THE ANGLICAN PRIMATE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 34, 5 February 1912, Page 2

THE ANGLICAN PRIMATE.

After a sojourn of some months in England the Primate of New Zealand, Bishop Nevil, of Dunedin, returned to the Dominion by the Tajiiui, arriving in Wellington on Wednesday. Though now well past his! seventieth year, Bishop Ncvill retains much of the vigour of his .early days, and appears to have recovered completely from the illness which overtook him while in England. “Do you think that the church is losing her influence on the people of England?” a “Times” reporter asked.

The Bishop replied that.it was hard to make comparisons over such a wide area as the church at Home covered. “I went to churches of every colour,” ho continued, “and I found that in svery .case the attendance was .very better than I expected. It- is said that the men are going to church less now than formerly, but 1 did .not find that so. Some of the fhurches that wore surprisingly well attended had quite as many men as women, and there were fully as many }f the one as of the other.

“Of the working people I am not ;o well qualified to judge, as I did not go into the East End, where .the greater numbers of them are, but I :lo not think there is any falling off in their adherence to the church. They do not like going into fashionable ehurches, whore the people 'arc welldressed. The fashionable churches I found wore all full, though, of course, there is a great number of people outside the church who never attend. “I do not believe that the church’s influence is waning. lam not at all one of those croakers of whom ono hears so much.” WORK AMONG THE WORKING CLASS.

Bishop Novill added that there was a difficulty in working among the multitude of people of the East End, as many of them wore not English ait all, but Jews and of other foreign races. POLITICS. “It is not for me to criticise Parliament affairs,” said the Bishop, “but 1 I'think there is a general feeling of disgust at the present trend of things. There is a very strong feeling in regard to the attempt to swamp the House of Lords with five hundred now peers. 1 should say that no man is much more disliked than Mr Lloyd-oeorge, I observed this feeling not in one circle only, but in many classes.” The feeling in England in regard to Homo Hide, Bishop Xcvill thought, was that it would never lie carried. Ho did not inquire into the subject especially, but, meeting and dining with various members of Parliament, that was the impression that he had formed. The Bishop, accompanied by Mrs Nevill, left for the South Island.