APPENDIX II. DETAILS OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF VARIOUS TABLES IN THIS BOOK. TABLE A4. THE task here is to fill up the blanks in the official tables for the years to 1850-1. As the totals are given, together with a classification for several of the years, it is chiefly a matter of distributing the totals so that the several classes give a consistent series, and there cannot possibly be a serious error in any item, especially as the most important-" Railways "-is given each year in detail. This has been done and the total of the Concerns No. III., Sch. A, transferred to Sch. D. For Ireland there are no figures prior to 1860-1. The mines, etc., are unimportant and have been carried back by a progressive decrease; the item of most importance is "Railways," and this has been carried back from the known figure in 1860 by reference to "net receipts" to 1849, after consideration of the statistics of Irish railways. Appendix III. gives details of the computations for lands and houses for Ireland 1842 to 1852, and 1853 to 1875, for which no figures are available or the official figures given are defective. These results are transferred to Table A4. Several small points remain to be mentioned : Lands, col. 1.-The uncommuted tithes for England and Wales have been added down to 1903 from the official tables; after that date they are not given separately and are taken at £200,000, which is within a fraction of the true figure. Houses, col. 3.-In Ireland since 1893 the properties" rated on half-rents" (certain properties used for charitable and educational purposes) have been added to the houses. The corresponding additions have been made back to 1861-2 from the Reports. The error given in 1843-4 ("lands ") is to cover the absence of exact official data, also for Ireland 1842 to 1860; for 1860 to 1875-6 in Ireland, to cover the slightly uncertain transfer for farmhouses, disappearing therefore in aggregate Sch. A. The error for "houses" is similar, with a slight addition 1862 to 1868 for property rated on half-rents in Ireland. TABLE B. So far as England was concerned, for the charge of duty the statutory basis was seven-eighths of one-half the rent. But for computing the statutory income it was one-half the rent, and this basis has been adopted for the table. (This mainly accounts for the difference between these figures and those given in Sir Algernon West's tables: R. C. on Trade Depression, 1886, p. 215.) The method of computation up to 1879 is as follows: (a) Official net (b) Add abatements (d) Total lands (net) (e) Corrected, by distributing deduction of Statutory income liable is one-half (e) plus (c); statutory income exempt is one-half (g). TABLE AD. SHOWING THE ESTIMATED EFFECT OF THE TRANSFER OF RAILWAYS, &C. (CONCERNS No. III. SCH. A) TO SCH. D, 1866-7. 1857 73,107 19,076 92,183 7,107 2,775 9,882 4,510 930 5,440 84,725 22,781 80,247 19,450 99,697 97,499 107,506 1858 73,445 19,303 92,748 6,779 2,732 1859 76,991 19,680 96,671 7,383 9,511 4,587 940 5,527 84,812 22,975 107,787 1860 77,825 20,893 98,718 7,176 81,120 21,431 102,551 7,893 85,088 21,794 106,882 8,235 87,308 22,406 109,714 8,536 95,637 24,854 1865 103,908 27,090 2,622 3,052 3,008 10,901 3,027 11,262 4,674 3,089 11,625 4,369 120,491 9,799 3,499 13,288 130,990 10,943 3,663 14,606 10,005 4,628 950 5,578 89,001 23,252 112,253 10,228 4,604 4,678 990 1,032 5,710 5,594 89,606 24,935 114,541 93,691 25,471 119,162 TABLE D. The stages in the construction of this table are as follows: The range of possible error in most of these adjustments is too small to come into the result. From 1842 to 1853 the Irish adjustment and the composition duty give a special computation for each year. Adjustment for the £150 exemption limit gives a possible error as in Appendix I.; there is clear evidence up to 1861 that the £100 to £150 section fluctuated very slightly, after which it increased in amount, but decreased in proportion up to 1875, and the error has been increased to cover the possible inaccuracy of the interpolation. The proportionate computation from 1894 to date gets less secure as we recede from the starting point, but the error cannot well be more than the figure assigned. The adjustment to the £160 exemption limit is taken back from 1894 proportionately. As it has to go back fifty years, it might of course get far from the truth, but it is possible to narrow down the possible deviation very closely. As at 1845 we have, without complication, the classification test, the range "£150 to £200' is known for that year and for 1892-3. The sum assigned to "£150 to £160" is slightly over one-third in the latter year, and slightly less in the former. The index of distribution 1 is closely similar, and in the earlier years there is hardly scope for a greater error than ⚫2. As the midway point is approached this is increased to ⚫4. TABLE E. The stages in the construction of this table are as follows: |