The Evening Star THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1873

Evening Star, Issue 3355, 20 November 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1873

It is very refreshing to have the truth told in such an innocent, unsophisticated manner as the l\ev. Mr Will gave it to the world on Tuesday evening. Very seldom indeed does it peep out so unconsciously. The charm oi the affair was that nobody expected it. The Presbyterian Church of Otago has behaved itself so decently towards other sects of religion, that neither Press nor people have for years thought it worth while to disturb their repose by any allusion to the Manse reserves, or Education reserves, the history of which was so naively and unsuspectingly given to the meeting. The French have a proverb, “He that excuses, accuses himself,” and this is precisely what, as the mouthpiece of the Presbyterian Church of Otago, Mr Will has contrived to do for it. The Irishman, afraid of being called to account for not replying to a letter, forestalled any remark by the excuse that he had never received it. Just so, Mr Will, afraid of the Presbyterian Church being accused of receiving State aid, says, “ The Presbyterian Church had never received a single penny from the State.” Good ! Mr Will ; but do toll us what is the State ? Of course the reply would be the Colonial Governincut—that is the notion Mr Will has of the State. Probably the Church of England, with an annual revenue of ninety millions, could plead precisely the same excuse, and affirm its independence of the State. The Presbyterian Church, Mr Will says,

Had never received any endowment from tlie State, and there was nothing to prevent any denomination from having an endowment like theirs if the members contributed the means. So far as ho knew, all that the Presbyterian Church received from the State were the Manse reserves - the Church reserves in Dunedin, and not one fraction more. What wen; these benefits? lie believed that when lie came to the Province the sections in question could have been purchased for Hioo. That they had become very valuable since then was not due to the State—the State did not give them their present value. What, they would ask, of the large reserves throughout the country ? These, be would reply, were contributed by the first settlers. Eu-ry man that bought Jand made a to the Church; that, be

contended, was not the State giving the land, it was the purchaser giving it. On every apie that the settlers bought they paid. ss, winch went to purchase reserves for rc’inous_ and educational purposes —the fact was proclaimed to the world. The Presbyterian ( lunch bad never received a single penny from the State. Of course those who met the 5s willingly, paid it; the others who had no choice were obliged to pay it also, or they could not become settlers in the Province. Wo presume, from Mr Will’s idea of State aid, “ the Manse Reserves,” “ the Church Reserves in Dunedin,” formed no part of the Waste Lands of the Crown ; nor was the diversion ol five shillings an acre from the purchase money of land to Presbyterian Church purposes anything abstracted from the revenue. True, the settlers paid it willingly—that is very plain—because Mr Will tells us “they had no choice,” or they could mt become settlers in the Province. There was no compulsion, but they mast: thus it cannot be otherwise than plain and self-evident that the Presbyterian Church lias from the very first been founded and supported by voluntary contributions like its sister Churches— only they must hare been paid. In the face of this ecclesiastical freedom, it really does seem very ill-natured to ask how it is that no five shillings an acre, no glebe lands, no endowment of any sort has found its way into the treasuries of the Episcopalian, Independent, Baptist, Roman Catholic, Jewish, or other Churches? Probably the Independents and Baptists might have declined to accept it; but they have very odd notions on such subjects, and think that voluntary contributions which must be paid are not altogether free from State interference, albeit the coercive power is Provincial, and consequently derived from the Crown. Since voluntary attempts at education persevered in for thirty years proved failures at Home, they do acknowledge that the moans of secular education should he provided by the State. Now, amongst the “ popular misconceptions” so ably dwelt upon by Mr Will, is one that has really never been very satisfactorily cleaved up, and which he did not throw any light upon, excepting by showing that the voluntary contribution of live shillings an acre, which every settler was compelled to pay, was “to purchase reserves for religious and educational purposes.” In other words, wc presume, it was for “Presbyterian Chufch” and educational purposes; for we do not hear of any other Church being included in the Presbyterian notion of the word “ religious.” _ Oiie of the “ popular misconceptions” is that the “ religious” formed the “ class,” and the “ educational” a species ; and that as more is included in the class than in the species—because not only education, hut manse building, church building, and ministers' salaries come within the “ class,” by far the larger portion of the voluntary endowment, compulsorily paid, was absorbed by the “class than fell to the lot of the “ species.” We believe there is so much truth in this “ popular misconception” that we should not be very much surprised if some of those godless “lawyers and others,” whom Mr Will “would not characterise”—we think very likely he meant heretics connected with the Press —may not feel it their duty to moot the question of how much there is available for educational purposes—for the “species”—which has thus far been witheld by the “ class.” The days have gone by when any Church can be endowed by voluntary contributions, which must be paid, and settlers can claim to live in Otago and buy land without being compelled to subscribe five shillings an acre voluntarily; so that it is just possible a very inquisitive population may put very impertinent questions that the Presbytery may find somewhat puzzling to answer, now that the pressure for education is becoming so heavy upon the revenue. So long 'as the inhabitants were of one faith it mattered little ; but we are intolerant enough to think that in ecclesiastical and educational matters every man should stand upon an equal footing, temporarily and spiritually; and that this is a fundamental religious truth.