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CHAPTER V. 

 LOCAL TAXATION. 



1899. 



THE Royal Commission on Local Taxation issued two 

 interim reports early this year, one dealing with Valuation 

 for and Collection of Rates in England and Wales ; the other 

 with Valuation and Rating in respect to Tithe Rent Charge. 

 As regards the former, the Chamber decided that they could 

 not agree with the Majority Report, but that they agreed in 

 principle with the Minority Report, presented by Mr. (after- 

 wards Sir) T. H. Elliott. The Government gave effect to 

 the recommendations of the other interim report by passing 

 the Tithe Rent Charge (Rates) Act during this session, but 

 the Chamber took no part in this question. 



19OO-1. 



Nothing in this connection occurred during the former of 

 these two years. As there was no prospect of the Govern- 

 ment being able to legislate, the Chamber urged them to 

 extend the Agricultural Rates Act for a further period, and 

 a Bill was passed in 1901 extending it until 1906. The Royal 

 Commission issued its Final Report towards the end of the 

 year. The Government introduced a Bill dealing with educa- 

 tion, upon which the Chamber issued a report opposing some 

 of its financial proposals. The Bill was not read a second 

 time, but a second Education Bill, dealing temporarily with 

 the difficulty created by the " Cockerton Judgment," was 

 introduced and passed. Sir J. Grant Lawson resigned the 

 chairmanship of the Committee this year, on his appointment 

 as Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Government Board, 

 and Sir John Dorington, Bart., was elected in his place. 



