REPORT FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE BURDENS AFFECTING REAL

PROPERTY.

By the Lords Committees, appointed a Select Committee to inquire into Burdens on Real Property, and the impediments to agricultural transac- tions, caused by the system of Excise-duties, Poor-laws, and local taxation; and also to inquire and to report on the legislative exemptions and pecuniary advantages provided by law in respect to taxation as affecting landed property—

Ordered to report, that the Committee have met, and considered the matter to them referred, and have examined several witnesses in relation thereto, and have agreed to the following Report. The Committee have thought it expedient to divide the subject into two heads, viz. Restrictions upon Cultivation, and positive Charges ; both being imposed for the general advantage, and not for the special benefit of that class on which they exclusively or mainly fall. Under the first head, it appears to the Committee that they should include the prohibition to grow tobacco, and the restriction on the use of malt for agricultural purposes, in consequence of the heavy duty imposed upon it.

The tenant-farmers lay great stress on the Malt-duty, and its injurious interference with the cultivation of barley. The Committee, however, cannot consider that impost, which, on the average of the last ten years, has produced very nearly 5,000,000L annually, as borne exclusively by the land; beer being almost a necessary of life with the mass of the population, the duty falls as a general tax on the consumers of the article ; but it is unquestionable that so heavy a duty dimi- nishes the demand, and deprives of a ready market all except the best qualities of barley. A duty of 21s. 8d. on a quarter of barley costing 34s. is it heavy a tax, that Mr. Barclay is of opinion that no brewer can afford to buy inferior barley and make it into malt. The agricultural wit- nesses examined before the Committee complain loudly of the restriction the Excise-laws impose on malting inferior barleys for fattening purposes. The advantages of this process having been matter of dispute between learned chemists and practical farmers. the Committee will content them- selves by referring to tee evidence of Mr. Hudson' of Castleacre, Mr. Ben- net, &c. &c., on this subject, and adding, that if further experiments should establish the utility of the process, the Matt-duty must be con- sidered as a serious obstruction to agricultural economy.

The Committee consider the Malt and other Excise-duties rather as restrictions on cultivation, and as impediments to the improvement of land, than as exclusive charges on real property. The duty on hops ammulted in 1844 to 288,5261.; the duty on British sugars to 7,0521. ; the

duty on bricks to 436,7361. • • The Committee have no means of ascertaining the exact amount of in- jury inflicted on real property by the Excise-laws: they cannot, however, 'but conclude from the evidence before them, that the repeal of the Malt- duty would considerably increase the demand for barley ; and that the removal of the duty on bricks would not only tend to the more rapid im- provement of real property in towns and their vicinity, but, what is still more important, add to the comforts of the poorer classes by improving the character of their habitations.

