Amendment Act, 1907, the Local Authority is required to defray all the expense of the work in respect of the conversion of pail closet accommodation.

Retention of Land Taken Under the Defence of

the Realm Acts.

Subsequent to the fixing of the date of the legal termination of the War at the 31st August, 1921, the Department have received 27 applications under the Defence of the Realm Acts, generally from the Disposal and Liquidation Commission, for consent to the retention, for varying periods which in no case may exceed three years, of possession by certain Government Departments, including the War Office, Admiralty, Air Ministry and Office of Works, of lands belonging to Local Authorities which had been taken for war purposes under those Acts.

The Department took steps in every case to ascertain the views of the Local Authority in regard to the proposals. In several cases the Local Authority offered no objection; where objections were raised, the applicant Departments were consulted, and it was found possible in some cases to reduce the period of occupation proposed. In one case the application was withdrawn. In the majority of cases where there was opposition to the application, but the Department were satisfied that the existing circumstances justified consent, interim consents were issued limited to a period of six months, in order that an opportunity might be afforded for reconsideration at the end of that period.

Byelaws.

The policy of the Department in urging Local Authorities to keep their byelaws with respect to new streets and buildings up to date was recognised in the Report (paragraph 30) of the Departmental Committee on Building Byelaws in 1918, and illustrated by the circulars and memorandum printed at the end of that Report. During the year under review this policy has been continued and developed. Not only have the urban, rural and intermediate model series been again reprinted with modifications designed to secure greater elasticity, but pressure has been brought on individual Local Authorities to see that building byelaws which were unduly restrictive were revised.

Thus, in all the Orders issued for the extension of Boroughs, a provision has been included, if the building byelaws were unduly restrictive, bringing the operation of those byelaws to an end at a specified date.

Similar provisions have been suggested to County Councils who were making Orders for the constitution or extension of urban districts, and the same policy has been pursued in cases in which the Privy Council have consulted the Department upon proposals for a Charter of Incorporation for a district whose byelaws were unduly restrictive.

It has also been possible to secure the insertion of similar provisions in some Bills promoted by Local Authorities in Parliament.

Valuation and Local Taxation.

VALUATION OF Rateable HereditameNTS FOR RATING. I.-Valuation for Poor Rates and Metropolitan General Rates. Gross estimated rental, rateable value, assessable value.

Totals Year 1921-22.

According to the valuation lists, prepared under the Union Assessment Acts and amending Acts, or (where there were no valuation lists) the poor rates, in force at the commencement of 1921-22, the total gross value (or gross estimated rental) of all the rateable hereditaments in England and Wales, the total rateable value of those properties, and the annual value of non-rateable Government property in respect of which contributions in lieu of rates were received, were as shown in the following table. The assessable value under the Agricultural Rates Act is also shown:

Items.

England, excluding Monmouthshire.

Wales and Monmouthshire.†

Totals: England and Wales.

1. Gross value (or gross estimated rental) of rateable hereditaments £298,231,445 £23,673,540 £321,904,985

The following table shows the corresponding totals for (i) Boroughs in London (including the City of London), (ii) Municipal Boroughs, distinguishing County Boroughs, (iii) Other Urban Districts, (iv) Rural Districts, and (v) Administrative Counties other than London. The entries in the last column of the table show, for each of these groups of areas, the percentage which the assessable value of the rateable property situate therein represents of the assessable value of all the rateable property in England and Wales.

*Throughout this section of the Report, unless otherwise stated, the sums referred to as representing rateable and assessable value respectively include the value of non-rateable Government property in respect of which contributions in lieu of rates were received.

The words "Wales and Monmouthshire," as here used, mean the areas comprised in the administrative counties in Wales, in the administrative county of Monmouth, and in the county boroughs deemed for the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1888, to be situate in those counties."

In April, 1921, the assessable value of the rateable property situate in London and the County Boroughs, taken together, was larger than the assessable value of the rateable property situate in the rest of England and Wales. The urban areas collectively had an assessable value nearly four times as great as the assessable value of the rural districts.

Increase in Assessable Value during 1920–21.

New valuation lists, embodying the results of the quinquennial revaluation of all the rateable properties in the Administrative County of London, which is provided for by the Valuation (Metropolis) Act, 1869, came into force on the 6th April, 1921; and general revaluations, having regard to the new range of values resulting from post-war conditions, came into force in some extra-metropolitan areas during the year ending on the 1st April, 1921.

