QUESTIONS OF TAXATION. 167 



no poor rates ; the asylums for the poor, for 

 the mentally afflicted, for the incurable, are 

 maintained out of the central revenue. Agri- 

 cultural land does not even pay in full for the 

 local works, such as roads and bridges. In 

 1910, the last year for which figures are avail- 

 able, in the State of New South Wales, the 

 shires (that is, the agricultural and pastoral 

 areas as distinct from the towns) were valued 

 for rating at £89,935,912, unimproved value. 

 The total rates levied realized £423,477. That 

 represented the total local taxation on rural 

 land in New South Wales for the year. The 

 Central Government in that year, besides largely 

 subsidizing every rustic municipality — sometimes 

 to the extent of 30s. per £ on its revenue — spent 

 a large sum on local works. 



Taxation of the land for the general revenue 

 is very slight. The Federal Government imposes 

 a tax on big estates only, which was assessed to 

 yield £1,404,969 in 1912. The Queensland State 

 Government has no land tax. The New South 

 Wales Government had an Unimproved Land 

 Value Tax of Id. in the £ for the benefit of the 

 general revenue for some years, but has now 



