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17
prepared by the Statistical Officer of the London ounty
Council, it appears that the amount of the first half yearly
contribution from the united Parishes of St. Giles and
Bloomsbury to one half of the equalization fund will be
£5,261 2s. 6d., that the grant according to the population
"will be £3,859 13s. 5d., and that the result will be that the
equalization charge is in excess of the contribution over the
grant, by the sum of £1,401 9s. 1d. The attention of the
Committee was directed to the debate which took place
when the Bill was considered in Committee in the House of
Commons, when the Right Hon. George Shaw Lefevre,
M.P., the President of the Local Government Board, stated
that the object of the Bill was to give relief to the poorer
classes, that all the more heavily rated Parishes would
receive relief, and all the more lightly rated Parishes would
contribute to the equalization fund, and that no Parish
would be called upon to contribute whose rates were above
the average of 5s 5d. in the £, It appears, however, that
for the current year, excluding the Library rate, the rates
in the St. Giles District are 6s. 6d. in the £, and that when
the amount payable under the Act is added, including the
cost of collection, the rates will amount to 6s. 8d. in the £,
1s. 3d. above the average rate in the County of London.
No answers beyond a formal acknowledgment to this or
any other letters which have been addressed to the Local
Government Board upon the subject have been received.
Price of Gas.
In the month of June last a communication was received
from the Secretary and General Manager of the Gas Light
and Coke Company intimating a reduction in the price of gas
supplied to private consumers in the district north of the
Thames. c