HC Deb 11 December 1929 vol 233 cc461-2
73. Mr. GRANVILLE

asked the Minister of Agriculture if he intends appointing a committee of inquiry into the whole question of the payment of tithe?

The MINISTER of AGRICULTURE (Mr. Noel Buxton)

The question of tithe rentcharge was exhaustively discussed during the passage through Parliament of the Tithe Act, 1925, which was largely based on a compromise between the various interests concerned, and I am not aware that any serious difficulty in the working of the Act has been revealed. The Government is not prepared, therefore, to set up a committee of inquiry into the matter.

Mr. GRANVILLE

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the working of the 1925 Act is causing acute distress among small arable farmers in East Anglia, and will he take steps to consider the lightening of their burden?

Mr. BUXTON

Complaints of the working of the Act have not reached me.

Viscount LYMINGTON

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that some fields of exactly the same arable value are paying 12s. 6d. an acre in tithe and some 1s. an acre?