On Tuesday night, the opposition to the Bill among the
Conservative and Liberal 1Tnionist Members was still further developed, the Ministerial majority in repeated divisions falling perilously low. Under such circumstances, the Govern- ment had but one course,—to reconsider their position. On Wednesday afternoon, the Attorney-General, who was in charge of the measure, announced that it had been decided to substitute " owner " for " occupier " in the Bill,—that is to say, to throw the onus of tithe-paying at once on the landlords, and so to create a complete revolution in the policy of the scheme. From a Bill to prevent riots over the enforcement of tithe by substituting a County-Court suit for the process of distraint, the measure is changed into a fundamental settlement of the whole problem. After this announcement, it was agreed to postpone the further consideration of the clauses till Friday, when amend- ments affecting the change, and providing against any injustice being done under contracts where tithe is made payable by the occupier, and where proportionately low rents were demanded, or where the land cannot produce even the tithe charged on it, were introduced on behalf of the Govern- ment. Whether these amendments will be ruled out of order, as contrary to the decisions arrived at on going into Com- mittee, will not be decided till too late to be commented on here. If they are, however, the Government should introduce a new Bill, even if it forces the House to sit through September. As to the general policy of the measure, we have spoken at length elsewhere. Here we will only express our strong approval of the new settlement, and our astonishment that the Ministry should have only become aware of the temper of the House after wasting two days in fruitlessly upholding a Course to which they did not intend to adhere:
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