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THE TITHE AGITATIONI IN WALES.I

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THE TITHE AGITATION IN WALES. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners have issued to the tithe-payers of the PriDcipality a statement of their position in connection with the tithe agitation now taking place. Tli-, statement is printed in English and Welsh, and in it the Commissioners wish their position with reference to the tithe-rent charge to be thoroughly understood. The Com- missioners are only trustees of a fund consisting partly of tithe-rent charge, pttrfcly of agricaltnral tents, and partly of other property. This fund is heavily charged with payments in augmentation of the incomes of more than 5000 of the poor olergy. These payments amount to £ 600,000 per annum, in addition to the fixed incomes of bishops, deans, and chapters, to whom the greater part of the estates formerly belonged. Tithe-rent charge is similar to land tax and income tax, which are only paid by the tenant on behalf of the landlord, and it <8 a charge prior to the rent. Rent is fixed only after dednctiou of the tithe-rent charge. The legislature provided that the tithe-rent charge shonld vary with the price of corn, on a seven years' average. At the present time it is 12J per cent. less than the par value," and nearly 25 per cent. less than it was in 1878. The Tithe Act provided that the tenant should pay the tithe-rent charge on behalf of the landlord, and deduct it from his next payment of rent. But landlords and tenauts have agreed be- tween themselves that, iustead of the tenant paying a larger rent acd deducting from it the tithe-rent charge, the tenant shall pay a reduced rent and take the payment of the tithe-rent charge upon him- self. Jtjy doing so the tenant has had for several years past the benefit of the fall in the averages, as in fixing the rent it is the commuted amount which is deducted, and not the sum payable in any particular year, which is now, as above stated, some 121 per cent, below the" commuted valne. 11 The commissioners, as owners of agricultural lands, have made large and liberal allowances (varying from 15 to 40 per cent.) from the rents pay- able to them. It is only from these rents, and not from the tithe rent charge, that allowances can rightly be made to enable the tenants to meet the severe agricultural depression. A recent parlia- mentary paper shows that while the whole income derived by the commissioners from property of every description in Wales does not exceed zC31,000 per annum, the payments made by the commis- sioners for the Church in Wales exceed £ 65,000 per annum. Writing to the Times, Colonel Cornwallis West stiyij: "I have reason t. believe that thetithe-payera are many of them strongly adverse to the assembling of mobs at the distraint sales. though they pnsh their objection to pay unless a reduction is made to the length of insisting on force being nsed-being determined in the resistance they offer to show their deep dissatisfaction at the want of considera. tion they receive at the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and other lay titlieowners. There are, however, some ill-advised persons, not them- selves tithe-payers, who in order to bring the political issue into greater prominence, stop at nothing, and It is they, and not the protesting farmers, who are distinctly anBwerable for the presence of excited crowds at these sales and for the consequent action forced upon the county authority, with the unha^ov results we have seen. It is melancholy to cfhink wbiot thes irresPQneible advisers of the people have brought about among a population hitherto famed for its love of law and order. However desirable in themselves the measures demanded by the Welsh people maybe, they can never be promoted by lawlessness. In fact, the question of the disestablishment of the State Church (which by no stretch of imagination can be oalled the Church of the people) is pre- judiced by its supposed connection with the anti- tithe riots, and a cause which is steadily gaining ground and receiving the candid consideration of many Conservatives both in and out of Parliament, ia inevitably doomed to be further postponed if it is suspeoted in any way to be mixed up with dis- orderly proceedings which no Executive Govtrn- ment in the world could for a moment tolerate. That this is the opinion of many Liberals in Denbighshire who are strong disestablishment men is amply proved by the letters I daily receive on the subject." Captain Griffith-Boscawen has written to Mr O. Morgan, M.P., complaining of the terms of a question he pnt in the House of Commons, as re- flesting upon his remarks when presiding at iRuthin Quarter Sessions, having referenoe to the riots in Wales. The police of this county," he said," have been placed in exceedingly difficult and trying circumstances during the last nine or ten months, and, in my opinion, have endeavoured to do their duty. Surely, in face of the inquiry about to be held into their conduct at Mochdre. it is scaroely fair that you,our county member and a magistrate, should prejudice their case by stating that' they beat in the heads and broke the arms of very old men, of inoffensive cripples, and of parish idiots', merely because such statements have appeared in some of the newspapers—statements which the police havebad as yet no opportunity of questioning or refuting." In reply, Mr O. Morgan disclaimed any intention to attribute want of impartiality to Captain Griffith-Boscawen in the discharge of his judicial duties but said he saw nothing in what he had said to regret or retract, adding that he would 11 be sincerely glad it the police can clear them- selves of the somewhat grave imputations which now rest upon them." Captain Griffith-Boscawen, in his rejoin:1er,exprpsss a belief that Mr Morgan's statements must tend to prejudice the police.

IMPORTANT DISCUSSION IN THE…

INEWS IN BRIEF. I

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SERIOUS CHARGE AGAINST A LLANFAIRFECHAN…

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