Taxation on Land. 
31 
from the overseers, and a farmer may thus ascertain if he is 
properly assessed or not. 
Such briefly, and in ordinary cases, are the principles which 
the law requires overseers and Assessment Committees to adopt 
for ascertaining the net rateable value of property. But there 
are, occasionally, special circumstances in connection with rents. 
When a farm is let at an ascending rent, or at a rent which 
varies, it is the usual plan to strike an average for several 
years. . In cases where landlords have remitted a portion of the 
rent as a percentage from time to time, rather than lower the 
rent, it is clear that, when this occurs with a certain amount 
of regularity, the abatement should be taken into account, as 
the law requires that the farm should be charged upon wliat it 
is worth to let. This view, although it has been concurred in 
by an eminent counsel, some Assessment Committees are reluc- 
tant to adopt, whereas others have agreed to it, and it might be 
worth while for a body of tenantry to combine, and bear the 
expense of an appeal to Sessions if they are refused ; but, as the 
cost of legal assistance would be considerable, it would hardly 
be desirable for a single occupier to proceed unless his case 
involved a considerable overcharge. 
Woods and underwoods are frequently very considerably 
overrated. Their value should be taken to be what they are 
worth to let to a tenant who would keep up fences, plant up 
vacancies, pay tenants’ rates and taxes, and generally keep the 
woods in such condition as will enable them to bear their rent. 
In the case of underwoods, these deductions bring down the 
rateable value frequently to two or three shillings per acre, if 
properly worked out ; but if the sporting right goes with the 
occupation of the woods, its value should be added ; if it is 
severed, it must be separately assessed. Woods, i.e., land 
occupied by timber, is rateable only as land in its natural and 
unimproved condition ; and as all kinds of rough hillsides, 
dingles, and other unprofitable land are devoted to timber, its 
value is very litMe. There is sometimes a good deal of diffi- 
culty in inducing the rating authorities to make due allowance 
for the expenses on woods, and I have recently been engaged in 
a case where a mixed class of woods had for years been rated at 
16s. per acre. I offered to pay at the rate of 6s. Gd., but the 
Board appointed a surveyor, and he has valued them at 8s. per 
acre, which is, nevertheless, much more than their actual value. 
Tithes should also be rated at what they are worth to let. 
From their existing annual value should be deducted the amount 
paid yearly on the tithe for poor rate, and for Income Tax, 
Schedule B ; for the cost of collection incurred or estimated ; 
