I beg to move for leave to introduce the "Local Government (Collection of Rates) Bill, 1923," which is:
"A Bill to authorise the adoption of special remedies and procedure for the recovery of arrears of rates now due and to authorise the collection during a limited period of rates through or by means of the Post Office and for other purposes connected therewith."
The justification for the introduction of this Bill is the present financial condition of Local Authorities throughout the country. The condition of many County Councils is, at the moment, very precarious, owing, number one, to the large arrears of rates still outstanding, amounting, I believe, approximately to about three million pounds, and number two, which is to a great extent consequential on number one, to the very heavy overdrafts on which Local Authorities are working at the moment, amounting to over £800,000. It is absolutely essential that these arrears of rates should be recovered without delay. It is essential for two reasons: First of all, because if they are not recovered, and if those who are in arrears are not compelled to pay up, then those who have paid their rates will be obliged to shoulder their debts and to pay again when the next rate is struck, and secondly, because if the finances of Local Authorities are permitted to collapse, essential local services such as asylums, public health, poor relief, road repair, etc., will have to be discontinued, and various schemes for the relief of unemployment which the Government has in mind at the present moment, will have to be discontinued also.
For these reasons we have found it necessary, in order to prevent these very serious consequences, to look for very wide powers in order to speed up the collection of arrears of rates.