§ A limit imposed by any enactment on a rate shall be construed as being only a limit on the amount to be raised by that rate, and where by that limit or otherwise the sum to be raised or expended by a local authority is limited by any enactment by reference to a rate, the limit shall be varied so as to enable the local authority to raise or expend the same sum as they might have done if this Act had not passed, and in the case of a spending authority receiving any sum paid under this Act out of the local taxation account in respect of such rate that sum shall be deemed to be part of the sum raised thereby.
§ *MR. HARRISON moved to omit the clause, which he contended repealed the statutory Acts limiting the amount of expenditure, and altered the amount of liability as regarded the rates which, as between landlord and tenant, the latter had agreed to pay. In the City of London, which formed part of the county of London, there were statutory Acts which limited the rate to 2s. in the pound. There was agricultural land in the county which would be entitled to the benefits of this Act, and the result would be, if the clause were allowed to stand, the statutory amount of 2s. in the pound would be repealed, and the contracts contained in leases which had been made in the county of London, by which the lessee had agreed to pay the statutory rates not exceeding 2s. in the pound, would be altered, and a larger amount 348 than 2s. would be thrown upon the tenant to discharge under the agreement to discharge rates and taxes, and against which he had entered a veto on the faith that the Act limited his liability to the 2s. If such a proposal had emanated from his side of the House it would have been unanimously rejected by the Party opposite.
§ THE SOLICITOR GENERALsaid that if the hon. Member would do him the favour to read the clause he would find its effect was exactly opposite of what he thought. The intention of the clause was to keep the law as it was and prevent accidental alteration.
§ MR. STUARTsaid it was quite clear that in case of a parish adopting one of the Adoptive Acts after this Measure came into operation, a penny rate would raise a great deal less than if the Rill had not been passed. The object of the clause was to enable a parish to raise exactly the same amount of money as if the Act had not been passed. But there was a great deal in the point that it altered the payment to be made by the individual rating. The object of the limitations in the Adoptive Acts was, he asserted, to protect individual ratepayers, and not to limit the amount raised in the whole parish. He thought they should rather leave the parishes to the misfortune of having a smaller sum for the purposes of the Adoptive Acts, than bring evil upon the individual ratepayer. He therefore thought the Government might very fairly withdraw the clause.
§ Question put, "That Clause 8 stand part of the Bill.
§ The House divided:—Ayes, 232; Noes, 88.—(Division List, No. 300.)
§ Clause 9,—