§ SIR SYDNEY WATERLOWasked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether his attention has been called to a Report of the proceedings of the Vestry of St. Luke's, Middlesex, held last month, when that Vestry resolved to rescind existing arrangements, under which an uniform allowance is made to the owners of small tenements compounding for the payment of Rates, and to substitute the following differential scale, viz.: To the owners of buildings of the character of those erected by the Peabody Trustees and others fifteen per cent and to the owners of small property, of a nature other than that referred to, twenty-five per cent; and, whether he will take any action to compel the Vestries to place the owners of small tenements, properly constructed and maintained, upon an equal footing in respect of the payment of rates with owners of overcrowded, ill-kept, and dilapidated property let out in rooms?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEThe Board understand that there is a proposal of the Vestry of St. Luke's, Middlesex, to rescind an order which was made by them under Section 4 of the Poor Rate Assessment and Collection Act, 1869, as to the compulsory rating of the owners instead of the occupiers in the case of premises to which that section applies, and it is contemplated that voluntary agreements may be made between the owners and overseers under Section 3 as to the payment of the rates, these agreements being subject to the control of the Vestry. Those are matters entirely within the discretion of the Vestry of the parish, and the Board are not empowered in any way to control their action under the statute referred to.