UNION ACHIEVED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 151, 28 May 1929, Page 2

UNION ACHIEVED.

CHURCHES OF SCOTLAND. (Times Cables.) LONDON, May 25. After harmonious negotiations lasting twenty years, the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church have agreed to enter into an incorporating union.

Final discussions will be held simultaneously between the two Assemblies, each consisting of more than a thousand members.

Scenes of fervid enthusiasm marked the Assembly meetings. The Duke qf York, as Lord High Commissioner of the Church of Scotland. attended the Church of Scotland s Assembly, and listened to Dr. John White, a former Moderator, submitting 'the resolution. His Royal Highness was accompanied by the Duchess. Dr. White declared that the union realised both the dream of former generations and the vision of the present. The Church’s unchanged continuity and identity would be enriched by the cumulative contributions of the sister church. Tlie resolution was passed with three dissentients. Dr. Robert Drummond, sponsoring the resolution at the Free Church Assembly, of which he was formerly Moderator, emphasised that it was the most momentous step since the Covenanting struggle. '’ . The resolution was passed with 39 dissentients, the smallest minority in the long negotiations. Rev. Barr, the Labour M.P., leader of the minority, declared that he and his followers were going into the wilderness because the causes of the separation had not been removed. , He announced that the minority would carry on the United Free Church. The formal act of union was fixed for October, when it is expected that the King and Queen will attend.