
 
 <26^Wt-/» / ^*«/^-, /^o^a^rv. 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 SCHOOL OF LAW
 
 Local <$otoernmcnt 
 
 THE ENGLISH CITIZEN : 
 
 HIS RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
 
 LOCAL GOVEKNMENT 
 
 WILLIAM BLAKE ODGERS 
 
 M.A., LL.D., Q.C. 
 
 RECORDER OF WINCHESTER 
 
 ILontrott 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO, Limited 
 
 NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 1899 
 
 All rights reserved
 
 7?
 
 PKEFACE 
 
 This book is an attempt to sketch our existing system 
 of Local Government, to state in popular language the 
 net result of the combination of recent legislation with 
 the former law. It contains the substance of six 
 lectures which I delivered in Middle Temple Hall at 
 the request of the Council of Legal Education during 
 Michaelmas Term, 1898. I have taken as my model 
 an admirable little book written in 1883 for this 
 English Citizen Series by Mr. Mackenzie D. Chalmers, 
 who was till last month a member of the Council of the 
 Governor-General of India. My book is to a large 
 extent founded upon his ; but the changes made in our 
 local institutions since 1883 are so varied and so vast 
 that every chapter had to be entirely re-written. 
 
 There is this difference also between the two books. 
 Mr. Chalmers' book was a powerful and convincing 
 argument for reform. He denounced with righteous 
 indignation the chaos and confusion which then existed 
 in all local affairs. My book, on the other hand, seeks 
 to inspire its readers with gratitude — not wholly devoid, 
 
 748740
 
 vi LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 perhaps, of some hope of favours yet to come — but 
 still with honest gratitude for the benefits which we 
 have derived from the Local Government Acts of 1888 
 and 1894. 
 
 The mention of favours yet to come naturally reminds 
 one of the London Government Bill now before Parlia- 
 ment. My chapter on the Metropolis was in print 
 more than a month before Mr. Balfour brought in his 
 Bill, and I therefore thought it best to leave unaltered 
 what I had written as to the reform of the Metropolitan 
 Vestries and District Boards. 
 
 W. B. 0. 
 
 4 Elm Court, Temple, E.C., 
 March 20, 1899.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Introductory 
 
 Sphere of Local Government — Constitutional Importance — Com- 
 parison of Local and Central Government in England — Position 
 of Women- — Representation and Taxation — Interaction of Local 
 and Central Government ...... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 General View of English Local Government 
 
 Chaos of Local Authorities in 1883 — Early Local Government — 
 Confusion in the Nineteenth Century — The Local Govern- 
 ment Acts, 1888 and 1894— Simplification of Areas — Local 
 Finance . . . . . ... . .14 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 The Parish 
 
 The Township — The Manor — The Ancient Parish — Different Kinds 
 of Parishes — The Modern Civil Parish — The Overseers — 
 The Vestry— The Local Government Act, 1894— The Parish 
 Meeting — The Parish Council — The Ecclesiastical Parish 35
 
 viii LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The Borough 
 
 English Towns — Creation of New Boroughs — History of the 
 Boroughs — The Municipal Corporations Aet — Constitution of 
 the Borough or City — Borough Officers — Functions of the 
 Council — Borough Finance — Central Control . . 69 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 The Union 
 
 History of Unions — The Guardians of the Poor — Their Election — 
 Their Duties — Central Control ..... 103 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 The County District 
 
 County Districts — Necessity and Province of Sanitary Legislation 
 —History of Sanitary Legislation — Its Results — Sanitary 
 Districts — District Councils : their Constitution, Powers, 
 Officers, and Finance — Central Control — Port Sanitary 
 Authorities . . . . . . . . .121 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 The School Authority 
 
 National Education — Elementary Schools — School Districts — The 
 School Board — The School- Attendance Committee — Voluntary 
 Schools 149
 
 CONTENTS ix 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 The Highway Authority 
 
 Highways — Repair of Highways — Main-roads — Bridges — High- 
 way Areas and Authorities — Bridle-paths, Footpaths, etc. — 
 Roadside Strips . . . . . . . .104 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 The Burial Authority 
 
 The Parish Churchyard — The Cemetery — The Burial-ground — 
 Burial Boards — Local Government Act, 1894 . . . 184 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 The County 
 
 The Administrative County — History of the Shire — Divisions of 
 the County — Its Officers : the Sheriff, the Lord-Lieutenant, 
 the Coroner, and the Justices of the Peace — The County 
 Council : its constitution and powers — County Finance 190 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 The Metropolis 
 
 The Administrative County of London — Confusion of Areas and 
 Authorities prior to 1888 — History of London and its Suburbs 
 — The Metropolitan Board of AVorks — The London County 
 Council — Metropolitan Vestries and District Boards — The 
 City of London — The School Hoard for London — Metropolitan 
 Poor-law Authorities, etc. ...... 213
 
 X LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Central Control 
 
 Local Self-government — Necessity for Central Control — The Board 
 of Trade — The Board of Agriculture — -The Local Government 
 Board — Its Functions — -Advice — Administrative Control — 
 Financial Control — Audit — Limits of Central Control . 235 
 
 APPENDIX 261 
 
 INDEX .265
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 Sphere of Local Government — Constitutional Importance — Com- 
 parison of Local and Central Government in England — Position 
 of Women — Representation and Taxation — Interaction of Local 
 and Central Government. 
 
 The object of the present volume is to describe the 
 existing machinery of local government in England, and 
 to give a short account of those matters which are ad- 
 ministered locally but which do not form the subject of 
 separate volumes of the English Citizen Series. And, 
 as no English institution is intelligible apart from its 
 history, a brief historical sketch has been included in 
 the description of the various local institutions which 
 in the aggregate constitute our system of local govern- 
 ment. 
 
 By local government, as opposed to central govern- 
 ment, is meant the administration of those matters which 
 concern only the inhabitants of a particular district or 
 place, and which do not directly affect the nation at 
 large. It is with the duty of an English citizen to his 
 Si B
 
 2 INTRODUCTORY chap. 
 
 neighbours or his neighbourhood that local government 
 is concerned. It is his duty to succour and provide for 
 the poor and the helpless. The administration of the 
 poor-law, the education of the children of the poor, and 
 the provision of lunatic asylums, hospitals, and other 
 aids for the sick, fall under this head. It is also his 
 duty to create no nuisance — to do nothing himself and 
 to permit nothing to be done on his premises by others 
 which is injurious to health, or which interferes with 
 the lawful enjoyment by any man of his own property. 
 Fresh air, sound food, and good water are the essential 
 conditions of public health. It is the business of the 
 local government to see that the neighbourhood is sup- 
 plied with pure Avater, that the food is unadulterated, 
 that the air is uncontaminated, that streets are properly 
 lighted, and that the roads are reasonably safe and suffi- 
 cient. 
 
 As long as we keep to general principles, there 
 is not much room for controversy as to the appro- 
 priate sphere of local government. The difficulty 
 consists in the application of admitted principles to a 
 concrete instance. Whatever be the constitution of a 
 State, a vast amount of business must be locally adminis- 
 tered. Such business may be dispatched either by the 
 officers and nominees of the Central Government, or 
 by the inhabitants of the particular district concerned. 
 In England it is for the most part disposed of by 
 the inhabitants of the particular local area or their 
 representatives. This has ever been our prevailing 
 system. 
 
 Constitutional writers lay great stress on the political 
 importance of a vigorous system of local self-government,
 
 r INTRODUCTORY 3 
 
 which they regard as the chief corner-stone of political 
 freedom. And no doubt it was in their local assemblies 
 that our forefathers learnt those lessons of self-respect, 
 self-help, and self-reliance, which have made the English 
 nation what it is. But while all will admit that local 
 institutions play a most important part in the life-history 
 of a free State, the exact nature of that part is not so clear. 
 Do free and autonomous local institutions create a spirit 
 of freedom in the people at large which necessitates a 
 constitutional central government, or does a constitutional 
 government carried on by a free people necessarily 
 generate a system of free local institutions 1 Which is 
 cause and which is effect 1 Or are both constitutional 
 government and healthy local institutions merely the 
 outward and visible signs of a spirit of freedom animating 
 the nation, and in their turn reacting on the national 
 character ? It is the old difficulty of post hoc vel propter 
 hoc. This much, however, is certain : a very complete 
 system of local self-government is compatible with an 
 entire absence of political freedom. The history 
 of India shows that self-governing local institutions, 
 possessed of intense vitality, may exist apart from 
 any form of representative government, and be suc- 
 cessfully administered by a people who have no notion 
 of political freedom. 
 
