MR. CROSSLEY (York, W.R., Sowerby)asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Wether the Ordinance (No. 5, of 1887) passed by the Court of Policy of British Guiana for the establishment of a town at Bartica, has been approved by the Crown without any modification of the provision for the payment to the Bishop of Guiana absolutely of one-third of the sums received for the lands formerly held by the Bishop at the pleasure of the Crown; whether, in that case, the grant has been converted into a permanent endowment of the Bishopric, contrary to the wishes of the unendowed Religious Bodies in the Colony; and, whether he will lay before Parliament Papers containing the objections of such Bodies, and the grounds on which the Crown has been advised to confirm the Ordinance without alteration?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Baron HENRY DE WORMS) (Liverpool, East Toxteth)In answer to the hon. Member, I have to state that the Ordinance has been allowed without any modification of the provision referred to. One Religious Body—the Congregational Union of British Guiana—petitioned the Colonial Legislature against the provision alluded to, on the ground that it would increase the endowment of the Church of England; but the Legislature considered that the Bishop, as representing the Church, had a vested interest in the land at Bartica, which had been held, first by the Church Missionary Society and afterwards by the Bishop, for a long period, and upon the 1819 improvement of which large sums of money had been expended; and they are of opinion that the provision made by the Ordinance was an equitable compensation on the resumption of the land for the purpose of forming a town. The Secretary of State saw no reason for differing from this view. There are very few Papers on the subject, and it scarcely seems one of sufficient public interest to warrant the expenditure that would be incurred in printing them; but if the hon. Member wishes to see them I shall have much pleasure in showing them to him.