NELSON.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 597, 23 April 1851, Page 3

NELSON.

[From the Nelson Examiner, April 12.] TEA PARTY AT CHRIST-CHURCH SCHOOL. On Friday evening, April 4, a Tea Party took place in the Church School-room, to which the “ Parents of the school children, a,ld the members and friends of the Church,” ere invited to attend. The Bishop of New. Zealand consented to take the chair. After tea, and when the tables had been reared, the Rev. H. F. Butt handed to the , lsho P a letter addressed to his lordship on o ‘ e sabject of Church Government, with an lait lne °‘ a B enera l Convention of clergy and y> signed some time since by a number of man° nS -i° ? is sett lement. The rev. gentleleceivpd r lhat . as no official reply had been tom the Bishop on the subject of the

proposed constitution for the Church, he wished to take that opportunity of asking for his lordship’s views in regard to it, and of requesting to be informed whether any and what steps had been taken towards bringing it into operation. The Bishop, in reply, said, that in consequence of his long absence from home, he had never before seen the letter with the signatures attached to it. His lordship then went on to say how strongly he had always felt the necessity of an organization of some kind among the members of the Church in the colonies—an organization which other religious bodies possessed. It was therefore with pleasure that he saw the signatures of so large a number of persons affixed to the document before him, which, although not binding them to every particular contained in the letter, he was warranted, he conceived, in concluding, that the persons who had signed were favourtoChurch governrnenj„of—.sems-—form.-The plan of the Convention attached to the letter was necessarily an imperfect sketch, though it had been drawn up, after much research, by one of the most able men in the colony—Mr. Chief Justice Martin. At the late assembly of Bishops in Sydney, that letter had lain on their table during all their sittings, and would probably form the basis of a Church constitution in all the colonies. As he (the Bishop) saw present many gentlemen who had signed the letter, he would be glad to hear their views upon Church government, and the reasons which had induced them to sign the present document. After a pause, Mr. Sutcliffe rose and said, that he was one of those who had signed the letter addressed to the Bishop, and he had done so because he considered the Church was suffering for the want of that organization which a proper scheme of Church crnvgrn rrjon would confer. He believed that the signatures affixed to the document was all fairly obtained, though the local newspaper had said that some of them had been procured in an underhand manner. He (Mr. S.) would wish, while speaking, to say a word or two on the schools of the settlement. It was a subject of regret with some persons that all the schools could not be united on occasions, so as to form a sort of General School Union. He (Mr. S,) had at one time been favourable to such a plan, but since the occurrence of some recent events, he confessed that his views had undergone a change, and he was now no longer favourable to any such attempted union. He had found. on serving on oreneral committees, that, being in a minority, he ran a risk of being compelled to sanction things which he disapproved of—and this was a position he did not wish to be placed in. The Bishop said that, had his opinion been asked, he certainly should not have recommended a union of the schools belonging to the Church with the other schools in the settlement. He had attempted such unions before, but bad always found his efforts end in disappointment. He thought it far better that rhe heads of the different schools should each take their course, and a good understanding between them would thus be more likely to be maintained. In regard to Mr. Campbell, whose efforts in the cause of education had been so praiseworthy, his (the Bishop’s) views had undergone no change since he said, in one of his journals, that “ if Mr. Campbell was not with them, he was not against them, and he therefore continued to wish that his efforts might be crowned with success. The Bishop endeavoured to elicit some further expression of opinion on the plan of Church government affixed to the letter, or on Church government in the abstract, but no person speaking-— The Rev. H. F. Butt put the question to the vote, by requesting all who were favourable to Church government of some kind to hold up their hands, to which nearly every person present signified assent. The Rev. T. L. Tudor said, that he considered the occasion a fitting one to call on tne x>ishop to deny some charges which had been made against him, and which were calculated, if suffered to go uncontradicted, to be highly mischievous. The charges were, that the Bishop was a Puseyite, and that he had recommended a lady in Wellington to confer with the Roman Catholic Bishop there. r

i The Bishop said that he was glad to be thus publicly called upon to deny these charges, which be had heard with great surprise. As to his having recommended a lady at Wellington to confer with the Catholic Bishop, he gave the story the most unqualified denial, and he was utterly at a loss to understand how the tale could have originated. He had never in his life recommended any person to consult with a Romanist, and he did not think it likely he ever should. As to his being a Puseyite, be did not know what was meant by the term. When at college, the name of Simeonite was applied most opprobriously to the followers of Mr, Simeon, and yet be afterwards saw the heads of all the colleges follow that lamented gentleman to his

grave. And he (the Bishop) no more knew now what was meant by Puseyite, than he understood what was meant by Simeonite then, He would wish, however, to see all such names abolished in the Church, and for all to unite in serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Mr. Sutcliffe proposed a vote of thanks to the Bishop for having taken the chair. The Bishop stated that the Bishop of Sydney had laid down a rule never to accept thanks for what was merely a duty, and he could not act contrary to his metropolitan. He (the Bishop) thanked the company, however, for their attendance; as such meetings,by promoting a tree intercourse between the clergy and laity, were calculated to establish that confidence between them which the welfare of the Church so much demanded. He would take advantage of theoccasion to bringbefore their notice a subject of great interest; and although, in the unfinished state of their Church, he could ut >i m uie present time ask them for assistance, yet on a future occasion he should do so. His lordship then gave a sketch of the islands in the Pacific, and the vast field for missionary enterprise which they afforded. To enable him to visit these islands, and to frame measures to convert their heathen inhabitants, nearly £l,OOO had been subscribed in Sydney for the purchase of a suitable vessel, and a much larger sum had been subscribed for the like purpose in England. Out of the money so subscribed, he should be able to advance on Joan £4OO, to assist in completing the church now building in Nelson ; and although at first sight it might appear that in undertaking this new task of carrying the Gospel to the heathen, he was likely to neglect his duties in his own diocese, yet so closely interwoven were the interests of the Church in all countries, that this very mission Lp Mavrin MV 14UU tuiuctvurxvu VV LUC islands of the Pacific, was the means of enabling him to assist in completing the building of the Church which had been begun in Nelson. After some further remarks from the Bishop, the Rev. Mr. Butt, and the singing of some hymns, the Meeting broke up.