§ 3.45 p.m.
§ THE LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER moved to resolve, That in accordance with the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act, 1919, this House do direct that the Channel Islands (Church Legislation) Measure 1931 (Amendment) Measure, 1957, be presented to Her Majesty for the Royal Assent. The right reverend Prelate said: My Lords, I beg to move the Resolution which stands in my name, and I think I can do it with extreme brevity. The objects of this small Measure are fully set out in the comments of the Legislative Committee which are appended to the Report of the Ecclesiastical Committee.
§ I think your Lordships will be aware that the Channel Islands, which are, for ecclesiastical purposes, in the diocese of Winchester, have a peculiar constitional position. In the early days of the Church Assembly, the Islands were expressly excluded from all Measures which might otherwise have applied to them. Then, in 1931, a Measure was passed providing a simple machinery for the application of Measures to the Islands, where that was desired. That Measure provided that Measures passed before 1931 could be applied within five years of the passing of the Measure of 1931; and future Measures, if they contained the necessary appropriate clause, could be applied within two years of their receiving the Royal Assent. These limits of time are now thought to be unnecessary and sometimes inconvenient, and the object of this small Measure is to sweep them away.
§ There is a particular need to remove the limit of two years which applied in the case of Measures passed since 1931. We want to form a new parish in the Island of Jersey, and the natural way of doing it would be to use the New Parishes Measure, 1943. Unfortunately, during the period when this Measure could have been applied to the Islands they were in German occupation, and the Measure, naturally, could not be applied. It is the intention, if this Measure receives the Royal Assent, immediately to take the necessary steps to lay before Her Majesty in Council a scheme applying the New Parishes Measure to the Islands, in order that that 664 necessary piece of reorganisation can be carried out.
§ I ought to add that the Measure has been approved by the States of Deliberation of the Islands and by the Deaconal Conferences of the Islands. It passed through all its stages in the Church Assembly without a Division, and no Amendment was made or proposed. In those circumstances, I trust that your Lordships will be agreeable to allow it to go forward for the Royal Assent. 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 Channel Islands (Church Legislation) Measure, 1931 (Amendment) Measure, 1957, be presented to Her Majesty for the Royal Assent.—(The Lord Bishop of Winchester.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to, and ordered accordingly.