174 PROTECTION AND TITHES 



rate of interest charged, are mainly determined by the 

 rate of years' purchase at which the charge is capitalised. 

 It is the interest of the State to demand thirty years' pur- 

 chase, of the landlord to offer fifteen. Between the two rates 

 lie the possible compi'omises. But the basis upon which 

 the charge is generally valued for i-edemption seems false in 

 principle. A uniform rate of purchase based upon the gross 

 value of the charge, subject to the deduction of the average 

 necessary outgoings, would press hardly on individuals. 

 Rates vary in every parish. Thus in A the rates are 7s. 6d., 

 in B 5s., in C 2s. 6d. The average outgoing in these 

 three parishes is 5s. in the pound, and this deducted from 

 the gross value of a hundred pound tithe rent-charge leaves 

 75L as the sum to be redeemed. Assume, for the sake of 

 illustration only, that twenty years' purchase is a fair rate 

 at which to capitalise the charge, and in A, B, and C the 

 charge is redeemed for the same capitalised sum of 1,500Z. 

 But observe the different values of the purchase. The 

 withdrawal of the tithe rent-charge from the amount of 

 rateable property in each parish necessitates a readjust- 

 ment of the assessment upon the remaining property. 

 Practically speaking, landowners will be additionally 

 burdened by the amount now borne by the tithe rent- 

 charge. Therefore, in A parish the annual value of the 

 purchased charge is 621. 10s., in B 75^., in C 87Z. 10s. In 

 other words, the landowner in A buys a very bad, in B a 

 fair, in C a very good bargain. The most equitable 

 method would be to calculate not the average but the actual 

 outgoings, and to purchase the charge at its net value. 

 Under these circumstances the charge would be redeemed 

 in A at 1,250L, in B at 1,500^., in at l,750/.i 



• If the outgoings are similarly capitalised at twenty years' purchase, 

 it will seem that the sum in each parish is actually the same. Thus in 



