ANGLICAN GENERAL SYNOD. Dunedin, February. 27.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 347, 2 March 1889, Page 4

ANGLICAN GENERAL SYNOD. Dunedin, February. 27.

THE TRIM AC Y. Pj:kii \r^ the subject tn which the minds ot t lie mcmbci' of .Synod ha\c mo&tfiequcntly tin ned has been Lhut of the choice of a Primate to succeed the Mo->t Ycnerable occupant of that high oiHce. Tlie Bishop of Christchuich was elected with c miplete unanimity at Auckland in 1868. The Bishops present wcio Dr. Solwyn, New Zealand; Harper, C'hiistchuich ; Williams, Waiapu: Sutei, Nelson; Abraham, Wellington : Patleson, Melanesia. Tho election i^ by ballot, thcio boing no nomination 0 made. Eacn membei pioceeds to vote for the bishop v\ horn his conscience lend*- him to think the mest suitable to rill the office, or whose cl'iirp it may appear to him moot strong. In this as in all Synodical \oting, the majority of each of thteo outers concur, or thciecan be no election. It on the that baMot theie be no such majority, then a second ballot is taken, and a third if neces- \ sary, if that again pio\c to be no election, the office passes by default to the bishop senior by consecration. As theie is no nomination, of course there can be no Cindidates, and therefore canvassing on the pint of bishops themsehes, if one can imagine such a tiling in such a matter, or on the part of their friends.. As, howex er, the election of a primate is a matter not only ot the deepest interest from a church point of Aiew, but also one of the greatest importance in every way, theie has been a good deal of speculation and not a little comparing of notes in a quiet way. From the first, two bishops have stood out in great prominence as po^ible subjects of the honour, the Bishop of Auckland and the Bishop of Nelson. The Bishop of Auckland iecei\ed great favour lrom all sides as far as could be judged mainly for t\\ o great reasons, \u. , his undoubted business capacity, and his wise moderation and generous tempei of mind. As the main or rather \ isiblo functions of the office aie the piesiding at the General Synod and the being the medium of communication between this chinch and the mother church and all other churches, as well as the intermediate in all piovincial matters, it will be seen how powci fully his great qualities told in favour of the Bishop of Auckland. On the other hand, it Mas felt that the gencial tendency of the church canons led up to the idea of the senior bishop. Thus, in the c^se of the resignation of the Piimate w hen the Synod svao not setting or in rase of death in the like ciicunistances.thc oflice was tilled by him until the next session of HieSynod,\\henhe could eithei be confiimed in it or another one put in his placo. It was felt to pa-fc o\er Bishop Suter, unless for some sei ion-- shoi t coining, would be a gra\ c slight upon him. On the other hand, he was *egaided as not a3 good a man of business as Bishop Cowie,and also theie was a suspicion that the \ igorousness of his character would peihaps lead him into painful situation^, and possibly in a difficult situation to a loss of dignity. That was tiie state of affaiis up to ye-teiday, when it \\a.> stated (of coiuve quite piivately) that the Bi-hop of Wellington. who=e claims had received no attention because of his age and manifold infirmities, would be willing to be elected if it wcie <-o dc&iied. At once a cci Lain populaiit/, the otfspiingof an unusual outspokenness told in his. fa\our, and moie, his great abilities weie acknowledged, and it was felt to be not at all an unlikely thing that the choice of the .Synod might fall on him. One member, a Christchui eh layman univei tally lespected, chat the Ptimate should be elected for three yeais only, bub this was too ladical an idea, and it was at once denounced as adowmvaid step and out of keeping with the dignity of the office. This was rather cvii us, as undoubtedly it is a distinctly democratic idea, and the constitution of tho Chuich is a puie demociacy. It was suggested, I think by Bishop Selwyn, that as a preparation foi the solemn act the Synod was about to perform the members should unite in Holy Communion. Accoidingly at eight o'clock this moiuing in St. Paul's Church the members met for Holy Communion, which was administeicd by the Primate, assisted bv the Bishops of Nelson, Melanesia and Dunedin. At eight o'clock this evening the Piimate said the time had an ived for the Synod to proceed to the election of a piimate. He said, and was. doubtless understood, that a3 there could be no nominations, theicfore there could be no speeches made referiing to any person. He had prepaicd noting papers with the names of all the bishops pi in ted on them, and members must strike out all the names except that of the Bishop for whom they desiicd to vote. He had appointed two persons to act as scutineers to help him in a&ceitaining the votes — persons not connected w ith the Synod, viz , Rev. IVJr Ronaldson and Rev. Mr Know let.. Before the Synod pio ceeded to the solemn duty of electing a Bishop to the high office of Primate, he would ask them to spend a few minutes in silent prayer, and not only the Synod, but all uresenfc.to whom it was a matter of great interest and moment. The Synod and those present then knelt a short time in silent prayer. The voting papers weie then distributed. On being collected the voting was :—: — For the Bishop of Auckland : Bishops, 1 ; Clergy, 3 ; Laity, 6. Nelson : Bi&hops, 3 ; Clergy, 5 ; Laity, Xa. Wellington : Bishops, 3 ; Clergy, 11 ; Laity, 5. Dunedin ; Bishops, 0 ; Clergy, 1 ; Laity, Thus there was no election. The A'oting papers were again distributed On being collected tho result was : — Auckland : Bishops, 0 ; Clergy, 1 ; Laity, Nelson : Bishops, 2 ; Clergy, 6 ; Laity, 13. Wellington : Bishops, 5 ; Clergy, 13 ; Laity, 9. Aerain there was no election. A third ballot was taken, when the result was :—: — Wellington : Bishops, 4 : Clergy 13 ; Laity, 14.

