§ MR. LOGAN (Leicester, Harborough)I beg to ask the hon. Member for Merionethshire if he is aware that Mr. R. Durnford, an Assistant Commissioner in the service of the Charity Commission, who recently presided at an inquiry concerning the alienation of 19 out of 30 acres of laud situate at Shawell, in the county of Leicester, awarded by the Court of Chancery to the use and benefit of the poor of the parish, is represented to have written to the Rector of Shawell, congratulating him on having laid "the ghost of this agitation," and trusting that it will not rise up again to cause disturbance; whether such letter was written before the Assistant Commissioner had made his Report, on which the Charity Commissioners would pro- 776 bably base their decision; and if the Charity Commissioners intend to take any notice of the conduct of this official? I wish to supplement my question by asking if the hon. Member is aware that the so-called "agitation" was the efforts of the parishioners of Shawell to recover the laud and restore it to the use of the people as directed by the Chancery decree of 1668?
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY CHARITY COMMISSIONER (Mr. T. E. ELLIS,) MerionethshireThe passage quoted in the question did occur in a letter from the Assistant Commissioner to the Rector, who has for many years taken much interest in the matter on behalf of the parishioners. The letter was written before the Report of the Assistant Commissioner was made, but after Mr. Coppack, the accredited representative of the parishioners, had expressed the view that the 19 acres in question were lost to the Charity. The publication of a sentence from a private letter and its distribution in a pamphlet in the parish was, he thought, unwarrantable. Regret was expressed if the words had caused any offence.