§ THE LORD BISHOP OF LONDON moved to resolve, That in accordance with the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act, 1919, this House do direct that the Episcopal Endowments and Stipends Measure, 1943, be presented to His Majesty for the Royal Assent. The right reverend Prelate said: My Lords, I have to ask your Lordships rather rapidly to reduce your range of vision from the problems of Europe to the problems of episcopal endowments and stipends. The chief purpose of this Measure is to deal with a long-standing problem of episcopal houses. As some of your Lordships know many of these houses are ancient and historic buildings of great interest, of great beauty and of immense size. They form part of the temporalities of the episcopal see. The Bishop for the time being is fully responsible for their upkeep, and not only for tenants' liabilities, for heating, lighting and decoration, but also for what are commonly called landlord's liabilities. He must keep the structure in repair and he is under an obligation to hand it on in good repair to his successor. That is a task which quite simply, as things are nowadays, no Bishop is able properly to perform. Many Bishops have abandoned their episcopal houses, but they still remain liable for dilapidations. Other Bishops like myself live in a portion of the episcopal house and abandon the rest, but they are still responsible for the upkeep and repair of the whole building. It is an odd fact that when a see is vacant there is no owner at all of an episcopal house and nobody responsible for its upkeep.
§ I really need not go into details. It is quite clear, I think, that the ownership of these great houses, some of them modern but equally large and inconvenient, should be transferred to a central authority, and that for two reasons. The first is in order that the central authority may secure that the houses, which are the possess ion of the Church, should be kept properly in repair and should not 884 be allowed, as they are at present, to fall gradually into disrepair. The second reason is that only a central authority can really take these great houses and deal with them and decide to what use they should be put, decide whether they are no longer of any use for ecclesiastical purposes and ought to be sold or applied to other use, decide whether they can be adapted for use partly as a residence of suitable size for the Bishop and partly for some other ecclesiastical purpose. Shortly, the purpose of the Measure is to enable the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to prepare and submit to His Majesty in Council a scheme in the case of any see for taking over the endowment of the see, which means in particular the house, and in return pay a reduced stipend to the Bishop as a charge upon their common fund. That does really enable the problem of these immense houses to be dealt with.
§ There is one further point which I must mention. Bishops also carry a large number of official expenses. They provide for their own office staff and office, for example. It is proposed that when the Ecclesiastical Commisioners have taken over the endowments and the house of a see they shall also have power to pay certain standing official charges upon the Bishop, such as those relating to chaplains, secretaries, clerks and office expenses. In the light of these reduced liabilities of the Bishop, the scheme will fix a reduced stipend of such an amount as seems appropriate. Thus the nominal stipend of a Bishop will be brought more into relation than it now is with the actual stipend of a Bishop, and what has been, for long, a fruitful cause of serious misunderstanding will be, at least, reduced, though not, perhaps, entirely abolished. A Bishop will still have to carry a considerable number of official expenses arising directly out of his office, and to that extent his stipend will appear swollen. But at least some of the present disparity between the nominal and the real will be removed. I have mentioned faithfully the chief purposes of this Measure. It was received with general assent in the Church Assembly, and has received the approval of the Ecclesiastical Committee. It does remove a quite obvious problem and I venture to hope that your Lordships will accept it. I beg to move the Resolution standing in my name.
885§ Moved to resolve, That in accordance with the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act, 1919, this House do direct that the Episcopal Endowments and Stipends Measure, 1943, be presented to His Majesty for the Royal Assent.—(The Lord Bishop of London).
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.