The Committee have attempted, under the second head, to ascertain the extent of the various charges to which real property is subject, and to place them under the consideration of the House. It is evident that every compulsory charge levied upon the land, and which becomes payable out of its proceeds before any portion of them is available or applicable to the profits of the capital vested in it, must be held to affect that capital. If such charges are of a magnitude to reduce the value of the net produce of the land below the average profits of capital, such capital would, in accordance with general principles, be withdrawn from the cul- tivation of the soil, to be diverted into some other channel. It is, however, universally admitted that this general principle is in some degree disturbed by the preference given to some occupations over others. The cultivation of land will attract capital at a lower rate of interest than most other occu- pations: the rate of remunerating profit is consequently smaller, and it would in proportion be sooner exhausted by extraordinary burdens. In estimating the amount of the burdens to which real property is sub ject, the Committee have not deemed it necessary to attempt to draw a dis- tinction between the owner and occupier of the soil, as representing separate interests. In many parts of the country they are actually identical, the owners cultivating their own property. Letting land to capitalists, in- stead of the owner cultivating it himself, is only a different mode of manage- meat; and all charges levied upon the land, whether paid by owner or occupier, reduce the net profits of their joint capital invested in the culti- vation of it. The capitalist hires the use of the land, and of the buildings necessary for the cultivation of it, as an instrument by which he may turn his capital to profit ; and the price he offers is regulated by the liabilities he incurs in the employment of such an instrument. When those liabilities are easily ascertained, the capitalist can precisely calculate the consequent reduction in the amount he would otherwise pay for the use of the soil ; but in cases where the charges fluctuate, and an approximation to their amount can alone be made, he subjects himself to the variation of those charges during the term of his occupation. When these direct and in- direct charges equal in amount the profit remaining after the expenses of management and interest of capital have been deducted, the capitalist is no longer able to pay for the hire of the instrument with which he employs his capital. The Land-tax, in the opinion of the Committee, is a burden upon land, inasmuch as it must be deducted from the gross proceeds of the land before its net product can become available as profits of capital. The temporary Act of the Fourth of William and Mary imposed a rate of 4s. in the pound on land, hereditaments, tenements, offices, and pensions, and 24s. per 1001. on personal estates; but in the subsequent annual acts the rate varies from 4s. to Is. in the pound on lands, hereditaments, &e, The Thirty-eighth of George the Third fixed the quotas payable by each county, city, and bo- rough, and directed the Commissioners under the act to charge the several divisions in proportion to the simis assessed thereon by the temporary Act of William and Mary. Although the quotas are fixed in reference to each district by the Act of George the Third, the law admits a variation in the allotment of the sum amongst the different owners of property within the district and redemptions continue in consequence, although, except for the purpose of insurance against an increased rate on approved property, the privilege of redemption is at the present price of the Funds nearly a dead letter. This tax is most unequal in its pressure ; and from the state- ment put in by Mr. Wood, it appears that the quotas are higher in pro- portion to the value of property in the purely agricultural counties than in the mining and manufacturing districts. According to the latest returns, the Land-tax unredeemed amounts to the sum of 1,164,0421. The amount of Land .tax which has been redeemed no longer appears as a burden upon land; but it must not be forgotten that the proprietors of land, in order to escape from the operation of the tax, have paid over to the State an amount of capital of which the sum redeemed represents the annual interest, and of which the State is still deriving the advantage. The Poor-rate, including the County-rate, amounted in 1844 to i

6,847,2051. That amount s the return of actual payments ; but the evidence accompanying this Report is pregnant with proof that the em- ployment of unprofitable labour would constitute an important addition to such returns. In order to reduce the Poor-rate, the farmers in many parishes employ more hands than the economical working of the land requires. Mr. Robert Smith explains this system ; and Mr. Baker _ estimates this additional outlay on his farm at 31. per week on 500 acres. The actual sum levied in the name of the Poor-rate does not, therefore, correctly represent the full amount of the charge imposed upon real pro- . perty by the laws regarding the maintenance of the poor. It is true that, as far as he is a rate-payer, themanufaeturer may be influenced by similar motives to keep in employment for a time unprofitable hands ; but the extent to which these motives operate will, of course depend upon the relative proportions of the charges to which the respective interests are subjected.

The Highway-rates, exclusive of those which are at present relieved by the aid of turnpike-trusts, amounted in 1839 to 1,169,8911. The Committee feel it their duty to observe, that the rate-payers not only have not the exclusive use of the highways, but are not even allowed to limit their expense by the repairs necessary for the conveyance of agricultural pro- duce ; inasmuch as the roads, if not in a state of repair sufficient for purposes of general traffic, may be indicted for any party using them, although such party is not liable to Highway-rate. The Committee feel it their duty to direct attention to the probability of the repairs of the turnpike-roads falling eventually on the real property. Mr. Baxter states, that in the neighbourhood of Doncaster tolls are paid to the turnpike-trusts, notwithstanding the entire maintenance of the roads has fallen on the rates. Mr. Bennet also bears testimony to a rate being raised in the last year for the repairs of the Holyhead turnpike-road in his parish, amounting to an expenditure of about 100/. per mile. However Important may be the advantages which accrue to the landed interest from the Improvement of the highways, their maintenance is not the less a posi- tive charge or burden affecting the profits of the real property of the country.

The Church-rates constitute a smaller, but still a positive charge upon real property ; they amounted in 1839 to 506,812/., this being the latest return.

