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 as difficult, if not more so, in the case of a local body than in that of the Government.

It is unthinkable, in the belief of most of us, that the British Government would ever incur debts that the nation could not meet; but one does not feel quite so certain about the local authorities, especially as the basis on which they assess their sheep for the shearing process is not nearly so sound. The Government, as we all know, taxes us on our incomes, on our purchases of certain goods, such as drink, tobacco and tea, and on the value of our estates when we die. The local authorities tax us according to the alleged value of the houses that we inhabit or the premises that we occupy for business purposes.

The difference between the two systems of assessment, and the advantage in favour of that which is employed by the Government is at once evident. Anyone who is receiving an income, spending money on articles which are not—though we may have come to regard them as such—necessaries of life, or leaving an estate, evidently has money out of which he can pay taxes. But the mere fact of living in a house or occupying premises for business by no means necessarily implies capacity to pay rates; on the contrary, if misfortune falls on the rate-payer his house or factory is a source of