 Happily this has never been the case in England. 
 Our local institutions have conduced, and still conduce, 
 to political freedom. And our political institutions in 
 no way trammel or endanger our local independence. 
 The sphere of local government has not diminished; 
 on the contrary it steadily increases. Legislation 
 now is centrifugal rather than centripetal. Parliament
 
 4 INTRODUCTORY chap. 
 
 has found it impossible to cope with all its duties, 
 and has been compelled to delegate large powers to local 
 bodies. In one instance, however, a step has been taken 
 in the contrary direction. This is in the case of prisons. 
 Prisons were formerly managed by the local authorities. 
 County prisons were under the control of the justices, 
 and borough prisons under the control of the town 
 councils. But by an Act of 1877 the management of 
 all prisons was, after a prolonged controversy, trans- 
 ferred from the local authorities to the Central Govern- 
 ment as represented by the Home Secretary. It was 
 urged, in opposition to this Act, that prisons stood on 
 precisely the same footing as workhouses and lunatic 
 asylums, which are properly left to the management of 
 local authorities. It was answered that criminal justice 
 should, as far as possible, be administered throughout 
 the land with absolute uniformity. Gaols are part of 
 the machinery of criminal justice, and as long as they 
 were administered by independent local bodies the 
 requisite uniformity in carrying out sentences of im- 
 prisonment could not be obtained. This consideration 
 carried the day, and in obedience to this principle the 
 transfer was effected. . 
 
 The object of this series of volumes is a practical 
 one — namely, to give some information to an English 
 citizen as to his actual rights and duties as such. In 
 the next chapter an attempt will be made to lay before 
 the reader a general view of our local institutions con- 
 sidered in the aggregate. In the succeeding chapters 
 particular local areas, and the authorities which rule 
 them, will be considered in detail. But first let us 
 compare one or two of the salient features of local and
 
 I INTRODUCTORY 5 
 
 central government in England, and cc sider the points 
 of similarity and contrast. 
 
 In the first place, our local institutions, like our 
 political constitution, have developed spontaneously, and 
 therefore irregularly. Formerly both alike bristled with 
 anomalies. Even now, to every general proposition 
 relating to either, there is a host of exceptions to puzzle 
 the student and bewilder the citizen. Englishmen care 
 little for regularity and form ; they value utility more 
 highly than symmetry. And indeed, where, as in England, 
 government by party is a tradition, and every important 
 measure proposed by the party in power is inevitably 
 resisted by the party in opposition, symmetry becomes 
 an unattainable ideal : laws are born in caution and 
 shapen in compromise. We have had little artistic 
 legislation since the time of Cromwell, because states- 
 men have not been in a position to carry premisses to 
 their logical conclusions. 
 
 Subject to this general observation, it may be said 
 that our local and our political institutions have de- 
 veloped very much along the same lines. In Saxon 
 times, both were essentially democratic ; later, both 
 became more and more narrow and exclusive ; and now 
 at last in both the principle of representation reigns 
 supreme. But it must not be assumed that such de- 
 velopment was either harmonious or contemporaneous. 
 Our local and political systems neither declined nor 
 advanced together. Each grew up in its own way, with 
 no direct reference to the other, though the same forces 
 were at work in each case. The government of our 
 counties became more and more aristocratic just at the 
 time when our boroughs were acquiring the right to
 
 6 INTRODUCTORY chap. 
 
 send representatives to Parliament ; and the administra- 
 tion of local affairs in our boroughs became more and 
 more bigoted and exclusive after political freedom had 
 been secured by the execution of Charles I. and the 
 expulsion of his second son. Nor did our local institu- 
 tions themselves grow up at the same pace side by side. 
 Counties and boroughs were never in line. And the 
 boroughs themselves never kept abreast with each other. 
 None of our many boards and councils were elected on 
 the same method or by the same class of electors. 
 
 In the political sphere, it seems only natural that the 
 rights of the individual should often yield to rank and 
 wealth and territorial influence. But one might have 
 anticipated that in small areas, in the government of 
 which only a few were concerned, no restriction would 
 be placed on the working of the principle of representa- 
 tion. The contrary is the fact. Property has always 
 had most weight in the sphere of local government. 
 The franchise has been extended first for parliament- 
 ary purposes, and only afterwards for the election of 
 local governing bodies. The Reform Act of 1832 was 
 followed by the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, and 
 the Reform Act of 1885 preceded the Local Government 
 Act of 1888, which for the first time admitted the prin- 
 ciple of representative government in county affairs. 
 While the plural vote, which was invented to give pro- 
 perty a predominating voice in the administration of 
 the poor-law and in all sanitary matters, lasted on till 
 1894. 
 
 What was "the plural vote"? At a parliamentary 
 election, every man's vote is as good as his neighbour's. 
 This was always so. The vote of the poorest man who
 
 I INTRODUCTORY 7 
 
 had the franchise was always equal in value to the vote 
 of a Kothschild. But a contrary rule prevailed at an 
 election of poordaw guardians or of a Local Board of 
 Health. There a wealthy man had six votes to the 
 poor man's one. Every owner of property and every 
 ratepayer was entitled to vote, and he had from one to 
 six votes according to the rateable value of his property. 
 A rateable value of £50 or less gave one vote ; if over £50 
 but under £100 it carried two votes; and so on, each 
 additional £50 of value up to £250 gave an additional 
 vote. Six votes was the maximum. But a resident 
 owner might vote both as an owner and as a resident. 
 Hence a man who resided in his own house might have 
 as many as twelve votes, if the house was rated at £250 
 or upwards. 
 
 This plural vote existed only for local purposes. It 
 was defended by Mill and others on the ground that 
 the honest and frugal dispensation of money forms so 
 much larger a part of the business of the local than of 
 the national body, that there is justice as well as policy 
 in allowing a greater influence to those who have a 
 larger money interest at stake. Some political writers 
 have recently detected, both in the political and in the 
 local sphere, a tendency to substitute for the good old 
 rule that representation should go along with taxation, 
 a new maxim that representation should be universal, 
 but that taxation should be limited to the classes enjoy- 
 ing a marginal superfluity of wealth. And a fear has 
 been expressed in some quarters that, as the voting 
 power extends downwards in the social scale, l»>tli 
 political and local government may become concentrated 
 in the hands of those who, paying no taxes or rates,
 
 8 INTRODUCTORY chap. 
 
 have no personal motive for economy. The future, in 
 this respect, may be left to take care of itself. At 
 present, at all events, there is no ground for any such 
 apprehension in the management of our local affairs. 
 The danger was often the other way ; representatives 
 were returned pledged to injurious economy ; necessary 
 work was neglected, and local improvement stopped. 
 Besides, all local governing bodies are subject, first, to 
 the supremacy of Parliament, which could end them 
 all at a stroke ; secondly, to the common law, and 
 especially to the statute book which contains their 
 written constitutions ; and thirdly, to the controlling 
 action of the various departments of the Central 
 Government. Surely, with such powerful " engines at 
 the door," free scope might have been allowed to the 
 representative principle in the sphere of local govern- 
 ment. The plural vote (except in the case of a poll of 
 a vestry) is now happily abolished. So is the property 
 qualification which was formerly required from all town- 
 councillors, guardians, way -wardens, and members of 
 Local Boards of Health. There are no longer any ex 
 officio guardians. And central and local government 
 now rest alike on a broad basis of popular representa- 
 tion. 
 
 The rights of property are now safeguarded in a 
 different way. It is not often that a local body is 
 guilty of extravagant expenditure out of its current 
 income : for an immediate heavy increase in any 
 rate would cause the individual members to lose their 
 seats. The temptation is rather to incur undue 
 burdens by means of loans, repayment of which may 
 be spread over a long series of years, so as to
 
 i INTRODUCTORY 9 
 
 burden ratepayers after the benefit of the expendi- 
 ture has been exhausted. Parliament has provided 
 against such improper anticipation by fixing an amount, 
 proportionate to the annual rateable value of the district, 
 beyond which the local authority may not borrow, by 
 limiting the period of years within which repayment 
 must be made, by naming a maximum rate per £, and 
 by granting powers of control to a Central Department. 
 Whether these expedients are sufficient or efficient, 
 may be doubted. 
 
 The plural vote was created for the minority of 
 wealth ; the cumulative vote for the minority of opinion. 
 Under this system, each elector has as many votes as 
 there are seats to be filled, and may assign what 
 number he pleases to any candidate. In the political 
 sphere it has been generally held that the representa- 
 tion of minorities is sufficiently secured by the division 
 of the country into voting areas so numerous that a 
 minority in one area finds a representative through a 
 majority in another. In the local sphere, the conflict 
 of opinion is intensified by the small size of the arena 
 and the mutual acquaintance of the combatants, and 
 when questions of religious belief arise, the conflict is 
 often bitter ; so that a minority would possibly under the 
 ordinary voting arrangements receive no representation 
 at all. Hence the cumulative vote was invented to 
 enable any active minority to make its influence felt. 
 This method prevails only at School Board elections. 
 
