§ (The Lord Henniker.)
§ (NO. 151.) COMMITTEE.
§ Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee, read.
§ LORD HENNIKER,in moving that the House do now go into Committee on the Bill, explained that the measure was a very short one. It passed the House of Commons without discussion, and had the approval of the Home Secretary, 206 the Tithe Commission, the Ecclesiastical Commission, and the Queen Anne's Bounty Board; but as he had not explained to their Lordships the provisions of the Bill on the second reading, he would do so on the present occasion. According to the present law, an owner of building land could compel the tithe owner of such land to consent to the redemption of the rent - charge, the amount received was paid over to Queen Anne's Bounty Board and invested in Consols. There were no other compulsory powers on either side. The owner of non-building land could exchange it for land as a better possession for the tithe rent-charge on his estate, or he could redeem the rent-charge on his lands up to 20s. a-year, with the consent of the tithe owner in either case. No further power existed at present. The Bill before their Lordships merely extended existing Acts; it created no new machinery. Clause 1 extended the compulsory power as to building lands to other cases, which experience had shown it necessary to include. Clause 3 extended the provisions of 9th & 10th of the Queen, c. 73, s. 5, and allowed either the landowner or tithe owner to redeem without the consent of other parties. Their Lordships would see in the clause the words, "if they see fit," "they" meaning the Tithe Commissioners; so that full protection was given so far as the payment of money was concerned. By Clause 4, the tithe owner and the land owner, with the consent of the Bishop and Patron, and the approval of the Tithe Commissioners, were enabled to redeem the rent-charge, which could not now be done, however advantageous such a proceeding might be to both parties. There was no fear of any injustice occurring under the clause, guarded as it was by the necessity for the approval of the Tithe Commission, and the contents to which he had referred. As some Amendments were to be proposed to the Bill, he had thought it necessary to make this short explanation to their Lordships.
THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURYsaid, that he would reserve the Amendments of which he had given Notice until the third reading.
§ House in Committee; Bill reported without Amendment, and to be read 3a on Monday next.