Folios 553-554. To: The Local Government Act Office. From: T Somerville Jones, Clerk...

Folios 553-554.

To: The Local Government Act Office.

From: T Somerville Jones, Clerk of the Wallasey Local Board, Public Offices, Egremont, Birkenhead [Cheshire].

Subject Matter: Letter enclosing a petition from the Wallasey Local Board, praying that provision may be made for the repeal of Section 293 of the Wallasey Improvement Act 1845, which exempts property under the annual value of £10 from payment of the rates leviable by the said Local Board, and for the repeal of Section 36 of the Wallasey Improvement Act 1864, which disfranchises the occupiers of such property. Jones explains that the occupiers of this class of property, in common with the ratepayers, enjoy the benefits arising from the public works of sewerage executed in the district of the Local Board - public lighting, scavenging and cleansing - while the owners, in consequence of the exemption from rating, are enabled to obtain higher rents. The Local Board are said, therefore, to see no reason why the property, of which now amounts to £4775, and which is annually increasing, should not contribute to a fair proportion towards the public expenditure.