AUCKLAND PRESBYTERY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 33, 8 February 1905, Page 6

AUCKLAND PRESBYTERY.

An ordinary meeting of the Auckland j Presbytery was held last evening, the iUev. Mr. Wedderspoon (ex-Moderator) presiding, in the absence, through illness, cf the Moderator. Sympathy.—A vote of sympathy was : passed in reference to the illness of the Rev. Mr. Nbrrie, of Papakura, and a similar vote to the Rev. Mr. McKinney, of Mahurangi, on the very sudden loss of his son. New Arrival. —After the reading of testimonials a hearty welcome was extended to the "Rev. ?. C. Ronnie, from the Perth l"resbytery, whom the ex-Modera-tor introduced. It was that Mr. Kt-nnie's visit to reside in New Zealand was due to the indifferent health of his wife. Divinity Degrees. —The Rev. Gray Dixon moved, ''That this Presbytery place on record its deep gratification at the resolution lately passed by the Senate of the University of New Zealand, providing for the conferring of degrees in theology. This recognition of what is traditionally known as the Queen of the Sciences the Presbytery hails as an indication of increasing breadth in our national ideal of education." In moving the motion the reverend gentleman said the divinity degrees would represent not necessarily a man's ortnodoxy, but his scholarship, so that differences of creed need be no stumbling block. Sir Maurice O'Rorke deserved their heartiest congratulations on having carried a most desirable progressive resolution. The motion was unanimously carried. Times of Meeting.—Mr. G. J. Garland gave notice of a motion to hold monthly meetings at 7 o'clock, instead of meeting on alternate months at 6 o'clock. The Presbytery's Records. —Indignant protests were uttered against the disfigurement of the Presbytery's records by the convener of the General Assembly recently. Members who had examined the books stated that they were unusually well kept, and the only blots on them were put there by the convener of the assembly, who. in the abusive methods he adopted to criticise those books, committed (said the Rev. Mr. Mncnicol) an ecclesiastical crime. The Presbytery decided to take steps to repudiate the treatment meted out to their clerk.