172 History of Local Rates 
rise from nil to 2s. while somewhere else it is only 3d., 
he may very probably be met with some such retort 
as “ And in the meantime your land, which you used 
to let at £2 an acre, has been covered with working- 
class houses on small plots, for each of which you get 
£2. You don’t seem to have much cause for com- 
plaint.” Very probably this would be more than a 
mere chance argumentum ad hominem : the highest 
education rates are frequently the result of rapid 
growth of suburban residence. In any case the holder 
of property must be prepared to take some risks, and 
why should not the development of the rate authorised 
by the legislation of 1870 be one of them ? 
The conclusion to which we are driven is that the 
prevalent ideas about equity provide no great guidance 
in regard to our existing system of local taxation. 
They only indicate that it may be left alone without 
inequity.