. ,46 . ,46 MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE Mr. Richard Gould. place every house over 5 l upon the valuation ; after what has been stated here I think I would not feel myself justified in passing that house. Had you not learnt something from the examination here, should you March 1838. have passed that house by upon the old mode of valuation ?— I do not think I would be justified, from the information that has been given me here, in passing it by It is not the people that are intended to be relieved that are gainers by that lenient system, for the lodgers are not benefited at all; but it is the land- _ -, ^ - 1 . ^^ 4- l- i a in odrlitirmnl rpnt\ lords, for they get more than the rate in additional rent. 4340 Mr Serjeant Jackson.] With respect to this man, you are not sure that you- saw him when you went to the house r— No ; either himself or his wife. power, house. 4341 himself or his wife; I cannot recollect now. 4342. But you did not ask to see the receipt ?— We might or we might not; we asked to see the receipt in a great many cases. 4343. Did you ask to see the lease ?— I presume lie has no lease ; there are very few people of that description that hold by lease. 4344. Was the person that you saw an acquaintance of yours ?— No ; I do not know that I ever saw the man before in my life. 4345. Nor his wife ?— No. 4346. Surely you are not in the habit of taking the word of a person that you do not know upon a matter of some importance ?— I coupled the informa- tion that I got in places that I know so well with my own observation. 4347. Are you prepared to say that the house is worth 10/. a year, indepen- dently of this story about the amount of the rent ?— Certainly I am ; really the rent surprised us. 4348. Mr. Lefroy.] Are the Committee to understand, that, when you found the rent to be of a certain amount, you never took the trouble of valuing the house upon its own merits ?— Certainly ; when we found the rent 10/., we were quite satisfied. 4349. Then what do you mean by saying that you joined along with the rent your own valuation ?— We saw the house and the situation of it. 4350. And yet you did not examine it in those cases ?— No; when we found a rent of 10/. 01* upwards, we were satisfied. 4351. And you took the statement of the rent from whoever told your— We got the best information we could get. 4352. Did you ask for the receipts ?— In a great many cases we asked for the receipts. 43,53. Did you always make it a rule to endeavour to get the receipts?— No, we did not; those people generally pay the rent in dribs and drabs, and trifles. 4354. Mr. Beamish.] Did you visit any other house that appears in Mr. Lane's returns as not being valued r— Yes; there is Edward Fitzmaurice, No. 765 on Mr. Lane's table. Mr. Lane is mistaken about that. He is registered as out of Mannix- square, and it is called Mannix- street in the valuation- book. It is just opposite the Weigh- house. 435,5- Did you visit that house ?— We did. 4356. Will you state the value of that house ?— That house is valued at 10 /. 4357- Does it appear in the valuation- book ?— It is one of four houses, each valued at 10/. a year, under very different names from those living there now except one. 4358. And this house, which appears under the name of Edward Fitzmaurice in Mr. Lanes returns, you are satisfied is the identical one that is valued in the city valuation- book ?— Quite so: it ought to be called Mannix- street; it is valued at 10/. 111 Mannix- street. 4359- Mr. Serjeant Jackson.'] You have no doubt that it should be Mannix- street r— It is sometimes called Mannix- square, and sometimes Mannix- street. worid ° U n° ° f thC idendty ° f the h0USe No d0llbt in the rnnW1; Beamish \? i< l y° U I* 8* the house of Michael Fitzgerald, of Bar- - 765, m Ml\ W's table ?— He appears by Mr. Lane's books to ha\ e been valued 111 the supplementary valuation at 5/., and struck off by