, to ask the commissioners to make such a
general award on the tithes of the parish. When such a demand was made,
an assistant-commissioner would be authorised to examine what had been
the amount of tithes, and what had been the expense of collecting the
tithes for the last seven years; he would then declare the amount of
tithes so paid for the last seven years, and that amount would be
represented by a certain quantity of wheat, barley, and oats. If any
person should appeal against this declaration, on the ground that the
amount fixed for the tithes on the composition did not fairly represent
their value, the assistant-commissioner would make an estimate of the
value of the tithes for the seven years previous, and ascertain the
actual gross value of them for that period. If it should appear that
the sum of tithes taken in any parish during a period of seven years
exceeded seventy-five per cent, of the gross value, then it would be
competent to the commissioners to determine that the commutation should
amount to seventy-five per cent. of the gross value, and no more, and
they would reduce the sum accordingly; if, on the contrary, it appeared
that the amount taken was less than sixty per cent, of the gross value
of the tithe, the commissioners would be authorised to raise the sum to
sixty per cent., and to declare that that should be the amount of the
future charge. If the sum paid was between these two limits, it should
be competent to the commissioners to make such an award as they thought
the circumstances and the justice of the case required. In some cases
tithes had been taken to such an extent as ought not to form the basis
of a permanent charge; and, on the other hand, there were instances, as
had been satisfactorily established by undoubted evidence, of clergymen
who did not receive more than forty or fifty per cent, of the amount to
which they were entitled. It appeared just to interfere in these cases;
and he thought it right to fix a sum to be taken hereafter, which should
not exceed or fall below a certain amount, in proportion to the gross
value of the tithe. It was open for consideration, whether sixty or
seventy-five pounds were the proper minimum and maximum: he referred
to these sums only as illustrating the principle. In certain cases,
however, a special regulation would be required, as tithes on hops,
orchards, and gardens, on which the tithes were extremely high. He
proposed giving the commissioners the