HE TA

A W eekly N ew spaper and R eview .

DOM VOBIS GRATULAMUR, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS OT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEAT1S.

F ro m the B r i e f o j H i s H o l in e s s P iu s I X . to T h e T a b l e t , J u n e 4 , 18 70 :

V o l . 83. No. 2808. London, March 3, 1894.

P r ic e sd . b y P o s t sJ|d .

[R eg i st e r e d a t t h e G e n e r a l Po s t O f f ic e a s a N ew spaper

C hronicle o f t h e W e e k :

Page

Imperial Parliament : The Parish Councils Bill in the Commons— Wednesday in the Upper House — Sir G. Trevelyan and London Reform—Proposed New Chapel ‘.at Westminster— London County ■ Council : Heavy Rate— The Disaster on the West Coast — The Russo-German T r e a t y — The Civil Marriage Bill in Hungary — The Freeland Association— An .Anarchist Philosopher Sent to Gaol — National Defence — The 'Money Market . . . . 317 L e a d e r s :

The Close of the Papal Jubilee 321 The Deluge and the “ Higher

Criticism” . . . . . . 322 “ Free and Open ” Churches . . 324 'Serfdom in the Middle Ages . . 325

N o tes

326

CONTENTS.

R e v iew s :

Page

A Year Among the Persians . . 328 Life o f Cottolengo .. .. . . 329 Days Spent on a Doge’s Farm .. 329 Glimpses of the French Revolu­

tion . . . . . . . .3 3 0 The Convert’s Catechism . . 330 A Letter on the Revival of the

Catholic Faith in England . . 330 The Imitation of Christ .. . . 331 Books o f the Week . . . . 331 What Becomes of the Old Postage

Stamp s ? ....................................... 331 C orrespondence :

Rome :— (From Our Own Corre­

spondent) . .

News from Ireland.. . . . . 335 L e t t e r s to t h e E d it or :

“ Parsifal ” and the New Testa­

ment ....................................... 336 Mr. Charles Weld-Blundell on

Conciliatory Language.. . . 336 '

333

L e t t e r s t o t h e E d it or (Con­

tinued) : Septuagésima . . . . . . 337 Our Elementary Schools.. . . 337 “ A Yorkshire Priest” and “ Good

Page

Bishop Pursglove ” . . . . 337 Gothic Vestments . . . . . . 338 Fables in Books . . . . . . 338 Wanted A Home . . . . . . 338 Benefices Donative . . . . 338 Friendless, Fallen and Homeless 338 Society of St. Vincent de Paul . . 339 National Union of Catholic Teachers 340 The Leper Hospital in Japan . . .'-40 Stonyhurst Coats of Arms . . . . 341 Professor Hale on the Stonyhurst

Observatory .. . . . . 342 Social an d P o l it i c a l . . . . 344 O b it u a r y ........................................ 344

SU PPLEM ENT. N ew s from t h e S chcoi s :

The Buckfastleigh Schools . . 349 St. Helen’s Schools, Brentwood . . 349

N ews from th e Schools (Con­

tinued) : London School Board .. . . 350 Teachers and the Classification of the Scholars .. . . . . 350 Voluntary Schools and Rate-Aid 350 School Athletics in Relation to

Mental Training . . .. .. 351 Contents o f Children’s Minds on

Entering School . . . . .. 351 Nonconformists and Undenomina­

Page tional Teaching . . . . . . 35T Our Lady o f Willesden . . . . 351 Jewsand the London School Board 551 N ew s from t h e D io c e s e s : Westminster . . . . . . 351

Southwark . . . . . . . . 352 Birmingham ......................... 352 Nottingham.. . . . . . . 353 Portsmouth . . . . . . .. 353 Salford . . . . . . .. 353 St. Andrews and Edinburgh . . 353 Aberdeen . . ' . . . . . . 353 The National Education Association 353

N * Rejected M S . cannot be returned unless acco7npanied w ith address and postage.

