§ Mr. D. G. SOMERVILLEasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he has received a protest from the Barrow Education Authority against the new draft Regulations in which the method of reckoning the produce of 1d. rate is defined and, seeing that these Regulations contain a new Clause stating that provision in special Acts for the differential assessments of particular kinds of property will be disregarded for the purpose of the article, can these Regulations be modified so as to press less heavily on necessitous areas?
§ Mr. TREVELYANI have been asked to reply to this question. The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative, and I can assure the hon. Member that the representations of the authority have been very carefully considered. I am satisfied that a continuance of the old method of calculation, by which some areas derived an advantage from local arrangements for the distribution of local burdens, would be inequitable. As regards the second part of the question, the Board's grants are by Regulations so calculated as to take into account low produce of rates, or high rates in the pound, and I do not see my way to propose a further modification of the Regulations in that direction this year.