THE PRIMATE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 27 July 1928, Page 5

THE PRIMATE

TO RETIRE IN NOVEMBER LONG TENURE OF OFFICE. COUNTRY PAYS TRIBUTE. United Pres* Association—By Electric Telegraph Copyright.) (Australian Press Association ' LONDON, July 25. Jt, is officially announced that the Primate'(the Archbishop of Canterbury) retires in November. The procedure connected with the acceptance of the Primate’s resignation haisi presented a pretty conundrum for ?Xpert,s in etiquette, as no precedent existed. -The on ! y recorded instance of the resignation of an Archbishop of Canterbury is- that or. the first Archbishop, faint Augustine himself. Continuous records exist since Cra-nmvar, showing that- all primates died in office. Archbishop Davidson’-s tenure of the office is the lcn.-Qtest since Cfa-nmer. Pub 1-cists and newspapers of. all sihiades of public opinion pay st tribute o tiie Archbishop It is generally assumed that the Archbishop of York wil succeed him and the intriguing question now is who will follow th-e Archbishop of York. ; The “Daily Telegraph .says Dr. Davidson’s. Primacy. must be- numbered with the very greatest of -hi-s ninetythmei predecessors since Saint Augustine. It is evidence- of liis- statesmanlike dualities that the* spontaneous desire arises for his creation as a lord temporal on his relinquishing his mi-t n the Upper Chamber as a janl sp-i.ri- •. ••’*]. In blip church itself -he became more and more the centre of unity, and :a,s contrived in a period of divisive '■ir’.e'icic'S to- hold the whole body of cb line hinen toegtlier. The Arc-hibLshon of Canterbury is entitled to a pension of £ISOO from the common fund of the ecclesiastical commissioners. to which the- Primate, like the--',, contributed 3) per cent, cif liis hiiiroh income.

Dr. Randall Thomas Davidson wa.« horn in Edinburgh in 1848, and was a I Harrow and Oxford. He ente-pd the Ghureh. and was chaplain and' private =ecre*t*a*rv to Arcilitoishops* Ta.it and Penson from 1874 to 1882, He wa-s Bishop of Rochester 1891-95: of Winchester. 1995-1903: and Primate in 1903. Three yearns- lifter taking -orders be wins appointed' chaplain and secretary to the then Archbishop at Lambeth Palai-ee in '877. and s*> became familiar vicairiousIv with the duties and responsibilities if the* Primacy.