ST. MATTHEW'S PARISH.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 3052, 13 November 1888, Page 2

ST. MATTHEW'S PARISH.

A .meeting of Parishioners, was held in St Matthews schoolroom oir* Monday night, for the purpose of discussing and dealing with Parish matters, and. electing a Churchwarden and vestry, The minutes of the last meeting having been read and confirmed the Rev, W. E. Paige, the Chairman, said before entering into the business of the meeting'he would take the opportunity of removing certain misapprehensions that seemed to exist in relation to the Synod. Ithad been said that it was entirely owing to the action of tho Synod that the present state of affairs had come about. He would therefore refor to a few heads of Parish matters since ho had been

there by which they would see it was not the Synod but the parish itself that proposed the stipend, When he came there at tho end of 1880 be did not intend to stay tnoro than four months, having other objects in view. Major Smith waited upon him and asked him if he would take .tho cure of the Parish if it were offered to him, He gave up his intention of returning to the' South Island, and accepted the cure, the stipend being fixed at £3OO, the Parish providing £250, and the general church fund £SO for the' district, of Tinui. In July 1882, at the ■" annual general meeting of Parishioners at which : meeting the following were appointed' a vestry,-viz,, Messrs W, T. Grundy, C, DeCastro, F. G.-Moore, W. Rapp, J. Paytqn, J. J. Freeth, Dr. Beard, W, lord, R, Baston, and T. Parsons. It was moved by Mr Peyton, and seconded by Mr Moore: " That this meeting sever its connection with Tinui." That motion was carried, and it was thus shown that in 1882, Masterton considered itself in a position to provide the wholo of the £3OO by itself. It was necessary to point that out, because at the next meeting of the Synod the Parish was assessed at £275 through bis own amendment, in which Archdeacon Fancourt could bear him out, He was not so sanguino as some of his Parishioners that the district could afford tho £3OO. Subsequently, in 1885, three years after, that resolution seemed to have

been forgotten, and it was proposed that the stipend be £175, a copy of which resolution was. forwarded to the Bishop. On receipt of that resolution, the Bishop sent a reply in which he stated the amount of the stipend was assessed upon the statements -received from the Parish, They would, therefore, see that the action of the Synod in assessing the Parish at the amount it did was in consequence of what the Bishop was assured could be raised. That was the sum they had to subscribe in order to become a Parish. The present position of the Parish, therefore, was not the action of the Synod in throwing upon the district a greater burden than it could bear, Tho sum of £275 was £25 lower than

iho Parish proposed the amount should

Mr R G. Moore would like to know whether the proposal to fix the amount at £BOO emanated from the

vestry.' The Chairman said he could only state that as regarded that he presumed, the Bamo rule held good, that before the district could bo formed into a Parish it must fulfil certain conditions and!give the Bishop well assured proof that they were able to pay the assessment necessary to entitle them to be constituted a Parish. ■There was one other matter he must

take exception to, thdt was tho resolution of tho vestry at its .last meet-

ing. In justice to the Synodical body the Bishop, and the. Secretary, he said that parishioners should not go away with the idea that tho Synod had put a burdon onthe Parish that thoy wero not ablo to pay, Ho would point out that it was simply what the Parish had agreed to in order to become a Parish. The Chairman concluded his remarks by expressing a hopo that the discussion would be carried oil in a spirit of friendliness and be brought to a satisfactory conclusion. He would thank them to nominate some person to fill the office of Churchwarden.

Mr J. Payton thought the business of tho meeting had commenced in rather a peculiar manner, Ho was of opinion that the firat thing they should do was to call upon those gentlemen who had displayed so much resignation under difficulties to explain their action and report upon the reason of their resigning in a body. Such a course of procedure might clear, the way to a settlement of tho present difficulties, There was a motion of of which he had given notice at the Inst meeting which he thought should come on before they proceeded to elect officers. ■ ■ ■

Mr W. T. Grundy, as a late church warden and one who had resigned, thanked the last speaker for the challenge, and was quite ready to tako it up and explain their line of conduct. As they were aware, at the annual meeting in July last the vestry were elected on a certain platform, and agreed to certain resolutions, which they had acted upon. It was found impossible to collect tho sum at which they were assessed, Thoy wero heavily in debt, owing £l5O, and before that the debt was£2oo;lliis,by extraordinary efforts,, which thoy were assured would not again meet with similar success, thoy had reduced it by £SO. They had asked the Synod to reduce its assessment and also to allow them to lease the front of their church acre. That body had absolutely refused them, and the consoquence was, in accordance with the conditions on which they had accepted office, they had resigned, They had tried to get out of their difficulties previously by raising money on the parsonage by way o( mortgage, or in other words funding the debt, Their desire in that' direction had been positively relused, and they were told they could raise the money by giving a guarantee to the Bank, Instead of rendering them assistance, the authorities in Wellington had been a stumbling block to them, and that was what had caused them to tako the action which had resulted in the present deadlock. .They had been prepared to put their hands in their pockets, or at all events were prepared to raise £IOO towards payment of .their debts, provided the Synod had agreed, to their resolutions, but that body had refused, hence the resignations. ' No other member of the lato Vestry expressing a desiro to address the meeting, Mr Payton moved the motion of which he had given notice, " That tho Parish, refuses t® pay tho amount of the assessment." He might say in reference to' tho remarks that had fallen from Mr Grundy, that; he believed, the Vestry had been trying to dp a right thing in a wrong manuor, : Mr' Bear d:. ''Let lus know what the manner is." -. ' '■'.■ ■■'■

