The ecumenical movement is given full support, the Church being a member of the National Council of Churches in New Zealand and of the World Council of Churches. The Most Rev. Campbell West-Watson, Primate and Archbishop from 1940 to 1950, played a prominent part in the foundation of the National Council of Churches in New Zealand in 1941 and attended the First Assembly of the World Council of Churches at Amsterdam in 1948. There was also representation at the Second and Third Assemblies at Evanston and New Delhi.

The overseas mission work is coordinated under the New Zealand Anglican Board of Missions with the main emphasis placed on work undertaken by the dioceses of Melanesia and Polynesia and the New Zealand Church Missionary Society. In 1963 church people contributed just over £100,000 for this work. Many recruits, both clergy and laymen, are supplied for work in the mission field.

Social service work claims full attention and the various dioceses provide children's homes, old people's homes, city missions, and hostels for students, etc. There has been a recent change in the method of caring for children, with the institutional orphanage slowly being replaced by cottage homes, each with a limited number of children. Arrangements are also made for foster home care.

There is at present a period of expansion due mainly to the need for establishing the Church in new housing areas. Fund-raising campaigns of various sorts have resulted in the total income of the Church being increased from £677,000 in 1955 to 1,683,000 in 1963. A new cathedral at Napier in the diocese of Waiapu was dedicated in 1960 and new cathedrals are being built at Auckland and Wellington. There are plans for extending the Christchurch Cathedral by adding new vestries on the north and south sides of the chancel.

There are three theological colleges (St. John's College, Auckland; Christchurch College, Christchurch; and Selwyn College, Dunedin), the latter two taking students of other faculties as well. Many of the students take arts and other degrees of the New Zealand universities before sitting for the Licentiate of Theology under examinations conducted by the Board of Theological Studies which was constituted by General Synod. These latter examinations are also open to laymen and extra-mural students. Some candidates for the ministry take degree and theological courses outside New Zealand.

The Church has always carried out a vigorous work among the Maoris both in the pastoral and educational sphere, the foundation for this having been laid by Henry and William Williams. In many parts of New Zealand there are separate Maori churches in approximately 38 native pastorates with Maori pastors approximately 26 in number; but there is nevertheless integration so that there have been cases where Maori clergymen have been appointed vicars of parishes. Most of the dioceses have special Maori mission funds, but the Maoris themselves raise considerable sums of money for the support of their own churches. There are three Church secondary schools for Maori girls (Queen Victoria School, Auckland; Hukarere School, Napier; and Te Wai Pounamu College, Christchurch) and two secondary schools for Maori boys (St. Stephen's School, Bombay; and Te Aute College, Pukehou), the total roll numbers being approximately 400. In many instances scholarships are provided.

A member of the Maori race is appointed by the bishops of the dioceses of the North Island as Bishop of Aotearoa and he is suffragan bishop to the Bishop of Waiapu, in whose diocese the greatest number of Maoris live. Bishops of other dioceses may also give the Bishop of Aotearoa episcopal supervision of members of the Maori race in their own dioceses. The first Bishop of Aotearoa (The Right Rev. F. A. Bennett) was consecrated in 1928 and died in 1950. The Right Rev. W. N. Panapa succeeded him in 1951. In 1964 the General Synod amended the Church Canon to give the Maori people direct representation at its deliberations.

