244 Timehri. 



for the heart of the Receiver of Taxes. There was a practice, too, of 

 this official taking the taxes in piecemeal, receipts being given off when 

 the full sum was gathered in. This was extremely convenient to the 

 contributor who found out before long that so long as this kind of busi- 

 ness went on, it was awkward for the taxgatherer to sue him. Rate- 

 payers, dissatisfied with the appraisement of their properties were not 

 wont apparently to appeal in the form in vogue to-day. but "com- 

 plained," and we find in the minutes such an entry as this : — " the 

 members assembled at 8 a.m. and went carefully over the last appraise- 

 ments of Queenstovvn and Smythtown and reduced the valuation of 

 several properties which they considered highly valued." For a long 

 number of years the assessment was onty 1 per cent. A unique circum- 

 stance falls to be recorded in regard to the rates. It appears that after 

 the market was established in 1850, there was a large sum of money 

 due, tor advances, to the British Guiana Bank. The Board of Superin- 

 tendence therefore applied to Governor Barkly and the Court of Policy 

 for authority to issue bonds redeemable in 10 years at b' per cent. 

 interest, for 820,000. for the purpose of paying off a debt incurred by 

 I he Hoard of Police in erecting the market, and of repairing the streets 

 and drainage and for the general improvement of the town. This was 

 granted by Ordinance 1"2 of 1850. After paying off the debts, the 

 Hoard found itself in possession of a surplus which it invested at 4 per 

 cent, interest, and for four years the town works were carried on with- 

 out any taxes being levied. tempora, o mores ! 



So soon as the Board adventured upon putting up the Water Works 

 at Lochaber, the rates went up ; and as time went on and the sweets of 

 boi rowing were tasted, the rates were further increased, until to-day the 

 impost is 1\ per cent., an impost that should have been levied long ago — - 

 that is. so soon as it became apparent that deficits could not be avoided 

 in the ordinary transactions of the year. In this there was more heart 

 than head ; and so disinclined were both the Board and Council to ask the 

 ratepayer for more, that budgeting became perilously near to being a 

 farce. There was a deliberate toying with the figures; and as it w T as 

 easy, on paper, to make quadration between anticipated outgoings and 

 anticipated incomings, the puerile game of self-deception went on. 

 Unfortunately, it was aided by the lo;ig- suffering of the local traders 

 who gave too much credit. xVpparently the Board thought it honoured 

 a trader when it gave him an order, and did not vex its soul with the 

 thought that the debt created had to be paid or should be paid in a 

 reasonable time. Traders sending in their accounts twelve months over- 

 due were thought to be importunate and were met with the haughty 

 response : — "To stand over, to be paid with others when the Board are 

 in funds." Splendid paupers, to be sure ! The financial position of the 

 Council would have been healthier if the opportunities were fewer for 

 it to dull the edge of husbandry or to take Ossianic flights in its enter- 

 prises. Also, if it had been guided by that prudence which dictates that 

 no obligatiqn should be created without there being a reasonable proba- 

 bility of its being me t in g .reasonable time-. The it}ea all along seem? to 



