HC Deb 07 December 1938 vol 342 cc1174-5
67. Mr. R. Morgan

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Colonial Office has suggested or sanctioned the new system of rating in Malaya under which rates are assessed upon improved or unimproved value of property; and why the system of rating in England is not regarded as suitable to the Colony in question?

70. Mr. H. G. Williams

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the action of levying rates upon site values in certain towns in the Malay States, such as Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh; why the experiment has been allowed in this Colony when the principle has not been accepted in this country; and whether he proposes to take any action in the matter to alter this innovation in rating?

Mr. M. MacDonald

I am not aware of the recent introduction of a new system of rating in the Federated Malay States. The principle to which the questions refer has been in operation there for the last 10 years or more. No exception was taken to it at the time by the then Secretary of State, and no complaints have previously reached the Colonial Office.

Colonel Wedgwood

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this system of rating has been adopted in Kenya for many years, and in all our Dominions throughout the world?