DISESTABLISHMENT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 490, 24 April 1909, Page 5

DISESTABLISHMENT.

THE CHURCH IN WALES. LIBERAL GOVERNMENT'S MEASURE. A WELSH COUNCIL. (btteleguaph—p;tiss association—cor-imam.) London, April 22. In tho House of Commons tho Prime Minister, Mr, Asquith, introduced hid promised Bill for tho disestablishment of tho Chuich in Wales. Tho measure provides for disestablishing tho Church in Wales in 1911, excluding Welsh Bishops from tho House of Lords, and appointing: ; (1) Until 1015, a Welsh Commission to deal with Church property. (2) A Council of Wales, appointed by the county: and othor ; I councils, to receivo rovenue from/ i 'church property subject to specified interests. (3) A representative Church body, to receive all cathedrals, churches, chapels of oaso, bishops' palaces, parsonages, and closed bunal grounds; also all benefactions dating from 1G62. The Prime Minister explained that property vested in tho Council' of Wales would bo devoted to hospitals, provision for nurses for the sick poor, public halls, institutions, and technical and higher education, according to tho county council schomes. Wolsh monitors acclaimed tho Bill, especially thd now features of a Welsh Council, believing that fresh duties would ultimately be entrusted to tho Council, making it a powerful contral authority dealing with all Welsh matters. , Unionists opposing tho Bill denounced its introduction before Lord Justico Vaughan Williams's Commission had reported, but strongly doubted whether tho measure would proceed beyond tho second reading, i —_——. THE ROYAL/COMMISSION, Lord Justice Vaughan Willimns's Commission had a very stormy uaieer, Numerous dissensions are among the Commissioners during the taking of ovidenoe, nnu "bcenes" iveie ot frequent occurrence. According to latest news by mnil it seomed' probable that tho ConimUsion i would present three sopnrato reports—one bv , the Nonconformist majority, one by tho Angli- i can minority, and the third by the Chairman himself, ' WELSH'NONCONFORMITY.

; The official statistics of tho 'leading Welsh Nonconformist as. given in the • ; Welsh> year-books of tho four denominations (writes a correspondent of the London "Times") I. show the strength of the Free Churches in the ;Pririoipality. Apart from the .Welch churches outside tho borders of the Principality, the Congregationaliste are the* strongest of the four denominations, the Calvinistic liethodists come seoond,: tho Baptist third, and; the. Weslcynn ■Methodist fourth. Taking the Welsh churohea in England,' the , Calvinistic Methodist: .cornea •first with 185,935 communicants; the .Congrega■tionalists aecpnd with 173,289 church.members; the third with )135,513 communicants; and the Wesleyan Methodists fourth - with 41.143 members in thoir society..' The Wesleyan Methodist figures moludo the three Welsh dis tricts of tho connexion, the Caidiff and Swansea district, and the English cluirches in Noith Wnlo» associated tvith tho Liverpool district. Tho totals of tho four denominations show that they havo 535.850 ohuroh members -and 562,355 Sunday school membeis and teachers. Tho returns, compared with the statistics of last yeai, show n decrease of 9375 in tho numbei of members, and, if this Is added to the decrease of 10,076 reported at the beglnnln? of 1908, the dooroaeo for the tno yeais Iβ 20,351. It should, honevei, not be ioigotten that the increase in tho eliuivh membeiship of the four denominations during tho t«o jenis immediately" WIIoV ing; 'the' "Welsh , religious 'revival" was 87,782. Deducting tho decieaso of the last Uo years from this total, tho net lnsreasc is 07,431. Seatin? nccommodnhon in the Nonconformist chapels of Wales and MonmouthsluKi and the Welsh chapels in the English towns is piovided for ovei 1,500,000 persons. '

