the most efficient modes of relief will be in the firm execution of the law, and the consequent stimulant to the workmen to beat about for employment in other fields of industry. The Commissioners would particularly direct the attention of the guardians to the example contained in some annexed evidence with respect to the effects of the administration of relief on sound principles, on the occasion of severe manufacturing distress in the parish of Darwen, in Lancashire. Their attention should be directed to its effects, in causing a speedy relief of the conjunction of labourers by the numbers induced to relieve the depressed branch of employment by seeking new sources of labour, the maintenance of the spring of industry in those who remained, the consequent inducement to the investment of additional capital and the restoration and advance in prosperity,-by the steady adherence to sound principles.

Other instances might be adduced for the support and encouragement of the guardians in the wise and beneficial course which they appear to have taken.

THE Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales have, within. the last few weeks, received various letters of inquiry from parish officers and others, seeking further information with reference to the proceedings under the Parochial Assessments Act.

The Commissioners, thinking it probable that similar doubts and difficulties have occurred to many other parish officers, and possibly to Boards of Guardians, have deemed it advisable to circulate the following remarks as supplemental to their letter of the 22nd of June,

ult.*

1. The opinion of the Commissioners has frequently been asked as to what course should be adopted, in the case of a parish in which there exists an assessment hitherto recognised as fair and satisfactory.

The Commissioners conceive that such an assessment may, without much difficulty, be modified, so as to make it conformable to the principles laid down in the Parochial Assessments Act, in the following

manner:

If the existing assessment purports to be made at one-half or twothirds, or at any other definite proportion of the supposed annual value, it must be raised up to such supposed annual value, by the addition of the necessary proportionate part. Thus, if the assessment be made at one-half the supposed annual value, it must be doubled; if at onethird, it must be trebled; if at two-thirds, an addition must be made to *Third Annual Report, Appendix (A), No, 2,

the assessed value of each property of one-half of the sum at which it stands assessed.

Having thus corrected the scale of assessment, if it needs correction, the net annual value of each property, as required by the Parochial Assessments Act, will be found by deducting from the supposed annual value derived from the assessment such sum as the parish officers in their judgment may deem equal to the average expenses of repairs and insurance, and such other annual expenses as are necessary on the part of the landlord to keep the property in its existing condition.

Where the original assessment did not include the value of the tithe, as part of the gross value of the ratable property out of which the tithe issues, the assessment thus corrected will not include it; and therefore no deduction for tithe commutation rent-charge will in such cases be necessary.

The net annual value thus found should be inserted in the rate-book, in the column headed "Ratable Value."

As regards the "gross estimated rental" required by the Act to be entered in the column in the rate-book prepared and headed for that purpose, the Commissioners have to observe, that where, as abovementioned, the net annual value can be conveniently deduced from the existing assessment, the gross estimated rental of each property can be readily found by adding to the net annual value the items before-mentioned, i. e., the expense of repairs, insurances, and the other expenses adverted to, and also the estimated tenant's rates and taxes payable in respect of the property.

2. In several parishes in which the existing assessment has appeared to require alteration, a desire has been expressed that the parish officers should, with the aid of a small committee of rate-payers, assess the ratable property in the parish, and the Commissioners have been requested to authorize the payment of small incidental expenses, such as clerkage, stationery, &c., and to enable the parish officers and committee to avail themselves of the occasional aid of a surveyor in points of difficulty. The Commissioners, believing that this mode of proceeding may tend to save expense and prevent litigation, have issued orders authorising it, and they are prepared to adopt a similar course on similar applications, if the guardians of the Union in which the applying parish may be comprised recommend it.

3. Where parish officers have applied for a new survey and valuation they have occasionally indicated the name of the surveyor whom the rate-payers wished to be consulted. The selection of this officer, however, has been confided by the legislature to the guardians of the Unions, doubtless with a view to enable the guardians to appoint the same surveyors for the different parishes in the Union who may require such assistance, as well for the sake of establishing such an identity of principle of valuation and rating throughout the Unions, as also with the view of obtaining the services of surveyors on cheaper terms.

In furtherance of these objects, and especially in reference to parishes in which it is contemplated to introduce the provisions of the Tithe Commutation Act, the Poor Law Commissioners would recommend that Boards of Guardians should place themselves in communication with the Tithe Commissioners for England and Wales, who, from the experience they have had in the proceedings taken under the Tithe

Commutation Act, will probably be enabled to afford to the guardians valuable suggestions as to the best mode of obtaining the services of a competent surveyor on reasonable terms.

4. The progress of the proceedings of the Tithe Commissioners, and the valuations and surveys which have been undertaken, or are likely to be commenced, under the provisions of the Tithe Commutation Act, have naturally led to the inquiry whether the survey and map cannot be made to answer both the purposes of that Act and of the Parochial Assessments Act.

The Poor Law Commissioners are very desirous to effect this object, so far as the provisions of the Parochial Assessments Act will permit; and they would therefore recommend to the guardians that, in contracting with any surveyor to make a map of any parish in which the tithes are not already commuted, they should require the map to be made in the form and according to the instructions adopted and circulated by the Tithe Commissioners, so far as those directions are not solely applicable to the special object of the Tithe Commutation Act.

The Commissioners have transmitted copies of these directions to the various Boards of Guardians for England and Wales.

5. In some cases in which the Commissioners have issued orders for a new valuation, a question has arisen as to the mode in which any rate should be made which may be necessary previous to the completion of the valuation, and the Commissioners have been requested to suspend the peremptory operation of the Act. The Commissioners, however, having no power to direct any partial suspension of the Act, have recommended that, where it is probable that the valuation will be complete within a few months after the 29th September, a rate should be made immediately previous to the 29th September in the manner and form in which it may hitherto have been made, and the rate be of sufficient amount to cover the expenses of the parish till the completion of the valuation. In such cases the rate might be collected in one or more portions and at intervals of time corresponding with the usual periods for making the rates.

