Lord Carnarvon in his speech in defence of his amendment
avoided any calculation as to its pecuniary result, and did not mention a most important point, the right of the Synod to invest the money as it pleases. That body may get 5 per cent. in Indian Consols, while the calculation is rally 3. He based his argument mainly on the necessity of equality between the Church and May- nooth, which, he said, had not been preserved, Maynooth getting fourteen years' purchase, while the Church, exclusive of curates, gets only twelve and a half. He forgot, however, that in the Church the great incomes are enjoyed by old men,—an immense source of difference. He made an excellent point, however, of the necessity for patting an end to interminable collisions between the State and the individual clergymen. Under the Bill the Commission will have to resist claims from every bishop, dean, rector, vicar, and curate in Ireland, not one in twenty of whom can do actuary's work ; while under his amendment the Synod and the clergy will fight it out, subject to the clergyman's right of demanding that a State annuity shall be bought for him. God help the Synod !—but still the State is mightily relieved.
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