(To TIER EDITOR Or THR “SPEOTSTOR:1
Slit,—In the Report of one of the Committees of the Lambeth Conference we read as follows :—" The time has come to have an efficient pension scheme for the clergy, and no such scheme can be formed without resorting to some measure of compul- sion, as is the case in other professions. If each young man on being ordained was compelled to make a contribution towards a pension fund, it would not be necessary for men to retain their posts long after they are unfit for their work, thereby lowering the standard of clerical efficiency." If this could be accomplished, and men were to retire when they were past their work, it would help to relieve two present evils in the Church. (1) The number of unbeneficed men who have been a number of years in Holy Orders. For every vacant living with even the smallest stipend there are hosts of applications, and the man with private means gets first chance. (2) The number of beneficed clergy who for good reasons ought to be able to get other work, but who cannot do so. To take no imaginary case. A man has a parish in a hilly district. He is told by a doctor that he has heart disease, and that if he does not quickly leave be will be compelled to give up all work. His friends are all kind to him. He is told that he will be "borne in mind" ; but nothing ever comes of it. He goes on till he does break down. A general scheme of retirement would do something at any rate to remedy these evils. But the difficulty is surely not merely a financial one, but also a personal one. There are certainly
• not a few amongst the dignitaries of the Church who are past their work who can afford to retire, but who have not done so. /The reason here seems to he that when a man is old he some- times does not see things quite in the same light as other people. Yet surely if in the Army a man still so full of vigour as Lord Roberts is placed on the retired list, there can be nothing unkind or unfeeling in wishing that there should be an age-limit in the Church as well as the Army, which should come into force first of all in the case of the better-paid posts of the Church, and then afterwards in the case of the poorer livings, when the pension scheme has provided incumbents with sufficient to retire on.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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