§ Sir JOHN SPEARasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is aware that the county council of Cornwall received from carriage, etc., licences during the year ending 31st March, 1909, the sum of £9,262, and that was the fixed sum which in future would be paid to the county, but in the following year, when the county council had had the full charge of collection, the total received from such licences in the county amounted to £11,661, being an increase of £2,399; if he is aware that in other counties the same inadequacy of the grant compared with the actual receipts of these licences prevails; and will he consider the urgency of making the annual grant equivalent to the average receipts for the previous three years?
§ Mr. ILLINGWORTHI believe it is the case that the yield of these licences was greater in most counties in 1909–10 than in 1908–9. But this does not seem a sufficient reason for altering the arrangement adopted by Parliament last year, and my right hon. Friend is not prepared to assist the ratepayer by transferring a sum from the income of the Road Board in anticipation of the recommendations of the Committee on Imperial and Local Taxation.
§ Sir J. SPEARDoes the hon. Gentleman realise that the increased motor traffic causes increased cost of maintaining the roads and that the local ratepayers have to pay this increased cost?