§ MR. S. SMITH (Flintshire)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether the Rev. G. L. King, Vicar of St. Mary's, South Shields, has been nominated by the Archbishop of Canterbury to be Bishop of Madagascar; whether he is aware that the new Bishop is a member of the English Church Union, and wears in his present church illegal Romish vestments, and burns altar lights in the daytime; and whether this nomination will be sanctioned?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (MR. A. J. BALFOUR, Manchester,-E.)The Bishop of Madagascar, as I understand, has been appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury on behalf of the Society for the Propagation of the1 Gospel. He does not receive anything from any public source, nor have the Government any title to interfere in the matter.
§ MR. TIMOTHY HEALYWith reference to the Question just put, may I ask whether it is in order to introduce into it the words "Romish vestments," seeing that their use is offensive to a great mass of the community? If Irish Members put Questions on the Paper they are always most severely edited.
§ MR. SPEAKERI think it would have been better to have left out the word Romish.