GENERAL SYNOD—ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 5760, 4 May 1880, Page 3

GENERAL SYNOD—ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS.

On Monday, April 26, Archdeacon Edwards moved, *' That, in tbe opinion of this Synod, steps should be taken towards the amalgamation of all Church of .England theological colleges in jN ew Zealand, and the formation of one central college, which might well be called the Selwyn College."—The Bishop of Wellington moved, as an amendment, " That, in the opinion of this Synod, steps should be taken towards the formation of a theological college for this ecclesiastical province of New Zealand."—A lengthy debate ensued, during which the Bishop of Wellington, Bishop of Nelson, Bishop of Melanesia, Archdeacon Maunsell, Mr. | Grigg, and others addressed the House, The Bight Hon. the Bishop of Wellington moved the following amendment, "That inasmuch as—l, the inexpediency of a central theological seminary is felt strongly by many members of this Synod ; 2, that there are at present institutions open to all qualified students from any part of New Zealand, specially St. John's College, Auckland, by the terms of its trust; 3, that the establishment of any new central theological seminary wonid involve an expenditure at present beyond the means of the Church."—The debate was interrupted by the evening adjournment. In the evening the suspended debate on the motion of Mr. Tancred anent the management of St. John's College, Auckland, was resumed. The motion in question was as follows :— c< That the recommandation of the Select Committee on the memorial of the Synod of the diocese of Auckland ba adopted by the Synod, namely—■ That in order to give the Diocesan dynod of Auckland a voice in the management of St. John's College, the six Governors now appointed by the Bishops should be appointed by the Synod of the diocese of Auckland, and that the authority to appoint six Governors delegated to that Synod may be hereafter resumed by the General Synod, if the General Synod shall sea fit.' " —The Rev. Mr. Dudley moved an amendment to the following effect—" That the prayer of the Synod of the Diocese of Auckland relative to St. John's Colloge—namely, that provision should be made for the election by the Synod of the Diocese of Auckland of three governors in addition to those nominated by the bishops of this ecclesiastical province be complied with."—On the question being put, the original motion was rejected, and a division taken on Mr. Dudley's motion, which was negatived, the actual result of the division being :—Bishops : Ayes, 31; noes, 4. Clergy : Ayes, 13; noes, 6. Laity : Ayes, 14 ; noes, 2.

The Synod then went into committee on the Bill to amend the statute No. 4-the Venerable Archdeacon Stock in charge of the Biil. The text of the measure was as follows ;—Preamble : Whereas, it is expedient to define the term '' communicant," as used in the 6th section of the statute No. 4. Be it therefore resolved by the bishops, clergy, and laity of the Church of the Province of New Zealand in Synod assembled, as follows :—l. In the 11th section of statute No. 4 the following words shall be inserted after the word "parish," in the fourth Jiae of that section— " The word ' Communicant,' for the purposes of this statute, shall be taken to mean any man of the age of twenty-one years or upwards who shall have subscribed a declaration in the churchwarden's book that he is a communicant of the Church of the province of New Zealand, commonly called the Church of .England."—After discussion, but without any amendment haviDg been made, the chairman reported progress, and obtained leave to sit again. At this stage the Synod returned to the qui stion of establishing a Central Theological College, the debate on which was interrupted ab the evening adjournment.—The Bishop of Souse - aT 'tlte' tYm e' 'co n £ ill ue if IfiV n re m a rti and was followed by the Rev. Canon Cotterill and the Bishop of Dunedin. The debate was adjonrned.lSgggSl On the 27th April, the Right Rev. the Bishop of Auckland moved, " That the Synod do adopt the recommendations of the committee appointed by the Synod to consider and report upon the memorial received from the Native Church Board of the diocese of Auckland, viz., 'That the Synod receives with much pleasure the memorial of the Native Church Board of the diocese of Auckland for the appointment of a Suffragan Bishop of the Maori portion of the Church in the diocese, regarding it as a proof of the vitality of that portion of the Church ; but the Synod regrets that for want of funds it is unable to comply with their request. The Synod, therefore, urges them to exertion in the direction of raising an endowment fund for the support of a Suffragan Bishop. The Synod is encouraged by the liberality of the Maoris in providing endowment funds' for their native clergy, to hope that this object may be speedily obtained.' " —The Bishop of Nelson proposed an amendment as follows :— "That the Synod, looking at the oneness that exists between the Knglish and the Maori portions of the Church throughout Now Zealand, and hoping that they will be still closer brought together in worship and church organisation, considers that the present proposal for the appointment of a Suffragan Bishop would not be desirable, and is unable to comply with their request." —Seconded by the Hon. H. B. Gresson.— After discussion the question was put, the original resolution being negatived on the voices, and the amendment of the Bishop of Nolson carried.

