THE DIOCESE OF OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2055, 5 September 1868, Page 7

THE DIOCESE OF OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND.

, The dissentients at the late Meeting of the Rural Deanery Board, have agreed to send the following Memorial to the Bishop of Christchurch:— To the Right Reverend the Bishop, the Reverend the Clergy, and the Lay Representatives of the Branch of the United Church of England and Ireland, in the Colony of TSew Zealand, and in the Diocese of Christchurch, in Synod assembled. , The memorial of the undersigned Clergy and elected Representatives of the Laity in tbe Rural Deanery of Otago and South-1 land, Humbly sheweth—That by .virtue of a summons, datt'd the 27th day of July last, and issued by the Rural Dean, they appeared on the 18th instant, at a special meeting of the Rural Deanery Board, to consider the proposed division of the Diocese, and to express by formal resolution of the Board, its wishes with respect to the nomination of a Bishop. ; That before proceeding to the business for which the.Board was summoned, the Bey. Mr Martin, Curate .of Tuapeka and Waitahuna District, inforriied the Board that a general njieeting of his parishioners had been held in his district for the purpose of electing members to the Board, and that Mr J. B. "Borton ahd Mr John P. Herbert; of his district, had been duly elected, and were present waiting permission to take their seats. , That thereupon Mr R. B. Martin moved, arid the Rev. Mr Stanford seconded, that Messrs Borton and Herbert, the gentlemen elected for the Tuapeka and Waitahuna district, be adriiitted as members of the Board, and be allowed to take their seats. .That to this resolution it was objected that the boundaries of the district had not been determined ps prescribed in Regulation No. I, Section 3, of, the Otago and Southland Rural Deanery Board, nor the number of members to be elected declared by the Bishop aa required by Section 4 of the same. That several speakers, in reply, stated that there had not been for the last 12 months any Standing Committee of the Board to whom the Rev. Mr Martin's parishioners could apply; also, that the Bishop was absent in England, and that therefore there was no regular method by which they could be represented at the Board, aud the supporters of Mr R. B.Martin's resolution urged that many irregularly elected persons, and some who had not been elected at, all, were sitting at the Board, and they instanced the Ihree lay members for Invercargill, who were irregularly elected; and might have added the member for Dunstan, who himself had stated that he had not been elected at all ; and also that simUar irregularities of election had, on former occasions, been condoned and overlooked by the Board; although it was true that the former and present irregularities that the Board condoned occurred in districts property constituted : Whereas, for the reasons above assigned, the Tuapeka and Waitahuna district had not yet been constituted a Parochial district, although it had supported a minister for the last eight months—and moreover, the Bishop's Commissary, Tho Dean of Christchurch, had also expressed himself unable to define boundaries for the district.

That the Rural Deanery Board was assembled to practically exercise the most important powers of a Diocesan Synod, inasmuch as it, was called upon to consider the proposed division of the Diocese, and if favorable thereto, in effect to nominate a Bishop ; and that, therefore, the admission of members for an important district like the Tuapeka and Waitahuna, boing a smaller matter considerably, and moreover, being a measure tending more truly to elicit tho opinions of the Church members within the proposed Diocese, 1 was clearly within the powers with which the Board had been for an exceptional purpose clothed. That in support of this view your memorialists be? to refer to the opinion of Sir William Martin, subsequently quoted by the Rural Dean, in which, speaking of clause 23 of the Church Constitution, and the nomination of a first Bishop to a new Diocese, he says :•/'•■

" It (clause 23) was intended to be an adoption of the ancient rule of the Church, that a Bishop is to be chosen by the concurrent voice of the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese, that is to say, the Clergy and Laity over whom he is to preside. . .As the moat regular and satisfactory mode of carrying out this principle, the nomination is required to proceed from the Synod. No doubt, the ordinary case, of an election to filla vacancy in a Diocese already possessing a Synod, was the case contemplated. In, the rare and exceptional case of an election of a first Bishop; aU that can be done is to conform to the spirit of the clause. An election by the Synod, of Chrißtchurch, though it might seem nearer to the letter would certainly not have been according to the true meaning or spirit, for it would reaUy have been an election by persons outside of tha Dioceso." Arid from this your memorialists infer, that if it was considered right that so grave a departure from the letter of the Constitution should be sanctioned in order to maintain the spirit, namely, that the Bishop should be elected by those over whom he is to preside, much more should a departure from the very subordinate Regulations of the Rural Deanery Board be sanctioned, where such a departure was asked for the purpose of insuring a better representation of the people over whom the Bishop is to preside, in the body professing to represent them in the election, or nomination of such Bishop.

