§ MR. A. C. MORTON (Peterborough)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether the figures given in the Report of Mr. Hunter Pringle as to tithes in Essex are accurate, which show that in that county the tithe under all kinds of crop and fallow and grass is 6s. per acre, giving a rate of 6s. 4½d. per inhabitant, whilst in Lancashire it is 1s. 9¼d. per acre, and 4½d. per inhabitant?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE(Mr. H. GARDNER,) Essex, Saffron WaldenI am not prepared to say that the figures cited by my hon. Friend accurately express the difference between the charge for commuted tithe upon titheable lands in the two counties named, and, indeed, any precise estimate of that difference would be attended with considerable difficulty. But it is, of course, true that the proportions borne by the charge for tithe to the acreage under cultivation and to the number of inhabitants vary very materially according to the agricultural and industrial conditions of the counties compared.