734 REPORT— 1894. 



admitting tliem to the crafts, guilds, and to the exercise of commerce. Their en- 

 deavours were successful. At the end of the century, notwithstanding several new 

 appearances of the plague, the Repuhlic of St. Mark was repopulated, and the 

 wages fell. 



3I0NDAr, AUGUST 13. 



The following Papers were read : — ■ 



1. On Inequality of Local Rates : its Extent, Causes, and Consequences. 



By Edwin Cannan, M.A. 



The intricacy of the system under which money raised by one local authority 

 is usually expended by several others, the immense number of different areas 

 created by the overlapping of the various kinds of districts, and the inadequacy of 

 the published returns, make it impossible to give any very comprehensive statistics 

 as to the inequality of rates in England. In the small county of Oxfordshire the 

 number of districts governed by different combinations of rate-raising authorities 

 exceeds sixty, and the sum of the rates varies from about Is. Qd. to about 6s. Qd., 

 the highest and the lowest rated districts being within ten miles of each other. In 

 the whole of England and Wales the lowest rated district pays about \s., and the 

 highest over 8s. 



The chief causes of inequality of rates may be classified as follows : — ■ 



(1) Unequal returns from investments and unequal repayments of debt. 



(2) Unequal services performed for self-supporting persons by the local 



authorities. 



(3) Inequalities of situation and circumstances which cause the same services 



to cost imequal amounts. 



(4) Unequal endowments. 



(5) Unequal voluntary liberality. 



(6) Unequal cost of certain charges imposed by law on localities, although 



they do not increase the advantages of a locality as a place of business 

 or residence for self-supporting persons. 



(7) Inequalities of competence or honesty on the part of the authorities. 



The consequences, considered from the point of view of just distribution, are 

 good so far as the inequalities are occasioned by causes 1, 2, 3, and 7, bad so far as 

 they are occasioned by cause 6, and haphazard so far as they are occasioned by 

 causes 4 and 5. Considered from the point of view of maximum productiveness 

 of industry, the consequences of the inequalities are good so far as they are occa- 

 sioned by causes 1, 2, 3, and 7, and bad so far as they are occasioned by causes 4, 

 o, and 6. 



2. A Few Remarks on Fifty Years' Accounts of the Bank of England. 



By A. W. Flux, M.A. 



The completion of fifty years of the operation of the present Bank Charter, 

 coinciding as it does with the bicentenary of the Bank, seems a suitable occasion 

 for the study of the accounts. 



The active note-circulation of England and Wales is now, owing to the operation 

 of the Act of 1844, almost entirely in the hands of the Bank of England. The 

 Bank of England has fewer notes in circulation than fifteen years ago, and the 

 total active note-circulation of the country is hardly greater now than when the 

 Act was passed. The bank-note is, in fact, used in business to a much less extent 

 than formerly, other means of exchange and remittance, such as cheques, having- 



