The two districts excluded from the above total are the minor ones of St. Katherine and Greenwich, so that altogether the gross sum levied within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Commissioners must have been between 85,000l. and 90,000l.
The annual amount of the local rates in England and Wales is, according to a work on the subject (“The Local Taxes of the United Kingdom”), published “under the direction of the Poor Law Commissioners” in 1846, 8,801,838l.[68] In this large sum only the average annual outlay on the six districts of the sewers of the metropolis is included (82,097l.), and it is stated that not even an approximate average could be arrived at as regards the expenditure on sewers in the country districts. Such absence of statistical knowledge,—and it is a want continually observable—is little creditable to the legislative, executive, and administrative powers of the State.
I shall now proceed to show, from the best data at my command, the present outlay on the metropolitan sewers.
According to the present law, the Commissioners are required to submit to Parliament yearly returns of the money collected on account of, and expended in, the sewerage of the metropolis.
I need only state, that in the latest and, indeed, the sole returns upon the subject, the rates in 1845-6-7, under the former separate commissions, were 1d. and 2d. in the pound on land, and from 3d. (Ranelagh and Westminster) to 1s. 10d. (Greenwich) on houses.
The rates made under the combined and consolidated Commissions, from 30th Nov., 1847, to 8th Oct., 1849, were all 6d., excepting the Western division of Westminster sewers, which were 3d., and a part of the Surrey and Kent district, 8d.
The rates under the present Metropolitan Commission, from 8th October, 1849, to 31st July, 1851, are all 6d., with a similar exception in Surrey and Kent. The following are the only further returns bearing immediately on the subject:—
RETURN OF THE PERCENTAGE ON THE TOTAL RATEABLE ANNUAL VALUE OF THE PROPERTY ASSESSED, to which the Rates collected under the separate Commissions, between January, 1845, and November, 1847, amounted; Similar Return as to the combined and consolidated Commissions, from November, 1847, to October, 1849; and as to the present Commission, from October, 1849, to July 31, 1851.
| Total Rateable Annual Value of the Districts on November 30, 1847, and October 8, 1849, and July 31, 1851, respectively. | Average Amount collected for One Year. | Amount of the Percentage of the Rates collected on the Rateable Annual Value. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | ||
| Under the old separate Commissions of Sewers, between January, 1845, and November 30, 1847 | 6,683,896 | 0 | 0 | 81,738 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | or 2¾d. ·72 in the pound per annum. |
| Under the combined and consolidated Commissions, from November 30, 1847, to October 8, 1849 (including first Metropolitan Commission) | 7,128,111 | 0 | 0 | 67,707 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 11¾ | or 2¼d. ·11 in the pound per annum. |
| Under the present Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, from October 8, 1849, to July 21, 1851 | 8,135,090[69] | 0 | 0 | 89,341 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 11 | or 2½d. ·52 in the pound per annum. |
| 8,820,325[70] | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | or 2¼d. ·72 in the pound per annum. | ||||