RACIAL BISHOPS.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19460, 6 November 1928, Page 7

RACIAL BISHOPS.

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S.Z. INNOVATION APPROVED. II

(iBOH OTO OW» OOBBESFOHmOR.) LONDON. September SL The "Becord" of August 29th refers to the appointment of the Bev. F. A. Bennett as Bishop of Aotearoa, and j remarks: "This appointment of a racial or language Bishop is a wise innovation which might well be imitated elsewhere. Why should not a Cree, or at least a man with Indian bloo<t in his veins and speaking Cree, be appointed to supervise the Indian Missions in Canada? Mr Bennett's name does not convey the idea of his-Maori ancestry. It should be remembered that two or three generations ago it was uncommon for native converts to assume English names, taken from some missionary or other white man. Thus the full-blooded African slave boy Adjai became Samuel Crowther, the first West African Bishop; and Bishops James Johnson and Phillips were also of unmixed African descent." Then, with regard to the alteration of the Book of Common Prayer and the provisions of the Bill, the comment occurs' "In these provisions it should be noted that the standard of the present Prayer Book is insisted upon, that the greatest deliberation is to be exercised .in making any change, and that in the final tribunal, to decide the question of doctrine laymen and clergy are to rank equally with the Bishops. Contrast this arrangement with the episcopal autocracy exhibited here at Home!" - •-•■•