raluation of various classes of property and in different areas.—According to a larliamentary return, presented in 1900, the rateable value of lands, buildings, rail rays, and other kinds of rateable property in 1870, 1894, and 1899 was as follows :— It can now be seen that during the period covered by the above table the rateable value of "buildings " has more than doubled, and in 1899 formed nearly two-thirds of the whole. The rateable value of "railways " in 1899 was more than three times greater than it was in 1870, and represented nearly one-tenth of all rateable property. But the rateable value of " lands," which was nearly two-fifths of the whole in 1870, decreased by 21 per cent. between 1870 and 1899, and in the latter year formed more than one-sixth of the value of all rateable property. And the decrease in the rateable value of "agricultural land " is very marked ; between 1897 and 1908 it diminished by 2.8 per cent., the rateable value of other hereditaments increasing by 30.8 per cent. In 1905 the rateable value of property in England had risen to £202,835,295 ; in 1908 it reached the sum of £212,757,450.
Very enormous are the extra-metropolitan local variations of the assessable value per inhabitant. In Newcastle-in-Emlyn it stood at £2, ls. during the year 1900, and in the same year at £12, 14s. in Liverpool.
Local 1905-6 the outstanding debt of local authorities amounted to £483,000,000, representing £2, 7s. 7d. for each £ of rateable value, or £14, 2s. 10d. per head of population. At the end of 1898-99 the debt stood at £276,229,000, or about £1, lls. 5d. for each £ of rateable value. In 1891' this debt was equivalent to only £1, 5s. 10d. for each £ of rateable value. Con sequently the fourteen years were responsible for an increase of £1, is. 9d. It must not be supposed, however, that this debt was entirely a burden to the ratepayers ; for, taking the year 1905-6, it is estimated that nearly one half of it was incurred in connection with reproductive undertakings whose general success was such that, as a matter of fact, only a comparatively small part of the debt charges in connection with them actually fell upon the rates. And such, generally speaking, is the position at the present day—a position which amply justifies the increasing municipalization of waterworks, gasworks, tramways, electric lighting works, markets, baths, cemeteries, and burial grounds, working-class dwellings, and piers, quays, Sze. There is no doubt but that if such almost necessarily unremunerative undertakings as baths and washhouses, cemeteries, and working-class dwellings, were not bound to be included in the above figures, the part of the local debt now under consideration could be shown to afford a material relief to the rates generally. Nor must:the fact'be overlooked that as a set-off to this portion of local debt, the local authorities are entitled to refer to the capital value of the undertakings and other properties in respect of which it has been mainly incurred. One half of the local debt being
thus accounted for, the other half remains to be noticed. About £24,250,000 of it was incurred for poor law purposes (including lunatic asylums and the asylums of the Metropolitan Asylums Board) ; £41,750,000 was incurred in respect of education ; £136,500,000 was the cost of sanitation, sewerage and sewage disposal, improvements, highways, and so forth ; and £25,250,000 must be put down to "miscellaneous," police, and education. In 1903-4 the total debt was £398,882,146, of which £187,100,454, or 47•5 per cent., had been borrowed for undertakings which were or might be reproductive. This repre sented £2, Os. 5d. on every £ of rateable value, and I Is. 6d. per head of population.
Persons and properties liable.—Occupien and it is only occupiers of rateable properties who are liable to pay rates, and rates are not payable on unoccupied property. An occupier is not liable to pay rates due from the previous occupant of the premises. An owner is not liable unless rated under Acts which give a discretionary power to local authorities to assess the owners of dwellings of small value and to collect the rate from them instead of from the occupier. This system is popularly known as that of compounding, and under it the owner, subject to certain conditions, may be rated instead of the occupier. The owner of a tithe rentcharge is rateable. So also may be the purser, secretary, or chief managing agent of a tin, lead, or copper mine. The owner of land used as an advertising station is, under certain circumstances, made rateable in respect thereof. And in the cases of plantations, woods, and sporting rights, an owner may become rateable. The payment by the owner in respect of plantations and woods is secured by the occupier being entitled, during the continuance of any lease or agreement made before the commence ment of the Rating Act, 1874, to deduct any poor or other local rate paid by him in respect of an increase caused by non-assessment of the rate under section 4 of that Act. And as to sporting rights, it is provided by the same Act that where the rateable value of land is increased by reason of being estimated under section 6 thereof to include a right of sporting reserved and not let by the landlord, the occupier (unless lie has specifically contracted to pay the rate in the event of an increase) is entitled to deduct from his rent the portion of the rate he has paid in respect of the increase. And the owner or lessee of a sporting right may, at the option of the rating authority, be rated as occupier when the right is let in severance from the occupation of the land. Subject to the provisions relating to sporting rights, all owners thereof when severed from the occupation of the land may be rated as occupiers.