The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-26 00:00:00

EPISCOPAL AND CAPITULAR

REVENUES.

The following is the second report of the Commis
sinners :
TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
We, your Majesty's Commissioners appointed by a
Commission bearing date the Bth day of January, 1849,
for the purpose of inquiring into episcopal and capitular
in England and Wales, humbly
present to your Majesty this our second report.
In onr first report we stated that we had endeavoured
to apply to the manors, house property, and: mines be-
longing to the Church principles analogous to those
therein recommended:with regard to the management of
larms and lands, but Oat in consequence of the difficul-
ties which presented themselves we deemed it expedient
to reserve the queitintt as to the management of those
kinds of 'property fool further consideration. We have
since applied ourselvOs specially to this branch of our
inquiry, and we now submit to your Majesty the follow-
ing observations and suggestions thereoi.
MANORS AND MANORIAL LANDS.
Manori are frequently included in leases for lives and
yeart.; ,the lessees, who in some parts of England, espe-
cially, the sou'hern and western counties, are styled
" lords' armers," keeping the courts, and having vested
in ;them all the rights arid privilegei of the lords during
the continuance of their leases.
Many, manors also belonging to the Church are " in
4,1 d," the hisho-p or other dignitary, as the case may
be, ietaining their lordship. -
Of the-manorial lands, some are copyholds far lire.,
and.ibme of inheritance, and are subject to the payment
to.thOprds of quit-rents and fines (either arbitrary or
certain) on renewal, death, or alienation, and are liable
itisothe cases to heriots also; all the lands being held
by copy of court roll, and dealt with according to the
custom of the manor in which they are locally situate.
We do not feel ourselves justified in recommending
the same indulgeneeeto be'allowed to the lessees of ma-
nors as we have advised with respect to other estates be-
longing to the Church, such lessees having, in our opi-
nion, no claims on account of capital expended or im-
provements effected upon the property.
We think, therefore, that leases of manors, especially
those in the hands of lords farmers, should not be re-
newed, but that such leases should either be run out, or
the manors sold, according to the judgment of the Cen-
tral Board, as might seem to them most expedient for
the interests of the Church.
Exceptions should, however, be made, and the lessees
should be entitled to renewal in cases where the manors
are held in connexion with mines or demesne landti,
which should be dealt with upon the same principles as
are recommended in our former report with respect to
farms and lands.

We think also that the copyhold and customary
tenure of manorial lands should tic, as soon as possible
extinguished; the copyholds for lives being in some
cases at the discretion of the Central Board, treated as
leaseholds for lives, and in other cases, together with
the copyholds of inheritance, !nfranchised; all moneys
to be received by way of purchase-money or for en-
franchisement being invested as advised in our former
report.
We further recommend that in all future enfran-
chisements of copyholds for lives the practice of ex-
changing the lives before enfranchisement should either
be discontinued, or otherwise that the fines taken for
such exchanges should be treated as capital and in-
vested.

HOUSE PROPERTY AND BUILDING LAND.
The house property belonging to the dignitaries of
the Church appears, generally speaking, to be let upon
leases for 21, 30, or 40 years, or for three lives, and
some is let at rack-rent. There is also much valuable
house property and building-land let for a, long term of
years, either under special Acts of Parliament, or the
Leasing Act referred to in our former report.
The amounts of the fines paid on the renewals of the
leases vary in different dioceses.
With respect to the 40 years' leases, ordinarily re-
newed every 14 years, the fines are in some places
only three-quarters of a year's fineable value, and in
other places one year's value, or a year and a half's
value.

In this last case the fine is not far from the true
value of the reversionary term of 14 years for which it
is paid.
We propose to apply to these usually renewable
leases of houses the same principle which we have pro-
posed in our first report with respect to leases of farms
and lands, but with the modifications which appear to
us to be required by the nature of the property.
We suggest that in consideration of an additional
annual rent, to be paid by the lessee, the right of per-
petual renewal at the existing rate of fine be secured to
the lessee, and that new valuations should take place,
not at each pt'riod of renewal, but every 21st year.
The additional annual rent should be determined as
follows:

1. The value of the dry term of the lessee (i. e , his
term without any right or expectation of renewal) ohoul.l
be ascertained.

2. Tne •alue of the term with the right of perpetus
renewal at the usual rata of fine should likewise be esti-
mat,d.

3. The lessee, should be charged with an additional
rent calculated on half the diff,rence of these values.

Considering th,►t this additional rent will be a well-
secured rent, 5 per cent, on the above-mentioned halt
difference will be sufficient.

In illustrating this recommendation by examples, it
should be bJrne in mind that the fee-simple of house pro-
perty seldom exceeds 16 2-3 years' purchase, yielding an
interest of 6 per cent., and accordingly in the following
examples the value of partial or reversionary interests .
the property is estimated at the like rate of Interest,
though in practice a higher rate of interest would pro-
bably be allowed in the calculations.
EXAMPLE I.
Lease originally 40 years, renewable every
14. The existing leave is assumed to
have 26 ye-as to run, and consequently
the fine would now be payable. The
annual value 1001. ; the fine 1501. ; the
annual payment equivalent to the fine...
The annual value beneficially enjoyed by
the lessee, 1001.-141. 4a. ••• 85
The value of the dry term (26 years) of
the lessee 1
_,300 0
The value of the lessee's term, .with the
right of perpetual renewal,
16 2-3 years'
purchase of his beneficial interest of
854 16s. ...

X s. d.

14 4 0

... ... 1,430 0 0

The difference of these values ... 130 0 0
Half that diff.rence 65 0 0
Five per cent. on this 31. 51., the addi-
tional annual rent to be paid by the
lessee.

EXAMPLE 2.
The same circumstances are assume] as in
Example 1, but the fine only one year's
purchase, or 100/.
Consequently, the annual payment equiva.
lent to the fine
The annual value beneficially enjoyed by
the lessee, 1001.-91 9s, 9O 11
The value of the dry term (26 years) of
the lessee •-• ... 1,300 0
The value of the lessee's term with the
right of perpetual renewal, 16 2.3
years' purchase of his benencial interest
of 901. Ili.

9 9 0

_. 1,509 3 4

The difference
Half the difference
Five per cent. on this
EXAMPLE 3.
•
The same circumstances as in Example 1,
but the fine only three-quarters of a
year's purchase, i, e. 751.
Consequently the annual payment equiva-
lent to the fine ...
The annual value beneficially enjoyed by
the lessee ...
The value of the dry term (26 years) of
the lessee... ... 1,300 0
The value of the lessee's term with the
right of perpetual renewal = 16 2 3
x 921. lu

••„
••• ••• 209 3 4

... 101 6 8
... 5 4 0

7 2 0

92 18 C

1,548 0 0