MX* any other diobese in the colony, would give their approval of the course the Synod has decided upon. ■ Their decision can scarcely fail to, havo a disastrous effect upon the clergy of the colony. It will show the ministers of the ohurch here that ''no matter what their scholarly . attainments are, no matter how-hard they labor in the interests. of their.churohaßd the welfare,; of their : {Jeople, they can never hope to - fill the high offices which from time to time must in the course^ -pi nature, or from other' foifcilmsthnc&s become vacant. Such a prospect is not encouraging to the yoiing'clergy in the colony, who up to the present havo worked, often under adverse circumstances, with a zqal beyond all praise; > We are amongst 'those •who believe that the time has come 'when, the colony should cease. to; lean upon, the Mother Country in spiritual as well as : in temporal ;mattei"s.' 'New Zealand' for the New Zonlanders;' : should.be our watchwords for everything, a church bishopric not escepted. New Zoalanders are by far the largest proportion of the population, and; we think .their failings were entitled to more consideration : than has been showY by , tho Wellington assemblage of tyjse'men. A 1 policy. of self-reliance is' 'what is wanted. Let the church become in truth a Native Church, and show that she is in sympathetic touch with, the people. Let her highest offices be open to her men of ability, so that those who have ; piety/ learning,, and zeal may. at. any va.te b,e .sustained by the.hopo of preferment. The Wellington Synod has, however, declared that tho New Zealand clergy are not good enough to fill tho exalted position of bishop of that 'dibcese. They go even further and add insult to injury by instructing their . delegation that no clergyman who has held a cure in New Zealand shall be eligible for tho appointment, in other words that they are 'not good enough.' Keen interest has been taken all over the colony in this matter, and we shall bo surprised if tho decision arrived at is not univorsally condemned in strong terms.