19 APRIL 1834, Page 12

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

THE NEW TITHE PROJECT.

Loan Amonte's propo&tion on the subject of Tithes, is of a mingled yarn. By transferring the impost from the produce to the rent, it removes all the obstacles which the institution of tithe previously placed to the application of what may for distinc- tion be called the farmer's capital, to the improvement of land. All that " belt " of land, as the phrase has been, which has been kept out of cultivation because nine-tenths of the produce would not replace the expenses with a profit though the ten-tenths would have done it, is completely liberated ; as well as freedom given to the application of those other portions of the farmer's capital which were prevented from being applied to the higher dressing of lands of all descriptions susceptible of it. But while this is done with one hand, the operation of tithe in checking the outlay of landlords on speculative improvements is carefully pre- served, by the provision which makes the annual value of the land subject to revision every seven years, thereby giving the Church a claim to one-tenth of all the possible improvements. The effect of this is manifestly to prohibit all improvements by the landlord within certain limits; on a principle closely analogous to the old ope- ration of tithe upon the capital of the farmer. For example, if nine per cent he assumed as the profit the prospect of which would tempt the landlord's speculation, Lord ALTHORP'S project prohibits all speculations that promise between nine per cent and ten. In fact, it relieves the farmers, but preserves the twigs of the old birch for the benefit of landlords. The Church has always stickled violently for its share in the profits that can only be created by the removal of its own mischief; and as the Whigs must always make a needless concession to somebody, they make it this time to the Church. The Landlords are made game of. Not that there is any violent interest felt for landlords; but those who are most sanguine in their expectations of shortly seeing the lion taken by the beard, may be the least disposed to begin the contest by nibbling at his tail. Why cannot the Elting be done as it was done in Scotland? A Scottish minister sometimes sets up a claim for an increased sum out of the kinds; which amounts to averring that he has not got a sufficient portion out of 'he original valuation. But there is no such thing as saying to the landlord, "You have doubled your rent by improvements, therefore double your pay- ment to the Church."

The noble mover, if correctly reported, appears to have been sorely puzzled on the question of Poor-rates. The simple object to be attained would appear to be, in a case for example where the Church has now 2001. a year from tithes, to discover the means of giving it the same ZOO/. a year by a levy on the rent, taking into the account always that the rent will at the same time be augmented by at least 2001. Without this last consideration, the taking the tithe out of the rent, as in the famous case of carrot- seed where the tithe was Si. an acre and the rent 2/., might be a conundrum for the feelosophers. See if some portion of the Col- lective Wisdom does not ask this very question; and if the Go- vernment can answer it.