The Committee are of opinion that the Tithe Commutation rent-charge operates as a burden on the land which is subject to it ; inasmuch as a certain amount measured in produce must be paid, whatever may be the nature of the cultivation or the return made byie. The 'value bf the crops,

without reference to the natural qualities of the soil, being taken into con- sideration in fixing the basis on which the commutation rests, lands, which by artificial means were rendered highly productive during the seven years on which the commutation is based, have become in consequence perma- nently liable to a heavy rent-charge. Mr. Weall in his evidence states, that the high farming introduced at great exnense into the parishes of Beddingtou and Wallington had raised the titles during the years pre- ceding the Commutation Act from 3s. 6d. per acre to 7s. and fle per acre. Mr. Bennet remarks, that the heaviest wheat-lands have the heaviest tithes upon them; thus imposing the heaviest charge where cultivation is the most expensive. Mr. Cramp says, the tithe in the pariah in which he re- sides amounts to 17.. 64. per acre ; and Mr. Blamire, in answers 2,524 and 2,526, confirms the evidence of preceding witnesses, that the rent-charge amounts, in some eases, to more than one-half the rent ; that one-third is not an unusual proportion ; and that there are some rare cases where the rent-charge is equal in amount to the whole rent. On the supposition of a continued reduction in the amount of proceeds derived from capital in- vested in the cultivation of the land, it is self-evident that titheable land would be abandoned sooner than land which is tithe-free; and though the landowner has no claim whatever to the property of the tithe- owner, the tithe itself would in that case have the effect of diverting capital from its cultivation. The Committee, therefore, submit to the consideration of the House the fact that 4,500,000!., levied under the Tithe Commutation Act becomes payable out of the proceeds of the land before any portion of them is available or applicable to the profits of the capital invested in its cultivation. It is further important to con- sider the effect of this charge on the land in the ease of a serious fall in the price of agricultural produce. Under the old law, the value of the tithe would correspond with that of the crop ; but under the law of com- mutation it would take several years before the land would be relieved in the amount of its tithe.

The intensity of the pressure of a burden must be measured by the rela- tive ability to support it ; and the Committee therefore place before the House an estimate of the rateable value of the real property on which the enumerated burdens are assessed. According to a return made to the House of Lords, the annual value of real property assessed to the Poor-rate in England and Wales, in the year ended Lady-day 1841, amounted to 62,640,030/. The Land-tax, Highway, Church, and Poor rates alone amounting to 9,687,9601., would thus be equivalent to an income-tax of about fifteen per cent on the annual value of real property in England and Wales. If to the above swn 9,687,950/. is added, the tithe rent-charge not merged in the land, i. e., 4,500,0001., snaking a total of 14,187,960!., the contribu- tion annually levied on real property for the public service under the five heads of Tithes, Land-tax, Poor, Highway, and Church rates, is equivalent to an income-tax of nearly twenty-three per cent on 62,540,03W., the rate- able value of the real property in England and Wales.

This sum, however, is probably much below the actual value of the pro- perty liable to the above-named rates. The Committee believe that the re- turns which state therateable value of realproperty irlEngland and Wales to be 62,540,030/. have been made from the rate-books ; and as in some parishes property is not entered at its gross value, a certain amount must be added to the above siuu before the actual value of real property in England and Wales liable to the Poor-rate can be obtained. The annual value of real property, as deducible from the Income-tax, amounts to 86,802,735/. in England and Wales. The Land-tax, Highway, Church, and Poor rate, (including the County-rate,) would be equivalent to a tax above eleven per cent on this valuation; but it should, however, be remarked, that mines, other than coal-pits, manors, and fines, which are exempt from Poor-rate, are included in the above estimate.

The Committee are aware that the above-enumerated sums do not repre- sent the whole contribution levied on real property for the public service. In some counties, rates are raised under the head of bridges, lunatic asylums, and constable rates ; while the land is still liable, in case of the Militia being called out, to a heavy disbursement for the support of that national force. An additional charge has also been imposed on the land by the expenses of valuers and solicitors incurred under the Tithe Com- mutation Act. Mr. Blamire estimates the above incidental charge at an average of 2s. Id. per acre. The Committee, however, have not deemed it necessary to enumerate charges of a merely incidental and temporary nature; nor have they, from any returns made to Parliament, been able to ascertain any amount of separate rates raised in some districts in addi- tion to the Poor and County rate.

