134 LOCAL TAXATION 



(d) Surveyor of Taxes. For many resons, and in view of 

 the large area which is covered by each Surveyor of Taxes, 

 we are strongly of opinion that he should act in an advisory 

 capacity only, and should not be paramount, as was proposed 

 in the Valuation Bill, 1904. 



This year's Budget proposed that the Agricultural Rates 

 Act grant, and all the assigned revenues which had been paid to 

 local authorities, should be retained by the Treasury, and 

 an equivalent sum be paid to the spending authorities from 

 the Consolidated Fund. In this statement the Chancellor 

 of the Exchequer (Mr. Asquith) promised that " the equivalent 

 sum " should include any natural growth in the produce of 

 these taxes. As this was merely a question of book-keeping, 

 the Chambers approved of the proposal, and it was given 

 effect to in the Finance Act. 



In July the Chamber opposed some of the clauses of the 

 Small Holdings Bill, particularly those which empowered 

 Commissioners to take action involving County Councils in 

 expenditure of which they had not approved, in pursuance 

 of schemes which might be wholly visionary and very costly. 

 Under the Bill all the powers of County Councils were given 

 to these Commissioners, and all expenditure by them was 

 chargeable on the rates. Such powers were wholly unpre- 

 cedented, and the Chamber objected to the Board of Agri- 

 culture being allowed to incur expenditure unless this were to 

 be entirely defrayed out of monies voted by Parliament. 

 The amendments suggested by the Chamber were largely 

 adopted before the Bill received the Royal Assent. 



The Destructive Insects and Pests Bill was introduced by 

 the Government in response to requests from the Chamber, 

 but it threw the cost of administration wholly on the rates. 

 The Chamber used every effort to get the cost placed upon 

 the National Exchequer, but without avail. The result was 

 that the Act was for some years practically a dead letter, as 

 some County Councils refused to add to their rates by putting 

 it into operation or by appointing inspectors under the Act. 



This non-compliance spread to such an extent that in 1912 

 the Board of Agriculture obtained the consent of the Treasury 

 to include in the Board's annual estimates a sum which would 



