The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-27 00:00:00

THE LORDS AND THE PAPER TAX.

Mr. TITUS SALT presented a petition from a public
meeting held at Bedford, praying the house to maintain
its privilege in respect to taxation.

MILITIA BILL.
This bill was read a third time and passed.
GAS (METROPOI4IS) BILL.

This bill, with some amendments, went through com-
mittee.

ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION, &c., BILL.

The committee on this bill was resumed.
On clause 22,

Mr. A YRTON considered this clause unnecessary, and
that it should be struck out. It recognised a principle, the
practical effect of which was, that if a pet son was rich and
gays money, he was entitled to receive a contribution out
of the public fund.
Sir G. LEWIS said that the clause was merely permis-
sive, and he could not understand what injustice it could
inflict.

The clause was then agreed to, as were clauses 23 to 28
inclusive.

On clause 29,

Mr. PULLER moved the following resolution, which
was agreed to :—" Every such lease for 21 years shall, on
the application of the lessee, and on payment of a propor-
tion of the accustomed fine, be extendible to the said 11th
day of October, 1884, and a like extension, at the accus-
tomed rate of fine, shall, either for or irrespectively of the
purposes of sale, purchase, or exchange, be allowed in the
case of any lease for lives, the extent and value of which
shall be computed by arbitrators, in default of an agree-
ment between the parties to be less than the extant and
value of a term ending on the said 11th day of October,
1884."

The clause as amended and clause 3 were adopted.
On clause 2,

Mr. INGRAM moved the following additional provision,
which was agreed to :—" That whenever any Ecclesiasti-
cal Corporation or the Ecclesiastical Commissioners shall
decline to enter into a treaty with a lessee for either the
sale of the reversion or the purchase of the term of or in
lands held by such lessee, it shall nevertheless be lawful
for such lessee, at any time before the expiration of the
said lease, to require that his estate and interest therein
shall be purchased by the Ecclesiastical Corporation or the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, as the case may be, so de-
clining to treat as aforesaid, and that the value of such
estate and interest shall be ascertained by such methods and
with such extension of the unexpired term on his said lease
as are by this Act provided in respect of other leaseholds."
Mr. B. CARTER then moved the folloving amend-
ment: —"At end of clause 32, add, 'and vhere such lease
shall relate to building ground, it shall be lawful for the
arbitrator or arbitrators or umpire, as the case may be,
simply to find the gross sum to be paid for such sale or en-
franchisement, in such manner as he or they may deem
just; provided also, that regard shall be had to any con-
sideration given to the lessee by this account of the long
continued practice of renewal."
Sir J. GRAHAM considered this question was so im-
portant that it should be postponed until the report had
been brought up, and he deprecated anything like party
legislation in reference to the subject.

Sir G. LEWIS said that before adopting the principle of
arbitration in reference to church property, they should
provide for the selection of an arbitrator, so as not to leave
the question to chance. He thought that that appoint-
ment might be vested in the Home Secretary or some other
responsible officer of the Crown.
Some discussion followed.

Sir G. LEWIS said he was prepared to accept the
amendment, but when the report was brought up ho would
insert a clause limiting the arbitration to house property.
The amendment was adopted, and the clause with the
amendments was agreed to.
Clauses 33 to 43 inclush'e were agreed to, and clauses
44, 45, and 46 were omitted.
The remaining clauses were agreed to.
Mr. HOWARD moved the addition of a clause provid-
ing for the augmentation of benefices up to £lOO a year.
He might instance the diocese of Carlisle. The bishop lived
in a very beautiful part of the country, in a very beautiful
palace which was provided for Lin, but it was too far
away from the cathedral city to enable the poor clergy to
go there. The Doan and Chapter of Carlisle had £7,000 a
year provided for them, and when the leases fell in they
would have an yearly income 0f,£21,000. In the city of
Carlisle there were four parishes with a populati ,n of
30,000, and the most that either of the incum-
bents; received was £l5O a year. The incumbent
of one of the parishes received £SS a year. The
consequence was that the incumbents were unable to en-
gage curates, and the people were growing entirely beyond
the control of the Church. But bad as this state of things
was it was worse in the county (Cumberland). In that
county there were 259 livings, 108 of which were less than
£lOO a year, 69 were under £BO, and many were less than
£5O. He thought the commissioners were greatly to
blame, for instead of augmenting these small livings
they had expended large sums of money on bishops'
palaces, and had lately doubled the salary of the
Dean of York, who, though an er.mllent man, ought not to
have been an object of pecuniary consideration.
"nr. THOMPSON supported the clause on the ground
that the commissioners
_did not expend their money pro-