NO GENERAL SECRETARY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 522, 27 November 1928, Page 7

NO GENERAL SECRETARY

PRESBYTERIANS REJECT PROPOSAL The proposal to appoint a general secretary—one of the most vital suggestions for the reorganisation of Presbyterian Church business, was rejected by General Assembly yesterday. the Rev. Professor W. Hewitson presiding. In the afternoon the debate \va»resumed on the proposal that a general secretary should be appointed, that his office should be combined with that of home mission superintendent, and that he should be stationed in Wellington. It was decided to consid< r separately the appointment of a general secretary. The Rev. Dr. Gibb, of Wellington, said that the proposal was unnecessary. The Advisory Board set up was not an executive body, and there - fore required no official secretary. There church was already burdened with a sufficient number of paid officials. The Rev. J. Ryburn Said the Home Mission superintendent to whom it was proposed to give the new pos; - tion was already as fully occupied with his work as any man in the church. The Rev. L. H. Hunt said they were not appointing an additional officer, but saving one. There was great I need of a personality who would act ' as a link between the assembly and the various presbyteries. “A galvanised corpse,” was the des- ; cription given to the proposal by the Rev. J. Paterson. ; The appointment of a general secj retary was then rejected on the votes.