THE WANGANUI CHRONICLE AND RANGITIKEI MESSENGER. WANGANUI, Nov. 28, 1861.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 5, Issue 270, 28 November 1861, Page 3

THE WANGANUI CHRONICLE AND RANGITIKEI MESSENGER. WANGANUI, Nov. 28, 1861.

The battle of sects has already begun-in the middle island. . It could not well be otherwise. The preference of one . religious denomination . to another by Government must always breed discontent. And that discontent assumes its most offensive form when . the preference is shown by pecuniary assistant e. The two settlements of Otago and Canterbury were originated by and for. tw6 particular religious denominations, —-the former by Scottish Presbyterians, the latter by English Episcopalians.' In Otago small grants of land were given here .and there for the benefit of the church dominant ini- that> province. In Canterbury £1 per acre of the price of all land' sold was .set apart for the maintenance of the clergy, not a tentli as in olden times, .hut a third"of thb Value of the province.. The bow overstretched broke. It was found that immigrants were unwilling to pay in this mode for the cure of their souls, and;that part of the price of land was remitted. Still, however, the principle remains, and is developed in the shape :of; educational grants to the various religious denominations, doled'out in.a purely arbitrary way, and of aid in the building of churches.

In Otago bitter feeling has been aroused in connection with the disposal of a few acres of land, for which a Crown grant, handing it over to the Presbyterian body for the site of a church and manse, was given in 1858.: • A; bill-Vas brought in and passed in the last session, of the Pro vinciai Cotincil, providing, as it would appear, 'for ari alteration in the purposes to which this land is to be applied. It is now the wish of'those who hold; it under the Crown grant, that, instead of its beingused for the site of a' churcli and manse, it should be let out outbuilding leases, or as the owners:wobid 'rmjfcifeued !the feu duty, oir ground rent, to be ah endow-, meiit to the Presbyterian church, or the congregation, holding possession. / ■ ’This biff the present Superintendent was not please j With,/ and in forwarding, it to his Excellency-the- Governor, foi/his assent,, ihas thought.advise.;his Excel-’

the' ground that the - Presbyterian church.' in Otago is'alread/'endowed 1 with' one-eighidf - ’ of "'the f: entire sales' of Jand- under '.the.vNew Zealand Company for its own use- atid'for educational purposes, aijd also, because,- before the Crown- grant was issued, ifi-1858* the ground had’ been set asidb by Cb’vßrnthent for another purpose,' having, .beeri/so early:, at least as'lß46; reserved for a fortification, for the defence of the tojwn—'Which', the Superintendent rremarkisi'' ; -is far-more ne,eded in. the. present, .disturbed- state>of the .world, than -either church .or majigerThe fact that, the . Superintendent ~ is Major may' account fort his spirit; which fights with a present enepiyv in endeaVoutihig; ol£ an attack from an. anticipated foe still-in tfid -wonib of futurity, and. ‘possibly .never .to -make his appearance before Otago -'heads." Tlie leader of .the .Presbyterian. host, against which tlie spirited'-hfiajpr‘thus makes Xvar apparently single handed, is ;:Mr/[T. BH Gillies, who requests that a long letter, contradicting the Superintendent’s facts, combating his arguments, and ending" with the statement, that the ‘ veiy -insufficient grounds alleged in his Honoris remarks partake: more of; the: character, of: strong private opinions and feelings, .than of., a- liberal and -, comprehensive . t Vie-yf. of ; the public benefit,” should be sent’to his 'Excellency along, .with these remarks of -Ins-Honor. His-Honor, who must either be a determined voluntary or a member of the .churbh which; pjrgshjk dowed, declines lending this letter, along ; with his own but no doubt it will find its way -to his.. Excellency by 'another channel.

