The Express.
London, England, 1853-06-22 00:00:00

PUBLIC LIBRARIES BILL.

This bill wu ;;;;(atir;iiiais---:

EPISCOPAL AND CAPITULAR PROPERTY.

The Marquis of BLANDFORD presented &petition from
800 ineumbents of district parishes, stating that there were
many church endowments which did not exceed 131. a year,
the remainder of the clergymen's income being provided
out of pew rents, and that there were upwards of 4,000 in-
cumbents whose incomes did not eeceed 150/. a year, and
praying that the house would provide a remedy. The
noble lord then said, in rising to move for leave to introduce
a bill to make better provision for the management of epis-
copal sod capitular property, he must ask the indulgence
of the house while he entered upon • subjnt wide in its
range and almost incalculable in its results. He alluded
to what had been previously done re regarded church legis-
lOUs, tending to place the church in its present position.
The constant tendency of all past legislation bad been, and
no doubt that of all future legislation would continue to be,
to limit and fix the incomes of the dignitaries of the church ;
and it followed, therefore, es • necessary consequence, that
the management of their property must be entrusted to other
bands. If it be answered, that • sufficient amount of their
estates might be assigned to them in fee, to produce their
incomes, he would appeal to the house whether it was
consistent with the interests either of the property
itself or of the church, that her chief pastors
should be occupied in the management of large landed es-
tates at reek rent ? (Hear, hear.) Tl.e &destitute that
would weree from his proposition would ha great ea ma-
nifold. In the first place, it would strengthen and improve
that great parochial system the full effects derived from
which were rarely attributed to it. He believed, however,
that it had contributed largely to the formation of the
temper and moderation of the people of this country, be-
sides beaming upon them those spirituel blessings which
it bad bud enabled to convey. (Cheers.) The pubdivisiom
of paddlemi into smaller ones was a process that ought to go
• ellieurrently with the increase of the population,
) This house had been forward to promote the
I=l
g of churches and the formation of district perishes;
sea sae of which had tended to repress'Erime, aid to
form a nucleus round which charitable sod • of all
}finds—schools, district visiting societies, provident !P-
-aean, literary societies, and other benevolent institutions,
the object of which wee to benefit the people sod too MU
Horan their social, mental, sod moral condition
cluster. (Cheers) Nay, more ; the poor had been
to find by this means that which no civil institutions could
pros ide for them, the care of • Christian pastor, sad WE
sympathy of a common friend. (Hear, hear.) That wee
his (the noble lord's) view of the parochial system. (Chun.)
The present wants of the parochial system might be divided
into three classes. The first comprised those cases in which
relief had already been partially afforded, and in which •
virtual prelnin of something more had been held out.
Then there came that clue of costs in which new districts
had been wholly or partially formed ; and, lastly,
those into which inquiry had been made, but towards
which no funds had been provided. Now the first reports
to which they had access were those of 1836, and the virtual
promise of which he had spoken we, thus, as the house
mould see, of very long standing. From the last reports it
appeared that 796 benefices had been augmented at an an-
neal charge of 44,7281. ; but there still remaiosd no fewer
than 737 yet requiring aug.nentstion, and which would re-
quire 100,4674 • year. He now e one to the second class.
Of the district parishes there were several kinds. First,
there were districts which had been completely separated
from the mother parish, and formed in point of fact new
parishes. Then there wen what were called " districts"
—in other words, portions taken from the mother parish,
but which still remained in a kind of subordinate relation
towards it. Thirdly, there were district chapelries and
consolidated ebspelries, which were nearly the same as
district parishes. And, lastly, there were the districts
formal under Bir R. Peel's act. Referring to the petition
of the 800 incumbents of districts which he had presented that
evening, the noble marquis then dwelt upon the hardships of
thisclass of the clergy. In many cases the endowment was
the smallest known to the law, namely, 131. • year; and in
others there was ne endowment at all. The result was that
the clergyman was drawn away from the discharge of his
proper duties to attend to pew renters from other parishes.
In other cases, owing to the formation of railways, the
wealthy residents had left the district, and the minister was
left without the assistance of those who bad wealth to
bestow upon the support of his church. There were no
fewer than 4,000 benefices whose income did not amount to
1501. per annum, and there were many iocumhents of long
standing and laborious lives whose Income did not exceed
901. • year, and who were obliged to take pupils, to write
for periodicals, to engage themselves as lecturers in neigh.
bearing parishes, or to become the agents of religion*
societies in order to procure food and raiment for them-
selves and families. Is many instances, too, the churches
had fallen into decay for want of timely repairs. (Hau,
hear.) Great difficulties had also arisen from the seining
laws relating to church rates which were collected for
the mother church over the whole district. The voluntaty
system was at total variancewith the principle upon which
the church was founded. The church was an endowed,
not a voluntary, establishment. Its vast property at once
negatived the notion of the voluntary system. (Hear.)
The income of the incumbents of the Peel dis-
tricts did not exceed 1601. • year; and, if there
was no church, it was only 1301. ; so that, unless
be possessed property of his own it was utterly impos-
sible that he could present that decent and respectable &p-
-runing which became • minister of religion. (Cheers.)
With respect to the 3rd class of wants, the returns on the
table showed that an inquiry had been made into all comes
whore the population exceeded 3,000 ; and it appeared that
se fewer than 680 churches were required for places of this
description. All these new churches would of course in-
volve the formation of new districts. Now there could be
ea
doubt that ifa prospect of a proper endowment could,
ya judicious amortisement of ecclesiastical property, be held
eat, it would Salm • great stimulus on the erection of the
detach. (Item He might fairly cessinds that, under
II wise 41.0 Mt administration, there would be
sidising to meet the immediate wants
Web, Monk bat that as the population increased a further
!weal might be mode, and not in vain, to the resources of
lthe establishusest He proposed by this nature simply to
transfer the sobs management of the episcopal and capi-
talise property Me the hands of the estates commissioner,
and to invest them with legal control over the property
ter the purposes of management only, making them the law-
ful receivers of the rents and peafits, with some ssceptions.
He wished this great step to be taken with as little alteration
as peasible ; and the bill did not in any way take the pro-
perty eat of those corporations in which it was
now vested. The bill further provided that a separate
succinct should be kept of the properties of each individual
to which they should have at all times access,
ti themselves or their agents, and that • seal should
housed, having • distinctive die fur each. With raised to
the transfer of property, the bill did not interfere
with the enfranchisement provided for in 1817. It pro-
*led that estates might be assigned to each see soft.
jam to yield its annual income, instead of the
plealsew adopted, whereby the richer sees paid over their
eerplus to the commissioners, while the poorer sees re-
solved an annual sum from them. The payment was to be
a first rent charge upon the property ; and is the event of
the payments not being regularly made, or delayed after •
eertabs time, immediate powers for re-entry would be eon-
hived. &me of the sees were already in the receipt of
/bed incomes, insladisg thews appointed since 1818, alas
sem ethers who had agreed: to take them. Ito proposed,
ebb regard to thus and all capitular estates, that they
should immediately come under the operation of the bill
se to those appointed prior to 1818, it was proposed that the
operation of the bill should be delayed till after the nest
I%pp...its:Fascist to the see. With regard to incomes, the NM
provided that half-yearly returns should be made to the
ematindonen of all sums derived from excepted sources et
imam, which wore not under the etsbel et the sew