The Economy of Local Rates 187
reckon up the reasons for and against building without
being * discouraged ’’ by the thought of rates.
But why should he not be discouraged by the rates
for “beneficial” purposes? Is not the discourage-
ment, so far as the ‘beneficial ’ rates are concerned,
absolutely economical ? The man who started
building without sitting down to count up the cost
has long heen a byword. It seems reasonable to
everyone that people should be discouraged from
building, not only by the cost of the bricks and mortar,
wood, and wall-paper, but also by the cost of carpets
and domestic service. It seems only reasonable that
a man should think about the cost of carting coal
before he builds on the top of a hill, that he should
think of the cost of sinking a well if he builds in a dry
place in the country, and that he should think of the
cost of draining his garden if he builds in a wet one.
I do not know that anyone has ever suggested that
there was anything wrong in his being discouraged by
the high cost of gas and water supplied by a company
in a place where the supply of these articles was
naturally difficult. Why then should he not be dis-
couraged by the cost of commodities and services
supplied by the local authority ? The general
discouragement offered by the cost of such services
seems to be a perfectly sound part of the general
scheme which settles the distribution of people's
resources between different ends, and the inequality of
the discouragement as between place and place seems
quite desirable, because it directs investment towards
the cheaper places.
If the discouragement to building involved in the
occupiers having to pay for certain commodities and