§ MR. LAMBERT (Devonshire, South Molton)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is aware that the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have arranged to transact within their own office the legal business connected with the conveyance of sites for churches and Churchyards without making any charge for legal expenses; whether this aarangement will include sites conveyed to private trustees for burial grounds in which burials can take place only in conformity with the rites of the Church of England; whether it will involve the expenditure of public funds for purposes the cost of which has hitherto been borne by private individuals; and whether Papers showing the nature of the arrangement and the mode of carrying it into effect can be produced.
§ * MR. RITCHIEI understand that an arrangement such as that suggested in the first paragraph has been established, but that it does not apply to the conveyance of sites for burial grounds to private trustees, the Commissioners being not concerned in such matters. The expenses under the arrangement will be provided out of the funds of the Commissioners, from which Solicitors' costs in similar cases have hitherto been paid. I do not think that it is a matter calling for Papers to be laid before the House.