MR. M. T. BASSsaid, he would beg to ask the hon. Member for North Devon, Why small parishes destitute of all religious teaching should be entirely excluded from partaking of the large sums annually distributed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners; and, why "grants" should not be made to small populations in relative proportion to the grants made to large populations?
§ MR. ACLANDsaid, in reply, he had made inquiries at the office of the Commissioners, and he was unable to find any parishes corresponding to the description given by the hon. Member for Derby. Grants were made by the Commissioners under three heads—to meet benefactions, to satisfy to a limited extent local claims, and to endow new districts in populous places. Under the first head, up to February last, of meeting benefactions, he found that 136 grants had been made, of which 54 were to parishes below 1,000 population, and 23 to parishes below 500 population. The second-class grants, to meet local claims, were made, for the most part, to agricultural parishes, and many of these were to small parishes with small congregations. As to the third head, new 1605 districts, he had taken the trouble of examining the scale on which grants were made to these, and found that the grants to places having a small population were upon a higher scale than those to places where the population was considerable.