§ SIR GEORGE FARDELL (Paddington, S.)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the total amount contributed by the Administrative County of London to the Cattle Pleuro-pneumonia Account of the Board of Agriculture by way of deduction from London's share of the Local Taxation (England and Wales) Account; and what has been the total expenditure out of the Cattle Pleuro-pneumonia Account in the Administrative County of London during the same period.
§ SIR GEORGE FARDELLTo ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that the cost of administering the Diseases of Animals Acts by the Board of Agriculture in excess of a fixed sum of £140,000 per annum is paid out of the Local Taxation Accounts, and that the result of this system is that local authorities are required, in effect, to pay for the excess cost of services performed by a Government Department over which they have no control; whether he can state the total amount so charged upon the Local Taxation Account and the amount lost by London thereby; 121 whether he is aware that the Royal Commission on Local Taxation, as long ago as 1901, unanimously recommended the abolition of the system; whether already, since that date, £42,240 more has been charged upon the Local Taxation Account, of which £9,275 has, in effect, been paid out of the London county rate; and whether he will make provision in his next Budget for the transfer of this charge from local to Imperial taxation.
(Answered by Mr. John Burns.) Perhaps I may answer these two Questions together. I am aware of the, facts relating to the matter. The first payment from the Local Taxation Account to the Cattle Pleuro-pneumonia Account was made in 1894. The total amount paid out of the former account to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries during the period from 1894 to 1906 was £546,480, and it is estimated that during the same period an additional sum of £119,996 would have become payable to London out of the Local Taxation Account if no money had been diverted to the Cattle Pleuro-pneumonia Account. I learn from the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries that the expenditure out of the latter account in the administrative county of London is not shown separately. The facts as to the recommendations of the Local Taxation Commission and the payments made since the date of their Report are substantially as stated by the hon. Member.