Mr. Lloyd George protested against the statement that the Bill
meant the disestablishment of religion. The Government, by means of their "religious social reform," had really done more than any of their predecessors for the establishment of religion. It was impossible to disestablish the Church without disendowing it ; but disendowment was just, since the Welsh' people were only getting back what the pious founders had intended for the people as a whole. Mr. F. E. Smith argued that it was perfectly possible, as some foreign examples proved, to disestablish without disendowing. If the authors of the Bill were honest, they would say : "We want your money and we mean to have it." Mr. Ellis Griffith had indeed actually said of Welsh Disestablishment: "This is a policy with money in it." Mr. McKenna repeated the arguments that the whole of the Welsh people were the true beneficiaries of the Church funds, and that the Church would be stronger under the new conditions. In the division the Government majority was 77. But for the Irish vote the Liberals would have tied with the Opposition. The Government majority at the first third reading was 107 and at the second third reading 103.
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