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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

The Diocese of Wellington

The Diocese of Wellington. The constitution of the Church of New Zealand was agreed to by a general conference of bishops, clergy and laity, which met at Auckland on the 13th of June, 1857. The following year Bishop Selwyn was, by Act of Parliament, authorised to convey lands held in trust by him to trustees to be appointed by the General Synod, and during the interval he had been actively engaged in negotiations for the formation of the bishoprics of Wellington, Nelson and Waiapu. The Ven. Charles Abraham, D.D., Archdeacon of Waitemata, who had gone to England for consecration, arrived in March, 1859, and at once entered on his duties. The Endowment Fund consisted of £3000 given by the New Zealand Company, which was subsidised by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. There were present at the first General Synod five bishops, ten clergymen and thirteen laymen. The Synod applied itself to the work of legislation on matters which most urgently needed determination, and seven statutes were passed, which were so judiciously conceived that they are substantially unaltered at the present day. Bishop Abraham resigned his See on the 1st of June, 1870, and the Rev. Octavius Hadfield, Archdeacon of Kapiti, having been elected by the Diocesan Synod, was consecrated by the Primate, assisted by the Bishops of Waiapu, Nelson and Auckland, in the Cathedral Church page 382 of St. Paul at Wellington, on the 9th of October, 1870. This ceremony was specially interesting, as being the first in which a Bishop for a Colonial See was consecrated without the Royal mandate or license. He had been a missionary among the natives in the Otaki district from 1839 to 1865. When the Hau Hau fanaticism broke out and the missionary Völkner was murdered, he stood to his post, declaring his readiness to lay his bones where he had so long laboured. In 1889, when Bishop Harper, of Christchurch, who was Primate of New Zealand, retired, Bishop Hadfield was elected to the Primacy. There was considerable doubt as to the proper constitution of the electing body, the validity of the election was disputed, and Bishop Suter of Nelson was nominated by the dissentient party. In the end, however, the claims of Bishop Hadfield were acknowledged, and he held the Primacy until the 9th of October, 1893. On his retirement, steps were taken to obtain a clergyman qualified to become Bishop of Wellington from England. During the interim the affairs of the Diocese were administered by Archdeacon Fancourt as Commissary, and at the Synod, which met on the 16th of October, 1894, he announced the appointment by the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Durham of the Rev. Frederic Wallis, to the Bishopric of Wellington. At that time Bishop Wallis was a Fellow and Lecturer in divinity of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and Examining chaplain to the Bishop of Salisbury, and he had a splendid University record. His consecration to this See took place on the 25th of January 1895 (Conversion of St. Paul), the Bishop of Salisbury being present, and preaching at the consecration, all the Bishops officiating in the Colony also being present. The ceremony was a most impressive one, and Bishop Wallis has made an extremely favourable impressive one all he has come in contact with during his residence in the Colony, displaying energy and capability of a high order. In addition to the early endowments mentioned above, the diocese received in 1870 a grant of £1000 from the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge. The Ecclesiastical Funds have also been increased by private benefactions; but beyond the endowments for the bishopric and the church and parsonage sites, the property of the Church is very small, and the income a meagre one. The Educational Endowments are more extensive, and there are several within the diocese. The most important is situated at Wanganui, and consists of 250 acres within the boundaries of the borough, nearly all of which is let on building leases. According to the last returns the rents of the estate paid and due, amounted to about £1050. These rents for some years must be applied to paying off the debt on buildings. The Collegiate School, which was established out of this endowment, is one of the best educational establishments for secondary education in the Colony. In 1894 the boarders numbered 127 and the day boys 55—total, 182. Mr. Walter Empson, B.A., the head master, has won the approval and support of the public, and the school has become so popular that its resources are strained to the utmost; pupils being sent from all parts of the Wellington Diocese and from New Zealand generally, and scholarships and exhibitions to the annual value of £450, by the generosity of the head master, being open for competition among Anglican boys. Among other educational endowments are 600 acres of land for a college at Porirua; two blocks in the Wairarapa, one near Greytown of 400 acres, and another near Masterton of 190 acres. The accrued funds have not yet been deemed sufficient to enable the trustees to carry out the purposes of the trusts. The Wairarapa trusts have £3530 to Credit, the Porirua £5188. Another trust—the Harrington—has £1405; and there is also a Maori Endowment Fund with an accumulation of £2474. The number of licensed clergy in the diocese is:—English, 31; Maori, 3—total, 34. The Diocesan Secretary is the Venerable Archdeacon Fancourt. The diocese is divided into the parishes of St. Paul's, St. Peter's, St. Mark's, all in Wellington City and Suburbs; St. James' in Lower Hutt; Christ Church, Wanganui; and St. Matthew's, Masterton. Twenty-four parochial districts are constituted in less important centres. There are also seven clergymen holding the Bishop's permission to officiate in the diocese. The various boards of trustees and governing bodies are composed of men who have well conserved the interests of the Church in its many trusts, among which the substantial pension fund has now a capital account of £8313, and £372 per annum is disbursed in pensions to retired clergymen or their widows. The income of the pension fund is derived from the fees paid for marriages, churchings and burials-called surplice fees—subscriptions, special offertories made annually in each Church, annual subscriptions from each clergyman having a cure of £2, and the interest on the capital fund, which amounts to about £470 a year. Each clergyman when incapacitated from work becomes entitled to an annual payment, varying according to length of service, from £25 to £100. In case of his dying, his widow becomes entitled to a pension from £20 to £60 per annum. The parishes in and near the City of Wellington are presided over by the following clergymen :—St. Paul's, the Rev. T. H. Sprott, M.A.; St. Peter's, Rev. W. O. Waters, M.A.; St. Mark's. Rev. R. Coffey. M.A.