§ MR. MARKHAMTo ask the hon. Member for the Elland Division of Yorkshire, as representing the Charity Commissioners, whether, seeing that the Charity Commissioners have stated that their policy is settled by influential Members of Parliament, he will point out to these Members of Parliament that their opposition against the sale of charity lands causes loss of income to charities; and will he ask them to withdraw their opposition so that for the future the Commissioners can act judicially.
§ MR. MARKHAMTo ask the hon. Member for the Elland Division of Yorkshire, as representing the Charity Commissioners, whether he is aware that Mr. W. B. N. Bird, of Eartham, Sussex, in November, 1906, agreed to purchase a piece of agricultural land from the trustees of St. Mary's Hospital for the sum of £1,400, the annual rental derived from such land being £30 6s. 8d., and that, though the said sale was provisionally approved by the Charity Commissioners in October, this confirmation was subsequently withdrawn in a letter dated November 8th, 1906, addressed by the 576 Charity Commissioners to the solicitors of St. Mary's Hospital, on the grounds that influential Members of Parliament had made strong representations to them against the sale of charity lands; will he say who are these Members of Parliament; and whether other Members of this House will be given an equal opportunity to settle the policy of the Commissioners.
(Answered by Mr. Trevelyan.) The policy of the Charity Commissioners is adverse to the selling of charity land except in special circumstances showing great advantage to the charity. That this has long been the policy of the Commissioners is shown by the evidence of Sir Henry Longley, the then Chief Commissioner before the Select Committee on the Charity Commission in 1894. It is not the case that the policy is settled by influential Members of Parliament. But evidence in support of it was given by Members before the Select Committee, and in the last two years further representations have been made by Members to the Commissioners against the sale of charity lands, especially in agricultural districts. In the case of St. Mary's Hospital, Chichester, the circumstances were that the proposed purchaser desired to acquire the land in question for sporting purposes and to consolidate his estate. The price offered seemed to the Commissioners insufficient, and they did not think that the object of rounding off a sporting property constituted such special circumstances as would make a sale desirable in the interests of the charity.