Y Llan

E GLEANINGS FROM THE DIOCESES. NORWICH. Triosi who have been looking foi stronger spirit of fellowship between the clergy and the ministers of different de- nominations have been enormously en- ,1 0 couraged by the doings of the last fort- uight. All our religious leaders agreed that, there was a great need for all who pro- fess and call themselves Christians to show a united front in the face of "the growing temper of independency -of God. So they met-together> first, in the palace, and then in a public hall, for solemn prayer and dedication. This was all pre-, paratory to the services of November 2, when every preacher took the same text, and pleaded with his ■congregation to recognise the world's need, the nation's need, the citizen's need, the Churchman's need of the spirit bf Christ. o Problems of the Diocese. There are many problem a in Norwich andthe diocese to which the clergy and leading laity are keenly alive. Plans are on foot to make the Board of Finance yet more useful to the Church, especially In the very poor and large parishes, and also to lay before the wealthier laymen the very great claim ,the Church of God in their midst has upon them. One hears of people made wealthy.by the war, who confess they do not know what to do with their money. At their very doors there are clergy on the verge of starvation, while across the sea Christ's handa and feet are once again being bound. Poverty of the Clergy. An interesting letter to the local Press, written by Canon Pelham, lately Arch- deacon of Norfolk, is focussing a good deal of attention. Writing .on dphe. poverty of the clergy, he dismisses "spasmodic appeals to the pity of public opinion" as of no lasting value. He pleads for a nobler spirit of self-sacrifice and oomradeship among the clergy them- selves. He thinka that cJergy whbse in- come is over 25W Erhould volunt,%r"ily tax • themselves for the sake of..their .poorer brethren,'that many parishes should be united, that glebe lands and over-large parsonages should be sold, and that the Dilapidation Relief Bill, outlined by Sir Lewis Dibdin at the Church Congress, should be pushed in thi's diocese for all 'it is worth." A layman fmstests in an answering4" letter that a clergyman with R500 a year and a family cannot, arid should not, undertake responsibilities for his poorer brethren,- which ought to be shouldered fcy laity who can afford it. ..< A Good Suggestion. TIM Rev, F. W. Bennett Symons Vacates the Vicarage of St. Saviour's, which he has held for six years, on Kis appointment as chaplain, of the .Great Hospital. St. Saviour's is one of the many City parishes with a small popula- tion and an inadequate income. It has Church schools which are needing careful nursing in these critical times. These schools are located in the adjoining parish, St. Paul's, and a suggestion has been made that the Dean and Chapter, as patrons, would do well to offer St. Saviour's to the-, Vicar of St. Paul's. Such a step would secure a continuance ^f the ■■Evangelical- tradition, and would make the incumbent's income more pro- poptfeffeato to present'day responsibilities and needs. MANCHESTER., TnEiyc will be shortly two vacancies on the Cathedral staff. The Rev. H. G. Hiller and the Rev. G. H. Salter have been appointed Precentors of Norwich and Winchester respectively. Both men have many friends here. The former has been particularly active in work with boys, and has successfully organised many boys' camps. Our former organist, Mr. Sidney H. Nicholson, also an en- thusiastic- worker witli boys, is now at Westminster. Mr. Goldbrough, till re- cently deputy organist, is now at St. Anne's, Solio. The- Rev. B. Dennis Jones, who has had some very thrilling experiences as chaplain during the war, hIS resumed his duties Precentor. Not a Popular, Subject. The staff of the C.E.T.S. is busy mak- ing arrangements for sermons to be preached on Sunday next on temperance. The subject is not exactly popular, for those who form our congregations are for the most part already converted, and exhortations to the drinking people/when they are given, fall on- deaf. ears. But the C.E.T.S. is the sanest of -temperance societies, and its programme should commend itself to .all Cliuxchpeople. Those interested in the question of a living wage for the clergy are grate- ful to the Manchester. Guardian. On Thursday "Artiføx:" had an article dealing with the subject, and on Friday there was -a long letter from a layman full of sympathy for the cause. But there has been enough said, Something must be done. E.C.U. and Nonconformists. The Manchester branch of the English Church Union will have nothing to do with anything in ,the way of overtures to