It should be observed that outgoing and incoming tenants would be rendered liable (under the 17th Geo. II., c. 38., sec. 12.) only to such portions of such provisional rates as are proportionate to the continuance of their respective occupations.

In case, however, it should become necessary after the 29th of September to make a rate, previously to the completion of the new survey and valuation, the churchwardens and overseers should correct the existing assessment to the best of their ability, so as to render it conformable with the principles of the Parochial Assessments Act. This existing assessment, so corrected, being adopted as provisional and intermediate only, would probably not be the occasion of dispute and litigation, more especially if the parish officers were to call a vestrymeeting and obtain their concurrence thereto, or the assistance of a committee of rate-payers, and of the surveyor employed in the survey and valuation in progress, in correcting it.

6. The foregoing observations apply to those points of a general nature arising out of the Parochial Assessments Act, which have been recently brought under the attention of the Commissioners.

The following special questions have been likewise pressed upon their notice:

1st. Whether, in estimating the net annual value, the land-tax or sewer's rate, or other landlord's rates and taxes, are to be deducted?

2nd. As to the relative proportion in which lands and tithes are to be rated?

3rd. As to the mode of rating public-houses and shops?

1st. With regard to the land-tax, sewer's-rate, and other landlord's rates and taxes, it will be perceived, by a reference to the first section of the Parochial Assessments Act, that it is only tenant's rates and taxes which are expressly authorized to be deducted, and that the only landlord's charges authorized to be deducted are the repairs, insurance, and other expenses, which may be necessary to maintain the property in a state to command the estimated rent.

The Commissioners think that the express mention of these taxes and charges operates to prevent the deduction of any other landlord's

rates or taxes.

2nd. As respects the relative proportion in which lands and tithes are to be rated, it is to be observed that this question has, previously to the Parochial Assessments Act, been frequently the subject of legal controversy, and it is understood that the proviso at the end of the 1st section of the Parochial Assessments Act is intended to preserve to the tithe-owner the benefit of the decision in the case of the King v. Joddrell (1 B and A. 403).

That case decides that any profit accruing to the occupiers of land, after payment of rent and necessary outgoings beyond that which would repay the expense of cultivating lands, and which would compensate for the farmer's trouble and labour, and superintendence, ought to be included in the assessment; and that, when (as might be done before the passing of the Assessments Act) a profit so accruing to the occupier was omitted in the rate, a proportionate remission should be made to the tithe-owner in rating the tithes.

The Parochial Assessments Act, however, which prescribes the rent which might reasonably be expected to be obtained to be the criterion for estimating ratable hereditaments generally, appears generally to exclude, in making of the estimate, the consideration of such an occupier's profit as is referred to in the case.

But if, after the estimate is made of ratable hereditaments (including the tithe according to the Parochial Assessments Act), there should appear to be a profit accruing to the occupier, of the kind described in the case, as that profit will not be rated under the Parochial Assessments Act, the tithe-owner would appear to be entitled to a deduction proportionate to that profit.

3rd. In reference to the rating of public-houses, the Commissioners have to suggest that difficulties would be avoided by a close attention and a strict adherence to the directions of the Act; that they should be assessed upon an estimate of the rent at which such houses might reasonably be expected to let from year to year, making the prescribed allowances and deductions.

It is true that the annual value of a public-house, so estimated, would be greater than the annual value of another house of equal magnitude and cost of building, but it appears to be fully established by law that the additional value accidentally accruing to the house is a proper subject of rating. Upon this point the case of the King v. the Liverpool Exchange Proprietors (3 Nea and Man, 550; and 1 Ad. and E. 465) seems to be conclusive. It is there observed, that "the principle is established, that the advantages attendant upon a building, in respect either of its situation or of the mode of its occupation, are to be taken into the account in estimating its ratable annual value, whenever these advantages would enable the owner of the building to let it at a higher rent than it would otherwise fetch." Care, however, must be taken in rating a public-house not to include the profits of the trade, nor the value of the goodwill of the trade, in the value of the publichouse; and, in order to avoid this error, it will be proper for the valuers to treat the goodwill as the personal property exclusively of the occupier. The preceding observations on the rating of public-houses are applicable to the rating of shops, and all property deriving an increased value from its special use.

Signed, by order of the Board,

GEORGE COODE, Assistant Secretary.

To the Guardians of Unions and Parishes, and to the Churchwardens and Overseers of Parishes and Townships.

No. 5.

CIRCULAR LETTER as to the EXPENSES of VALUATIONS, &c., under the Parochial Assessments Act.

Poor Law Commission Office, Gentlemen, Somerset House, Jan., 1838. SEVERAL questions having recently been put to the Poor Law Commissioners as to the most convenient manner of providing for and discharging the expenses of valuations, maps, and surveys, made under the orders of the Commissioners, issued under the authority of the Parochial Assessments Act, the Commissioners think it right to make and circulate the following observations, for the information of the guardians of Unions and of the other officers of Unions and parishes.

The Act points out two modes of providing for these expenses,-i.e., either by a separate rate, or by a charge on the rates. The first of these modes is evidently inapplicable, when the sum required is so large as to make it desirable that it should be paid by gradual instalments; and, also, when the sum required is very small. In all cases, moreover, the adoption of this course will involve the parish officers, or paid officers, upon whom the making or collecting the rates may fall, in the additional amount of labour which would be necessary for making a sepa

rate rate.

The Commissioners are therefore of opinion that it will generally be found most advisable to provide for the payment of the expenses adverted to by the latter of the two modes pointed out, namely, by charging the rates.