ANGLICAN GENERAL SYNOD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2315, 6 February 1892, Page 4

ANGLICAN GENERAL SYNOD.

Wellington, Feb. 3. The twelfth session of the General Synod of the Church of the Province of New Zealand was opened this afternoon. Amongst the delegates are the Primate, the Bishops of Christchurch, Auckland, Waiapu, and Dunedin, Dean Jacobs, and Dean Hovell, Archdeacons Harper, Fancourt, Clarke, Dudley, Williams, S. Williams, Mules, and Malcolm. In his address, which was of considerable length, the Primate alluded to the absence of Bishop Suter and sßishop Selwyn from this meeting of tlie Synod, and expressed his deep regret at the circumstances which prevented their attendance. With' regard to Bishop Selwyn, His Lordship mentioned that he had received a letter from him, in which he said that as two ; distinguished surgeons in London had distinctly stated their opinion that he could never again be fit for the work he had been engaged in, he had (though he did so in much sorrow) forwarded his resignation of the Bishopric of Melanesia. After dealing exhaustively with early church history and the state of the canon laws, His Lordship passed on to the question of the establishment of a Theological College for the whole province. He held that if the Anglican Church were to educate her own clergy, and it was becoming every day more evident that this must be done, means must be afforded to students of obtaining moderate scholarship here. In his opinion the establishment of a Theological College for the whole province was urgently needed. His Lordship observed that attempts had recently been made in Parliament to facilitate divorce, and he feared that the Church could not bring any influence to bear upon the State that was at all likely to arrest the extension of the existing demoi’alising law on this subject. He said he had long held that divorce, implying liberty to marry another, was not justifiable; in fact, it was absolutely forbidden by the Word of God. Touching on the education system, he said that he must express his fear that the result of our present system would, if persevered in, prove injurious to the well-being of the colony. In the present circumstances he could see no other course than to make every possible effort to establish Church schools. Referring to Church work among the Maoris, he expressed regret that more interest was not taken in the religious condition of the original population of these islands. In closing his address His Lordship informed the Synod that he had received from a majority of the standing committees of the dioceses the confirmation of the Yenerable Archdeacon Mules’ s nomination to the See of Nelson. Feb. 4. The Dean of Waiapu moved for the appointment of a select committee to examine into and report upon the various means that are being adopted in several dioceses of this ecclesiastical province for the purpose of advancing the religious education of the young. In so doing the Dean said that the Church was drifting woefully, so far as the education of the young was concerned, and he did not think that he was making an exaggerated statement in saying that a shocking stute of spiritual destitution was springing up amongst us. In regard to the institution of schools by the Church, and the application for grants for these schools, he thought it was because tne Anglican Church was not united on the subject that Parliament took no notice of these petitions for assistance. The motion was agreed to. A resolution was passed expressing a deep sense of the loss sustained by the Diocese of Melanesia and the Province of New Zealand through the resignation of Bishop Selwyn of Melanesia.