162 LOCAL TAXATION 



date no figures had been published by the Government, the 

 Committee were still unable to present any statement showing 

 the effect of the proposals before the country. They announced 

 their intention of collecting figures from local authorities 

 and presenting a full report at the November meeting. 



The foregoing pages show that apart from their other work 

 the Chambers (with whom are, of course, included the old 

 Local Taxation Committee) have saved ratepayers sums which, 

 in the aggregate, amount to over 100 millions of money. 

 They have fought for this on their own account, but in doing 

 so they have fought the battle of all ratepayers urban as 

 well as rural. Whether they \vill succeed in the future as 

 well as in the past is a question which only the future can 

 answer ; but if they are to succeed, they must, it would seem, 

 fight with different weapons. To prove the justice of their 

 case by logic or unanswerable facts is useless when deal- 

 ing with modern politicians. Until some fifteen years 

 ago this question of local taxation was made against the 

 wish of the Chamber more or less a party issue, but the 

 Royal Commission's report of 1901 showed incontestably 

 that it is not a party question, and the leaders of both parties 

 have frequently admitted the justice of the Chamber's con- 

 tentions. But both parties are about equally guilty of adding 

 enormously to the injustice they profess to deplore. Where 

 they have given a subvention with one hand, they have taken 

 it away with the other. There is no political credit to be gained 

 by the passing of an Act which both parties admit to be 

 necessary in equity, but there is a good deal of hard work 

 in prospect, with the possibility of alienating some supporters, 

 awaiting whichever party undertakes the responsibility. 

 After serious thought on this matter for several years, the 

 writer has come to the conclusion that there is but one course 

 for agricultural and other ratepayers to take which will 

 prove effective. That course is not individual " passive 

 resistance." Such methods will never accomplish their end. 

 The remedy will alone be found in a well-organised refusal 

 by local authorities in combination to administer some two 

 or three of the more expensive of the national services imposed 



