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must henceforward be anticipated, and, it is not improbable that in a
few years, as with the neighbouring parish of St. Pancras, there may
be a retrograde movement.
The particulars of the population of the parliamentary divisions
and wards of the parish are not yet published.
ASSESSMENT AND RATEABLE VALUE.
As intimated in last year's report the Vestry and likewise the
Assessment Committee in view of the approaching Quinquennial
Valuation of the Metropolis had addressed letters to the London
County Council pointing out the difficulties which attended the
due carrying out by bodies of Overseers or Assessment Committees
of those sections of the Valuation Act of 1869 which provide for
appeals against the totals of the Valuation Lists of other parishes,
and inviting that body, as the central metropolitan authority, to take
action in the matter. The necessity for some supervision over the
preparation of the Valuation Lists of other parishes had been apparent
to the Islington authorities since the Quinquennial Valuation of 1885,
but the difficulty had been how to efficiently check an unduly low
estimate of their respective values by the authorities of other parishes
whilst in the throes of a valuation of Islington.
The necessity for action had, however, grown with the growth of
metropolitan or central burdens as compared with local charges, since
it was evidently becoming more and more to the interest of parishes or
unions not gifted with a too keen perception of what was due to their
neighbours to keep the basis of their contributions to such central
charges at as low a figure as possible. With the immediate approach of
the Quinquennial Valuation the necessity became paramount, and the
Vestry, as before stated, approached the County Council accordingly.
The request of the Vestry having been supported by other
Assessment Committees and rating authorities, the London County
Council, in May, 1890, convened a conference in order to ascertain
the mode of administering the Valuation Act adopted in the various
pariphes of the metropolis and the views of the representatives
thereat as to the desirability of the Council intervening.
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