§ MR. BENN (Devonport)I beg to ask the hon. Member for Tunbridge, as a Charity Commissioner, whether his attention has been called to the administration of Humphrey Williams' Charity (Kent Street Estate) and in particular to the circumstances under which parts of the property, originally left in 1653 for the benefit of poor aged people residing in the parishes of St. George-the-Martyr, Southwark, and St. Mary, Newington, have been transferred, without valuable consideration, to the ecclesiastical authorities as sites for a church, a parsonage house, and a day school; whether he is aware that the revenue derived from the site for the parsonage house, which has not been erected, is received by the ecclesiastical authorities, and will he say to what purpose it is being applied; whether the day school has been discontinued; and, if so, for what purpose the building is now used; under what legal authority this alienation of property took place; and what steps he proposes to take in the matter.
§ *MR. GRIFFITH BOSCAWEN, (Kent, Tunbridge)The attention of the Commissioners has been called by the London County Council to the circumstances in question, in a letter stating that they are advised, as is the case, that these transfers were legally made, under the Church Building Acts and School Sites ACT, 1841, respectively, and that the present user is not contrary to the statutes. It is understood that the parsonage site is now let and the rent applied in augmentation of the benefice; and that the day school is now closed and the premises used for parish purposes; but the jurisdict on in these respects is now that of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners 54 and of the Board of Education respectively and not of the Charity Commissioners.