HC Deb 13 July 1899 vol 74 cc694-5
MR. EDMUND ROBERTSON (Dundee)

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture if he will specify respectively the rates referred to in Clause 4 of the Tithe Rent-charge (Rates) Bill as rates which the owner of tithe rent-charge is liable as compared with the occupier of buildings to be assessed to or to pay on the proportion of one-half and of less than one-half; and if he will name the enactments by which the rate is in each case imposed in the proportion mentioned.

* MR. LONG

The object of the exception in Clause 4 of the Bill is to exclude from relief those rates in respect of which owners of tithe rent-charge have already been placed by Statute in as good or better position than that in which they will be placed under the Bill. The most important rates which fall within this category are the general district rate in urban districts, and the special expenses rate in rural districts which are levied in conformity with Sections 211 and 230 of the Public Health Act, 1875, and rates levied for the expenses arising under the Lighting and Washing Act, 1833, in conformity with Section 33 of that Act, as extended by the Tithe Rating Act, 1851.

MR. J. H. ROBERTS (Denbighshire, W.)

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he will state the aggregate amount of the deduc- tions which will be made under the Tithe Rent-charge (Rates) Bill from the sums now payable to the local authorities in Wales and Monmouthshire.

* MR. LONG

The aggregate amount of the shares of the counties and county boroughs in Wales and Monmouthshire in a sum of £87,000 distributed in the proportion of what are known as the "discontinued grants" would be £3,982.

MR. LLOYD MORGAN (Carmarthenshire,W.)

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he will state the amount which will be deducted from the sum payable to the County of Carmarthen out of the Local Taxation grant under the Tithe Rent-charge (Rates) Bill.

* MR. LONG

The share of the County of Carmarthen in a sum of £87,000 distributed in the proportion of what are known as the "discontinued grants" would amount to £277.

MR. D. A. THOMAS (Merthyr Tydvil)

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture if he will consent to the motion for a Return relating to the amounts to be deducted in respect of the Tithe Rent-charge (Rates) Bill from the sums receivable by local authorities on account of the Estate Duty Grant, standing on to-day's Paper.

* MR. LONG

It would not be practicable to give the Return asked for without a detailed investigation of the circumstances as they at present exist in each parish in which tithe rent-charge is attached to a benefice, and even therefore if the value of such a Return were equivalent to the cost and labour of its preparation, which we do not think would be the case, it could not be made available until long after the Bill will, as we hope, have passed into law.