A correspondent sends the "Mamnchester Guardian" some little-known. information relating to the cost of becoming a bishop, the recond appointment to Gloucester being case for illustration. If under present conditions the person chosen for a see spends, from the time the postman brings him the news until he disrobes after his enthrone-mest, less than £500, he is an adept in the art of economical outlay, The first thing required is a fee by the Home Secretary for his warrant, costing £7, 133. 6d. Then the Attorney-General has a claim of £9.- 8s. 6d. A Royal recommendation to the particular Dean and Chapter costs £9. 3s. 6d. Next an office called the Petty Bag Office calls, in two parts, for the sum of £95.23, A fiat from the Primate costs £21, The Vicar-General calls a "stand-and-deliver" which relieves the bishop of £31. The Library of Doctors' Commons demands £20, and not less than £10 is the cost of the installation mandate.
Already just over £200 has been spent, mainly in stamps and not a word about clothes. A bishop needs what may be termed walking working, and ceremonial garb. The first must consist of the specially built silk hat, costing more than an ordinary ''topper," the indispens ble "apron," and the gaiters, which again are more expensive than spats, The working clothes will be such as he would require for dedications, confirmations and attendance in the House of Lords, and consist of black and white robes with long sleeves and bands. These,- again, are not cheap. But it is when ho comes to: buy the garments worn at consecration and such rare occasions as coronations that the notes begin to fly in fifties. He needs for this sort of thing gold-embroidered robes, a mitre, a crozier, a pastoral cross, and at alli times the episcopal ring. When all this is totalled not far short of £500 hag been spent.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.