Though there has been on the whole, since 1895, but very slight increase in the amount of police expenditure per inhabitant, yet, comparing the metropolis with the provinces, it would appear that such expenditure is greater in London than in the boroughs, and in the boroughs than in the counties. There persists, however, a more substantial increase in the amount of expenditure and of rates in connec tion with education ; and here, too, the rate is heavier in the metropolis than the average for extra metropolitan districts.
Bales levied by various spending authorities .—The rates raised by Poor Law Authorities have increased from 112d. in the X in 1890-91 to ls. 21c1. in the X in 1899-1900, and Is. 4d. in the X in 1900-7 ; but the average increase and the rate in the £ in the metropolis is greater than outside London. It would seem, however, that practically only agricultural counties are responsible for the highest rises, for out of ten counties showing a rise of more than 3d. in the X, nine were largely agricultural. Only five counties.can claim that there has not been any increase in the average rate in thc X of their rates. It is not surprising, there fore, to find that the burden of the poor rates is very unequal. Outside the metropolis it varies from Sid. in the Fylde Union (Lancashire) to 2s. 3d. in Mildenhall Union (Suffolk). Generally speaking, the burden is heaviest in the Eastern Counties and lightest in the Northern Counties. It is also heaviest in those unions which have a very low assessable value per inhabitant, and lightest in those which have a high assessable value per inhabitant.
The pressure of the School I3oard rate was also very unequal in different districts. Districts comprising so much as one-third of the rateable value of England and Wales were, at the time of the final report of the Royal Commis sion, without any School Boards whatever; and in those in which such boards had been established, the rates varied from less than ld. in the £1 to upwards of 2s. in the In only 17 boroughs and 170 parishes, or less than 8 per cent. of the School Board districts, was the rate below 3d. in the £1 in 1899-1900. And the rates in Wales were higher than in the extra metropolitan part of England.
The rates raised by the other different classes of rating authorities, such as county councils and boroughs, should now be noticed. It is difficult, however, to accurately calculate, in comparison, the changes in the rates in the .el raised by the different county councils, but it can safely be stated that since 1891 the average rural rates in every county have steadily increased. For the London
County Council the exact figures can be given, for in 1890-91 the rates (exclusive of Education) it levied amounted to ls. 11d. in the Xi, in 1899-1900 to 1s. lid. in the £1, in 1900-1 to ls. .:.)1d. in the .E1, and in to Is. 5d. in the £1. But leaving aside the county councils, the average rates in the £1 of the rates raised in the different classes of areas in 1889-91 and 1896-98 were :— In 1898-99 there appears to have been a further increase in each of the above groups, except London.
In London, it should be noted, a large proportion of the rates are raised uniformly over the whole county, including the city, upon the basis of rateable value under the Equalisation of Rates Act. In the summary to Part II. of the Appendix to the Final Report of the Royal Commission it is stated that so large a proportion as about 70 per cent. of the London rates are thus uniformly charged. The Act provides for a fund, called the "Equalisation Fund," which is formed by calculating what would be due from each parish in respect of a rate of 6d. in the £1 on its rateable value, arid redistributing the amount accord ing to the population of the sanitary districts in the metropolis. Where the contribution to the fund is more than the grant payable out of the fund, the difference is raised from the parishes by the county council by means of a special county contribution levied as part of the poor rate ; but where the contribution to the fund is less than the grant payable, the difference is paid over to the sanitary authority to be applied in aid of their expenses under the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, and in respect of ligliting and street expenses. It will thus be seen that expenditure for these purposes, equal to the amount of an annual rate of 6d. in the £1 levied equally over the county, is borne by the several parishes according to their rateable value, but expended in the areas of the sanitary authorities in proportion to their population. In operating upon this and, the council only deals with the net amounts payable by the richer parishes nd receivable by the poorer parishes. The amounts assessed upon the richer larishes are included in the council's precepts, and thus become a charge upon he poor rate,'and not upon the general rate. In 1898-99 the net amount so Ailing on the poor rate was £251,000 ; iu 1900-1 it was £257,000 ; in 1907-8 it ad risen to £309,910.