The Stamp-duties levied under the head of deeds and instruments in 1844 amounted to 1,646,3651. ; but a portion of this sum being derived from other sources, ought to be deducted before the burden affecting real pro- perty in that respect can be correctly estimated.

The Committee, moreover, wish to direct particular attention to the im- portant evidence given by Messrs. Senior, Stewart, and Baxter, on the unequal pressure imposed by the various Stamp Acts on dealings with real property. The last-named witness, Mr. Baxter, says, the stamp upon a 60/. sale (calculating a certain length of conveyance) would amount to twelve and a half per cent; on a 1001. sale to five per cent; on a 300/. sale to two and a half per cent ; on a 5001. sale to 1/. 14s. 3d. per 1001.; and above that sum one per cent. The transfer, moreover, of real property is subjected by law to other difficulties, expenses, and inequalities, of a similar character. Aocording to the evidence of the same witness, the expenses, including stamps, upon a sale of 501. value, amount to no less than thirty per cent ; upon a sale of 1001. value, to fifteen per cent ; upon a sale of 600t. value, to seven and a half per cent ; upon 1,5001., five per cent. The Committee are con- vinced that the marketable value of real property is seriously diminished by the tedious and expensive process attending its transfer. Dior is it only in the transfer of real property that the pressure of this burden is felt. It is a work of time to raise money on landed security, and the law expenses incident to the transaction are a considerable addition to the interest on the sum borrowed. The transfer of the debt or mortgage is also attended with serious expenses to the mortgager ; the process of discharging the land from one loan, and subjecting it to another, being both heavy burdens upon the proprietor. Mr. Baxter gives the following evidence on the ex- penses attending mortgages—" A. mortgage for SOL would cost, in stamps and law expenses, thirty per cent; a mortgage for 100/. would cost twenty per cent; a mortgage for 4601. would cost seven per cent; a mortgage for 1,5001. would cost three per cent ; a mortgage for 12.500r. would cost one per cent; for 26,0001. it would cost 15:. per 1001., and for 100,0001. it would cost 12s. per 1001." The objects for which the above restrictions and taxes are imposed are all of a public nature, and interest alike the possessor of personal property and the landowner who derives his whole income from reality. The pro- hibition to grow tobacco, and the restriction on the use of malt for agri- cultural purposes, are imposed for the protection of the revenue raised for the general purposes of the state. The Stamp-duties levied in connection with real property are applied to the same objects ; and the direct charges which conatitute the heaviest burdens on real property supply the funds applicable to the internal services of the State.

The Committee observe that the annual amount of national income, a deducible from the Income-tax, 1842, amounted to 244,760,5801., while the real property rated to the Poor-rate, according to the returns made to Parliament In the same year, was 63,540,0301. Thus a great portion of the administration of justice, of the maintenance of the fabric of the Church, and of the internal communications of the country, as well as the entire support of the poor, are all defrayed from a taxation from which nearly three-fourths of the national income are exempted.

It is incumbent on the Committee to remark, that the relative proportion of the special burdens on real property assessed upon houses and other property. as compared with land, has of late years been increasing in a progressive and rapid ratio. The Committee refer to this change with pleasure, as indicating a large increase in the fixed capital of the country; and cannot doubt but that in the districts where the change has beeu the greatest, a material relief has been afforded to the rate-payers by extending the field over which the local burdens are spread. But, although the proportion between the different classes of real property has thus been altered, the burden does not fall the less exclusively upon real as compared with personal property ; and the Committee feel it incumbent on them to remind the House, that neither the law nor the spirit of the constitution originally contemplated so partial a system of taxation. The Poor-law of Elisabeth, and the Land-tax of William and Mary, embraced every de- scription of income; but, in consequence of the comparative facility of rating visible property and the small amount of income derived from other sources, in the early period of their assessment, personalty seems to have escaped its legal share of contribution to the public service. It is neces- sary, however, to observe, that the liability of stock in trade was con- tinued by law to a late period; and is up to the present day only suspended by an annual Act of Exemption.

