94 LOCAL TAXATION 



1878. 



This year was uneventful. Six Bills were opposed and 

 withdrawn, while the Public Health Act, 1875, Amendment 

 Bill was amended before it passed. This dealt Avith water 

 supply in rural districts : it was referred to a Select Com- 

 mittee, on which several members of the Local Taxation 

 Committee served. As regards this Select Committee's 

 report, the Local Taxation Committee say : " Very useful 

 suggestions are to be found for practical purposes, while those 

 for rendering more equitable the mode of charging for supplies 

 of water may not be found to be inapplicable for future 

 extension to other sanitary undertakings, which under the 

 existing law benefit particular properties at the cost of other 

 unbenefited ratepayers/' 



1879. 



This was another uneventful year. The Committee gave 

 a good deal of attention to laying evidence before the Royal 

 Commission on Agriculture, and when that Commission issued 

 its report in 1882 the Committee found the fullest admission 

 of the complaints they had preferred, as to the peculiar injus- 

 tice inflicted on the agricultural community by the then exist- 

 ing system of local taxation. In fact, the most prominent 

 of the remedial measures suggested related to this subject. 

 The Committee suffered somewhat this year by the absence 

 of two of their most active members Mr. Clare Sewell Read 

 and Mr. Pell who were sent to America to make enquiries 

 on behalf of the Royal Commission. 



There was a longer list than usual of Bills which the Com- 

 mittee had to oppose or amend, and only one of minor import- 

 ance (the District Auditors Bill) was passed. Other important 

 measure? which were considered and amended, but ultimately 

 withdrawn, were the County Boundaries Bill and the Valuation 

 Bill. 



188O. 



This year saw another General Election and a change of 

 Government, and this interruption of business precluded 

 the continuation of the previous years' work. Only one 



