DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS AND PESTS ACT 135 



enable the Board to make a contribution towards the expen- 

 diture of those local authorities who appointed inspectors, 

 equal to half the salary and travelling expenses incurred.* 



As time went on this process of removing the cost of ad- 

 ministration from the ratepayers to the Board of Agriculture 

 became more pronounced, and in the second report of the 

 Horticultural Branch of the Board (Cd. 7605), 1914, it is 

 pointed out that the variable energy displayed by County 

 Councils, and the absolute refusal. to appoint officers in some 

 cases, made it urgently necessary for the Board to reform 

 the method of control ; the Board therefore secured authority 

 to appoint a number of Inspectors, whereupon the need of 

 local authorities maintaining inspectors ceased. 



19O8. 



The Annual Report for this year said that Local Taxation 

 had occupied a great deal of the attention of the Council, 

 and that, though there were no tangible results, good educa- 

 tional work had been carried out among Members of Parlia- 

 ment ; an admission had also been drawn from the Prime 

 Minister and others that the present incidence of local taxation 

 was altogether unjust. It could also be claimed that the 

 Chambers had lifted this question out of the slough of party 

 politics, as both the great parties agreed that the whole 

 .subject needed revision and readjustment. 



The work referred to included the preparation by Mr. 

 Trustram Eve of a long report of twenty -three pages on 

 Exchequer Contributions, giving a complete statement of 

 the burden of rates upon real property ; the proportion of 

 the different charges falling on the rates, and on the National 

 Exchequer ; and the conclusions of the Chamber based upon 

 these figures. Some indication of the value attached to this 

 document is afforded by the fact that 9000 copies were pur- 

 chased for circulation by local Chambers, and a large number 

 of well -attended meetings were held in the country at which 

 resolutions approving of these conclusions were carried, and 



* Part II., Annual Report of Intelligence Division of the Board of 

 Agriculture for 1911-12, page 4. (Cd. 6730.) 



