At the Church of England schoolroom, on Thursday evening, a public meeting was held for the purpose of taking into consideration the small remuneration at present received by the incumbent of our parish church. Mr. George Anderson having been elected chairman, and Dr. Henry Meyler secretary, the meeting commenced.

It appeared, from the chairman's statement, that the reverend gentleman's annual allowance depended almost entirely upon the bounty of trustees and a few other gentlemen, the congregation as a body contributing nothing; added to which two trustees have lately left the district, and if we wished to retain the services of our minister, we were bound to take a more active part in supporting him.

Arthur Hopkins, Esq., Murdeduke, in the course of his address to the meeting, stated that however highly we respected our pastor, he (the minister) was receiving, in return for his spiritual services, a lower amount of compensation than any clergyman in Victoria, and it was a matter of surprise how his dignity as a gentleman had been maintained upon so small an amount. The amount was here stated. It might well have been further matter of surprise why such steps as are now being initiated had not taken place before.

J. W. Rout, Esq., Mr. W. Stirling, senior, and Mr. Henry Saville, having addressed the meeting, the following resolutions were carried without a dissenting voice:-

1st. - Proposed by J. W. Rout, Esq., seconded by Mr. Henry Saville, "That the parishioners of Winchelsea require the continued services of the Rev. E. Tanner, as their clergyman."

2nd. - Proposed by T. Maidement, Esq., Barwon Park, seconded by Mr. James Stirling, junior, "That the officiating minister of the Church of England, Winchelsea, receive as an annual stipend the sum of £400."

3rd - Proposed by Arthur Hopkins, Esq., Murdeduke, and seconded by Mr. Stirling, "That this meeting deem it necessary to at once form a committee, the said committee being empowered to collect funds for the support of the Incumbent of St. Thomas, Winchelsea."

The following gentlemen were duly elected members of the committee - T. Maidement, Esq., Mr. James Lee, Mr. George Anderson, Mr. A. Richmond, and Mr. H. Saville.

The meeting closed with an incident which probably is not in strict accordance with rules canonical, namely three old fashioned stentorian cheers for the Reverend Edward Tanner.

A characteristic feature in the well known benevolence of Thomas Austin, Esq., late Barwon Park, oozed out at the above meeting, although that gentleman has returned to England for probably some years, he had previous to leaving carefully arranged that the sum of £30 be annually paid towards the support of a clergyman for this church.