; !■,;.;-; TNECHuncH iN.vvALES. ■.■;■■'. - i ' '-.A.,,correspondent 'of the v London-'"Times" "writesi— The,following are : somo of the ; fi?urea taken from the-official statistics 1 of the Anglican Ohurch in'-Wales and Monmouthshire, baaed upon the figures handed to. the Ebyal Com-'-jwssion on 'the Church in'; will be published in tho report of that commission. In, order to arrive at-some of tho totals it has' ■been necessary to .add to the-parishes of tho four Welsh J dioce6os a number of parishes in the. dipeese of Hereford,..Chester,.and Lichfield, which are partly or wholly- in Wales.' Aocommodatibn Is provided by the Church In the!Princlpality,?or 158,917 persons; l the num;ber of-clergy, in the thirteen counties of Wales, including Monmouthshiro, is 1513; and the number of communioante on the list ie'193,081. For the four diocese* Mia total of the voluntary "iPino 1 !^ 0118 it is r made up of diocese of- Llandaff, /93.195 from-: that of St; David's, .£52,876 from that of. St:Asaph,:and £U,2H from that of Baneor. /The Sunday school returns enow the number of (scholars under 15 years , of-age to be 112 603 13,157/ making thqHotal m the schools 182,243 The .net income of incumbents" in the four dloceses is made up of .£53,924 'in I the Llandaff diooeso, in the St. David's dio;oese, ■: .£48,320 in :• the '• St.; Asaph :■■ diocese, and ■430,517 in.the Bahgof diocese. There were in r # OCDS( ? , d " rinß the- twelve' months 22,055 baptisms,-15,591 confir.mations,' 5322 marnages,-. and, 15,5(57.bur'a15.': . : . ; -- :', ' . '■V.The confirmation statistics given in the yearbooks ■; for ..the. four -Welsh .dioceses are'na : ■;-■;; ■■-.■■,-■ , , ; ; -; : ; •• ; -... . '■^Jericd.:-.;;•■;:.;•: .;. Persons confirmed.--,1888-1807 . .... .... ... ' ioi'gOs • The:.numher of ;thoso. confitmed diiriiiß the , ten years 1698-1307. in / the ■ Church in Wales is more-by,.B-1.6 per cent, than the number'of those confirmed during, the ten ; years 1878-1887,' ; : ; ;\, -CHANGED COMiiiTIONS. ■ : ' with the question;ioi. j "Chuich'-and vliapel-' in Wnlus, : a. correspondent of , - tho ('Christian World ■ (Nonconformist) y rites'— l; "A quarter-of a" century ago it. was stated in tie Course of tho Disestablishment debate in tho House of Commons, that it was no. uncommon thing to'find in Wales'a dozen contignous parishes served by more or less drunken olergyliion. To-day tliese .parishes are- served by.: men, for the most part voung,. whose moral character wiK bear favourable comparison '-with that of their Kphconforniist brethren, It us alleged'that the working .man : cares little. ---;for.:■-.. Disestablishment, 1 while ,, the .Soclallat laughs ut. the-idea of piving to 6iicb a-measure* precedence over say an ynemploy.inßut>Ke"niedy, Bill,- And yet, such is the ten.i-. lty,bf a national ideal, that Rev,-Evan Jones, of tho National Fi-ee Church (Jouncil, dqclarcs that no subject of the day, no labour. 6r social question placed before the electorate, arouses such wnolo-hearted' enthusiasm -fi». docs-Wolsh , ipisestabliehirient.''--'. ' '' "Time was when the Nonconformiet preacher was admittedly in.closer touch with the workIngman.than was tho,vicar.. This oan hardly.be said::,to. be >.the 'case to-day. 'Clio JPuri- , tamsm-'.of ; the .diapel .'has ; kept, 'the, denominations aloof, not. only from athletw sports'■and .popular amusements .assiduously festered by the Chnrcli, but also from the Honiallst movement, which has been throwing Its felitnoles nbrotid in, the industrial districts. ;"The Key. Hugh Alichael Hughes, 8.A., Conitragational.minister of Canlifr, a pronounced LibernUorastf regards the greater- activity of the Anglican Church in Wales to-dny as a tribute to Welsh Nonconformity, ..:llq says that the. clerical activity which everybody admits to exist, may be traced to two cauees: (d) It had its historical origin in the .Dieestablishment agitation ; of a goneraton ago. The Anglican Uadors were then forced.to recognise that tho Church must do much more than she had ever hitherto • done to ] iistlfy her existence.. Ami this'activity is,the direct result,/ (b) Its Sustaining and continuing, cause Is-found in the constant, quiet, faithful and courageous activity of.the Free Churches.";: ■■•;■■