The Primate and Archbishop is elected by General Synod after nomination by the bishops. The nomination must be confirmed both by clerical and by lay representatives. If, after a second nomination, no election is made, the senior bishop, other than the bishop of a missionary diocese, becomes Acting Primate until General Synod elects a Primate. Provision was made by General Synod in 1952 for the Primate and Archbishop to have an assistant bishop. The Archbishop presides at meetings of the General Synod and meetings of the bishops, and is authorised to exercise all such powers of a Metropolitan as may be defined by General Synod. Such powers, however, have not yet been defined and his jurisdiction is, therefore, restricted to the diocese of which he is also bishop. The first Primate and Archbishop was the Most Rev. Churchill Julius (1922–25), Bishop of Christchurch, followed by the Most Rev. A. W. Averill (1925–40), Bishop of Auckland, the Most Rev. C. W. West-Watson (1940–51), Bishop of Christchurch, and the Most Rev. Reginald H. Owen (1952–60), Bishop of Wellington. The present occupier of the office is the Most Rev. Norman A. Lesser, Bishop of Waiapu, who was elected in 1961. Prior to 1922 there was a Primate without the title of Archbishop, the holders of this office being the Right Rev. H. J. C. Harper, Bishop of Christchurch (1869–89), the Right Rev. O. Hadfield, Bishop of Wellington (1890–93), the Right Rev. W. G. Cowie, Bishop of Auckland (1895–1902), and the Right Rev. S. T. Nevill, Bishop of Dunedin (1904–19).

The bishop of a diocese is chosen by the diocesan synod, but it may delegate its right of selection to others. The bishops of the province are called upon to state whether they have reason to disapprove of a nomination and, before the person nominated to be bishop is advised, his nomination must be confirmed by the standing committee of each diocese or by the General Synod if in session. The Consecration of a bishop-elect must take place within the Province of New Zealand. There is also provision for the appointment of assistant bishops and such appointments are made on the nomination of the bishop of the diocese.

Each diocese has a board of nomination which deals with the appointment of vicars, of whom there are over 300 assisted by about 100 other clergy. The board consists of the bishop as chairman and two priests elected by the clergy and two laymen elected by the laymen of the diocesan synod. When a vacancy occurs in a parish, the board of nomination and nominators elected by the vestry of the parish meet together and nominate a priest to the bishop to become vicar. Appointments to parochial districts as distinct from parishes are made by the board of nomination without any representation from the parochial district. The vicar of a parish can only be removed therefrom for an ecclesiastical offence and upon a decision of some competent tribunal constituted by the General Synod, but the licence of the vicar of a parochial district can be revoked by the bishop with the consent of one-half of the other members of the board of nomination.

The controlling body of the province is the General Synod which meets once every two years, although there is provision for meeting more often for special purposes if necessary. The membership of General Synod comprises the bishops of the province, three clerical representatives elected by the clergy of each diocesan synod, and four lay representatives elected by the laymen of each diocesan synod. The associated missionary dioceses are represented by two clergymen and two laymen who are appointed by the bishop in the case of the diocese of Melanesia and by the diocesan synod in the case of the diocese of Polynesia. Each diocese has its own synod which must meet at least every year. These diocesan synods consist of the clergy who hold a licence from the bishop of the diocese and of laymen elected by the various parishes at the annual meeting of parishioners. A diocesan synod is empowered by the General Synod to exercise powers and make regulations for the order and good government of the Church in the diocese, but these may not be repugnant to the Constitution or a canon or regulation of General Synod. Each diocese is divided into a number of parishes or parochial districts, of which there are 128 and 200 respectively throughout New Zealand with 901 churches, while services are taken in 794 other places which are not solely churches. In addition, there are 38 native pastorates which are all in the four North Island dioceses. The affairs of a parish or parochial district are controlled by a vicar's churchwarden and a people's churchwarden together with a vestry elected at the annual general meeting of parishioners. Vestrymen must be communicant members and over 21 years of age, although to vote at a parish meeting it is only necessary to be over 18 years of age, baptised, and on the parish roll. On the whole the clergy and laymen work in close cooperation in the running of the parishes in all matters although the clergy have the general oversight of spiritual ministrations. Laymen, however, assist a great deal with visiting and through the efforts of lay readers, of which there are 854 in New Zealand, services especially in country areas are maintained at regular intervals.

