FINANCIAL LETTER OF THE BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND TO THE ARCHDEACONRY BOARD OF THE PROVINCE OF NELSON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 432, 24 December 1856, Page 5

FINANCIAL LETTER OF THE BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND TO THE ARCHDEACONRY BOARD OF THE PROVINCE OF NELSON.

It will be seen by the following important communication from the Bishop of New Zealand, that his Lordship most generously proposes to contribute from his private funds one thousand pounds towards the endowment of a Bishopric of Nelson. We can scarcely doubt that this liberal offer will be met In a corresponding spirit by the members of the Church, considering the inestimable advantages which are likely to result from the superintendence and counsel of a resident Bishop.— Com?nwu'cated. To the Treasurer of the ARCHDEACONRY BOARD. My Dear Sir..—The very important matter on which I now address you is the future provision to, or made for, the Bishop of the diocese and the Archdeacon of Waimea. The strong objections which have been made to the proposed union of Wellington and Nelson in one diocese, have led me to reconsider the recommendation which I forwarded last jear to the authorities in England ; and I am now prepared to advise the erection of Nelson into a distinct episcopal see, provided that the following conditions are complied with : — Ist. That the members of the Church in Ihc Province of Nelson give their formal consent to the appropriation of at least £2,000 of the endowment, fund to the m;nntonance of the Archdeacon of W;.imea,

leaving about £7,000 for the general purposes of the Church in the province. It will be seen, by reference to the proceedings which took place during my visit to Nelson in October, 1855, that this proposal is in strict uniformity with the resolutions then passed, to the effect that a certain portion of the endowment fund should be set apart /or the supply of pastoral superintendence to the unsettled portions of the province which could not at present be reduced into parishes. The result of all my experience in this country proves, that this kind of missionary duty can be most effectually discharged by a Bishop or Archdeacon.

2nd. That this sura of £2,000 from the endowment fund be augumented by private contribution in the colony and in England, to the amount required by the Home Government to be invested for the permanent maintenance of the Bishopric, which is usually £10,000, but in this case ought not, I think, tobemore than £5,000, as the income of a Bishop by the diocesan scale i 3 at present £500 per annum. Out of some property which I have lately inherited, I should be willing, if necessary, to give £1,000 for this purpose; but the earnestness with which the members of the Church in Nelson have resisted the proposed union with Wellington, seems to justify the hope that they will soon raise the required amount without my assistance, in consideration of the incalculable benefit which they will derive from having a resident Bishop of their own. I press this subject upon the immediate attention of the members of the Church in the province of Nelson, because I believe that at' this present moment, a clergyman, whose high character and qualifications led to his nomination to the Bishopric of Christchurch, would respond to such a call as that which the members of the Church in Canterbury, sent last year to Mr. Harper, who has now been consecrated as their Bishop. Before the resolutions of the Canterbury meetings reached England, the Rev. Edmund Hobhouse, Fellow of Merton College, had already been applied to by Lord Lyttelton to allow himself to be put in nomination, for the Bishopric of Christchurch ; but he gave way at once to the declared wishes of the resident members of the Church in the Province of Canterbury. A prompt and vigorous effort on our part may have the effect of securing to Nelson the services of one of the most devoted and single-hearted clergymen whom I have ever known, and one whose worth has already been attested by the recognition of his fitness for the charge of the adjoining diocese. With eveiy wish and prayer for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in all your counsels, I remain, Your faithful friend and pastor. ', G. A. New Zkala^d. Wellington, Nov. 21, 1856. Examiner, Dec, 6.