SWEATED CLERGY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 37, 7 November 1919, Page 7

SWEATED CLERGY

DISTRESSING REVELATION S.

The average stipends of ministers in the Church of England were recently set out by a correspondent to the Melbourne "Age," In the' diocese of JJ elbourne (says this, correspondent) thero' are fifteen beneficed clergy receiving less than 4200 per annum, and 35 more receiving «£225 per annum or under. The average stipend in the diocese for 132 beneficed clergymen is ,£258 10s. In tho Bendigo dioceses the average stipend for 24 clergymen is <£203 per annum. Seven of these receive =£150 per annum or under, and 11 from ,£l5O to =£225. In tho Wangaratta diocese tho average of 28 beneficed clergy is ,C23G 10s., of whom 20 receive from 4364, to JD225 per annum. 'J'ho figures for the other Protestant churches in Australia are somewhat similar, thero being in general a fixedi minimum salary ranging from „C2flO to 4:250 per annum.

Tn consideration of wliafc may be considered a fair standard of living for a man in the position )of a minister of religion, tho clergyman is more poorly paid than the unskilled labourer (com. moots (he "Age"). The minister has to dress well, he has to keep' up a eood home, he is expected to give his family the facilities of higher education. and he is called upon to perforin many acts of practical charity. If he is 1o fill Ilia position adequately he has to keen himself in touch with tlia social and theological literature of the day. How is a man to do that on ,£4 or ,£4 10s. a ivsek, and even less, with clothes, boots, and foodstuffs at their present prices? That actual privation and. want must prevail is inevitable. Some heartrending instances that no donbt have, their parallel in this country'have been published by the Clergy IJelief Fund in England, One clergyman bogged for a l»rant of clothing. "I would not anply if I could help it," he wrote, "but I am driven to do so. lam bound in this hot weather to wear my - overcoat in Sunday school to cover up my rasrs." Another country clergyman whose stipend was ,£2OO a vear sent his household budget. His food bill for a family of six had been reduced to .Ell a week. "My wife," he wrote, "does all the work of a large house, arid makes the children's dollies and most of her own; but of course nonf 1 of us would be even decently clad if it were not for the kindness of relatives, who occasionally send us clothes or material." Another clergyman wrote:—"We have no amusements and we do not hare holidays, and if inv stipend were not augmented by eifts of clothes and an occasional pound-not'! from a friend we should have to pet into debt; but so far we have been able to keen alive—and that is all." There : s reil nithos in ill's extract:—"T haven't had a renllv cood smoko since T was in th" Armv and eisnrettes were on issue—T simnlv cannot afford to smoke at present-day prices."