1886. J LEGAL. 715 



Sessions, wlien the Committee defended the appeals and produced 

 evidence supporting their assessment, was raised to £75, 14s. 6d. 

 by the Court of Quarter Sessions, when the Committee did not 

 defend the case or produce evidence. The Committee further 

 remarked that part of the land assessed by the Quarter Sessions at 

 5 s. an acre Avas tithe free, and was now bearing a crop of larch of 

 18 or 20 years' growth, estimated to be worth £40 to £60 an 

 acre. Other parts of the land were ornamental belting to Brock- 

 hampton l*ark. A part of the land assessed at 4s, an acre was also 

 tithe free, and was ornamental plantation and pleasure-ground near 

 to the mansion. Other parts were open park-like land. Hodgbatch 

 coppice, assessed at 3s. an acre, was within a mile of Bromyard, and 

 was surrounded by land rated at over £1 an acre. Mr. Lutlcy^ did 

 not appear to be assessed for 50 or 60 acres of land in the parish 

 of Norton. The classification of the Brockhampton estate, as 

 supplied by Mr. Lutley and adopted by the Committee, on the 

 motion of Sir E. Harington, appeared to be incorrect. There 

 appeared to be a larger quantity of ashbed than was accounted for 

 to the Committee. The value put by the Court of Quarter Sessions 

 upon Mr. Lutley's woods and lauds was, in the Committee's opinion, 

 too low. They therefore recommended, in order to place the land 

 upon a proper footing, and to assure that Mr. Lutley should be 

 fairly rated in comparison with other ratepayers in the Union, that 

 all his lands and woods in the parishes appealed against should be 

 scheduled and valued by competent and independent persons. 



Mr. Trinder, as chairman of the Assessment Committee, moved 

 the adoption of the report. He was sorry they could not go to a 

 court of justice without incurring such an enormous expense. It 

 would be a good thing if they could import a little cheap law as 

 well as other things. If the standard of value set up by the 

 decisions of the magistrates were adopted throughout the whole 

 Union, he did not know how the rates would be paid. The sum of 

 3 s. 9d. an acre was not the value of land for the protection of game 

 alone. The decision had caused a feeling of injustice in the minds 

 of ratepayers who were paying upon a much higher value for similar 

 land. The only way to solve the difficulty would be to call in an 

 independent valuer. 



Mr. ISIillyard seconded. As a practical man, getting his living 

 by his knowledge of the value of land, he contended that Mr. 

 Lutley's land was rated ridiculously low. The land should be rated 

 at what it was worth to let from year to year ; and if the land in 

 question was in the market, he would undertake to find a tenant for 

 it at a higher price than that put upon it by the Committee. The 

 woods in the L^nion were rated at an average of 14s. an acre. li 



