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of more than 4¾d. in the pound. In Islington, £21,181 is equivalent
to a rate of 3d. in the pound on its rateable value of £1,715,907.
The rates in these two parishes—neither of which is usually
reckoned a poor parish—will thus be reduced to a lower amount
than the rates of some of the contributing parishes. The rates of
Camberwell, for instance, would be reduced by the Bill to 5s. 7¼d.
in the pound, and those of Islington to 4s. 11¼d.; while the rates of
St. Giles's would be increased to 5s. 9½d., Paddington to 5s. 2¼d.,
St. James's to 4s. 4½d., Kensington to 5s. 4½., St. George, Hanover
Square, to 5s., and the City to 5s. 1½d., all, with one exception,
higher than those of Islington.
Mr. Dethridge's Memorandum (with the addition to his table
of the two columns above referred to) is as follows:—
Briefly put, the proposal contained in the above-mentioned
measure is that a new fund shall be established, to be called the
"Equalization Fund," which is to be kept separate from the existing
County Council Fund, but nevertheless placed under the management
of the Council. The fund in question will be created by
levying what is called the "equal sixpence" upon the rateable
value of the metropolitan parishes amounting to £840,000, and will
bo distributed by the Council among those parishes in proportion
to the census population in their respective areas. These sums are
to be applied, in the first place, to sanitary purposes, and, in the
second place, to lighting; and if any balance should be left, which
seems to be improbable, such balance is to be expended upon scavenging.
It is hoped that the proposed equalization will not act as an
inducement in regard to those parishes which are to receive a
substantial "legacy" from the fund to incur lavish expenditure.
Assuming that the average rateable value per head of the entire
population in the administrative county of London, calculated
upon the revised census of 1891 and the Valuation Lists in force
on the 6th April, 1893, is £7 18s. 10¾d., and that the average
rateable value per head of population in Paddington is £11 5s. 5½d.,
it follows that Paddington will have to pay under the proposed
measure 6d. in the pound upon the difference of £3 6s. 6¾d., or
about 1s. 8d. per head of its population, amounting to nearly
£10,000, or an annual additional rate of 2d. in the pound. The
undermentioned parishes will receive as nearly as possible the