MOTION FOR A PAPER. (Hansard, 25 June 1877)

EARL NELSON
desired to draw attention to the Return to an Order of the House made on the 19th of June, 1876, and moved that it be amended —(1) by the addition of a balance sheet showing the amount of interest received, and the items of expenditure which had apparently reduced the balance by more than £6,000 and interest; (2) by supplying the omission of the amount of population of each district to which grants or nominal grants had been made. The noble Earl had further given Notice to move— That in the opinion of this House, the mode adopted for the administration of the balance inherited from the Church Building Commissioners is unsatisfactory, and contrary to the original intention of the Church Building Acts. The noble Earl complained of the unsatisfactory manner in which the Ecclesiastical Commissioners had carried out the Church Building Acts, and that while, under the old Church Building Acts, the number of free seats had been 61 per cent., under the Ecclesiastical Commissioners the number had been reduced to 44 per cent. The Church Building Acts were kept alive by occasional nominal grants of £5 to churches; but if it were necessary that there should be more pew-rented churches, further legislation ought to be asked for, and it would be undesirable to continue the old Church Building Acts by means of a sham. It was not right that grants should be given to churches that did not require them, and that were built, not out of consideration for the poor, but because the value of property was sometimes raised by the erection of a church in the neighbourhood. If the Act required amendment, let it be amended, and do not let the Church be exposed to hostile criticism from the continuance of these anomalies.

§ THE EARL OF CHICHESTER
, who was most imperfectly heard, submitted that the noble Earl had obtained, or could obtain, all the information which he now asked for from the Report of the Commissioners on the Table, and also that the noble Earl had fallen into several mistakes in quoting from the provisions of the numerous Acts of Parliament which had been passed on 189 the subject. He contended that the Commissioners had acted within their powers, and in accordance with a certain scale where moneys were contributed in allotting free seats. As the balance in hand became lower, the Commissioners were compelled to decrease the amount of the grants. The Acts were carried out in conformity with the recommendations of the Bishop of the diocese, the clergy, and the Churchwardens, and all that the Commissioners had to do was to see that the grants made were fair and reasonable. He did not see any necessity for giving the additional Re-turns moved for.

EARL NELSON
admitted that the Return produced was a most valuable one, and would be useful. He felt very strongly that these old Church Building Acts were meant, not for creating pew-rents, but for providing churches for the people. In the present state of the House, however, he should rest content with having brought the matter forward. The noble Earl had not said whether he was prepared to lay on the Table of the House the balance-sheet.

§ THE EARL OF CHICHESTER
was understood to say that the noble Earl would find all the information he required already on the Table.