• Mr Payton said he„did not; intend going back oyer a period ofi.sixiyears to'travorse : ;.Ea'ri'Bh:afairs. ; :, Wheri

thbFai'ish.said in a very weak ; voice lhey>were pparei .the

Synod beard it, but when: in \ a loud:; voice tHoy, aaitl they > could only-pay - : '£2oo, the; Synod/waV ;ieaf.;... The,question to consider was what stipend ''.-fi ought to be paid at. the present '■}'•'■ time'; 1 . He thought, the' Synod might take their word for what they : could afford. He did riot believe in paying their clergyman a miserable stipend, but whatever it was it should be paid to the day, And there should be no utipend debt. The action ■'; lie was- taking was with a. view to doing away with the stipend debt, If they bad to raise £250 for stipend, that added to the £l5O of . their debt would amount to £4OO for which those who accepted office would bo morally liable, and no vestry could raiso that sum. They might get a vestry who would piornise, bub ..pre-, vions experience showed it be done. They must wipe out their debt, and • until that was dono, although, as he had said before, ho. did not believe in under-paying their clergyman, tko salary must be re- . r duced. It was far better to face, ! the difficulty. A wrong had been done in getting into debt, and he would like toseethe vestry continue in office until they had extinguished the '■ debt. .-■ He concluded by formally moving the resolution. Mr Grundy seconded the motion. The Chairman asked the mover' to explain a little more fully his motion.-;' In its present form it was an act of rebellion against the Synod. ' Mr Paytonsaid he was quite willing.to amend .or : modify tho\resolu- ... tion to read". That this meeting respectfully declines to pay the amount of tho assessment. He asked' of what use would it be for them to speak if." the Chairman did not intend to put : - their motions to the meeting, .

Archdeacon Fancomt said ho thought itwould.be better if he said a word as to the resolution. . If, the Chairman had refused to put the resolution he should have been bound to object, He referred to the rules by which the whole Church was bound together. They were bound by. the rules of the Diocesan Synod under penalty for insubordination, and for that reason the resolution in its present form could not be put, ! 'lt would simply be saying that theyasa Parish refused to submit to, : the authority of the Synod, • Mr Payton asked how they were going to proceed. At a former meeting he had tried to get a discussion upon Parish matters, and it was ruled that the meeting was not convened for that purpose, He had then given notice of motion for the purpose of enabling a discussion to ensue. It would have been better fourteen days ago to have ruled it out of order. It simply meant that they bad only gone there to listen to the Chairman and Archdeacon Fancourt, and for all the satisfaction they would get, they might as well go home,. He did-not 'know the intritcacics of the synpdicai law, and as far as he himself was coacerned, he did-not propose to proceed further. .-■■ ■■ :.■ ■; ••■'.■ [i, ;

The Chairmen said he had no intention to burke the motion)-' andpointed out that he could not'put the resolution as it would contravene the taw. '■.'.■ .V .\

Mr Grundy said he thought lie understood and could sympathise Witlithe position of the Chairman. He would move "That this meeting endorses the action of the late vestry, and affinnfl its inability to pay the amount at which; the Synod has assessed the Parish, and that this resolution be forwarded to the standing Committee of the Synod. :. ■

Mi'W. H. Beetham, seconded tho motion, and in doing 60 took occasion .', to remark that it was with very groat reluctance he was forced to admit that the Parish was unable to' Collect tho amount nt. which it was assessed. Some years ago ho had strongly op- ' posed tho motion to reduce the salary and thought the Parish ought to have been ablo to pay tho amount,, He thought then that Whareama was part of tho Parish, aud still thought it should be included but found, it was not. lie was forced to admit he had been wrong in his conjectures, and was bound to givo in to the fact that the sum could not be collected. He was quite prepared to admit that' £2OO was a miserable stipend, but if they had ■ been 'given permission to lease the front of their acre, tlnSsuin ' nould soon have been increased again. He thought it would have been wise if tho Synod had listened to tho suggestion of the Vestry, but, as they did ; not, tho latter body resigned. He , did not think it was any argument.; that the Parish when it: and the rest of the Colony were in a more prosperousslato they had said thoy could pay £3OO, At present, times wore '' liard, and the Parish would have to : follow in the footsteps of the Govern- ' mont, which had had to reduce ovon the Governor's salary, It would only be for a timo he hoped, but" at the present they were not able. to ido i better, and therefore ho would second the proposition,

