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44
1894. The resolutions passed by the Conference with a view
to promoting uniformity in assessments, set forth the methods
to be adopted in valuing different descriptions of properties
for the purposes of assessment, and, if followed by the various
Eating Authorities in the metropolis, will doubtless tend,
to "a large extent, to bring about an equality of assessment
throughout London.
The Valuation (Metropolis) Amendment Bill, promoted
by the County Council last year, also came under the consideration
of the Conference as well as the Vestry. The
Bill contained some very important alterations in assessment
procedure, many of which were considered most objectionable
and were strongly opposed by the Members of the Conference,
tbe late Vestry Clerk of St. James's taking a prominent part
in the opposition to tbe measure. The Bill, for instance,
proposed to enable the London County Council to create a
Statutory Committee for supervising the assessment of
property in the Metropolis, and it was proposed to give the
Committee power to appoint officers, incur heavy expenses,
and in other respects, to a large extent, act independently of
the Council. Clause 19 of the Bill proposed to make it
compulsory upon Assessment Committees to appoint expert
assistants, subject to the approval of the County Valuation
Committee. If, as appeared to be contemplated by the Bill,
these assistants were to be permanently appointed, the result
would be, not only to largely increase the cost of the valuations
of London, without, as the Vestry believed, any
corresponding advantage but by limiting their experience,
largely dimmish as time goes on, the value attaching to tbe
opinion of tbe experts.
The most objectionable provision in the Bill, however, was
that winch would enable the County Valnation Committee