The following grants have been voted, subject to the performance of certain conditions required by the regulations of the committee: 1. In aid of building new churches or chapels 2. Towards the enlargement, or rebuilding with enlargement, of existing churches 250 ... 250 ... 520 0 0 140 St. James', Ashted 378 0 0 395 0 0 1,000 0 0 1,152 1 10 3. Towards the purchase of buildings suited for divine worshipCroxton, in Eccleshall Total...10,045 6,715 £25,191 12 2 ... ... £5,633 It appears from this statement, that, at the very moderate outlay of 5,633l., your Society has already been instrumental in promoting the erection of twelve new churches, the enlargement of fifteen old ones, and the purchase of one building suitable for a chapel of ease; by means of which an addition of 10,045 sittings (more than two-thirds free) will be gained to the diocese. The increase of accommodation thus obtained may be considered as adequate to the wants of more than 30,000 of the population. The total estimated expense of these 10,045 additional sittings is 25,1917. 128. 2d., giving somewhat more than 27. 10s. as the cost of each sitting. At the same time, they beg it may be understood, that they have not been inattentive either to stability of structure, or to ecclesiastical propriety of style, in the buildings aided by their grants. Though it forms no part of your Society's object to grant endowments out of its funds, yet the facilities which it has afforded towards the building of churches have called forth a corresponding liberality for endowing them when built. Some instances of this kind they think it right thus publicly to record: Hulland and Biggin .... £20 per annum by T. Borough, Esq. 45 per annum by Miss Hinckes, of Tettenball. Mere Green, in Sutton Coldfield Smethwick ..... Croxton, in Eccleshall Draycot, in Hanbury, 5 £500 already subscribed towards an endow ment. 40 per annum by the rector, the Rev. W. R. Bedford, and four acres of land adjoining the chapel. 50 per annum by the vicar of Harborne, the Rev. Chancellor Law. 45 per nnum by the bishop to the vicar, for providing for the additional duty thus created. 30 per annum by the bishop as patron. 20 per annum by the vicar, the Rev. G. D. Ryder. Your committee gladly indulge the hope, that the example set in these and similar instances will be followed in many others; and they would respectfully, but urgently, appeal to the impropriators of tithes, both lay and clerical, and to wealthy individuals, whether connected with the agricultural or commercial districts of the country, and ask, whether they can, in any way more satisfactorily to themselves, more beneficially to the community, more advantageously to the church of which they are members, and to the all-important interests of the religion which they profess, expend a portion of the wealth which God has given them, than in providing for the spiritual wants of their destitute neighbours and countrymen ? A RETURN OF THE NUMBER OF CHURCHES ENDOWED, AND LIVINGS AUGMENTED, IN THE DIOCESE OF DURHAM, BY THE LATE WILLIAM VAN MILDERT, D.D., LATE BISHOP OF DURHAM, DURING THE PERIOD OF HIS EPISCOPACY. THE Vicarage of Stockton, George Newby, M.A., deed of grant and annexation of six several parcels of land, situate in the parish of Stockton-on-Tees, containing 17a. 1r. 21p.; 12th Sept., 1834. Perpetual curacy of St. John's, Sunderland, Robert Gray, M.A., deed of grant and annexation of several parcels of land, situate in the parish or township of Stockton-on-Tees, containing 60a. 3r. 28p.; 12th Sept., 1834. Rectory of Sunderland, Robert Gray, M.A., deed of grant and annexation of several parcels of land, situate in the parish or township of Stockton-onTees, containing 13a. 3r. 12p.; 12th Sept., 1834. Perpetual curacy of Esh, J. Thompson, jun., deed of grant and annexation of several parcels of land, situate in the township of Byersgreen, in the parish of St. Andrew, Auckland, containing 32a. 2p.; 13th Sept. 1834. Perpetual curacy of Satley, J. Thompson, jun., deed of grant and annexation of several parcels of land, situate in the township of Crossgate and Framwellgate, Durham, containing 41a. 3r. 23p.; 13th Sept. 1834. Perpetual curacy of St. Helen's, Auckland, Matthew Chester, deed of grant and annexation of several parcels of land, situate in the township of Bondgate in Auckland, containing 30a. 2r. 12p.; 13th Sept., 1834. Perpetual curacy of Etherley, George Watson, deed of grant and annexation of several parcels of land, within the township or manor of Bondgate in Auckland, or in the township or parochial chapelry of Escomb, in the parish of St. Andrew, Auckland, or the district or chapelry of Etherly, or some or one of them, containing 55a. 3r. 12p.; 13th Sept., 1834. Perpetual curacy of Medomsley, Robert Clark, deed of grant of an augmentation of the annual sum of 100l., part of an annual rent of 1177. 158. 