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of Voters, Collection of the Poor Rate, and other
matters under the control of the Guardians or
Governors of the Poor amounted to £1430, which,
added to the sums above-mentioned, made the Poor
Rate precepts as sent by that Board to the Vestry
£65,861, to meet which and a deficiency in the
previous rate the Poor Rate of £65,900 was levied.
The precept of the School Board for the year
1896 amounted to the sum of £19,871 8s. 11d., which
is collected as part of the General Rate.
It will thus be seen that of the £114,630 raised
during the year, the sum of £83,420 was required
by bodies beyond the control of the Vestry; or in
other words, of the total rates of 6s. 1d. in the
pound for the year, 4s. 5d. was for other
bodies, and 1s. 8d. for the local administration
paving, lighting, dusting, slopping, &c.
An average of 1180 summonses have been issued
for the recovery of the rates in each quarter of the
year. This appears a large number, but it is quite
evident that a very large proportion of the persons
summoned are content to wait for the summons,
treating it as the "final demand" for payment,
preferring to pay the small fee of 1s. charged for
the summons and hearing, and to hold their money
as a matter of convenience, as long as possible.
That this is so is patent from the fact that only
five per cent. of those summoned attend the hearing,
the bulk of the remainder paying without further
proceedings being necessary.
An average of 27 committal warrants per quarter
were granted in respect of non-payment of rates,
the majority of the cases being those of persons who