The lowest point reached by the Government in the debates
on Welsh Disestablishment, was the majority of 7 registered on Thursday, when Mr. D. A. Thomas moved to omit the subsection of Clause 6, providing that the Welsh Commissioners should vest any tithe rent-charge in the County Council of the county in which the land out of which the tithe rent-charge proceeds, is situate. It was shown that the greatest possible difficulty would attend the provision when it was applied to a tithe arising out of the lands of one county but devoted to supporting a benefice in another county. For example, a county situated even in England (say Shropshire, of which an instance was quoted) supplies the rent-charge that endows a Welsh benefice, and by this clause the Welsh Commissioners, instead of holding and distributing the tithe themselves, would be forced to vest the revenue of a Welsh benefice in an English County Council. The dis- cussion showed the Government to be quite ignorant of the existence of such cases, of which Mr. D. A. Thomas supplied several instances ; and eventually, though the Government promised to meet such cases by a new clause, Mr. Thomas's amendment was defeated by only 7 votes (172 against 165). The next earthquake shock may be even severer.
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