§ THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY moved to resolve, That in accordance with the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act, 1919, this House do direct that the Cathedrals Measure, 1931, be presented to His Majesty for the Royal Assent. The most rev. Primate said: My Lords, I have to move that you give your consent to this Measure being submitted to His Majesty for his assent. It is an important Measure. I am rather sorry I am obliged to put it before your Lordships at a time when it is inconvenient for many members of the House to be present. It is important because it deals with the cathedrals of this country, beyond all question one of our greatest glories and perhaps the chiefest heritage that has been bequeathed to us from the past. Nothing, I think, is more remarkable in recent history than the revival of the life of our cathedrals in every part of the country.
§ The authorities of our cathedrals are eager not only to maintain, as I hope they always will, the regular sequence of divine services, but to adapt the 423 cathedrals to the needs and desires of a different age, to do everything possible to interest the people in their cathedrals, to encourage their visits, to teach them about the treasures that are contained within them, and to make them real centres of religious life. But they are always hampered, at least the older cathedrals, by their Statutes. Many of these Statutes are still of value, still more of them are obsolete and archaic, yet it is extremely difficult to know how they are to be changed. In many cases even the authority to change them is doubtful, and long experience shows that unless some means are taken by which the cathedral authorities can be assisted in the revising of their old Statutes, or the framing of new Statutes, very little advance can be made, and they are still bound to labour under Statutes which very largely have become useless. Then again there is a new problem created by the number of new sees which of recent years have been created. There are no less than seventeen entirely new cathedral churches, a list of which you will find in the First Schedule of the Measure, and for the most part these are parish churches, and they have either only extremely provisional Statutes or no Statutes at all.
§ Accordingly, in 1924, the Church Assembly acting on the recommendation of the very weighty Revenues and Properties Committee over which the late Lord Cave presided with great ability, appointed a Commission of Inquiry to visit all the cathedrals in England, and to consider their constitution, their needs and their requirements. The Commission sat for two years, from 1925 to 1927, and I had the honour of being its Chairman. Through seven sub-committees we visited every cathedral church in the country. In 1927 we made our Report, and this Measure is the result of the Report which we presented.
§ It has been before the Church Assembly since that year, 1927. It has been subjected to a great deal of careful criticism. When your Lordships realise that there are forty-three cathedral churches, all of them with their own customs, traditions, wishes, all of which were amply represented in the Assembly, you may well suppose that this was a Measure which did not escape a great deal of very anxious criticism. 424 Gradually, however, suspicions were allayed, and fears were removed by judicious amendments. The result was that last February the Assembly, after three previous revisions, gave its final approval to this Measure, which I now put before your Lordships, by a unanimous vote. Therefore it may be regarded as coming before your Lordships as an uncontroversial Measure.
§ If your Lordships have been able to look at it, you will no doubt have been impressed by its somewhat complicated and elaborate appearance, but in reality its main features are clear and simple. Let me emphasise two. The primary purpose of the Measure is the appointment of a body of Cathedral Commissioners. Their manner of appointment is dealt with in the First Schedule of the Measure. They are to be not less than seven in number. By desire of the Church Assembly, they may be increased to a limit of ten. The names of the first six, together with one appointed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, are in the Schedule. They are to be appointed for seven years, or if the Assembly so desires, for other periods up to and not exceeding twelve years. Thereafter, if any particular cathedral desires the assistance of the Commissioners in revising Statutes or framing new Statutes or amending Statutes which have been obtained, then the Assembly has the power to appoint ad hoc Commissions with all the powers that are given to the Cathedral Commissioners in this Measure but only appointing those special Commissions—called "appointed Commissions"—at the request of the authorities of the particular cathedral.
§ The principal function of these Cathedral Commissioners and their powers and duties are set forth in Clauses 2 and 4 of the Measure. Put shortly, they are to be appointed in order to assist the cathedral authorities to revise their Statutes, to frame new Statutes, to prepare schemes which may embody many desirable reforms, and to enable the cathedrals more perfectly to adapt themselves to the needs and opportunities both of the present and of the future. It is to be noted that they are specially charged to have in regard the traditions and customs of each of these venerable cathedrals. The length and apparent 425 elaboration of the Measure is really due to the fact that it includes within it various recommendations of the Cathedral Commission of which I have spoken and various suggestions made by the Church Assembly. Many of these would not require legislation, but it was thought convenient that all the matters with which the Commissioners would have to deal in their various schemes should be included within the Measure which gives them statutory powers.
