CLERGY PENSIONS.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] SIB,-It is with no desire to set forward the Clergy Pensions Institution as a rival to the proposed Church House, or as a concurrent object with it, that I take this opportunity of pointing out to others—beside the Bishop of Oxford—that the Institution has passed the tentative stage, and is now in active operation. Every day brings an increase to the number of its members, who are drawn from every diocese and from all ranks among the clergy. Its establishment is the just and necessary sequel to the Incumbents Resignation Act of 1871, which, as the Duke of Buckingham then declared, and Bishop Wilberforce concurred in believing, is altogether inadequate for general application. In fact, it breaks down in those very cases where its operation is most needed. There can be no sort of doubt that the Clergy Pensions Institution will prove of the greatest benefit to the whole Church, if it succeeds in securing the sup- port of the laity ; and there ought to be no doubt that that will be given to it, so soon as it is clearly understood that it aims as much at promoting the efficiency of the Church as at showing sympathy with her hard-working and often under-paid ministers.
Vice-Chairman, C.P.I.
The Clergy Pensions Institution, November 15th.
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