 A third important experiment which has been tried 
 in the sphere of local government is the extension of the 
 suffrage, and in some cases of the right to be elected, to 
 women. Here our local system is distinctly in advance
 
 10 INTRODUCTORY chap. 
 
 of the political. A woman cannot vote at a parlia- 
 mentary election, neither can she serve as a member of 
 Parliament. But if she be qualified in other respects, 
 she may exercise all local franchises ; and she may also 
 fill most local offices, including those of poor-law guardian, 
 overseer, parish councillor, district councillor, and member 
 of a School Board. The most important offices, however, 
 those of town and county councillor, are still closed to 
 women. It may be noted, as a presage of what the 
 future may bring forth in England, that the year 1894 
 has witnessed in New Zealand the election of a Parlia- 
 ment by a suffrage both male and female, and the choice 
 of a woman as mayor of a borough. 
 
 Central and local government are alike in this, that 
 in both our representatives are unpaid : they do a vast 
 amount of work without any remuneration. But there 
 was formerly a striking difference in the class of men 
 who were elected to administer the two systems, — a 
 difference which is now happily disappearing. Speaking 
 broadly, in the case of the Central Government, political 
 power now rests with the masses, but the masses 
 elect as their representatives in Parliament men of 
 first-rate education and intelligence. But, thirty or 
 forty years ago, the administration of local affairs in 
 all but the most important areas had largely fallen into 
 the hands of small tradesmen, and that class had also a 
 disproportionate voting power. It is of course right and 
 just that the lower middle class should be represented 
 on local governing bodies; but the abstention of the more 
 educated classes from taking their proper share in local 
 government, and the insufficient representation of the 
 working classes on local executive bodies, were great evils.
 
 i INTRODUCTORY 11 
 
 As population increases, and as science enlarges our 
 knowledge of sanitary matters and conditions, the 
 problems of local government become more and more 
 complex, and must be dealt with by more highly 
 trained intelligence. On the other hand, a large propor- 
 tion of the matters administered by local bodies — as, for 
 instance, elementary education, the relief of the poor, 
 and a good many sanitary improvements — directly and 
 almost exclusively concerns the working classes. All 
 classes should therefore be directly represented in the 
 administrative bodies, and work together for the common 
 good of the district. Fortunately the last ten years have 
 seen a considerable improvement in this respect. 
 
 Again, as regards the franchise, the right to vote at 
 parliamentary elections and the right to vote for pur- 
 poses of local government alike rest on the oAvnership 
 or occupation of land or houses. No amount of mere 
 funded property, no payment of income tax, Avill give 
 a vote. When we turn to taxation, hoAvever, Ave 
 find a marked difference between national taxes and 
 local rates. The Central Government taxes both real 
 and personal property, while rates fall exclusively on 
 land and houses. The State levies both direct and 
 indirect taxes : local rates are, as a rule, direct only. 
 A man is rated in proportion to the visible real property 
 which he owns or occupies in the shape of land and 
 houses, to the exclusion of his other property in bonds, 
 shares, cash, ships, furniture, and the like, on Avhich, 
 hoAvever, he pays taxes. This practice is based on the 
 very doubtful hypothesis that a man's annual expenditure 
 in house rent or its equivalent is in the majority of cases 
 proportionate to his income. It is clear that under the
 
 12 INTRODUCTORY chap. 
 
 present system much wealth escapes local rating which, 
 under an ideal system, ought to bear its share of the 
 general burdens of the locality. Why should not 
 personal property, as well as real, be made to contribute 
 to the rates 1 A large part of local expenditure, it is 
 true, directly affects and benefits land and houses ; but 
 such matters as poor relief and elementary education 
 have no connection with local property. It would 
 therefore seem fair that the expenses of such matters 
 should fall, at any rate in part, on actual income as well 
 as on visible expenditure. Local financiers have recently 
 claimed a share in the death duties, the tax paid on the 
 estate of a deceased person. The practice of making 
 imperial grants in aid of local taxation, which has 
 been very largely extended during the last ten years, 
 is an attempt to meet the difficulty, but it is open to 
 objection on the ground that it has a tendency to en- 
 courage extravagant local administration. It raises, 
 moreover, many difficult questions. Imperial funds are 
 in part provided by indirect taxation, the incidence of 
 which is entirely different from that of the rates. The 
 contribution of the working classes, for instance, to the 
 rates is relatively small; to the taxes comparatively 
 large. Local taxation is already very largely relieved 
 from the Imperial Exchequer. The Treasury subven- 
 tions in aid of the rates amounted in the year 1895-96 to 
 £9,240,059; and it seems scarcely fair to call for any 
 further assistance from the Treasury at the expense of 
 the general taxpayer. 
 
 There is another subject which deserves more 
 
 ' consideration than it has yet received — the interaction 
 
 of political and local government. If the history of
 
 I INTRODUCTORY 13 
 
 legislation were fully told, it would often be found 
 that a great measure applying to the whole United 
 Kingdom has been preluded by a private or local 
 Act, secured after painful efforts by a far-seeing 
 group of local administrators at their own risk. The 
 successful experiment of Glasgow or Birmingham in 
 the direction of improved working - class dwellings, 
 or notification of disease, or municipal administration 
 of gas or water supply, or the issue of local stock, 
 becomes the rule which the Legislature ultimately 
 applies everywhere else. More direct action is not 
 wanting. The Town or County Council affords a good 
 training-ground for Parliament. The London County 
 Council already exerts an influence upon the House 
 of Commons. The resolutions carried by local bodies, 
 and forwarded to the Government, have great weight in 
 determining its attitude upon particular occasions. The 
 correspondence which is constantly passing between 
 local officials and the great Departments of the State 
 enables the servants of the Central Government to lay 
 their fingers upon the defects of local administration, 
 and in turn enables Ministers to provide a remedy by 
 legislation. The currents which flow in the opposite 
 direction are too obvious to call for much remark. The 
 division of the electors upon local questions frequently 
 coincides with the division of political parties. Per- 
 haps this is to some extent inevitable ; possibly, too, 
 local government would not maintain its present con- 
 dition of vigorous health, if it were wholly divorced 
 from party politics. Nevertheless, it is a matter of 
 regret that local elections should ever turn, as they 
 often do, upon political issues.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF ENGLISH LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Chaos of Local Authorities in 1883 — Early Local Government — 
 Confusion in the Nineteenth Century — The Local Government 
 Acts, 1888 and 1894 — Simplification of Areas — Local Finance. 
 
 In the work on which this volume is founded, Mr. 
 Chalmers made the somewhat startling statement : — 
 " Local government in this country may be fitly described 
 as consisting of a chaos of areas, a chaos of authorities, and 
 a chaos of rates." And this statement was true when he 
 wrote it, in 1883. But he could not say so now. The Local 
 Government Acts of 1888 and 1894 have changed the 
 face of things. These most important measures are 
 carefully devised, well thought out, and well expressed ; 
 they have remedied abuses and simplified the whole 
 machinery. They may not be above criticism in some 
 respects; a further measure of reform may be needed 
 hereafter. But we now have at all events a clear and 
 intelligible system of local government in England. 
 
 In 1883 England and Wales were divided for local 
 government purposes into the following areas : — There 
 were 52 counties — 40 in England and 12 in Wales, 239 
 municipal boroughs, 70 Improvement Act districts, 1006
 
 chap, ii GENERAL VIEW 15 
 
 urban sanitary districts, 41 port sanitary authorities, 
 and 577 rural sanitary districts; 2051 school-board 
 districts, 424 highway districts, 853 burial-board districts, 
 649 unions, 194 lighting and watching districts, 14,946 
 poor-law parishes, 5064 highway parishes not in- 
 cluded in urban or highway districts, and about 13,000 
 ecclesiastical parishes. 1 The total number of local 
 authorities who then taxed the English ratepayer was 
 27,069, and they taxed him by means of 18 different 
 kinds of rates. 2 There was neither co-ordination nor 
 subordination among the numerous authorities which then 
 regulated our local affairs. The Census Commissioners 
 of 1871 remark in mild surprise, that it is a peculiarity 
 of the administration of this country that nearly every 
 public authority divides the country differently, and 
 with little or no reference to other divisions. Each 
 authority appeared to be unacquainted with the existence, 
 or at least with the work, of the others. The boundaries 
 of a union never intersected the boundaries of a poor-law 
 parish, for the unions are aggregates of parishes. But 
 with this exception all the various areas intersected and 
 overlapped each other. For instance, 85 parishes and 
 181 unions were situated partly in one county, partly in 
 another. All these areas were governed by different 
 authorities, elected or selected by different means and 
 bodies ; while the Metropolis was (and still is) governed 
 by a congeries of authorities and enactments peculiar to 
 itself. A single county may be taken as a specimen to 
 show the reader how the various local government areas 
 
 1 Census Returns, 1871, as corrected by Preliminary Report, 1881, 
 and Local Government Directory, 1881. 
 
 2 See Eleventh Report of Local Government Board, p. 385.
 
 16 GENERAL VIEW chap. 
 
 were distributed in 1883. Bedfordshire, the first of the 
 counties in alphabetical order, will do as well as any 
 other. Bedfordshire, with an area of 97,000 acres, had 
 then a population of 41,000 persons ; it had one court 
 of quarter sessions, and was divided into 9 hundreds, 7 
 petty sessional divisions, and 8 lieutenancy subdivisions. 
 It contained 3 municipal boroughs ; 3 urban sanitary 
 districts • 6 rural sanitary districts, some of which 
 stretched into adjoining counties ; 6 highway districts, 
 two of which stretched into adjoining counties ; 6 burial- 
 board districts ; 4 lighting and watching districts ; 45 
 school districts, four of which ran into adjoining counties ; 
 6 unions, some of which overstepped the county borders ; 
 134 entire poor-law parishes, and portions of three more. 
 All these divisions overlapped and interlaced. Each of 
 them was governed by its own petty authority, which 
 for the most part wholly ignored the existence of any 
 other division or authority. 
 
