The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-10 00:00:00

LONDON LABOURERS' DWELLINGS (LIMITED).

The 14th Report of the directors of this society
stated that they had purchased for £1,550 28 small
leasehold houses in and near Prospect-place, Rother-
hithe, by which the company's tenements were
increased to 243. They had also commenced the
erection of a block of buildings to contain 18
tenements of two rooms each at Vauxhall. The
contract price was £1,613. Between the Ist of
January and the 30th of June last 19 additional
shares were allotted, thus raising the share capital
of the society to £33,400, divided into 334 shares
of £lOO each. The total amount of rent for the
half-year would, if all were let, have been £1,875, to
which must bo added £66 due for previous arrears,
making £1,941. Of this sum £1,796, or nearly
92f per cent., had been received trona the tenants,
which was about the usullproportion. During the
past six months the loss from empty houses had
been £BB, and frotu bad debts £l6, making a twat
of £1(14, which was about £24 less than iu the cor-
responding six mouths last year. Thu present ar-
rears of rent amounted to £4l, which was about the
same as last year, and probably about one .halt
would ue eventually received. The cost of repairs
had been gradually increasing up to the present
time, but had probably now reached its full average
amount. The directors continued to allow one
week's rent in the half-year to those teaants who
paid quite regularly, and also kept their houses in
good order. The amount of bonus for the half-
year was £25, which was, of course, an additional
item of expense. The total net rents amounted to
£BB2, and the net profit of the half year to £Bll,
which w.s sufficient to pay the usual dividend at
the rate of 5 per cent. per annum, tree of income-
tax, the surplus £7 being carried to the reserve
fund. The sinking fund for leases amounted to
£1,026. The reserve fund now amounted to £3,995
The total payments on capital account amounted to
the 30th of Juue last to £33,710.

...••••• ~........

The bridge across the Missouri River at Omaha
may now be looked upon as a sure tuing, and will
coon be begun. The people of Omaha and Conn -
cil Bluffs have both decided by their ballots to aid
the Union Pacific Railroad Company in accom-
plishing the work, the former city to contribute
$250,000, and the latter, $200,000.
Steel rails have been laid on the Hudson River
Railroad as far north as Cold Spring.
The London Stuck Exchange Committee have
appointed Wednesday, 9th inst., a special settling
day in the new shares of the Illinois Central Rail-
road Company. Fractions of new shares to be set-
tled at £2O ss. per new share.
It is hard times, says the Cheyenne Star, for
water in the vicinity of Bitter Creek, on the Union
Pacific Railroad. The workmen on the railroad
there have no water but what is brought from the
mountain streams, between thirty and forty miles
from where they are at work. Men and animals
have to be supplied in this manner, and the latter
frequently suffer greatly when the supply fails, as
it (toes sometimes before they are able to replenish
it."

The annual meeting of the stockholders of the
New H wen and Northampton Railroad Compadly
was held at New Haven on Wednesday, Ang. 19,
and the following officers el:cted for the etisui,g
year vice-presi-
e,u t :
and superintendent,
N. Yearnans ; treat,urer,
Stephen D. Pardee ; secretary, A. L. Kidston ;
executive committee, Messrs. Sheffield, Kidston, and
(1.3 r idi't j°seP II
C. Sheffield ;
M. G. Elliot ; and directors, Messrs. Sheffield,
Pardee, Kidston, and Elliot. and William W.
Boardman and William Johnson of New Haven,
V. Walter Phelps of New York, and Charles N.
Yeatnans of Westfield.
The newly-elected directors of the Vermont
Valleylols,H. Henry, Governo.
A
H illtou, G. R. I. Bowdoin, Chas
Chapin, J.,el Page, J. Et
rr lAtaleilxr(!nual are Hugh
Williams. The presi-
dent is H. H. Henry.
Haven Railroad are re-
The
screws ‘v i with
ui d steel-headedrubt)er.
lwi.aaa3:llsis'hnh'eger'svipihoiaincrltthisifou°alcirisdeu aafoalfiwsdtateyiNttleeldt‘rhv rat the destructive jar of
the trains is almost entirely obviated.

IRISH CHURCH INQUIRY IN 1831
AND 1868.

