84 



PARLIAMENTARY PUBLICATIONS. [June 1895, 



the last Poor Kate made before such dates respec- 

 tively. 



(3.) Also showing for each Union the Population according 

 to the Census of 1871 and 1891, the Amount per 

 Head calculated on such Populations of the Rateable 

 Value in 1870 and 1894, and the Area in Acres 

 (excluding Water), according to the Census of 1891. 

 In a detailed memorandum prefixed to the Return, Mr. Shaw- 

 Lefevre points out that the information now collected follows 

 the lines of that supplied in a Return laid before Parliament in 

 1871, which showed for each Poor Law Union in England and 

 Walts, the Rateable Value, at Lady Day 1870, of property 

 assessed for Local Taxation, distinguishing Land, Buildings.. 

 Railways, and other properties. 



The present Return is one of a similar character for the year 

 1894, brought into comparison for each Union with that of 

 1870, showing the changes which have taken place in the 

 intervening 24 years in the value of these different kinds of 

 property. 



I'or the whole of England and Wales it appears that the 

 rateable value of property assessed in 1870 was 104,870,000?., 

 while that of 1894 was 161,081,000/., an increase of 56,211,000/., 

 or 53*6 per cent. 



The rateable value of land, however, owing to the agricul- 

 tural depression of the last few years, has been considerably 

 reduced in the interval, and the proportion of it to the value of 

 other property has been greatly diminished. 



In the 24 years which have elapsed since 1870, the rateable 

 value of land has been reduced by 6,180,000/., or 15 -5 per cent.^ 

 and the total rateable value of land is now only 33,654,000/., or 

 20"9 per cent., a little more than one-fifth of the whole. The 

 assessments of buildings have increased by 47,504,000/., or 86 

 per cent., and they are now 63*7 per cent, of the whole. 

 Railways have increased by 9,000,000/., or 184-8 per cent., and 

 their rateable value now stands at 8*6 per cent', or about one 

 twelfth of the whole ; and other property, including mines^ 

 waterworks, canals, &c., has increased by 5,887,000/., or 117'6 

 per cent., and now stands at 6 '8 per cent, of the whole, or 

 about one fifteenth. 



The reduction in the assessments of land since 1870 does not 

 represent the whole of the fall in the value of land which has 

 taken place of late years. The value of land rose considerably 

 during the first decade after 1870, and it is only in the last 14 

 years that the fall has taken place. A table is given to show 

 the gross annual value of lands, including tithes in each 

 geographical county of England and Wales, according to the 

 income-tax valuations for the years 1870-71, 1879-80, 1893-94. 

 It appears from this table that in the income-tax assessmen's 

 of land under Schedule A., which have always been considerably 

 higher than the gross assessments for local rates, there was a 

 rise in the value, between 1870 and 1879, of about 3,000,000/., 



