Your article of June 27 regarding the financial position of the Anglican Diocese, setting out its intent to sell off church property to meet these requirements, raises the question of the circumstances in which the properties were originally gained. It should be remembered that it has been the custom of churches to seek, and inevitably obtain their properties free of cost, when many of them were setting up shop during the last few centuries. They successfully pleaded that the church functions were beneficial to the surrounding population. They then pressed for, and eventually gained the property. The relevant local authority thus pursued, then transferred the property to the church without cost. In effect, the town residents paid for the land with their taxes. It should be a matter of honest reparation on the part of the church authorities today to recognise these historical facts – to assure minimum opprobrium, perhaps! – if the people in the community are more generous than they have cause to be.