Autonomy was established on 13 June 1857, when the first Constitution was formulated in the historic St. Stephen's Chapel, Auckland, at a Conference of Bishops, Clergy, and Laity. This first Constitution was revised in 1865 at the third General Synod. Certain of the clauses of the Constitution are termed fundamental and it is not within the power of the General Synod or any diocesan synod to alter, add to, revoke or diminish any of them. Non-fundamental clauses, however, can be altered by General Synod. There is full communion with the Church of England but the ancient see of Canterbury and the Archbishop of Canterbury have no jurisdiction over the Church of England in New Zealand. The Anglican communion throughout the world is held together by common ties and traditions in much the same way as the British Commonwealth of Nations is held together. Under a fundamental clause of the Constitution the management of the affairs of the Church rests with a representative governing body (General Synod) consisting of three distinct orders; viz., the Bishops, the Clergy, and the Laity, the consent of all orders being necessary to all acts binding upon General Synod or diocesan synods.

The first clause of the Constitution binds the Church to the Book of Common Prayer (1662) and to the Authorised Version of the Bible, and General Synod has no power to make any alteration in these In order to give the Church freedom and to protect the sanctity of trusts of property which is the sole concern of the State, the General Synod promoted a Bill in the New Zealand Parliament in 1928 to give power to General Synod to alter, add to, or diminish the formularies of the Church or to permit the use of any version of the Bible other than the Authorised Version. The result was the passing of the Church of England Empowering Act 1928 under which any person, who feels that the General Synod, in making an alteration, is departing from the doctrine and sacraments of Christ as defined in the Constitution, may appeal to a tribunal which the Act sets up for the purpose. The decision of the tribunal, which consists of the bishops and clerical and lay members appointed by General Synod, is final. In 1958 the General Synod authorised the use in a diocese, with the permission of the bishop of the diocese, of certain parts of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.

The Church of England in New Zealand had its beginnings with the arrival of the Rev. Samuel Marsden at the Bay of Islands in 1814, when on Christmas Day he preached the first sermon in New Zealand. Towards the close of 1838 Bishop Broughton, who had been consecrated Bishop of Australia on 14 February 1836, paid a visit to the Bay of Islands in response to an earnest request from the Church Missionary Society, and while there held confirmations in English and Maori. After this, Bishop Broughton reported to the society that the appointment of a bishop for New Zealand was a matter of urgent necessity. The Secretary of State of the Colonies (Lord John Russell) considered this impossible because New Zealand was not part of the British Dominions. The Proclamation of the Queen's sovereignty in New Zealand on 21 May 1840 by Captain William Hobson, after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840, was followed by the appointment, by Royal Letters Patent dated 10 October 1841, of George Augustus Selwyn as Bishop of New Zealand. He was consecrated at Lambeth on 17 October 1841. Through a drafting error in the Patent, Bishop Selwyn accepted his boundaries literally and claimed authority over a part of what now forms the field of the Melanesian Mission. The various islands of Polynesia (mainly Fiji and Tonga groups) were considered to be under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London, but became associated with the New Zealand church by a statute of General Synod dated 6 February 1925. Bishop Selwyn's original diocese of New Zealand was reduced in the first place by the resignation by the bishop of the area included in the diocese of Christchurch by Royal Letters Patent dated 31 July 1856, and then by the constitution by Royal Letters Patent dated 27 September 1858 of the dioceses of Waiapu, Wellington, and Nelson. This left an area which was changed from the diocese of New Zealand to the diocese of Auckland when Bishop Selwyn returned to England to become Bishop of Lichfield in 1868. The diocese of Auckland was divided when General Synod created the diocese of Waikato in 1925. The diocese of Dunedin was originally part of the diocese of Christchurch and was created a separate diocese as from 1 January 1869 by General Synod on 17 October 1868. These seven dioceses in New Zealand, Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Nelson, Waiapu, Waikato, and Wellington and the two associated missionary dioceses of Melanesia and Polynesia make up “the Church of the Province of New Zealand (commonly called the Church of England)” the correct title as defined by a canon of General Synod. By an Act passed by the Parliament of New Zealand in 1955 the General Synod has power to define the extent, nature, and terms of association of missionary dioceses with the Church of the Province of New Zealand.