§ The second main feature of the Measure to which I call special attention is in Clause 8 and it governs the character of he whole Measure. It is not proposed to set up a body of inquisitors who are to go round all the cathedrals of the country and impose their own opinions upon reluctant Chapters. On the contrary, it is provided in this clause that no proceedings can be taken on any scheme framed by the Commissioners unless it has received the consent of the authorities of the cathedral and of the Bishop of the diocese. The consenting bodies are defined in Clause 3. They are, in the case of the older cathedrals, the Dean and Chapter as at present constituted, and in the case of what I may call the new cathedrals—for the most part parish churches now converted into cathedrals—a special body consisting of the Bishop, the incumbent, the canons and two representatives of the parochial church council of the church. I want to impress upon your Lordships that, elaborate as the provisions of the Measure may seem to be, wide and indeed at first sight drastic as the powers of the Commissioners may seem to be—so much so that at first they rather alarmed the Church Assembly—they are all governed by this one consideration, that they must have received the consent of the authorities of the cathedral and of the Bishop of the diocese, so that nothing can be forced on any of the cathedrals against its will.
§ There are indeed two exceptions to what I have said, and exceptions of some importance. The first is that the Measure proposes the compulsory transfer of landed property in the hands of the Deans and Chapters to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, except, of course, the site and fabric of the cathedral church, residence houses and houses or property within or adjacent to the precincts of 426 the cathedral. This recommendation is made after an exhaustive inquiry by that Revenues and Properties Commission of Lord Cave of which I spoke and it seems to me in these days entirely right.
§ Just in proportion as the spiritual activities of the cathedral church are increased as we should all wish them to be, so the time of the Dean and Chapter must be and ought to be taken up more and more by those activities. They have less time to devote to the management of landed estates. However highly qualified they may be for the spiritual work for which they ought to be appointed, it does not follow that they are equally qualified to act as landlords in the management of landed property. Lastly, it is of immense importance to the cathedrals that instead of a variable income depending upon the risks and chances of management of landed property, they should have a fixed income upon which they can rely. In return for the land thus transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the cathedrals will have a fixed annual income for the maintenance of their services and the payment of their officers. I need scarcely remind your Lordships that this is at present the position in fact of the majority of our cathedrals. The Measure now proposes to make it the arrangement which will govern all the cathedrals throughout the country.
§ The second exception to the governing clause that the consent of the cathedral authorities must be obtained refers in Clause 13 to what are called the minor corporations, consisting of ecclesiastical or lay members of the cathedral staff apart from the Dean and Chapter. I need not remind your Lordships how in the Middle Ages persons were accustomed to protect themselves by forming themselves into corporations which gradually acquired properties and various rights behind which they entrenched themselves. In some of our cathedrals these minor corporations survive. They are interesting, their constitution is sometimes pictureque, the members of them are much attached to them, but I think it will be plain that it is inconsistent with the efficient administration of the cathedrals in these present times that there should be within the one building two bodies with their own special characteristics and powers and owning pro- 427 perty which may be within the very precincts of the cathedral itself. It is therefore proposed that the property of these minor corporations, whether clerical or lay, should in some cases be transferred to the Cathedral Chapter for the good of the whole cathedral, or, in the case of landed property, as in the case of the cathedrals themselves, to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.
§ I dare say your Lordships may have observed that this provision caused some disquiet among the junior clergy of the cathedrals, who felt that their rights were being unduly interfered with and gave expression to their grievances in the Press. I can only say that ample opportunity was given to the members of these corporations to bring their case before the Church Assembly. On many points, it was fully considered and, after all, it is to be noted that there is no proposal for the compulsory dissolution of these corporations. On the contrary, it is provided that, even though any landed property is transferred, they themselves may be reconstituted for other functions which they have to fulfil within the cathedral. I should like to say here that I appreciate the desire of these ministrants of the cathedral that they should have some security of tenure. I have no doubt that this will be secured, where it is necessary, by the schemes which the Commissioners will draw up.
§ Let me call your Lordships' attention to Clauses 5 and 6, which describe the procedure which the making of these schemes is to follow. Clause 5 makes it plain that the Commissioners, before they seal any scheme, have to submit it to all the persons concerned. They have to obtain the necessary consents, and they have also to obtain the approval of the Church Assembly. Then it is provided, in Clause 6, that when all these steps have been taken, and the scheme is approved and sealed, it is to be submitted to His Majesty in Council. There will then be a period of three months within which appeals from any aggrieved person may be heard. These appeals will be considered by a Committee of the Privy Council, and either dismissed, or allowed or referred back to the Commissioners. In the case of the appeal being dismissed, there comes into play another, and I think a rather interesting provision, which is meant to recognise 428 the fact that the whole nation has its own interest in these cathedral churches. It is provided that, if the scheme has been allowed, it is still to lie for twenty days on the Tables of both Houses of Parliament, so that either House, if it sees fit, may move an Address that it be not approved. If such an Address is not presented, then the scheme goes before His Majesty and is confirmed by an Order in Council.
