"

The Commons agree to the amendment, pr. 20, 1. 13, and propose to amend the amendment 1. 28, by leaving out the word Canterbury," and inserting the words "the province."

The Commons agree to the amendments as far as pr. 40, 1. 12.

The Commons propose to add to the amendment, pr. 40, l. 12, by inserting the word "any" in the place of the words omitted; and in the amendment, 1. 22, after the word "licence," by inserting the word "may."

The Commons agree to the amendments as far as clause (K.)

The Commons propose to amend clause (K.), by leaving out the words “of the diocese," fo. 1, 1. 5, and inserting the words "and he is hereby required," and inserting after the word " clergymen," 1. 6, the words " of his diocese, or if the benefice be within his peculiar jurisdiction, but locally situate in another diocese, then to four beneficed clergymen of such last-mentioned diocese."

The Commons propose to add the following proviso to the end of clause (L.)" Provided also, that if the bishop shall, after receiving the report to be made by such commissioners, be of opinion that it is not expedient under the special circumstances of any such benefice to levy and raise any sum or sums of money by mortgage, as hereinbefore required, or otherwise to take measures for providing a fit house of residence for such benefice, he shall state in detail such special circumstances and the grounds of his opinion in the next annual return to be made by him to her Majesty in council, according to the directions hereinbefore contained."

The Commons agree to clauses (M.), (N.), (O.), (P.), (Q.), (R.), (S.) The Commons propose to amend clause (T.) by inserting after the word "heirs," fo. 1, 1. 5, the words "or successors, as the case may be."

The Commons agree to the clauses (U.), (V.), and (W.), and the amendments as far as pr. 67, 1. 8.

The Commons propose to amend the amendment pr. 67, 1. 8, by inserting after the word "diocese" the words "or if the benefices be within his peculiar jurisdiction, but locally situate in another diocese, then to four beneficed clergymen of such last mentioned diocese."

The Commons propose to amend the amendment 1. 19, by leaving out the word "such," and inserting the words "the same."

The Commons agree to the amendments as far as clause (X.)

The Commons disagree to clauses (X.) and (Y.) for the following reason: -Because the principle of these clauses appears to the Commons to be very doubtful, and to require the fullest consideration in those places to which they would apply.

The Commons agree to the amendments as far as pr. 71. l. 35.

The Commons propose to amend the amendment pr. 71, 1. 35, by leaving out the words "whatever may be the annual value or the population thereof,' and inserting the words "whereof the annual value shall amount to 100%., and the population shall amount to 400 persons."

The Commons agree to the amendments as far as clause (Z.)

The Commons propose to amend clause (Z.) by inserting after the word "decide," fo. 2, 1. 11, the words 'the merits of the appeal," and at the end of the clause by adding the words "and in like manner when he shall decide in favour of the appellant, he shall also award and direct whether any and what amount of costs shall be paid by the bishop respondent to the appellant." The Commons agree to the amendments as far as pr. 97. 1. 28. The Commons propose to amend the amendment pr. 97, 1. 28, by inserting the word "or," before the words "other instrument."

The Commons agree to the amendments as far as clause (A. 1.) The Commons propose to amend clause (A. 1), by leaving out the words "by this act," fo. 1, 1.4; and by leaving out the word " and," 1. 12, and inserting the word "or;" and by leaving out the word "by," l. 15, and inserting the words" or may be by, or in pursuance of, the provisions of."

The Commons agree to the amendments as far as further questions, No. 29.

The Commons propose to amend question No. 29, by inserting before the word "net" the words "gross, and what is the."

The Commons propose to amend the second schedule, form of the mortgage, by inserting after the word "tithes," fo. 2, 1. 15, the words "rent-charges;" and by making the same amendment in fo. 4, 1. 2, and in fo. 6, l. 15.

The Commons propose to amend the form of the deed of purchase of buildings or lands to be annexed to the benefice, by inserting after the word 'heirs," fo. 11, 1, 15, the words "or successors, as the case may be."

"

EXETER PETITION-TITHE COMMUTATION.

TO THE HONOURABLE THE COMMONS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.

THE humble Petition of the undersigned Clergy of the Diocese of Exeter, Sheweth,―That in 1836 the Tithe Commutation Act provided that "every rent-charge should be subject to all rates and assessments, in like manner as the tithes have heretofore been."

That in the same year the Parochial Assessment Act provided that "nothing therein contained should be construed to alter or affect the principles, or different liabilities (if any) according to which different kinds of hereditaments are now by law rateable."

That, in accordance with these two enactments, the Poor Law Commissioners instructed the guardians of unions and parish officers, that "in the relative proportion in which lands and tithes are to be rated, when a profit accruing to the occupier of land was omitted in the rate, a proportionate remission should be made to the titheowner in rating the tithes."