CHRONICLE OF THE WEEK.

THE latest amendments of the

Lords to the Commons’ b i l l IN THE commons. amendments on this Bill were considered in the Lower House on Monday. The first amendment taken was the proviso moved by Lord Salisbury, that it should be optional to parishes with a population between two hundred and five hundred, and not compulsory upon them, to have a Parish 'Council. Mr. Fowler moved that the House disagree with the Lords’ amendment. Mr. Balfour regretted the decision to which the Government had come, as in small parishes government by parish meeting would be much more economical than government by Parish Council. The .great burden under which the agricultural community was labouring was unquestionably the rates, and that burden would be increased by the Bill. Sir W. Harcourt opined •that if Mr. Balfour could not convince his own party in the House of Lords, there was not the least possibility of his convincing the majority of the House of Commons. Mr. Wharton vigorously supported the Lords’ amendment as a most rational one, and merely giving effect to the principle o f local option, of which the Liberal party were strong advocates. Mr. Chamberlain regretted the decision at which the Government had arrived. The popularity of the Bill would have been increased if the Government had accepted the amendment. On the Ninth Clause prescribing the machinery by which the Parish Councils should acquire and for allotments, the Lords’ amendment, substituting the •County Council for the District Council, was agreed to, and several minor amendments were made on the various subse-ctions prescribing the procedure, and the Duke of Devonshire’s amendment, as now amended, was agreed to. Sir TV. Harcourt who had moved the rejection of the Lords’ amendments ;to the Tenth Clause was induced by Mr. Storey, to withdraw his motion and the Peers’ amerdment making the appeal lie to the County Council instead of the Local Government Board, was agreed to. The next amendment related to the charities. Mr. Cobb’s amendment giving the Parish Councils the right to elect a majority which would swamp the existing body of trustees in the case of non-ecclesiastical charities had been deleted by the Lords, who, on Lord Salisbury’s motion, had substituted a clause which Mr. Fowler himself had placed on the amendment paper limiting the trustees to be elected by the Parish Council to a third merely of the whole body. The acceptance of Mr. Cobb’s amendment at the time by the Government threw over the amendment of which Mr. Fowler had given notice, and he consequently took no part in the Committee proceedings on the Bill for two nights. Last night the rejection of the Lords’ amendment was moved by Mr. Gladstone himself, who founded his argument on the opinion of the rural communities, and the majorities in the two Houses. Mr. Balfour, in a vigorous speech, said the subject had already been threshed out. He was unwilling to introduce any embittering element into the debate, but it was impossible not to repeat that they had been given the most solemn assurances by the Government that a particular policy would be carried out in connection with these charities. Yet the words of these promises had been thrown into the waste-paper basket, and the pledges had been absolutely broken. It might be that they would have to choose between the abandonment of the Bill and some just concession on this point. The interests of the Church and the poor were bound up in this amendment. Sir W. Harcourt defended the policy of the Government in standing by Mr. Cobb’s Clause in place of Mr. Fowler’s. Mr. Chamberlain agreed in the main with the line taken by the Government, as he considered that non-ecclesiastical charities belonged to the parish. I f the Government would accept this compromise, it would be possible to reject the amendment of the Lords, and there was good reason to suppose that there would be an end of the controversy. I f they merely rejected the Lords’ amendment it would come back to this House, and the Government would either have to give way or abandon the Bill. Was it conceivable that the Government would go to the country and say that they had dropped the Bill, with all its advantages, because the Lords had inserted an amendment put upon the paper by the Government itself? Ultimately the Lords’ amendment was rejected ; but the amendment was inserted with Mr. Cobb’s Clause. The Commons also rejected the amendment of the Lords appointing the incumbents of the parishes the chairmen of the London Vestries in all ecclesiastical matters. The Lords had so extended the definition of ecclesiastical charity as to make it include any building erected before the passing of the Act mainly at the cost of members of any particular Church or denomination. The

N ew Series, Vol. L I , , No. 2,117.