DISESTABLISHMENT.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1458, 5 June 1912, Page 8

DISESTABLISHMENT.

THE WELSH CHURCH BILL. ITS MAIN POINTS. The provisions of tlio Welsh Disestablishment ami Disendowniont Hill wero explained to the House til" Commons by Mr. irKoiin.i, the Home Secretary, in his speech, iiiovinif tlie first reading (says I In; "Daily Mail")- The ineiisure, which follows (he general lines of previous Welsh Disestablishment proposals, provides lor the separation of the English Church in Wales from tire State, and also takes away a largo proportion of the income at present in the possession of the Church. , . , Tlio following are the maim points 01 the disestablishment provisions:— 'Ihe foiir Welsh dioceses will cease to bo dioceses within the province of Canterbury. ~ .... ~ All ecclesiastical corporations witluu tlio diocese will be dissolved. All ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Wales will Ik? abolished. . Ecclesiastical law, as such, will cease to

Iμ. , operative. Tho organisation of the Church, though free from tho State, will bo kept in bsing. Power will bo given to hold synods for the future government of the Church, and all rites, rules, and ordinances of tho Church will be held binding on members. Disendowment. The disendowment provisions as oxplained by Mr. Jl'Kenna were based on the finances as ascertained in 190b. Ino following is an outline of tho schemaAncient Welsh endowments will be taken from the Church, but "modern" endowments, sinco IGIH, will bo left in her poaThu income from endowments is; calcnbited to bo i-200,000. Of this. .£1<3,000 romes from ancient Welsh sources, ,£81,300 from "modern" endowments, and the balance from Queen Anne's Bounty and tho Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The .£173,000 will be alienated from tho Church, subject to all existing life- interests and freehold tenures. The .£18,500 from "modern endowments will bo at the disposal of the The balance of JE68.500 (derived from Englbh sources in connection with Queen Aniio's Bounty and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners) will be handed over to the disestablished Church at the discretion of the two bodies eoiieermd. The value of life interests is calculated at .£(52,000 a year in perpetuity. The total incomo secured to the disestablished Church by the provisions of tho Bill will amount to a year. ■ A further .£3?,000 may be forthcoming at tho option of 1 ho. Ecclesiastical Com'missioners and the 1 Commissioners of Queen Anne's Bounty. This will bring thr- sum to .£IBO,OOO. Every existing incumbent will continue to receive his pr»»pnt stipend so long as he retain-: his office. Welsh Commissioners will bo established for tho purpose of Teceiving existing Church property and allocating and distributing the proceeds. Towot will bo given for the setting up of a representative body of the disestablished Church with the legal powers of ii corporation. The Commissioners will trnjnsfer to the representative body the four Welsh cathedrals—Bangor, St. -Asaph, St. David's, and Lln-ndnff— the Welsh churches, and other Church fabrics, and also the modern endowments —Hiose since IGK2. Alienated Church property, will lie devoted portly to the university in Males nnd portlv to tho carrying out of schemes devised by county councils for public benefits. Proceeds of tithes will be transferred to the councils of counties in which the titlip.lands are situated. After a debate enlivened bv a provocative speech by Mr. Lloyd-George, the final division wa.s:—

■ , For the Bill 331 ■'Agoinst' 253 Government majority 78 The Voting' Analysed. "The Times" Parliamentary correspondent writes:— The majority 0f.78, instead of Hi, .for the Welsh Disestablishment Bill last night was disappointing to the Liberals, who were inclined in the lobby afterwards to attribute it to a lack of support from the Irish Nationalists. This was not the ease, however. The comparatively small majority was duo to'the abstention of Liberals, presumably Liberal Churchmen. The Irish Nationalists were present almost in their full strength-GS of Mr. Redmond's followers, some half-a-dozen O'Briemtos, and the two Independents votin" for the Bill. It was calculated-by the Nationalist "Whips that there wore onlv ei"ht Irish Nationalists of all ranks absent from the division. There were 21 pairs, accounting for 42 members, and apparently there were thirty ot the boveriiment's supporters absent unpaired. These probably included .some half-a-dozen Labour members, some of whom are ill, but it seems clear that over 20 Liberals deliberately abstained from voting and did not pair. One. Jlr. G. Harwood, voled with the Opposition against the BUI.

An Impressive Demonstration, On the eve of the introduction of the Welsh Church .Bill, the Churchmen of North Wales hold a remarkable domon ; stration on April 22 (says "The Times correspondent). Carnarvon, of- couTse. is the very citadel of "Welsh" V ales, but the Primate's great audience, winch, was niaiulv composed of country •parishioners from 'the dioceses of Bangor and St. Asaph, quickly showed that the supporters of Mr. Lloyd George hold no monopoly of the language. Familiar hymns and pravers were rendered in \\elsh, tno Bishop "of St. Davids delivered t .a long address on Church defence, and spoke in Welsh from beginning to end, while the Bishop of St. Asaph began a short speech in Bn»lish, and was promptly pulled up bv cries of "Welsh." The meeting was held in a huge building, the pnvilion which was erected for the Eisteddtod of 1877, and has seats for nearly 10,000 persons. The pavilion v;as soon full, and an overflow meeting, at which the Arclibisnop and the Bishop of St. Davids spoke, was hurriedly arranged outside. Iho. mam meeting was a very impressive affair. Al the churchmanship of North Wales and much of its nationality .were represented in the audionce, over which Lord I'enrhyn presided. There were, of course, many clcrgvmen present, and thero was a larger proportion of women than one. usually sees at public, meetings. The chief object of their coining together was to hear the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is actually the first Primate for 600 years to vMt this, the furthest, diocese or his province. The Archbishop was very heartily welcomed, and he delivered a striking address, in which he contrasted the arguments'for and against the Disestabllshment of the Church in Wales.