RURAL DEANERY BOARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 878, 26 September 1868, Page 11

RURAL DEANERY BOARD.

The following memorial from Church members in Invercargill to the Synod of Christchurchj in reply to that of the Rural Deanery Board, is now in course of signature :—: — To the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop, the Reverend the Clergy, and the Lay Representatives of the Branchof the United Church of England and Ireland, in the Colony of New Zealand and in the Diocese of Christchurch, in Synod assembled : The memorial of the undersigned, late Church Warden, and Vestrymen and Parishioners, of St. John's Church, Invercargill, humbly sheweth — That your memorialists deprecate any action tending to create dissensions and feuds in the United Church to which they belong ; and having read a memorial published in the public papers, purporting to be from the majority of the members of the Rural Deanery Board of Otago and Southland, crave your attention to certain assertions therein which are incorrect, and affect the members of onr Church. That the co-operation of the Curate of Riverton was invited by one of the Vestrymen here, with the full knowledge, and with the concurrence of the curate of Invercargill. That previous to the departure of the j Curate of Invercargill for Dunedin, and some days before the arrival of the Curate of Riverton, it was arranged at the first parish meeting to call a second meeting, on the Curate of Invercargill sending down names of persons in Dunedin who could be depended upon as representatives for this district, and that the Curate of Riverton did not persuade the members of the Church here to reconsider their decision to send no representatives, the matter having been pre-arranged. That the Rural Dean, in the absence of the Curate of Invercargill, telegraphed down to certain parishioners, stating that the " subdivision of the Diocese could not be entertained at th-j meeting of the Rural Deanery Board, on 18th August," and recommended Messrs. Elliott and Hardy, men of his own selection, and unknown to the parishioners here, who, through his influence, were elected Lay Representatives for Invercargill. That the Parish Church Warden and Vestry resigned after the second Parish meeting in consequence of the action taken, and being publicly accused of having allowed themselves to be influenced by the Curate of Riverton in the absence of their own Curate. That the memorial before referred to is

signed by persons who were not in Invercargill, ana who are, with three exceptions, strangers to the place, and cannot know what transpired here. That your memorialists have throughout been opposed to the creation of a new See, and pray that a burden may not be forced upon them, which they are unable to bear. Fred. H. Moore, Chairman of Second Parish Meeting, and late Parish Church Warden. John Hau, late "Vestryman. Thomas Pratt, do. Chas. D. Irvine. Fred. H. Wade, late Vestryman, W. H. Aylmer, do. R. B. Williams. William Powell. Henry Armstrong. Edmond Roger, late Vestryman. W. Stuart. Robert Tapper. B, Buchanan, late Vestryman. T. M. Clarke, do.