BISHOPRIC OF BLACKBURN MEASURE, 1923. (Hansard, 8 July 1924)

THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF YORK

My Lords, I beg to move, That in accordance with the Church of England Assembly Powers Act, 1919, this House do direct that the Bishopric of Blackburn Measure, 1923, be presented to His Majesty for Royal Assent. I do not think I need take more than a few-minutes at this late hour to justify this Measure to your Lordships. I move it on behalf of the Bishop of the diocese, who is not yet a member of your Lordships' House. Happily, this Measure is one which does not involve any of the controversial issues which have disturbed the passage of another diocesan division Measure now under discussion in this House.

332 Let me say at once that I do not bring it forward as any advocate of what is called a policy of small dioceses. To my mind, in all these questions there are two tests, both of which must be satisfied before any Measure passes your Lordships' House. The first is: Is the existing diocese so large and unwieldly that it calls for division? The second is: Is the division proposed in itself reasonable and right, and will it lead to the creation of a diocese fitted in size and character for independent life? I would submit that both these tests have always to be met, and that, even if you have proved the first point, you ought not to go further until you have equally proved the second point. In this case the Measure, I confidently assure your Lordships, meets both these tests.

In the first place, the diocese of Manchester is admittedly too large for the effective supervision of the Bishop, or the effective life of the Church. It stands next to the huge diocese of London in point of population. London has 3,800,000 people; Manchester, 3,255,000. It contains more parishes than London, having 622 as against 597 in London. In point of area it is, of course, vastly greater, and stretches from the Mersey right up to Westmorland. The northern part of the diocese is cut off by a number of natural and industrial regions from the southern part. The result is that the Bishop is not able to bring his influence to bear upon the northern part as he would wish, and 333 Church people in the northern part are not able to take their proper share in the business of the diocese, which is naturally centred in Manchester. For these reasons, for a long time past there has been a strong feeling that the diocese of Manchester ought to be divided.

I said just now that, even so, we ought still to satisfy ourselves that the proposed new diocese is itself reasonable and right. In this case I venture to think it is. The proposed new diocese would contain a million of people, and 220 parishes. In point of population, there would still be no fewer than twenty dioceses smaller than the proposed diocese of Blackburn, and in point of parishes, no fewer than twelve smaller. It would have a real character of its own, both industrial and agricultural. There can be no question of the disadvantage of dividing Lancashire, for that has already been done by the creation of the diocese of Liverpool, whose vitality will be shown shortly by the consecration of the noble cathedral which is being built there. I think no one would dispute that the new diocese of Blackburn would be an efficient centre of Church life. The Church of Blackburn is convenient and suitable, the town is within easy reach of all the different parts of the diocese, and there is general good will—I do not think there is any serious opposition—behind the Measure to which I now ask your Lord-ships 334 to give that approval which consists in your requesting that His Majesty shall be good enough to signify his assent to it.