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Intermediate Managers.,

Are Laymen Spongers ?

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Are Laymen Spongers ? CANON HORSLEY SAYS THEY WANT RELIGION FREE. The laity of the Church are a very spongy lot. They are ready to get, all they can out of their parsons in every possible way, and they will borrow live shillings just as readily as they will call them knaves be- hind their backs." This was one of many hard tilings said by Canon Horsley at a. meeting' of the Curates' Augmentation Fund at Church House, West- minster, a few days ago. Subsequently, to a I press representative, he enlarged on the sub- ject. First of all, however, he explained that the remark given above was not meant to be. taken in a strictly literal sense. "Nowadays," he said, the Church laity expert. to get their religion free," and it is just this frame of mind to which the canon so strenuously ob- ] jects. "Look at other denominations," he | cried, Roman Catholics, Wesleyans, any of them. Who is it that supports them? Their laity. Who pays to keep up the institutions of the Church of England ? The State and the clergy. Let me give instances. The Curates' Augmentation Fund is essentially a fund that should be supported by the laity. Yet see this," and the canon mentioned a few districts at random. Thus in Hereford £ 12 was subscribed by the clergy and 93 by lay- men, and in Norwich of forty-three subscrip- tions the clergy gave twenty-two, the amount totalling £ 52, and the laity twenty-one, total- ling £30. The apathy and indifference of the laity to Church finances has apparently stung Canon Horsley to the quick. He had an an- swer ready to the old question concerning the huge stipends of bishops. "Average the sala- ries of clergy of England to-day," he said, "and you will find that it would work out at something like JE200 per annum per man." Then he pointed out that the salaries of curates averaged about £ 150. "These men have probably had to pay over £ 1000 for their education, and are doing fine, splendid work. In whlt other profession would people of their ability receive so low a wage? It is the busi- ness of the laity to support these clergymen." All this led back to Canon Horsley's main point, that the Church of Engltnd laity ex- pect to have their religion free of all cost. They want their churches warmed and lighted, and with comfortable seats-but they object to paying. To-day the church-going laity are living on the generosity of the clergy. I MORE HELP NEEDED. I On the argument, that if vicars wanted the assistance of curates they should pay for it, the canon retorted: If you hire a gardener to attend to a. piece of land, you do not ex- pect him to pay for assistance." He pointed out that many incumbents were actually out of pocket in spite of their stipends. Thus he told of a vicar in South London, whose salary was £ 300 a year. Yet he had to maintain nin curates! Another, with £,240 a year, had two curates, as had :1 third with iE200 a year. The canon added that he did not intend in any way to say that the laity did nothing for the Church. I In his speech, at Westminster, Canon Hors- ley was no less outspoken. They were cursed I (he said) with an endowment from the Church of England which kept all the clergy poor and all the laity pauperised. They ought to take every opportunity, in and out of the parish, I of telling people that they were no longer honest if they neglected their duiy in that respect. The report to- hinl was a miserable thing. and it, only showed more and more how by silence they were allowing the: whole generation of laity to grow up neglecting their duty. A?? a result the Church at home was being crippled, and, what was more impor- tant, the Church in other countries also. It I was } if table to hear Colonial missionaries talking iiboi.it, the system in England produc- ing a pahu kind f ling abroad. The whole s >r • I; was onlv a temporary ex- pedient, end the it was sEnt away un- til a better state of t p-, exited the better. He was of opinion tblt the laitv should help a great deal more tlinn rhcy dm—in fact, ten times as much as they did at present. Proposed Shorthand Teaching I FOR THE HIGHER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. I At a. meeting of the Education Committee on Thursday evening last, Mr. H. D. Rees presiding, the Clerk read a letter from Mr. Denbigh Jones, headmaster of the Higher Elementary School, stating that several gentle- men occupying important positions in local commercial circles had essayed the opinion that if such subjects as shorthand and type- writing, and commercial geography were taught to scholars in the last year of their school life, they would he prepared to take scholars at fifteen instead of fourteen as at present. As such, a change would he desir- able from aii educational as well as a finan- cial point of view to the community, owing to the increase of Government grants accruing from a. raising of the. usual school age, it seemed to him enough to deserve the Cotn- I mittee's special consideration. The question involved the provision of a choice of courses to scholars in .the third year. In his opinion it would be easy to secure .two special courses in the third year, preparatory to the entrance of a scholar in the mechanical trades an'd the cornt ic'viai pot-mi's. Perhaps it would he post3ibh:: fõr (>,mmiÜce to consider this nU8stion before 'he dmission cxamm?t?n was held next month. IT so, it would pro- bably attract the type of ,scholar for which tiie Higher. Elementary. School, was especially adapted- I M'r. David .lames Davies proposed thai; J a sub-committee, consisting of the Chairman, I Vice-chairman, Mr. W. Bramwell Jones, and I the lady members, be formed to TUpon nn the matter. Mr. W. Bramwell Jones said that ae he was I already on the sub-committee appointed with regard to the Drill Competition, he would move that Atr. D. James Davies be appointed j in his stead. This was agTeed to; and the Commiitce were I also ordered to discuss the qUestTon of scien- tific dressmaking and the entrance examina- tion for the Higher Elementary School. I j

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