The date of the letter from the Diocesan Board of Finance (end of page 3) was 13 February 1929. There is no record of correspondence with Canon Dale or the Board so it is impossible to tell if matters lay dormant or if Colonel Drew was trying to hasten the legal formalities in some way but on the on the 16 April 1929 .....

Wilson & Son Salisbury 16 April 1929 The correspondence in this matter has been handed to me as Solicitor for the Salisbury Diocesan Board of Finance The matter was brought before the Trust Committee of the Board at their Meeting last month and a resolution recommending the acceptance of the Trust was passed. I take it that the proposed Deed of Gift will be prepared by the Solicitor acting for the Parochial Church Council or for Lord Wimborne and will then be submitted to me for approval on behalf of the Board. It is a rule of the Board that no Trusts are undertaken unless the legal expenses of the Board are satisfactorily met by the Applicant. Wil you please, therefore, let me know who will be responsible for my charges in the matter, which will include fees payable to the Charity Commissioners for enrolling the Deed.

Now another problem - money. If there is one thing that sends shudders down the spine of a Parochial Church Council it is spending money (then and now), especially for fees and charges. Accordingly Colonel Drew wrote to enquire the extent of the charges involved

29 April 1929 I must apologise for not having replied to your letter of 16th inst. but I have been away from home. Before my Council can accept any responsibility or even before they can consider its acceptance they must know approximately what yor fees will be. Lord Wimbornes Land is all registered in the Land Registry so there will be no long or difficult investigation of title. I shall therefore be obliged if you will furnish me with the desired information. Yours faithfully Charles D Drew, Hon Secretary, West Parley Parochial Church Council

This page of the history was written in November 2006. We are now about to consider monetary values of 1929 - how best to convey meaning to readers of the current age. Well you have a choice, to keep on reading, or click here and get a pop-up with some data

Wilson & Son Salisbury 4 May 1929 Your letter of the 29th ultimo (see footnote) has been received by me this morning. It is very difficult to give any estimate of costs when the matter is not governed by Scale Charges. If I am concerned only with approving the Conveyance or Transfer on behalf of the Board as Holding Trustees, and also satisfying myself concerning the Trusts upon which the property is to be held, the costs should not normally exceed £3-3-0 or £4-4-0. In addition, however, to these costs there will be the costs on registering the Transfer at the Land Registry, the ad valorem stamp duty on the Transfer and the Fees of the Charity Commissioners for recording the Deed. The charity Commissioners' fees usually amount to something in the neighbourhood of £2-2-0. The other fees I cannot anticipate but I should think £1-1-0 would cover them. As, however, the whole question of costs must depend entirely upon what I am called upon to do I must reserve the right to revise all or any of the figures which I have quoted. If the Paraochial Curch Council consider that the charges are not fair and reasonable they can, of course, always have them taxed.

Now we have a stumbling block. The charges would probably amount to no more than £10. Elsewhere on this site it is recorded that the lock and key to All Saints church was renewed about this time at a cost of 6s/6d, this is .325 of a pound, so the solicitors fees was nearly 31 times more costly than the lock. Remember also that at that time Ferndown and West Parley were small undeveloped village / townships and the pressure on land use was not felt so greatly so there was no feeling of urgency as there would be today, and after all, they had a Parish Church - All Saints West Parley.

So far 304 days have elapsed since the start of this endeavour on the 5th July 1928. Correspondence has been dealt with promptly but like Christian in Pilgrims Progress we are about to enter the Slough of Despair while the Devil does his best to allow money to confound the progress towards the new church.

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footnote : Fashions in letter writing change -
16th Ultimo = 16th of previous month
16th Inst = 16th of this month
scale fees : At one time the amounts that solicitors could charge were set out in a published scale based on value, so that the fees you would encounter could be seen well in advance; hence "scale fees"
taxed : This is not tax as in income tax you pay to the government. In the legal world this means to examine a charge or fee against criteria to establish if it is a fair charge in relation to the work done. The word tax originates from the old french word taxer or latin taxare to censure, charge or compute

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