30 AFFORKSTATION IN SCOTLAND. 



(c) S/100////XS. — These will be dealt vvith on similar lines, the 



rent paid by the Foiest Authority being liable to assess- 

 ment, so as to leave the rateable value unchanged. 



(d) Arable Land, Houses, Etc. — The land taken for workmen's 



holdings would probably be let at a slightly reduced 

 rent, anti the tenures created being crofter tenures, the 

 houses built on the holdings would not pay rates. The 

 farm houses, with land attached, which would either be 

 occupied by the forest officials or be let to summer visitors, 

 would now be separately assessed in the Valuation Roll, 

 and would go to make up any slight loss there might be 

 on the land let to workmen. 

 ((?) Water Foiver, Saiai/iilis. — These would be new rateable 

 subjects on which the Forest Authority and the owners 

 would pay rates. 

 Eventually, the rateable value of the district would increase 

 •with the increasing population and the consequent expansion of 

 local trades and businesses not directly connected with forestry. 



It must, however, be remembered that the increase cff popula- 

 tion of the labouring type would not, in the first instance, tend to 

 lower the rates. It will be shown in the scheme that it is net 

 intended to create anything but economically sound holdings, 

 that is to say, holdings on which employment is assured, 

 with sufficient ground for the maintenance of a family. The 

 effect of afforestation on local taxation would be felt chiefly 

 through the parish rates. Owing to the increase of population, 

 the school rate would no doubt be higher, but the poor rate 

 need not necessarily rise ; the county and district rates, dis- 

 tributed as they would be over wider areas, would be less affected 

 than the parish rates, though the expenditure on roads would 

 tend to increase over the whole district, as a result of the 

 increased traffic due to afforestation. So much for the rating 

 <^}uestion in the Glen Mor district. 



There remains for discussion, however, the more important 

 aspect of the general rating (juestion. As has been shown by 

 the 1898-1902 Royal Commission on the Incidence of Local 

 Taxation, the per capita rateable value of Scottish parishes 

 runs from ^,aA to 9s. per head of po[)ulation, and the recent 

 returns of rating show a variation of 3s. to 26s. in the jQ. 

 Owing to the fact that the Forest Authority has to |)ay occupiers' 

 rates on \.\\t fti/l rent under the lease, whereas woodland not held 



