200 Hustory of Local Rates
scale of grants determined only by the rates levied, on
the model of the Necessitous School Districts Grant.
Such a scale might, for example, be: Nothing
towards expense which would be covered by an 8d.
rate; one-quarter of additional expense up to the
produce of a Is. rate; one-half of further expense up
to the produce of a Is. 4d. rate ; and three-quarters of
still further expense over and above that amount.
Thus an area in which the expense without assistance
would amount to 11d. in the £ would have its actual
rate reduced by one-quarter of 3d., so that its actual
rate would be 10%d.; an area in which: the expense
would without assistance bring out a rate of 1s. 3d.
would receive a grant equal to one-quarter of 4d. and
one-half of 3d., in all 21d., so that the actual rate
would be 1s. o4d.; an area in which the expense
would bring out a rate of 2s. would get one-quarter
of 4d., one-half of 4d., and three-quarters of 8d., in
all od., so that the actual rate required would be 1s. 3d.
At first sight this plan seems open to the objection
which I have just urged against Lord Balfour of
Burleigh’s second grant, that it enables the locality to
buy things for less than they cost. There is this
important difference, however, that Lord Balfour of
Burleigh’s second grant cheapens all the expenditure
over and above a certain sum per head of population,
whereas my grant only cheapens all the expenditure
above a certain rate in the pound. Lord Balfour of
Burleigh’s second grant consequently makes it easier
for all localities to spend in excess of 3s. 6d. per head,
whether they are already pinched by high rates or not.
My grant, on the othet hand, only cheapens the
expenditure when the spenders are already feeling the