MR. GOSCHEN'S REPORT. 85 



rateable property . On 5th July Sir Massey Lopes endeavoured 

 to impose a statutory limit of Id. in the pound to the proposed 

 School Board Rate, but, influenced by the confident assur- 

 ance of Mr. Gladstone and ^ Mr. Forster that a threepenny 

 rate would amply suffice to discharge the new liability, Parlia- 

 ment would not accept his proposal. He carried it to a division 

 and ninety members supported him. 



Some time during 1870 Mr. Goschen, assisted by Mr. Giffen, 

 prepared a report for the Treasury, which showed a growth 

 in rates between 1843 and 1868 from 8,000,000 to 16,000,000, 

 but contended that this increase chiefly affected houses and 

 urban property. It also compared the local taxes of this and 

 other countries. The Committee let no opportunity pass of 

 refuting Mr. Goschen's contentions. In their reports, and 

 in a series of letters written by the late Mr. Dudley Baxter 

 at the suggestion of the Committee, it was shown that com- 

 parisons with the high rates of the old Poor Law were value- 

 less, and that, taking land by itself apart from other property, 

 its burdens had continually advanced since 1834. Mr. 

 Goschen denied the possibility of contrasting the respective 

 burdens of real and personal property ; it was, however, 

 satisfactorily shown by Mr. Baxter that their relative taxation 

 could be set out w r ith approximate accuracy, and the relative 

 burdens of realty were proved to be double those of per- 

 sonalty.* 



During the autumn the Committee pressed their views on 

 Quarter Sessions in different counties, when numerous dis- 

 cussions took place in all parts of England, the subject being 

 thus ventilated among an influential body of men. They 

 also drew up a form of petition to Parliament which many 

 benches of magistrates adopted. As these steps met with so 

 much success they adopted the same line with Boards of 

 Guardians, and again met with a great deal of support. In 

 this way valuable educational work was carried on. In 

 December of this year the Committee started a Monthly 



* These letters were published in a volume entitled *' Local Govern- 

 ment and Taxation and Mr. Goschen's Report." By R. Dudley Baxter, 

 M.A. 1874. 