That your petitioners have seen with great surprise and concern a bill introduced into your honourable house, which, professing to settle doubts whether as between tithes and lands the profits of the occupier of the land are to be rated, proceeds to enact that "nothing in the said acts, or any other act contained, shall have or be deemed to have the effect of rendering any hereditaments liable to be rated for any occupier's profits in addition to the net annual value, or of entitling any hereditament not producing such profit to any reduction."

That your petitioners believe that by the law, as administered under the statute of Queen Elizabeth, the rule of rating as between lands and tithes was and is, that either the lands are rateable for the occupier's profit in addition the net annual value, or that an adequate deduction is to be made in the rate on the tithes.

It appears therefore to your petitioners, that the purport of the said bill is to interfere with and alter the law to the injury of the titheowner.

That the voluntary and compulsory enactments of the Tithe Commutation Act proceeded upon the state of the law as existing precedent to the said commutation and Assessment acts, and as recognised and preserved by those acts: and in the confidence of the law, and under the faith of those acts, divers of your petitioners have proceeded to make voluntary commutations, and others are in progress.

That if it be true that doubts may be entertained as to the state of the law, it is obviously necessary to have those doubts maturely considered, and the law satisfactorily ascertained, before any commutation can fairly take place. Your petitioners, therefore, humbly pray that the solemn pledges of the legislature may be maintained, and the said bill may not pass; and that the

law in regard to the proportionate rate on tithes being distinctly ascertained, an equitable enactment be made founded on the law, so that in the permanent settlement now being made under the sanction of the legislature, the due rights of the titheowner be protected and secured.

And your petitioners, &c. &c.

PETITION OF CLERGY IN THE ARCHDEACONRY OF SALOPMR. LEFEVRE'S BILL.

SIR,-The following is a copy of a petition to the House of Lords, agreed on by clergy in the Archdeaconry of Salop, against Mr. Lefevre's proposed Parochial Assessment Amendment Bill. But the bill being withdrawn, the petition was not proceeded with. The arguments, however, which the petition contains deserve to be made known for general information.

A. B.

To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled.

THE HUMBLE PETITION OF THE UNDERSIGNED CLERGY IN THE ARCHDEACONRY OF SALOP AND DIOCESE OF HEREFORD,

Sheweth-1. That your petitioners perceive that a bill has been brought into the honourable the Commons' House of Parliament, entitled, "A Bill to declare the effect of an Act of the 6 and 7 years of King William the Fourth, to regulate Parochial Assessments;" that under this title they regret to see an attempt is made to enact " 'that hereditaments (as tithe composition or rent charge) shall NOT be entitled to any deduction in or from rate, on the ground that other hereditaments (as lands) producing an occupier's profit, are rated only on the net annual value thereof."

2. That as by the Parochial Assessment Act of 6 and 7 William IV. it is enacted, that lands and hereditaments shall be rated on the net rent only, and not as heretofore liable, on the produce of the farm, taking in both the landlord's and tenant's profit, therefore a proviso was introduced in the first clause, "that nothing herein contained shall be construed to alter or affect the principles, or different relative liabilities, (if any) according to which different kinds of hereditaments are now by law rateable;" which proviso your petitioners believe was specially introduced to preserve to tithe owners a proportionate benefit with the landowners, and to secure tithes to be rated in just ratio with other property, and not to alter that relative liability, as laid down in the case of Rex v. Joddrell, which was, "If for instance the rent is onehalf or two-thirds of the total annual profit or value of land, the rate on all other property should be on a half or two-thirds of its annual value."

3. That, by the sixty-ninth clause of the Tithe Commutation Act, it is enacted, that tithe rent-charge shall only be subject to rates in like manner as the tithes commuted for such rent-charge have heretofore been subject; that the bill now proposed to be enacted, though by its title it does not give notice of so doing, would in effect repeal this important clause, as well as the above proviso, and establish another principle for rating tithe rent-charge, which would unduly press on your petitioners, tithe rent-charge being a payment that comprises both the landlord's and tenant's profit, while the farmer would only be rated on the landlord's rent.

4. That your petitioners humbly submit to your honourable house, that where and when tithe composition, or tithe rent-charge, is paid in lieu of tithes, and the tithe proprietor is not the occupier of the tithes, and keeps no horse or horses, team, cart, or waggon, nor uses the highways in respect of tithes, his money payment for tithes ought in equity to enjoy the same exemption from the highway rate as personal property and other professional in

comes; and in support hereof your petitioners beg to refer to the case of Rex v. Dayrell, 1 Barnewall and Cresswell's Reports, 485.

