§ MR. HUMPHREYS OWEN (Montgomeryshire)I beg to ask the hon. Member for West Salford, as Church Estates Commissioner, what was the amount realised by the sale of Addington, and what sums the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have spent, or propose to spend, on the provision of an archiepiscopal residence at Canterbury; what was the sum expended on the, purchase of the present residence of the Bishop of Rochester; and whether the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have given their sanction to the allocation of £15,000 to the purchase and maintenance of a fresh residence for the Bishop of Rochester in the event of the creation of the Diocese of South wark; and whether they have had any correspondence with the Bishop of Rochester on the subject; and, if so, what has been the nature of such correspondence.
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY CHARITY COMMISSIONER (Mr. LEES KNOWLES,) Salford, W.Addington Park was sold for £45,000. With the interest on the sums from time to time remaining in the Commissioners' hands, and the addition of the amount paid over by the Archbishop of Canterbury in respect of dilapidations accrued at the time of the sale, and after deducting the amount of mortgage upon the property which had to be discharged, the amount available for the provision of a new archiepiscopal residence has been about £49,000. On the acquisition of the site at Canterbury and the erection of the new residence, there has been expended nearly £27,000, and the outstanding accounts amount to some £3,000. The sum expended out of the proceeds of the sale of Danbury Palace upon the provision of the present house of residence at Kensington for the See of Rochester, was £17,718. The Commissioners have approved the terms of the Bishopric of Southwark Bill which recently passed its Second Reading, including the direction contained therein for the allocation of a sum of £15,000 towards making provision for a new residence for the 1398 Bishop of Rochester, upon the constitution of the Bishopric of Southward There has been no correspondence upon the subject.