THE TITHE QUESTION
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
Sra,—Surely it is a, misuse of language to speak of the Government proposals, as the Dean of Chichester, does in your issue of March 13th, and Lord Hugh Cecil and others in recent numbers of The Times, as " confiscation of property." The tithe rent-charge was stabilised in 1918 at .44 per cent. increase on pre-War values ; in 1925 it was decreed . to perpetuate it at the same figure, assuming, as many people did, that War prices were going to continue indefinitely ; that expectation having proved entirely -erroneous, the Government propose to stabilise it, together with a redemptkiff' scheme, still at a materially higher figure than the values which prevailed for at least thirty years before the War ; and the tithe-payers, themselves getting no increase on the rents received before the War, and their expenses of main- tenance being largely increased, are to bear not only the higher valuation, but also the cost of a redemption scheme, and a contribution of £72,000 yearly for sixty years, to help the poorer clergy. Which side is really being treated best ?-
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