§ MR. WEBSTERasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, If he can state by whom, and under what authority, the funds of the Deanery of the Chapel Royal in Scotland are collected and disbursed; if the accounts are regularly audited, and by whom; to whom do these funds belong; are they National funds or the private property of the Crown; and, on the latter supposition, in what character, and by what title; and, is the Sovereign for the time entitled to dispose of them, or of the revenues from them, at pleasure and without Ministerial responsibility?
§ MR. COURTNEYSo far as I can ascertain, the facts are as follows:—The funds of the Deanery of the Chapel Royal in Scotland are collected and disbursed by the agents of the Deans and under their authority; the agents render accounts to the Deans, who presumably audit and examine them for themselves. The funds in question originally formed the endowment of the Chapel Royal, which was a Collegiate establishment consisting of a Dean and Prebendaries; in 1688, when Episcopacy was abolished in Scotland, they reverted to the Crown, and from that date until 1858 they were bestowed by the Crown upon three Crown Chaplains, who were called Deans of the Chapel Royal. By Royal Warrant under the Privy Seal, and by Ordinances of the Commissioners under the Scottish Universities Act of 1858, which have the force of law, they have been apportioned between certain University Professors and their successors in office, as Deans of the Chapel Royal; particulars will be found in House of Commons Paper No. 167 of last Session. It appears, therefore, that they have now become permanent endowments for the Professorships.
§ MR. COURTNEYI think it is about £2,300 a-year.