DIOCESAN SYNOD.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2664, 20 October 1882, Page 3

DIOCESAN SYNOD.

'iHUBBDAT, OOXOBKB 19.

The Synod met at t p.m., at which hour tho president took the chair. Mr Malet moved—“ That Messrs W. H. Hargreaves, L, Harper, H. B. Webb and W. J. W. Hamilton be elected members o£ the Clergy Pension Board." In moving the motion ha desired to call the attention of the lay members of Synod to the necessity which existed for parishes contributing towards the Clergy Pension Fund. If the fond conld be placed on a good financial basis an actuary could be called in, and each clergyman conld then know exactly what he had to look forward to.

Rev. Canon Oholmondeloy seconded the motion, and expressed the thanks of the clergy to the members of the Pension Board for the admirable manner in wheh the affairs of the fund had been managed. Bey. T. Fiavell urged upon the lay membora of Synod who were vestrymen the necessity of urging upon their fellow vestrymen the desirableness of having an offertory in aid of the fnnd.

Yen. Archdeacon Dudley explained that at. Rangiora they had an offertory for the fnnd on Christmas Day. Major Bsmfleld moved—" That the prayer of the petition presented by mo with referenee to the constitution of the parochial district of Bt. Matthew’s, be granted.” Ha said that he need not, perhaps, in introducing the matter, speak further than in reply to the fourth allegation of the counter petition, viz. —the desire of the vestry of the parish of St. Lake’s to sever the connection from a selfish view of relieving themselves from a responsibility which they find themselves unable to perform satisfactorily. It was no secret that the mother parish was embarrassed, and on the principles of self-preser-vation they naturally desire and pray for relief in this matter, and should the Synod Bee fit to throw out the petition, it were well -it thoroughly understood that St. Luke’s vestry was not able to any longer carry on the ministrations of the daughter parish in the way they have hitherto been supported. Consequently the granting of the position must be patent to all Churchmen. A special case might, he thought, be made with reference to Bt. Matthew’s, and a larger endowment than customary be allotted to the cure of this part, seeing that the Dean and Chapter stand in the position of landlords, and 'that the greater p;rt of the district was Church property, which by the system of leases had made it what it was, essentially a poor neighborhood. The boundaries agreed upon, with the consent of St. Mary’s, Merivale, were, he thought, a decided improvement on the old. Ho might stats, on behalf of St. Luke's, that they were willing to allow the parish of St. Matthew’s to be separated from that parish free of all responsibilities up to the date of the separation. They were willing to hope that the financial prospect of St. Matthew’s was better than might be supposed. He moved the motion standing in his name. The Dean seconded the motion, and urged upon the Synod very strongly the adoption of the motion as proposed by Major Bamfield, He also pointed out that this was essentially a working men’s movement, and showed distinctly that in the parish of St. Matthew, so far from the Church losing her hold of the working classes, she had gained considerably. [Oheers.J Rev. Mr Mortimer spoke on the subject, and pointed out that the working men had evinced the most commendable zeal in the matter, and there was no fear if the prayer was granted but that they would support their services, and further that it would tend to the spread of the work; Bev. E. A. Lingard did not desire for one instant to oppose the motion, but to state what on behalf of St. Lake’s was only right the Synod should know. The vestry of St. Luke’s would, if this motion were rejected, see that the services of St, Matthew’s were continued as heretofore. [Mr Mclntyre—- “ No. I ’] Well, he desired to point out thot the vestry had provided the stipend of the assistant-curate up to Easter next. The reason why St, Luke’s bad so large an overdraft at the Bank was that a great deal of work had been done. The school at St. Lube’s bad been built at a cost of £9OO, and St. Matthew’s ohuroh. Even were the division not allowed to take place, the parish of St. Luke would take care to see the services carried out. He would not oppose the motion, bnt would say let the division take place, asd Q-od speed the work. Rev. O. Bowen suggested the remission of the petition to a Select Committee. The Dean pointed out that it was not necessary to do 80.

Rev. T. Fiavell spoke strongly in favor of the petition being granted, and gave high testimony to the work done by Mr Mortimer, and mentioned that some of Mr Mortimer’s parishioners had undertaken to contribute one week’s wages in the year in the support of their minister.