Cotni4sion of Inquiry into he
Church " has already had
with the evidence in
few
wnd trauaer ption—is
su many former Blue-books lying before it, need
ill:serv'uosit:idsu.erps eolrftbsYt.rhseep
0 Irishtt Which,
weeks necessary for the
ol
aubl yo
uhrist v eofo cecount:i e
s ill
in the state of •' dummy," No mortal eye has
perused it. The world
compilation
knows as much about its
possible contents as was known on the 24th of
June, 1867, when the address praying that the
Commission might issue was carried, and when
Earl Russell's attempt to give it a useful form, by
the addition of an instruction to itilluire as to
" the more equitable application" of those reve-
nues " for the benefit of the Irish people," was
negatived by a majority of nit:ety to thirty-two.
All that we know of the report is that it will con-
tain s,.me information—which we have already
concerning " the nature and amount of the pro-
perty and revenues of the Established Church in
Irel,did, with a view to their more productive
management."
Nevertheless, the report has already bad it, uses.
Iu the first place, the expectation of it has furnished
Ministers for about fifteen months past with a
pretext for sayil g nothing about the policy, if
they have any, which th mean to rec .mmend.
It, the next place, they are able to instruct thtir
support, rs to tea the con: tituencies that, until the
report conies in, they cannot pledge themselvL s one
way or the other : beyond this, that they will
al,o'ish anomalies, even while they wit hstand spo-
liwion ; but what are " anomalies, " and what
"abolition," and what"spoliation," will be seen
when the report is presented. Meanwhile,
" Magherafelt " and "Achoury," and many
another benetice, are to hold their breath as they
may in a state of suspended animation ; whi!st
"Liberal Conservativ, s"— whether their Libe-
ralism makes them to wish for abolitoti of anoma-
lies, or their Conservatism to wish for the
repression of the yet unseen danger of spoliation
—wilt unite cheerfull at the pods, and vote for the
same " Consd,utionalist" candidate.
No man of sense will be deceived by all this.
Of what consequence is it to the question of
establishment or disestablishment whether the
revenues of the English Church in Ireland are now
productively or unproductively managed? or
whether the endowments and tithe rent charges of
sinecure benefices might or might not be more
suitably appropriated to .he augmeutatiou of the
" valor eeetesuistiens" of bt-nefices a little less
sinecur„? or whether in that case the incumbents
of tile last would or would not cease to thunder
against sac. iiege, and to Lake up their testimony
eg dust spol,aton ? 'ihe Irish peoke are to all
such gut:L..6o. s profo,ind y in itteretit ; being
aware that their solution iu no wisp ass,sts that
of the real quesdun—Shall the Establishment exist
at all.?

It is curious to see Low Lord Derby's a;utcce-

dents, and especially his mistakes, reproduce them-
selves. The-Commiision of 1867 was pretty nearly
moulded upon the exemplar of a certain Cominis-
sio'n called " of Ecclesiastical Revenues and Patro-
nage inquiry (Ireland)," which was also aptointed
by himself during his Chief Secretaryship for that
country, as a member of the Administration of the
late Earl Grey, and whose four Reports of 1833,
1834, 1836, and 1837 are, with their " Sum-
mary of Digest of Inquiry into Revenues and
Patronage" (1833), in all the libraries. That
Commission, like the present, was limited to the
inquiry, " What are the revenues and property of
the Irish Establishment, and what are the duties of
the same ?" The more important question,
What part have the people of Ireland in these
things, and how ought they to be appropriated for
their benefit?" was then, as now, entirely laid out
of sight. But there was more excuse for the
omission then than now. The Commission of 1832-
7 was mainly composed of archbishops and bishops
of the Irish Establishment; that of 1867-8
unless, indeed, Sir Joseph Napier has secretly
received the imposition of hands—contains not a
single ecclesiastic.

