Explanation of Return for 1873, Page 2.
“THERE ARE now Valuation lists
in this form for every parish, except in the case of a few single parishes
under separate Boards of Guardians, to which the Union Assessment Committee Act
does not apply, but in which the Poor Rate contains generally the required
information.
As the valuation lists of the several parishes are deposited
with the clerks of the Unions, application was made to those officers to
prepare and furnish the particulars for the present Return, so far as regarded
the parishes in their respective Unions, corrected as far as practicable from
information within their reach, or which might be obtained from the parochial
officers, with the addition of the addresses of the owners. Similar applications were made to the clerks
to the guardians of single parishes not under the Union Assessment Committee
Act.
The Return comprises the whole of England and Wales, exclusive
of the Metropolis, and some estimate may be formed of the labour involved in
its compilation when it is borne in mind that the information had to be
supplied in respect of nearly 15,000 parishes containing about 5,000,000
separate assessments.
The instructions were issued to the clerks to the guardians in
September 1872, but upwards of two years elapsed before the last return was
received.
The first examination of the returns disclosed nearly 250,000
defects, and these have since had to be cleared up, as far as practicable, and
other means of inquiry.
In many instances the clerks were unable
to furnish the additional particulars required, and in those cases, amounting
to several thousands, applications were addressed to the overseers of the
separate parishes in order to obtain from them the necessary information.
It is obvious, from a mere inspection of
the form prescribed by the Union Assessment Committee Act, that if the several
parish lists were correctly made out, a Return of the owners of land in each county
in England and Wales, and of the estimated area, and the gross estimated rental
of the property of each owner in the county, would be simply a consolidation
for each county of the information contained in the valuation lists and rate
books for the parishes in the county.
It was found, however, that the parish lists were defective, especially
as regards the names of owners, and notwithstanding all the pains which have
been taken, it is to be feared that many inaccuracies will be found in some of
the details of the Return.
IT WILL be convenient to refer
separately to the three heads of information as regards owners of land of an
acre and upwards.
These heads are –
I.
Names and Addresses of Owners.
The greatest difficulty was
found as to these columns.
The parish lists are prepared only
for the purposes of rating, and the material columns for the purpose of the
assessments are those which contain the names of the occupiers and the
statements of the gross estimated rental and rateable value of the property in
each separate occupation. The latter
statements are essential to show the basis upon which the rate is to be
assessed and the sums to be paid, whilst the insertion of the names of the
occupiers is required to point out the persons who are liable for the several
amounts assessed.
With regard to the column as to the names of the owners,
however, it must be observed that although the prescribed form both of the poor
rates and the valuation lists indicates that the name of the owner of the property
in each separate occupation should be inserted in it, the overseers who prepare
the lists are not empowered, as in the case of the valuation lists prepared
under the Valuation (Metropolis) Act, 1869, to require any return of the names
of the owners to be made to them, either by the occupiers or any other persons,
and probably neither the valuation lists nor the rates would be invalidated if
the names of the owners were omitted altogether.
Nor is it easy, with the various tenures of property in this
country, to lay down a precise rule as to what constitutes ownership.
Persons, for instance, holding property
under very long leases may fairly be considered as owners ; but then the question immediately arises,
what length of lease is sufficient for this purpose.