PARLIAMENTARY PUBLICATIONS. 17 

present system a large amount of redemption money has 
been collected with fair success, considerable difficulties have 
been encountered. As careful observation has led to the 
conclusion that many of these difficulties and some degree of 
friction might be avoided if the work were more directly 
carried out by the Board by means of their own officers, an 
experimental trial has recently been made with the sanction 
of the Treasury, whereby the necessary survey of the land 
and collection of information as to present ownerships have 
been undertaken by the Ordnance Survey Department, while 
the apportionment and collection of the redemption moneys 
have been effected by the Tithe Branch. About fifteen com- 
pulsory redemptions were in 1899 completed in this manner 
and the results are, in the view of the Board, so encouraging, 
both as regards the time occupied and the saving of expense 
to the landowners concerned, that it is proposed to further 
extend the system in future as occasion offers. 
The number of enfranchisements of copyhold land confirmed 
by the Board in the year 1899 was 378, which, though not show- 
ing an advance upon the numbers for 1898, is yet higher than 
the numbers recorded in any year from 1889 to 1897. Under 
the law of Commons Amendment Act, 1893, the consent of the 
Board was given to the enclosure of a small part of South- 
borough Common, for the enlargement of the churchyard, 
until arrangements for acquiring a new cemetery are com- 
pleted; and of part of Waun Isaf Common, Pembrokeshire, in 
exchange for other land equal in value and better suited for 
pasturage. Under the Universities and College Estates Acts 
149 applications were received in 1899, and the consent of the 
Board was given to transactions amounting in the aggregate 
to £352,955. Eighty-five applications were made by incum- 
bents during the year 1899 for the Board’s approval of the 
sale of glebe lands involving 1,205 acres. The sales actually 
completed in the year were 81 in number, comprising 1,214 
acres. The purchase money paid in respect of these was 
£107,413, which, after payment of necessary expenses, has 
been invested for the benefit of the respective incumbents. 
Under the Drainage and Improvement of Land Acts 181 
applications to the value of £139,487 were made, and the 
