§ SIR B. HALLwished to ask the noble Lord at the head of the Government whether it was the intention of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to furnish the House with any authentic information respecting the actual revenue and expenditure of the various dioceses throughout the country? He trusted that they were in a position to do so, and that they would feel it to be their duty to enlighten the House, if it should be in their power to do so, on a subject of so much importance. The Select Committee which was appointed under the Commission of 1838 to collect information from the bishops with respect to church leases and tithes, had not received from the bishops such co-operation as enabled them to prosecute their inquiries satisfactorily. Sixteen of the bishops, including the two archbishops, sent answers to the communications addressed to them by the Committee; but nine bishops peremptorily refused to make any return whatever of the income and expenditure of their sees; and the then Bishop of Worcester took: no notice of their application one way or the other. The Bishop of Bangor coolly informed them that he felt that it was his duty to decline giving the information applied for; and some other prelates gave answers equally unsatisfactory. From that time to the present there had been no return whatever of the value of the property of the bishops, except a return published in the year 1845, which was anything but satisfactory. It merely gave the calculations in gross, but did not furnish the House with any detailed accounts of the income and expenditure. There were circumstances which had occurred likely to augment the value of certain sees, and yet the returns did not show the fact. In the see of London great improvements had taken place in 1316 respect to the erection of buildings and houses in various parts of the diocese, and yet he found the returns to be as follows: In 1831 the income was stated at 15,747l. in 1845 it was only 13,519l. Under these circumstances, he wished to know on what data the Ecclesiastical Commissioners had founded their calculations of the sums that ought to be paid over to the account of the fund. He also wished to know whether the Ecclesiastical Commissioners were now in possession of full, accurate, and authentic information respecting the amount of property belonging to the different sees, the terms and circumstances under which leases had been granted, and the names of the parties to whom such leases had been given?
§ LORD J. RUSSELLsaid, that the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, on the 1st of January, 1844, sent a number of queries to the bishops, asking them to state, under different heads, the various sources of their income, and the amount of their several payments. Those returns were duly furnished, and it was from a comparison of these different documents that the commissioners made their estimates and calculations of the respective sums to be paid or received by the various bishops. The Act required that the returns should be made septennially, so that it was to be presumed that on the 1st of January, 1851, the House would be in possession of new data. It was true that the Ecclesiastical Commission of 1838 had not obtained accounts in detail of leases, tithes, and various other items; but the House was aware that there had been another commission since then; and there could be no doubt that their reports and evidence, which would be soon upon the table, would furnish satisfactory information on these subjects. He had not heard that the commission had experienced any difficulties in obtaining the information for which they applied.