The Committee have further directed their attention to the charges of a public nature from which real property has become exempt, while property other than real remains liable.

1. Legacy and Probate Duty.—Freeholds are exempt from Legacy and Probate duty. The Committee have not been able to ascertain the exact amount of Legacy and Probate duty paid by leasehold property ; but they feel it their duty to draw attention to the fact, that leaseholds are not only liable to the Stamp-duties on dealings with the property inter viols, but also to the Probate and Legacy duty. Nor can the Committee avoid re- minding the House, that Legacy-duty is paid in every case where the testator has devised his lands to be sold ; and, according to the evidence of Mr. Baxter, a solicitor of very great practice, nine wills out of ten in the middle ranks of life convert the whole land into personalty for the purpose of division. The evidence of Mr. Pressly tends to confirm the previous evidence of Mr. Baxter, that a considerable portion of the Legacy- duty is raised on freeholds devised to be sold for the purpose of division. The witnesses that Mr. Trevor, the Controller of the Legacy-duty, estimates it (the portion raised on freeholds devised to be sold) at five twelfths of the amount Assuming the Legacy-duty to be 1,200,0001., he estimates the proportion of duty arising from real estate at 500,0001. "I think," the witness continues, he has put it too high. I do not think that more than a fourth, or scarcely a fourth, of the 1,200,0001. Legacy. duty arises from land." The witness, however, does not include leasehold property in his calculation • which, being liable to both Probate and Legacy-duty, must be added: to the above-mentioned estimate, before we a rrive at the full portion of the Legacy-duty arising out of the proceeds of the land.

2. Tax on Horses.—Husbandry horses are to the farmer what machinery is to the manufacturer ; and so far as the latter is exempt from taxation to the same extent ought the former to be. The fixed machinery of the ma- nufacturer, whether of steam, water, or other power, is rated with his buildings, for the purposes of the Income-tax and of local taxation, on the principle of the amount of rent which would be given by a solvent tenant for their use; and the threshing-machine and other fixed machinery of the farmer is rated with his buildings and the rest of his farm on the same principle. The moveable machinery of the manufacturer and its produce are exempt from such rating, while the arable land of the farmer is rated on the improved value given to it beyond its natural value by the introduction of the plough upon it, which value would cease if the plough were withdrawn from it ; and thus by rating his property on the increased value produced by the use of his moveable machinery, the latter is in- directly, but not less effectively, taxed, as well as his fixed machinery. It has been urged, that as trade horses are liable to taxation, the absence of duty on husbandry horses constitutes a special exemption. There is, how.. ever, this difference between them, that the former cannot be considered in the light of machinery where they are not used for the purposes of pro- duction; and as the tax on the farmer's horse was, in effect, a tax upon hi plough, it constituted a peculiar burden upon the machinery of the agriculturist, from which that of all other manufacturers was free ; and the removal of it cannot fairly be eonsideied as a special exemption, though in some instances, where it is retained on horses used in trade, the con- tinuance of it may perhaps be held to be a peculiar burden on those traders. It should also be noticed, that the farmer suffers indirectly to a consider- able extent by the tax on horses, inasmuch as it tends to limit the number kept, and consequently the demand for the animal, as well as for the pro- duce of the land required for his sustenance. The Committee, however, are of opinion that the remission of the taxes on horses ridden occasionally by occupiers of farms under 500/. a year, on those used by bailiffs, shepherds, &c., and on husbandry horses used occasionally for other purposes or let occasionally to hire, estimated,hy Mr. Pressly, the Secretary to the Board of Stamps and Taxes, at 79,0961., must be considered to constitute a special exemption.

3. Tax on Shepherds' Dogs.—Shepherds' dogs are exempt from the duty levied on all other dogs. This exemption, according to the same witness, Is equivalent to 9,876/.

Fire insurance on implements of husbandry and stock must also be allowed to present a case of a special exemption in favour of land. Mr. Pressly estimates the relief afforded by the same at 50,0001.

