[Memorandum.] TAXATION OF GOVERNMENT PROPERTY IN LONDON. (1) General taxation.-With regard to general taxation (i. e., taxation levied by the State) Government property is charged to property tax (income tax schedule A) only when it is let, in which case the occupiers are assessed to the duty, and are expressly authorized to deduct the duty on payment of the rent, or when it is occupied rentfree by officials as part of their remuneration, in which case the occupier is assessed to and charged with the duty. The exclusive use and occupation of a Government house by such an official also involves liability on his part to inhabited house duty. The liability of army and navy officers in respect of the quarters occupied by them depends upon the nature of their appointments, the assessment of the duty being restricted to those cases in which the appointments are for a fixed, or practically fixed, term and no charge being made in cases where the appointments are of such a nature as to render the officers liable to instant and frequent removal. No land tax is paid on Government property. (2) Local taxation.-The Crown is exempt at law from all “rates" (the technical name for local taxes) in the United Kingdom, but contributions in lieu of rates are granted ex gratia by His Majesty's Government to local authorities in respect of properties in the occupation of the Crown for the public service. The amount of the grant is fixed on a basis which corresponds generally to that taken for comparable ratable properties. This valuation basis is fixed by the treasury in all cases and not by the local authorities themselves, and the contributions are made directly by the treasury to the authorities concerned. The contributions are purely Crown bounty, and the principle on which they are given is that a locality should not suffer a loss in revenue by reason of the Crown occupation of an area which would otherwise be ratable, or of property previously ratable which has become nonratable because it has been acquired or occupied by the Crown for the public service. The contributions are confined to premises which are provided and maintained out of the votes of Parliament, but no contributions are given in respect of property in the personal occupation of the sovereign. The basis of local taxation is one of annual value. O AGRICULTURAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND FARM CREDITS LETTERS FROM A. L. ROGERS, OF WATERVILLE, WASH. AGRICULTURAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. STATE OF WASHINGTON, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. Hon. A. L. ROGERS, Waterville, Wash. MY DEAR MR. ROGERS: In my report to the State Bankers' Association in Bellingham, August 7, I would like to refer to your great work in Waterville by way of illustration of the ultimate end and aim of the agricultural and industrial movement in the public schools. Would you, therefore, dictate me a letter outlining the Rogers-Wiley Waterville vision as you showed it to me last month? I should feel honored to receive such a letter from you in the near future. Very truly, yours, CALVIN C. THOMASON, WATERVILLE WORK-OUR AGRICULTURAL AND VOCATIONAL SCHOOL. Mr. CALVIN C. THOMASON, WATERVILLE, WASH., July 18, 1913. State Field Contest Organizer, Olympia, Wash. DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 12th instant received. Regarding the Waterville vision of the correct idea of modern agricultural and vocational education, I will state that in our stand for good rural schools we simply are endeavoring to introduce into the community the best and most up-to-date information of a helpful kind which there is to-day. In Washington, D. C., there are vaults stacked high with bulletins giving valuable reports upon agricultural, horticultural, vocational, and animal industry problems. In every State as well as Washington there are agricultural colleges and experiment stations engaged in the same work. I say there is no lack of information to-day, but there is a decided lack of ways and means of getting it out to the farm and having it put in practice there. Pullman College is a fine institution for Whitman County, but Douglas County gets but little benefit from it. The inspiration is too far away. If a Douglas County farmer attends any of their short-course schools and lectures, his railroad fare alone would cost more than $30. His board and lodging would be at least $1 per day; only a few farmers could stand to hire help to 82006°-13 3 attend to their stock and home duties while they are away three and four weeks, even in the dull season. Then, too, the average farmer is a little shy about sending his children two and three hundred miles away to institutions whose teachings encourage ideals that may lead them away from the environments in which he and his have been raised. He is, also, inclined to feel that this higher education will render them dissatisfied with their lot as farmers and give them wrong conceptions of that which has been his life's work and study-conflicting, in fact, with the plans and aspirations which he has builded for his children's future. Then, again, few farmers can afford this expense, and he feels that he needs his children's help during his busy season, and, therefore, prefers to school his children nearer home. The high-class knowledge and scientific data of our public institutions must be brought closer to the people; they must be in the atmosphere as an inspiration surrounding these people that need them and can make use of them. If the mountain won't come down to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the mountain. I believe the committee on agriculture of the State Bankers' Association had this vision when they stood behind the country farm director bill that passed our legislature last winter. The Waterville consolidated high school will become the mediator and collecting agency of all this valuable knowledge, and will dispense it not only to the rural children but to the actual farmer, and thereby establish the best up-todate practice needed in our community. In planning our work we have tried to harmonize and utilize our public utilities to their highest stage of efficiency by combining school buildings, athletic fields, gymnasium work, farm and city garden tracts, fair grounds and buildings, agricultural demonstration grounds, horticultural fields, and nursery work. We also have plans for working out the animal industry side of the question. We expect to build a model home for our county farm director on these demonstration grounds, for he will be the inspirational man who will, through his general supervision, with the help of a good science man in the school, connect up the theory with the practical side of this important work. Waterville's consolidated school comprises six outside districts, with a total assessed valuation of about $1,225,000. By bonding we are building a 20-room up-to-date school building, with all the provisions for teaching agricultural, vocational, and business training along with the general academic school work. Through the public spirit of our county commissioners and our city fathers we have a 99-year lease on 80 acres of fine farm land that is situated one-half mile from our 10-acre campus in the center of our city. Adjoining our campus this school owns 10 acres of city property for farm and city garden demonstration grounds. In another addition it has 32 lots, which will, in time, be sold and the proceeds will be invested by the cashiers of our two banks, and the earned interest each year will become a perpetual library fund. In Douglas County the annual precipitation is about from 13 to 14 inches. It is necessary that we understand dry-farming methods. Our crop season is short; we need a variety of wheat that will mature early and be out of the way of the hot winds and extreme heat of the middle summer. We have discovered that, in all our wheat fields, of the many varieties raised that |