Auckland : Bishops, 1 ; Clergy, 0 ; Laity, 0. Thero being 1 a clear majority of the three orders in favour of the Bishop of Wellington, he was then declaiod to bo duly elected j Primate. A very large number of church ' peoplo, attracted by the interest oi (he oc-ca«-i n, assembled in the Synod hall, overy part of it being olo&oly packed, and they appeared to watch tho pioceeclings with considerable excitement.

MARRIAGE LICENSES. Rev. A. R. Fitehetb moved that; it bo a respectful recommendation to bho Right Rev. the Bit-hop that the customary fees tor mairiage licenses be dispensed with. Row JTitchebb pointed out that while tho Church of England population of the colony was 229,757, and "the Presbyterian wao 130,643, yet tho maniages of tho foimer wcie 770, and of the latter 873. Archdeacon Harper asked whether tho inaniages performed by I'icsbj torians were I'iet.byterian maniages. Ho was of opinion that for .some reason our chut eh people did not marry in the same piopoition as other leligious'bodios. ]le feared that pcthaps the foe kepc somo away. The Bishop ot Wellington thought that chinch people should conform to (he vile ot the chinch b) ha^ ing their barms published in church. He thought that this was not a matter for the .Synod. Archdeacon Linejaid said that the I'icsb\teiians manied moio ficquently in houses than we did, and thai largely accounted for the discrepancy m chinch. The license tec went to the diocesan funds, and the suiplice fee of 10» to the pension fund, an. l one shilling was charged for the ceitiiicate. I'eople were not deterred by tho cost. He hoped the motion would be lost. Bishop Conic .said he was quite Mire people in his diocese woie not duteried by the chaigemade. It was in any clergyman's option to ieir.it the chaige. Tho sum do mod fiom this i&sue of licenses was about £70 or l"80, and it was expended on diocct-an objects, and once a ,^eai he made a statement to his clergy of the details of such cv penditme. The motion \\ as lost. The business of tho S} nod will piobably •jo mo to a close on Fiidav.

RETURN OF MEMBERS. Now the oloction ut tlio Climate is mnde, borne of the members aio lcaxinrr Bishop Cowie will leave on Fiiday, spending Sunday at Clm-tcluwc'i ; Aichclcaeon Ulaikc, Mr Upton and Mi Co\ leave to-day by the Taiawera ; J\Jr Boaulman lea\es on Thnr»day, for Tiniaru : Aichdeacon Dudley, Rev. Mr Nelson and Mr l'ierce w ill btay until the end ox the session.