RATAFIA 



grained wood, useful for shipbuild- 

 ing, is used by the Maories for 

 making boat-paddles and war-clubs. 

 Ratafia. Generic name for cor- 

 dials or liqueurs made from, and 

 flavoured with, cherries, almonds, 

 apricots, peaches, nectarines, or 

 plums. The crushed kernels as 

 well as the flesh of the fruit are 

 steeped in the spirit, which is 

 afterwards distilled. Pron. ratafeea. 

 Ratan Tata Fund. Sum of 

 money provided in 1912 by the 

 Indian, Sir Ratan Tata. It was 

 given to the university of London 

 to promote the study and to fur- 

 ther the knowledge of the principles 

 and methods of preventing and re- 

 lieving destitution and poverty. 



Ratchet and Pawl. Device 

 which permits one part of a ma- 

 chine to move another, if turned in 

 one direction, 

 without affect- 

 ing it if turned 

 in the other 

 direction. The 

 ratchet, the 

 part to which 

 power is ap- 

 plied, is pro- 

 vided with 

 teeth, perpen- 

 dicular on one 

 face, and usu- 

 ally sloping on 

 the other. The 

 pawl is a catch 

 pivoted at one end to the lever, etc., 

 through which power is applied, and 

 suitably shaped at the other to en- 

 gage the steep faces of the ratchet, 

 against which it is pressed by its 

 own weight, a spring, or some 

 other device. A good example is 

 found in the free-wheel of a bicycle. 

 When dragged round by the chain 

 in one direction the pawls engage 

 with the ratchet teeth on the hub 

 of the driving wheel. If turned 

 in the other direction, or if the 

 chain wheel is stationary while 

 the driving wheel is running for- 

 ward, the pawls merely click over 

 the teeth. Another instance is 

 the winding mechanism of a kef 

 less watch. '_ 



Ratcliff Highway. Old name 

 of St. George Street, Stepney, 

 London, E. It runs E. from Upper 

 East Smithfield to Shadwell High 

 Street, N. of the London Docks. 

 It was notorious in 1811 for a series 

 of murders which threw London 

 into a panic ; they are referred to 

 by De Quincey and Macaulay. Here 

 Charles Jamrach (q.v.), founder of 

 the firm of dealers in wild animals, 

 set up in business about 1840. Near 

 by is the church of S. George's-in- 

 the-East, designed by Nicholas 

 Hawksmoor, completed 1879, and 

 standing in what is now a recrea- 

 tion-ground. In Princes Square 



6495 



Ratchet and Pawl. 

 A. Ratchet wheel. 

 P. Pawl. L. Pawl 

 operating lever. 

 F. Fixed pawl or 

 catch 



Rata or Iron wood. Flower cluster 



and leaves ; inset, single flower, 



showing stamens 



is the Swedish church, built 1728 ; 

 in the adjacent Wellclose Square, 

 the Seamen's day schools for 

 children, on the site of a Danish 

 church, 1696-1869. 



Rate. Literally, a proportion, as 

 in the phrase pro rata. In the 

 United Kingdom the word has 

 come to be the usual term for the 

 money raised by local authorities, 

 as distinct from taxes, which are 

 raised by the central authority. 

 Practically every elected local 

 authority has the power to levy a 

 rate, although it must do so on 

 conditions laid down by Acts of 

 Parliament. Rates are levied on 

 property. Every building and all 

 cultivated land is rated at a certain 

 amount, called its rateable value, 

 which is fixed at a certain sum, e.g. 

 8s. 9d. in the . Agricultural land, 

 under an Act of 1896, pays only on 

 one-half of its rateable value. From 

 time to time the assessments are 

 revised ; in London this takes place 

 every five years. 



In England the rates are paid by 

 the occupier, whether owner or not, 

 for although the owners of small f 

 houses usually pay them, they add 

 the amount to the rent. In Scot- 

 land they are paid partly by 

 owner and partly by occupier. The 

 oldest rate is the 

 poor rate, first 

 imposed in 1597, 

 and it still re- 

 mains the founda- 

 tion of the rating . 

 system. To it other 

 rates have been 

 added for high- 

 ways, education, 

 free libraries, ' 

 sanitarypurposes, i ; 

 etc. It is usual Ratel. Example 

 for the collection 

 of all rates to be 

 entrusted to a single body which, 

 having obtained from the other 

 rating bodies particulars of what 

 they want, levies a single rate. 

 Thus an urban council will levy, in 

 addition to its own rate, those re- 



RATH 



quired by the county council for 

 education, police, and general pur- 

 poses, and by the poor law au- 

 thority. The term is used for the 

 charges for water, but this is not, 

 strictly speaking, a rate. In Lon- 

 don there is a special equalisation 

 rate. See Assessment ; Borough ; 

 England: Local Government; Poor 

 Law ; Rent ; Taxation. 



Rateable Value. Amount at 

 which houses and land are assessed 

 to local rates, i.e. the yearly sum 

 on which the rates are paid. It is 

 usually something less than the 

 rent, an allowance of one-sixth or 

 thereabouts being made to cover 

 the cost of repairs. The rateable 

 value of a town must be ascer- 

 tained before the amount required 

 in the can be fixed. 



Ratek. Chain of coral atolls in 

 the Pacific Ocean. With the paral- 

 lel chain of the Ralek atolls, it 

 forms the Marshall Islands. Ratek 

 is the easternly or sunrise chain, 

 and the Ralek the westernly or 

 sunset one. See Marshall Islands. 



Ratel (Mellivora). Genus of car- 

 nivorous mammals, related to the 

 badger, and found in India and S. 

 Africa. Contrary to the usual rule 

 of coloration, their upper parts are 

 light grey and the under ones black. 

 They have stout bodies and short 

 legs and tail. They live in burrows, 

 and feed by night upon small birds 

 and mammals and honey. 



Rath. Ancient Irish hill-fort. 

 An earthen embankment, usually 

 round, often stake-fenced, it pro- 

 tected, in the larger examples, the 

 residence of a chief and his depen- 

 dents. Nearly 30,000 remain, and 

 the term enters into 700 place- 

 names, as Rathlin, co. Antrim. 

 Naas rath, co. Kildare, was the 

 seat of the Leinster kings. 



Rath OR RATHA. Hindustani 

 name of several monolithic tem- 

 ples at Mahabalipur on the Coro- 

 mandel coast. 30 m. S. of Madras. 

 Carved out of granite boulders, 



of the burrowing carnivore, allied to 

 the badger 



W. S. Strrldfe, F.Z.S. 



presumably in the 7th century 

 A.D., and now deserted Hindu 

 shrines, they are interesting as 

 representing in miniature the 

 Buddhist architecture of their time. 

 See Mahabalipur. 



