HC Deb 24 April 1850 vol 110 cc791-5

House in Committee.

MR. W. PATTEN

said, that a clause now proposed to be added to the Bill only allowed the owners of these small tenements a reduction of one-tenth on the rates, and, considering the losses to which they were liable, he thought that a larger allowance ought to be made than one-tenth. It was right that the owners of small tenements under 6l. should pay the rates, but he would move that the allowance be one-fourth instead of one-tenth.

Amendment agreed to.

MR. P. SCROPE

said, that the latter part of the clause gave the owner of small tenements the power of compounding with the overseers for all his tenements during the space of one year, whether they were occupied or not, and gave him an allowance of one-third. He moved, that the allowance be one-half instead of one-third.

MR. E. B. DENISON

thought this too great an allowance. The House had consented to increase the allowance in the first part of the clause from one-tenth to one-fourth, and now it was proposed to increase the allowance in the cases provided in the latter part of the clause from one-third to one-half. The rates would be frittered away to nothing if the House agreed to these Amendments.

MR. HALSEY

thought it would be better to take off one-half from the rate in these cases, as the House had agreed to a reduction of one-fourth in the other cases.

MR. ROBERT PALMER

said, there were great objections on the part of owners of cottage property to the present Bill. If the owner of 50 or 100 cottages agreed to compound with the overseers under the latter part of this clause, he would have to pay the poor and highway rates upon his tenements, whether they were occupied or not. He did not think that an allowance of one-half was too much, under the circumstances, considering that the owner ran the risk of the cottages being unoccupied, during which period no rates were at present payable.

MR. W. MILES

thought the House ought to make a greater reduction in cases where the owner compounded and agreed to pay the rates, whether the tenements were occupied or not, than in the former class of cases, where the overseers ran the risk of the houses being unoccupied, and of receiving no rates from them. A great amount of poor-rate was not received at present in respect of these small tenements, and the ratepayers would be gainers by allowing even one-half to owners who were willing to compound.

MR. W. PATTEN

had some doubts whether the allowance now proposed to be given was not too much, and thought it ought to be left optional with the overseers and owners to agree upon the terms. If the House made the allowance of one-half compulsory, he doubted whether an undue advantage would not be gained by the owners of this description of property.

MR. BAINES

had consulted fifteen or sixteen of the local Acts passed upon this subject, and found that they varied considerably as to the amount of reduction in the rate. The best rule was that given in Mr. Sturges Bourne's Act, the principle of which the present Bill extended and carried out. Mr. Sturges Bourne's Act allowed owners of property to be rated where the value of the tenement was between 20l. and 6l.; and the hon. Member for Hertfordshire proposed, by the present Bill, to take away this mimimum of 6l. and to extend the rating of owners to all tenements below 6l. Mr. Sturges Bourne's Act empowered the parish to make "a reasonable reduction not exceeding one-half the rate in any case." He should recommend the House to fix one-half as the maximum allowance that ought to be made, and to leave the overseers and the owners at liberty to compound upon such terms as might appear reasonable within this margin, according to the circumstances of each case.

MR. E. B. DENISON

had no objection to the clause, if both parties were left to agree upon the terms.

Clause, as amended, agreed to.

House resumed.

Bill to be read 3° on Wednesday 15th May.

The House adjourned at ten minutes before Six o'clock.