§ Now the legislature has long ago fixed what it considers as a reasonable toll in the case of the little village inn. For a house assessed under Schedule A at £9 a licence of £4 10s. is charged, that is, 50 per cent. of the nominal annual value. As I shall point out later on, this bears no relation 524 to the real value; in the vast majority of cases the assessment is probably less than one-half of what it ought to be on the basis acknowledged by the trade itself, in all its business transactions, so that the real charge imposed upon the licensee of the village inn amounts to something like 25 per cent. of the value. The principle which has been considered good enough for the small village publican we think ought to be extended to the proprietors of the prosperous liquor palaces of our great towns, and our rates of duty will be based generally on that principle. But before I actually give the figures I should like to say a few words on the question of valuation. We realise that by keeping the present assessable value as the basis of computation for our licences there will be a good many anomalies and inequalities. Any man who looks at the list of compensated public-houses, and compares the amount of the compensation given in each case with the annual value, will realise how unequally the present principle of licensing bears upon public-house owners. Here is one house, with an annual value which could hardly exceed £40, receives in compensation money £3,246. Here is another house, with an annual value of nearly £300, receives in compensation money £731. We have therefore come to the conclusion that it is essential, in order to ensure fair treatment as between one publican and another, that there should be a valuation based upon the principles on which publicans for the time being receive compensation, and therefore generally accepted by the trade as an equitable basis for appraising the value of their monopoly. This assessment, when it is complete, will be translated into terms of annual value, and the licence will be levied accordingly. The burdens of some publicans may be lightened, that of others may be increased, but on the whole justice will be done, as each man will be called upon to pay according to the value which he receives from the privilege which the State confers upon him.
It may well be, however, that it will have the effect of so considerably raising the whole level of the contribution required of the publican as to make it appear oppressive. In that case we undertake, when the valuation is complete, to reconsider the whole scale in the light of the more accurate and scientific figures which will have been secured by the operation of this new assessment. This new valuation will, however, take some months to complete, and meanwhile we propose to levy 525 our duties upon the basis of the valuation upon which the present duties are chargeable.