CHAPTER XIII. 



RATES* 



MANY of the most thorny problems of rural develop- 

 ment have now been dealt with. But one 

 portion, perhaps the most important portion, of 

 the ground remains uncovered. No practical politician can 

 approach the rural problem without being immediately 

 confronted with a universal outcry against the rates. 



After all, rural rates are at present lower than they used 

 to be a hundred years ago. The extra cost of education, 

 sanitation, etc., has been more than compensated for by the 

 abolition of the Church rate and the decrease in the poor 

 rate. " In 1803 the average rates throughout the then 

 entirely rural county of Sussex were 8s. 7M. in the £, and the 

 average throughout the equally rural county of Monmouth 

 was 7s. ll£d. in the £. These were not even the most 

 highly rated counties. Throughout all Carmarthenshire the 

 average rate was 12s. 9d. in the £, and throughout all Pem- 

 brokeshire it was lis. 8|d. in the £." f In fact, during the 

 last 20 years the rates in rural districts have been lower than 

 at any previous period for more than a century past, and 

 the fall has been greatest in the agricultural districts. Yet 

 here it is that the outcry is greatest, or, at least, has the most 

 numbing effect on local government. 



The average man hates rates and certain classes really 

 suffer from them. Take any district you like and you will 

 find a powerful section of public opinion willing to tolerate 

 the existence of almost any evil, barbarity, scandal, or human 

 suffering for fear of increasing the rates. In an Essex 

 village at the present moment 950 inhabitants are asking for 



* The main authority for the facts and figures given in this chapter 

 is Mr. Sidney Webb's Grants in Aid, 1911. 

 ■f- Grants in Aid, by Sidney Webb. 





