ANGLICAN PRIMACY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 649, 28 October 1909, Page 3

ANGLICAN PRIMACY.

METHOD OF ELECTION. THE. PROPOSED METROPOEITICAL SEE. .-' At the sitting of the' Christchurck Diocesan I Synod on Friday Archdeacon Harper moved:— (1) That it is not expedient to constitute one of tho existing, sees,in. the church -of the province .of Ivew. Zealand as the' Metropolitical Seo. of the , Proviuce. (2) i '.'That..it. is expedient; that, the titlo'.'. of j Primato should bo altered, and tho title of * Archbishop and' Primate should be substi- '. tuted for tho titlo of ■ Primato (3) That ~ tlio'presont mode of the election of the !. '. Primate should be' altered, so as to pro- . , vide for only one ballot. ■ • ■

Archdeacon Harper, said that one of the reasons,against a metropolitical see was that there might be a conflict of interest between tho'needs of the diocese, which might require the appointment of. a young man as. bishop, and the dignity of the office, which they would agree, should be hold by one qualified to hold it by his seniority of years. He had' como to the conclusion that it would scarcely do to affix the primacy or archbishopric to one city; it would be very difficult indeed to ohoose whioh' should be- the rightful mctropolitipal see—whether a centre like .Wellington, Christchurch,, or Auckland should be. selected, or 1 whether it should be'stowed away in the corner of the land like Nelson. By adopting the title "primate and archbishop," tho representative of. the-province at tho Lambeth Conference would be recognised as ranking as an archbishop Regarding the third part of his motion, tho speaker explained that on tho two last _occasions _on which there had been an election of Primate the elections had been very unploasant affairs. Ho thought that it should be assumed that tho senior bishop ought to be elected unless Synod wanted someone else, and one ballot should be enough to "donoto the mind of'the General Synod. It was agreed that,' each part of the motion should be put separately. ' The Rov. T. A;- Hamilton seconded the first part.

/ Archdeacon Gossctt said that ho consideredit important; that there should be ono place always.where General Synod should meet, he did not believe that General Synod would ever be a truly efficient body until it met regularly in ono central place, until there was a Stand-ing-Committee that mot'at least once a year, .and until there was a secretary of General Synod with an, office.' When-this, was accomplished they would have something approaching •to continuity of action in the (jiencral Synod. ; At present, l as there was no one to prepare' any-work for General .Synod, and everything had to begin do novo, the result was terrible confusion and very littlo progress in: any- direction. Wellington was. the right place for the-General Synod; - it would be\ a great saving in expense to the lay members, and a great saving 'to the Church in respectto the expense of the attendance of the clergy.. Archdeacon Averill said he could not agree with the previous speaker. It would be a weakness if General. Synod was not held in different centres.. Be agreed with the mover in his objections to a metropolitical see. Unfortunately they knew that there was a great dear of jealousy between ono or two dioceses at present, and if the primacy was limited to one place it would cause a great deal more jealousy. For the peace and welfare of tho Church generally it was very desirable that things should remain as at the present time. (Applause.) , . . ' After further discussion, the first part of the motion was agreed to. The president (Bishop Julius), in tho discussion on the second, part, said that at last General Synod most; of tho bishops (and he himself amongst them) had opposed the proposal that the Primate shoula be entitled "Archbishop." The title "Archbishop" seemed to carry with it certain inherent powers (or powers that might be claimed, as inherent), and he did not think it. desirable that a matter of snch importance should be settled by a catch vote. They know his views on titles, and he thought that ho would disagreo with the title "Your Grace." The bishops, so far as his twenty years' experience of them went,; were brotherly and friendly. There was not much in a name, but' there was something in it, and if the Primato wore called Archbishop, he (the speaker) thought that-some-thing of that brotherly feeling might fall out. On division this part of the motion was negatived. Division list: Ayes, clergy 21, laity 17; noes, clergy 20, laity 17. The third part of, the motion was discussed at considerable length. Archdeacon Gossett moved to amend the motion by adding, after the word "provide," the words, "that tho bench of bishops shoujd elect the Primate." On tho voices tho words, "for only.one ballot" were struck out.' . , . Tho. amendment was, after debate, negatived on the voices, and the third portion of the. motion, as passed read:—"(3) That tho present modo of tho election of the Primato should bo altered." Tho motion as amended was then agreed to. {