APPENDIX. 581 



commutation (i. e. the amount of produce) whicli lias been agreed upon to be paid 

 to the tithe-owner, is to be paid in money ; but, in order that he may reap the 

 benefits of the variations of the marlvets, it is to be calculated how much equal 

 parts of wheat, barley, and oats, the rent-charge would buy at the average price 

 of the seven years preceding Christmas 1835 ; and the same number of bushels, 

 and parts of bushels, are to be paid in money, yearly. The yearly payments are 

 to be calculated on the average market-prices of the seven years preceding, 

 which are to be published in the Gazette in January of every year, regulating 

 the payments for the following July, 



*** If the average market-price for the seven years preceding the yearly payment 

 should rise higher than the average price for the seven years preceding Christmas, 1835, 

 the tithe-owner will be a gainer; if the contrary, a loser. The principle is evident : — as a 

 certain amount of money will buy more corn when prices are low than when they are 

 high, so the tithe-owner, receiving the yearly money-value of a certain quantity of corn, 

 will get more money when prices are high than when they are low. 



Liabilities of Rent-Char gp. — Rent-charges commuted for tithes are liable to 

 all parliamentary, parochial, county, and other rates. These rates are liable to 

 be recovered from the actual occupier of the lands out of which the rent-charge 

 issues, but the amount can be deducted in paying the land-owner or tithe-owner. 



How to recover the Rent-Charge lohen not duly paid. — By distress and 

 entry ; but no person is liable personally. 



*^* If the land be destroyed the rent-charge is lost, 



Exreptiotis from the Operation of the Act. — Unless included by special 

 provision, the following are to be exempted from commutation agreements : — 

 Easter offerings, mortuaries or surplice fees, tithes of fish or fishing, personal 

 tithes, (other than the tithe of mills,) mineral tithes, tithes due in London, per- 

 manent rent-charges, or payments in lieu of tithes as settled by any custom in 

 city or town, or by private Act of Parliament, or payments in lieu of tithes 

 already commuted or extinguished. 



Hop, Fruit, and Gai-den Produce, Enclosures, Glebe Lands, ^c. — Tithe of 

 hop grounds, gardens, and orchards, may be valued separately, on notice from 

 the owner, and when they cease to be so cultivated may be charged at the ordi- 

 nary charge. Lands in possession of privileged orders, or converted from barren 

 heath within the seven years preceding 1836, or glebe lands, maybe valued 

 separately. The Act also subjects turnips severed from the land, if consumed 

 on the same, to tithe as if not so consumed. 



*^.* The foregoing gives the spi7-it of the Act ; but the provision made for exceptions to 

 general rules, the mode of dealing with compositions, moduses, &c., must be gathered 

 liy a reference to the Act itself. The tenant at rack-rent may refuse to consent to the 

 commutation which his landlord ma};- have to make, and in that case the landlord pays 

 and takes tithes from the tenant. The tenant who holds under agreement to be exempt 

 from tithes may pay the rent-charge, and deduct from his rent. There are penalties 

 for false evidence, provision for expenses of witnesses, &c, &c. The Commissioners 

 will doubtless attend to all complaints, and give all necessary information and instruc- 

 tion. Their communications go postage free, 



Poor-Rate. 



The Statute 6 & 7 Will, IV., c, 96, enacts, that in future all poor-rates shall 

 be made on the net annual value of the property ; that is to say, of that rent at 

 which the same might reasonably be expected to let from year to year, free of 

 all usual tenants' rates and taxes, and tithe commutation rent-charge, if any, and 

 deducting therefrom the probable average annual cost of repairs, insurance, and 

 other expenses necessary to maintain buildings in a state to command such rent. 



The rate is to be made in the form thereby directed, and Poor Law Commis- 

 sioners may order a new survey and valuation, empowering surveyors to enter 

 and examine lands and buildings for such purpose; but nothing is to prevent 

 owners from compounding for rates. 



Rated inhabitants may take copies or extracts of rates gratis, under a penalty 

 of refusal to permit of not more than 5A 



Justices, acting in petty sessions, to hold four special sessions in the year to 

 hear appeals ; and such justices may act with all the powers of justices in quar- 

 ter-sessions. 



The Act extends the period for the repayment o? poor-laiv loans, made under 

 the 4 and 5 Will. IV., c. 76, from ten years to twenty, s. 107, 