§ At this hour it would be quite impossible for me to enter into all the details of the matters with which these schemes are to deal. Some of them are of very general interest and, at another time, it would perhaps be interesting to your Lordships to consider them. I will merely illustrate for a few moments the character of some of them. There is, for instance, in Clause 9, the requirement of the Commissioners to frame schemes regulating the position of the Bishop in his own cathedral church. It may seem strange that such a matter should require regulation, but those of your Lordships who are familiar with ecclesiastical history will be aware that there are few things that have been more creative of friction and less edifying, though they have given ample material for the gossip of the close, than the relations between the Bishop and his Dean and Chapter. It is now proposed to state these things once for all, and to secure to the Bishop his position as a Visitor to the cathedral and his own personal rights of celebrating the Holy Communion and having services for confirmation and ordination, and other additional services; and all that will be laid down by the schemes.
§ Then again there is a very interesting question, which takes us right away back to the very origin of these cathedral churches, about the proper constitution of the Cathedral Chapter. I dare say your Lordships are aware that among the ancient cathedrals there are two classes—those of what are called the old foundation, which were always cathedral churches, and those of the new foundation, which were once the churches of monastic establishments. In the cathedrals of the old foundation a very large place was given to the whole Chapter, consisting not only of the residentiary canons but also of the honorary canons and the prebendaries. In the cathedrals of the new foundation practically all was 429 done by the Dean and Chapter. It is now proposed that schemes should lay down, again subject to the necessary consents, that there should be a general Chapter consisting of all the canons, and an administrative Chapter which would be responsible for the character of the services and for the fabric and monuments of the cathedral.
§ Here again I might have called your attention to the very interesting proposal about the age of retirement of residentiary canons. Sometimes it must have appeared to many, even perhaps to some of your Lordships, that Cathedral Chapters have a way of becoming companies of very elderly gentlemen, not conspicuous for their energy or activities. It is now proposed, in view of the increasing importance of our cathedrals, that schemes should provide for the retirement of residentiary canons at the age of 75, unless the Bishop, as Visitor, after consulting the Chapter, requests that they should continue. Again there is the very interesting creation of new Chapters in the parish church cathedrals; a general Cathedral Chapter including the incumbent—who is henceforth to be designated by a new title in the ecclesiastical world, the title of Provost, which has its own associations—not Dean (because we have no wish to interfere with His Majesty's patronage), the canons and archdeacons and, in some cases, the Bishop; and also a Cathedral Council specially appointed to look after the relationship of the cathedral church to the diocese, consisting of the Bishop, the Provost, representatives of the Cathedral Chapter, of the parochial church council of the church, and also of the laity of the diocese.
§ Finally, I might call your attention to the fact that henceforth, under Clause 24, there are to be no freehold offices outside the Chapter in any of our cathedrals. It is the existence of these freehold offices that has sometimes led to great abuses by which lay clerks who have 430 long since ceased to be able to do anything but make a discordant noise in the cathedral retain their right to sing, if it can be called singing, because they hold these freehold offices. Henceforth, while retaining existing interests, they are to be abolished. These are only examples of the contents of schemes which the Commissioners will be called upon to prepare, and this very long Measure consists simply of various matters which directly and indirectly affect the internal life of our cathedrals. I only call your Lordships attention once again to the consents which must in every case be obtained. Your Lordships will remember, as I have said before, that all these complicated matters have been the subject of the meticulous criticism of the Church Assembly during three revisions. They have been before the Ecclesiastical Committee, and no objection, I think, upon any point has been raised.
§ I trust, therefore, that your Lordships will allow this important Measure to be submitted to His Majesty for the Royal Assent. If you do I think you will take your part in enabling our cathedrals ever more adequately to fulfil their great functions, to be the mother churches in deed as well as in name of their dioceses, to be the homes of religious learning and art, and above all by their own beauty and the religious services held within them to bear witness, in our increasingly hasty and heedless times, to things unseen and eternal and to offer continuous and reverent worship to Almighty God. I beg to move.
§ Moved to resolve, That in accordance with the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act, 1919, this House do direct that the Cathedrals Measure, 1931, be presented to His Majesty for the Royal Assent.—(The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ House adjourned at nineteen minutes before seven o'clock.