The table on the preceding page shows, in addition to the totals for England and Wales, the corresponding totals for (a) Boroughs in London (including the City of London); (b) Municipal Boroughs, distinguishing County Boroughs; (c) other Urban Districts; (d) Rural Districts, and (e) Administrative Counties. other than London. The entries in the last column of that table show, for each of these groups of areas, the percentage which the assessable value of the rateable property situate therein, as ascertained for the purposes of the Agricultural Rates Act, 1923, represents, of the corresponding assessable value of all the rateable. property in England and Wales. Definition of " Assessable Value" for purposes of the Agricultural Rates Act, 1923. "as The expression "assessable value " as used for the purposes of the Agricultural Rates Act, 1923, means in regard to any area the rateable value of the area reduced by an amount equal to threequarters of the rateable value of the agricultural land therein. It is upon this value that rates for the relief of the poor and other expenses chargeable upon the poor rate (in urban areas) and the general rate (in rural areas) are based throughout England and Wales. Assessable Value of Urban Areas compared with Assessable Value of Rural Areas. In April, 1927, the assessable value of the rateable property situate in London and the County Boroughs, taken together, was larger than the assessable value of the rateable property situate in the rest of England and Wales. The urban areas collectively had an assessable value nearly five times as great as the assessable value of the rural districts. Variations in Assessable Value during 1926-27. The dispute in the coal-industry in the summer and autumn of 1926 caused a reduction in the assessable value of the coal-mines and other properties in many areas. The following table shows, for five mining counties, the assessable value of all the properties in the county, according to the Valuation Lists in force on the 1st April, 1926, and the 1st April, 1927, respectively. Despite the decreases in some areas, the assessable value of England and Wales as a whole at the beginning of April, 1927, was 1.1 per cent. greater than at the beginning of April, 1926. The increase was 1.5 per cent. in London and 1 per cent. in the rest of England and Wales. The total for the urban areas other than London increased by 1.5 per cent., but the total for the rural areas decreased by 0.9 per cent. areas The assessable value in April, 1927, of each of the 1,152 urban (Metropolitan Boroughs, County and other Municipal Boroughs, and other Urban Districts) in England and Wales is shown in a statement published and placed on sale (price 2s. net) by H.M. Stationery Office early in 1928. According to that statement the largest percentage increases during the year in any Borough or Urban District were:-In London, 3.3 per cent. in the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich; in County Boroughs, 7.6 per cent. in Eastbourne; and in other urban areas (including Municipal Boroughs) 51.8 per cent. in the Urban District of Alvaston and Boulton (in Derby). The statement also shows that the assessable value of 311 of the 1,152 urban areas decreased during the period from the 1st April, 1926, to the 1st April, 1927. Average Rateable Value and Assessable Value per Head of Population. In April, 1927, the average amount of rateable value per head of estimated population of England and Wales was £7 2s. 6d. The average amount of assessable value (for purposes of the Agricultural Rates Act, 1923) was £6 12s. 6d. The amount of assessable value per head of the resident population is very much higher in some areas than in others. For example, in the Metropolitan Boroughs (eliminating from the comparison those most affected by a difference between day and night population) the average amount of assessable value per head of estimated night population ranged in April, 1927, from £5 1s. in Bethnal Green to £16 9s. in Chelsea; in County Boroughs from £3 38. in Merthyr Tydfil to £12 8s. in Blackpool, and in other urban areas, apart from exceptional cases, from less than £3 to upwards of £13. Further information on this point will be found in the published statement already mentioned. Agricultural Land. The rateable value of agricultural land, according to the Valuation Lists in force in April, 1926, was £26,065,000, and according to those in force in April, 1927, was £26,018,000-a decrease of £47,000. The assessable value of agricultural land (i.e., one-fourth of its rateable value) now constitutes 2.5 per cent. only of the assessable value of all properties in England and Wales as reckoned for the purposes of the Agricultural Rates Act, 1923. II.