HC Deb 29 June 1899 vol 73 cc991-3
MR. STRACHEY (Somerset, S.)

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture if he can state what sum will be deducted in each case from the amount payable to each county borough or administrative county out of the Local Taxation Grant to provide the £87,000 taken from the grant under the Tithe Rent-charge (Rates) Bill.

* THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE (Mr. LONG,) Liverpool, West Derby

I understand the hon. Member to ask what would be the share of each administrative county and county borough in a sum of £87,000 distributed as the estate duty is distributed, that is, in the proportion of what are known as the discontinued grants. To give this information in every case would necessitate a considerable number of somewhat elaborate calculations, but I may perhaps ear that in the case of the hon. Member's own county—Somersetshire—the amount would be £1,416, or between one-seventh and one-eighth of a penny in the pound of the rateable value of the county, and the result is not materially different in other cases.

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

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he will state what is the amount of the sums now annually paid in lieu of tithe which will come within the provisions of the Tithe Rent-charge (Rates) Bill.

* MR. LONG

No information is available as to the amount of the payments to which the hon. Member refers, but it is not of any magnitude as compared with that of the tithe rent-charges themselves, and it is of course only where the payments are rateable, which is not always the case, that any relief would be afforded under the Bill.

MR. CHANNING (Northamptonshire, E.)

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture what is the amount of tithe rent-charge held by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who pay the proceeds to augment the income of benefices, and why the relief granted under the Tithe Rent-charge (Rates) Bill is not extended to rates on tithe rent-charge in the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

* MR. LONG

The commuted amount of the tithe rent-charge in the possession of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners may be taken at £350,000. It is not proposed to extend the provisions of the Bill to the income thus received by the Commissioners, as it appears to us there is a clear distinction between tithe rent-charge specifically assigned to a particular benefice and tithe rent-charge forming part of a common fund such as that in the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

MR. CHANNING

But is not the tithe rent-charge held by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners as a trust, in order to dispose of its proceeds for the benefit of incumbents?

* MR. LONG

That is so, I believe.

MR. CHANNING

Then why is not the same principle applied to them?

(No answer was given.)

MR. J. H. ROBERTS

I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury when the Committee stage of the Tithe Rent-charge (Rates) Bill will be taken.

THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, E.

I propose to put it down for Thursday next.