ANGLICAN SYNOD.

Evening Star, Issue 12964, 8 November 1906, Page 7

ANGLICAN SYNOD.

AFTERNOON sitting. The. Synod for thp diocosc of Rimpdin continued their session yesterday %Itettwen. —Cathedral Statute.— Dr Hocken atiked that the motion against his cainc he given precedenpc, and, the Synod apsejiting. the spcoiid reading of the Bvll fp amend "Cathedral Statute Np. VJII. was proceeded Arith.—The puan tlie "Gatbodrai Had met and considered ilm Bill- Haying’ regard to expediency and n|? the necessities of the situation, they v uld imf oppose if.—Tile second reading v£’4 pac«ed. and the Bill dealt with in committee. the third reading being made an order for’ the following day. —A Diocesan Miss inner.— Canon jieild moved— 1 " That the report of the Coiiiniitlee on the appointment of a dtoccsari "miisxmer hp ’adopted." He did OOt think the appointment of a diocesan rHß*ioi:cr. ought fo he made until there was a guarantee of sufficient money for two years' stipend. They all believed it would h© a tremendous advantage to the spiritual life of the diocese, both to the clergy and tho laity alike, if they had a ically good dtocesa-n missioncr. Mr A. IVasher spoke of the state of the Church'at present. Other churches wore going ahead, but the Anglican Church seemed to be standing still. They were only marking time, and riot advancing. In hm own parish—St. .lohnV, Rostvn—there were loss jieoyle attending the church at the present lime than thctc wcio twentv odd years ago. notwithstanding the fact tbqt there had been a vast iucrcaiv in the population of tho district. - Mr A. Yl. Bariurtt remarked on the lack of attention patient-: in the hospital icceizcd from the elerjy of their Church. Iff had been in the hospital two years ago. and for the period of a whole fortnight there had been' no visit made in his ward by any minister or sirters of the Church of England. |- Canon King was of opinion that tho matter of hospital visitation might well he lopked into. The Rev, J. C. Small said the statement that the Church was neglecting the hospital was not true. Speaking of his old conhecion with St. Paul’s, lie slated Hint bis vi its to hospital patients were unceasing. and that his predecessor had taken a like teen interest in’ this work. Tlie Rev Air Wood said they did not want it to go cut to the colony that the Church was. as a previous .speaker hac] stated, mark’ng time, for this was not the case. The whole lot were not asleep—ffie did not uvea think that the Church in Dimed in was aeiccp. ” He 'was of opinion tint there should pc no difficulty in finding the £250 guarantee.

Tbe Rev. Mr Burgess also gave it as bin opinion that tlu. Church was by no meaim in a Mate <?f stagnation, as they had been led to Kelkjvc. The Rev. Mr Mitchell suggested that the Bishop'of London and other eminent British clergymen' be asked to conduct' a mission in New Zealand. The Dsun said Tie 'much desired to sec a diocosah missiurer appoint-, d. They should not look efsewliwc.' but take sucli a man as’ they'could get and make" the beet of' it. nergymen wiio had to minister to the same people incessantly had no time to go ‘o sleep. They might dciisiouuiiy induce deep in others—dpiiwieas Ibis was the case —but Urey tqumclyts had no tune for idleness. It ppas his own personal opinion tßaf if a man would come along with a ijreafc deal of enthusiasm. who wpuld talk a little nonsense, ho would be of very great scryipe to nipt (thp dean) in his works. Some of the -jiimaters; were too respectable and too intelligent to make much impiesrion on their people. Instead of looking io England, they should take one of their own men to fill the place. It was an effort which he considered would not be fruit le< s. The motion was canted and the report adopted. ‘ In this connection Canon N'eild further moved that the Committee be reappoiute<l with power to add to their number, and that it be an instruction to the Committee to obtain guarantees for the first year's stipend. Canon Dodd seconded the motion, and The Dean said he counted on the intelligency of his audience not to taka his remarks regarding . nonsense- in a preacher rtrietly to the letter. —Motion carried. —St. Mary’s Orphanage.— Mr Chancellor Graham moved "That application he made to Government that St. Mary's Orphanage be recognised as an institution to which neglected or indigent children may be committed.” Mr Graham said that application was made on a former occasion fhat St. Mary's Orphanage should ho made an institution to which neglected or indigent children ’ might be committed, hut the application had met with refusal. St. Mary's was thin only hj, very small Institution, and was not altogether recognised as a branch of the Church the same as it was now. 11. considered it very unfair that it should not be recognised by the Government, as the Roman Catholic Church received better treatment. In Ids position as stipendiary magistrate it was frequently his painful duty to deal with poor little children—orphans, or children of motheis who were unable to bring them up tlieniselves—and in the case of Roman Catholic children, there was always an application made that the child be rent to the St. Vincent de Paul Orphanage, or the orphanage for boys further noitli. If the Government recognised the application and gtanted the request, 'they would require to discriminate” as to the children who wore committed to the Homo, but there would bo uo difficulty in this directiom Mr Torrance or Mr Axel sen was always informed of cases where " children wore neglected. , There •would be no difficulty in the working out of the scheme. This application had been mad© previously, and hud been refused, but it it were shown that St. Mary s Ofpihauago was a distinctly official institution of the Church of England the Government could not with any fairness refuse to accede to their request, more particularly if the application wet.- backed up by the approval of tbe General S’vnod. Mr Burnett" seconded the motion- and The Dcau said it was an application which d. mauded the sympathy of all members of the Sviiod.—Motion carried.

