The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-20 00:00:00

The Compound Rating Question.

Tuesday afternoon a specially convened confer-
ence of the local authorities of the metropolis was
held in the Court-house, Marylebone-lane, for the
purpose of receiving and acting upon the report of
the committee appointed to consider the proposed
alteration of rating occupiers of small tenements in-
stead of owners. There was a very full representa-
tion at the conference, and Dr. Bachhoffner (of
Marylebone) was elected to preside. Mr. Green-
well (vestry clerk of Marylebone) read the report of
the committee, which, after relating the circum-
stances of deputations to the Poor-law Board and
Mr. Gladstone (reports of which are published),
submitted as the result of the deliberations of the
committee the two following propositions, one of
which the House of Commons, it was suggested,
should be asked to embody in the Reform Bill in
the form of a clause :—" That in all cases in which
the owner of any premises is now liable by any act
or acts to be rated instead of the occupier, the
name of the owner for the time being shall be
placed upon the rate books, together with the
name of the occupier, and such owner shall be
liable to the payment of two-thirds of the rate
in case default is made by the occupier for
two months after the making of the rate, and
all the powers of the act or acts under which such
owner would be liable to be rated if this act had not
passed may be put in force for the purpose of en-
forcing such liability to the extent of two-thirds of
the rate. That it shall be sufficient in the rate books
and in any legal proceedings consequent upon non-
payment of the rates to designate the occupier of
any premises for which the owner is jointly rated,
whose name may be unknown as the occupier with-
out name or further description stating such name
to be unknown, and such name shall be noted in
the rate books as soon as the same shall be ascer-
tained, without prejudice to the validity in the
meantime of any rate duly made." " That the occu-
pier for the time being shall be liable only for such
proportion of the rates as accrues during the time
of his occupancy; that when the owner of any dwell-
ing house or other tenement lets the same upon con-
dition of the occupier paying the rates, and the
owner pays any portion of the rates in pursuance of
this act, he may add to any rent due or occurring
due for the occupier in respect of the said dwelling
house or other tenements any amount paid by him
on account of the rates to which he may be rendered
liable by the act." In the above propositions the
committte had set forth their views, but they sub-
mitted that the mare simple and practical method of
saving the parishes from loss, which was the consi-
deration with the committee, would be by rating
both the owner and the occupier of tenements let at
a rent not exceeding £2O by the year, or for a less
term than a year, or where the rent was received at
any shorter period than three months. The occupier
would thus be personally liable for payment of the
rates, and on payment by himself or by Lis landlord,
who would be deemed his agent, would be entitled
to the vote. The committee, therefore, recom-
mended that the above two propositions be placed
before the metropolitan members, and that they
be requested to consider which of the two
would be most acceptable to the House
of Commons. After considerable discussion,
both propositions were adopted, the following
rider being added to the second :—" But in rating
such tenements, an allowance or deduction shall be
made from the rateable return for the water rates,
landlords' taxes and rates, and collection of rates
incident to such class of tenements."