ARCHBISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22941, 10 February 1940, Page 12

ARCHBISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND

PERMANENT RESIDENCE IN WELLINGTON

PROPOSAL FOR GENERAL SYNOD

[THE PRESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, February 9. Important business confronting the General Synod of the Anglican Church when it meets at Nelson next week will be the election of a new Primate to succeed ’ Archbishop Averill and consideration of proposals to establish a fixed Primacy at Wellington. At present the headquarters of the Church Province of New Zealand is at Auckland, The Auckland diocesan secretary is also provincial secretary, and the provincial offices are located there. The standing committee, however, meets in Wellington, and. as Wellington is the capital of the country and the seat of government as well as the hub of almost all national activities it is strongly felt by many church leaders, that the Anglican Church should also have permanent headquarters here. Considerable difficulty has repeatedly been encountered through lack of such headquarters. Centre in Wellington It is felt that until the Primate is permanently resident in Wellington, a fixed provincial office established here, and the provincial secretary paid by the General Synod and appointed in Wellington, the Church will lack an effective mode of expression on questions affecting the Church or country as a whole. Such a question was that of the establishment of wet canteens. A member of the standing committee was called upon at short notice to advise the Government of the attitude of the Church on this problem. Similar problems are frequent. Proposals favoured by Church leaders, it is understood, provide for the establishment of the Primacy permanently at Wellington, the Archbishop of New Zealand eventually to be assisted by a Suffragan Bishop of .Wellington, who would take' off his hands much of the diocesan business and so free him to deal with provincial business. Technical Difficulties Strong objection to these proposals Is expected in certain quarters, how'ever. Many technical difficulties also present themselves. For instance, the election of the Archbishop is carried out by the Church 6f the province as a whole, whereas the canons of the Church also lay down that a diocese shall have the right to elect its own Bishop. With a fixed Primacy the Archbishop will also be Bishop of Wellington. Some arrangement must be made to ensure that the interests of the diocese and the province will not conflict. In any event it seems unlikely that the 1 Primacy carl be permanently established at Wellington for some years, whatever the result of the forthcoming election, as the General, Synod meets only once in three years. A six-year period must elapse be-fore-the constitution of the Church can be altered. To provide for the fixation of office after that in the event of the Bishop of Wellington not being -Primate at that time it would probably be necessary to wait for the bishopric to.fall vacant before the Primate could be asked to come to Wellington.