WELSH DISESTABLISHMENT

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3, 30 April 1912, Page 6

WELSH DISESTABLISHMENT

WHAT THE BILL PROVIDES. The movement for the termination of the legal establishment of the Church of England in Wales took definite shape 40 years ago. In 1870 Mr Watkiu Williams declared in the House of Commons that “the people had come to the conclusion that all State establishments of religion wore wrong,” and moved that the time was ripe for the separation of Clxuych and State in the Principality. Only six Welsh members, however voted with him. In 1886 twenty seven voted for a similar motion by Mr Dillwyn. In 1895 thirty-one voted for Mr Asquith’s Bill; in 1906 tho representation was unanimous on the subject. The Bill of 1909 gives the best idea of what Disestablishment will mean for the Church and the State. So far as it extends to Wales and Monmontn : (1) The Church of England will cease to he established by law. (2) All cathedral and'ecclesiastical corporations will he dissolved. (3) The bishops of the four dioceses will cease to be the Lords of Parliament. (4) The present ecclesiastical law will cease to exist as law, and no ecclesiastical court will have any coercive jurisdiction. (5) The bishops and clergy will not, be members of, or be represented in, the House of Convocation of the Province of Canterbury. After disestablishment, the bishops, clergy and laity will be free to hold synods, and to frame regulations fbr the government of the church as a whole or according to dioceses; and in til# event of a representative body being appointed to hold property the King in Council may by charter incorporate this body. Provision will be made for the clergy so that they will suffer no financial loss when the legal establishment of the church is terminated. All plate, furniture, and other movable chattels belonging to the churches affected by the Act will be vested in the representative body of the church, and to this body will also bo transferred all churches, chapels-of-ease, and church buildings, etc. The burial grounds and glebes will vest in the parish, urban, or borough councils within whose areas they are situated, while the tithe rent charge issuing from land in any particular county will he transferred to the county, council. The parochial property will be applied for the following purposes: The erection or support of cottage or other hospitals, or dispensaries, or convalescent homes; the provision of trained nurses for the sick poor; the provision and maintenance of public, parish, or district halls, or institutes, or libraries; any other charitable purpose of public weal or general utility for which provision is not made by statute or out of public funds.