The Committee do not consider the repeal of the other taxes enumerated in the table produced by Mr. Pressly as constituting special exemptions in favour of the land, inasmuch as no similar tax is continued on any other property. A special exemption from taxation implies the existence of a tax borne by all property, with the exception of one particular species of property ; and, in artier to establish the exemption of the land from a par- ticular tax, the existence of this particular tax on other descriptions of property must be established. As there is no tax on artisans, labourers,

and others employed in manufactories, mills, and shops, the absence of a duty on labourers employed in husbandry cannot constitute a special exemption. In the same manner as clerks, inspectors and foremen in

&e. &c., are not taxed, the absence of a tax on bailiffs and stewards forms no special exemption. The Committee place before the House in a tabular form the exemptions from the Window-duty, showing the comparative amount of such exemp- tions affecting the agriculturist and the tradesman.

d.

Farm-houses under 2001. a year 26 291 19 7 Out-houses 3,952 8

9

--

30,214

Total

8 4 Trade offices and counting-houses . 6,318 18 10 Shops 45,077 14 0 Total 61,396 12 10 Trade 61,396 12 10 Land 30,244 8 4 Balance 21,152 4 6 The Committee need scarcely remind the House that the whole of the Window-duty is a tax upon real property only ; and that, while farm-houses where the rent is above 2001. a year are assessed to the duty, shops, trade offices, and counting-houses, whatever may be their annual value, are exempt. The exemption of manure from tolls on turnpike-roads is counter- balanced by the liability of the land to the repairs of the road in case the funds of the trust are not found sufficient for the purpose.

From the documents before them the Committee feel pleasure in being able to state, that the exclusive burdens on real property appear to be lighter in Scotland and Ireland than in England and Wales. Under the recent Scotch Poor-law Act, as well as under the ancient law, means and substance are liable to the charge for the maintenance of the poor. If this principle were fully acted on, the burden would fall equally on every de- scription of property ; but hitherto the pressure of this charge under the law has been mainly, if not entirely, borne by the land. The Teinds fall much lighter on the land in Scotland than the Tithe rent-charge does on the land in England, in consequence of the Teinds having been valued at a remote period, and the proprietors of the land being allowed to buy them at a reasonable rate of purchase. From the evidence, the Land-tax, the building of the churches and manses, Rogue-money, Prison-money, re- pairs of bridges, commutation of statute-labour on the roads, building and endowing schools, and paying schoolmasters, appear to be the chief burdens on land in Scotland. The returns made to Parliament do not enable the Committee to place before the House the exact amount levied under these different heads.

In Ireland, the Poor-rate and County-cess seem to have amounted to 1,414,8501.; to which must be added the rent-charge for Tithes, the Vestry- cess for coffins for the poor, the charges under the Boards of Health, the Foundling-tax, and Ministers-money. The Committee do not consider the large sums levied, both in town and agricultural districts, for purely local objects, as special burdens on real property, but refer to the various rates for paving, sewerage, lighting, &a., in towns, and the heavy charges for drainage, repairs of dykes, embank- ments of rivers, &c., in the agricultural districts, as evidence of the outlay incident to, and inseparable from, the improvement of real property.

The Income-tax falls more heavily on land than on personalty, in con- quence of the mode in which the two descriptions of property are assessed. Neither the landlord nor the tenant have any escape from the strict provi- sions of the law. The owner is assessed upon the gross rental, or on what the surveyor would consider a fair rent. No allowance is made for repairs, agency, or arrears ; in consequence of which it results that a landlord in- variably pays a percentage to the Income-tax on a larger sum than his net receipts. The incomes of trades and professions, on the contrary, are generally ascertained by the voluntary declarations of the perties.

