CHURCH OF ENGLAND SYNOD.

Evening Star, Issue 3339, 1 November 1873, Page 2

CHURCH OF ENGLAND SYNOD.

The report of the Standing Committee of the Diocese was brought up on Wednesday, and of it we make the following abstract BISHOPRIC ENDOWMENT I'CNO, ETC. In accordance with a resolution of last Synod the Committee took steps to lay before the diocese the necessity for immediate personal exertion in completing the fund, and to this end divided the diocese into five districts—lnvercargill, Lawrence, Dunedin, Oamaru, and Queenstown, and appointed one layman in each district to act as district manager, requesting them to associate others, if they thought necessary, This appeal was not in all cases successful. The district of Dunedin, including Waikouaiti, mainly through the exertions of the Hon. Dr Buchanan, contributed L 448 10« ; the Queenstown district manager wrote that nothing could be done there, while no answer was received from Invercargill, Oamaru, and Lawrence. The present state of the fund is L0,(J27 its; property in Christchurch, LI,000; do Invercargill, L 250; proceeds of various subscriptions, L 1,777 9s, The Committee hope, before the close of the present session, that the L 972 11s now wanting may be made up, so that the diocese may enjoy the benefit of the grants of LI,OOO each, voted by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and the Colonial Bishopric Society, which -'rants will lapse unless the diocese of Dunedin is in possession of the sum of L 4,000 within a reasonable time, —The Committee had not been able to cany out the arrangement with the Bishop whereby the diocese was to be entitled to purchase the property known as Bishop’s Court, during or at the expiration of ten years, for tiie sum of L 3,500, paying meanwhile interest half-yearly at 5 per cent. Letters were scut to the various clergymen throughout the diocese, requesting them to form local committees in their parishes to obtain such sums as would in the aggregate make up a total of L 350, being the amount of interest for the two years endin-' June 4, 1873, which the diocese should have paid to the Bishop under the above agreement. The parishes of St. Paul’s and All Saints’, Dunedin, of Oamaru and Lawrence, signified their readiness to contribute their portion of the required funds. From the other parishes either no answer at all or an unfavorable one has been returned. The committee, therefore, feeling that they would be unable to carry out the undertaking proposed, acting with the consent of the Bishop, entered into the following arrangement The Bishop to enter into unqualified dominion over the property of Bishop’s Court; the diocese to raise an annual sum of pot less than Ll5O, to be paid to the Bishop in lieu of house rent, commendin' from the date of his Lordship’s becoming permanently resident in the diocese.—General clergy maintenance fund. - That onemoiety of the sum now accruing from this fund should lie capitalised in order to form a diocesan pension fund for the benefit of clergymen who are incapacitated by illness or age from the due performance of their duties, and for the benefit of widows and orphans of clergymen who have been in the diocese, and held the Bishop’s license for a period exceeding five years ; that the other half of the fund be divided amongst those clergymen who are engaged in the performance of missionary duties other than parochial duties; such division to be in a proportion to be decided according to the discretion of the standing committee.—The committee reports the formation of a new parish, consisting of the southern portion of what was formerly St. Paul’s parish, Dunedin, and regrets that the boundaries assigned have not proved entirely satisfactory to the new parish.—The Standing committee recommend the following alterations in the Diocesan Statutes :-(l.) That the electpral districts should return representatives to Synod as follows :—St, Paul’s, Dunedin, 2; All Saints’, Dunedin, 2; St. Thomas’s, Dunedin, 2; Caversham, 1; Mornington, 1; Port Chalmers, 1; Blueskin, 1; Waikouaiti, 1; Palmerston, I; Xasehy, 1; Oamaru, 2; Otepopo and Hampden, 1 ; Tokomairiro, 2 ; Clutha and luehclutha, 1; Tuapeka and Waitahuna, 2; Queenstown and Avrowtuwn, 2 ; Teviot, 1; Clyde, I; Cromwell, 1; Invercargill, 2; Campbelltown, 1 • Riverton, 2—31. (2.) That in Statute 2, a clause should be added, making the Chancellor of the Diocese an ex officio member of the Standing Committee. (3.) That in the instructions for guidance of ministers, kc,, a clause should be added providing that in the event of a vacancy occurring in the office of vestrymen, power should be given to a \ estry to fill up such vacancy without calling a parish meeting. The Rev. Mr Beaumont moved-“ That in statute 2 a clause bo added making the Chancellor of the diocese an cx officio member of the Standing Committee.” That was met by an amendment, “That it was desirable that Mr Smith, the Chancellor of the diocese, be a member of the Standing Committee, and that a Bill be brought in to give effect to the same, which was carried. , „ Archdeacon Edwards moved—“ That the sum of three per cent, upon the ordinary income of each parish in the diocese should bo contributed for the formation of a general fund, to be devoted to the payment of the travelling expenses of the clergy attending Synod, and , other diocesan expenditure.'’—Negativ r ed.