The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-29 00:00:00

TITHE COMMUTATION
EXPENSES.

--.'s _.

TO THE EDITO-1? OF THE SUN.

Ste—May I be permitted to lay before the public,
through your columns, a statement of the grievances in-
flicted on a large body of persons by the Tithe Com-
mutation Act

The class of persons to whom I allude are tenants for
life, who, in the majority of cases, are so situated that
they cannot derive any benefit from the Act, and in the
small minority of cases, as they derive only an annual
advantage during their lives, ought to pay only such an
annual charge as would be their fair proportion to the
permanent benefit conferred on the property in which
they have only a life interest.
The Act, after empowering the Commissioners to
employ surveyors and valuers, and order them to be
paid, &c., gives by the 76th clause, power of distress on
the goods of any party not paying his share of the ex-
penses, thus rendering the tenant for life personally
liable for expenses incurred for the permanent benefit of
the estate, and the only redress he takes is under the
77th clause, which enables parties possessing less than
a fee simple interest in lands or tithes to charge their
proportions of the expenses of commutation with inter-
est at four per cent. upon the said lands or tithes so
commuted, but so that such charge shall be lessened in
every following year by one twentieth part of the origi-
nal .urn.

The following grievances affect every tenant for life :-
Ist. He is bound (by the 74th clause) to provide for
the share of the expenses chargeable on the lands,
power of distress on his goods being given by the 76. h
clause ; and he is thus rendered personally liable ic r
all the charges incurred by the estate in fee, for its
benefit, and consequently for the benefit of his successor,
probably a stranger, while he himself has perhaps (from
age or otherwise) only a short enjoyment of the estate ;
and, moreover, no prospect of benefit from the commu
tation, if the farms be let for terms not likely to expire
during his lifetime.
2d. As no persons can be found to advance the ne-
cessary sums required to pay the expenses to a tenant
for life at the rate named in the Act, and on condition
of being repaid by driblets annually in the manner
prescribed ; the tenants for life being personally liable
and compelled to provide payment for the commutation
expenses, &c., is obliged to borrow the money by way
of annuity, or on some other extravagant terms ; the
difference of expenses between doing so, and the charge
he can make on the property becoming thus a heavy
burden on him, without deriving any benefit from
the measure as pointad out in the last paragraph.
3d. Supposing the original charge on an estate to be
5001., and that the tenant for life even could borrow
the money on the terms prescribed by the Act, the
whole amount of payments to be made during the
twenty years would be 710/., of which, if the tenant
for life lived ten years, he will have to pay 405/. with-
out deriving any benefit (as before stated) ; while his
successor, the tenant in fee or in tail, would, during
the first ten years of his possession, have but 305/.
to pay, and will have been exempted from the
trouble attending the commutation and from all perso-
nal liability for the expenses, and from the disadvan-
tages of raising the money at the higher, and charging
the State therewith at the lower rate of interest, besides
having at the end of the ten years the estate free from all
expenses and enjoying the benefits of the measure in
the new leases and lettings that he may make of the
property. _ .

It must be assumed that the Legislature intended
the measure as a benefit to all parties interested ; but
it is shown above that a manifest injustice is done by
it to persons possessing less than a fee-simple interest
in property, by burdening them personally (and heavily),
that the succeeding tenant in fee or in tail may go
almost scot free. The following case lately came
under my notice :—A gentleman, many years ago,
devised an estate of 1001. a-year to his daughter,
and on her death, without issue, to a very distant
relation. The daughter, who has never married, was
obliged from unforeseen events to raise money upon this
estate, and for this purpose sunk 501. a year. She has
now an income of 50/. a year, and is required to pay her
share of expenses in commuting the tithes upon the es-
tate of 1001. a year. The sum required by the Com-
missioners for this purpose is 251.—halt the old lady's
income ; this she cannot raise under 10 per cent , ma-
king a deduction from her income of 21. 10s. annually,
besides the one-twentieth of the 451., that is 1/.55., making
in all 3/. 15s. a-year out of her 50/., and the estate being
leased for el term not likely to expire in her life
time, she is totally precluded from any benefit under
the act in any reletting ; the sum of 31. 15s. per an-
num may appear trifling, but it is a heavy loss to her
who can scarcely make the two ends meet ; and it is
aggravated by the reflection that she is sustaining it
for the benefit of a stringer, whose means are so
ample that he will not feel the benefit of it.
I would, therefore, suggest that such an amendment
of the Act may be made next Session as will remedy
this grievance ; and of the several modes that may be
pointed out, the most simple would, perhaps, be by re-
pealing the 77th clause of the present Act, and enabling
tenants for life to fix the expenses required to carry the
Tithe Commutation Act into operation, as a permanent
charge on the property benefited by the measure, at 5
per cent. interest until redeemed, as the amount so
charged should be redeemable at any time at par.
Already in communication with parties deeply inte-
rested in this question, I shall be happy in hearing also
from any other parties so interested, with the view of
concerting measures for bringing the matter before
Parliament early in the approaching Session.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
JOHN PARRY.
24, Holles-street, Cavendish-square, Ja n. 24.