Until I retired owing t6 infirmity a few years ago,
I had been for several years one of the Commissioners of Income-tax for this district, one of whose duties it is to hear appeals about the Inhabited House Duty. About a year before I gave up this employment we discovered that most of the public-houses and beershops were contributing but a small part of their due, paying upon what they called their "rent" instead of on their annual value, as they should have done according to the law of the land. As you are probably aware, the great bulk of the public-houses and beershops are the property of the brewers, and the tenants are "tied "—that is, restricted from buying beer, &c., except from their landlords at the rates charged by them—the rents reserved. being absurdly below the actual value of _ the houses—the real annual value, which is legally what a tenant We therefore set about to remedy this great evil. In one case I remember we raised the assessment value upon which the Inhabited House Duty is charged from £50 to £300 a year ; and this is but a sainple of our alterations. I do not know how this matter stands in other districts, but probably it is much in the same position as it was in Birmingham. Before publishing this matter I con- sulted the authorities, and satisfied myself that such publication was no breach of the oath which I had taken on becoming a Commissioner. The knowledge of these facts will be useful in showing that the owners of these establishments are not deserving the sympathy of the public; whom they are indeed robbing.
—I am, Sir, &c., J.P. oP WARWICKSHIRE AND THE
CITY OF BIRMINGHAM.
THE TIME-LIMIT.
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