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ADDITIONAL CURATES' SOCIETY. f THK Committee of the Additional Curates' Society (51, Belgrave-road, S.W. 1) announces that 600 curates are now receiving augmented stipends through the higher grants which the society is giving for the purpose. More than 300 of these r stipends have been raised to £ 200 or an even higher figure-

f THEIK, MAJESTIES THE KING, AND QUEEN and Queen Alexandra have gra- ciously accepted copies of the biography of Queen Alexandra,, by David William- Bon, published by Messrs. Oliphants. —

INSURANCE for WOMEN I IMPORTANT I ANNOUNCEMENT I x THE Eagle, Star and British I A Dominions Insurance Co., ■ Ltd., beg announce the opening- ■ of a Women's Section,, which B offers to Women up-to-date and I attractive schemes in all branches § of Insurance. Send a Postcard I for descriptive Booklet to the 1 WOMEN'S SECTION i Manager: Mrs. Marjorie R. Verden ft EAGLE^| £ ?S*STAR & J EKfflS8lS»J0NS I 79, PALL MALL, LONDON, S.W. 1. § HEAD OFFICE: V BRITISH DOMINIONS HOUSE, ROYAL n; EXCHANGE AVENUE, LONDON, E.G. 3. ASSETS EXCEED £ 17,000,000. 18

