COUNTRY PREACHERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7237, 25 October 1901, Page 1

COUNTRY PREACHERS.

-+ A good deal has been heard lately about the case of the country teachers. Mr S. S. Blackburne, at the Diocesan Synod yesterday, championed the case of the country preachers. His ideas were embodied in a .■somewhat lengthy motion, which reads as follows : — (1) That the practice (unless under very exceptional circumstances) of pointing to parish vicarages clergymen from outside the Diocese, or who have recently come into it, and especially the practice of appointing an imported locum tenens in succession to a parish vicar whoso place he has temporarily filled, is unjust to clergymen who have worked well and faithfully in the Diocese during a considerable number of years, and is very discouraging to them ; and that the practice tends to hinder men from, seeking or accepting junior positions in the Diocese, and to deter parents from consenting to their sons preparing for ordination. (2) That the Bishop be respectfully requested to bring the foregoing resolution to the notice of the Board of Nominators whenever he has reason to suppose that any such appointment as is therein referred .to is contemplated. " Mr Blackburne said that every member of the Synod would agree with what Bishop Julius had said about seeking preferment. No clergyman entered the Church with, that thought in his miridJ But a clergyman who was appointed to -take up a position in the Diocese had duties to consider, apart from himself; if he was married, «he had to consider his wife and family. The speaker referred' to the different conditions in regard to clergy in the country and those in the towns. He dwelt on the low stipend of the country clergyman, and the many drawbacks under ■which he laboured. There were lack of educational advantages for, his children, isolation, want of contact with other minds, and so on. In justice to himself, his wife and his children, a clergyman had to consider the prospects offered by ai> appointment of that nature. It would be difficult to get men in the future to take up work in junior positions if the present conditions continued. The speaker also referred to the appointments to several suburban vicarages, which, he said, were wrong in principle, as the positions should have been reserved for men who had given distinguished services to the Diocese, unless under very exceptional circumstances. He said that there was a tendency to give way entirely to the wishes of the parish, whereas tlie interests of the 'Diocese as a whole should fee considered. Mr Blaokburne wa« going on to refer to an attempt by ia parish to select its own locum tenens. ' . Bishop Julius, however, said that the matters referred to were' in the hands of the Board of Nominators, were hot public, and could not be brought up. At this stage, Mr Blackburne was interrupted by the six o'clock adjournment.