 How did this state of things come to pass 1 
 
 Early Local Government 
 
 Under our Saxon kings local government was both 
 simple and strong. Indeed this has been called "the 
 golden age of local government " in England. In Saxon 
 times the pressure of the Central Government was but 
 slightly felt. The main duties of a freeman to the State 
 were comprehended in the trinoda necessitas: the duties 
 of military service, the maintenance of bridges, and 
 the repair of fortifications. As regards administrative 
 government, the shires were almost independent. 
 They were subdivided into hundreds, and these again
 
 ii EARLY LOCAL GOVERNMENT 17 
 
 were subdivided into townships. And to this threefold 
 division of our rural districts into shire, hundred, and 
 township we have now practically returned. Each area 
 had its appropriate assembly or court, which made by- 
 laws, and administered local affairs and justice within 
 its competence. Police was provided for by the system 
 of frith-borh, which afterwards developed into frankpledge 
 or mutual guarantee. Every freeman — and freeman then 
 was practically synonymous with landowner — was entitled 
 to take part in the assembly of the township. Every 
 township was represented in the court of the hundred 
 and the shire. No distinction was drawn between legis- 
 lative, judicial, and administrative functions. The 
 shire-reeve or sheriff, who with the help of the bishop 
 and the ealdorman presided over the shire-moot, was at 
 once a fiscal and an executive officer. The unit of urban 
 local government was the burh, or fortified town. 
 
 The hundred-moot and the shire-moot continued 
 under our Norman kings. The shire became the county ; 
 the shire-moot the County Court. The hundred lingered 
 on as an administrative area till 1886 j 1 though the 
 hundred-moot had long fallen into disuse. It was the 
 policy of the Plantagenet kings gradually to diminish 
 the judicial authority of the sheriff, and to substitute for 
 him the king's justices in eyre. And though at first the 
 Norman Conquest had little effect on the township and 
 its microscopic assembly, yet as the feudal system took 
 root, and the land was cut up into manors, there was 
 much danger that all local government would pass into 
 the hands of the lord and his steward. But the secular 
 priest fought for the liberties of the poor against the 
 
 1 Riot (Damages) Act, 1886 (49 & 50 Vict. c. 38). 
 C
 
 18 GENERAL VIEW chap. 
 
 territorial magnate. The township merged in the 
 parish ; and the parish meeting, over which the parish 
 priest presided, was in fact the cradle in which all our 
 liberties were nursed. 
 
 Then, as the hamlet grew into the town, and the 
 parishioner became a burgess, the same spirit created 
 municipal freedom ; the guild of each craft was still 
 closely connected with a church ; and the men who 
 could manage the business of their guild soon claimed 
 to control the affairs of their borough. The rise of the 
 parish and the rise of the borough are the two most 
 interesting incidents in the popular history of England 
 under the Plantagenet kings. They will be discussed 
 more in detail in the next two chapters. 
 
 In the shires the opposite tendency prevailed. The 
 government of the counties, Avhich in Saxon times had 
 always been conducted on a representative system, 
 grew more and more aristocratic. The County Court 
 came to consist solely of landowners : the king ap- 
 pointed the sheriff. Gradually all except the more 
 important landowners became more and more remiss in 
 their attendance at these gatherings ; and ultimately the 
 whole management of the affairs of the county fell into 
 the hands of the justices of the peace, who are appointed 
 by the Crown on the nomination of the lord-lieutenant. 
 
 It is strange, indeed, that at the very time when 
 representative government was becoming the rule in 
 local as well as political matters, county government 
 should have been a conspicuous exception. For histori- 
 cally the counties had every claim to an elective govern- 
 ment ; and, logically, every reason which can be urged 
 in favour of a representative system as regards the
 
 II CONFUSION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 19 
 
 Central Government, or as regards other local authorities, 
 applies equally to the county. 
 
 But that is how most things grow up in England — 
 gradually, spontaneously, and therefore irregularly and 
 unsymmetrically. There was no system, no cohesion in 
 our local institutions. But no one wished for either. 
 Each borough had its own customs, which decided who 
 should vote as a freeman, and who should not. The 
 freemen of the borough sent their representatives to 
 Parliament; the forty-shilling freeholders elected knights 
 of the shire ; but neither body of electors ever sought 
 to introduce any principle of representation into the 
 government of the counties. The justices, as a rule, 
 managed the county business well ; and the county 
 electors, illogically but sensibly, acquiesced in a system 
 of class government which was wholly foreign to most 
 English institutions. Englishmen, as a rule, care but 
 little for symmetry. The fact that an institution is 
 anomalous, or that an illogical compromise had been 
 adopted in its administration, does not trouble them, so 
 long as the institution works even tolerably well. 
 
 Confusion in the Nineteenth Century 
 
 Our modern poor-law, which dates from the days of 
 Queen Elizabeth, was entirely remodelled in 1834. For 
 with the new century had sprung up the zeal of the re- 
 former, and fitful attempts were constantly made to 
 remedy the eccentricities and remove the shortcomings 
 of our local institutions. But in these attempts, too, 
 there was no cohesion, no system, no guiding principle. 
 Everything was done piecemeal. Each special need was
 
 20 GENERAL VIEW ohap. 
 
 dealt with separately. Benevolent persons, who desired 
 to reform the poor-laws in the days of William IV., had 
 no knowledge of sanitary science, and had no desire to 
 interfere in the management of bridges and highways. 
 When unions were created in 1834 a fatal mistake was 
 made : no regard was paid to the historic division of our 
 island into counties. Nearly one -third of the total 
 number of unions cut county boundaries. Many 
 parishes lay in two counties, or partly in a county and 
 partly in a borough. Moreover, the lands which com- 
 posed a single parish were often wholly detached and 
 sometimes widely separated. In Yorkshire, as late as 
 1875, there were more than seventy parishes thus 
 divided, and one parish had no less than ten outlying 
 portions surrounded by the lands of other parishes. 
 And as the nation developed, as its population and wealth 
 advanced and its requirements necessarily increased, new 
 local authorities were created,— Highway Boards ; Con- 
 servancy Boards ; Local Boards of Health ; Improve- 
 ment Act Commissioners ; Port Sanitary Authorities ; 
 Burial Boards ; and School Boards. Each special need 
 was met by calling into existence a new and special 
 authority. And, following the evil precedent of the 
 unions, this was done in each case without any regard to 
 previously existing divisions or authorities. Each new 
 creation paid no heed to any of its predecessors, but 
 appointed its own staff of officers, levied its separate rate, 
 and pursued its own independent policy. The Burial 
 Board knew not the Highway Board ; and neither of 
 them took cognisance of the Local Board, the Guardians, 
 or the county. 
 
 A resident in a borough was for purposes of local
 
 II CONFUSION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 21 
 
 government regarded as living in at least four different 
 areas — namely, in the borough, in a parish, in a union, 
 and in a county. None of these areas were conterminous, 
 unless by accident, with any of the others. He was or 
 might be governed by six different authorities — the 
 Town Council, the Vestry, the School Board, the Burial 
 Board, the Board of Guardians, and the County Quarter 
 Sessions. He would have to pay a borough rate, a 
 general district rate, a poor rate, a burial rate, and a 
 county rate. Moreover, to increase the confusion, the 
 same local name was often applied to different areas ; for 
 instance a union, a parliamentary borough, and a muni- 
 cipal borough, with widely divergent boundaries, would 
 all bear the same name. Different parts of the borough 
 might be in different parishes, and in different unions, 
 and in different counties. 
 
 A resident in a rural district, on the other hand, lived 
 in a parish, a union, a hundred, a sanitary district, a 
 county, and probably in a highway district as well. He 
 was governed by six different authorities — the Vestry, 
 the Board of Guardians, the Eural Sanitary Authority, 
 the School Board, the Burial Board, and the Quarter 
 Sessions of the county. And the areas governed by 
 these authorities were almost invariably different. 
 