8d., payable to the bishop by the Right Hon. Thomas Henry Lord Ravensworth, for a lease of the manor or lordship, town and borough of Whickham, with the appurtenances; 12th Sept., 1834. Rectory of Gateshead Fell, William Hawks, deed of grant of an augmentation of the annual sum of 1007., part of an annual rent reserved by an indenture of lease granted to Cuthbert Ellison, of Hebbron Hall, Esq,, of the manor or lordship, town and borough of Gateside, or Gateshead, with the appurtenances; 12th Sept., 1834. Perpetual curacy of Lanchester, Joseph Thompson, deed of grant of an augmentation of the annual sum of 140l., part of an annual rent reserved to the bishop by an indenture of lease granted to Joseph Beckett, of Barnesley, Esq., of the office of moorman or moormaster of all and singular the lead-mines, lead and lead ore, as well opened as not opened, gotten, and to be gotten, within the two parishes of Stanhope and Wolsingham, in the county of Durham; 13th Sept., 1834. The late Lord Bishop of Durham promised to augment the perpetual curacy of Escomb, and allowed Mr. Thompson, the incumbent thereof, an annual sum until the augmentation could be effected, which, unfortunately, did not take place, on account of his lordship's death. The late Lord Bishop of Durham likewise promised to endow the perpetual curacy of Shildon, and allowed Mr. Manisty, the incumbent thereof, an annual sum until the endowment could be effected, which was not done, for the same reason. The late Lord Bishop also granted and conveyed five acres of ground at Stockton, and upon which a new church hath been built and consecrated, and his lordship promised to endow it out of the demesne lands at Stockton belonging to the see of Durham, but which has not been done, for the same reason. CHURCH MATTERS. THE TITHE BILL. THIS Bill has appeared in several separate shapes since September 1st. Mr. Christopher Hodgson, a gentleman whose former works for the use of the clergy have been so eminently serviceable to them, has printed it, with directions for effecting voluntary commutations, which cannot fail to be most useful to those who resolve on taking that step. Mr. White, the solicitor to the Bill, has published it, with some sensible notes and useful tables, some of which are extracted elsewhere. The commissioners have issued some forms of notices, &c., for the meetings necessary for effecting voluntary commutations; and it need hardly be said that persons who venture on these operations, must be most careful in attending, in the most exact manner, to every form. Mr. Hodgson's prefatory directions will be a most excellent guide to them. Whether clergy will do wisely in being the first movers in such an attempt is another question. It would not, of course, be advisable to decline meeting the wishes of the parish, if those wishes should be expressed in favour of the attempt; and the clergy would, at all events, if the terms offered should turn out to be unreasonable, then have a better case to lay before the commissioners, when the time for compulsory commutation came. Surely the having justice and reason on their side will avail them in that quarter, and, at least, save them from diminution of their incomes, if it does not procure them the increase which equity might demand. The reason for doubting the advisability of the clergyman offering -or, at all events, for his offering at present-to effect a voluntary commutation is, that without very mature consideration, and weighing all parts of the Bill, and its bearings in all ways, it is quite impossible to tell how the landowners' calculations, with respect to the compulsory commutation, may influence them in the terms to which they will submit in a voluntary one. It is not agreeable to make harsh remarks of bodies of men, but it is necessary plainly to say, that, if the clergy expect, because the Bill robs and plunders them enormously, that the landowners will be content with the spoil thus obtained, and are likely therefore to deal liberally on the basis of the Bill, they will, in too many instances, have reason to deplore their error. The Devonshire and Cornwall tithes are the least in the kingdom, and the clamour against tithes in Devonshire was the greatest. It is therefore no libel on the Devonshire landed interest to say that they will act on their own words, and, low as their tithes are, will endeavour to get them lowered by the commissioners. There is no reason to suppose, in theory, that the Devonshire landed interest is worse than it is in any other county. Individuals everywhere act, and will act, in the spirit of generous and gentlemanlike liberality. Too many, however, will, like a great conservative county member, fully resolve to look on the commutation as a matter of business, and get every farthing they can. How, then, can the clergyman be safe in coming to voluntary commutation, till he knows in what way these gentlemen will think they can make the most farthings? Of course, they are aware that the compulsory commutation will expose them, as well as the clergyman, to a certain expense, very