1885.] LEGAL. 393 



perty came to £68, 15s., which amounted to £952 for fourteen 

 years. Mr. Lutley was entitled to deduct the cost of repairs and 

 insurance, and taking the woodman's wages, tithe, and other out- 

 going.=i, the total far exceeded what could be obtained by the sale 

 of the underwood. The acreage of the property in Whitbourne 

 parish (larch plantations) was 4 a. 1 r. 3 p., and the rateable value 

 was assessed at £2, 5s., or 10s. per acre. The lowest rate at 

 which the other properties were assessed was 5s. per acre, and even 

 this was in excess of what the amount should be. 



Evidence was led as to whether or not the committee had exercised 

 unnecessary delay in this appeal, which had been before them since 

 26 th August last. 



The Chainnan said no doubt an assessment committee were justi- 

 fied, under proper circumstances, in adjourning an application of 

 this kind, and it could not be objected that the applicant had failed 

 to obtain relief if the adjournment was made on i-easonable grounds. 

 There was sufficient doubt as to whether the grounds were reasonable 

 in this case to make it desirable that the magistrates should hear 

 the case out. 



Mr. Edwin Stooke, land agent and valuer, of Hereford, deposed 

 that he had been in practice more than twenty years, and had had 

 considerable experience in the valuation of woods and plantations 

 for the purpose of ascertaining their rateable value. The four acres 

 odd belonging to appellant in the parish of Whitbourne consisted of 

 larch and fir plantation on a very steep bank. This land was 

 worthless except for sporting purposes. The sporting rights would 

 not be worth more than 6d. or 9d. per acre. The land was now 

 rated at 10s. per acre. The rest of the appellant's property in that 

 l)arish, 29 acres of timber and underwood, he valued at 30s. an 

 acre for sixteen years' growth. Some portion of the underwood was 

 worth £3 per acre. The underwood in the coppice in Baddeley 

 Wood would be worth £7, 10s. for sixteen years' growth. Mr. 

 Lutley 's woods covered 507 acres. The annual outgoings in wages 

 of the woodmen and others and repairs to fences would be £79, or 

 OS. per acre per annum. The tithe on the land in Whitbourne 

 parish was 12s. 9d. The only value accruing from the property 

 there was one-sixteenth of £7, lis. Id., or 6d. per acre without 

 any deductions. As to the Linton property, it consisted of 22 a. 1 r. 

 37 p. Seventeen acres, consisting of timber, fir, and brakes, and 

 forming part of Holly Bank, was worth 3s. per acre. This contained 

 no saleable underwood. The remaining 5 a. 1 r. 12 p., called Hodgs- 

 batch, was worthless. The property at Lower Brockhampton was 

 called Brockhampton Dingle. Of this 13 a. 3 r. 39 p. consisted of 

 timber. The underwood \\as worthless. There were six acres of rough 



