IN CONCLUSION. 279 



local purposes, seventy-five millions of which 

 is provided by means of the rates, and 

 twenty-five millions by the Imperial Gov- 

 ernment by means of subventions. Of the 

 former, fifty millions, say, is paid in respect 

 of houses, etc., and the question naturally 

 arises, if they are exempted from this 

 burden, from what source will the loss be 

 made up ? The advocates of the scheme 

 answer : ' From the land which is at present 

 under-assessed ; ' but every qualified sur- 

 veyor, of whatever political party, knows 

 that it would be impossible to obtain the 

 enormous sum required from undeveloped 

 land, and that consequently a large addi- 

 tional burden would necessarily fall upon 

 agricultural land and covered sites. The 

 magnitude of the figures should not be over- 

 looked : it is proposed to place upon land 

 an additional burden of about £50,000,000 

 per annum now borne by buildings, etc., 

 and £25,000,000 now found by the Imperial 



Exchequer— a total of £75,000,000 Such 



proposals, if carried out, would go far to 

 destroy private ownership in real property, 



