PROTECTION AND TITHES 173 



the corpus of a property which belongs to the clergy and 

 the State, is to show that the life-tenant and the rever- 

 sioner are the parties with whom the bargain must be 

 struck. 



Redemption, therefore, appears to be the final solution 

 of the difficulty. 



The first step towards the extinction of the charge is 

 for the State to undertake its collection, and compel tithe- 

 paying tenants to deduct the charge from the rent. 

 Assume, by way of illustration only, that the State gua- 

 rantees to the clergy a net 60 per cent, of the 100?. charge 

 regularly paid, free of rates, taxes, and costs of collection. 

 At present values this would leave the State a margin of 

 27^ per cent., out of which to pay the necessary outgoings. 

 In the hands of the clergy there must be deducted from 

 the gross value of the tithe, besides 15 per cent, for rates 

 and taxes, 10 per cent, for arrears, remxissions, abatements, 

 and costs of collection . In the hands of the State this last 

 percentage would be reduced to 2^ per cent., and thus the 

 State would have 10 per cent, in hand to meet further 

 falls in the averages, and compensate, in special cases, the 

 losses incurred by landlords pending new arrangements 

 with their tenants, or by the clergy through diminution 

 of income. But the margin would be rapidly freed from 

 liability in respect of these two last payments. Thus pro- 

 tected, the State could well afford to wait a turn in the 

 tide, and escape a ruinous sale in a falling market. 



All schemes of redemption, whether compulsory or 

 voluntary, proceed on the basis of State co-operation. 

 The State raises a loan at 3 per cent, and lends at 5 per 

 cent. The difference at compound interest pays off prin- 

 cipal and interest within a fixed period. The amount of 

 the State loan, the extent of the advance to landlords, the 



