<).. I . 



history of the Month. 



latter representing 5.79 per cent, of the total birth-. 

 the lowest rate for the last ten years, with :h. 

 exception of iqio, when it stood at 5.75. The 

 rate of infantile mortality was the lowest on record. 

 The deaths undt-r one year of age represented 68.49 

 per 1000 births, as against 74.81 per 1000 in 1910. 

 Another gratifving feature is shown by the favi 

 that the marriage registrations for 191 1 con.stitni< 

 .mother record, loth in number (39.482) and in ;.)• 

 rate per 1000 of the mean population (8.79). i)t 

 the marriages registered, the numt^er celef>rated by 

 minister> of the .\nglican Church was 13,04 1 ; 

 Methodists. 6810; Roman Catholic, 6712: Presliy- 

 terians, 5737; Congregationalists, 240X ; and Ba] 

 lists, 1372; while 1314, or alx>ut onc-thirieeni 1 

 of the total, were celebrated by civil registrars. 1 

 the figures dealing with the relative ages of persci:> 

 marrying, it is shown that 1472 males and 8028 

 It-ranles weie married under the age of twenty-onf'. 

 Tlie oldest couple married during 1911 was a brid'- 

 groom of eighty to a bride of seventy-four. 



Bishops, as \vell as clergymen and 

 Anglican : lymen within the .\nglican Corn- 



Autonomy, immion, are radically divided on 

 the subject of autonomy for the 

 Australian branch of that historic Church. The 

 Primate has recently given his voice against the 

 proposal to cut the ecclesiastical painter. Bishop 

 Frodsham, of North Queensland, is as emphatically 

 in favour of it, and, in his latest utterance at the 

 <)|)»-ning of the Provincial Synod, he t-xpres.sed him- 

 >'lf in almo>t violent terms. " I would give mv 

 life cheerfully." he says, " if by so doing I coulil 

 prevent any schism in the Anglican Church. 1 am 

 v-cond to none in my unswerving lovalty to :he 

 ■ I'ictrines of the Church of F.ngland. I am tied 

 '■y f>irth. l>a|)ti.sm, confirmation, and ordination to 

 ti'ie Church of Kngland. I have no desire for any- 

 thing that will mar the full communion between the 

 ' hurch of lingl.ind and the Church in .Australia. 

 1 tielieve tii.it the wlude -Anglican Communion .should 

 in.trch t')g<*tln-r in lim — one in ho]K', <ioctrine, spirit. 

 I Ix'lievi' in a Church which is truly national. F-!ut 

 I also In-lieve in she truth of those solemn w<.rds 

 which I, .It I he dictation of the Bishops ass«mble(l, 

 nrote ilown Aith my own hand at the last LamlK-th 

 < 'onfert-nce. ' \Vi- assert,' they said, 'the general 

 principle <)t lUtonomy of National Churches within 

 •tie AngliiMii Commtuiion, believing that Nation.d 

 < "hurches will give their best contribution to the 

 iife of the Church Universal if allrrvved to grow 

 lip freely in their own soil, and to develoji inider 

 ! val conditifm.s. ' " He de.sires freedom, tiecaiist- 

 !'■ reali-ses th.it if the Church is to thrive in Aiistra- 

 !ia. her pfipl<- must grow u|-> in h.irmony with ;h<-ir 

 • nvironnx-nt. HIn earne.st de>ire is " that .Austr.i- 

 liafts, who '..v.- ,\u>tralia, who tx-lieve that ihe 

 < 'hurch if 1 1 gl.niil iias a mission in .Au^tr.din, who 



REV. PROFKS,SOR REXTOUL. D.D.. 



Tlie new Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly 

 of Victoria. 



Ijelieve in the guidance of the Holy Spirit for the 

 Church in .Australia, will take no rest until they 

 make the Australian Church free — free to grow up 

 in her own environments, free to live in willing 

 obedience to the doctrine and teaching of the Eng- 

 lish Church, free to make and administer effective 

 law, free to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, 

 free to fully serve for Christ's sake that country 

 which Ponce du l,eon once called, with a s.^ilor's 

 vision, Tierra del F.spiritu Santo — the land of the 

 Holv Gro.se." 



A Fair 

 Rents' Court. 



'■ We want some sort of a fair 

 rents' court, and we want immigra- 

 '11 str.])|)od," was the request of 

 I .leput.ition representing the com- 

 bined l.ab.iur le.igues of the .Sydney metropoli';. 

 which waited on Premier McGowen last week. B- 

 hind the dfjiutatio.-i, i: was urged, there were 

 many thousands of workers. These complained that 

 the increa.se in wages had Uen negativeil by the 

 high rise in house rents. Mr. McGowen was n<-<'. 

 able to offer any satisfactory s^ilution of the prol 

 lem, but he promised serious con.sideration of tlv 

 subject. There can be no •|uesti(in alwut the ex 

 travagant rise of hfuise rents in Sydney and suburb^, 

 or, for that matter. ever\ where. It is part of th 

 general tendency which has .so seriously increased 

 the rost of living, and male the average mnn Iriok 