Mr J. SI. Parker pointed out that a very strong argument in favor of the petition was that the residents in St. Matthew’s were practically disfranchised. [Hear, hoar.] After Rev. Mr Otway had spoken, The President said he desired to bear testimony to the zeal and efficiency of Mr Mortimer in his cure. He had been the means, under God’s hand, of reaching the hearts of men with whom no clergyman had been successful. He felt that he should not bo doing his duty if he refused the prayer of the petition, or did not appoint Mr Mortimer to the charge of the district when constituted a parochial one. [Cheers.] The proposal to refer the matter to a select committee seemed to him to throw'discredit upon the iona fides of those signing the guarantee, which, he thought, they were not entitled in any way to do. [Cheers.] The motion was then put and carried unanimously. Archdeacon Harper moved—1, “ That this Synod regards with satisfaction the work of the -Sunday schools in this Diocese, and earnestly commends to the clergy, superintendents and teachers of such schools, the desirability of increasing their efficiency as much as possible.” 2. ‘‘That this Synod expresses Us hope that efforts will be made to establish Church Day schools in this Diocese wheroevar practicable.” In the course of bis address the Archdeacon pointed out that from the report of Archdeacon Harris ho found that 7200 children were attending their Sunday schools, which was about 86 per coat, of the children attend' ing the Government schools. He was of opinion that some effort should be made to bring in the children to their Sunday schools. The number of teachers was 380, of which 247 was the average attendance, but on’y 87 were male teachers, in which department their Sunday schools required great recruiting. With regard to Church Day schools he looked forward to the day when they would have a number of them in the diocese. In England these Church day schools were growing and increasing despite the opposition of the Board schools. He trusted the Synod would pass the resolutions, and if unable to carry them out this year, let them be renewed until God gave them the victor}’. Bay. T. Flavell seconded the motion. Rev. Mr Coates said that he did not believe in Sunday schools to suob an extent as some. They relied too much on them, until people got the idea that nothing more was required. In country places there were but few men of education, and those who were fitted for the work had no inclination. The result was that the teaching in Sunday schools was left to young ladies, who, however, accomplished and educated, required religious instruction as much as the children they were set to teach. The Synod had no idea of the dense ignorance of the Bible prevailing iu country places. In the public schools tha children wore not taught Roman numerals, and some of them looked for St. Baal’s Epistles iu the Old Testament, and so on. He was quite shocked at the dense ignorance on religions subjects existing amongst the children in the diocese, and he did not know where the next generation of Ohuroh people was to come from. The morality of the public schools was very low. [Cries of “ No, no.”] Well, he said it was so in the country at any rate. There could be no morality without Christianity, and Christianity had been entirely excluded from the Government schools. Hon. H. B. Gresson said that the choice lay between an imperfect religions education and nono at all, and though he was prepared to allow that there were serious defect s iu the Sunday school system it was the only one they had. But under these difficulties no insignificant amount of good work was done by the Sunday schools. At the same time he should like to see Church day schools eitab lished. Archdeacon Harris said that he desired to point out that some 500 teachers wore at work in the diocese. He could not agree with Mr Coates as to the inutility of the Sunday schools. They were of the utmost importance

to the work of the Oburoh, It was useless for them to think that they would ever recover the hold they onoe had over the people in the matter of education, They had had their day, and scarcely had made such nee of their opportunities as they might have done. Now what remained for them to do was to make the best of their position. The magnitude ol the work of establishing church schools all over the diocese could not be overrated. There was just one thing more he wanted to say, and that was that they should not decry State schools. The masters of these schools, in the majority of cases, were of the highest possible character, and a great deal bad been said on the subject ol State schools which never ought to have bean said. [Cheers.] He desired to bear hia very emphatic testimony to the high character of the State schools. [Cheers.] The Bev. H. O. Gossett asked Archdeacon Harper to alter his resolution by omitting the words “ regards with satisfaction,” end inserting “gratefully recognises." Archdeacon Harper agreed to this altera, tion.

