228 PROBLEMS OF VILLAGE LIFE 



pation is not enough to justify wild prophecies 

 of cheaper land, extensive house-building, and 

 better wages. 



As regards the arithmetic of " land values " 

 rating as applied to country districts, it is 

 difficult to obtain any precise or authoritative 

 statements about the actual amount of the 

 proposed rate or tax. It may, of course, 

 be urged that until the value of the land is 

 ascertained by the Government Commissioner 

 definite figures as to the amount of the rate 

 are impossible. But an estimate of site 

 value is not so difficult a matter as some 

 would have us believe, and the generally 

 accepted total of 3,000 millions as the site 

 value of the land in the United Kingdom is, 

 perhaps, not very wide of the mark. If this 

 value is to provide the " sole basis " for 

 rating (as stated in a resolution passed at a 

 recent Land Values Conference) a rate of 8d. 

 in the is required to meet the 100 millions 

 represented by existing local rates plus Govern- 

 ment grants in aid. Sometimes a lower rate 

 of 3d. is suggested, at other times a penny 

 rate. 



Some examples are here given of the manner 

 in which such rating would operate in the 

 case of agricultural land, the instances being 

 taken from a number of bona-fide returns. 



