POVERTY OF DIOCESE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1018, 8 July 1930, Page 10

POVERTY OF DIOCESE

WAIKATO’S FINANCIAL HARDSHIPS I From Our Oxen Correspondent ! HAMILTON, Monday. ! That the Auckland Diocese was in a condition of affluence as compared with Waikato’s poverty was claimed by Archdeacon Gordon Bell. Vicar- . General, in his charge to the Waikato ; .Synod this evening. The Archdeacon , also considered that the Waikato j Diocese should have received a larger ; share of the divisible endowments of j the Auckland Diocese when the Waikato Diocese was formed. Examining the report of the commission on the division of endow- ! ments. the Archdeacon said he found j that, the ratio of subdivision suggested by the commission was two-thirds and one-third, a basis afterward agreed to as fair and just, but of the endowments for the support of the bishopric, Waikato was allocated only about one-thirtieth, and four out of five of the trusts known as cathedral trusts were held to be indivisible, to attach wholly to Auckland. If all these trusts had been divided according to the ratio suggested by ihe commission, Waikato would have been entitled to lands and funds amounting to £20,567 in value, whereas it actually received only a one-third share of the No. 5 cathedral trust, valued at £2,192, as against lands and funds allocated to the present diocese of Auckland amounting io £59,510. There was no disputing the fact that the trusts held to be indivisible were in truth indivisible, but as Waikato was unable to share in those trusts, it might have been allocated the whole of the No. 5 cathedral trust. It was in the lack of money for general diocesan purposes that the comparative poverty of AVaikato lay. Archdeacon Bell hoped that the revelation of the position might lead to the present diocese of Auckland. in charity and generosity of spirit, making an appeal to General Synod that the commission might be instructed to sit again with a view to the revision of the allocations. The revisions which appeared to him to be possible and equitable were that a much larger proportion of the No. 5 cathedral trust, might be allocated to Waikato, and that some portion ot" the capital of the Auckland Central Fund might also be allotta® to Waikato. Dealing with the finances for the year, the archdeacon said the general diocesan indebtedness had been reduced by about £350 and the debts of individual parishes by an aggregate of about £1,550. Contributions to the diocesan general fund were considerably less for the year ended March 31 than they were for the previous year. The activities of Bishop Cherrington in England on behalf of the diocese were mentioned by Archdeacon Bell. In his letters, the bishop had reported having received generous sympathy and promises of financial help. In a cablegram which the speaker had received last week, the bishop informed him that he had £I,OOO in sight toward the reduction of the overdraft on the diocesan general fund account and, in addition to this. £3OO a year had been promised toward the income of this fund. The archdeacon said it seemed that as a result of the bishop's labours lie would be able to do a very great deal toward lightening the burdens of the clergy and laity of the backblocks and sparsely populated parochial districts.