Mr W. G. Beard said it gratified him very much to find that Mr Grundy hud succeeded in doing what Mr Payton and himself had failed to do, Mr Grundy had succeeded in putting forward amotion in a shape that was not objected to. He considered Mr Pay ton's motion a perfectly legal. one, but it failed because the words were top. strong. Ho was one of thosowho.■■; would have given a hand to holp them • out of their present difficulties in tho manner resolved upon at a privato meeting. Those resolutions had been before a public meeting and it, was hot ; necessary to repeat thorn. One was however, that the vestry should aign if their recommendations wero -: not adopted, The Synod did not think fit to adopt them hence their action. He pointed out they wero only doincj what was being done all over tho Colony in proposing a reduction of the stipend,

The Bev Archdeacon t'ancourfc, asked to be allowed to make a few reraarks.v After referring to tho ' benefits of the district being constituted a parish hesaid the Bishop would never' havo consented 'to create ; Mastcrton a Parish unless they had signified their preparedness to pay a stipend of £BOO, It was not by any high handed procedure on the part of the Bishop that that step had been! taken.and the separation of Tinui was the action of Masterton. Tho mini-

mum stipend in parishes was £3OO, and Mastorton was rated at"£2so and Tinui at £SO, As to tho ability of Masterton to. pay its assessment ho entertained no doubt, The Synod in assessing the parish at that amount had based its; calculations on the' previous jear, and duo ' weight had; been given to.itbe/ refiolutions .sent down. |; The financial

Committee apt down only; £200,; biit^ thefullSynbdieltit.was justified ;in'increasing'the atnbunt to £sso.iiyl)ich : i ledi ip^tlie'; amoiiiiU being thus raised wasi that, taking- it/ roughly,-~tlie}ahi6unt'of' Uhe "genm cpllecfionof thei Jlastertpn-Church jund was Xl3O, was exclusivo "■':■; 'it ;B~peoittl subßcriptipuii)'aißetl inbrderf

to help to pay off arrears. Tbo seat vents wore £9O, which made a total of £|w. Ingoing down tho lalunco shwt it was found that charges againat the offertory fund vould be less during theonrrent year than Isat, and it was caltiulated that tho £3O required to make up tho £250, might without any hampering co.ne out of the offertories. He would like the meeting to well think out and consider before deciding that they could not pay the amount of the assessment, Li regard to the permission nskdd for to lease tho Church acre, it was considered that tho acre was not purchased for tho purpose of providing a revenue, but for tho erection of a church thereon, and that the . church should not be shut out ftom tho principle street by buildings being efectedp front of it. Willi regard to a former proposal to borrow on the parsonage, it was simply impossible to go behind tho Act of i the Assembly, They had no power to mo<Age, He considered the liabilities ofThe Parish very small, in comparison with other Parishes,' and tbcio was nothing pressing. Ho suggested that collectors bo appointed, ami collections made quarterly or halfyearly. Dr. Beard pointed out that house to houßO canvass had already been mado, and funds raised, and yet tho Parish bad got in nrrear. Mr Grundy pointed out to Arch, deacon Fancourt that it was unfair to take last year's subscriptions us a criterion. . Special efforts were made, which could not be looked for again. Mr W. G. licard said ho had advo-

cated tho appointment of a Diocesan before, and still held that it bo tho most business-like method of collecting Church subscriptions. t' somo further remarks the "'was put and carried unanimously. The Chairman then called for nominations for tho office of churchwarden but no one responded. Mr Pay ton said it appeared that no one was prepared to accept office. Ho thought it a pity the Synod had not seen its way clear to adopt the recommendations of the vestry, The clergy were only too eager to gel people into debt which was a species of loose morality. It would be better if all clergy would leave the financing altogether to tho congregations, Although the laity by law had not the powor of the purse they had virtually got it, The Chairman said ho could not hold himself responsible for the financial difficulties of the Church, as

he had never interfered with mousy 4k matters. He argued tlicy were iu no *'worse position than formerly and had only changed thoir creditor. He thought tho whole question -arose out of the fact that certain statements ■ had/appeared in Wellington papers to thrßkt that Masterton did not pay its clorgyman. A long and irregular discussion ensued which was brought to a conclusion by a motion being carried that a hearty vote cf thanks bo accorded the 'Rev Archdeacon Fancourt lor his presence there that evening. A motion by Mr W. G. Beard asking tho Synod to appoint a committee to enquire into the Parish difficulties lapsed for the want of a seconder and tho meeting adjourned,