The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-25 00:00:00

THE ABYSSINIAN EXPEDITION.

Yesterday the inquiry into this matter was resumed before
the Select Committee of the House of Commons, Mr.
Candlish presiding. The examination of Colonel Marriot,
secretary to the Bombay Government in connection with
the Abyssinian expedition, was continued. He
said that before Lord Napier left Bombay the discussion
of the organisation of the land transport corps was fully
gone into between the Governor of Bombay, the Emissary-
General, and Lord Napier ; and minutes were drawn up
for Lord Napier's guidance. When Lord Napier got
away every demand, deliberately and formally, made by
him was met by compliance, but sometimes an ex-
planation was required. This inquiry must have
been a restraint upon Lord Napier, who had to explain
every demand. In illustration of his meaning, witness
said that when Lord Napier wished to have the means of
making a railway the whole way in Abyssinia, the
Governor intimated that a similar railway of eight miles
took eight years in carrying it out. On that intimation
being given, Lord Napier thought that a sufficient objec-
tion, and abandoned the idea at once.

PUBLIC RECEPTION OF A POSTULANT.
A ceremony of a highly interesting character took place
yesterday afternoon in the Church of St. John of Jerusalem
(this being the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians),
viz., the public reception of a Postulant into the order of
Our Lady of Mercy. The name of the young
lady thus admitted is Miss Gallagher of Derry.
She is about twenty-two years of age. The
beautiful interior of the Roman Catholic Church in Great
OrmDnd-street, where the ceremony took place, was
crowded with a distinguished and fashionable
assemblage, which was composed chiefly of
ladies. The altar was exquisitely decorated for the
occasion with choice exotics and flowering plants, ar-
ranged in tasteful harmony of colours. The
officiating minister was the Right Rev. Bishop
Morris; and the preacher, the Very Rev. Monsignore
Capel. The usual formula was gone through with much
impressiveness. The candles were lit and held by those
present in the right hand on the one side, and in the left
on the other. The postulant, attired in a secular dress,
having received the blessing of the Superioress upon her
knees, afterward advanced with the sisters, two
and two in procession, the choir singing the solemn
and beautiful hymn " 0 Gloriosa Virginum." The
Blessed Sacrament was reverenced ; and the celebrant,
after the invocation " Ora pro ea, Sancta Dei genetrix,"
proceeded to bless one of the wax candles, which was first
laid on the altar, then sprinkled with holy water, and ceased
from the thurible, and then presented lighted to the pos-
tulant. The sermon was then commenced by
Monsignore Capel, who, in his address stated that the
postulant would undergo a probation of two years,
during which at any time she would be at liberty to re-
turn to the world ; but he earnestly exhorted her to per-
severe in the holy cause she had undertaken. The bishop,
who oppeared to be very infirm, put the usual questions.
The postulant, who is a prepossessing young lady,
and was arrayed in a sort of bridal costume,
then retired and donned the sable habiliments as a novice
of the order ; and the psalms having been sung, she was
reconducted to the altar, where the religious habit and
veil were sprinkled with holy water and blessed by the
bishop ; and the service concluded with the " Ecce quam
bonum, et quam jucundum, habit a're fratres in unum."

THE CONVENTS AND MONASTIC
INSTITUTIONS

The select committee of the House of Commons ap-
pointed to inquire into the state of the law respecting the
property of conventual and monastic institutions met yes-
terday for the first time to take evidence—the Right
Hon. E. P. Villiers in the chair.

