STOCK SEIZED IN PAYMENT OF DEBT.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 144, 19 June 1931, Page 1

STOCK SEIZED IN PAYMENT OF DEBT.

| SOLDIEL FARMER NOT ■ j ABLE TO MEET TITHE. LONDON, June 8. Astonishing scenes were witnessed at Australia Farm, Suffolk, owned by a former Australian soldier, James Melbourne Jones, when the stock and implements were seized for recovery of a tithe, and auctioned in the presence of hundreds of East Anglican tithe-payers. Jones bought the farm while holidaying in England in 1929. He paid the first tithe of £225 a year, but was unable, because of the fall in wheat prices, to meet the next half-yearly payment, and his goods were distrained. Farmers belonging to anti-tithe associations, supporting Jones, marched in procession to the sale. The barns were placarded with slogans, such as “ Britons never will be slaves.” The house bore a poster urging support in action to remove the obsolete burden by which agriculture is compelled to pay £3,000,000 to the Church of England and lay tithe-owners. Ridiculous Prices. The auctioneer was greeted with “ boos,” but Jones, a striking figure with iron-grey hair, and wearing shabby clothes, appealed for fair play. Implements, including lorries, harrows and drills, were knocked down for 2s each. A motor tractor fetched 11s, a cow 6s, and horses 5s each. The auctioneer’s efforts to obtain higher bids were drowned with cries of M No more. Get on with the damned sale! ” The auction totalled £6 for a debt of £lO5. The proceedings concluded with a resolution of protest at the injustice of a law which allowed goods to be sold for payment of tithes when produce did not pay for the cost of production. Began As Gift. The tithe in Britain is a lev) 7- made upon profits from agriculture or the sale of farm lands or stock, which is used for the purpose of endowing church livings or maintaining cathedrals and churches. The word means ten or tenth, so a tithe constitutes a tenth part of the yearly increase arising from profits on land, stock or personal industry. It originated in Britain in times long past when people bequeathed a tithe, or I tenth part, of their property to the Church of England. ! In any future transaction or industry it was considered that the owner of the property was the owner of nine-tenths of it. and the tithe-owner —usually the Church the owner of one-tenth. Ancient Practice. 1 By Acts of commutation tithes have been reduced and fixed at certain money values. In some ca c es, by the pay- • rnent of a sum decided upon, farms ; have been released from tithes. I The. levying of tithes in kind w r as j practised by the Hebrews and other races in remote antiquity.