PEW RENTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume L, Issue 175, 25 October 1917, Page 3

PEW RENTS

SHOULD THEY BE ABOLISHED? 'United Press Association.] AUCKLAND, Oct. 24. The Diocesan Anglican Synod carried a motion expressing the opinion that the time had arrived when all parishes where the system of pew rents still obtained should consider the possibility of abolishing them. ■Canon Williams, the mover, said it was not in accord with God's will that seats in His house, should be bought and sold. Pew rents were a form of "wire entanglements," kept going by a select few to keep others out of the church. No church that had abolished the system had suffered in its finances as a result. A lay member said that vestries that still retained the system of pew rents were 'not concerned with the probability of the deficit in their finances. The real obstacle was the question of sentiment. Old church-goers were keenly desirous of retaining the seats that members of their respective families had been sitting in for many years. Bishop Averill said he hoped the resolution would not become a "dead letter." He looked forward to the time. when every church in the diocese would become a free and open church: The 'Rev. W. Beatty said an attempt was made some time ago to ascertain the feelings of the congregation of St. Mark's upon the matter, but without satisfactory result. Those who occupied free seats did not respond to the invitation to express an opinion. Every member of the Synod who spoke on the question expressed approval of the resolution.