The Globe. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1875.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 430, 29 October 1875, Page 2

The Globe. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1875.

The report presented to the Synod b 7 Mr Hellish, on the management of the Church Property Estate and Diocesan Eunds, discloses a state of affairs not at all creditable to those whose duty it was to look after the administration of these important matters. Erom the commencement of the report blame is cast on the trustees for what does seem to be the most inconceivable carelessness. The heavy losses, which resulted from the defalcations of the late Church Steward, are in a great degree owing to the trustees failing to exercise sufficient supervision over theactions of the Steward. They would appear to have reposed the blindest confidence in him, and to have allowed him to exercise his own discretion in the management of the property committed to his charge. In addition to this, the trustees did not seek to make themselves, in some degree, safe against possible defalcations, by exercising the ordinary and proper precaution of obtaining sufficient security from their servant' and the committee’s report mentions “ that on the death of one of “ the sureties they, being cognizant of “ the fact, neglected to require from “ the Steward another bondsman, in “ place of the one deceased, and, up to

“ the present time, the bond of the “ other surety has not been enforced.” If any private firm was to conduct their business in this lax manner, and the members of it were to find themselves, as would probably be the case, in the Bankruptcy Court, what would be the tone of the comments on such a line of action P Pity would not be accorded to them, and it would be felt that they had no one to blame but themselves for the position to which they were brought. The whole state of the Church Property Trust Estate and the Diocesan Fund appears to be in such a muddle that the committee, whose report we have quoted from, can but suggest the appointment of a commission of business men, to be chosen for their acquaintance with the subject, and whose duty it would be to try and present some clear and accurate report on the position of the estate at the next meeting of the Synod. This will be no easy task, if we may judge from the earlier paragraphs of the report. Much that will be of necessity elicited, during the progress of the commission, will be painful to many who are interested in the matter. Sins of omission on the part of the trustees must be numerous, or the proposed commission would not be wanted. But it is as well that the total losses through defalcations and carelessness should be known, and that the property should be brought into such a state that the present Steward may have a plain and straightforward duty before him, in administering it under more careful supervision than formerly. We may take it for granted that the lesson they have received will induce the trustees to look more closely after business matters than they have hitherto done ; but the bringing of the estate into an easily managed state had better be left to men more conversant with business habits. The duty of keeping it in that state will then devolve upon the trustees. Let us hope they may be more successful than has been the case up to this time.