 This state of things arose from the English habit of 
 legislating by piecemeal. Special authorities and districts 
 were created for special purposes as occasion seemed to 
 require. As society outgrew its existing institutions, 
 the defects and shortcomings were remedied by patch- 
 work. The result was that "chaos" — that "jungle 
 of jurisdictions" — which Mr. Chalmers so vehemently 
 and so properly denounced. The lack of all system and
 
 22 GENERAL VIEW chap. 
 
 method led to extravagance as well as confusion ; for 
 each petty board or authority had its own staff of 
 officers kept up at the expense of the ratepayers. 
 There was a needless multiplication of elections as 
 well as of officers — elections all held at different times. 
 The qualifications of electors and candidates differed in 
 each case ; so did the mode of election, the returning- 
 officer and his staff, and the period for which office was 
 held. I have preserved as a curiosity, in the Appendix 
 at the end of this volume, a table taken from a parlia- 
 mentary paper of 1878, which summarises the conditions 
 under which local elections were then conducted. There 
 were, besides, eighteen different kind of rates, most of 
 which were separately collected. To put an end to this 
 waste of time, of men, and of money, reform was urgently 
 needed in two directions : — 
 
 (i.) Consolidation of authorities, 
 
 (ii.) Simplification of areas. 
 
 The Local Government Acts, 1888 and 1894 
 
 Mr. Chalmers clearly indicated the principles on 
 which he thought reform should proceed. " Some area 
 should be chosen as the Local Government unit, 
 and the larger areas should be multiples of that unit. 
 Further, a separate authority should not be created or 
 kept up for every function that has to be discharged. 
 Within certain limits the same authority can very well 
 deal with different subject-matters through separate 
 departments." And his suggestions have been largely 
 followed. In our constitution and our imperial politics 
 there has been since 1688 a marked return to Saxon
 
 ii LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACTS, 1888, 1894 23 
 
 principles of government ; and the same principles 
 have at length been recognised in our local affairs. 
 Popular representation has now at last been tardily 
 restored to all our institutions. Township, hundred, 
 and shire reappear as parish, district, and county. The 
 Local Government Act of 1888 created the County 
 Council ; it created also the administrative county ; it 
 took away from the Justices of the Peace most of their 
 administrative duties, leaving them, however, their 
 judicial functions. The District Council and the Parish 
 Council are the creation of the Local Government Act, 
 1894, — a measure framed with the express object of com- 
 pleting the scheme and extending the machinery of the 
 earlier Act. All Local Boards, Highway Boards, and 
 Burial Boards have practically ceased to exist. In 
 rural districts every District Councillor is also a guardian 
 of the poor. And now the question has been mooted 
 whether the School Board should not be made a Com- 
 mittee of the District or Borough Council. 
 
 Here at once a question arises, Why are different 
 schemes of local government provided for rural and for 
 urban districts 1 Would it not be simpler and clearer to 
 adopt the same system all over England 1 The answer is 
 that the threefold division is needed only in rural districts. 
 The larger towns have their own municipal government; 
 in other urban districts the District Council answers 
 all purposes. Town and country are very different. In 
 districts classed as urban by the census authorities the 
 average population is 4068 persons to the square mile, while 
 throughout the rest of the country the average is 154 to 
 the square mile. Masses of human beings, when collected 
 together in a limited space, create more miisances and
 
 24 GENERAL VIEW chap. 
 
 require more government than the scattered inhabitants 
 of rural districts. Moreover, in the country the distances 
 are so much greater, and the number of capable men 
 able and willing to take part in local government is 
 much smaller. We must not in our desire for symmetry 
 neglect the essential conditions of the problem. 
 
 Only a very general outline of our present system 
 can be given here ; further information on each subject 
 will be found in the following chapters. But the result 
 of recent legislation may be shortly stated thus : — 
 
 1. The Parish. — The parish is now regarded as a civil 
 area ; it is taken as the basis of our modern system of 
 local government. There are 14,896 civil parishes in 
 England and Wales. Of these 13,093 are rural parishes, 
 and 1803 are urban. Of the 13,093 rural parishes, 7310 
 have a Parish Council ; the remainder are managed each 
 by its own Parish Meeting. The Parish Meeting, an 
 institution which is hundreds of years older than either 
 the House of Lords or the House of Commons, has only 
 received in 1894 its full recognition at the hands of 
 Parliament. Now in all rural parishes the Vestry has no 
 longer any power, except over the affairs of the church 
 and ecclesiastical charities. The Parish Council, or the 
 Parish Meeting, as the case may be, controls all parish 
 property, has a voice in the management of all parochial 
 charities, can veto the closure of any public road or 
 footpath in the parish, apply for the formation of a 
 School Board, and adopt certain permissive Acts for 
 providing the parish with light, baths, wash-houses, 
 burial-grounds, recreation grounds, and public libraries. 1 
 
 2. The Borough. — There are now 307 boroughs in 
 
 1 See cli. iii.
 
 n LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACTS, 1888, 1894 25 
 
 England and Wales. Nineteen of these have by ancient 
 custom all the organisation of a county, and are called 
 
 " The County of the City of ," or " The County of 
 
 the Town of ." For the administration of justice 
 
 and some other purposes, these are deemed to be separate 
 counties ; for all other purposes, they are boroughs. 
 Bristol and Exeter are instances. By the Local Govern- 
 ment Act of 1 888 a new class of boroughs was created, 
 called " County Boroughs. " There are sixty -four of these. 
 Other boroughs have a separate Court of Quarter Sessions, 
 presided over by a Recorder; many others have a 
 separate Commission of the Peace. In all the general 
 management of the affairs of the borough is vested in 
 the Town or City Council. 1 
 
 3. The Union. — A union is a group of parishes, united 
 for poor-law purposes under the Poor Law Amend- 
 ment Act, 1834 ; though a single parish if sufficiently 
 populous may be a union. In each union the poor-law is 
 administered by a Board of Guardians. The guardians 
 are elected by the parishes ; every parish in the union 
 which has a population of not less than 300 sends at 
 least one member. There are no longer any ex officio 
 guardians ; but each Board may co-opt two additional 
 members. In an urban district the District Council and 
 the Board of Guardians are elected separately, and may 
 consist of entirely different persons. But it is otherwise 
 in rural districts. Guardians, as such, are no longer 
 elected for any rural parish ; but the persons who are 
 elected members of the Rural District Council are also 
 necessarily poor - law guardians. They represent each 
 his own parish on the Board of Guardians for the union, 
 1 See eh. iv.
 
 26 GENERAL VIEW chap. 
 
 without any separate election ; and this, although the 
 Rural District Council and the Board of Guardians are 
 entirely distinct bodies. 1 
 
 4. The County District. — As has been already stated, 
 the hundred or wapentake is now obsolete. Its place 
 is taken by the district. There are now 1772 districts 
 in England and Wales, of which 307 are boroughs, 785 
 are urban districts, and 680 are rural districts. There 
 are also 60 port sanitary districts. Under the Local 
 Government Act of 1894, every urban and rural district 
 has its District Council, which is the sole sanitary 
 authority, and the chief, if not the sole, highway 
 authority in the district. All Highway Boards and 
 Surveyors of Highways have practically ceased to 
 exist; and so have all Improvement Commissioners, 
 except in connection with harbours. A considerable 
 step has thus been taken towards the consolidation of 
 authorities. 2 
 
 5. The School District may be a borough, or a parish, or 
 portion of a parish, or a group of small parishes united 
 for educational purposes by an order of the Education 
 Department. The electors are in a borough the bur- 
 gesses ; in a parish the ratepayers. A School Board 
 must be elected in every district in which the public 
 elementary school accommodation has been found 
 insufficient. Where the accommodation is sufficient, 
 the electors may still have a School Board, if they wish ; 
 but if this be not desired, a School Attendance Com- 
 mittee must be appointed to enforce the law. This 
 Committee is in a borough appointed by the Town 
 
 • Council ; elsewhere by the Board of Guardians, or in a 
 1 See ch. v. 2 See ch. vi.
 
