OBJECTION TO TITHE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20988, 26 September 1931, Page 9

OBJECTION TO TITHE.

TROUBLE AT AN AUCTION.

KENT FARMERS ROUSED.

£3.000,000 PAID IN ENGLAND.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received September '25, 9.15 p.m.) LONDON", Sept. 25. A crowd of 200 farmers in East Kent poured a bucket of mud over the head of an auctioneer during a sale at Canterbury to recover arrears of tithe rent, against which farmers everywhere have rebelled. The farmers stoned the police guard. The sale was abandoned, and the auctioneer escaped in the police car. The Daily Mail states that the total of the annual tithe payments in England and Wales exceeds £3,000,000, of which the parish clergy receive three-quarters. The remainder goes to education and charitv. *

There has been much agitation in agricultural England over the matter of tithes. The National Tithepayers' Association recently was in correspondence on the subject with the former Labour Minister of Agriculture, Dr. C. Addison, urging the passing of the Tithe Remission Bill, which was supported by the National Farmers' Union. The Minister said he was unable to hold out any hope that the Government would facilitate the passing of the bill. The tithepayers argue that the Tithe Rent-charge Act of 1925 makes the computation of the tithe grossly excessive, and much in excess of 2s 6d in the pound of the annual value of the land, as was intended.