That the Chairman of his own motion declared Mr R. B. Martin's resolution to be irregular and inadmissable, and refused, to put the question to the Board.

That, thereupon, Mr Watt, the member for Riverton, questioned the authority of the Chairman to decide definitely what resolutions should be put to the Board, and maintained that the ultimate power lay in the Board itself, and moved a resolution, as a question of privilege (which waa duly seconded), to the effect that the Chairman should now put the original motion of Mr R. B. Martin to the Board, and thia resolution the Chairman also refused to put.

That, thereupon, Mr Watt declared that " the Board was packed ; that justice was not to be had ; and that there was no use in remaining to record its proceedings." The Bey. Mr Oldham then said, " Seeing that this Board is no representation of the Church in Otago and Southland, we protest, and shaU appeal against its proceedings."

That, thereupon, the foUowing members and elected representatives left the Board :—

Mr R. B. Martin, and Mr W. D. Murison, Dunedin ; The Rev. Mr Oldham, and Mr ll N. Watt, Riverton ; the Rev. Mr Stanford, and Mr J. L. Dewe, Tokomairiro; the Rev. Mr Martin, Mr J. P. Herbert, aud Mr J. B. Borton, Tuapeka and Waitahuna; Mr George Richardson, Molyneux.

Mr Hibbard, of Tokomairiro, though joining iv this memorial, remained to watch proceedings. That the action of the Rural Dean as Chairman of the Board, and of those supporting him, in thus, on technical grounds, attempting to stifle the fair representation of an. important district, is not calculated to promote that " restoration of the unity of the Christian Church," in which the General Synod, by resolution on the 16th Mky, 1865, "requests the co-operation of the various Diocesan Synods," but is calculated to. and wiU, your memorialists greatly fear, promote a serious disaffection and large secession from this branch of our Church, if the proceedings of the Rural Poxnery Board should have the effect of imposing upon the Church in Otago and Southland a Bish-r p holding the views of that section commonly known as the Ritualistic party, to which party your memorialists are satisfied Bishop Jenner belongs.

That your memorialists are, with, they believe, a large majority of the lay members of the Church in this district, averse, and adverse to the introduction (to quote the words of Dr Jenner) "of the moat obvious " (high ritual) "improvements in Divine worship," even should they be "introduced with the most tender and considerate regard to the feelings and piejudiees of the devout when there was no question of great interest before the constituencies, and does not now fairly represent the great body, of the Church in this Rural Deanery, more especiaUy with respect to the appointment of a Bishop. That at the time of the election of the present Board, the country districts were not generaUy in a position to send as repiesentatives gentlemen resident in the respective districts, and were thus compeUed to select residents in Danedin, who are but iU acquainted with the wishes and views of their constituencies.

That the constituents of your memorialists, together with those whom on this subject your, memorialists know to be misrepresented at the Board, are spread over by far the largest portion of the district of Otago and Southland, and form a very considerable majority of the memlers of the Church in the Provinces of Otago and Southland.

That other important districts, beside Tuapeka and Waitahuna, are either unrepresented or now insufficiently represented at the Rural Deanery Board, under the Regulations of 19th February, 1834. That in this matter may be instanced the Province of Southland, which has but four representatives, three of which are appropriated to one town—lnvercargill.

That in view of the foregoing premises, Your memorialists most humbly pray—

That the Diocesan Synod of Christchurch I wiUtake no action upon any resolution or other motion of the Rural Deanery Board, as at present constituted. .And that the Synod wiU-by Statute, or by such other means as to it shaU seem meet, cause the present Rural Deanery Board to be dissolved, and another to be elected on the basis of "a fuller and more equitable representation, that the constituents at large may have an unexceptional opportunity of recording their views On the very important subject which now agitates the Church community of this Rural Deanery. And in view of the proceedings herein detaUed, if our memorialists further most humbly i pray— That the Synod will in its -wisdom take such means as to it shaU seem meet, to secure the impartial conduct, both of the elections and of the proceedings of the Rural Deanery Board. (Signed)— R. B. Martin, Dunedin, Lay representative W. D. Murison, Dunedin, do Jas.; Rattray, Dunedin, do W. F. Oldham, purate, Riverton I. N. Watt, Lay representative, Riverton C. Whittingham, elected representative for Riverton W. H. Martin, Curate, Tuapeka and Waitahuna . J. B. Borton, elected representative do J. P. Herbert, do R. L. Stanford, Curate, Tokomairiro James L. Dewe, Lay representative do B. Hibbard, do Geo. Richardson, Lay representative, Molyneux.