10
same body, and the return of the receipts which are included in the accounts of the Mercantile Marine Fund laid before Parliament (Par.
Pap.,
1866, No.
264), shows only the amount received in the different portions of the United Kingdom, but not the amount received on account of each of the Corporations under the management of which the light-houses are placed.
Deducting the pilotage and light dues (£503,012) from the English total for the year 1865—£18,106,066—we obtain £17,603,054 as the amount raised by local taxation in England and Wales, which may fairly be compared with the amount similarly raised in Ireland, as shown by the returns included in?
this Report.
In the English returns the valuations on which the rates are levied are not given.
The valuations in the two countries would, however, admit of only a very general comparison, as they are made under entirely different authorities.
The Irish valuation undergoes an annual revision in detail, so far as the changes of occupation or as the deterioration or improvement in the value of buildings is concerned, but this does not affect the gross value of each townland, exclusive of buildings, which remains a constant sum from year to year, capable of alteration only at the end of each period of fourteen years, and even then only upon the application of the Grand Jury of the county.
In the northern counties, where the valuation has been comparatively recent, it is believed to be fully up to the fair letting value of land in good estates, not including the interest of yearly tenants; while in the south, where no alteration has been made in the basis adopted in the valuation made during the period following the famine of 1846-7, when the poor-rates were high and the state of agriculture depressed, the valuation is believed to be below the letting value.
To whatever extent this is the case, the poundage rate of local taxation in Ireland appears higher than it really is.
The value of rateable property in England and Wales, though not in the returns, compared with the amount of local taxation, is, however, elsewhere given for 1865, as—
In the metropolis, .......
£14,021,400 In cities and municipal boroughs, .....
17,289,850 In counties, .....
.
.
58,826,115
£90,137,365-The corresponding figures for Ireland for same year are—
Dirblin Metropolitan Police District, .....
£839,828 Other cities and towns under local taxation,+ .
.
.
1,540,558 Counties, ......
.
10,615,640
£12,986,026 The amount of local taxation, including sums borrowed and all sources of receipts, if it were all thrown on the rateable property, would give on the valuation, in the year 1865—
In Ireland, a poundage rate of 3s.
ll^d.
in the £1.
In England, a poundage rate of 3s.
10|d *& the ,,
If we exclude the money borrowed and receipts from other sources, we get the poundage rate of the grand jury cess, poor-rate, and town rates in Ireland.
The grand jury cess and the poor-rates are levied upon the same valuation (made by the Commissioners of Valuation for Ireland under Statute 15 & 16 Vic, c 63, and the subsequent Acts, 17 & 18 Vic, c.
8, and 23 Vic, c.
4), which in 1865 amounted in the aggregate for all Ireland to £12,986,026, giving for grand jury cess an average of Is.
7\d.
in the £1, and for poor-rates an average of Is.
l\d.
in the £1, which amounts to a total average of 2s.
9d.
in the £1 for all districts outside towns under Town Councils and Town Commissioners.
The valuation of towns in Ireland is as follows :—
Towns under Town Councils, .
.
.
.
.
.
£1,290,619
Do.
Town Commissioners, .....
445,578 Do.
Lighting and Cleansing Commissioners, .
.
.
172,980 Towns and townships under special Acts, ....
194,028
£2,103,205 The total rates in these towns, including estimated rates in those which have made no return, are (and exclusive of borrowed money and other receipts), ........
£M 8,832 making the average town-rate in Ireland 2s.
Id.
in the pound.
The valuation of the Dublin Metropolitan.Police
District is-£825,828, making a special rata of about 8cL in the pound in.
this district..
* Par.
Paper, 1868, No.
53.
t The valuation, of the.part
of Dublin,under the Municipal Corporation'is £562,647.
