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61
11d. in the pound would have to be levied, irrespective of a
further halfpenny which would probably be required to
make up the deficiency caused by the second part of the
precept for the year under review being so much in excess
of the first part.
The views of the Vestry indicated above were communicated
to the other rating authorities in the metropolitan
area, and received a general concurrence. The reply of the
School Board in no way met the criticism of the Vestry:—
the "preliminary financial statement '' was declared to be
"not an official document, but a statement made by the
"Chairman of the Finance Committee in moving the
"estimates"; and the Board added that it was impossible
for them to estimate with any certainty their expenditure
for any given year until the estimates of the previous year
had been made up. But this disclaimer of the "preliminary
"financial statement" did not prevent its being widely
circulated by the press as being a ministerial forecast of
the Board's financial requirements, and as conveying to the
minds of householders not acquainted with the details of
rating, that a rate of 10d. as calculated by the School Board,
is in reality a rate of 11½d. as levied upon the ratepayers.