Bev. Preston and Canon Stanford having spoken, the Synod adjourned until 7.30 p.m. On resuming the Synod proceeded to the orders of the day. On the motion of the Rev. Canon Ootterill the election of the standing committee was proceeded with, the committee to consist of six members of the laity and six of the clergy. The following members of the laity were nominated and declared duly elected without a ballot :—Messrs H. B. Webb, W. H. Hargreaves, Hi J. Tanered, I*, de 0 Malet, Q-. Mclntyre, and J. E. Parker. The fallowing members of the clergy were nominated : —The Daan, Archdeacon Harris, Canons Ootterill, Stanford, and Oholmondeley, the Revs E. A, LingarJ, W. A. Paiooe, A, O. Wright, J. Townsend, H. O. M. Watson, 0. Bowen, and W. Harper. The ballot resulted in the election of the following gentlemen : —The Dean, Canon Archdeacon Harris, Revs. Lingard, Ffticoe, and Watson.

Mr Malet moved the second reading of the Bill to amend the financial regulations for the collection and management of diocesan funds for the maintenance ot the clergy. He explained that the principal object of the Bill was to make it clear that in the event of any person claiming a long service grant it should be necessary not only that he should have been ministering in the diocese, bnt that he should have been in sole charge or assistant curate for ten year*. Mr Harman seconded, and the Bill was read a second time.

It was passed through committee in the following shape:— Section IV. The words down to the words “ period ” in the third line were struck out, and the following substituted : “ Every clergyman who shall have been either in sole charge or assistant onrate of a onre in the diocese for a period of ten years having been during that period in priest’s orders, and shall still be in sole charge or assistant curate of a onre as aforesaid.”

See page 73 Synod report—" Church fees payable to diocesan funds ” to constitute section VIII. of the Financial Regulations, and add.

"V. The above fees to bo payable by the surrogate or curate quarterly to the Diocesan Treasurer."

The Bill was reported to the Synod, and the third reading fixed for Monday next. The debate wae reiamed on Archdeacon Harper’s resolution! -with reference to the work of the Sunday ichoola in the diooaie. The Bev. T. Flare 11 took exception to the observation of the Bey. Mr Coaxes, that Sunday schools in many respects did more harm than good, and thought the importance of the schools wonld be generally admitted by the Synod. He supported the proposal for the establishment of a Church day school in Christchurch, and thought that if churchmen were appealed to, they would supply sufficient funds for the purpose. The clergy had opportunities of imparting religiouslnstrnotions in the Government schools, and oaald attend after school hours for the purpose. There were some clergymen however who declined the opportunity they offered to them. He did not agree with the report of the Commission on the subject, to the effect that though individual clergymen might avail themselves of the privilege of attending the State schools, it was impossible to devise any general system for imparting religious instruction under the Education Act. He would support the resolutions. Archdeacon Dudley did not see why the Church of England should not imitate the Church of Borne in the efforts it made to educate its children. There were many who would be willing to undertake the duty if some practical steps were taken to establish the schools.

The Rev. O. Bowen thought sufficient had not been done in the direction of imparting instruction in the Government schools. More attention should be given to the election of the school committees.

Mr Hargreaves deprecated the remarks of the Rev. Mr Coates, whose experience he hoped was quite exceptional. The Sunday school was, or ought to be, the nursery for the Church. He did not see why Sunday morning schools should not be established. Was it consistent to complain of insufficient opportunities to impart religion when the clergy encouraged the practice of holding secular entertainments in Sunday schools f The Rev. Mr Coates explained that his meaning was that Sunday schools were in some respects a snare, chiefly because people relied upon them as sufficient means for imparting religious instruction to their children.

The Dean thought that secular entertainments were not necessarily inconsistent with religion. He regretted that nothing practical had yet been proposed in the direction of establishing Church day schools. On this subject they had to convert the laity, without whose co-operation they could not succeed. He could endorse what hod been said about the services to the Ohuroh of many of the teachers in the Government schools. On the whole the schoolmasters were an admirable body of men. They had not yet felt the full effects of the secular system of education. The children had no time to receive religious instruction.