It is not to be denied that the reports of the
former Commission contained much to amuse and
instruct, and it is very possible—for jobbery is of
perennial growth—that the report of the actual
Commission will be equally edifying. But again,
it must be said, all that is really no t germane to
the matter. The Irish of to-day feel as the Irish of
1835 felt. They cared but for one thing—the
getting rid of the incubus of ascendancy altogether.
They cared not to be told by the most reverend and
right reverend Commissioners of the shocking
abuses which their graces and lords ,ips confessed
themselves to have winked at so long. Protestants,
superior to jobbing, might redden with shame and
anger to be told of such scandals, and might
clamour fur a new reforwation ; but Irish Catho-
lics cared for none of those things. Of what
moment was it to them that the aggregate income
of the Irish Episcopal Leach was at least
£128,808 Bs. 3id in 1834 ? that whilst the richest
arehoishupric (Armagh) in that year boasted of a
present revenue of " £14,494 Os. 3id.," and a
possibleThue of " £23,930," the poorest (Cashel)
posses,ed a revenue of £6,308 ss. 21. ? that whilst
the income of the Bishop of Derry, the wealthiest
of mere bishops, was £12,159 3s. 6d., that of his
poorest brother, him of Cloufert and Kilinac-
duagh, was the not inconsiderable sum of
" £2,097 11s. 6fd." ? that when the reductions
enacted in 1833 should be made there would still
remain two out of four archbisiloprics and eight
out of eighteen bishoprics? that an aggregate sum
varying in estimated amount from " £152,606
16s. Bd." to " £160,000" represented the income
of 284 persons in respect of deaneries, preceutor-
ships, chancellorships, seven treasurerships, two
vostships, twelve archdeaconries, twenty-three
prebends, and one canonry, " there are not any
duties annexed ;" and as to the rest, the only duties
annexed were said to be either preaching in the
cathedral church (" twice," " turice," or about
four times iu the year," or "in turn with the
other .members of the chapter," times not specified)
or " attendance at chapter meetings," or " occa-
sional management of the Economy Fund," for the
benefit of self and fellows ? that the tithes of
Ireland " were estimated at £665,000 " ? that the
church glebes amounted in all to " 91,137 acres,
including above • 87,000 of profitable," and esti-
mated at " £65,200 per annum"? And hat,
whilst on the one hand there were many of these
beneficed clergymen who had no cure of souls at
all, there were, on the other hand, as many as
4,5u0, or thereabout, of Anglican souls (no incon-
siderable fraction of the little flock!) without the
presence of a single Anglican clergyman, beneficed
or u,theneficed, to cure them ?
The disclosure, no doubt, was very painful—in a
merely Protestant point of view. There was no-
thing having the faintest likeness to it iu Protestant
Church history, except perhaps the revelation in
the English Rolls Court of that much less shocking
" anomaly," the sinecure establishment of the
Canons of Windsor ; as to which the late Master of
the Rolls, in continuing a receiver of the income
of one of the canons at the suit of a creditor, is re-
ported to have thus judicially delivered his senti-
ments :—" If the residence in Windsor Castle and
the attendance on divine service had been stated iii
the answer, or in any way shown, to be for the
benefit of the public, or for the maintenance of the
dignity of the Sovereign, I should have thought the
case very worthy of a different consideration. But
as that is not the case, it is a service to be performed
for the benefit of the party himself." This, how
ever, was the mildest aspect of the " anomaly."
The most shocking feature was the numerical in-
significance of that very minorit), for whose pre-
tended benefit the rich wouoply was supposed to
be kept up. In all the reports of itlr. Secretary
Stanley's Commission of Inquiry into "revenue
.nd patronage" that feature was studiously kept
out of view. It was without the :scope of uis in-
structions.

As with Lord Derby's Commission of last
year, so with Mr. Stanley's Commission of 1831-3,
the play was to be " Hamlet," with the part of the
Prince omitted "by desire." In 1834 his col-
leagues of the Grey Ministry took heart of glace
upon the occasion of Mr. Ward's famous motion
for a further progress in the spirit of Mr.,Stauley's
Irish Church T. mporalities Act of the previous
year, and consented to supply that strang,iy
anomalous omission. Lord Grey, supported by the
great majority of the Cabinet, caused a new Coin.
mission to issue to a number of laymen, presided
over by Lord Brougham, then Lord Cuancellor,
and called the " Commissioners of Inquiry into
Public Instruction iu Ireland." They were directed
by the terms of their Commission " to ascert,du
the number of persons in communion with the
United Church. of England and Ireland in each
(Irish) benefice or parish, distinguishing, in the
cases of such benefices as comprised more than one
parish, the number belonging to each parish sepa-
rately, and to the whole collectively ; . . . to
state generally whether the numbers had been for
the last five yearsincreat•ing,sta,ionary, or diminish-
ing ; to ascertain the number of places of worship
belonging to Roman Catholics, or Presbyterians,
and other Protestant Dissenters" (with the like
instruction as to the fluctuations of the last five
years), " and the proportion of the population of
each parish belonging to each of such persuasions
' respectively." The promulgation of the new Com-
mission was attended with one memorable inci-
chnt. Mr. Stanley, already at variance with his
colleagues, took that occasion to retire from Earl
Grey's Cabinet, and to break with the Liberal party
for ever.

