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