49 



was taken sucla a lease as that indicated might meet this 

 difficulty. Some step should be taken in the direction of 

 increased security, for not only in times of prosperity is the 

 objection sure to be revived, but in the present crisis it is 

 repeatedly used against glebeowners. 



But the chief obstacle by which glebeowners are impeded is 

 the want of compensation for unexhausted improvements. 

 On the one hand, incoming incumbents should be able to 

 claim against their predecessors compensation for neglect of 

 glebe lands ; on the other, outgoers should be able to claim fi-om 

 their successors compensation for unexhausted improvements. 

 The outgoer should stand towards his successor in the double 

 relation of a tenant to a landlord and of a landlord to a tenant. 

 lie should enjoy the benefits and incur the liabilities of the 

 Agricultural Holdings Act. At the same time care must be 

 exercised that no improvements are claimed which are not 

 absolutely necessary or indisputably useful. For this purpose the 

 assistance of an experienced surveyor is essential ; and such 

 an officer might well unite his functions as a check upon 

 extravagance with his duties as a guide to inexperience. 

 Whatever legislation is framed to confer upon incumbents 

 security for their unexhausted improvements might well 

 contain clauses clearing up all doubtful points, such as the right 

 of incumbents to emblements on lands which they hold in their 

 own hands. At the present moment an incumbent who resigns 

 his benefice is not entitled to growing crops, because he deter- 

 mines his interest in the estate by his own act. The existing 

 law can hardly be considered in a satisfactory state. A Bill 

 dealing with many of these and kindred topics has, I believe, 

 been framed by the Archdeacon of Oakham. 



The amount of the loans charged upon clerical residences and 

 glebe lands is very large. The utmost difficulty is experienced in 

 paying the annual premiums out of falling rents. No reasonable 

 objection can be made to the rate of interest payable to 

 Queen Anne's Bounty. But, in view of the continued depres- 

 sion, it is desirabla that the Loans Extension Act of 1881, which 

 expired in 1884, should be revived, and power given to throw 

 the repayment of loans over a longer period in order to reduce 

 the amount of the annual instalments. I have already quoted 

 instances in which land improvement companies have foreclosed 

 their mortgages. Two livings have been thus disendowed. The 

 recent Act prohibiting ecclesiastical lands from being charged 

 under certain circumstances with money for improvements does 

 not, of course, affect charges already made. Large tracts of 

 land may, therefore, be sold away from the Church at a heavy 

 sacrifice. Can nothing be done to prevent this? A recurrence 

 of this loss can only be prevented by a redemption of the loans. 



