Page:The Church of England, its catholicity and continuity.djvu/211

Rh consider the case of the Bishops. The Archbishop of Canterbury had ₤18,090 a year. The Bishop of Durham ₤19,480 a year, while Llandaff had only ₤1,170, and Gloucester only ₤700. It was found that the Bishops and Cathedral dignitaries altogether carried off fully one-eighth of the whole money in the Church. The evils of this were very great. Because some dignitaries were poorly paid, compared with other men, there were pluralities, that is to say, that the same man would hold two or more offices to enlarge his income. A Bishop, for example, would sometimes be a Dean as well. The same inequality was discovered in the livings of vicars and rectors. Eleven livings had only ₤10 a year each, while a few were as much as ₤7,000 a year. It was to amend this state of things that the Commissioners were incorporated. A series of Acts of Parliament were passed to help the Commissioners in their labours. There was the "Pluralities Act." This aimed at providing a clergyman for every parish in the country. Before this the same man would often be the holder of two or more livings that he might receive an adequate income. But now it was decided that each parish, as far as possible, should have a vicar of its own, and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners should provide the necessary funds.

There was also brought into existence the "Cathedral Act," in 1840. This Act empowered the Commissioners to make the redistribution of the Church's property. "Under this Act some 360 Prebendal estates attached to the Cathedrals of the old foundation; and the corporate incomes of all the Canons beyond four in (with a few exceptions) all the