§ SIR JOHN PULESTON (Devonport)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether the Government can give the assurance that the Tithes Bill, now withdrawn, will be introduced and pressed forward early next Session?
§ MR. J. MORE (Shropshire, Ludlow)May I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether his attention has been called to the fact that the following statement occurs in nine Memorials sent by the clergy of nine Welsh counties to the Prime Minister:—
That a transfer of the liability from the tenant to the landowner would doubtless afford 125 much present relief; but that, as not a few of the landowners are themselves hostile to tithes, your Memorialists venture to Submit that the substitution of landowners for tenants can only be regarded as a temporary expedient, which may at no distant day open the door to a fresh and probably more disastrous agitation;and whether he will decline to pledge the Government to the re-introduction of the Tithe Rent-Charge Recovery Bill until the policy of appointing a Joint Committee of Members of both Houses of Parliament to consider the value of tithe rent-charge, with a view to its possible redemption, is finally decided upon?
§ MR. W. H. SMITHMy attention has been drawn to Memorials of the character referred to by the hon. Member who has just sat down. I am unable to give any pledge beyond those I have already given as to the course of legislation next Session. I have stated that, without committing themselves absolutely, the Government regard favourably the suggestion for the appointment next Session of a Committee of both Houses to inquire into the tithe rent-charge question.