CHURCH BUILDING ACTS AMENDMENT BILL. (Hansard, 19 May 1854)

§ THE EARL OF HARROWBY
moved that the Report of the Committee upon this Bill be received and adopted.

§ EARL FITZWILLIAM
said, that by this Bill the power of amalgamating parishes was vested in the Diocesan and the Church Building Commissioners; but he thought that the inhabitants of the parishes to be dealt with should have a voice in the matter; and he wished to know whether his noble Friend had any objection to insert a provision to that effect?

§ THE EARL OF HARROWBY
said, that the parishioners would have every opportunity of being heard before any order for the amalgamation of the parishes was made; but he thought the provision suggested by the noble Earl would render the Bill entirely nugatory. When they considered the sort of agitation against any amalgamation that would be got up by the vestry clerk, the churchwardens, the sextons, and others similarly situated, it was quite clear that if the consent of the parishioners was rendered necessary, no union of parishes would ever take place. Besides, under the present law, parishes could be united without any such consent being given on the part of the parishioners.

THE BISHOP OF LONDON
said, he quite agreed with the opinion of the noble Earl that the introduction of such a provision as that suggested would be fatal to the efficiency of the Bill. In no case would a church be pulled down in pursuance of the powers given by this Bill, without the parishioners being heard upon the question; but if their assent was indispensably requisite to any union of parishes, any one conversant with the construction of vestries in London would be well aware that it always would be quite easy, on any proposed amalgamation, to get up such an agitation as would prevent that assent being given.

THE BISHOP OF OXFORD
said, that the noble Earl had remarked that under the existing law the consent of the parishioners was not requisite in order to the union of parishes. But it should be recollected that the existing law did not contemplate the pulling down of the parish church. And as power to do that was given by the present Bill, he did not think it was asking 594 too much for the laity of the parish, that no such step should be taken without the consent of a majority of the vestry. If the carrying out the objects of the Bill were liable to be obstructed by a factious minority, he would not recommend the introduction of such a provision; but he certainly thought a church ought not to be pulled down without the consent of a majority of the ratepayers.

THE BISHOP OF LONDON
said, that, under the existing law, when two parishes were united, one of the parish churches might be pulled down, in pursuance of a faculty issued by the Ecclesiastical Court. The parishioners were heard before this was granted, but their consent was not requisite.

§ EARL FITZWILLIAM
said, that the question was whether the propriety of taking down the old parish church should be determined solely by two ecclesiastical authorities, or whether the lay element should have a voice in deciding it. He believed that all parties were pretty well agreed with respect to the expediency of this measure as far as regarded the City of London; but it was proposed to make it a general measure, and to enforce it in towns which had never anticipated such a step. He certainly thought their inhabitants should have some voice in deciding whether their parishes should be united and their old churches pulled down.

§ THE EARL OF HARROWBY
explained that the power had been vested in the Diocesan and Ecclesiastical Commissioners for the purpose of saving expense, but that the parishioners would have the same opportunity of expressing their opinions as they had under the existing law; but he did not think it advisable to confer a veto upon them.