The Sun.
London, England, 1838-11-21 00:00:00

COMMUTATION OF TITHES,

The following circulars have been issued by the Tithe
Commissioners :

" Tithe Commission, Oct. 31, 1838,
" Rev. Sir,—lt has been determined to select and carry
through the Courts, at the public expense, one case in
which the law of rating tithes, as laid down in the case of
• The King v. Joddrell,' may be re-considered and finally
settled by the Court of Queen's Bench,
" I send you notice of this intention, that in case you
are involved in, or are contemplating, litigation,' you may,
if you think proper, avoid expense, by suspending the
course of that litigation, and abiding the result of the case
selected for trial.
" If you are not the tithe-owner, or not the sole tithe-
owner of the parish you reside in, you will oblige me by
transmitting this letter, or the information contained in it,
to the tithe-owner, or tithe-owners.
" If litigation has already begun, you will further favour
me by transmitting to me, under cover, to The Tithe
Commissioners for England and Wales, London, an ac-
count of your case, and of the stage it has reached.
" That case which seems best adapted to raise all the
questions it is wished to have settled, and no others,
will be selected for trial and subsequent argument in the
Queen's Bench.
" l have the honour to be, Rev. Sir,
" Your faithful servant.
" RICHARD JONES.
" To the Rev. the Officiating Minister of

MEMORANDUM ON THE SUBJECT OF RATING OF TITHES.
The ascertaining of the principles or different relative
liabilities according to which different properties may be
rateable is the duty of the overseers in making the rate,
not of the valuer in making his valuation.
" As respects the relative liability of several classes of
property, especially the different liabilities of tithe and
farmed lands, great doubts are at present entertained, and
the Commissioners are not competent to resolve them.
" The Commissioners are very desirous of seeing some
appeal tried, in a way to raise the question in a manner
in which it may be satisfactorily settled by the ?roper legal
tribunals.

" In the meantime, and until a satisfactory decision can
be obtained upon this subject, the Commissioners would re-
commend
that a temporary arrangement should be adopted,
by which neither party could be eventually injured.
" The following arrangement appears likely to answer
the purpose :
" The tithes, or other property, in which the parties
interested claim to be rated below the net annual value as
defined by the Parochial Assessment Act, might, notwith-
standing such claim, be provisionally rated at the net annual
value as so defined and ascertained by the valuer.
" Until the question of relative liability be determined,
the overseers might collect no more than a definite propor-
tion, as, for example, two-thirds of the rate charged on
the tithes, or such other proportion as the titheowner might
admit his liability to pay.
" When the question is finally determined, the interme-
diate payments should be considered as payments on account,
and the excess should be returned, or the deficiency made
up, as the case may then require.
" September 8, 1838."

••••••••.•••••
The Charivari treats its readers to the following
squib, apropos of the recent unfortunate occurrence at the
Tuileries :—" Important information.—Persons tired of
life, and desiious of quitting it economically and sureely, ;
have only to take a walk in the evening to the Tuileries
first gate on the left, fronting the Rue de Rivoli. Apply
to the sentinel."
Mr. O'Connell, with surprising vigour and elasti-
city of spirit, has been making speeches almost daily in the
course of a triumphal progress through the south of Ire-
land. His popularity seems unimpaired, but we could
wish that he turned it to better account. It can be of
little use—even in Ireland, we should hope—to hold up the
British people, and especially the British Liberal party in
any of its sections, as hostile to his countrymen. That it
is the reverse of truth is perfectly notorious ; nay, it is an
absurdity.--Null Observer.
SOUTH EASTERN AND DOVER RAILWAY.—
The Dover Chronicle states that this railway proceeds
actively towards completion.