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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 77

Organisation

Organisation.

I only know of one plan of organisation whereby force can be so effectively distributed as to produce gradual but permanent result, i.e., departmental.

You will pardon me if I make a remark that appears rude: rightly or wrongly, one has been struck here by a, more or less prevalent, attitude of suspicion between men; a sort of idea that a man must have ulterior motives making for his own aggrandisement if he undertakes a leading part in a movement; a kind of general accusation—"grinding his own axe"—floating about amongst the hundreds of people I have met in the Colony. Supposing my impression is a right one, the standard of public and private life thus created is not beneficial to the nation. And, so far as my experience of organisation goes, that experience runs entirely counter to suspicion of motive and effectiveness of result in work being compatible. For organisation to be sound and personal service to be effective, the utmost emphasis has to be thrown upon belief in a man's honour and singleness of purpose. If a man is fit to be placed in a position of responsibility he is fit to be trusted. If he is not fit to be trusted, the authority that placed him in his position is blameworthy and must remove him. Further, if a man is fit to be placed as the head of a department, he must be absolutely trusted, and must, within certain broad general principles, be left free to impress page 20 his department with his own personality and to develop his work on his own lines of intelligence.

This is the standard that the Church, in her organisation, must uphold and set forth. She has a function to discharge—the elevation of the National Conscience. She will best discharge it by keeping her own organization on a high level of trust, honour, attribution of motive.

The ideas in my own mind for the proper organization of the Diocese are on these lines:—The Bishop is responsible for the men and women whom he has the power to place as heads of departments. The Bishop who appoints the people must be answerable for them. The same argument holds good for the Standing Committee. I intend to entrust to each head of departments full power, within clearly defined broad limits, to organize the work within their departments, to impress their own individuality upon it, to develop it along their own lines. I shall hold each head of department responsible for the efficiency, or otherwise, of the work therein. Where! appoint the man or women, I shall appoint him or her on this clear understanding: inefficiency means resignation. Where the appointment is not mine, I hold myself to be entirely free of responsibility.

It is my intention to reorganize the Arehidiaconal boundaries, so far as I can, in course of time; to entrust Maori work to men capable of superintending it; to appoint Rural Deans over manageable areas; to have heads for women's and for men's organizations throughout the Diocese, as time goes on; to hold each person responsible for their own work, while exercising a general supervision myself.

I have already taken some steps towards getting the work of the Diocese on to these lines. But I have been met with the difficulty of lack of men and of means. I take as an instance the Archdeacons. Consider the position:—the Archdeacons of Waikato, Waimate, and Auckland have Parishes, with incessant claims, to attend to and little or no Clerical help. To look after their Archdeaconries at all properly must also involve them in expense. What does an Archdeacon receive? A beggarly £10 per annum, not sufficient to cover the cost of his postage and stationery for a year. Think of the page 21 Archdeaconry of Taranaki: there, God, in His Goodness, has given the Church a man who is without parochial ties, and who is able and, out of his love, willing to do the Church's work without emolument. But is this system right and honest and good? Can it be allowed to go on? For myself, the answer is absolutely in the negative, and, similarly am I persuaded that, under modern conditions, a Diocese cannot be effectively worked without entrusting work and responsibility and authority, to a considerable extent, to Archdeacons.

The same remarks—"mutatis mutandis"—are pertinent to each department. The work cannot be properly done unless there are heads over each department.

Let me give you one instance of the importance of the system I propose, and of the dangerous position we are now in for the due carrying out of it. I shall presently lay before you some intensely valuable facts concerning the Maori Mission within the Diocese. Those facts have been gathered for the information of the Church by the Rev. H. A. Hawkins, who has travelled incessantly, under my orders, for several months past, and whose place of residence I have had, for the present, to remove from Waimate North to Auckland. The work he has done, and has yet to do, is quite invaluable. But who pays for the extra expense of removal, travelling, etc.? Not the Church of this Province, nor the Diocese of Auckland, but some friends of my own in London who gave me a small sum of money to spend as I thought best on Maori work. That sum of money could not have been better spent than on this matter; but it is not good that, for an intensely important bit of direct missionary work, we should have been, as a Diocese, dependent on the possession by the Bishop of a charitable contribution from some London Church people.

I mention these things to you in this way because it is of the utmost importance that we should exactly understand what we have to face, and should fairly look at our facts and discuss our future.

After Easter, 1904, my hope is to publish in the Gazette my plan of visitation, and to so arrange that I go to certain parts of the Diocese at a fixed time each year. The present irregular visitations have been unavoidable and need not be repeated. The Clergy, knowing the dates fixed for the different parts of the Diocese, page 22 will be able to plan their Confirmation instructions accordingly. During the winter I hope to spend a good deal of time in Auckland. The Bishop is Chairman of the various Trust Boards. He ought to understand the Trusts. In order to study them I shall have to remain in Auckland for the greater part of next winter.

The plans of departmental organization are thus far advanced:—(a) Candidates for Holy Orders, having satisfied me as to their spiritual and moral qualifications, have also to satisfy my Examining Chaplains as to their intellectual qualifications, and my Hon. Medical Referee as to their physical qualifications. We are each responsible for our own departments. (b) Acting under the wise guidance of my Brother, the Bishop of Waiapu—than whom no more competent guide can be found—I have consulted Canon MacMurray on all Maori Mission work, and have now definitely placed him as Head of that department, (c) I have requested my Examining Chaplains to organize Courses of Lectures on Church Doctrine and History, and conduct Bible Readings, according to the opportunities offered to them, in the coming winter. Beginning with Auckland, the idea is: to extend the scheme throughout the Diocese and to appoint Lecturers where the Chaplains cannot undertake the work. By the desire of my Examining Chaplains, the Warden of St. John's is the man with whom communication on this important matter should be made. The Examining Chaplains are Heads of this department. The task they have set before them is of quite incalculable value; it can never be tested by statistics; it will be proved by its results in Christian living on sound Church lines according to Scriptural teaching.