§ MR. RADFORD (Islington, E.)I beg to ask the Prime Minister whether at the forthcoming election of a proctor for the diocese of London to the Canterbury House of Convocation, assistant stipendiary curates will be summoned to vote; whether the King's writ directs the archbishops to summon all the clergy; what the qualification for a vote for a proctor for Convocation is; and, if the omission to summon assistant stipendiary curates is due to any statutory limitation, will he take steps to amend the law so as to ensure that all those who are bound by the canons issued by Convocation shall be represented on that body.
§ MR. ASQUITHAs a matter of fact assistant stipendiary curates have not in the past been summoned, and are not now summoned, to vote at the election of proctors for Convocation. The omission to summon assistant stipendiary curates is not due, so far as I am aware, to any statutory limitation, but to the sanction of ancient custom which has been held in questions with regard to the constitution of Convocation to have the force of the law.