DUAL ROLE OF MAYOR AND MINISTER

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 107, 30 January 1935, Page 8

DUAL ROLE OF MAYOR AND MINISTER

Rev. E. T. Cox’s Position REFUSES CHURCH’S OFFER OF EXTRA YEAR Dominion Special Service. Dunedin, January 29. Although the invitation was not in order, according to those conversant witli tlie laws of tbe Methodist Church of New Zealand, the Rev. E. T. Cox, Mayor of Dunedin, was invited by the quarterly board of the Mornington Church last night to remain at the station for a further year. He declined an extension, and in doing so alleged hostility on the part of a small section of the charge, which is denied by those who have been prominent in recent discussions. Consequently, Mr. Cox will now retire from the Mornington manse in March, and he will, therefore, be free from church duties before the expiry of his term as Mayor and the commencement of his candidature for the Clutha seat in Labour interests. Should he be selected by tbe Labour Party as its candidate, it is expected that he will ask the Methodist confeienee for a year’s leave without a charge. The law i 5 that good reason must be shown in such an application, and an interesting position will arise should the conference carry the Trinity remit drawing attention to the fact that Methodist ministers were already pledged to devote their lives to the work of the ministry, and suggesting that the conference resolve that any . minister, prior to accepting a paid ci He or Parliamentary appointment, must hand to the president of the conference his resignation from the ministry. The attendance at the quarterly board meeting was the largest in the history of the church, every section being represented. Since the September meeting new office-bearers bad been elected. Although a petition praying that an invitation be extended to Mr. Cox to remain at Mornington for a further year was known to be in existence, some members of the church, whose opposition views were known, were not asked to sign it, and for their part they state that the petition was never placed in the porch of the church. “The kindest way to describe the circulation of the petition is that it was done furtively,” an office-bearer stated. The presentation of the petition did not come as any surprise, but quiet interest was displayed in the paper when it was revealed that the petition was signed by 170 members and adherents. As the church roll contains only 164 names those who bad all along opposed any extension of the ■station to Mr. Cox realised from the outset that the petition would be received, and the invitation was extended by 19 votes to 7. But, as-the opposition point out, and as they have pointed out all along, Mr. Cox could not accept the invitation as the January quarterly meeting could have no jurisdiction whatever in such a matter. Mr. Cox, they state, was fully versed in the Church law and he must have realised that any Invitation was' a mere gesture. In thanking the meeting for the invitation Mr. Cox said that the quarterly board had vindicated itself in the eyes of the public. He regretted that the hostility of a small section of the congregation, which had communicated itself to the connexion:!! officers of the Dominion Church, would make it Impossible for their wishes to be carried into effect. It seemed a wiser course for a change of ministry to take place and thus free him to carry out his work in mayoral office and, perhaps, in a still wider sphere. As “one of the small section” an of-fice-bearer to-day denied that any hostility had been shown towards the retiring minister. There had never been any personal hostility; rather they had extended every consideration to Mr. Cox. The decision of the strictly constitutional September quarterly board meeting was made by the dictates of the principle that it was a minister’s duty to minister to his flock. The church was a full-time work. However, those who were opposed to his outside activities were pleased that the opportunity bad been given to him graciously to decline the invitation for the sake of appearance, but the. minister must have known that invitation could not stand.