—General.—• The Chairman read a telegram from Mr dames Allen,’ from Wellington, asking for leave of absence.— Leave granted. A" letter Tjms read hum the secretary of the Otago C'bt-s Club extending an invitation to membe’ts of the Synod to avail themselves of the use of the rooms of {he club. — letter received, and acknowledged with thanks. At this stage the Synod adjourned. Kvesjsg Sitting. —Report?.— The report? of the Cathedral Chapter and the Diocesan Pension Fund were laid on the table.—The Dean and Cathedral Chapter report showed, inter alia, that in pecembcv a private loan of £7OO was obtained on debenture at 5 per cent, for the purpose of paving elf £556 bank overdraft, accnnutlatid eince dime. 1901.' Selwyu College"Was in a very satisfactory state, a number of applications for residence there having been received for next year. The report ol the Diocesan Pension Fund showed that the funds amounted to £492 17s’lid. made up as follow?:—Subscriptions from the clergy. £225 12s 6*l; from the ’parishes. £251 Tss : the balance, £ls 10g od, being intciest less 'espehses.--Mr Siatham read the reports.' and it w;ii\agfeed that their consideration b, mailc an order of "the day for November 6. —Parish of Port Chalmers.— The Kcv. G- \V. Christian moved the secotd reading of’a Rill To constitute the district of Port Chalmers into a parish. Mr Benthom seconded. ‘ The Rev.' t>. W. ’ Harding opposed the motion.’ He was of opiriipn that no district shotild claim the rights of a parish until they had 'fulfilled the duties of a jvirish, arid' the first’ duty of a parish was to support‘its own minister. Mr' Rent ham considered it would not be fair or just to tire'congregation, seeing the great effort they had made <jf late to lionaralby pay their debt as far ;is they were #hle. • Archdeacon Robinson hoped Port Chat-

mers “would" get tho encouragement they sought for. Ho'considered it would stimu : late them to’greater Efforts if the Synocj granted their request Mr 'Christian replied, after which the secqnd reading of tlio jlill yras carried, and thp Synod dealt frith the ' various "clauses in committee. The third reading was made an order of the day for November 8. r-Baplismal Records. — The Rev. G. W. Harding moved —“ (11 That the vicar of any parish and parochial district shall be required each year to fprward to the •Sioccgan secretary, copies pi all entries in his baptismal register for the twelve months from July ! to June 30, inclusive, 'tyithjn fhirty days of the clpje of the financial’year; (2) and {hat the diocesan secretary cause to be printed and di?t frib'uted forms for (hat purpose.” Mr Harding had noticed in/the daily papers' ; u Duredin the annua! reports of religious bodies, and had been interested to see the very small’'number of baptisms recorded. It would seem that the large majority of citizens woiild be unbaptised, and parents were often neglectful in th/ matter. There was therefopi an increasing pecessity of verifying the fact whether a child had boon baptised or not. A duplicate of ail registers of baptism should bo kept in the office of the diocesan secretary. It was unlikely that both the .rorords there and those in the parish should be dost roved by fire. Their buildings Were only of wood, and very few were provided witli safes to preserve such important records. Tho Rev. J. C. Small seconded. A number of clergy and others spoke in support of the proposal. 'Mr Stalli'am said if it wiis such an important'matter, why should'they not start at tlio beginning and get copies of all baptismal registers. After further discussion fhe motion was carried. -—Tlie 'Guardian.' — Mr Slalhqm moved —"That the report of tiie ‘Guardian’ Newspaper Committee lie adopted ” —ijotiqn carriedIt was resolved that Mr C, H. Statbam bq apiKiintod one editor of the ‘ Guardian.’ and that the appointment of the clerical editor (which riosition has been vacated by the Rev. E. Ward, Green Island) be left to the Standing Committee. A committee whs elected as follows Arehdeacpn Robinson. Canon Neilfl. »n<j Mr W- Rurqett. On tlie motion of the Dean, the following resolution was unanimously carried: “That flic thanks of the Synod are due to tin Rev.' El on 11 isTr*rtir< fn-ciat- from tho editorship of the ‘ Guardian ’ ” —Election of Standing Committee. — The following were elected (by orders) to form' the Standing Committee: —Six clergy—Very Rev. tho Dean, Archdeacon Robinson. Archdeacon Could. Canon NcilJ, Canon Richards, and Rev. G. W. Christian': seven laity—Messrs W. Burnett, 0. H Statham. T.”S. Graham, S. Brent, A. Washer. Dr Marshall, and Dr Hoekon.