 II LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACTS, 1888, 1894 27 
 
 few cases by the Urban District Council. Schools for 
 pauper children, other than workhouse schools, may be 
 provided by combinations of unions or of parishes not in 
 i\ny one union. Such combinations are formed by order 
 of the Local Government Board, but only with the 
 consent of the majority of guardians in each union or 
 parish. 1 
 
 6. The County. — There are now sixty-two adminis- 
 trative counties in England and Wales. Each elects its 
 County Council, which possesses and discharges all the 
 administrative powers and duties which formerly 
 belonged to justices in Quarter Sessions. But no 
 judicial functions were transferred to the County 
 Council. The county police are managed by a joint 
 committee of the County Council and the justices. The 
 freeholders no longer elect the coroner : this duty or 
 privilege is also transferred to the County Council ; and 
 with it disappears the last relic of the old shire-moot or 
 county gathering. The numerous duties of a County 
 Council are detailed in chap. x. The tendency now is to 
 give more and more work to the County Council, and 
 to place it to some extent in command over the District 
 and Parish Councils within its borders. The County 
 Council has to see that the lesser authorities do the 
 work prescribed for them : it settles their boundaries 
 and their disputes ; and generally supervises the work of 
 local government over the whole county. But it is 
 itself under the control of the Queen in Council, and of 
 the Local Government Board. 
 
 It will be seen at once that most of the anomalies 
 pointed out by Mr. Chalmers and other writers prior to 
 1 See ch. vii.
 
 28 GENERAL VIEW chap. 
 
 1888 have been removed, and the whole system of local 
 government simplified and improved. Moreover, the 
 principle of representation by popular election has once 
 more been fully accepted in all our local institutions. 
 Note, however, that the City of London still stands out- 
 side the system sketched above. The Metropolis is 
 always — why, I know not — reserved for exceptional 
 treatment at the hands of the Legislature. It has been 
 made an administrative county. It has a County 
 Council. Before long, perhaps, we may see its Vestries 
 converted into Urban District Councils, with extended 
 powers. 1 
 
 Simplification of Areas • , 
 
 Much also has been done to rearrange and simplify 
 the areas governed by these various local bodies. In 
 1873 a Select Committee was appointed to inquire into 
 parish boundaries. They found that the parish bore 
 no necessary relation to any other administrative area 
 except the union. A parish was frequently situated 
 partly in one county and partly in another, partly in 
 one local board district and partly in another, partly in 
 a borough and partly in a rural district. Moreover, the 
 lands which composed a single parish were often widely 
 separated from each other ; detached portions of a parish 
 might be found at a considerable distance from each 
 other, and entirely surrounded by other parishes. 
 There were over 1300 such divided parishes in 1876. 
 So too there were many detached portions of a county 
 scattered over neighbouring counties. Three Acts were 
 
 1 See ch. xi.
 
 ii SIMPLIFICATION OF AREAS 29 
 
 passed in 1876, 1879, and 1882 respectively, 1 which did 
 much to rectify parish boundaries, and to divide large 
 parishes, especially where a parish was cut in two by 
 the boundary of a municipal borough or county, or by a 
 river, estuary, or branch of the sea. The Act of 1882 
 provided that all detached portions of a parish which 
 were wholly surrounded by another parish should merge 
 in the parish which surrounded them, and henceforward 
 be deemed to be in the same county as that parish. No 
 fewer than 3258 parishes had their boundaries altered 
 between 1881 and 1891. 
 
 The same policy has been carried out more efficiently 
 by later Acts. The Local Government Act, 1888, con- 
 ferred on a County Council (or if more than one county 
 was concerned, on a joint -committee of the County 
 Councils concerned) very wide powers of altering and 
 defining the boundaries and of dividing and rearranging 
 the area of any parish and county district, with the 
 consent of the Local Government Board." The Local 
 Government Board was by the same Act empowered, 
 after a local inquiry, to make a Provisional Order altering 
 the boundary of any county or borough. 3 And it is 
 provided that in every such alteration of boundaries care 
 must be taken that, so far as practicable, the boundaries 
 of no two areas of local government shall intersect. 4 
 The Local Government Act 1894 expressly directs the 
 County Council, so far as practicable, to secure that the 
 
 1 The Divided Parishes and Poor Law Amendment Act, 1876 
 (39 & 40 Vict. c. 61), the Poor Law Act, 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 54), 
 and the Divided Parishes and Poor Law Amendment Act, 1882 
 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 58). 
 
 2 51 & 52 Vict. c. 41, s. 57. 3 s. 54. 4 s. 60.
 
 30 GENERAL VIEW chap. 
 
 whole of each parish shall be within the same administra- 
 tive county, and within the same district, urban or rural, 
 of that county ; and also that, in the absence of special 
 reasons, the whole of each rural district shall be within 
 the same county. 1 If at the passing of this Act (5th 
 March 1894) any parish was situate in more than one 
 district, rural or urban, the parts of the parish in each 
 such district became at once separate parishes, unless the 
 County Council for special reasons otherwise directed, or 
 unless an order was made altering the boundaries of the 
 district. 2 Hence now, speaking generally, the parish is 
 once more the unit of area of local government; so 
 many entire parishes make up a district; so many a 
 union ; and so many entire districts are contained in 
 each county. 
 
 Local Finance 
 
 There is, however, one matter to which Mr. Chalmers 
 called attention in 1883, and which still calls loudly for 
 prevention or reform. Few people realise the extent of 
 the sums annually disbursed by the various local 
 authorities in England, or the alarming rate at which 
 our local expenditure and our local indebtedness are 
 increasing. The ratepayer who does appreciate the 
 situation regards the feats of elective local bodies in 
 spending money and piling up debts with feelings akin 
 to those with which Frankenstein beheld the pranks of 
 the monster of his own creation. But he takes no action 
 in the matter. No one works harder than an English- 
 man to make money, yet no one submits more passively 
 to having his money taken from him. The failure of 
 1 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73, s. 36 (1). 2 s. 1 (3) ; s. 36 (2), (3).
 
 ii LOCAL FINANCE 31 
 
 our bankruptcy laws was mainly caused by the apathy 
 of creditors in enforcing their rights. This curious 
 national characteristic comes out strongly in all local 
 affairs. The ordinary ratepayer looks on a rise in 
 his rates in the same way that he looks on an increase 
 in the rainfall. Both are matters to be grumbled at ; 
 but in neither case does he inquire into causes, and he 
 considers the one as irremediable as the other. In spite 
 of the prevalent apathy on the subject, the statistics of 
 local finance are well worth attention. 
 
 In the year ending 31st March 1896 — the latest 
 period for which reliable information is at present avail- 
 able — the total amount expended for local purposes was 
 £75,675,526 ! In order to meet this outlay £35,898,042 
 was raised by means of rates, £13,449,173 was defrayed 
 out of moneys borrowed for the purpose, the Treasury 
 contributed £3,198,524, and the rest was raised from 
 tines, tolls, dues, and other sources of income. The 
 total amount of the rates raised in England and Wales 
 has increased in each year of the last, decade. In the 
 financial year 1885-86 it was £26,142,891 ; in the 
 financial year 1895-96 it was, as I have just stated, 
 £35,898,042, an increase of 38 per cent in ten years. 
 The rateable value of rateable property in England and 
 Wales steadily increases; on Lady Day 1896 it was 
 £165,990,085. But in spite of this the rate per £ 
 steadily increases too ; taking an average all over 
 England and Wales, it was in the year 1895-96 4s. 5d. 
 in the £ ! 
 
 These figures are sufficiently startling. They are 
 taken from the Twenty-Seventh Beport of the Local 
 Government Board. But it is still more startling to
 
 
 32 GENERAL VIEW CHAP. 
 
 note the rapid rate at which they have increased, and 
 are still increasing. The sum total of the expenditure 
 on local purposes for the year 1868 was £30,273,000. 
 In 1880, although prisons had in the meantime been 
 transferred to the Central Government, the expenditure 
 for the year rose above £50,000,000. For 1882-83 it 
 was £53,412,000; for 1890-91 it was £58,528,430; for 
 1895-96 it was £75,675,526. During the same period 
 (1868-96) the rateable value of England and Wales rose 
 from £100,000,000 to £165,990,085, an increase of 66 
 per cent ; while the expenditure of the local authorities 
 rose from £30,273,000 to £75,675,526, an increase of 
 150 per cent. In other words, the growth of local ex- 
 penditure is more than twice as rapid as the growth in 
 value of the property subject to local taxation. 
 
 No attempt — or at least no successful attempt — is 
 made to keep annual expenditure within annual income. 
 Each of our various local bodies has an outstanding debt 
 which grows at the same rapid pace as the annual outlay. 
 It increases at a rate much faster than that at which we 
 reduce the National Debt. In 1875 it was £92,820,100. 
 In 1881, £144,203,299. In 1892, £207,524,093. On 
 Lady Day 1896 it had reached the enormous figure of 
 £243,209,862— the sum of £35,685,769 being added to 
 our debt in four years ! 
 
