HC Deb 28 May 1903 vol 123 cc124-5
MR. HEYWOOD JOHNSTONE (Sussex, Horsham)

I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board if the General Order of the Board, of 21st September, 1895, prescribing the form of demand note for payment of Poor Rate is still in force; and if the amount to be levied in an administrative county for the purposes of the Education Act, 1902, should be included in county purposes, or should be separately indicated.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. WALTER LONG,) Bristol, S.

The Order of 1895 referred to has been superseded in the case of parishes containing agricultural land by an Order, dated 13th April, 1897; but, so far as relates to the point referred to in the Question, the provisions in the two Orders are the same. Both Orders prescribe as one item to be shown in the demand note the amount in the £ required for county contributions. The sum needed to meet the expenses of a County Council for the purchases of the Education Act, 1902, would form part of the county contributions, and the amount in the £ required for this purpose should be included in this item. It should not be separately indicated in the demand note.

MR. HEYWOOD JOHNSTONE

Then I take it the splitting of the rate in the demand note is not in accordance with the prescribed orders now in force.

MR. WALTER LONG

Certainly.

MR. WHITLEY (Halifax)

asked whether it was not in the power of the local authority to give, on the demand note, not only the total of the rate, but the various sub-heads indicating how it was made up.

MR. WALTER LONG

The demand mote is issued to the ratepayers by the overseers, and, as they have no knowledge of how the rate is made up, they cannot possibly indicate what proportion of the rate is to be devoted to a particular class of expenditure.