PUBLIC MEETING.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 121, 30 April 1853, Page 7

PUBLIC MEETING.

A Public Meeting of Members of the Church of England was held at the Church School Room, Lyttqlton, on Tuesday evening, for the purpose of receiving the Report of the Committee appointed to communicate with the Bishop of New Zealand on the subject of a Church Constitution. The Rev. R. B. Paul, Commissary of the Bishop of New Zealand, took the Chair. The meeting having been opened with prayer, the Chairman said that the business before them was threefold. In the first place to receive the report of the committee elected at a former public meeting; 2ndly, to consider the propriety of granting additional powers to the Committee, with a view especially to their negotiating with the accredited Agents of the Canterbury Association for the transfer to a Local Board of Management of the controul hitherto exercised by the Association over the Ecclesiastical and Educational Funds of the Colony ; and 3rdly, to take into consideration the pastoral letter of the Bishop of New Zealand. Taking the business in the order mentioned, he thought the most convenient course would be to commence by reading the Report of the Committee, and disposing at once of any motions which might be founded on it: then to take the discussion on the motion for granting additional powers to the Committee: and .lastly, to read the pastoral letter of the Bishop of New Zealand, and take the sense of the meeting on the propositions which it contained. It might be as well for him here to state, as some sort of guide to them in discussing the motion for granting larger powers to the Committee, the actual amount of income with which (supposing the desired transfer to be made) they would have to deal. In the first place there was the sum of £600, being the interest of £10,000 set apart for the endowment of a Bishopric, and borrowed by the Association on the security of certain lands and buildings in Lyttelton and elsewhere. This income he considered a sacred trust which could not, without breach of faith to the land-pur-chasers, be permanently applied to any purpose except the support of a Bishop, although, of course, there could be no objection to its being used for general ecclesiastical and educational purposes during the vacancy of the See of Christchurch, so long as the delay in the appointment of a Bishop was unavoidable. And here he would mention that the Association were pledged to the Bishop only to the extent of £600 per annum—so that, if at any time a higher rate of interest could be obtained, there could be no possible objection to the surplus being handed over to the general Ecclesiastical and Educational Fund. Independently of this income of £600, they had at present a rental of £150 from portions of the Church land, with a certainty of its being increased to at least £400 per annum in the year 1855, and every probability of a still further augmentation, as tenants could from time to time be found for other portions of the land. It must not be forgotten that this rental was all that they coidd with certainty reckon on for the support of their clergy and schoolmasters : for the third of the sums received for pasturage licenses (amounting during the past year to £423), might be withdrawn from the Church, as soon as the management of the Waste Lands passed out of the hands of the Association into'those either of the Government or of the Provincial Council. Of one thing, however, he was confident, that if at any time the funds at their disposal were found insufficient for the maintenance of. the ecclesiastical and educational establishments, there would be no lack of private subscriptions both here and at home to supply the deficiency. The Ecclesiastical plan of the Association, although a partial failure, in consequence of the land sales having fallen so far short of the amount anticipated by its promoters, had yet effected no inconsiderable amount of good, and he had the authority of Mr. Sewell for stating that in the event of Lord Lyttelton and others being freed from the liabilities which they had contracted, pro-

vision would in all probability be made for the' discharge of the debt on the new church at Lyttelton, the erection of a church at Christchurch, and probably at Kaiapoi and Riccarton, and for otherwise forwarding the views of those who were anxious for tiie prosperity of the Church in the Canterbury Settlement. The report was read from the Chair and adopted on the proposition of Mr. Birch, seconded by Dr. Dudley. The same resolutions as those passed by the meeting at Christchurch were submitted and adopted; the first was moved by Mr. Hamilton, and seconded by Mr. Bayfield; the second, by the Rev. B. W. Dudley, seconded by Dr. Donald ; and the third, by Mr. Toomath, seconded by Mr. Alport. We have no space for a detailed report of the proceedings, which we regret, as a discussion of great interest ensued of a colloquial nature. It is sufficient to state that questions were raised respecting the identity of the mortgagees with the mortgagers of the Episcopal Fund, the secularization of which was severely animadverted upon. An objection was also made to gentlemen now or recently officially connected with the Association remaining on the Committee; also to the application of the revenues derived from the Episcopal Fund being diverted from their strictly legitimate purpose. These questions were debated very keenly, but with perfect good feeling, and much valuable information was elicited. After the usual vote of thanks to the Chairman, the blessing was pronounced, and the meeting separated.