HC Deb 28 February 1906 vol 152 cc1131-2
LORD HELMSLEY (Yorkshire, N.R., Thirsk)

I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether, inasmuch as the annual grant received by various unions is now insufficient to cover the relief intended to be granted to agricultural land under the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896, he will take steps to again ascertain and certify the amount which should at the present time be paid to the Local Taxation Account for distribution annually amongst each spending authority.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. JOHN BURNS,) Battersea

Section 4 of the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896, requires that the annual grant paid under that Act to the Local Taxation Account and the share of the grant paid annually to each spending authority, shall be based on the amount of the rates raised during the year 1895–6, and the Act gives the Local Government Board no authority to certify as the amount of the grant a sum based on the figures of any later year.