§ SIR D. BRYNMOR JONES (Swansea District)I beg to ask the hon. Member for the Crewe Division, as representing the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, whether the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, during the year ended 31st October, 1906, distributed out of moneys received by them from the Trustees of the City Parochial Charities to the churches of St. Mary, Aldermary, and St. Peter, Cornhill, the sums of £250 and £100 respectively, for repairs to their organs, in addition to the annual sums which they are authorised to pay for the maintenance of the fabric of the said churches, and for the ordinary cleaning and repairs of the said churches and the ornaments thereof by the Central Scheme of 23rd February, 1891; if so, by what authority, having regard to the terms of the City Parochial Charities Act, 1883, and the said Scheme, are these payments justified; and whether the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, during the year ended 31st October, 1906, made an additional annual grant of £60 to the church of St. Alban, Wood Street, out of moneys received by them from the Trustees of the City Parochial Charities, notwithstanding the provisions of Clause 49 of the Central Scheme of 23rd February, 1891, forbidding such increases.
§ MR. TOMKINSON (Cheshire, Crewe)The grants voted by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1906 out of the residuary income of the City Church Fund paid over to them by the Central Governing Body of the City Parochial 1572 Foundation are set out in the Appendix No. 32 to the Annual Report of the Commissioners recently presented to Parliament, and they include the three grants mentioned in the Question. The annual sums authorised by the Central Scheme of 23rd February, 1891, to be paid for repairs of the fabrics of (amongst others) the churches of St. Mary, Aldermary, St. Peter, Cornhill, and St. Alban, Wood Street, and for the maintenance of the services of those churches, are payable by the Central Governing Body before any residue of income becomes payable to the Commissioners. There is nothing in the City Parochial Charities Act, 1883, or in the Central Scheme of 1891 to preclude the Commissioners from making to churches entitled to payments from the Central Governing Body other grants out of the residuary income paid over to the Commissioners. The grants in the cases of St. Mary, Aldermary, and St. Peter, Cornhill, were voted by the Commissioners in the exercise of their discretion in the application of the residuary income within the limits prescribed by the Act of 1883. The expenditure upon the organs was of an altogether exceptional nature. In the case of St. Mary, Aldermary, the repairs have been completed at a cost of over £1,200; in the case of St. Peter, Cornhill, the projected expenditure is not less than £1,000. The grant of £60 towards the maintenance of the services in the church of St. Alban, Wood Street, was made by the Commissioners in pursuance of an Order in Council of 1894 relating to-the Union of the Benefices of St. Alban, Wood Street, and St. Michael, Wood Street. By this Order the Commissioners were directed out of such moneys as should from time to time be received by them under the provisions of the City of London Parochial Charities Act, 1883, to make such a grant as would raise to £220 per annum the funds available for the maintenance of divine service in St. Alban's Church, which was thenceforth to serve as the church of the united parish. The grant of £60 raises the provision of £160 per annum under the Central Scheme of 1891 to the sum of £220 so fixed. The church of St. Michael, Wood Street, was demolished, and the annual payments of £45 and £250 directed by the Scheme of 1891 to be made by the Central Governing Body out of the City Church Fund for 1573 the benefit of that church ceased and fell into the residuary income payable to the Commissioners.