The Tithe Rent-Charge Bill has at last passed the House.
of Commons, and if the Lords are prudent, may be regarded as past its perils. It does not settle all the great issues in- volved, and the Welsh Members maintain that it will do little- to restore peace in Wales. But then, in spite of their strenuous protestations that in the abstract they wish to. protect the public property in tithe, there seems to be every evidence that in the concrete they wish to whittle away that species of public property. In any case, it is certain that the- Tithe Rent.Charge Bill, if it becomes an Act, will help the- farmers to realise from whose pockets the tithe really comes, and who will be the ultimate gainers if the tithe is ever extinguished by the mere force of passive resistance to its payment. If
tithe were simply extinguished to-morrow, the farmers would pay what they now pay, the next day,—unless, indeed, the competition for farms were rapidly declining. Tho landlord would pocket the difference.
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