Local Intelligence.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 437, 10 January 1857, Page 7

Local Intelligence.

NEW ZEALAND GENEEAL CONVEN-

TION,

With reference to the resolutions adopted ,at the General Church meeting at Christ- ] church, on Tuesday, the 30th December, i and published in our columns, we think it j desirable to give as fully as possible the 1 Diaft Deed of Trust under which it is proj posed that properties given or sold for the M use of the church should be held by the ' General Convention of New Zealand. I The Draft Deed commences with the I legal form of conveyance of any lands &c. *from any donor or vendor to trustees, upon '\the conditions expressed in the "following \ clauses, contained in the body of the deed : CLAUSE I. ,' Upon Trust, that the said C. D. and E. F., or ■»the survivors or survivor of them or the heirs v^of such survivors, or their or his assigns, other the Trustees or Trustee for the time '|being acting under the Trusts of these presents, who are hereinafter mentioned or referred to '.sas the said Trustees, shall and do stand seized .^and possessed of and interested in the" same ..piece or parcel of land and hereditaments, or jsjothenvise shall and do conv&y, settle, or assure, »-,tlie same upon and for, or according to such trusts, intents, and purposes, and under and sub:gect to such powers, provisions, declarations and and in such manner, and for such „ objects and purposes, whether religious, missionary, ecclesiastical, collegiate, scholastic, or as the General Convocation, Synod, ( *r Convention of the Church in New Zealand, '»s hereinafter defined, shall from time to time direct or appoint, in writing, under the hand of ;ine Bishop or Bishops, or other person or officer authorised by them in that behalf; subject howr *ver to any special covenants or declarations of v*rui,t imposed by any Founder, Donor, Testator, .j.** other Benefactor, and assented to by the ; wcneral Convention. */ _ CLAUSE 11. '^4 And it is hereby declared, that the various i-«ru«.ts, objects, and purposes, as aforesaid, o:c-

cepting such as are limited by any special covenant or declaration of Trust, and so far only as they are limited, shall be subject to the regulation and revision of the General Convocation, Synod, or Convention of the Church in New Zealand, the first meeting of which was held at on the -day of and at which were present Bishop Clergy Lay representatives who did on the abovementioned day constitute the said General Convention, according to the true intent and meaning of the several documents in which the words " General Convention of the Church in New Zealand," are used: and that the said persons hereinbefore named, and their successors for ever (whether acting ex-officio, or chosen in the manner hereinafter mentioned) were and should for ever be construed, taken, and be the General Convention of the Church in New Zealand : nevertheless upon the terms, and subject to the regulations hereinafter prescribed ; that is to say CLAUSE 111. FUNDAItfENTAI, CONSTITUTIONS. 1. Genekal Convention.—Thatthe Bishops Clergy and Laity shall be three distinct orders, the consent of all of which shall be necessary to all acts binding upon the Church at large. 2. That the General Convention may include any Missionary Dioceses which may be formed in the other Islands of the Pacific Ocean.

3. Diocesan Conventions.—That Diocesan Conventions be formed upon the same principle as the General Convention, and that the Bishop Clergy and Laity in each Diocese be three distinct orders, the consent of all of which shall be necessary to all acts binding upon the Diocese at large.

4. Provided that the Diocesan Convention within the limits of the Diocese shall exercise all powers not expressly reserved by the General Convention.

5. Provided, also, that where any question has been supported by two of the orders in any Diocesan Convention, and negatived by the third, it may be referred by either of the two orders to the General Convention whose decision shall be final.

6. Doctrine. That the Doctrines which shall from time to time be taught or inculcated by the Bishops, Clergy, Catecbists, Sehoolmasmasters and others, wholly or partially endowed or maintained by the proceeds of property held under this Deed; and the doctrines which shall from time to time be taught or inculcated in any Churches or Chapels, whether Cathedral, Parochial, Collegiate or Missionary, and in any Colleges, Schools, Hospitals, Alms-houses and other buildings, which shall be either wholly or partially built out of funds derived from the property held under this Deed, and upon sites held by Trustees appointed in the manner herein specified, shall not, or any of such doctrines, be repugnant to the Doctrines of the United Church ©f England and Ireland, as the same are explained and contained in the Thirty-nine Articles, and in the Book of Common Prayer ; and it shall be incumbent upon all Trustees appointed under the powers and provisoes of this Deed, to guard as far as possible against the Trusts hereby constituted, or any part thereof or proceeds therefrom being so appointed or disposed of, as to promote the teaching or inculcation of any doctrine repugnant to that of the United Church of England and Ireland, as so explained, 7. It is hereby declared, that neither the Doctrines nor theEitual of the Church of England, nor the authorised version of the Bible, shall in any way be subject to the decision of the General Convention.

8. Provided that nothing herein contained shall prevent the General Convention of the Church in New Zealand, whether acting over the New Zealand Islands alone, or vith any Missionary or other Dioceses, which may hereafter be associated with it as parts of the same General Convention, from accepting any alterations of the Liturgy, Articles, or "authorized version of the Bible, which may be made from time to time, by the authority of a lawful Convocation or Convocations of the United Church of England and Ireland.

9. Provided also, that in the event of the separation of the Colony of New Zealand from the Mother Country, or of any alteration of the connection now subsisting between Church and St; :O, or in the eynt of any alterations being .:> :Je in the Book of Common Prayer,'or iv the ur.tliorised

version of the Bible, by any other authority than that by which they were originally approved and confirmed, nothing herein contained shall prevent the General Convention of the Church in New Zealand from making such alterations in the Book of Common Prayer, and in the Thirty-nine Articles, the Form and Manner of ordaining and Consecrating Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, or from framing such other Measures and Regulations as may be rendered necessary by the altered circumstances of the Church in New Zealand. And the Trusts hereby constituted shall hold good and remain in force, such alterations of the authorized Formularies of the United Church of England and Ireland, notwithstanding. 10. It is hereby declared, that it is not within the power of the General or Diocesan Conventions to alter, revoke, add to, or diminish, any of the above Fundamental Constitutions. [The length of the Deed compels us to postpone the publication of the remaining clauses to our next issue.]