GENERAL SYNOD.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 28, 1 February 1877, Page 2

GENERAL SYNOD.

The Synod met yesterday at 4 p.m. In reply to Mr Carleton, the Primate said that only the first of the resolutions standing in his name was superseded by the adjournment of the House; the others should have appeared m the order paper, but had been omitted by misapprehension. It was agreed that the remainder of the resolutions should be postponed until after the debate on the formularies Bill. : The Hon Mr Acland moved:—" That leave be given to bring in a Bill to amend the Ecclesiastical Offences No. 9 Statute, 1874,' that the same be read a first time, and that it be referred to the Committee on Statutes." Agreed to. Archdeacon Maunsell moved.— "That a Committee be appointed to consider why the marriages performed in this colony by the Church of England are ao few in proportion to its numbers, and to consider whether any or what alterations should be made in our present arrangements; such Committee to consist of the Bishop of Nelson, Archdeacon Harper, Rev E. A. Lingard, Mr Quick, Mr Lusk, and the mover." He quoted statistics to show that whereas in 1851 the marriages celebrated m the Church of England amounted to four-fifths of the whole number, in 1861 they had decreased to three-fourths, and in 1874 to two-thirds. During the nine years from 1867 to 1875 the number of marriages celebrated to the 10,000 of the population were as follows:— Church of England, 57; Roman Catholic Church, 111; Wesleyan, 120; Presbyterian, 133. He thought some principle was involved in this decrease of Church °t ,f L an^ mmarries.a _es. and that the matter should be investigated. Mr Carleton seconded the motion, which was agreed to. " Tlu Dean of Christchurch moved "That leave bo granted to bring in a Bill for amending Statute No. 4, by introducing a provision to the effect that no person shall be entitled to vote at any parish meeting unless he shall have subscribed the required declaration of church membership at least one month previously; also by altering clause 6, for the purpose of laying down more distinctly that a churchwarden must be a resident in the parish for which he is appointed." Archdeacon Stock seconded the motion which was agreed to, and the Bill read a first time. : On the motion of the Bishop of Auckland, seconded by Mr Lusk, permission was given to lay on the table a petition, originally addressed to the Standing Committee of the | Diocese of Auckland, by certain members of the church resident in the district of St. Mark s Church, Auckland, who afterwards requested the Standing Committee to forward the said petition to the General Synod. Archdeacon Stock moved for leave to bring S. ? bl lU° add a P rovi s<> to clause 8, of Statute IV-" Provided that parish meetings, besides that required,for the.purposes of the Statute, shall be called by a curate, when he shall be required to call a'meetiog by a requisition signed by one of the churchwardens ard three vestrymen, and that he shall be the chairman of such meeting, with the same powers as given to the curate in this statute-" and that this Bill be referred to the Committee on Statutes and Resolutions before notice be given for second reading. Mr Rous Marten seconded the motion, which was agreed to. Mr Pickering moved (in the absence of Mr Fell) "That the Synod do not sit to-mor-row. The Hon Mr Acland seconded the motion, which was negatived, but a subsequent arrangement was made that there should be no afternoon sitting. The Synod to-day will therefore meet only in the evening at half-past 7. The Rev Mr Jackson withdrew the motion No. 7 standing in his name, and the Rev Mr Lingard obtaiued leave to postpone No 9 until after the debate on the Formularies Bill; the second motion by the same gentleman (No. 10), " That there be laid upon the table a statement of accounts of the assessment for Synod expenses, agreed upon at the session of 1874," falling to the ground, as the returns asked for had already been laid on the table by Mr Rous Marten at the request of Mr W. H. Quick on behalf of the Printing Committee of last session. Archdeacon Harper moved, "That leave be given to bring iv a Bill intituled a Statute to limit and define the powers of the General Synod in reference to alterations of the services, formularies, and articles of the church and the authorised verson of the Holy Scriptures, and to settle the mode of procedure in reference thereto." He held that the proposed Bill was a strictly conservative measure, and was not in the' direction of any change, but tended solely towards preserving I the faith of the church as it waa at present Whatever logical exception might he takeii to its wording, that was his intention in introd,Ud £ g K ? ro ? a^. ly ali would a g r ee that the New Zealand Church was not under the government of the Church of England as established by law, or, in other words, was practically outside of that church as by law established. If so they had reached one common standpoint. A recent letter from Lord Carnarvon to Dr Pollen relative to the measures taken at Home for removing the disabilities which clergymen of the New Zealand Church labored under in England— by providing a process by which clergymen ordained in the colony might become naturalised, as it were, in the Church of Englandwent still further to prove this position. He admitted the force of the argument " Leave things alone and let us see what time will bring forth, we have done very well so far." But we have been acting already in the direction of change, and in future may allow the possibility of proposals for further change to creep on us before we have had the wisdom to prevent, restrain, or check such proposals. The argument was one of expediency but so were those raised against the Bill. If the first proposition were proved— that they ought to make provision some time or other for possible alterations— it were better to do it now. There was no bar but the quiet of men's minds here to the introduction of those burning questions which excite the minds of men at home That quiet might not last. It was possible' certainly, that if such a question were introduced into some future Synod the Primate might rule it out of order, but would that be a final bar? If some member raised such a question even as that of omitting the Athanasian Creed, he might give much trouble and perhaps even carry his point. It was no longer possible to interpret the Constitution as at first interpretuble. If the New Zealand Churches had real autonomy she ought not merely to follow what was done at Home, If those members who looked upon the Bill as a red rag would .look into it carefully they would find that if anything it was almost too conservative, for even the most trifling change would take at least three years to bring about, and even that would be met by difficulties at every turn. Let them take the Bill, shape and alter it as they liked, and do as the Irish Church had done, legislate in time to prevent undue alterations in the Prayer Book. His intentions, as he had said before, were in every respect conservative and non-revolu-tionary. The Bishop of Nelson seconded the resolution without remark. [We are compelled to hold over the remainder of the report.] 4* ll 'ls p.m. the debate was adjourned until 7.30 tbis evening.