§ Mr. NEWMANasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in accordance with the Parliamentary Paper recently issued and which estimates the preliminary cost of valuing 760,000 hereditaments in the metropolis at 6d. per hereditament, the cost of valuing 7,740,000 hereditaments in England and Wales at 5d., and the cost of valuing 1,250,000 hereditaments in Scotland at 3d., respectively, the assessors of taxes, on whom the duty of preliminary investigation will devolve, will be furnished on application free of charge with any necessary information by overseers, assessment committees, or other local officials, or whether such officials will be entitled to a fee for supplying this information; if so, whether the probable amount of the fee has been allowed for in the respective charges of 6d., 5d., and 3d.; whether any similar preliminary investigation will be required in the case of any Irish hereditament; and, if so, what will be the number of hereditaments and estimated cost?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEIn Great Britain the work to be performed by assessors of taxes and others who act as land valuation officers is practically confined (1) to copying into valuation books particulars already in the possession of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, and (2) to the distribution and collection of the forms of return. These duties are not such as to entail upon the officers expense for obtaining extra information from local officials. In Ireland, where extensive information is already in the hands of Government Departments, the detailed arrangements are still under consideration. The approximate number of hereditaments in that country is 1,300,000.
§ Mr. NEWMANasked if Form 4, in connection with the general valuation of land under Part I. of the Finance (1909–10) Act, 1910, will be issued to owners of land in Ireland, and, in the event of the answer being in the negative, by what means the necessary data for the compilation of an Irish Domesday Book will be arrived at; and the total number of rated hereditaments existing in Ireland in 1907–8 or any subsequent year?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEI may refer the hon. Member to the latter portion of my reply to his previous question as to the number of hereditaments in Ireland.
§ Mr. NEWMANasked to whom the preliminary work in connection wth the general valuation of land under Part I. of the Finance (1909–10) Act, 1910, will be entrusted in the cases where the assessors of taxes, owing to the inadequate remuneration offered or from other reasons, have declined to undertake the responsibility; by whom Form 4 will be issued to the owners of hereditaments throughout the country on the first day of next month, the method of service that will be adopted, letter or personal service, and, in the case of the first service proving ineffective, whether the owner will be again served by registered letter or otherwise before procedings are instituted against him for failing to make a return; and whether any estimate has been made of the total cost of serving Form 4 on the owners of 9,750,000 hereditaments?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGESuitable persons, in many cases assessors for neighbouring parishes, who are able and willing to perform the work, have been appointed in the cases referred to in the first part of the hon. Member's question. As regards the second part, both the methods referred to will be adopted as circumstances require; and with regard to the third part, forms of reminder will be issued in all cases where no return has been made in response to the original application. No separate estimate of the cost of serving the forms referred to in the fourth part has been made, but such cost is included in the general estimate of £230,000 for the preliminary work in connection with the valuation.