102 LOCAL TAXATION 



The hon. baronet, from the terms of his speech, was of opinion 

 that a more complete readjustment of rates was necessary. 

 He thought there would be very little difference of opinion in the 

 House as to the desirability of that readjustment. (Hear, hear.) 

 He did not himself anticipate any very great practical result from 

 such a readjustment (cheers) but he thought it would give 

 satisfaction to interests which at present considered themselves 

 to be the subjects of injustice. (Hear, hear.) He did not doubt 

 for a moment that when rents were settled the question of taxa- 

 tion was taken into account, and to some extent affected the 

 amount of the rent, and that the injustice, where it was injustice, 

 applied to the case where there had unquestionably been increased 

 taxation since the terms of the lease had been settled. If that 

 were so, was there any objection to the change although perhaps 

 it should make them cautions of expecting any advantage from 

 it ? Then the hon. member proposed another important change, 

 that the law of rating as regarded the taxation of parks and 

 mansions should be altered, and he thought that the hon. member 

 had made out a very strong case in favour of that change. Take 

 the case of Blenheim, a tremendous palace presented by the nation 

 to the Duke of Marlborough, the mere expense of keeping up of 

 which would require a very large income. If the present owner 

 desired to give it up it would be almost impossible to find a 

 tenant for it upon any terms whatever ; therefore the local 

 assessment of Blenheim was ridiculously small, probably smaller 

 than that of some moderate houses in the same or other parts 

 of the country. It had also been suggested that instead of assess- 

 ing the parks and mansions according to their rent they should 

 be assessed according to their original cost. What would be the 

 effect of that ? The proposal sounded prima facie a fair one 

 enough ; but, in his opinion, the House would not be wise in 

 accepting it. (Hear, hear.) The result in such a case as Blenheim 

 would be that with any percentage upon the original cost of the 

 mansion the rate would be so high that an ordinary tenant would 

 be unable to continue his occupancy, and the owner, unless he 

 happened to be a person of exceptional wealth, would be obliged 

 to give up his occupancy also and to pull down the house. And, 

 therefore, if the idea of cost were taken as the basis of rating in 

 every case, it would lead to the destruction of many of the most 

 splendid historical places in the country, which, as now main- 

 tained, were part of the tradition and glory of the country, but 

 which could only be maintained if a reasonable valuation were 

 placed upon them. But, although he found himself quite unable 

 to agree that cost should be taken as the basis of valuation, 

 on the other hand, he did not think that the present system of 

 valuation was satisfactory. (Hear, hear.) He would be inclined 

 to take the view of the Committee on Local Taxation, who pro- 

 posed that in the first instance there should be taken the selling 

 value of the property, and that the ratal value should be something 

 like 4 per cent, on that selling valuation. . . He was 



