§ MR. HUGH LAW (Donegal, W.)I beg to ask the Postmaster-General, as representing the Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether His Majesty's Government will communicate to the House copies of the correspondence which has passed between the Colonial Office and the High Commissioner of Cyprus and the Patriarch of Constantinople regarding the refusal of the High Commissioner of Cyprus to issue the necessary orders for the admission of the Archbishop-elect of Cyprus to the temporalities of the Metropolitan See; and, if no Papers are forthcoming, whether the Secretary of State will communicate the reasons for keeping vacant for three years the highest spiritual appointment in the island, and neglecting to provide for the regular administration of the revenues of the Archbishopric and for the ecclesiastical needs of the see.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe hon. Member was informed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in reply to his Question of 29th October last,† that no Archbishop of Cyprus had yet been elected. As there is no Arch-bishop-elect the question of admission to the temporalities of the see has not arisen. The delay in filling the vacancy is not due to the Government, but to a dispute in the Church. The administration of the revenues and the ecclesiastical needs of the see are in the meantime provided for, in accordance with the custom of the Church, by the Holy Synod. A settlement of the dispute would not be hastened by the publication of correspondence, which it is not desirable to produce until an agreement has been arrived at between the contending parties in the Church.