§ MR. WILLIAM ABRAHAM (Cork County, N.E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he will direct the attention of the Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests to the manner in which the charitable trust known as Kingston College, Mitchelstown, is administered; whether he is aware that this 1553 trust was created by James, Baron Kingston, for tenants on the estate who might become reduced in circumstances, but that only two such persons are at present deriving any advantage from the trust, while other persons have been imported from all quarters and enjoy the benefits of the trust, to the exclusion of tenants on the estate; and whether he will consider the advisability of a full inquiry and investigation into all the conditions of the trust and of the preparation of a scheme for the removal of impediments standing in the way of Catholic tenants on the estate having an equal claim with Protestant tenants to all the benefits of the trust.
§ MR. CHERRYThe trust known as Kingston College is not quite correctly described in the Question. This trust was created nearly a century and a-half ago by the then Lord Kingston, whose will provided for the establishment of houses or colleges for poor decayed gentlemen and gentlewomen, members of the Church of Ireland as by law established, with preference to such persons as have been tenants upon his estate. The trustees are certain Bishops of the Church of Ireland for the time being. So long as the trust is capable of being administered, and is administered, in accordance with the conditions of the trust, the Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests have no power to intervene in the matter. In case, however, of a breach of trust, or if it should be shown that the trust could be no longer carried out according to the intention of the founder, the Commissioners have power to institute proceedings in the High Court. The facts stated in the Question do not appear to suggest that there has been any breach of trust, or that full effect cannot be given to the terms of the trust. If, however, any allegation to the contrary should be made, the Commissioners would doubtless give full consideration to the matter.