§ COLONEL BRISEasked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether, in the event of there being no comprehensive measure of legislation upon Local Government in the present Session, he would endeavour to carry out one of the resolutions in the Report of the Poor Rates Assessment Committee of 1868, as well as in the Report of the Local Taxation Committee of 1870, in reference to the method in which rates are now collected, the resolution being as follows:—
That a demand note shall be left at, the premises rated for each ratepayer on the rate 1880 being made, stating the amount of the requisition; the rate in the pound for each purpose for which the rate is made; the rateable value of the premises; and the amount of the rate thereon?
§ MR. SCLATER-BOOTH, in reply, said, that by the General Order of Accounts issued in 1867, it was provided that the overseers of the different parishes might, if they thought fit, cause a demand note to be left with each ratepayer, specifying the particulars of the claim upon him, and showing also the purposes for which the rate was made. That power had been availed of in the metropolis to a considerable extent, and also in many other towns, and there was no doubt it would be competent for overseers and parish officers to avail themselves of it much more largely. It was impossible, however, at present, to make this salutary regulation compulsory on all overseers, because, as his hon. and gallant Friend was aware, the recommendation of the Local Taxation Committee of 1870 proceeded upon the assumption that there would be a consolidation rate for all purposes collected by one authority, and that was yet far from being the case.