WELSH DISESTABLISHMENT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1624, 16 December 1912, Page 7

WELSH DISESTABLISHMENT.

' '.''° .' ■' ' -' - "SAVED BY. THE IRISH VOTE." By Tflleeranh-Preaa Aeaoclation-Oopyrfathl . ' London, December 18. In Committee on the Welsh Church Bill, Mr. G. A. Prance, Liberal member for MoTley, moved to abolish tithes buf to leave the Welsh Church all other funds. Mr. W. G. C. Gladstone, Kilmarnock, supported the amendment, as a compromise to settle'strife, i Mr. M'Kenna, Home Secretary, did not believe the Opposition would accept it in that spirit: If the amendment were accepted he would drop the Bill, , Mr. Lyttelton, Unionist, frankly admit-ted-that the amendment was unacceptable.- ' . ■■ The amendment was finally defeated by 2C5 votes to 215, amid Opposition cries of "Saved by the Irish vote!" . Ten Liberals voted for the amendment. Many abstained from voting. Seventythree Irish members and twenty-five Labourites supported the Government. •• . TERMS OF THE BILL. : The Welsh Churoh Bill—the third since 1895—as explained by the Home Secretary in the House, of Commons on April 23 last, _ is in essentials the same as' the previous measures. Its provisions may thus be outlined:— 1. The Church of England in Wales is to be disestablished and disendowed; ••■.■' 2. Of the endowments, ' amounting to .£259,009, the sum of .£173,000 is to be used for Welsh national purposes subject to" existing'life interests-and ■ freehold tenures. 8,. From the endowments the Disestablished Church will receive .£87,000; life interests will amount, to ,£62,000 a year; and the Ecclesiastical Com--1 - raissjoners and Queen Anne's Bounty • will be empowered to add .£31,000 ■ • -.£IBO,OOO in all. 4. Welsh Commissioners are to be established as a temporary body to rc- ' ; ceive and allocate the endowments ■"'"■ taken under the.Bill. A sum of ' ,£26,700 a year is to go to the University of Wales, and the remainder to the Welsh County Councils for publio purposes other than the reduction of rates. 5. Existing incumbents will receive their full stipend while they hold their incumbencies, and provision is made '■ for pensions. The Welsh Council which was proposed in ; the Bill of 1909 is dropped, and tho only body set up is the Welsh Commissioners for a period of three years, or five at.the outside. . ■ i