[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—As a cleric
who does not receive tithes, may I be permitted to call " A Layman in Khaki's" attention to the fact that tithe used- to be paid in kind, and that it was arranged when it was commuted to money that its price should vary with the price of certain provisions, wheat, barley, oats ? There is therefore no hardship in the fact that when these necessaries of life are dearer the clergyman should receive more money as he is no longer paid in kind. It is really a very sensible method, and one which is recognized in every workshOp in the land. The increased incomd of the vicar is just as much a war profit as the increased pay of a collier or an officer in the Army, or the increased piice received by the farmer for the goods he produces; although he only puts the same amount of labour And brains into the production of erops as he did when he received lees than half the present price. There is no " unfairness " in the result, though it may be expe- dient to readjust matters. It seems to me that, as the Govern- ment fixed a maximum for corn, which will, I believe, eventually make the value of tithe 150, a result which they probably did not foresee, the Government could. fairly fix a maximum for tithe, say at about 115, having in view the increased cost of living, and the proportion it bears to the rise in value of tithe.—I am, Sir, &c.,
X. Y. Z.
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