NEW ARCHBISHOP

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 3 January 1940, Page 4

NEW ARCHBISHOP

ELECTION THIS YEAR HISTORY OF DEMOCRACY TRIENNIAL GENERAL SYNOD IN NELSON j The approaching election of a Primate and Archbishop of New Zealand to succeed Archbishop Aver ill upon his retirement this year is arousing much interest among members of the Anglican Church throughout the Dominion. 3 The democratic principles embodied J in the constitution and carbons of the l New Zealand Church require that all three orders, bishops, clerg^ r and laity, shall share in the choice of Lishops and - of the Primate. This contrasts with ' the practice in England, where bishops of the Established Church are appointed by the Crown —in effect, by the Govj ernment of the day—and the two Pri- [ macies are filled by direct appointments ; i to the Sees of Canterbury and York, j Other churches of the Anglican Comi munion, however, are not established > j and the Crown is not concerned with ) their choice of archbishops and bishops. ELECTION PROCEDURE I This year’s election will be carried out at the triennial session of the General Synod, to be held at Nelson. 1 The procedure is rather complicated. ' Upon a motion requesting them to do ' so, the bishops meet in camera under the chairmanship of the bishop who is senior by date of consecration and ballot for the selection of one of their number, whose name is then communicated to the clerical and lay sections of the synod, sitting separately. Each section deliberates upon the nomination and takes a ballot. If the nominee receives a majority of the votes of each order he is declared elected. If not, the bishops are requested to submit another name, and the process is repeated. Should the final result be a deadlock the senior bishop automatically becomes Primate. In the past 98 years the New Zealand Church has had seven Primates, in the wide meaning of the term. For long after the establishment of the first mission by the Rev. Samuel Marsden in 1814 there were no episcopal ministrations until the Bishop of Australia, the Rt. Rev. W. G. Broughton, made a pastoral visit to the Bay of Islands in 1838. In 1841 the Diocese of New Zealand was constituted by Royal Letters Patent and assigned to the Rev. G. A. Selwyn, who was consecrated in England and arrived the following year. TITLE OF ARCHBISHOP Selwyn retained the title of Bishop of New Zealand until his resignation in 1869. In the meantime the original diocese had been divided into five, the missionary diocese of Melanesia created and an autonomous constitution adopted in 1857. Selwyn was made Metropolitan by the Crown in 1858, but the first Primate was Bishop H. J. C. Harper, of Christchurch, who was elected by the General Sydnod in 1869. Bishop Harper’s successors were:— Bishops Octavius Hadfield (Wellington), 1890-93; W. G. Cowie (Auckland), 1893-1902; S. T. Nevill (Dunedin), 1902-19; Churchill Julius (Christchurch), 1919-22 (acting), 192225; A. W. Averill (Auckland), 1925. With one exception, Bishop Hadfield, every holder of the office has been the senior bishop. The title of Primate and Archbishop was adopted in 1922. DEADLOCKS IN THE PAST At the election after Bishop Harper’s resignation an extraordinary situation occurred. The first and second ballots were inconclusive, and it became known that, while a majority of the clergy preferred Bishop Hadfield, a veteran missionary and contemporary of Selvvyn, a large preponderance of lay votes were for the senior bishop, pr. A. B. Suter, of Nelson. If the third ballot had been inconclusive, the office would have gone to Bishop Suter. However, before the vote could be taken, Bishop John Selwyn, of Melanesia, broke the rule and silence and appealed to the members not to let the election go by default, and as a result Bishop Hadfield was declared elected. Soon after it was found that the election was invalid because the primatial chair was not vacant at the time. Bishop Suter summoned the General Synod nearly a year later and Bishop Hadfield was duly elected. A final deadlock occurred only once, when a successor to Bishop Cowie had to be chosen in 1902. Three ballots showed a persistent division of opinion omong the three orders, and Bishop Nevill, as the senior bishop, became Primate automatically. He resigned immediately after the session of the General Synod of 1919, and the r*ext senior bishop, Dr. Julius, filled the office temporarily until the synod met again in 1922. SENIORITY OF BISHOPS The precedence of bishops is determined by date of consecration, and not by length of episcopal service in the New Zealand Province. The present senior bishop is Dr. C. West-Watson, who was consecrated in 1909 as Bishop Suffragan of Barrow-in-Furness and ■ translated to Christchurch in March, 1926. The others in order are Bishops L. S. Kempthorne (Polynesia), 1923, 1 whose diocese was added to the Province in 1925; C. A. Cherrington (Wai- 1 kato), 1926; W. H. Baddeley (Melanesia), 1922; W. A. R. Fitchett (Dun- 1 edin), 1934; W. G. Hilliard (Nelson), 1934; H. St. B. Holland (Wellington), 1936; G. V. Gerard (Waiapu), 1938. 1 The Bishop of Aotearoa, the Rt. Rev. ] F. A. Bennett, is technically an assis- 1 tant to the Bishop of Waiapu, and * is not eligible for election to the ‘ Primacy. For practical reasons the * Bishops of Melanesia and Polynesia are j regarded as in the same position. Bishop 1 Hilliard, of Nelson, has received an appointment in Sydney and will be leaving the Dominion later in the year.