§ EARL GREY moved to resolve, That in accordance with the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act, 1919, this House do direct that the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (Loans for Church Training Colleges) Measure, 1931, be presented to His Majesty for the Royal Assent. The noble Earl said: My Lords, it is my duty on behalf of the Church Assembly to ask your Lordships to give a favourable hearing to this Measure. It is a very short Measure, and has only one object, which is to enable the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to advance money on loan to the Church of England so that it may recondition and enlarge its Church training colleges. I think it is curious, when we think of the amount of attention and time that are given to elementary schools in this country, that so little attention should be given to the training colleges which supply the teachers which staff those schools. The truth is, of course—which, indeed, is what one might expect—that the Church of England has just as distinguished and as honourable a record with respect to its training colleges as it has with regard to elementary schools in this country.
§ There are some twenty-six training colleges owned under Church of England 289 trusts, most of which were founded round about 1850, some rather before, some just after. Those colleges served a very great purpose in the educational field of the country, because it was not till, I think, 1905 that the first training college was built in this country by a local education authority. As they are mostly severity or eighty years old, and have to compete with colleges built out of public funds and only about twenty years old, the time has come, as your Lordships might expect, when a certain amount of re-conditioning is necessary in order to bring them up to the standards demanded by modern conditions. Accommodation, which perhaps was ample, and even in front of its time, thirty years ago, is no longer considered sufficient. And therefore, immediately after the War, the Church of England set itself to carry through a programme of improvements to its training colleges. It was calculated, I think, that rather more than £1,000,000 would have to be spent in carrying that programme through and of that large sum, entirely drawn from voluntary sources, over £600,000 has been spent already. It is now desired to raise more money to complete the programme, and I think it would be no more than the truth if I stated that the Board of Education were almost as anxious as the Church authorities themselves to see this programme successfully completed. It is clear that not only do these colleges perform a great public duty, but their existence saves the taxpayer a very considerable sum as they would have to be replaced if they did not exist.
§ Recently the adoption of the Hadow Report by the Board of Education has provided another reason for making it desirable that the improvements of the Church training colleges should take place. The reorganisation of the schools of the country demands an increased number of elementary school teachers. In order to provide those teachers the Board of Education invited all training colleges, whether provided or non-provided, to increase their accommodation. The Church of England accepted her share of the increase that was to be made, and it is partly in order to provide the extra teachers required by the Board of Education as well as to recondition her schools and bring them up 290 to standard that the money is wanted. That is the reason prompting the desire of the Church of England to spend this money. As to why we should turn to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to make the loans, it is not easy in these hard times to raise large capital sums unless there is an adequate amount of mortgageable property on which to secure them. Our training colleges are held under charitable trusts and that raises difficulty in the way of mortgages. After very careful consideration it was proposed to the Church Assembly and unanimously agreed by that body that in this matter it would be reasonable to ask the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to make the necessary loans. It would be reasonable not only because it was a vital matter for the Church that the money should be forthcoming and it was difficult to suggest any other source at the moment which would lend at a rate within the powers of the colleges to repay, but also from the fact that the prospects of repayment were such as the Church Assembly thought would justify the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in making the loans.
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The position, then, is that the Church Assembly has passed this Measure without a single speech being made from any quarter against it. Previously to that the Ecclesiastical Commissioners themselves, after examining the type of security that was to be offered, had signified their readiness to make the loans if they were requested by the Church Assembly to do so. The Report of the Ecclesiastical Committee on the Measure points out that—
The Measure does not in any way extend the objects to which the income of the funds in the hands of the Commissioners may be applied.
They say that its effect is so far to extend the powers of investment already possessed by the Commissioners over capital moneys in their hands as to enable them to make advances on lands or buildings belonging to or to be provided for the Church of England training colleges. The Commissioners have consented to the Measure, which was passed unanimously by the Church Assembly, and the Committee are of opinion that the Measure should be allowed to proceed. I hope your Lordships will agree with that opinion and I beg to make the Motion that stands in my name.
§ Moved to resolve, That in accordance with the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act, 1919, this House do direct that the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (Loans for Church Training Colleges) Measure, 1931, be presented to His Majesty for the Royal Assent.—(Earl Grey.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.