§ MR. COBB (Warwick, S.E., Rugby)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that, notwithstanding that it has been arranged that, in the Parish of St. James, the Assessment Committee shall in future be appointed by the whole of the Vestry, great dissatisfaction exists among the great majority of the ratepayers as to the existing assessments, on the ground that they will remain in force until the year 1895, and that the rate books show that, in nearly every case, the members of the existing Assessment Committee are assessed on more favourable terms than their neighbours; and whether he is willing to receive a deputation of ratepayers, or to direct an inquiry, by an officer of the Local Government Board, into the existing assessments?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. RITCHIE, Tower Hamlets, St. George's)If any ratepayer of the Parish of St. James, Westminster, felt himself aggrieved by the assessment of any property in the parish by the Assessment Committee, he had his remedy by appeal. The Local Government Board have no jurisdiction whatever in the matter, and they have no authority, therefore, to interfere. Under these circumstances, I cannot undertake to receive a deputation or to direct an inquiry by an officer of the Board into the existing assessments of the parish.