Please do not think that there will be no opportunity for individual views to be expressed, Every opportunity will be given to representatives bodies who so wish to express their views to the Committee, The same thing applies to individual ratepayers who may have given thought to taxation problems, Above all, please do not think that the Council hopes that the Committee will merely give its blessing to the existing system. The Council and its officials appreciate that there have been inequalities of taxation, We have been trying to find remedies, We shall be delighted if the Committee is able to devise something which will remove grievances and put things on a fairer basis, As you have been good enough to come here, I would like to say something about a few other matters, Apart from the question of unfairnesses in the present system, a lot of people think that the Council ought to introduce entirely new taxes, I do not want to seem to be opposing new ideas but I would like you just to think over some of the difficulties involved, For years the Council has been advised by its lawyers that its toxing powers are limited to the collection of wharfage dues and licence fees, land tax and rates on buildings, We are quite ready to ask the lawyers to think again and see if they can interpret our powers more widely; but please remember that no tax is any good that cannot be enforced in the Courts, A municipality cannot exist on taxes which individuals can refuse to pay, Therefore you have to have taxes which the Courts in the Settlement will regard as legally binding, and that is why the Council cannot go beyond the legal interpretation of the Land Regulations,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.