16 MAY 1896, Page 16

RATES.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Your article on the Rating Bill agrees with what I have been saying to my friends for many years. I am rector of a rural parish, my gross income from glebe and tithe is about £500 a year. I paid last " half " year £51 in rates alone, while my neighbour at the " Hall," who has at least four times my income knot from land), paid £8 3s. 4d. I agree with you it is high time the whole system of local taxation was looked