INCOME-TAX GRIEVANCES. POSITION OF BISHOPS AND CLERGY. (From a Special Correspondent.) THE fourth, and latest, instalment of the evidence given before the Royal Com- mission on Income Tax, which has very recently been published, contains the case for the Church of England. That case was stated by three witnesses—the Bishop of Bristol, the Rev. A. G. B. Atkinson (Rector of Greensted by Ongar, Secretary of the Curates' Augmentation Fund), and Canon Partridge, representing the Central Board of Finance of the Church. The last-named submitted as his evi- dence-in-chief a memorandum on the subject signed by Lord Selborne as Chairman of the Central Board. It is there stated that the clergy of the Church are not receiving equitable treatment under income-tax law as at present ad- ministered," and the Board proceed to state "considerations leading to sugges- tions by the adoption of which they be- lieve that the grievances referred to may be diminished without any injustice to or hardship on other taxpayers. In like manner, Mr. Atkinson's last words under cross-examination were, "as far as the incomes, of the clergy are con- cerned I am all for the fullest investi- gation, because I am sure it will be found that they are paying tax far in excess of others." And the case made by the Bishop of Bristol may be reduced to this, that the Bishops in particular are being made to pay income-tax and super-tax on large assumed sums or values which are not personal beneficial income at all. The Labour Party Demand. In the main, the matters put forward are necessarily almost all special to the Church. One exception is found in the claim that the exemption limit shall be raised to £ 200. This was stated by Mr. Atkinson, and we .think by him only, nor have we noticed that he was cross- examined in regard to it. Our readers. will remember that before the war the exemption limit was £160{ which was during the war reduced to L-130, at which it still stands. Witnesses of all classes before the Commission have agreed that this £ 130 cannot be defended, looking to the greatly increased cost-of living. But the real difficulty is in re- gard to the relations between the exemp- tion limit and the family allowances, which have been- either brought into existence or at least greatly increased since the war began. The demand of the Labour Party is for a limit of t250 with all these allowances in addition. We do not think Mr. Atkinson was given an opportunity of making himself clear on this point, and it makes a great differ- ence. Our own view is that he has just about hit the nail on the head with his L200 figure, at least in the case of a family man, and that the family allow- ances, as they stand at present, should attach in addition. Plea of the Bishop of Bristol. Tie plea of the Bishop of Bristol really oomes to this, that the treatment of the Archbishops and Bishops, under the present income-tax and super-tax rules, is fundamentally wrong. But we think his Lordship acknowledges the dif- ficulty olf readjusting matters on a more equitable, because more -correct, basis. The Teal trouble goes rather deep it is essentially the difference between form and substance, appearance and reality. A huge house is supplied, with a legal obligation to keep it in rejpair. All or most of its annual value goes down as taxable income on the theory that there is commensurate personal beneficial en- joyment, when, in fact; it would often be nearer the truth to say that the edifice is not an asset at all, but a liability. The houses are mostly old, calling for quite exceptional maintenance expendi- ture, and the sums allowed off from taxa- tion on that head a.re totally, and even ludicrously, insufficient. I The injustices are (1) Only one-eighth of the annual value is allowed off as representing official premises, whereas detailed in- 's quiry shows that it is never less than a quarter, often a half, and frequently two-thirds; (2) that only one-sixth is allowed off for repairs, whereas detailed inquiry shows that these rarely come to less tlxani one-half, and frequently amount to much more; and (3) that official hospitality and subscriptions should be allowed for. On the broad aspect of the situation we have the Bishop's evidence that "it is "no exag- geration to say that there is not a single Bishop, on the Bench who, if he had to rely solely on his official income, would not be in an insolvent position to-day." Of course, in saying this his Lordship is allowing for "official subscriptions," and these, we think, form a very difficult item in the tax relations of all ranks of, the clergy. Some lines of reform would require legislation, and that might not be easy. There is also no denying the fact that, even yet, there are many other owners of houses who do not receive justice in regard to the cost of repairs. That seems to make it all the easier to provide a general remedy' which shall meet the case of the heavy cost of main- taining the somewhat oppressive piles of masonry temporarily allotted to the Archbishops and Bishops. Under very recent legislation owners of houses up to L70 rent in London, and jE52 else- where have received substantial (though troublesome) justice in this respect, and apparently all that would be necessary would be to revise the rent limit. And the adoption of -te ordinary professional. r rule of allowing off up to (if proved) two- thirds of annual value, as attaching to the vocation and not to beneficial family use, should meet the Bishop's first claim. It will be more difficult to deal with hospitality and subscriptions. Other Grievances. If the changes which we have sug- gested above were made, then the grievances spoken to by the other Church witnesses would be largely remedied. Indeed, the repairs point is already met in some cases. But some grievances would still remain, such as (1) the taxation of Easter offerings; (2) the over-assessment of the land attached to the benefice; (3) the alleged severely official view of what are neces- sary expenses of serving the cure; and (4) benefice mortgages. Easter offerings are rather a troublesome matter, and there was a breeze in the Commission on the suggestion of avoiding the tax. On the one hand, they have a semi- official sanction; on the other hand, they do, in fact, fluctuate according to the popularity and personal circumstances of the incumbent. The only point of the a void ability argument is to add great force to the contention that these offer- ings are truly in their essence of the nature of personal gifts, and on the whole matter it is our view that the case for exemption from tax is made out. The glebe difficulty would be got over, more or less, by allowing the option to be assessed under Schedule D, or perhaps betfter-though we do not see this sug- gested anywhere in the evidence—by allowing the incumbent to produce an account at the end of the year to show, if he can, that the profit has been less than the Schedule B assessment, or per- haps nil, and then a repayment would follow. As regards expenses, Canon Partridge pins his faith on a judicial dictum of the late Lord Shand, a dis- tinguished Scottish judge, who ulti- mately sat in the House of Lords, to the effect that there should be allowed as deductions from income all such ex- penses as the clergyman is either required by his ecclesiastical superiors to inicur, or are expected of him by the Church, or by ordinary custom, and are for any of these reasons incumbent on the claimant." We respectfully concur with the learned judge, but there may remain not a. little difficulty in application. Interest and Mortgage, Mr. Atkinson's last point- somewhat prejudiced by being stated as an after- thought in a postscript—is that more than one-fifth of the beneficed clergy have annually to pay both interest and an in- stalment of principal on a mortgage, pessibly created by a predecessor under the Gilbert Act, for money which has been applied to the improve- ment of the building. The interest is, but the instalment of princi- pal is not, allowed as a deduction from income. Of course, the official reason is obvious, because principal is just another name for capital, and capital is the antithesis of income. The incumbent must make that payment, and he can claim relief from no one. Each repayment of principal made by him is in effect a sum paid out of his income for the improvement of the benefice. In essence it is exactly the same as the con- siderable expense which has to be faced at intervals of twenty years of ministers of the Church of Scotland in judicial proceedings to obtain an augmentation of the parochial stipend out of the teinds or tithes. That is for the general good of the benefice; it has to be paid by the minister personally out of his stipend yet it has been solemnly decided that it is not a deductible expense for income-tax purposes. Probably both, decisions are sound. Even if so, that will not affect the current of our sympathies. But is it not the true solution, not that the remedy should be found outside the Churches in the form of income-tax re- lief, but that in proper cases the expen- diture in question should be provided, in whole or in part, from central funds of the Church ? And very much better for the incumbent, for it would be relief from the expenditure, and not merely from tax on the expenditure.

MANCHESTER LECTURES. A VERY interesting course of lectures is to be given at Milton Hall, Deansgate, Manchester, under the auspices of the Manchester and Salfoi'd Council of Christian Congregations. The lectures are at 7.30 in the evening on Tuesdays in December, January; 17 February and March. The first is on December 2, by Professor A. S. PeÆtke on Inspiration," when the chair will be taken by the Bishop of Manchester. Professor Peake will give three lectures on this subject. The general subject of the lectures, is Biblical Difficulties from a Modern Standpoint." Principal W. H. Bennett, D.D., will deal with the subject of Old Testament Stories" in the lectures he will give in January.

THE BISHOP or BRISTOL HAS become president of tie South American Missionary Society, in I the place of Bishop Jacob, late of St. Albans, the place of Bishop Jacob. late of St. Albans. who has resigned.

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