The Commissioners report upon the above-men-
tioned particulars of inquiry was published in the
spring of 1835. 'They had made a new and careful
census of Irish population for 1834, founded, how-
et er, upon the last census, that of 1831, and classi-
fied according to professions of faith and parochial
domicile. - There were 7,943,740 of Irish people
within Ireland. Of these no less than 6,427,712
were Roman Catholics ; the Anglicans were set
down at 852,064, but in that sum were " included
a considerable number of Wesleyan (Primitive)
Methodists, who " (although separated in worship)
" wished to be classed as members of that body ;"
there were 642,356 "Presbyterians ;" and " the
other Protestant Dissenters" amounted to 21,208
iu all. There were 1,338 " cathedral and other
aurches and chapels" of the Establishiusnr, be-
sides 196 temporary meeting-houses of the same.
The Roman Catholics possessed 2,105 churches and
chapels; the. Presbyterians 452 ; and the other
Protestant sects 403. There were 1,385 " bene-
fices" belonging to the Establishmeut. Of these
907 consisted of " single parishes," and 478 were
" unions of two or more parishes." In only 12
" benefices" did the whole bod) of Anglicans (iu-
eluding the Primitive Methodists mentioned above)
exceel 5,000 ; in 91 others it reached to 2,000
only ; iu 139 othefs to 1,000 only ; iu 209 Ethers
to 500 only ; iu 286 others to 200 only ; in 221
others to 100 only; in 160 others to 50 only; in
124 others to 20 only ; and in 99 others to 1 only.
Nut less than 42 benefices are specified, in which,
say the Couneistoners, " there ts no member of the
Eslablishment."
Of the cvialaratiTe 4CleWe'of the

MO'WWII

respective numbers of the several denominations
during the past five years the "Cominissioners seem
to have been unable to judge, the large emigrations
or changes of domicile during that period having
largely operated to disturb any calculation under
that head. But the steady growth of decline in
the numbers 'of the Anglican, and of increase in
those of the Roman Catholic, classes of population
ever since the days of Sir William Petty was
abundantly ascertainable by a comparison of the
received statistics with those of the report.
If the E ,r 1 of Derby's Commission of last year
had 'been instructed to continue that census of 1834,
with similar classitieado s, down to the present
time, the appearance of the lung-delayed report.
would now be looked for with very general interest.
As it is, we shall not be far wrong in supposing
that by the time the contest begins in the new
Parliament ou the disestablishment of the Irish
Church, the report—should it even have appeared
in the brief interval—will have been found useless
for the purposes of debate. lu the meantime, how-
ever, the Commission has certainly had its uses,
and what
.these are we have endeavoured to ex-
plain. •

DR. GOSS ON THE CO.llllvG ELECTIONS.

On Sunday afternoon, Dr. Goss, the Bishop of
Liverpool, blessed a new bell and opened a new
tower at the Catholic chapel at South Hill, about
three miles from Chorley. Alter the ceremony he
delivered a discourse, in the course of which he
referred to the Ritualists, and said their putting on
of vestments and their ceremonies were nothing
wore than a mockery ; they lacked the true signifi-
cance. Some newspapers in Liverpool had sneered
at the lase ceremony of blessing a bed, saying that
although it had been blessed, it had by some means
got cracked, and had done no good. The blessing
of a bell would not prey:Tit accidents happening to
it ; it was only blessed that thereby-, wherever its
sound might be heard, the evil spirits might be dis-
pelled. In referring to the principal guts ion of
the day, he said it was supposed that the Catholic
()whops and clergy were banded together to pug
down the Established Church in Ireland, and when
that had been accomplished to pull the E,tablished
Chu, ch in England duwu. Now, the Catholic
priesthood held aloof from all political matters,
and left every Catholic perfectly free to do as he
liked. He ha I been a bishop for fifteen years,
and during that time had never interfered it, poli-
tical matters. Although he had a right to use
what influence he had, still he had not dune so. 11,
would have every one to know that whoever paid
taxes, whether he be Churchman or layman, he
uad apevect right to use the vote he possessed as
he liked; and, although his influence had been
solicited duriug the cowing contest, he had pre-
ferred to keep himself aloof from those blin 1-
nesses and jealousies, and left his people to act fol
.iienaselves. Let every wan exercise the voix
wuich the State had given him according to the
dictates of his own conscience, and without in-
fluence. If any Catholic hears it said that he
Bis.top said they must vote in a certain way they
must not believe it, for he had never opened
mouth upon the subject more than he had no%,
done. If the Catholics were striving to pull down
the Church in Ireland it was not because it was
Protestant, but because it was the Church of a
intuority. Ihe Catholic priesthood resented any
iutet ference on Church matters on the part of the
laity, so on political matters they left their flocks
to act according to their own consciences, for they
knew as well as he did what were the polidcal views
of the candidates. After relating the persecu-
tions which the Irish had undergone for the last
300 years, the Bishop exhor.ed all Catholics to keep
their temper during the coming election. Ile then
proceeded to say that he regretted that the cry of
"No Popery " had been raised by Mr. Disraeli--
a cry which was a disgrace to him and his party,
but respect for the sanctuary in which he was pre-
vented him from using the term which would be
sufficiently condemnatory of Mr. Dizrae!i's
conduct.