Nonconformists. At the annual meet- ing held this week the suggestion, of in- terchange of pulpits met with, fierce op- position. This would be more intelligible if we Churchpeople were satisfied that we have nothing either in our past his- tory or our present position of which we have reason to be ashamed. .SHEFFIELD. SERVICES of thanksgiving were held in eyery school in the city on the morning of Armistice Day, -in accordance with a simple form drawh'up by the; Archdeacon in collaboration with the Superintendent of the Wesleyan Mission. There was also a Civic Service in the evening at the Cathedral, attended by the Lord Mayor and members of the Corporation, not only as -an act of thanksgiving but also in furtherance of the League of Nations. It is on such occasions as these that Sheffield feels the need of a building more adequate to the purpose of a cathedral than that which exists at pre- sent in the old Parish Church. There can' be no question that the new Cathe- dral scheme is a right thing, though it has not won its way to immediate popu- larity. Its promoters are well aware that neither money, material, nor labour can be forthcoming at once, seeing that the stipends of the clergy have a prior claim on any appeal for funds, while the I' housing problem demands first attention in any building scheme for the city. But a wise and justifiable decision has been reached in opening a jOathedral Fund in readiifress for any gifts or legacies which may from time to time be offered. Labour, and the Cathedral. Unfortuilatelya wrong impression has been created through the absence of any representatives of Labour amongst its official supporters. No Cathedral will be worthy of its object unless its cost is largely met by the willing offerings of working folk. By appearing to forget this at the very outset of such an under- taking, the Church, as on many similar occasions, most regrettably ehcourages the quite erroneous idea that it is the Church of one class and not of the whole ComniLlility Notable D'scrimination. The Sheffield Ihiil!j Telegraph last. Saturday showed more discrimination than even the London Press in giving the first positiol1 in the day's news to t-h-j magnificent victory won the previous dav for the Enabling Bill. This may be taken as a tribute to the strenuous work that- has been done in the Sheffield diocese on behalf of the Bill. Some proof of this was evident in London last Friday at the Life and Liberty Congress, when five representatives from this small diocese were present at the memorable proceedings at St. Martin's-in-the- Fields and at the Church House, West- minster. Effective Christian Worker. Sheffield possesses in Mr. Robert Holmes, the Police Court' Missioner, one of the most effective Christian workers in the country. His various books have been a revelation of the practical power of the Gospel to achieve, the reform and (in quite a literal sense) the salvation of the most unlikely characters. The latest publication from his pen, Chance Acquaintance,- is as welcome as. any of its predecessors. It vividly portrays both the problem and the solution in the case of several lads who have passed through Mr. Holmes.' hands or have come. in some direct way under his in- fluence., LIVERPOOL. Missionary interest is at present being vigorously fostered in Liverpool as in other centres. There is a rather ambitious scheme afoot in connection with the C.M.S. thankoffering for peace. The diocese aims at raising £ 40,000. This is being aasociated, with the celebra- tion of the centenary of the LiveTpool Association, which occurs next May. During the present month parishes are being. asked to make a special effort to collect thankofferings and to encourage study and interest. With & view to ex- tending the interest taken in the work of the Society and evoking the co-pperac- tion of the laity on the Committee, a small .sub-committee is at present con- sidering the advisability of revising the rules of the Association. They, we learn, are finding it a very dimcult task. In- evitably as you enlarge committees you increase the need of a small executor, and so kvsi in danger of defeating your object of giving a large number of persons a feeling of vital interest and "real responsibility. During this week also at several centres moving pictures of the work of the mass movement in India are to) be shown-a method of propa- ganda which seems particularly wise in spite of the objections of a few sup- porters of the missionary cause to whom all moving pictures are -anathema. Movements of Missionaries. The friends of the S.P.G. in October last bado God-speed to two clergymen of the diodesO going abrogbd—the; Rev. E. H. Day, who had