§ MR. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Government will consider the advisability in any proposed revaluation in Ireland, of previously adopting the system of local assessors to act in conjunction with the Commissioner of Valuation as invariably practised in Great Britain; whether he will explain the difference in the adjusting machinery for taxation purposes existing between the two islands; and whether he will arrange, as a sequence of the Local Government Act, that the methods of assessing and revising assessments shall be similar throughout the three Kingdoms.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna.) The systems of valuation in the two countries are so different that no useful comparison can be made between them, but I may mention that in England the cost of valuation for local taxation purposes falls upon the local authorities. In Ireland the work is done by a Government Department and the cost is defrayed mainly by the Exchequer. In this respect, therefore, the present system is 351 favourable to Ireland, and I doubt whether in these circumstances an assimilation to the practice in England would be generally welcomed.