Agricultural Rates Act, 1896. 



379 



Agricultural Rates Act, 1896. 



This Act requires the Local Government Board to issue 

 certain certificates of the annual grant to be paid to the Local 

 Taxation Account in respect of the deficiency in rates caused 

 by the Act, and as to the a,nnual share of such grant to be 

 paid to each spending authority. 



The Report of the Local Government Board for the year 

 1897-8 (C. 8,978) states that, in consequence of the variations 

 and amendments in the certificates as to the shares of 

 spending authorities, the total amount of the annual grant 

 under the Act as certified in a provisional certificate, dated 

 March 27th, 1897, viz., ;£ 1,3 3 1,033 19s., was slightly less 

 than was required, and the Board accordingly, after issuing a 

 further provisional certificate, issued a certificate (dated 

 March 31st, 1898), in which the amount of the annual grant 

 under the Act is certified to be ;£i,333,ii6 is. 8d. 



The payments to the several spending authorities of the 

 instalments of the grant in respect of the deficiencies arising 

 from the provisions of the Act in the produce of rates in the 

 half-years ended September 30th, 1897, and March 31st, 

 1898, respectively, were made either just before the com- 

 mencement of, or early in, those half-years, except in cases 

 where there were delays in consequence of alterations of area 

 or authority. 



In pursuance of Orders of the House of Commons, the 

 Local Government Board have prepared, in connection with 

 the Agricultural Rates Act, four returns, which have been 

 printed as Parliamentary Papers of the session of 1897. The 

 third Return* showed the following total rateable value 

 of property lia^ble to be rated to the poor rate in England and 

 Wales : — 



Agricultural land as defined by the Agri- 

 cultural Rates Act . . . . . . . . ;£24, 565,05 8 



Buildings and other hereditaments not being 



agricultural land . . . . . . . . 140,847,208 



Total . . . . . . . . ;£i65,4i2,266 



The statements from which the return was compiled indi- 



^ H.C. 368 of 1897. 



