TITHE REDEMPTION.
[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR.") Eni,—A "leader " in the Times emphasizes the urgency of tithe redemption. There appear to me to be three important factors : (1) A clerical tithe-owner now receives £107 for every £77 received before the war-30 per cent. war profits. The urban vicar, whose salary comes from other sources, has no such windfall. In many eases the country parson is overpaid and underworked, while his town colleague is underpaid and overworked. (2) The farmer, who benefits by the rise in the price of corn, no longer pays the tithe unless he is also the owner, but the landowner, who often cannot increase his rents proportionately and against whom mortgage interest rate may have been raised, is unfairly mulcted. (3) The tithe-payer often has a grievance, either because he does not " hold" with the actual persuasion or the ecclesiastical methods of the incumbent, whom willy-nilly he must support, or because he has a shrewd suspicion that in days gone by a part of the tithe was applied to uses which have since become a public charge. For voluntary redemption to be a success its terms must be both inviting and remunerative. I suggest, therefore, the following proposals : (1) The value of redemption should be fixed at par and the redemption should be a 5 per cent. investment—e.g., an annual charge of .f.5, to be redeemable by a payment of .t100. (2) The " redeemer " should have the option of allocating 25 per cent. of the capital payment to any of a number of religious or charitable objects, such as Roman Catholic Church, Free Church Denomina- tions, Hospitals, and Theological Scholarships. By such a scheme, on the one hand, Church income will not be less than in pre-war times, and an opportunity will arise for the overdue adjust- ment of income as between " fat " and " lean" livings; while, en the other hand, it will pay a landowner to redeem, and remove an old grievance by giving him a limited choice in the distribution of part of the funds.—I am, Sir, &c., A LAYMAN IN KHAKI.
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