In Canterbury an educational discussion has been going on in the newspapers for some'tifne,' iff regard to various matters connected with ‘ the development of the “young idea/’.but in. the meantime we restrict our observations to the purely money part of .the. affair, We learned some time ago, from the,columns of thePress, that for the five; years ; ending the 3ist March next, the Provincial Government had apportioned £2500 for educational purposes,—namely, to the Bishop of Christchurch £I7OO, to the principal minister of the Wesleyan body £250; to the principal minister of the body £250. A bill has been brought', forward, in. the - sitting for! the increase and prolongation : for o ther five years of these, grants. They, are now considerably enlarged and more equally distributed. There are proposed, to be given to the; Church of England £3OOO, to the. Presbyterian body £IOOO, to.the, Wesleyan £looo.On what., principle this apportionment is made is. not known. A controversy has arisen on what principle it should he made, one party arguing that it should he given in proportion to the population, another that it| Sliould be ’given in-proportion to the' present ' educati'crnal efforts of the respective religious if theseforts be in proportion to the present Government assistance, must be:_a.s .7. tq I in favour of the Episcopalian ; although, ■if the Aiiinßer. of scholars taught by the respective denominations be the criterion/ the proportion would stand thus—Episcopalians sfif, ■ Wesleyans 17|, Presbyterians. 25|v. It is probable that this is' the ground on which Ftlie distribution of the money is made, the only alteration necessary ' to make the grants strictly agree with, these proportions being, that £l2O should Be taken from the Episcopalians, £l5O from the Wesleyans, and these two sums given to the Presbyterians. ' justice seems therefore to have, been' allowed to act with her proverbial; .everihandedness towards these rival claimants/;" i; -,

But although tlnis impartially dealt with j the clergymen’ of two, of these de- , nominations, are already . fighting with each other,' afid though in. them the odium ttieologicu hi 1 ’isf generally much stronger’ than in laymen, yet the latter are apt to be infected,' and it may he presumed, wlieh the disease shows itself so. strongly* liaVe already been so, .by their spiritual guides. Thus sectarian animosities are engendered spread—an evil which.hi; mubh worse than political strife onmany accounts; fn this'instance, an Episcopalian .clergyman, in. a letter from his. Sick-bedfr-a place where uncharitable feelings was ' least to be expected—accuses “ the head ” of the, Presbyterian denomination of using +he Government grant: for “ proselytising purposes, jto the-detriment: both of sound . education and true religion.” He,does this “ with great .reluctance; and not ...on, my judgment;alone.lb; The «;< head ,f thus; accused (we presume there is only one Presbyterian clergyman in .Canterbury) replies to this charge, |em-r; perately, and so far. as we; can,see satisfactorily, though his accuser, as is usual in. such circumstances, is not ; -satisfied ; and thus, as the accused very justly says, have : been sown “among the religious denominations of the province those seeds'; of dissension which are ever so hurtful to. true Christianity,” and he might, have' added;' ti> 'social advancement. . Another source of bitter feeling is likely, to .be opened in Canterbury, by the ■ Church building grant. We observe £2700 put down for the coming year.’ On what principle it is distributed we do not know; but it is not difficult to see, .that, if an ' educational grant cannot be given without exciting sectarian jealousy, much less is a grant in aid of religion likely-to -beso.

It -may be- remarked, in passing, that the Education endowment question 'is ‘ likely to be thoroughly discussed, in .Can/ 'terbury. Each--of the 'three published in. that province takes a different view of, the question,—one thinking that the education of the people should '■ be left to voluntary; effort,- another that it should be aided by Government through means of denominational grants, and the third that Government should aid a sys- j

* Be6ular:::Sducatiqn_ havihg;; nj ednnedtion.with religious sects.

How ,we. alluded to these two cases, not- because they are in themselves' important, but because they are signifi-' cant. They are the beginning of what expected as • the proper fruit of. suhff'prin.ciples of legislation as are now •gedted. onrin:these .4>royinces;; in regard to the important question of endowments in \aidfqf /church and school. This seems to, -us' & 'question far more properly belonging Gefi(eral-.’thaH; : ' to - the "Provincial legislatures’]/and we should like to see sd'iiie indication Of the opinion of our prehent’ Gbverniiiint in regard- to it; and to learn what measures, if any, they are inclined to take to. stop a dissension, which, if it go-On,- Will be mucli more fatal to the .best. interests of the country, than the Maori disturbance' ' The first indication ‘' will he their decision in regard to the Dunedin -Church .Lajgjds Ordinance, ISfily” -Jr : '

Witney of. ,16th Nov. ssys,— ; .The <3pld 'Fields, have far exceeded the expectations originally formed of them, their- richngss t will bear favourable compafisbfi best fields of Victoria, and there seems rio reason to doubt their perihahencei ’•Three"''escorts-have arrived since last Summary,, bifinging down in-all 70,200 ounces—nearly "double the /total brought ’ down by the previous escorts, .namely The last brought down •■3fS, the 14th Nov. A new featurg has been introduced—that of deep sinking. Holes at 50- feet depth are yield-, ing returns, and there is no reason to doubt that deep leads, like those -on the Victorian gold fields, will in time be developed. - . :