The Globe. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1876.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 749, 13 November 1876, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1876.

The desire to make provision for the aged, the widow, and the orphan, is a one which meets with the hearty approval of all kindly men. And any efforts to make such provision which are guided by the teaching of experience, meet with their generous support. The Synod of the Church of England has shown itself desirous to establish, a fund which shall provide: —" (1) Superanuation allowances for " clergymen, and pensions for their " widows and children ; and (2) Tem- " porary assistance for clergymen or " their widows, suffering from illness "or other unforeseen distress." Let us see how far its proposal deserves our generous support; in other words, let us inquire whether the scheme proposed is likely successfully to meet the demands which, it proposes to meet.

In order to constitute this fund, eighteen guineas a year, on behalf of each clergyman, are required to be paid. Of this sum the clergyman himself is required to provide nine guineas, and his parishioners the remaining nine. We shall not stop to ask how far the Synod is justified in reckoning upon this latter amount. It would be a disgrace to the members of the Church of England if they refused to contribute so trifling a sum when the object to be secured was the making provision for the old age of their clergyman, or for his widow and orphan children. Assuming, therefore, that eighteen guineas yearly will be provided, it is proposed to invest them by taking up shares " in the Permanent " Investment and Loan Association, or " other like institution." Our readers have the proposed pension scheme before them as contained in the second report of the Select Committee to which was referred the report of the Standing Committee upon the Diocesan Clerical Pension Fund. The remainder of the report, except the few lines devoted to an " Emergency " Eund," is occupied with recommendations as to the disbursements of the interest payable on account this investment. Should the clergyman die in the first year of his investment, his widow will receive not the eighteen guineas which her husband had paid with interest added, but the interest upon this amount, say thirty shillings a year! Should he die at the expiration of ten years from the establishment of the fund, and have paid in the required sum during the whole of that time, his widow, again will be in the receipt possibly of £2O a year—not more. These instances may serve to test the value of the proposed scheme. They prove that it will fail where it is most needed. Strictly speaking, the proposed fund is not a pension fund at all, it is a proposal to save and invest eighteen guineas a year on behalf of each clergyman, the latter in his old age, or his widow after his death, to live upon the interest of this saving and investment. We are satisfied that a vastly better method of investing the money can be found in some of the numerous branches of business fostered by Life Insurance offices. In proof of the crudeness of the report upon which we have been commenting, and which was considered of sufficient importance by the members of the Synod to have a special day appointed for its consideration, we note the following fact, that while power is given to the contributing clergyman to bequeath, in the event of his leaving neither widow nor children surviving him, the interest of his investment to any person that he may appoint; yet that under no circumstances can more than the interest be touched. The interest may be merely a paltry £lO or £ls a year, of no practical help to a struggling woman, while the principal may be upwards of £2OO. Yet according to the pension scheme she will have to live upon her £lO or £ls a year, and will have no power to use the principal or any portion of it in establishing herself or her children in some way of obtaining a livelihood. However, the clergy are the principal people affected, and if they are contented we have no right to complain.