49
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fixed sum, calculated at the average rate of exchange for the year, should fall below £350,000 or in the event of a formal devaluation of the dollar which would reduce the
value below that figure, the amount of the contribution be at once reviewed without waiting for the end of the
quinquennial period.
18.
As to the future re-assessment of the contribution
after the first quinquennium, I would urge that it should be based on wealth-statistics rather than revenue statistics.
I would suggest that the figure for the following quinquennium should be settled by agreement after taking into account the variation in the economic activity and wealth of the Colony as measured by the rating valuation, total trade, yield of taxes and other indications. Among these criteria I suggest that the greatest weight should be attached to the rating valuation; and that that should in fact be regarded as the primary indication, subject only to correction if changes in the others should be markedly at variance with the results indicated by the valuation. In this connection I might add that the Assessment Department of the Government is now more fully organized and more adequately staffed than when Sir C. Clementi's proposal was put forward. Instead of being a part-time charge of the Colonial Treasurer the assessment is now the work of a full time independent Assessor with two Assistants, who have had training in such work in England before appointment; and approval for a third Assistant has recently been requested. If the War Department should desire, for the purpose of future quinquennial figures, to stipulate for an independent rating valuation I should not oppose such a provision.