The first witness who was examined by the chairman
was Mr. Eyer, chief commissioner of the Charity Commis-
sioners, who stated that he had been sworn on the establish-
ment of the commission. The duties of the Commis-
sion with respect to the charities was to collect in-
formation respecting them and their ways and the man-
ner in which they control the administration of their estate,
and to exercise a general superintendence. "We derive our
power from several acts of Parliament, the first being in
1853. Our jurisdiction was considerably enlarged by the
Act of 1860. By the Act of of 1883 we had power to in-
quire into charities with respect to their endowments, but
the institutions of Roman Catholics were exempted till
1860. There was a succession of Acts continuing the
examinations till 1860. We had power to initiate
inquiries if we obtained accidental information,
Putting aside exceptional cases, our staff was too
small to institute any universal inquiry. It is not neces-
sary that we should procure our information from the
charities themselves, but there was an obligation on the
part of the charities to inform us of the nature and
amount of their income. There is a certain amount of
reluctance to submit those accounts, and it is very diffi-
cult to enforce it. We pass an order on to the board, and
if they will not obey that order we apply to the Court of
Chancery and make it a contempt of court not to make
the returns. The obligation practically is im-
perfectly performed. A charity or endowment for
a religious purpose would. come wsthin our supervision
I have no doubt that in cases in which an institution wsa
endowed for religious purposes it is considered a charity,
and would be uuder our powers of supervision. After the
passing of the Act of 1860 the Roman Catholics enrolled
about 400 of these institutions. There were grants of
land and no trusts at all ; but they were simply
made for charitable purposes, which were not declared
so that it was no use inquiring for the trustees. The
Act of 1860 gave the power of enrolling deeds which were
invalid before, but became valid after such enrolment.
At first it applied to the year only, but at that time was
in the case of Roman Catholics, extended from time to
time, until at present they seem to have the power of en-
rolment at any time. We have no means of knowing what
number ef endowments there are for Roman Catholic chari-
ties since 1863 ; we are under nn obligation to
seek them out we have very much confined ourselves to
the duties of our office, and have inquired only in cases
where representations have been made. There have been
very few cases in which Roman Catholics have complained
but there have been one or two, one in Northumberland,
I know. We are not aware that there is any
maladministration of their funds; we know nothing
about them in point of fact. I know of no reason now
why the Roman Catholics do not declare those trusts, but
prior to 1860 there was every reason, but in fact before
then there really was no declaration of trust, notwithstand-
ing the charities of Catholics and Protestants were placed
on the same footing, and it was still held in the courts of law
that some of their trusts were for superstitious uses, and
in 1860 there wag an attempt made to separate that part
of the charity which was to be devoted to superstitious
uses, and the intentions of the founder in other respects
made lawful; but it had the effect of rendering the
Catholics reluctant to disclose the charities. With
respect to the Masses and prayers for the
dead, Sir H. 'Termer Fust had on one occasion
ruled that money left for that purpose was not necessarily
left for a superstitious observance, but that decision was
afterwards set aside, and we should have no control over
money left for such a purpose, but we should notice
it being illegal, and would not act with respect to it.
We have numerous cases of gifts with respect
to graves and tomb stones, which are also held to be
illegal. They are not within our scope and object. I
really know nothing about monastic and conventual insti-
tutions, and cannot make any suggestion for the improve-
ment of the law with respect to them. I cannot say
whether they are harmless or not.
Mr, Jessel ; If they are not illegal on what
ground do you consider they are charities ? They
are charities in so far as they may be endowed
for charitable purposes. Tpe is this distinction
between a convent and a club. 14 P 4:) far as they each
provide their own means of subsistence, there is no par-
ticular difference ; but the difference arises as soon as You
go farther, and some one gives money to them fora NM:
mg or for the purpose of protecting those who may make
them a charity,
By Mr. Newdqlatke ; We are only public trustees to the
extent that any charity may apply to us in any matter
which ariser out of a public charity, but we are not
trustees for religious endowments as such. We have
a power of examining the trust deeds of a
charity, and if it is not being devoted to its purpose
under the trust deed we can apply to the Attorney-
General and the Court of Chancery, but we have no
power to direct any alteration ourselves. We nave no
direct power at all. Under the At of 1860 the
number of enrolments is not large as compared
with the Roman Catholic charities. In " the
report of 1862 there are some cases in which we return to
the operation of the Act of 1860, If there was a desire
to do so there were means whereby the trustees of any
Charity could purge their Charity of any misappropria.
tion of the funds of the Charity and restore them to the
uses for which they were intended. I know of no case in
which any such application has been made by any one
connected with Roman Catholic Charities. We have no
=eons of knowing on what conditions conventual property
is held. A convent is a community of persons living
together, and property given to them would be charity
if they were associated with charitable purposes- If the
property were given to trustees it does not necessarily
follow that they would be charities. It is within the
scope of our powers to frame schemes as to appropria-
tion of the funds in charitable institutions, and if it were
necessary to have power to inspect. For instance, we
should have power to inquire into Christ's Hospital, its
objects, how they were provided for. It would depend very
much upon the nature of the application made to US What
the nature of our inquiry would be. If any one were to
inform us that the objects of a charity were
not
_p_roperly carried out we could inquire. We
should,. also have power to inquire into any
in which money was left for the support of the poor and
sick. We might inquire into benefit seeieties, if endow-
ments were made to them, but only pro tardo.
After some further evidence the court adjourned.

The Cape merchants in London are making great
efforts to obtain a reduction of the duties on Cape wines.
A contemporary states that Mr. Lowe is apparently
favourable to their appeal, althOugh he hesitates about
equalising the duties, and is more disp,osed to take a middle
course.
THE DARIEN CANAL.---The New York .herald
of May 11, just arrived, publishes correspondence from
the Darien Exploring Expedition, down to the date of
May 2nd. Careful surveys having shewu thQ routes of
Sassardi and Caledonia Bay to be impracticable for
a canal, the expedition had gone to San Bias. This
route from San Bias on the Carribean sea to the river
Bayamo on the Gulf of Panama, Pacific side, has never
been thoroughly explored, partly from fear of the Indians.
As the present expedition is well supplied with all neces-
saries, its members are less apprehensive They have
already surveyed the Cordilleras from Caledonia Bay to
Sassardi, and on their return the first accurate map of
the Isthmus will be issued. ' -

RATING OF CHARITIES AND SCHOOLS.

