§ MR. COBBI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he can now state the result of the inquiries which have been made by the Lord Chancellor into the case of the Rev. Edward Burdett Hawkshaw, the Chairman of the Ross Bench of Justices, who wrongfully assumed, during eighteen years, the title and hood of a Master of Arts of Oriel College, Oxford, although he was in fact a Bachelor of Arts, and described himself as a Master of Arts on bills publicly announcing missionary meetings and the delivery of sermons, and also in the same capacity conducted the services and administered the sacraments of the Church; whether he if aware that, under one of the canons of the Church, such an irregularity involves the punishment of suspension, and is regarded as a serious offence by members-of the University of Oxford, and is punishable under the University Statutes; whether Mr. Hawkshaw continued his irregularity until it became necessary for 1531 him to take the degree of Master of Arts in order to qualify himself for the prebendal stall of Nonnington in Hereford Cathedral which was offered him by the Bishop, who then for the first time discovered the irregularity; whether he is aware that a strong feeling has been aroused by this disclosure; and whether Mr. Hawkshaw will be removed from the Commission of the Peace?
§ MR. MATTHEWSI have no information as to the facts stated in the first paragraph, except that I am assured by Mr. Hawkshaw that it is wholly untrue that he ever described himself, or saw himself described, as a M.A. I know of no canon relevant to this subject except the fifty-eighth canon, which appears to me to provide suspension against a minister who, being no graduate, wears a hood. I do not know whether the University Statutes contain a provision such as the hon. Member indicates. These are matters which appear proper for the Ordinary and the Vice Chancellor to deal with. I am informed that Mr. Hawkshaw took his Master's degree before any legal necessity arose for his possessing that qualification. I know nothing about the local feeling; and I am informed by the Lord Chancellor that no facts have been brought to his notice which call for the removal of Mr. Hawkshaw's name from the Commission of the Peace.