often not a small one, and this may propel them a little forward in the direction of equity. Then again they may be driven a little in the same direction, by the fact that the commissioners MAY increase their tithe. But the commissioners MAY lower it, and how far will that take them back in the opposite direction towards open injustice? Of course, they will speculate a good deal on the regulations which are to be drawn up by the commissioners against May 1st, 1838. The tendency of things in the House of Commons latterly, in all matters of business, (from a sense of the total incompetency of 658 persons to come to any sound conclusions, or very often any conclusions at all, except on party subjects,) has heen to leave everything to discretion, and, no doubt, the difference of circumstances in tithe cases is such that a very plausible case can be easily made out for the regulations being so vague and general that all shall depend on the discretion of the commissioners in each case. Parliament, therefore, would, in all probability, sanction a very vague set of regulations. Now it would appear from the bill that the course in compulsory commutations would be an actual valuation, when the average money payment of the last seven years, or the sum named by the commissioners, where the tithes have been taken in kind, was not satisfactory to either party; and common equity would seem to demand this, at least, that one regulation should be, that, if the valuation made the real tithes appear to be greater than the average of the last seven VOL. X.-Oct. 1836. 3 s years, it should not be lawful for the commissioner or assistantcommissioner, in any such case, to lower the tithe at all. This remark may appear extremely harsh and uncandid, or needless, and therefore absurd. But still the writer must say that, in his judgment, such a regulation would be of the very highest importance, and that, if it was clearly known now that such a regulation would be made, it would have a most beneficial influence in inducing many landowners to come to fair terms in voluntary commutations. This plain, simple, and equitable regulation, however, to be of any use, must be accompanied by another, which should provide that the valuation should be, not like common tithe valuations, but really a just and fair valuation. It is to be remembered by the landowners, that, in this demand, the clergy have no interest whatever, now, in knowing the exact value of the tithes, (that the bill has taken care of,) but simply in knowing whether the tithes are really worth more or less than the average of the last seven years. The demand for such information certainly cannot be refused without an open denial of justice. If the regulations, however vague they may be in other respects, do not clearly lay down these two points just adverted to,-(1,) that there shall be a fair and true valuation, and, (2,) that when that valuation shews the value of the tithes to be greater than the average received in the last seven years, it shall not be lawful for the commissioner or assistant-commissioner to diminish that average payment, the condition of the clergy may be a most serious one. Nothing is here said about increasing that average by 20 or even by 1 per cent., when the valuation shews the tithes to be higher; the demand is, that they shall not be lowered. If it is asked why so much stress is laid on these two plain points, the writer can only say, that valuations are very slippery things; and that, if it was free for a valuation to be made, as valuations of tithes often are, or, again, if it was free, after a valuation, for the persons employed to say that, although the valuation did make the real value of the tithes greater than the average of the last seven years, yet that, on the whole, and in their judgment, and, taking all circumstances into consideration, &c. &c. &c. &c., the tithes ought to be lowered,—if it was free for them to say so, and to do so, then, to say the least, the income of that parish for ever would depend on the humour, or caprice, or clearheadedness, or uprightness of particular persons, which surely is not desirable. But there is another matter, of consequence, in this same respect. The rent charge is, in future, to be liable to rates and taxes, just as the tithes were.. The bill professes that, in calculating the rent charge (if the tithes have been taken in kind, and thus the commissioners have to calculate them) they are to calculate them without subtracting anything for rates, taxes, and so forth. This is all very well, and very fair; but these are only the hundredth cases. How is it to be in the ninety-nine, where there has been a money composition free of rates? Why, there, instead of inquiring what the rates of the parish have been for the last seven years,-how the tithes have been, or ought to have been rated,-and then (on the very principle acted on in the case of tithes taken in kind) adding exactly the same which would |