ELECTION OF A BISHOP.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 614, 17 September 1909, Page 6

ELECTION OF A BISHOP.

THE DIOCESE OF WAIAPU. ARCHDEACON AVERILL CHOSEN. (Ny TolceraDb.—l'roas Amonlatlon.l - Napier, September 16.. The Anglican Synod of , the Diocese of Waiapu sat t'o-day to elect a bishop, and went into ctmimittee to consider the report of a special committee appointed at the last synod tA obtain information as to clergy suitable for appointment as bishep. ■ On resuming, Anihdeacbn Williams proposed, and Mr. Thomas' Tanner seconded, "that Archdeacon Alfred' Walter Averill, of Christchurch, is a fit and proper person to be elected bishop of this, diocese." A ballot was then taken, and Archdeacon Averill elected. . The election has still to be confirmed by the standing committees of the various dioceses in New Zealand. AN APPRECIATION. (Br a Latman.) ' It was well urged by the Rev. A. Dewdney in an address last evening that tho first and foremost requirement of a minister'should bo that he was also a man.' In the Ven. Archdeacon Averill, of Christchuch, the VVaialvu Synod, seeking a new bishop, has found a man. emphatically. The word "venerable," iapplicd to him, appears misplaced;' He- has had' a career of singularly rapid promotion in the Church. He is a well-knit, upstanding; fresh-complex-ioned man of 45 years. HB\is. a moving force in his pulpit, a quiet strength beside the sick and. suffering, ' and a man, before 110 is a Churchman, when his eye kindles' with the pleasure of meeting, an acquaintance, and he talks, from a full knowledge, any before Church affairs in Ms study or the street. He is a man before he is a Churchman, and a man before ho is a bookman. His large'chnrch-is crowded every Sunday; his sermons are vibrant with intensity, passionate with the enthusiasm of his convictions, yet rich with , "saving- common sense," and suggesting always the experience and outlook of .a man who' knows, the world as well as he knows heaven. When one has como to-know the-man, it seems.a'virtue,- as at first it .-was a surprise, that ho',took only secondclass honours in theology.; The fact suggests comparison with other men whose honours were first-class, and one reflects how much superior is' a, strong humanity to .mere book-learning. One feels, also, that the Archdeacon's studies did not cease with his degree. He was a curate of St. George's, Hanover Square,: from 1888 to 1891, and senior curate of Holy Trinity Church, Dalston, from 1891 to 1894, before coming to St. Michael's , Church, Christchurch, in the ~ last-mentioned year. He seemed a ■ very ' young '.man , then _to fill'tho pulpit of the pilgrim Church of Christchurch, a " church, moreover, which had won no common reputation from the long ministry of an exceptional predecessor, now Des/i Harper. But the strong, earnest personality, the pulpit eloquence, ,'tho kindliness 'without affectation of Mr. Averill confirmed him .'soon in favour, and ..to-dav will be. a sad day ior his congregation. ■ His promotion has been ' rapid, but it would have, been almost .uniquely rapid if his affection for St. Michael's had not led him to decline at least two; invitations to accept preferment at the expense... of separation. When the late Dean Hovell, of Napier, died, ho was offered and rofused the vacant position. There is reason to .'believe that he was also offored the Bishopric of-Fiji, when the foundation, of that see was being • discussed; two 6r three years agp. Even- so he was appointed deacon in 1888, priest in 188il,. : vicar .of; St. Michael's 1894, canon in 1902, and Archdeacon of Akaroa in 1903. A few years ago he tiaid a visit to Great Britain. He was recently appointed to the senior Archdeaconship' of Christchurch.' In. the Church of the province of New Zealand ho has probably few equals as a preacher. His church of St. Michael's he. has made a shade less, "high; church"' than St Peter's, Wellington. He is interested in social questions, and made, some forcible and practical suggestions recently' in a sermon on • tho unemployed question. The "things which are not seen 1 ?, have for. him' the higher value, but the "things which are seen" find, a - large place also-in his mind. ' . 1 '