It was agreed in 1870 between some of the leading Laity of the Counties
of Hants and Surrey and the then Bishop of the Diocese that the sum asked
should only be five shillings, payable annually by each parish and
ecclesiastical district by the hands of the Churchwardens. When there is
an election of a Proctor to Convocation, an additional shilling is added,
making the total due six shillings. It was also decided at the meeting
before referred to that this charge might be defrayed out of the
offertory or other voluntary collections for Church purposes in any
parish or ecclesiastical district. I am happy to say that the cases are,
comparatively speaking, rare in which the Churchwardens decline to pay
this charge, reduced by voluntary action as it has been from the legal
figure of eighteen shillings to either five shillings or in some years
six shillings, the extra shilling being added when an election of a
Proctor for the Archdeaconry takes place.