The President said that as to the main principle of Church 



Restoration he did not suppose there could be any difference of 



opinion at that Congress. Last year the Congress supported a 



Resolution brought forward by Mr. Johnston approving of the 



principle that a Committee appointed by the Local Society should 



act as an Advisory Connnittee to the Bishop of the Diocese in 



connection with the granting of faculties for Church restoration. 



The Congress instructed the Council to draw up a reconnnendation 



I for circulation among the Hishops. This instruction the Council did 



not strictly carry out, and as Mr. Johnston thought the Council's 



resolution might render his own of less utility, Mr. Johnston 



■ desired to bring forward a supplementary Resolution, which would 



I make the two in the Council's report run together in double harness. 



Mr. P. M. Johnston (Surrey) said that the Special Committee 



had already been set up in Sussex. Its working in conjunction with 



the Bishop of Chichester served as a model for other Counties. He 



I was alive to the importance of the work of local societies being 



carried on with the fullest sympathy of the Society of Antiquaries, 



' but he felt that although the Society of Antiquaries had its secretaries 



i in different parts of tlie country they could not always have access 



I to information in the same way as the local Archaeological Societies 



had. It was of the utmost importance that faculties should be 



applied for in every case where a church fabric was involved, 



; because, from an archaeological point of view, any alteration or 



' addition might be of supreme interest. The putting up of panelling 



^ or the remo\'al of a screen might seem a detail in the eyes of clergy- 



i men or parishioners, but to archaeologists it might be of the utmost 



' importance. If a faculty had to be applied for in every case 



archaeologists would have timely warning, and, if the Bishop of the 



I Diocese could forbid any threatened mischief, it would prevent the 



\ little acts of mischief which were constantly occurring. This was 



where the local societies could prove more useful than one or two 



; secretaries of a central body. If the local societies had not sufficient 



' weight to pre\'ent damage to a church an appeal could then be made 



to the Society of Antic[uaries. Me mo\ed the following rider to the 



' Council's recommendation : — 



"That this Congress of Archicological Societies of England, 

 Wales, and Ireland, recognising the importance of local 

 knowledge and influence, approxes the step already 

 taken by the Sussex Arclueological Society in setting up a 

 Special (^)iniiiilte(' to watch over the ecclesiastical 

 anti(|uiti('s of that County, to warn the Bishop of any 

 tineatened mischief to an ancient church, and to tender 

 advice where a faculty is applied for within the Diocese 

 of Chichester. The Congress further commends this 

 arrangement to the consideration of other local archaeo- 

 logical societies for imitation where circumstance allow, 

 such local action to be supplementary to the general 

 powers sought to be obf .lined foi' the Society of 

 Anticiuaries through the Ancient Monuments Royal 

 Commissions (Lngkind and Wales)." 



lb 