The idea of a church settlement was first proposed by Edward Gibbon Wakefield in 1843, but it was not until 1848 that the scheme finally took shape with the formation of the Canterbury Association under the leadership of Lord Lyttelton and John Robert Godley. The site of the settlement was selected by the Association's surveyor, Captain Joseph Thomas, who was impressed by the proximity of a deep-water port, the availability of an immense tract of level country, and its accessibility by several routes. The Anglican character of the settlement was determined largely by the members of the Association. Canterbury was to be a Church of England settlement (as Otago had been Presbyterian), with generous provision for church, education, and other amenities such as the huge area of park land of which Christchurch is justly proud. The city was named Christchurch by Godley, after his Oxford College, Christ Church. The “First Four Ships” the Charlotte Jane, Randolph, Sir George Seymour, and Cressy arrived at Lyttelton between 16 and 27 December 1850 with 782 settlers. At first housed in barracks previously erected for them, the immigrants soon made their way across the Bridle Path over the Port Hills to the site of Christchurch. The Association's surveyor, Edward Jollie, laid out the city between four broad avenues in a grid pattern, leaving a wide open space in the centre for the erection of the Anglican Cathedral. This Gothic-style stone building was commenced in 1864 and finally completed in 1901. It is the Cathedral which completes the very English appearance of Christchurch, with its wide streets, spacious parks, trees, and gardens. Included in the city's wide sweep of park land are the Botanic Gardens and Hagley Park (497 acres), set aside by the early planners. Of historical interest is the Riccarton Bush Reserve, originally owned by the Deans Brothers, who settled in the area in 1843. They named the place Riccarton, after the parish on the outskirts of Kilmarnock, where their father's home was situated, and the river (the Otakaro) they called the Avon, after the Scottish stream of that name.

Christchurch's rectangular street pattern is as much a result of its flat topography as of the intentions of its early surveyors. At first the city was bounded by Salisbury, Barbadoes, St Asaph, and Antigua Streets, but soon after it extended to the four broad avenues – Bealey, FitzGerald, Moorhouse, and Rolleston Avenues. The symmetry of this rectangular pattern is broken by the sinuous bends of the Avon River with its parallel Oxford and Cambridge Terraces, and the diagonal Victoria and High Streets, which were added to the original plan as access ways to Papanui and Sumner. The city has now outgrown its original size, and suburbs of varying ages and types surround the city, such as Sumner, New Brighton, Cashmere, Fendalton, Papanui, and semi-industrial Addington.

To perpetuate the memory and achievements of Canterbury's founders, there are statues to James Edward FitzGerald, Superintendent, 1853–57; William Sefton Moorhouse, Superintendent, 1857–63, 1866–68; William Rolleston, Superintendent, 1868–76; and John Robert Godley, Founder of Canterbury. There are also statues of Queen Victoria, Captain James Cook, and Captain Robert Falcon Scott.

Population of Christchurch Urban Area

by Richard Gregory Heerdegen, M.A., L.R.S.M., Junior Lecturer in Geography, Massey University of Manawatu.

Christchurch is the principal commercial centre of a great primary producing province, Canterbury. This province is the chief grain and grass-seed-growing area of New Zealand and has a large sheep population. It was on the wealth and associated economic activities of this agricultural and pastoral basis that Christchurch was dependent. In post-war years, however, there has been industrial expansion of a very diversified nature and today there are large engineering, clothing, fertiliser, rubber, electrical, footwear, and furniture industries there. Much of the city's light industry is located in the vicinity of the Christchurch railway station, Waltham, and Sydenham. This centre-city industry is of major importance, since it provides work for about 42 per cent of all industrial workers in Christchurch. The heavier industries – fertiliser, industrial machinery, cable, industrial gas, freezing works, tyre and box manufacturing – are strung out along the Main Trunk railway to the west and north of the city in the suburbs of Hornby, Islington, Sockburn, and Riccarton. Occupying as it does a central location on the east of the South Island, Christchurch is a natural junction for the north-south and east-west communications. Both the main north and south roads and the South Island Main Trunk railway pass through the city, which is also linked by rail to Lyttelton and the West Coast. Road traffic to the port of Lyttelton was once forced to cross the Port Hills (13 miles), but a road tunnel completed early in 1964 provides an easier route. As with the other main ports in New Zealand, petroleum products rank as the primary import (348,851 tons), followed by manures (77,825 tons), iron and steel (54,218 tons), and fresh fruit (20,844 tons). The total overseas imports amount to 741.918 tons. The importance of sheep to Canterbury is exemplified by the predominance of their products in the exports. Frozen meat (48,654 tons), wool (34,091 tons), and tallow (10,837 tons) were the three major exports from a total of 143,261 tons. During the year ended 31 December 1963, 516 overseas vessels used the port, accounting for a shipping tonnage of 2,178,191 tons, while 824 coastal and intercolonial vessels totalled some 1,361,200 tons.