 And how is all this money spent? The amounts 
 raised on loan are no doubt expended on the objects for 
 which they were avowedly raised — public buildings, 
 gas-works, water-works, cemeteries, parks, etc. But it 
 is the expenditure out of the rates which most requires 
 to be checked, and which in some districts the members 
 of our local authorities show the least desire to check.
 
 n LOCAL FINANCE 33 
 
 Let us try and analyse the expenditure of the sums 
 received in 1895-96 otherwise than from loans. 
 £7,492,240 was spent on highways and street improve- 
 ments. £6,919,217 on elementary education. Public 
 lighting cost £1,162,797 ; fire-brigades, £301,505 ; 
 public libraries and museums, £341,658 ; prosecutions 
 and conveyance of prisoners, £214,234. £4,724,988 
 was expended on the police, and £9,832,424 on our 
 paupers and pauper lunatics. It is to this last item that 
 the ratepayers should pay special attention. 836,913 
 persons were in receipt of poor relief, indoor and out, 
 on 1st January 1898, and of these 107,071 were adult 
 able-bodied paupers. By means of emigration, home 
 colonies, or in some other way, the pauperism that calls 
 for such enormous expenditure must be diminished. 
 
 Yet it is extremely difficult for any ratepayer effi- 
 ciently to control local expenditure. The figures given 
 above are averages taken from all England and Wales ; 
 what he wants to ascertain and check is the expenditure 
 in his own locality. Moreover, it is unsatisfactory — 
 though, now that our local representatives are elected, it 
 is not wholly useless — to "cry over spilt milk." What 
 the electors should demand from the members of every 
 local authority is an annual budget — an accurate account 
 of the probable income and the probable expenditure of 
 the parish, district, union, or county during the coming 
 year. This account should be carefully preserved and 
 examined at the close of the year, and any discrepancies 
 between the estimates and the amounts actually expended 
 should be noted and mentioned to those who were 
 elected to protect the interests of the ratepayers. In 
 France every commune, every arrondissement, and 
 
 D
 
 34 LOCAL FINANCE chap, ii 
 
 every department has its annual budget showing its 
 financial position, and estimating its financial require- 
 ments for the coming year. This system exists in some 
 cases in England ; if it could be made universal, it would 
 do much to check local extravagance
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE PARISH 
 
 The Township — The Manor — The Ancient Parish — Different Kinds 
 of Parishes— The Modern Civil Parish — The Overseers — The 
 Vestry — The Local Government Act, 1894 — The Parish Meeting 
 — The Parish Council— The Ecclesiastical Parish. 
 
 The Township 
 
 Many writers have taken great interest in tracing a 
 relationship between the Saxon township, the English 
 parish, the French or Belgian commune, and the Indian 
 village community. All are but variations, they con- 
 tend, of one common type which reproduces itself where- 
 ever the Aryan race is found. The essential features of 
 the Indian village community, described by Sir Henry 
 Maine, were reproduced in the mark system of 
 our Teutonic forefathers, which these writers assume 
 to be the parent of our township and parish. The 
 mark, like the village community, was peopled by a 
 group of families bound together by a more or less 
 fictitious tie of kinship, who jointly owned its lands, 
 and cultivated them on the same agricultural system.
 
 36 THE PARISH chap. 
 
 The rights and duties of these co-proprietors inter se 
 were conceived and regulated on the assumption 
 that they were all related. Traces of the old " three- 
 fields " or " open-field " system of agriculture still linger 
 in remote parishes in England : no doubt, the common 
 lands in many places were worked in strips, and often 
 by joint labour. But there is no evidence that any 
 general system of democratic village communism ever 
 prevailed in England. Coincidence of custom is no 
 proof of common origin. All we can say is that a system 
 of common field husbandry did undoubtedly prevail in 
 England ; and that, where it did prevail, it was probably 
 regulated by the men of each township in meeting 
 assembled. 
 
 The township was so called from the tun or hedge 
 which surrounded the group of homesteads. Around 
 the homesteads were the township lands, held largely 
 in common, but partly also in the separate ownership of 
 the freemen of the township. The constitution of the 
 t)'pical township was democratic. Every freeman l took 
 part in the business of its gemot or assembly; one 
 and the same assembly made its by-laws, elected its 
 officers, and managed its affairs. Its officers were the 
 reeve (gerefa), the pindar (who managed the common), 
 and the tithing-man. The functions of the reeve were 
 chiefly fiscal. He, too, with "the four best men," 
 represented it in the hundred court and in the shire- 
 moot. The tithing-man was its peace officer. At a later 
 period other officers such as by-law-men and ale-tasters 
 
 1 It must not be forgotten that from the days of King Alfred 
 down to the reign of Henry II. three-quarters of the population 
 were serfs or slaves.
 
 in THE TOWNSHIP 37 
 
 were elected at the meeting of the township. But the 
 meeting had apparently no judicial functions. 1 
 
 The Manor 
 
 The Norman Conquest did not at first affect the 
 township and its assembly. It mattered little to the 
 village community whether William or Harold was the 
 nominal over-lord of the earl before whom they trembled. 
 So long as the village paid the taxes demanded of it, it 
 was allowed at first to manage its petty affairs in its own 
 accustomed fashion. The Normans gave the township 
 the Norman name of "vill." Such at least seems to be 
 the better opinion ; though some writers maintain that 
 the vill was of Eoman origin, and that the word came 
 direct from the Latin villa. But no one can show any 
 clear distinction between the vill and the township ; 
 hence it is safer to presume that they were identical. 2 
 The township thus continued its course unruffled while 
 Robert Courthose and William Rufus, and later while 
 Stephen and Matilda, contended for the Crown. But by 
 the days of the fierce and energetic Henry II. the feudal 
 system had taken root and flourished in the land ; and 
 with this as one result — that the manor with its territorial 
 lord soon threatened to take the place of the democratic 
 township. 
 
 A manor was a tract of land of an uncertain size, 
 coincident very often with a township, sometimes with 
 a group of townships, but occasionally a wholly inde- 
 pendent area. What made this tract of land a manor 
 
 1 Pollock and Maitland's History of English Law, p. 19. 
 
 2 A vill was certainly not the same thing as a manor, for a 
 manor often contained many vills.
 
 38 THE PARISH chap. 
 
 was that every one who held land in it, whether by free 
 or villein tenure, held it of one and the same lord. The 
 lord in his turn held the whole manor either of king or 
 some intermediate lord. He was expected to build him- 
 self a house somewhere in the manor ; and some suppose 
 that from this fact the manor drew its name (manere, to 
 dwell). This residence and the land round it was the 
 lord's desmesne. He also generally — almost invariably, 
 I may say — granted portions of the manor to certain 
 free-tenants to hold of himself on certain terms of suit 
 and service. Indeed, in later law, no manor was com- 
 plete unless it had at least two free-tenants ; for without 
 two freeholders the lord could hold no court-baron, and 
 without a court-baron the manor ceased to exist, and be- 
 came a mere replied manor. Other portions of the manor 
 were occupied by villeins, who were bound to cultivate 
 the lord's lands, and who gradually rose to be copy- 
 holders. The remainder was "the waste of the manor," 
 which by fiction of the feudal law was held to be the 
 property of the lord, but subject to the rights of common 
 of the freehold and copyhold tenants. The same man 
 might be lord of several manors. But, if so, he had a 
 steward resident in each; a separate court was held, 
 and separate accounts were kept for each manor. Such 
 at least was the orthodox pattern of a manor in Plan- 
 tagenet times ; but there was every variety of exception. 
 The judicial powers of the lord, for instance, varied ac- 
 cording to the form of the grant by which he was inf eoffed. 
 Every manor had a court, in which by-laws were made 
 and other local business transacted. Some manors also 
 exercised a large criminal jurisdiction. 
 
 Very valuable was this manorial system when life or
 
 in THE MANOR 39 
 
 limb was in danger from the Welsh, or the Scots, or 
 some neighbouring baron. Then, indeed, it was good 
 for the peaceful husbandman to know that he could 
 claim protection from a powerful lord who lived in his 
 castle close by. But there was another side to the 
 picture. Protection was only purchased by the sur- 
 render of independence. The lord of the manor was a 
 local autocrat. The manorial courts tended ever to 
 keep the people in subjection. The free-tenants of each 
 manor, whether they held by military tenure or in free 
 socage, were bound to do homage and to render personal 
 service to the lord. The other residents in the manor 
 were his serfs, tied to the soil. The lands that had 
 been the common property of the parish were now 
 declared to be the fee-simple of the lord, granted to him 
 by the crown as parcel of the manor. The former co- 
 proprietors were allowed only certain limited rights of 
 pannage and pasture. By-laws were still made for the 
 regulation of the common ; but they were no longer 
 made by the meeting of the township ; they were now 
 made by the " homage " of the manor, in the manorial 
 court, under the supervision of the lord or his steward. 
 And all other rights of our peasantry were in jeopardy 
 wherever the lord or his steward was energetic. 
 