5. That your petitioners are well content to be rated to the poor for their tithe composition or rent-charge in just ratio with the produce of lands, according to the principles laid down in the existing law; and seeing that your petitioners have agreed and fixed with their parishioners in amount of composition under the impression that lands and tithes would continue to be rated in just ratio, as heretofore, and according to their relative liabilities, and that such law would be preserved inviolate, they trust your honourable house will not allow the proposed bill to pass into a law, but that the existing law, which has been so lately sanctioned and confirmed by the legislature in the Tithe Commutation Act, and the Parochial Assessment Act, may be preserved unchanged and inviolate. And your petitioners will ever pray, &c.

COMMUTATION OF TITHE.

THE following questions have been submitted by the Lord Bishop of Hereford to every clergyman in his diocese, meditating a commutation of tithe, in order that his lordship may not give his consent before he is thoroughly satisfied as to the fairness of the terms proposed.

1. Is your benefice a rectory or a vicarage? 2. If a vicarage, what tithes have you been in the habit of receiving, either by endowment or prescription? 3. Who is the impropriator of the great tithes ? 4. Is he a land-owner in the parish, and to what extent? 5. Are you in possession of any, especially of recent, valuation of the tithes of your parish by competent surveyors, and of what date, and what the value assigned? 6. If all your tithes have been compounded for, what was the amount of the composition in each of the seven years ending with 1835? On what principle were such compositions made, were they on the full value? How long have they existed? Did they include parochial rates? Have any abatements been made from the composition as once settled? How often, and for what reasons? Do such reasons for abatement still exist? 7. Has the rate on tithes been more or less than the full proportion they were liable to bear, having reference to the annual profits of the lands, and the rent thereof only?-See the cases of "Rex v. Joddrell,” 1 Barnwell and Adolphus' Reports, p. 408. 8. Are the total quantities and several classes of land in the parish accurately stated in the table in the commutation agreement, as underneath? Are the same stated from actual measurement, or how otherwise? Are the quantities customary or statute

And what is the average rent per acre of each description, as above? 9. What is the nature of the woodland? Is it coppice, fellable at stated periods, and what period on an average? What is the average value of the coppice per acre? What, in fact, has been received from this source on an average of twenty or thirty years; and if the actual receipts do not afford an average, what is the value of the tithe according to the produce of similar woods in the neighbourhood? 10. What is the usual course of tillage on the arable lands, and what the average produce of the several crops of wheat, barley, oats, or other grain, per acre? 11. What is the number of acres at present cultivated

as hop grounds or orchards in your parish? Is the number likely to increase or otherwise, and why? 12. Have you or any of your predecessors claimed tithe which has not been rendered? Has any suit or question been raised respecting any modus or claim to exemption from tithe? If so, have you taken counsel's opinion on the subject, and what is the nature of that opinion? 13. In what way, and on what ground, is the calculation made for the computation at £ per annum? Is it in your opinion a fair and ade

quate sum for a permanent commutation?

PETITION AGAINST THE BOARD OF GUARDIANS OF THE CAXTON AND ARRINGTON UNION,

PRESENTED in the House of Lords, June 25th, By the Lord Bishop of Exeter, who at the same time, expressed in the clearest terms his full conviction of the utter illegality of the restrictions complained of.

TO THE LORDS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.

The humble petition of the Rev. Arthur Tozer Russel, B.C.L., of St. John's College, Cambridge, and Vicar of Caxton, in the Diocese of Ely, and County of Cambridge,

Sheweth, That the board of guardians of the Caxton and Arrington Union or District, in the counties of Cambridge and Huntingdon, prohibit the inmates of the union workhouse from attending divine service at the parish church; the male inmates being allowed to take exercise out of the workhouse precincts every day in the week besides.

That the aforesaid board of guardians also have enacted that no clergyman, except the chaplain, shall be allowed to attend the workhouse, except when sent for by one of their parishioners requiring religious instruction, and have enforced the same enactment against the parochial incumbent.

That the first of these enactments is more especially at open variance with the law of GOD, and an infringement upon the honour which is his due.

That the second of the aforesaid enactments is not sanctioned by the New Poor Law Act, and is, like the first, an insulting and injurious restriction placed upon the opportunities which the male inmates of the workhouse at least have long enjoyed, and of which some amongst them feel the loss.

That your petitioner, therefore, prays that your Right Honourable House will interpose to prevent and declare invalid such lawless and irreligious enactments as those here specified.

Also, that your Right Honourable House will cause it to be notified to the public, and to all the inmates of all workhouses, that they are at perfect liberty to worship GoD upon his holy day according to the pure and reformed worship of the church established in these dominions: and also that your Honourable House will not suffer the exclusion of clergymen from the said workhouses, wherever they are desirous of imparting religious instruction and consolation to the poor.

And your petitioner will ever pray, &c.

Eve of the Feast of St. John the Baptist, 1838.

ARTHUR TOZER RUSSELL, B.C.L.

Vicar of Caxton.

Whilst the inmates of the Caxton workhouse are forbidden to go to the parish church, they are left at perfect liberty to go to the meeting house; with the exception of some few, who are not allowed to go to either.