The Life of Sir William Hartley

Conspicuous service was rendered by Mr. Hartley to his Church in connexion with the burden of heavy chapel debts. A period of great commercial prosperity had encouraged the building of chapels on a large scale. The enterprises were undertaken in a sanguine spirit, since it seemed that there was every prospect of paying for them within a reasonable period. The rules requiring a certain proportion of the cost to be raised before building was begun were much less stringent then than they subsequently became. Unfortunately a period of trade depression set in and the rosy anticipations with which the trustees had faced the future were in very many instances grievously falsified. The condition became one of acute struggle. The rate of interest was often high; the people themselves were much poorer; to meet the current liabilities often imposed a heavy strain upon them; to reduce the debt, except by desperate efforts, was well-nigh impossible. The situation excited widespread concern and various suggestions were made for grappling with the problem. The matter came before the Conference held at Reading in 1885. Among the communications sent in there was an important one from Mr. Hartley. In this he drew attention to the high rate of interest paid in many cases. He urged that a company should be created to borrow and lend money at reasonable rates and with easy repayment, and that it should be managed on rigid business lines. A committee was appointed with Mr. Hartley as one of its members and with the Rev. J. Travis as convener. The policy which Mr. Hartley advocated had been carefully thought out by him several years earlier, and he had pressed it on the attention of denominational leaders. But at that time he had not established his reputation as a financial expert, brilliant, far-sighted and safe; and his proposals were almost universally regarded as impracticable. In _The Origin and History of the Primitive Methodist Church_ the Rev. H. B. Kendall thus summarises the reasons urged against the scheme.

-"One of these objections was that the margin of profit allowed for the payment of expenses was too small; another that the people of our Church had no money to invest, and if they had they would not invest it in this company; another that trustees who borrowed would not feel the same obligations to pay promptly as though they had borrowed in the ordinary way--through a solicitor."