THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (THE EARL OF DONOUGHMORE)My Lords, I beg to move the Motion of which Notice has been given in reference to this Bill.
§ Moved, That Standing Order No. 91 be considered in order to its being dispensed with in respect of the Bill.—(The Earl of Donoughmore.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.—(The Earl of Donoughmore.)
THE LORD BISHOP OF NORWICHMy Lords, I have one or two observations to put before your Lordships on this Bill. It will be plain to those who read it that it is an arrangement between St. Catharine's College, Cambridge, and the Chapter of Norwich. Hitherto one canonry in the cathedral establishment of Norwich has been attached to the mastership of St. Catharine's College. It is now proposed that this association should cease, and this will be done by a transference of a certain amount of the income of one of the canonries to the mastership of St. Catharine's College. The canonries are prepared to make this grant to the mastership of St. Catharine's because the Bill provides that the canonry shall now be held by one of the Archdeacons in the diocese of Norwich. The Archdeacon receives a salary in addition to his canonry, and, owing to a provision with which I need not trouble your Lordships, it is impossible for a Canon to hold so large a stipend as would result from his holding both the canonry and the archdeaconry. Accordingly, the extra sum is to be transferred to the mastership of St. Catharine's College.
12 There are three parties concerned in this matter: the Chapter of Norwich, the College of St. Catharine's, Cambridge, and the diocese of Norwich. Their interests are not wholly identical, and I could give good reasons why the arrangement will not prove altogether satisfactory to the diocese of Norwich. On the whole, however, I do not intend to oppose the Bill, because I so strongly feel the advantage that will be conferred upon St. Catharine's College by the dissociation of its mastership from the canonry, and I also fully realise the advantage to the Chapter of Norwich of having a whole-time Canon, if I may use that phrase, instead of one whose main occupation must lie in Cambridge.
At the same time, there is one small provision in this Bill to which, I think, many fair-minded men will be opposed. The Bill specfies that the canonry dissociated from the mastership of St. Catharine's shall be held now and for ever by the Archdeacon of Norfolk. That appears to me to be a too stringent regulation and, if this Bill reaches a Committee, I should propose that, instead of the canonry being for ever attached to the Archdeaconry of Norfolk, it should be attached to one of the arch-deaconries in the diocese of Norwich selected by the Bishop. I need not labour the point, but I would ask to be allowed to make one or two remarks upon it. The cathedral lies within the archdeaconry of Norwich and I think it is a rather bold step to provide that for ever and ever the Archdeacon of Norwich shall be excluded from holding a canonry which lies within his archdeaconry. Again, I think it will be found to be a mistake that the canonry should be attached to the archdeaconry of Norfolk in all cases, because I can imagine an occasion when the Archdeacon of Norfolk would be unwilling or unsuitable to hold the canonry in addition to the archdeaconry. Such a little adjustment as I suggest would, I think, meet rather grave diocesan difficulty. It does not touch the main principle of the Bill, which is to free the canonry and the mastership from one another, to enable the people of Cambridge to have greater freedom in choosing their master and also to enable the Cathedral to have a Canon who can devote his whole time to the canonry and no longer owe his princi- 13 pal allegiance to his duties at Cambridge. I shall ask leave in Committee to make these small Amendments.
§ THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (THE EARL OF BALFOUR)My Lords, my interest in this Bill is not related to the diocese of Norwich on which the right rev. Prelate has most properly spoken: my interest lies in the relation of this Bill to St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. At pre-sent that College suffers under an arrangement dating, I believe, from the time of Queen Anne, under which the very inadequate stipend or emoluments of the master of the College were supplemented by a canonry at Norwich. The result has been that through all these generations the Master of St. Catharine's, Cambridge, has had not only to perform the duties of Master but also the quite dissociated and somewhat distant duties of Canon at Norwich. That arrangement is obviously a bad one. Originally, no doubt, it was adopted to get over purely financial difficulties. It has always been most naturally objected to both by the diocese of Norwich and the authorities of St. Catharine's and public opinion generally at Cambridge, but it has lasted all these years. Now, after considerable discussion and long negotiation, a satisfactory financial arrangement has, I understand, been arrived at. Under this the Canon of Norwich will receive a certain proportion of the salaries and the Master of St. Catharine's will receive the remainder—a smaller fraction but still one that is agreed on as adequate and fair.
I very much hope, therefore, that this Bill will pass and that St. Catharine's at all events will be relieved of the very absurd and antiquated arrangement under which for so long a period it has suffered. The right rev. Prelate, the Bishop of Norwich, has objected to what he properly describes as one small, and from the point of view of Cambridge unimportant, clause in the Bill, by which the holder of the canonry in future is restricted to one of the Archdeacons of the diocese. I confess that in the words which the right rev. Prelate has addressed to your Lordships I thought he made a very good case, but I do not know whether there is a case to be made against it. In any event I do not propose to enter into that discussion. All I 14 desire to say is that I am sure your Lordships will sympathise with the university with which I am connected in thinking that this is a Bill which certainly ought to pass. As no Amendment, as I understand, is going to be moved at this stage upon the subject, I trust that all the future dealings of this House with the Bill will be of a character which will not impair its fundamental importance.
THE EARL OF DONOUGHMOREMy Lords, I do not think it necessary to say one word in confirmation or amplification of what the noble Earl has said. I only rise, in view of what the right rev. Prelate has said, to point out that this is a Private Bill and that there will be no Committee stage of the Whole House.
§ On Question, Bill read 2a.