WELSH DISESTABLISHMENT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 75, 24 April 1909, Page 2

WELSH DISESTABLISHMENT

Mil. ASQUITU'S HILL. London, April 1„ the Home oi Commons Mr. Asquith, Prime Minister, mtrodi ced a till for tin- Church disestablishment of Wales in l'.'ll, excluding Welsh bishops from tin; llou»c! of Lor.ls, ami (l| Appointing, until .commission to deal with Church

(2) A Council of Wales lo he appointed bv county and other councils to receive, subject ttf specified interests. (3) *V romiscnttf'tive church bouy to 'receive all cathedrals, churches and chapels of ease, bishops palaces, parsonages, and closed burial grounds; also all benefactions dating from IUG2. He explained that the jiroiierty vested iu the Council of Wales would be devoted to hospitals, and provision made for nurses, for the sick, poor, public halls, I institutions and technical -and uiphM education, according to the couuty council schemes. Welsh members .acclaimed the Mil, especially the new feature of the Welsh Council, lielicvhji that fresh duties will ultimately lie entrusted to tile Council, making it a powerful central authority dealing with all Welsh matters. X'nioiiists in opposing the Bill dci limiiiced its introduction before Lord Justice Vatiglian Williams, chairman of the Commission, had reported, wit strom'lv doubted whether the measure would proceed beyond the .second read-

Til June. imit), (\ Uoyul Com mission, under Lord Justice Yanghan Williams u- chairman, was appointed. "To inquire into thf origin, nature, amount, and application of the temporalities, endowments, and other properties the I'lmrch of England in Wales and Monmouthshire fur the spiritual welfare <>t the people, and the extent to which the .people avail themselves of such provision. and to report thereon.'' A deputation of Welsh M.l'.'s and representatives ol free Churches waited upon Mr. Asqiiith, the Prime .Minister, who was accompanied hy Mr. Lloyd-Oeorge (July 23. 111081; and the Rev. Evan Jones, of Carnarvon, President Elect oi the Nation Council of the Free Churches of England and Wales on behalf of the deputation. Mr. Asquith, in reply, referred to the occasion on which he had introduced a WeMi -Disestablishment Hill, and stated that "most clearly and distinctly it was their hope anil intention to submit next session to Parliament proposals dealing with this matter. That hope might be frustrated, and their intentions might be defeated. If they were it would not he through any act or fault of theirs. It was hopeless to predict what the fortune.of tlie Bill might be. but he thought they would lie satisfied to hav ( . the House of Commons put in possession of their proposals before the end of the session." The Federation of Welsh Free Church Councils issued a manifesto (September 15. 101)8) declaring that Wales had demanded Disestablishment for forly.ycars: and that the Liberal l'artv had been pledged to it for twenty-one years, and that every M.P from Wales and Monmouthshire was elected to support such a measure.