The agricultural witnesses complain also of the restriction in the choice of labourers imposed on the farmer by the Law of Settlement ; and Mr. Coppock, the Clerk of the Stockport Union, bears evidence to the hard- ships and expenses occasioned by the present state of that law. The question having been raised as to the principle adopted in rating railways to the Poor-rate, the Committee have examined Mr. Coode and Mr. B. Russell on the subject; and it appears from their evidence that the uniform principle of assessing all fixed property at the net rent or clear amount at which it can be let, has not been departed from. Railways are ated as improved land, on the net rent a company of carriers would give ror the occupation of the same ; and, as the rents of a railway would de- pend materially on the profits derived from the carrying trade on it, the profits are taken as a guide to arrive at the net rent. Mills are rated on the same principle,namely, the rent for which the mill, with its appurten- ances, would let. Considering the changes occasioned by the creation of real property, as well as those taking place in the relative value of different descriptions of real property, the Committee need scarcely point out the advantage as well as justice of periodical and uniform valuations. 'fhe Committee earnestly request the attention of the House to the im- portant evidence of Mr. Stewart, on the evils proceeding from the length of deeds connected with real property ; and while the Committee acknow- ledge the benefit of the act passed last session respecting Satisfied Out- standing Terms and Short Deeds, they are at the same time anxious to impress on the House the necessity of a thorough revision of the whole subject of conveyancing, and the disuse of the present prolix, expensive, and vexatious system. The Committee have received evidence on the advantages of a registra- tion of deeds in Scotland and Ireland, and on the great facilities afforded by means of similar institutions to dealings with real property in foreign states. The Committee, however, limit themselves to the expression of their opinion, that a registry of title to all real property is essential to the success of any attempt to simplify the system of conveyancing.

The practical inferences which may be drawn from the evidence and from the preceding observations are very important. In some cases reme- dial measures founded on sound principles and on past experience, have been suggested for evils not admitting of much doubt or controversy. In other eases, various reforms have been recommended, which are entitled to serious and immediate attention.

In conclusion, we recapitulate some of these recommendations-

1. The improvement of the law of real property, the simplification of titles and of the forms of conveyance, the establishment of some effective system for the registration of deeds. 2. An extension of the measure of 1835, by relieving the counties and boroughs from the portion of expense to which they continue liable for criminal prosecutions, as well as the maintenance and conveyance of prisoners. This measure, however, should he accompanied by an adoption on the part of the State of an effective control.

3. The adoption of the liability of the owner of houses under the annual value of 101. to the rates at which the same are assessed.

4. Where establishments exist or may be required for the support of lunatics, and where there are obvious reasons, both of economy and humanity, for centralizing the administration; and where, above all, the resources of the State can be made available, without any risk of aggra- vating or increasing the evil proposed to be remedied, the Committee ars not prepared to justify, the imposition of the wholecost upon one descrip- tion of property. The Committee, therefore, submit that the charge for the maintenance of pauper lunatics throughout the empire oughtto be undertaken by the public.

6. To a certain extent the observations made on lunatic asylums may be applied to some branches of the expenditure for the maintenance and relief of the poor. Mr. Coode shows from official documents, that the establishment charges, inclusive of salaries, amount to seventeen per cent on the total expenditure for the relief of the poor, and states that these charges might be provided for by the Government without leading to any evil consequences in the administration of the Poor-law.

6. A charge is periodically cast upon the land for the Militia-rate: this Is not now levied, the Militia being disembodied; but, considering the object of the Militia to be general, and not confined to the interests of a particular class, the Committee are of opinion that this charge should be provided for by Parliament ; care being, however, taken, that if the public assume the responsibility of the charge, the Government should have authority to insure the efficiency of the force. 7. It is most desirable that the experiment for testing the process of malting barley for the purposes of fattening cattle should be repeated, with the co-operation of persons of acknowledged skill in agriculture. These measures appear to the Committee to be necessary because they are just. They have confined their recommendations of change in the sources from which certain charges should be defrayed to matters in which every interest is equally concerned, and the expense of which ought to be shared by all. The Committee considered themselves limited to an inquiry into the relative burdens on different descriptions of property within the kingdom : a more important consideration would probably be the proportion of bur- dens on the cultivators of land in this country, as compared with those borne by the cultivators of foreign countries intended to be admitted into competition with them in the same market. On this subject some infor- mation has fallen from Messrs. Cramp and Banfield, who have been ac- quainted with the condition of farming in countries bordering on the Baltic and in the North of France; but the Committee were of opinion their in- structions precluded them from following up this description of inquiry. The Committee have directed the Minutes of Evidence, with an Appen- dix and Index thereto, to be laid before your Lordships.