§ MR. STEVENSON (Suffolk, Eye)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he is aware that the average administrative expenses of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England, 1217 paid out of their common fund (including fees to architects and surveyors and such legal expenses as were defrayed from the said fund) during the financial years 1902, 1903, and 1904 were more than £50,000 per annum; and that the total administrative expenses of the Commissioners paid out of the above-mentioned fund, and including the above-mentioned expenses, for the years 1890 to 1904, both inclusive, amounted to nearly £750,000; and, if so, whether, having regard to the importance to the parochial clergy of an economical administration of the funds and properties of the Commissioners, he will direct an inquiry by the Treasury into the present administration thereof, or appoint a Commission or Committee for that purpose.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURwas understood to say that the average administrative expenses of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners appeared to have been as stated in; the Question. The total administrative expenses had increased, but he was informed that a largo share of the administrative expenses of the Commissioners was attributable to sales and purchase of land and other transactions for the benefit of their estates. He saw no reason far an inquiry.