PRESBYTERIAN PAY

Evening Star, Issue 15778, 15 April 1915, Page 7

PRESBYTERIAN PAY

The Rev. Dr Erwin rose at the meeting of tho Christchurch Presbytery yesterday to protest against the proposal to pay for a series of weekly services at West Melton at the rate of £25 a year. "My firm con- ' vution," he said, "is that financial concideration is working against a large number of men coming forward for the Church. If a man has the right spirit, financial considerations will not not count, but a man lias to live. The cest of living Inns been going up. and the average stipend going down. Since I have been here arc minimum stipend has been reduced from £250 to £2OO. Then there is the miserable retiring allowance. A man can scarcely scrape a living during his ministry, and alter 40 years of service ho is given, hy way of a retiring allowance, tin- inagniiicent sum of £9O per annum. These things count. The farming community lias done marvellously well lor the last, 15 years. When they were doing poorly, and times were hard, stipends were, dropped ; but there i* no appearance of the farmers inIteasing the ftipemls again now that times are better. I say that £25 a year is a miserable pittance to ask a man to travel 20 miles every Sunday to give his serviesu." Other members of the Presbytery hastened to explain that the £25 wa-s only a tentative suggestion—a bare minimum, so to speak; but tin: district affected would no doubt 1m? willing to contribute a larger stun. The Presbytery decided to invite the district to state exactly what sum it proposed to pay.