A LUCKY PARSON.

Southland Times, Issue 1155, 29 October 1869, Page 3

A LUCKY PARSON.

Strange as the thing may sound, it is nevertheless true, that there is a parson, writes the Manchester Examiner (Aug. 11), now liringv who forgivingup a secular office, the duties of which were refreshingly light, has received from the British Government nearly half a million sterling for compensation, and, worst of all, this reverend and lucky individual has not yet done dipping into the taxpayers' pockets. The Globe, which is not an organ likely to he misleading on such a subject, says it has taken some trouble to arrive at the real facts, and certainly these are of a kind so wonderful that they ought to be incredible. In the estimates for the present year, as in those of many preceding years, occurs the following item : — " To the Eev. Thomas Thurlow, Patentee of Bankrupts, £7352 14s 6d, yearly allowance authorised Jan. 11, 1832, for abolition of fees." The duties of the office are said to be indefinable, but not BO the position of the holder. The Eev. Thomas Thurlow, is a nephew of the first and brother of the second Lord Thurlow, so it was only proper that some care should be taken of his interests, when relieving him from a task which for a clergyman one would think must have been uncongenial. How nicely these interests were estimated is seen from the fact that even the " odd coppers " are duly placed to his credit. But, unfortunately the country had not yet done all that was possible for Mr Thurlow. This gentleman, besides being Patentee of Bankrupts, was Keeper and Clerk of the Hanaper, which appears to us to be even a more mystifying office. "We are quite prepared to believe that the duties of this latter post may have been heavy, since by a special Act it was decreed that " fair compensation " should be granted on the abolition of the office, and that the sum actually awarded to Mr Thurlow and paid up to the present year was £4028. Here we miss the odd coppers, but piobably this is owing tor inadvertence on the part of the compilers of these returns. Where we find them again is in the last item of compensation awarded to Mr Thurlow— viz., £335 12s 3d, as " compensation for loss of office as prothonotary of the Court of Pleas Durham." Putting these three items together, Mr Thnrlow's annual income out of the national exchequer is £11,716 6s 9d ; and taking the thirty-seven years lie baa been "compensated/ he has relieved the nation of the not inconsiderable trifle of £432,503 2s 9d.