The assessable value in April 1921 of each of the 1,154 urban areas (Metropolitan Boroughs, County and other Municipal Boroughs, and other Urban Districts) in England and Wales is shown in a Statement (Cmd. 1633) presented to Parliament early in 1922. According to that Statement the increase during the year 1920-21 in assessable value, taking England and Wales as a whole, amounted to 4.6 per cent., which was greater than the aggregate increase (amounting to 4.4 per cent.) during the six years from April 1914 to April 1920 inclusive. The largest percentage increases during the year were in London, 16.8 per cent. in the parish of St. Anne, Westminster; in County Boroughs, 31 per cent. in Liverpool; and in other Urban Areas (including Municipal Boroughs), 79.6 per cent. in Penistone. The Statement also shows that the assessable value of 185 of the 1,154 urban areas decreased during the year.

Increase in Assessable Value of Agricultural Land.

During the period mentioned above (April 1914 to April 1921) the assessable value of agricultural land, as recorded in the local valuation lists, did not increase so rapidly as the assessable value of all rateable hereditaments (dwelling-houses, warehouses, shops, offices, mines, railways, docks, agricultural land, etc.) taken together. The increase during the year ending April 1921 amounted to 2-4 per cent. as compared with an aggregate increase of 2.8 per cent. during the six years April 1914 to April 1920, inclusive.

Average Rateable Value and Assessable Value per Head of Population.

In April 1921 the average amount of rateable value per head of the population of England and Wales was £6 10s. 3d. The average amount of assessable value (for purposes of the Agricultural Rates Act) was £6 3s. 7d. per head.

The amount of assessable value per head of the resident population is very much higher in some areas than in others. For example, in the Metropolitan Boroughs (eliminating from the comparison those most affected by a difference between day and night population) the average amount of assessable value per head of estimated night population ranged in April 1921, from £4 19s. in Bethnal Green to

£14 12s. in Chelsea, in County Boroughs from £3 8s. in Dudley to £9 1s. in Bournemouth, and in other urban areas from less than £2 to upwards of £19. Further information on this point will be found in the Statement (Cmd. 1633) already mentioned.

II.-Valuation other than for Poor Rate.

In some counties valuations separate from the valuations for the poor rate are made under the County Rates Act, 1852, for the purpose of assessing upon the several parishes the amounts to be contributed by them to county purposes. Similarly, in some boroughs, independent valuations are made under section 144 (6) of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, or under Local Acts, for the purposes of borough rates. And, for the purposes of the general district rates levied in urban districts, the separate rates levied for special expenses of rural district councils, and the separate rates levied in rural parishes under the Lighting and Watching Act, 1833, certain classes of property are assessed at proportions of their rateable value which differ from those taken for purposes of a poor rate.

Revaluation of Railways.

In last year's Report reference was made to a suggestion which had been put forward that in view of the financial position of the railways and the difficulty of furnishing the information necessary for any revaluation, assessment authorities should not attempt for the time being to revalue such part of the property of railway companies as consist of (a) running lines as defined for rating purposes, and (b) stations and other premises essential to the running lines.

During the present year the cessation of Government control of the railways has necessitated further consideration of this question, and as a result of negotiations which have taken place between representatives of the National Conference of Assessment Committees and of the Railway Companies, an agreement has been arrived at as a temporary basis for the assessment of running lines, and stations and other premises essential to the running lines, for the three years 1921-22 to 1923-24. The agreement is not binding upon individual Assessment Committees, but it is understood that it has been adopted by most of them. The working of the agreement will involve some expenditure by the National Conference of Assessment Committees, and in order that Boards of Guardians and other bodies concerned should be in a position to contribute towards this expenditure, a general sanction was given by a circular letter of the 1st February, 1922, under the Local Authorities (Expenses) Act, 1887, to the payment by Boards of Guardians and other bodies by whom the expenses of valuation are defrayable of a contribution at the rate of 1s. 6d. per £100 of the rateable value of the railway undertakings in the Union, with a minimum payment of £5.

Assessment of Woodlands.

The assessment of woodlands to local rates is largely governed by the Rating Act, 1874, the provisions of which were set out in a circular letter issued by the Local Government Board to Assessment Committees

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