ABSTRACT
The method adopted for charging the losses upon the rates, and yet to make it appear to a casual inquirer that the housing schemes are paying their way, was to “write down” the value of the land “for housing purposes.” For the purpose of the taxes it is undeniably necessary to secure a universal valuation forthwith. The Commissioners will serve on the owner a copy of their provisional valuation, and unless objection is taken, it will be adopted for the purposes of the Act. At first the housing schemes undertaken by local authorities in London were chiefly for the rehousing of the population displaced by public improvements or the clearance of areas. At Bradford, the land upon which the Conditioning House stands was formerly supposed to be waste land and paid nothing in rates. The Town Council of Edinburgh required land for erection of gasworks in the neighbourhood of Granton.