been, organising secretary of the Society in this district, and the Itev. 1-1.1 K. Page, who after much use- ful and patient work during the war at St. Catharine's, Abercroonby square, while the Rov, J.'O. Coop, D.S.O., was absent with the troops, has now sailed for Janiaica, Last Thursday the Cam- bridge Mission to Delhi organised a meeting in the Arts Theatre of the University, at which Sir Michael Sadler and the Rev. P. N. F. Young spoke on our duty to India, the Bishop presiding. Earlier in the autumn a third clergyman left the diocese for missionary work—the Rev. Tom Vickers, well known for his successful work amongst children, both at Warrington, and St. Nicholas', Liver- pool. He has gone out under the U.M.C.A. Student Christian Movenvent- The Rev. Tissing:ton Tallon has paid a short visit to Liverpool this last week I to stimulate the activities of the Student I Christian Movement in the University. He addressed a public meeting on Thurs- day, the 6th inst., when again the Bishop, who is so .generous in this matter^, presided, and he also crowded a great number of private meetings and interviews into a very short time. The situation is particularly perplexing. The newer Universities always have pre- sented prohlems-less pressing • at' the older residential Universities—as re- gards organising meetings and arranging for some degree of corporate effort. But this yea;r the number of students is so large that -the organisation of the University studies has become a very difficult matter. Classes have to be duplicated, and students are thus ham- pered in arranging sectional meetings, to say nothing of the fact that, having to go farther afield in search of lodgings, they are unable to attend central evening' meetings if they are unable to do their work. It is not pleasant to be in lodg- ings at a time when necessity compels landladies to be more than usually care- ful of coaland gas (such as it is). Lovers of Music. Lovers of music are being well catered for this autumn. On Tuesday, the 11th inst., the Philharmonic Society provided an orchestral performance of modem music under the conductorship of Mr. Albert Coates. The programme include a passacaglia of Oyril Scott, who is a local celebrity, being a native of Birkenhead. He has. recently- given threq recitals of his own music in LiverpooL CHESTER. Appropriately synchronising with the advent of the new Bishop, the C.M.S. has taken steps to co-ordinate the various associations of the diocese by forming a Diocesan Committee. The Committee will be representative, each Deanery elect- ing a, proportion of the members, cleri- cal and lay. By this means the scat- tered units will be linked up, and Teal advance of missionary work under the aegis of this society should be the out- come. This movement is due in large measure to the efforts of the Vicar of .Macclesfield Purity Campaign. • comprehensive .programme has been arranged for the visit of Miss Higson, the Central Organiser for the Arch- bishop's Board for Spiritual and Moral* Work. Commencing with meetings at Birkenhead on the Monday, many im- portant centres of the diocese are being visited. In the past there has been little organised effort here on behalf of purity, but the challenge thrown out this week to the diocese to shoulder its responsi- bility in this matter cannot go un- answered, and there is reason to hope- that the vigorous campaign being con- ducted by so able and experienced a leader as Miss Higson will he productive of great things. Personalia. By the "very sudden death, of Dean Darby, a conspicuous figure has passed from the clerical life of Chester and the diocese. Though he was close ttpomt eighty-eight years of age he was ap- parently as vigorous as ever, and took his accustomed part in the Cattiodrat services until the evening before' his death. It is thirty-three years since ho was appointed Dean, and throughout that long tenure he brought to his high office the utmost devotion to, the ser- vices and the most ardent enthusiasm to the restoration of the CathedraL Al- though this latter work has not been com- pleted, what has been accomplished already is a worthy memorial to his zealous labour's. He was a strong son of the Church, knowing his own mind, and expressing it fearlessly and with conviction. In the passing of Miss Catherine King, of Oxton, on Monday evening last, Birkenhead has been called to mourn one of the noblest women who ever lived within her borders, and the Church one of its warmest supporters. No good cause but found in her a friend.. Her exemplary character, sane judge- ment, and unstinted generosity endeared her to a very wide circle. (Continued ot..Page 11.) "'TVHE GOLDEN LECTURES."—November and