LOCAL TAXES 107 



inequalities in the relief afforded to the 

 different districts. 



In dealing with the question of local rates 

 and subventions from Parliament, I have 

 considered only the leading ideas and prin- 

 ciples. At the present time, however, it is 

 precisely these principles that are really of 

 the most practical importance. There can 

 be no adequate relief to the agricultural 

 interests without a reform of the whole 

 system of local finance. The system, as it 

 exists, is a conglomeration of legal contor- 

 tions and historical accidents. The statesman 

 who undertakes a real reform must grasp 

 firmly the real economic conditions of the 

 present time. I have appealed a good deal 

 to history, but only with the view of 

 clearing out of the way various popular 

 fictions that obstruct all real reform. One of 

 the most notable of these fictions is that rates 

 are a " hereditary burden " on land. And by 



