Lord Monck took the occasion of a question riddressed by
Lord Belmore to the Duke of Richmond on Thursday to give a clear and interesting statement of the proceedings of the Irish Church Commission. First, as to annuities, they had fixed the terms of no less than 6,204 annuities before the let of January, 1871, on which date the property of the Church was transferred to the Commission. They then proceeded to the commutation of annuities, and of 6,204 annuitants, 5,675 have commuted, —the total cost of commutation being 19,286,360. The sale of the lands of the Church was the next great opera- tion, but in the case of renewable leasehold; three years were given to the tenants to convert them into perpetuities, and these three years only expired on the 1st of January, 1874. This work is now in progress therefore. The tithe rent-charge remains to be dealt -with, a slow and complicated process. The Commissioners value their entire property at £16,743,366, and estimate their liabilities at £.11,556,907, and expect a probable surplus of £.5,186,459. But the liquidation of a Church Estab- lishment is a slow process, and the Commission does not expect to be out of debt, not to say in possession of its surplus, for seventeen years and a half,—in the Premiership of Lord Pembroke.
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