§ SIR J. JARDINE (Roxburghshire)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether there are any other military stations in India in like circumstances with Jullundar, as having no Presbyterian or unconsecrated church, and to which Scottish regiments are not in future to be sent because of the absence of such buildings; and whether he will state what the military stations are to which they are not to be sent in future.
§ The following Questions on the same subject also appeared on the Paper:—
§ SIR J. JARDINETo ask the Secretary of State for India if he can state in what year the Government church in the Jullundar cantonment was built; whether it was built out of funds accruing from the taxes in India; and whether any annual charge on the Indian finances is caused by the keeping up and repair of the building or as salaries to beadles or caretakers.
Mr. DUNDAS WHITE (Dumbartonshire)To ask the Secretary of State for India whether he can give an undertaking that no church built wholly or in part with public money shall in future be allowed to be consecrated except on the express terms that such consecration shall not be doomed to give rise to any claim to special or exclusive use.
MR. DUNDAS WHITETo ask the Secretary of State for India whether his attention has been called to the Bishop of Lahore's assertion that since the Government church, built with public money at Jullundar, has been consecrated, the Church of England has the monopoly of using it; will he say whether the question has ever been tested in any court of law; and whether the Indian Government will take steps to maintain the governmental and public rights to that church by taking legal action to challenge the alleged monopoly.
§ MR. ANNAN BRYCE (Inverness Burghs)To ask the Secretary of State 1202 for India what the total cost will be of moving the Gordon Highlanders form Jullundar cantonment to Calcutta in order to provide them with a Presbyterian church; and what will be the cost of moving to Jullundar the regiment which will take their place.
§ MR. ANNAN BRYCETo ask the Secretary of State for India what regiment will take the place of the Gordon Highlanders at Jullundar cantonment.
§ MR. ANNAN BRYCETo ask the Secretary of State for India whether he proposes to take steps to provide a method for removing the consecration of Anglican churches built with public money in Indian cantonments.
§ MR. ANNAN BRYCETo ask the Secretary of State for India whether he proposes to take steps to give the metropolitan bishop in India power to overrule the decisions of suffragan bishops.
§ MR. COWAN (Surrey, Guildford)To ask the Secretary of State for India what were the strengths of the Gordon Highlanders and the Leinster Regiment respectively at the time of the Bishop of Lahore's action as to the use of the Government church in the Jullundar cantonment; what were the numbers of the wives and children moved with these battalions; and whether the expenses of the removal from the one station to the other will be a charge on the Indian or the British taxpayer.
MR. DUNDAS WHITETo ask the Secretary of State for India if he can say upon what statute or statutes, if any, of this country or of India the claim to the exclusive use of consecrated Government churches is based.
MR. DUNDAS WHITETo ask the Secretary of State for India whether he can say when and by whom the bishopric of Lahore was instituted; when and by whom the present bishop was appointed; by whom his stipend is paid; and how, if at all, his status in India differs from that of any other minister of religion.
§ MR. LAIDLAW (Renfrewshire, E.)To ask the Secretary of State for India if he will give the names of the military stations, including health resorts, in India, 1203 from which, under recent orders, the Scottish regiments will be precluded on account of there being no place of worship for Presbyterian and other Nonconformists.
§ MR. LAIDLAWTo ask the Secretary of State for India if he will lay upon the Table the correspondence relating to the action of the Bishop of Lahore in regard to his licence for the use of the Government church in Jullundar cantonment, and the exclusion therefrom of the Gordon Highlanders as regards the celebration of the Christian sacrament.
§ SIR HENRY CRAIK (Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities)To ask the Secretary of State for India whether he will cause a Memorandum, explaining the position of the different religious communions, whether Episcopalian, Presbyterian, or Roman Catholic, in respect to the places of worship in military cantonments in India, to be prepared and laid upon the Table of the House, showing the grounds upon which special privileges are claimed by, or granted to, any one communion; or whether he can refer Members to any document from which this information can be obtained.
§ MR. MORLEYWith your permission, Sir, I should like to state the position in a sentence or two dealing with this question. All these Questions touch one particular subject from the different points of view of the various interrogators. I submit that I should be saving the time of the House and consulting the desires of those who have put these Questions on the Paper, if, instead of answering on this subject point by point, I were to place on the Table of the House, as an hon. Member opposite, in fact, proposes that I should, a Memorandum containing the whole history and facts of this rather complex, intricate, and certainly very delicate question. I believe that by so doing I shall do what the House, if they were acquainted with all the circumstances, would desire me to do, and therefore I hope that I may be absolved from answering these Questions in detail, because I will undertake that the Memorandum shall contain an answer to every point raised by my hon. friends. There are Papers already in possession of the House, and have been for several years, but then hon. Members do not 1204 always have time to read Blue-books; but they will find a good deal of information on all these points in Command Paper 129 of the year 1900—Papers relating to the use of Presbyterian and Wesleyan services in garrison churches in India. I would only add this, that I understand that the Metropolitan Bishop of Calcutta sails for this country on the 25th of this month, and I shall have every advantage of consultation with him before I am called upon to reply to any points that may occur to hon. Members in connection with the matter.
§ MR. GULLAND (Dumfries Burghs)May I ask if there will be any opportunity to discuss the question after those Papers have been laid?
§ MR. MORLEYThat is a point which I am not competent to answer. It must be addressed to the Leader of the House.
§ SIR J. JARDINEWhen will the Memorandum be laid?
§ MR. MORLEYI should say within a week.
§ *SIR J. JARDINEintimated he would draw attention to the matter and move a Resolution. He also inquired what arrangement was likely to be made about the Presbyterians in the Royal Regiment of Artillery and the use of those churches.
§ MR. MORLEYI think my hon. friend will be well advised to wait until he sees the Memorandum, and then he can put further Questions.
§ SIR. J. JARDINEI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether the War Office is consulted as regards any intended consecration of Government churches in India which are used by British troops for the purpose of Divine services.
§ MR. HALDANEThe reply is in the negative.