There are two airports in close proximity to Christchurch, the Royal New Zealand Air Force Station at Wigram, 5 miles south of the city, and Christchurch International Airport at Harewood, 6 miles to the north-west. For the year ended 31 December 1964, 43,629 overseas and 441,581 domestic passengers used the airport, while the total number of aircraft movements was 81,724. Some 35,762,153 lb of freight and 1,689,555 lb of mail were handled at the airport. Operating from this airport each summer are the United States “Operation Deep Freeze” aircraft which make regular flights to and from the Antarctic base at McMurdo Sound. The “Deep Freeze” 1964 season commenced on 30 September 1963 and concluded on 1 March 1964. The traffic figures were: 1,603 outward passengers and 1,590 inward passengers; 994,125 lb outward cargo and 168,084 lb inward cargo.

The nucleus of the educational facilities of Christchurch is the University of Canterbury, situated in the heart of the city. Comprising six faculties – arts, science, commerce, engineering, music, fine arts, and law-and 24 departments, Canterbury University has the major engineering school in the country. Due to the rapid expansion in university education, the present buildings are becoming inadequate. The University is therefore being rebuilt on a site at Ilam, well out of town. Because emphasis was placed by the founders of the province on education, Christchurch is well endowed with secondary schools, not only public, but private ones as well. At the entrance to the Botanic Gardens, across Rolleston Avenue from the University, is the Canterbury Museum, whose special features include the Stead Collection of birds and a fine reconstruction of a Christchurch street, together with shops and houses, as it appeared in the early days of the settlement. Backing on to the museum is the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, which has a comprehensive range of the work of artists of the Canterbury school.

Of the four main cities Christchurch has the least rainfall and the greatest range of temperature. Rainfall averages 26 in. per annum and falls on 129 days, including 62 days with at least 0.1 in. Rainfall is fairly evenly spread through the year, but is slightly lower in the period February to April, and also in the spring, than at other times. Once in 20 years a fall of 3.9 in. can be expected within 24 hours and 0.7 in. in one hour.

Highest temperatures are assöciated with the “Canterbury Nor'wester” which is a typical fohn wind, strong, gusty, and very dry. In summer it raises temperatures above 80°F and occasionally above 90°F, while relative humidity drops to 20 per cent or even less. Christchurch, on the average, has 17 days with temperature rising over 80°F. At the other extreme, it experiences 37 screen frosts and 90 ground frosts per annum, chiefly between April and October. The warmest month is January, with a mean temperature of 62°F and a mean daily maximum of 70°F and a mean daily minimum of 53°F. In July the mean is 42°F and the mean daily range extends from 50°F to 34°F. Sunshine averages 2,000 hours per annum, each month receiving about 45 per cent of the possible sunshine, except December which has only 41 per cent.

North-easterlies are the prevailing winds, but south-westerlies are almost as frequent. These are relatively cool winds and the north-easterlies at times bring low cloud or fog in over the city. Fog due to various causes is reported on 23 days per annum, chiefly between April and August. In winter, fog occasionally persists throughout the day, but most of the fogs clear within a few hours after sunrise.

Snowfalls are light and infrequent, though heavy falls have been known. On 14 July 1945 the depth of snow was about 1 ft over most of the city. This was the heaviest snowfall on record, with the possible exception of one in July 1867. Hail is reported on six days per annum and on very rare occasions has caused local damage to glasshouses and gardens in the district. Thunder is heard on about four days a year, chiefly in the summer.