A very important meeting was held on Monday at the
Westminster Palace Hotel, under the presidency of Sir
T. Tilson, to confer respecting the rating of charities and
schools, as now carried out under the direction of
the Government. The gathering was one of imposing
influence. Representatives were present from town and
county charities and schools of all denominations—namely,
from Church of England schools, Jewish charities and
schools, and Roman Catholic institutions, as well as from
the great metropolitan and county hospitals. In all some
eighty institutions were represented, including Guy's Hos-
pital, the London Hospital, the Royal Free hospital, the
Holborn National Schools, the Merchant Seamen's Institu-
tion, the British and Foreign School Society the Reforma-
tory'and Refuge Union, besides many other London institu-
tions ; and every other class of charity was represented
from Bath, Leicestershire Warwickshire, &c. The Chair-
man opened the proceedings with some remarks on the
present position of the question, observing that it was long
held doubsful whether institutions which tended to
decrease pauperism could be rated to the relief
of the poor, but the decisiou of the Court
of Queen's Bench in the matter of the British
Orphan Asylum laid it down that the " beneficial
occupation" term comprehended both schools and hospi-
tals, as well as other places. Mr. Wheelhouse and Mr.
Charles Reed had introduced bills into the House of Com-
mons to remedy this very serious evil—serious alike to
the poor and to the parishes, and now Mr. P. H. Muntz
had introduced a measure which proposed that
the parish authorities and local governors might
have provisional powers not to rate, instead of
being, as now, forced to rate. Sir William Tite,
M.P. then moved a resolution condemning the
injustice of rating charities. Mr. P. H. Muntz, M.P., in
seconding the resolution, referred to the case of a hospital
he knew which had been summoned for a rating of £4OO,
and that money could only be obtained by selling
the beds on which patients were lying. Since
he had moved in this question he had received
many particulars in support of the course he had adopted,
and he was satisfied that it was the intention of the old
law, and to the manifest advantage of the country, to
exempt the charities. The matter had slumbered for cen-
turies since the Act was passed, and only an accidental
circumstance had opened the question. It was said on the
other side that only the " religious" houses were exempt ;
but he held that all charity was religion, and that all
attempts to educate the young so as to keep them from
wrong-doing, and to help them in winning their own way,
were strictly religious purposes. He stated that in one
particular town with which he was acquainted, where
the rating of charities would lessen the rating of the
town but a mere fraction, even if the charities kept up,
the work those charities were doing could not be covered
by a fourpenny rate. He then explained the terms
of his Bill, and said the permissive form would be the most
acceptable, and no parish would voluntarily rate charities.
In reply to Mr. Chandler, who asked respecting the rate in
the pound at which charities had been assessed, the chair-
man said that many of the parishes had refrained from
assessing at all until the Poor Law auditors surcharged
the overseers for not assessing, and then only nominal as-
sessments were made. Reference was made to the depu-
tations which waited upon Lord Derby and Mr. Disraeli
before the present Administration came into power, and
which had received favourable replies ; but it was said
Mr. Gladstone's views were too well known, and no at-
tempt had been made to seek his support. The Hon. and
Rev. Grantham Yorke supported the motion, and in doing so
said an enactment which was now enforced for the first
time, having slumbered for 300 years, was new alto-
gether. Dr. Lush, M.P., also spoke in support of the
purpose of the meeting, and Mr. Keeling, of the Jewish
Executive Board, said that body was most desirous of
of working with the gentlemen connected with the Chris-
tian charities in obtaining freedom from the short-sighted
policy of taxing voluntary effort in dealing with poverty
and ignorance.- Mr. Wright, of Birmingham, the Rev.
W. Harvey Brooks, Lord Jocelyn Percy, and other gen-
tlemen spoke, and the only objection made to the bill was
made by Mr:Chandler, of St. George's, Bloomsbury' and
St. Pancras, who said that his experience of "local
governors" was that they were full of the Shylock spirit.
He therefore urged that the clause should be compulsory,
and not permissive. The chairman said he thought such
parishes would be exceptions, and he was willing to try
the working of Mr. Muntz's Bill. The motion was carried
as was the following ?—" That the recent decision of
Courts of Law on the Act of 43rd Elizabeth, cap. 2, render-
ing schools and charitable institutions generally liable to
the payment of rates is contrary to the spirit of the Act
itself, and of recent legislation, and tends greatly to dis-
courage educational efforts and to the consequent increase
of improvidence and pauperism." Another resolution
pledged the meeting to support the bill of Mr. Muntz, the
second reading of which is fixed for the 25th: