§ MR. KEIR HARDIE (Merthyr Tydvil)To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he has received copies of a Resolution from the Vaynor and Penderyn Rural District Council, recommending that the payments made under the Agricultural Rates Act to spending authorities should be based on the average of the rates collected during the three years immediately preceding years to that in which payments are made, and not, as now, on the one year basis; and whether he intends taking any action in connection with the matter.
(Answered by Mr. John Burns.) I have received copies of several Resolutions from local authorities to the effect stated in the Question. The Act requires that the annual payments made under it shall be based on the amount of the rates raised during the year 1895–6. I could not undertake to propose legislation to alter it in this respect.