§ "The new clauses have been prepared with the view of providing facilities for the redemption of tithe rentcharge without any advance of capital, and upon terms as easy as possible to the landowner.
§ "It is proposed to effect the redemption by converting the permanent payment varying with the 'averages' into a fixed payment by way of terminable annuity, including principal and interest, for a limited number of years.
§ "In order to make the annual payment as small as possible, it is proposed to extend the payment over a term of fifty-two years, and to reduce the rate of interest below the rates usually charged by the Public Works Loan Commissioners for advances made by them.
§ "The rate of interest proposed to be charged in computing the terminable annuity is three and live-eighths per cent., about one half per cent, less than the rate which is usually charged by the insurance offices for advances repayable by instalments over a term of fifty years.
§ "The extinction of a tithe rentcharge of the 'commuted value' of one hundred pounds per annum could be secured upon these terms by a fixed annual payment of ninety pounds for a period of fifty-two years.
§ "The landowner would pay for a limited number of years a fixed payment ten per cent. below the commuted amount, and should he at any time during the term be desirous of discharging his land from the payment, he could do so by paying, without notice, the balance of capital remaining unpaid at the end of any half year of the term.
§ "The above terms are not, except as respects tithe rentcharge under two pounds, stated in the new clauses, as some variation in the terms must necessarily be required to meet exceptional cases.
§ "The payments, whether of capital or by way of annuity, would be made to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and carried by them to a separate fund to be called the 'Redeemed Tithe Fund.' Out of this fund payments would be made half-yearly by the Commissioners to the owner of the tithe redeemed or in course of redemption. The payment to the tithe-owner in respect of each one hundred pounds of 'com- 851 muted amount' of tithe rentcharge would be seventy pounds, free of all deductions excepting income tax. This would he the exact equivalent of a sale at twenty years purchase, the money being paid down and invested in a three and a half per cent. stock at par.
§ "These payments would he charged upon the 'Redeemed Tithe Fund,' and the proportions of the annuities which would provide the required capital by the end of the term would be invested half yearly as they were paid.
§ "The clauses relating to the compulsory redemption of amounts under two pounds have been prepared upon the same terms, and would ensure the extinction of these small payments without inflicting any hardship upon the small freeholders, as they would only have to pay a fixed payment for a definite number of years equal to nine-tenths of the 'commuted amount.' And in the event of their being in a position to discharge the outstanding balance of the purchase money, it could be paid off at the end of any half year without notice.
§ "20th May 1887."