missioners of land revenue. The
bill would authorise a revision and revaluation of benefices for the
tithe composition; and it was likewise proposed to extend the provisions
of Lord Tenterden's act for the limitation of suits to Ireland, in the
same way as it was included in the bill of last year. By the report of
the commissioners of public instruction, the members of the established
church amounted to 853,064, the presbyterians to 642,356, and other
dissenters to 21,808 persons; tire number of Roman Catholics was
6,427,712, in other words, the members of the established church
amounted to 853,064, and the number of those who dissented was
7,091,876. The distribution of the members of the established church,
also, was as disproportionate as their total amount; in the diocese of
Dromore, there were 264 members for every 1000 acres; in the diocese of
Glogher 26 to every 1000 acres, and in the diocese of Tuam there were
only 8 to every 1000 acres. It was proposed, therefore, to suspend
the presentation to every benefice in Ireland where the number of
Protestants did not exceed fifty. In the case of a suspended parish, in
which there was any number of members of the establishment from one to
fifty, the ecclesiastical commissioners would be empowered, subject to
the approbation and consent of the lord-lieutenant in council, either to
assign the cure of souls in that parish to the care of the neighbouring
minister, or else to appoint a separate curate. It would further be
enacted, that, in all parishes where there now existed a church and a
resident officiating minister, a separate curate should be appointed.
When the cure of souls was committed to a neighbouring minister, the
amount of stipend to be given was not to be less than L10, or more than
L50 per annum; and where a separate curate was appointed, the salary was
not to exceed L75 per annum, with permission to live in the glebe-house,
if he undertook to keep it in repair. In every parish where the cure of
souls was committed to a neighbouring minister, or a separate curate,
provision was to be made for the erection of suitable places of worship,
fit to accommodate the probable number of the different congregations.
These places of worship were to be built at a cost not exceeding L100,
or rented at a cost not exceeding L15 per annum. In making all these
provisions the archbishop of the province and the bishops of the
diocesses were to be associated with the ecclesiastical