Crocliford's Clerical Directory. (Horace Cox. 20s.)—It is needless to praise
Crockford for its completeness and accuracy. Its character for these qualities is perfectly well established. We have had the pleasure of noticing it for many years—it is now in its forty-first year—and can testify to the care whieb has been taken in its development. A. few words may be said on two questions of rating which are discussed in the preface. The first is the Income-tax charged on Easter offerings. The practical point is this : let every one who makes such an offering clearly indicate that it is given for some special purpose, for a holiday, for books, or'any like object. Is there not a customary Easter offering, now of course obsolete, of fourpence for every household P If so, might it not be argued that everything in excess of this sum is a gift P. If a tithe-owner chooses to double his payment, the excess is not taxable. The other point is the rating of a burial-ground which brings in a profit to the clergyman. We must own that we cannot see any hardship in this. To rate a disused churchyard would be an injuatice. The calculation, however, should be subject to some modifications. The ministerial services of the clergyman should not be taxed, only the profit which he gets from the sale of vaurcs, &e. The appendix, giving the names of between four and five hundred clergymen who cannot be traced, is a curious phenomenon.
Previous page
