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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4229, 9 October 1874, Page 2

Wk hear a great deal from time to time of the zeal as; well as the wealth of the Church of England, in the Colonies as well as in England. ■lt would seem, however, that though the zeal may be large the liberality is small, in some parts of some of the Colonies. : There is ah instance, —in Ballarat, in Victoria. It to solemnly resolved a Icing time ago.that, as thq duties of the Bishop of Melbourne were becoming too arduous, a 1 new Bishopric 1 should be created in Ballarat, which now claims to bo recognised as-a city. It is known that the members of the Church of England are more numerous iu Victoria than those of any other denomination, and that in Ballarat they are greatly in excess of other denominations. ■ The clergy and the laity, assembled iu tlieir highest church court, agreed' that the emolument attached to the new Bishopric should be £IOOO per'annum, derived‘'from a capital sum of £20,000. It certainly was not too much to suppose that a sum of twenty thousand pounds for such a purpose would easily be raised in Victoria—indeed, in Ballarat alone. But the Church, which is by law entitled to claim as within her fold- all those errant souls who. dp not choose to profess any particular form of faithi'i seems ■ to 1 have ■ made a great mistake. The money has not .been forthcoming. The episcopal hat has gon6 round, and has come back—not full. The utmost exertions of the clergy have resulted in d sum Of between £9OOO and £IO,OOO being collected, or “promised.” So confident 1 were the leaders’ of the Church that the capital would be raised without difficulty that Bishop Perry, on his present visit

to England, was empowered to select a prelate to occupy the new office—to he Bishop of Ballarat. To prevent the Bishop of Melbourne from being disgraced, the Church in Victoria has, deliberately resolved “to fall back upon the fund accruing from the sums annually received from the State, which fund was intended for entirely different purposes.” It has'also been determined to apply to the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge for a sum of £2OOO. By these means it is hoped that the new Bishop of Ballarat may not come out to find that the Church has not been able to provide for him, and that Bishop Perry was deceived. The salt of the Church of England in Victoria would seem to have lost its savour.