14 MAY 1881, Page 3

A little debate occurred in the Lords on Thursday on

a Bill brought in by the Lord Chancellor to amend the Charitable Trusts Act, which may hereafter prove of importance. The Bill enables the Charity Commissioners to deal with all chari- ties as absolutely as they can now deal with those under £50 a year. The measure irritates a great variety of interests, especially the corrupt ones, and will, it is believed, arouse an opposition as strong as that which prevented Mr. Gladstone from taxing charities. Lord Salisbury, therefore, called at- tention to its provisions, which would, ho said, dethrone all Charitable Trustees everywhere, from those of the largest hospital to those of the smallest village endowment, and thus centralise all control over endowments in a single body, which he praised greatly, but evidently distrusted. He did not threaten direct resistance, but he will evidently move amendments in Committee which will be fatal to the Bill. It is not the least of the difficulties of a Liberal Government that if it introduces a Bill in the Lords, it may be dismissed by the single fiat of Lord Salisbury, before the opinion of the representative body has been taken at all.