CORRESPONDENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 241, 21 February 1855, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sir,—-Will you allow me to occupy in your columns the small space that I shall require to give my opinion as to the expediency of a fund raised by pew-rents as a means of supporting tbe 'clergy ? My "only plea for making this intrusion is, that the subject has been discussed a great deal • and I feel very anxious that it should be brought to some, satisfactory conclusion.;--^ With all deference to other people's feelings with regard to a fund raised in this manner, I beg to say that I for one am very much in favour of it;; for;-;._ really think that when the sittingsi are paid for, the congregation is to a certaiu extent free ; each individual has a seat of his own, and that being tlie case, the congregation is compact and in order, and, indeed, whereiis order and decency more required than in the Houseof God ? : 1 believe there are some who would assert that it;tends to keep away the poor: this I admit as very reasonable, but I would ask those who raise such: objections as these, who are the poor in Canterbury ? Has not everybody the means of providing the small sum that is required at the end of the year ? I think that nobody who considers the present state of .affair's can think of any other method that is either so effectual in compensating the clergy, so well adapted to fill the church, or, under the present circumstances, so altogether advantageous. '.' I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, A Layman.