142 LOCAL TAXATION 



(3) Are you in favour of the cost of Lunatics and Lunatic 

 Asylums being met more largely out of the National Exchequer 

 than is now the case ; and, if so, to what extent ? 



(4) Are you in favour of the cost of Education being met more 

 largely out of the National Exchequer than is now the case ; 

 and, if so, to what extent? 



(5) Are you in favour of the cost of Roads and Bridges being 

 met more largely out of the National Exchequer than is now the 

 case ; and, if so, to what extent ? 



(6) (a) In your opinion is the Medical Inspection of School 

 Children a national service ? (6) If so, are you in favour of the 

 cost thereof being borne wholly by the National Exchequer ? 

 (c) If not, to what extent? 



(7) Are you prepared to back your opinion on the last-named 

 matter by your vote and voice in the House of Commons in the 

 present session? 



(8) Do you favour, and will you support the re-enactment of 

 the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896, and at the earliest possible 

 moment will you help to secure its amendment so as to ensure 

 to agricultural occupiers such a degree of financial relief as was 

 intended by, and was the immediate result of the Act of 1896? 



NOTE. In 18967 the rateable value of agricultural land 

 was 24,565,058, and the expenditure 2,661,214, an average 

 of 2s. 2d. in the . The grant was therefore fixed at Is. Id. 

 in the , and amounted in that year to 1,330,607. In 1907-8 

 the amount of the grant was only 1,326,290, in spite of the 

 fact that the rates have doubled during the intervening 

 years. In order to give the relief intended by the Act, this 

 grant (assuming that this basis be continued) should be at 

 least 2s. in the , and the total amount to more than 

 2,500,000. The rates in rural districts in 1905-6 were 

 4s. 2d. in the . 



(9) Will you oppose any proposals which the Chancellor of 

 the Exchequer may make for placing the cost of any extension 

 of the Old Age Pensions Act on the rates ? 



(10) In the event of a Housing Bill, or any other Bill con- 

 taining compulsory powers, being introduced into the House of 

 Commons, which if efficiently and honestly administered will 

 involve an additional burden being thrown upon ratepayers, 

 will you oppose such Bill or Bills, at all their stages, unless satis- 

 factory provision be made for meeting equitably the cost involved 

 thereby ? 



(11) Will you offer all possible opposition in the House of 

 Commons to the financial clauses of any measure throwing addi- 

 tional burdens on the rates for purposes of a national character? 



(12) (a) Are you aware that the 40,000 allocated to the county 

 authorities in respect of the collection of Local Taxation Licences 

 is wholly inadequate to meet the expenditure involved ? 



