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13
"it is a well-established fact, proved by experience, that
"the rents asked, and sometimes agreed to be given, for a
"new house and shop, warehouse, or the like, are purely
"speculative, and form but little criterion of the actual and
"abiding value which will be maintained year after year,
"as in the case of the shops in the Goswell Road, given
"above. In such cases, which have become so out of
"harmony with the principle of a general and equitable
"assessment intended by the Act, Clerkenwell submits that
"Clauses 46 and 47 come in to rectify glaring errors and
"irregularities, and that the operation of the latter clause
"is not confined to "Structural" alterations."
E. PAGET.
I quite agree with the spirit of Mr. Paget's memorandum at
the foot of the draft Case: a house of business, depending on
the neighbourhood, might be rendered much less valuable by
the taking down of many houses in the neighbourhood, or much
more valuable by many houses being built and occupied during
the quinquennial period, and in either case I think there would
be statutable authority to alter the Valuation by reducing or
raising the Assessment as the case might require; and so other
surrounding circumstances might justify such alterations; but
there must be an occurrence of some such circumstances to
justify the alterations, and in the cases referred to in the Case it
is not alleged that any such have occurred. I think therefore
that Mr. Paget's Memorandum would somewhat embarrass the
Case, and render the Opinion of Counsel, which the Assessment
Committee require to guide them in this case, less useful than it
ought to be.
EDWD. WALLWYN JAMES.
Clarendon House, Christchurch Road,
Bournemouth,
September 6th, 1881.
Dear Sir,
I have been flitting about a little of late, hence the
delay in returning Draft Case, which I now do, with thanks.