The Bishopric of Wellington. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. (Lyttelton Times.)

Evening Post, Volume XLV, Issue 132, 7 June 1893, Page 4

The Bishopric of Wellington. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. (Lyttelton Times.)

Perhaps it was too much to expect that a policy of " self-relianoe " would recommend itself to the Diocesan Synod of Wellington when the important question of appointing a Bishop was under consideration. Church Courts all over the world are notorious^' non - progressive, and seem to look npon innovation as an eighth " deadly sin," to be resisted with all the desperate energy of souls whoso salva'ion is at stake. To this rule the Wellington Synod has proved no exception Every patriotic New Zeulandor, bo he Chnrchman, Dissenter, or Nothingarian, will unite in condemning the limp and dependent condition of mind that is evidenced by such an action as this. Tho typical Victorian Colonist of Mies Shaw, " leaning against a post," has surely found his match iv those Wellington SynocUinen leaning on English culturo and nomination for their future Bishop, as though there were no man iv all New Zealand worthy of being made a spiritual overseer Wo cannot but deplore that representatives of a chuich that has done such good work in the colony, and that has proved its power to oxist aod Sourish apart from State patronage, should have once more lapsed into an attitude of servile dependence npon tradition and precedent. (Hawke's Bay Herald.) So Napier ia not to loan Dean Hovell. On that we congratulate tho community, especially those of the Anglican communion. It would have been very difficult indeed to replace him, and had the Wellington Synod selected him as Bishop of that diocese, there would have been widespread and keen regret here to temper the pleasure all would have felt at such a recognition of Dean Hovell's abilities and marked services to the Churoh. -When he is called hence, either to serve in a higher position in the Church, or to his hist long home, he will leave behind enduring monumonts to bis tact and untiring energies, and none can rob him of ' that honour. So far as we can gather from private sources Dean Hovell's principal •' disqualifications " were that he is a colonial clergyman and a comparatively young man. To the ordinary lay mind these would havo been reooinmendations, but the ordinary lay mind is different to the Synodical mind in Wellington. The Synod, not content with adhering to its first decision to send to England for a Bishop, added insult to injury by passipg a resolution to the effect that one condition of the selection be that no elerpyman who had held a cure in New Zealand Bhould be chosen. (Otago Daily Times.) The Wellington Anglican Synod have come to the conclusion that they cannot find a successor to Bishop Hadfield in New Zealand. This is not complimentary to the colonial clergy. We cannot help thinking the deoision a mistake. . . . The Synod, in our opinion, might have made the ohoice iteslf from the smaller field of New Zealand. There is a good deal in what the Rev. Mr. Williams Baid— that the Cburoh of England in New Zealand shonld' be a native church. Instead of this, however, the Synod bos humiliated the New Zealand clergy by, to all intents and purposes, saying that there is not among them a man fit for the position. (Timaru Herald.) * From the Synod's standpoint it was perhaps iudiciona to shut oat local talent and merit by a, Bpecial resolution, for it would indeed have been a telling rebuke if tho delegation had resulted in the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Durham discovering in the person of a clergyman already in the colony the most suitable occupant for the

wiiMnl Pei Tlirir T.oH-liips maybe of that i mi n, ihou-h ilclairol trom aotiii? on ie, 'mt they will certunly take tho drliberav ordiet'of the Wellineton Synod to lie tint he Chinch of Kiighind 111 New Zealand U in <,nch a v retched plight that 111 the wholu ot the local priesthoo.tthcro is not a in.in fit to bo a Bishop. If Him 0 is such a man, the qnestion naturally arises : Wuy wn* ho not engcrly and thanktully singled out by the Synod? We have no hesitation in saying that thero are several such men in New Zealand, and that undoubtedly one of them shonld have been appointed. The Synod must havo known tbnt there was no necessity for going outside to find Bishop Hadfield's sneee-sor. It is important that the Church of England in Nnw Zealand should depend upon its own resonrces in tho matter of promotion. If the Anglican clergy are not starving, there are many of them who are very badly paid. It is unfair to them that when a piece of preferment is in tho gift of a Syaod, an outsider should be invited to aocept it. The obji ot of all good Chnrcbmen Bhould bo to attract able young meu to the ministry. From one point of view tho priesthood is a profession, in the ordinary sense of the word, and we havo good warrant for saying that those who serve at the altar should live by the altar. How many able young men will take Anglican orders when thoy know their ordinary lot will be starvation wnges. and that promotion will be given to tresh importations from England ? Perlmps the üble young mf n ought not to take suoh thinps into consideration, but they do, and will continue to do so. (Christchurch Press.) This we unhesitatingly say — that thero are to be found among the ranks of the clergy of the Church rf England in New Zealand men who would mike perfectly sati factory Bishops of Wellington, and that one of these -hould have been chosen. Furthermore, wo say such a man wonld have boor chosen but for the mise-able jeilousy which animates the clergy and which causes them to be de termiued that n" one of themselves should bo elevated over the reafc of them. The way the V c lington clergy have managed this matter of a choice of a Bishop is a pignal instance of their unrivalled capacity for making themse'y s ridiculous. . . The Wellington clergy might very well have deferred to public opinion, so far at least as to appoint a Committee to look round tlio colony, and see whether a .suitable pa^on conld not be found. But they are in such a desperate hurry to make sure that no one of their poor colonial brethren shall get the billet that tho first thing they do is to lay down the principle that no New Zealanders need apply. That is the great thing. Each parson felt that he himself wonld never be elected ; that was sad, but it was some consolation to make absolutely cortain that nobody else in tho colony should get the appointment. . . . , . The worst of it is wo believe these Wellington parsons in their own peculiar clerical consciences fancy they aye doing_ right. Thoy deceive themselves into thinking that they are acting for the glory of God and tho advancement of their Church. They do not realise that they are giving occasion to the scoffers to rejoice, and that the non-clerical world is confident that this is only another instance of the unchnritabloness, selfishness, and jealousy of Christian priests.