CLERGYMEN'S STIPENDS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14357, 29 October 1908, Page 6

CLERGYMEN'S STIPENDS.

That the inadequacy of tho stipends received in too ninny cases by members of the clergy should have been the subject of serious" discussion by the Anglican Synod this iveek will excite no surprise. If the public was over under any delusion concerning the worldly prosperity of the 1 average country clergyman ifc has probably long -since corrected its' impressions on the point. As the Primate pointed out in his address, and as' was emphasised in the discu&ion in the Synod, the cost of Jiving has very appreciably increased in New Zealand of late years, and this fact itself tends to render salaries, never nught but meagre, more and more inadequate for the requirements of those whose means of subsistence they provide. It is possible unfortunately to go even further than this and recognise that, while in other walks of life wages and tlio ccst. of living have increased and tend to increase pari passu, the remuneration of those who carry on the work of the Church throughout the community tends lo diminish. This state of things is, of course, by no means peculiar to the Anglican Church, since in the Presbyterian, Methodist, and oilier denominations the grievance the inadequate ministerial stipend is far from unknown. The fact is not to be ignored that, with the exception of tile limited number who have, charge of the large city churches, the rank and file' of the ministry in any cA these denominations is, generally speaking, poorly paid. This may or may not bo. particularly the case in the Anglican Church, but we should not be surprised to hear that it is so. The average stipend of country clergymen was said in the Synod' to be less than .1150. How much less it serves no purpose to inquire, but apparently the country clergyman is often considerably worse off than tlm country teacher. It would almost seem, indeed, that the higher the -nature of a calling the less assured is its certainty to ensure temporal comfort lor its representatives, lho facts and needs of everyday life are somewhat clamorous - , and even a. clergyman is unable to live on divinity. It is deplorable to think that a man shoulu devote years of study to qualify himself to fulfil the high purpose which! should animate those who lind a proteision in the Church, and to occupy the posiliop towards his fellows in which' his calling places him, only to enter at. last, upon a prolonged struggle against such poverlv as loaves little margin for anything save personal sacrifice. Kor a country clergyman to discharge the duties of bis office and maintain and educate his family on a salary frequently less than that commanded by a journeyman in a dozen trades is, wo are satMied, a task demanding only too much strenuous thought and self-abnegation. The underpaid clergyman would seem to ho rather too well known all the world over, and

liis elimination is no doubt a very diffi. cult, problem. Cert-niii it is, however, that if he is to do his work properly every clergyman should be independent to the extent that be should not ho seriously burdened with the difficulty of making both ends meet, and we am glad to sec* that the authorities of Hie Anglican Church have the matter again prominently under their consideration. If the ranks of the clergy are to 'bo recruited as is desired some better prospect. than an almost starvation wago must he held out. to the young men of the Dominion. To be passing rich on perhaps considerably less than. £3 u week is a really unreasonable summit to place on the ambition even of thorn to whom duty is more than personal recompense. Though clergymen here and elsewhere may be unable to combine in their own interests, the latest development, of the strike would appear to hail from the mission Held. Theicorrespondent of a most reputable journal is responsible for the statement that 1 scently all the helpers of tho mission on the banks of the Tana River, wlioso duty consisted in preaching, catechising, and so forth, went on strike, demanding from the mis-nonaric-- of the Xeukiidio Missionary Society, a famous Continental organisation, an increase of wages. The incident may have little enough bearing on the stipends of tlin country clergy of New Zealand, but wo hope that the attention that is nowbeing drawn to the position in which the latter are placed will not. subside hut. will increase until public feeling has been educated sufficiently on the subject to make the desired improvement possible.