The first-reading debate on the Disestablishment Bill was concluded on
Thursday. The principal speech was Mr. Lloyd George's in defence of the Bill. He affirmed that the great majority of the Welsh people were convinced of the injustice of the present state of affairs, and asked why the Anglican Church should be chosen out of the five great denominations in Wales as the national exponent of its religion. Mr. Lloyd George proceeded to argue against the necessity for a con- nexion between religion and the State, and dealt next with the question of disendownient. No one, he asserted, really believed that the ancient endowments in Wales were intended for a Church holding the doctrines of the Church of England. If the State could modify trusts for the benefit of a denomination, it could also modify them for the benefit of a nation. Mr. Lloyd George, though he announced his intention to avoid giving offence, provoked considerable feeling among the Opposition in the course of his speech. The first-reading division was carried by 331 votes to 253. This gave the Government a majority of 78 instead of their full 114. It was at first believed that this was due to the lack of Irish support, but this was subsequently found not to be the case; and the extremely significant fact is revealed in Friday's Times that probably over twenty Liberal members deliberately abstained from voting, and thus accounted for the great fall in the Government's majority.
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