-Valuation other than for Poor Rates and General Rates. Pending the coming into force of the new valuation lists provided for in the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, there were in force in Administrative Counties (other than London) in April, 1927, valuations (separate from the valuations for the poor and general rates) made under the County Rates Act, 1852, for the purpose of assessing upon the several parishes the amounts to be contributed by them to County purposes. Similarly, in some Boroughs, pending the coming into force of those new lists, independent valuations were in force under Section 144 (6) of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, or under Local Acts, for the purposes of Borough rates. For the purposes of the general district rates levied in Urban Districts and the separate rates levied for special expenses of Rural District Councils, certain classes of property continued during the year 1927-28 to be assessed at proportions of their rateable value which differed from those taken for purposes of a poor rate (or general rate) under the Agricultural Rates Act, 1923. Amount of Rates Levied: Years 1926-27 and 1927-28. The amounts, per pound of valuation, of the rates levied in the years 1926-27 and 1927-28, respectively, have already been published, for every Borough and other Urban District and for certain typical rural parishes, in a statement compiled in the Department, which was published and placed on sale (price 2s. net.) by H.M. Stationery Office. It is there shown, inter alia, that taking England and Wales as a whole, the average amount of the rates collected per pound of assessable value, which was 6s. 83d. in the year 1913-14, had risen to 14s. 74d. in 1921-22. Between 1921-22 and 1924-25 the average amount per pound fell to 11s. 83d. In 1925-26 it rose to 12s. 0d., in 1926-27 to 12s. 51d., and in 1927-28 there was an average increase of 51d. per pound, making the average amount in the pound of the rates collected in England and Wales in that year 12s. 103d. The amount of rates collected in England and Wales in 1927-28 was, it is estimated, £167,000,000—a sum larger by £7,500,000 than the amount collected in 1926-27. This increase, which followed a larger increase in 1926-27, was due very largely to the aftermath of the exceptional industrial conditions of the year 1926. The increase in the expenditure of the poor law and other Local Authorities in 1926-27 had been met partly by the levy of increased rates, partly by recourse to temporary loans and overdrafts, and partly by a reduction of working balances; and the increase in the amount of rates collected in 1927-28 can no doubt be explained in some measure by the desire of Local Authorities, and particularly of rating authorities, to repay as much as possible of the temporary loans and overdrafts and to restore their working balances to their normal level. AGRICULTURAL RATES ACTS, 1896 AND 1923. The Agricultural Rates Act, 1896. The Act of 1896, under which the occupier of agricultural land obtained exemption from one-half of the poor rates and other rates to which that Act applies, provides for the distribution by the Local Government Board (now the Minister of Health), out of moneys paid from the Consolidated Fund into the Local Taxation Account, of an annual grant in respect of the deficiency which arose, from that exemption, in the produce of rates. The certified amount of the grant, viz., £1,322,827, is not affected by the Act of 1923, and remains equivalent to one-half of the amount of the above-mentioned rates taken to have been raised in respect of agricultural land during the year 1895-96 for the expenditure of the Spending Authorities (or the predecessors of those Authorities) mentioned in the first column of the following table. Nearly the whole of the certified sum is distributed within the financial year in which it accrues. The amounts distributed by the Minister during the year 1927-28, in accordance with certificates which had been issued under the Act of 1896, are entered in columns 3 to 5 below. The corresponding total paid during the year 1926-27 was £1,320,776. The Act of 1896 is continued in force until the 31st March, 1929, by the Expiring Laws Continuance Act, 1927. THE AGRICULTURAL RATES ACT, 1923. The Act of 1923 provides for the payment by the Minister to the Spending Authorities under the Act, out of moneys paid from the Consolidated Fund into the Local Taxation Account, of an additional annual grant. This additional grant is intended to make good the deficiency arising in the produce of rates raised by those Authorities, by reason of the exemption, under section 1 of the Act, of the occupier of agricultural land from an additional quarter (making three-quarters in all) of the rates to which the Act of 1896 applies. The additional grant is paid halfyearly it is not a fixed grant like that under the Act of 1896, but is calculated afresh each half-year. The amounts payable to the several Spending Authorities are calculated from information (subsequently verified by the District Auditors) contained in returns furnished by those Authorities to the Department, and are paid out of the Local Taxation Account in accordance with provisional certificates issued under the Act. The following table shows the sums paid, and the Authorities to whom payments were made, under the Act of 1923 by the |