§ MR. ARNOLD-FORSTERI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he can state what portion of the total sum expended upon the fabric of the four Welsh Cathedrals since the year 1703 has been derived from any Welsh National Fund, or from any public moneys raised exclusively within the Principality of Wales?
§ MR. GRIFFITH-BOSCAWEN (Kent, Tunbridge)At the same time I will ask the right hon. Gentleman whether his attention has been drawn to a letter which appeared in The Times, of the 4th of May, from the Chancellor of the Diocese of Llandaff, in which it is stated that over £30,000 has been raised by subscriptions and offertories for the restoration of Llandaff Cathedral since 1843; whether he is prepared to qualify his statement that £3,425 was the amount so raised; and whether he is now in a position to give full particulars as to the amounts spent on the four Welsh Cathedrals in the present century, showing what portion had come (a) from national funds, (b) from subscriptions and offertories?
§ MR. ASQUITHThe sum of £3,425, to which I referred in my answer to the hon. Member for the Tunbridge Division of Kent on the 30th of April as having been raised for the restoration of Llaudaflf Cathedral, is the sum mentioned in the House of Lords Churches and Cathedrals Return of the 27th of June, 1892; but I find that the House of Commons Church Building and Restoration Return, on the 23rd of March, 1876, states that £30,000 562 was spent on this cathedral between 1840 and 1870. The sources of that sum are not indicated, and I have no means of verifying these figures or those given by the Chancellor of Llandaff. On the 23rd ultimo I received from the Dean of St. David's a letter stating that between the years 1704 and 1863, both inclusive, the sum of £11,245 was expended in restoring St. David's Cathedral, the whole of which was contributed by members of the Cathedral Body or other individuals, and that the whole expenditure from 1704 to 1892 was £54,697 (£11,245, plus £43,452), of which £ 10,000 was granted by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Here, again, I can only state the figures as they are given to me, and I cannot make myself responsible for them. I am informed that no grant has been made by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in the cases of St. Asaph and Bangor, but it would seem upon reference to the two Returns already referred to that £9,969 has been spent out of subscriptions upon St. Asaph between 1840 and 1890, and in the case of Bangor about £21,000. There appear to be no trustworthy materials for any further or more detailed statement of this expenditure.
§ *MR. ARNOLD-FORSTERWhat amount of public funds has been expended on these buildings?
§ MR. ASQUITHI can supply no figures except those which I have already given.
§ MR. GRIFFITH-BOSCAWENCannot the right hon. Gentleman give a Return showing the amount of money spent on these buildings, and distinguishing public from private funds?
§ MR. ASQUITHThere is no trustworthy information on that point.
§ MR. GRIFFITH-BOSCAWENAre we to understand that the Government has made their proposal to make over these cathedrals to a secular body without having taken steps to obtain information as to the sources of expenditure upon these cathedral fabrics?
§ MR. ASQUITHNo, Sir. It is not a fact.
§ MR. PENROSE FITZGERALD (Cambridge)Then it is possible that public money has been spent on these cathedrals, and the Home Secretary either will not or cannot give us any information in regard to it?
§ MR. ASQUITHI have stated precisely what public funds has been so expended. It is impossible for the Government with the material at their disposal to state how much private money has been spent.