The Bar. Mr Welsh thought the position of this question was greatly attributable to the want ef interest displayed in it by the lay members of the Church, who did not sufficiently realise the importance of the work. The clergy might do a great deal in the direction required by the establishment of Bands of Hope, and also by addressing the children through their sermons more than was the custom at present. Mr G. Mclntyre said the laity had been unjustly blamed in the matter. Tha clergy had as largo a share as the laity in preventing effect being given to the desire of the Synod to appropriate a portion of the funds arising from the Ohuroh property estate for the purposes of education. This question was not a new one. In 1875 he himself brought forward a resolution on the subject, but it was opposed by many of those gentlemen who now annually brought this question before the Synod, Referring to the Church Property Ordinance and to the words “ ecclesiastical and educational purposes,” he said that the latter object had been entirely ignored except with regard to Christ’s College. The Rev. Mr Teakle spoke against the present system of secular education. The number of inmates of the Burnham Reformatory had increased within the last two years from 160 to 270. What were they to attribute this to f It was because religious instruction was talked about so much in How Zealand, that to tha laity it had become a nauseous subject. He would move the following addition to the resolution —“ And this Synod authorises the Ohuroh Property Trustees to make a grant in aid of any sobool which shall be established, at the rata say of 10j per child per annum who is in regular attsndanoo.” If this resolution were put, they would then know what the laity meant. With regard to the source from which tho funds were to be obtained, it necessary tha clergymens’ stipends should be reduced. The Rev. Mr Watson said it would be very unwise to make this a question between the laity and the clergy. As both Archdeacon Harper’* resolutions were practically on tho books of the Synod already, he hoped tho mover would withdraw them.

The Eev. Mr Pasooe supported the amendment moved by the Bbt. Mr Teakle, and would bo willing to submit to=a pro rata deduction from his stipend for the purpose. The Her. Mr Gossett spoka in the same strain. The Bey. Mr Mortimer suggested that the yoarg men should be induced to study for the diooetan scholarships! and thus become qualified for teaching. Mr H. B. Webb referred to the importance of the Sunday school work, and deprecated the observations of Ur Coates on that subject.

and also with regard to the State school* He did not think the Synod was prepared to find sufficient funds to establish an efficient day school, which would cost £2OOO for buildings and £ISOO a year for salaries, &o. They were only wasting time in discussing such resolutions as thoee which Had been submitted on this subject. The Bey, E A. Lingard suggested that the two resolutions should be pul separately. Ha would vote against the second resolution as being utterly worthless. With regard to the State schools, ho was one who had declined the opportunities offered. Tkei Board of Education invited the clergy to go into the schools to teach religion between one o’clock and half.past one, and provided no means for collecting the children together. In the Normal School there wore 800 children and how was be to gather them together. It wo* his duty between the hours named to bs in his own family circle. The Board of Education knew they ware offering something which the clergy could not accept. He hoped Mr Teakle’s amendment would be carried, and that the question would not be again brought up. The laity knew that the country clergy could not afford to moke any deduction from their stipends, and he would suggest instead that the balance of £4OOO of

the £50,000 English loan raised in 1879 be devoted to the purpose. There would be no necessity to erect new buildings, A good boys’ school could be established in say St. John’s parish, a good girls’ school, say in fit- Luke’s, and an infants' school in another parish. He had hod many applications from parents to reopen Bt. Luke's day school. Mr B J. T. Ford asked if the amendment was not contrary to the Statute which required notice of any motion involving a vote of money t The Bev. Mr Knowles pointed oat that the £4OOO referred to by Mr Lingard had been already realised. The Bev, Mr Eiton, in the event of Mr Teakle’s amendment being out of order, would propose to substitute the following:— " That a sub-committee be appointed to consider the best way of opening and maintaining two obnrch day schools, one for boys and the other for girls, in some central position in Christchurch ; the committee to consist of the Dean, Archdeacon Harper, Canon Stanford, Bey. Mr Lingard, Hon. Mr Aoland, Messrs J. B, Parker, Q-, Mclntyre, Willes, and the movor.” He would give notice to move this on a future day. Archdeacon Harper, in reply, said he would be willing to withdraw the second resolution in favor of the proposal of which the Bsv. Mr .Elton had given notice. He hoped the first resolution would be passed. Resolution No, 1 was then put and carried, the words 11 gratefully recognises ” being substituted for “regards with satisfaction.” Besolution No. 2 was withdrawn.

On the motion of Mr H. B. Webb, it wu ordered that a select committee be appointed to consider the petition of residents in the neighborhood of Pendaltown, praying for the formation of a separate parish out of the existing parishes of Biccarton nod Papanui, the committee to consist of the following nine persons:—Archdeacon Harris, Canon Oholmondeley, Bey. P. Knowles, Bey. T Flavell, Messrs W. H. Hargreaves, X. Gordon, P. G. Stedman, Major Bamfield, and the mover. The Synod adjourned at a quarter past eleven o’clock p.m, until the usual hour this day.