The debate was resumed on the motion proposed by Archdeacon Edwards, "That in the opinion of this Synod steps should be taken towards the amalgamation of all Church of England theological colleges in New Zealand, and the formation of one central college, which might well te called ' The Sehvyn College.' " To the above an amendment had been proposed by the Bishop of Wellington, " That in the opinion of this Synod steps should be taken towards the formation of a theological college for the ecclesiastical province of New Zealand." After discussion the question was put, and the original resolution negatived on the voices, and the amendment was also rejected. The Bishop of Nelson then moved a resolution of which he had given notice on the day previous. This resolution was very much amended by the Synod, and passed in the following form :—" 1. That in the opinion of the Synod the interest of theological education would best be promoted under present circumstances by the establishment of exhibitions, which would enable intending candidates for holy orders to take a degree at the University of New Zealand, and afterwards to continue their theological studies, together with the acquisition of practical knowledge of parochial and missionary work, either at Theological Colleges or with experienced clergy. Such Theological Colleges to be tenable on such conditions as may be prescribed by the Board of Theological Studies. 2. That the authorities of all provincial and diocesan institutions for the encouragement of theological studies be requested to make the standard of their examinations as much as possible equal to that of the mother Church." : The Bishop of Auckland moved, "That inasmuch as the issuing of marriage licenses has been the law and practice of the Church of England, at least since the 14th century, and is in no way disallowed by "the law of this colony, the Synod is of opinion that the I system can be legally maintained." —ArchI deacon Maunsell moved the following addi-

tion to the resolution : " That it shall be'leffc to each .Diocesan S)nod to determine what amount shall be charged for marriage licenses, What object tho money derived from that source shall be employed."—The President ruled that the proposal of the Arctdeacon should have been brought forward 18 a separate motion, and must be given notice of in the ordinary course.—At the suggestion of Archdeacon Harper, the mover c£ the original resolution consented to the emission of the words "and ia in noway disallowed by tbe law of this colony."—A debate ensued, during which the advisability of shelving the question was suggested by more than one member, considering that the legal aspect of the question involved confusion ; and the previous question 'w; s moved, but negatived, and the discussion then proceeded. The motion, as amended by Archdeacon Harper, was eventually put and carried on the voices. On April 28, tbe Bishop of Waiapu moved resolutions accompanying interim report JSc. 3 of Trusts Committee—"l. That the interim report No. 3, of the Tru9t3 Committee relative to Native School Trusts be printed with the proceedings of this Synod. 2. That the resolution, Native School Trust, marked c, at page 194 of General Synod .Report, 1577, be rescinded, and that in lien thereof,- the General Synod doth hereby resolve as follows : —ln order to secure the full efficiency of the native school at Tararua (Auckland), the Bishop of the dioce3e shall be atruste-, and shall be specially charged with tha supervision of the school. 3 That the Ge. neral Synod doth hereby instruct the Diocesan Trastßoard of the diocese of Wellington to fill up the two vacancies at present existing in the Board of Trustees of tfce Wangauui Endowed School, by the appointment of two local trustees."—The motions were carried.