 The Ancient Parish 
 
 Then, under Henry III. and the Edwards, the parish 
 rose into importance ; and the secular priest fought the 
 battle of his poor parishioners. What was the parish 1 
 It was Trapoucia, the abode of the parish priest, the 
 district to which one parish priest ministered, the area
 
 40 THE PARISH chap. 
 
 which paid tithes and other ecclesiastical dues to the 
 same person. 1 It is frequently stated that the manor 
 is the ancient township regarded as part of the feudal 
 system, and that the parish is the ancient township re- 
 garded in its ecclesiastical aspect. Both statements are 
 far too general to be accurate, though of many localities 
 both statements would be true. If a large township 
 had a church and a priest of its own, it almost always 
 became a parish. Sometimes the archdeacon would 
 order a township to build a church, and the inhabit- 
 ants would do their utmost to do as they were bid. 
 But " if a place has not a church, churchwardens, and 
 sacramentalia, it is not properly a parish " (Comyns' 
 Digest, Title " Parish "). Hence if a township was too 
 small or too poor to require or support a church and 
 priest of its own, it had to join with some other town- 
 ship or townships. This occurred more frequently in 
 the North of England, where the population was thin, 
 than in the South. Hence the parish, like the manor, 
 might consist of one or many townships. In a few 
 cases even, the boundaries of a parish would cut a town- 
 ship in two ; but this rarely happened. A parochial 
 system prevailed over a large portion of England in the 
 reign of Edward the Confessor ; but not till the reign 
 of Edward the Third can it be said that the division of 
 the kingdom into parishes was complete. 2 
 
 1 The word " parish " was at first used in England to denote a 
 see, the area presided over by a bishop, and is used in that sense 
 when it is stated that Archbishop Theodore divided all England 
 into parishes in the seventh century. 
 
 2 Even then there were large uninhabited districts — forests, 
 marshes, etc.— which were not included in any parish ; just as in 
 Saxon times there were outlying tracts of No-Man's-Land, which 
 belonged to no township.
 
 in THE ANCIENT PARISH 41 
 
 The parish priest was probably the best educated, if 
 not the only educated, person resident in the parish. 
 And many a battle-royal did he have with the steward 
 of the manor in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 
 For some generations the strife was doubtful : if the 
 priest prevailed in one parish, the lord and his steward 
 were predominant in another. But at last the Church 
 Avon the day. And it accomplished this by means of 
 the " parish meeting." The priest resuscitated or re- 
 vived the old assembly of the township which was fast 
 falling into disuse. One is a little surprised that 
 the manor court, at which attendance was compulsory, 
 had not at once taken the place of the voluntary 
 gathering of the inhabitants of the township. But 
 it did not — partly, perhaps, just because attendance at 
 the manor court was compulsory. The Saxon peasant 
 was tenacious of his rights ; moreover, he felt that in 
 the manor court he had no voice, and could take no 
 real part in the proceedings. The township-moot still 
 lingered on ; and the priest knew how to turn this to 
 advantage. He summoned the inhabitants of the town- 
 ship to meet in the parish church, in which he himself 
 was supreme. The township meeting became the parish 
 meeting ; the priest presided ; the lord and his steward 
 were but two parishioners. In the church all were 
 equal, all were free : women even were allowed to take 
 part. It was this parish meeting which kept alive some 
 sparks of life and hope in our long-suffering peasantry. 
 It tended ever to educate and elevate the people. The 
 lower and middle classes under our Plantagenet kings, 
 and throughout the Wars of the Boses, were largely 
 indebted for the preservation of their liberties to the
 
 42 THE PARISH chap. 
 
 secular priest. Piers Plowman and Chaucer both bear 
 witness to his unremitting and self-sacrificing labours : 
 he soon became the " person," and, later, the " rector," 
 of the parish. 
 
 The business at a parish meeting never was confined 
 to matters affecting the church or its services. In 
 early days the distinction between things secular and 
 things ecclesiastical was never rigidly observed, or, 
 rather, it did not exist. The bishop sat in the county 
 court, and claimed a large share in the administration 
 of justice and other mundane matters. So, too, the 
 parish meeting took from the first some part in the 
 secular affairs of the locality. Once a year at the parish 
 meeting the parish officers were elected whose duties 
 were both civil and ecclesiastical, such as the church- 
 wardens and their assessors, the receivers, the parish 
 clerk, the sexton, etc. The parish owned much pro- 
 perty, real and personal — houses, flocks, books, vest- 
 ments, tapestry, and jewels. The receivers collected 
 the rent, fines, fees, and other income of the parish ; 
 this fund the churchwardens administered, and pre- 
 sented annually to the parish meeting accounts of its 
 expenditure. The balance-sheet was read in the nave 
 of the church. Parish accounts thus rendered by 
 churchwardens so long ago as A.D. 1349 are still in 
 existence. Thus, by the end of the fourteenth century, 
 each parish was an organised democratic community, 
 managing its own affairs, and managing them well. 
 
 Then, as the power of the king increased, and as the 
 serfs became first villeins and then freemen, the power 
 of the lord of the manor declined. He still held his 
 manorial court, but it gradually ceased to play any
 
 in THE ANCIENT PARISH 43 
 
 important part in local government. Its jurisdiction 
 was in many cases defined with more or less particu- 
 larity by the charter or grant of the manor ; and the 
 parish priest was astute enough to limit that court to 
 the matters so defined. Any new matters, lay or 
 ecclesiastical, which were outside the manorial juris- 
 diction, fell to the management of the parish meeting. 
 And it was now felt to be more decorous that the 
 parishioners should hold their meeting in the vestry 
 and not in the church itself, though all parish notices 
 were still given out in church. And from this new 
 place of meeting the meeting itself took a new name, 
 and the "parish meeting" became "the vestry," with 
 the parish priest still president. The parish became 
 the distinctive unit of area for all purposes of local 
 government ; like Aaron's rod, it swallowed up all former 
 names — township, tithing, hamlet, vill. The ascendency 
 of the parish was finally established by the action of 
 the Legislature, when our poor-law was established on 
 its present basis by the famous statute of Elizabeth 
 (43 Eliz. c. 2). It had long been the custom to regard 
 the relief of the poor as a religious duty, largely de- 
 volving on the monasteries. Now that the monasteries 
 were dissolved, and England was full of "vagrom men," 
 the duty was thrown upon the parishes. The Act of 1601 
 directed that overseers of the poor should be chosen for 
 each parish, at the same time making the churchwardens 
 ex officio overseers. From that time forward, whenever 
 the Legislature imposed fresh duties on any locality, it 
 as a rule preferred the ecclesiastical to the feudal organ- 
 isation, and bestowed them on the parish and not on 
 the manor. And thus we arrive at the modern parish,
 
 44 DIFFERENT KINDS chap. 
 
 with the two essential parts of its organisation — a 
 Vestry and Overseers. 
 
 Different Kinds of Parishes 
 
 Originally the ecclesiastical and the civil parish were 
 identical. The common law knew no distinction between 
 them. Even at the beginning of this century their 
 boundaries in nearly every case still coincided. There 
 were then 10,152 parishes in England and Wales, 
 varying greatly both in area and population. There 
 were also a certain number of "extra-parochial places." 
 Most of these had been moors or forests ; but there 
 were some in cities, which were excepted for special 
 reasons and had chapels of their own, such as the Inns 
 of Court and the Liberty of the Rolls. Some of the 
 larger parishes were subdivided for ecclesiastical or 
 highway purposes into townships, chapelries, or hamlets. 
 No less than 1300 of these ancient parishes had outlying 
 portions wholly detached and scattered about over 
 adjoining parishes. As the population increased and 
 shifted, it became urgently necessary to rearrange the 
 boundaries of these parishes. But the Legislature, as 
 usual, would not let its right hand know what its left 
 hand was doing. Conflicting attempts were made to 
 accomplish the same object. For civil purposes, as we 
 have seen, many large parishes were divided, and the 
 boundaries of many other parishes were readjusted, by 
 the operation of a set of Acts known as the Divided 
 Parishes Acts ; x in some cases, also, small parishes have 
 been united. For ecclesiastical purposes, on the other 
 1 Ante, p. 29.
 
 Ill 
 
 OF PARISHES 45 
 
 hand, there were at first numerous local Acts, and 
 then two distinct sets of Acts, known as the Church 
 Building Acts 1 and the New Parishes Acts, 2 by means 
 of which no less than 3629 new districts and parishes 
 were formed for ecclesiastical purposes in England and 
 Wales between 1818 and 1896. And in arranging 
 these ecclesiastical divisions little or no regard was 
 paid to the alterations which were being made almost 
 simultaneously in the same localities for purposes of 
 civil government. There are now 14,896 civil parishes 
 in England and Wales; there are 13,822 ecclesiastical 
 parishes ; and in only one-third of the number do the 
 civil and ecclesiastical boundaries coincide. 
 
 It would be a valuable reform if the Local Govern- 
 ment Board and the Church of England could jointly 
 consider the division of the land into parishes, and 
 come to some agreement by which these divergent areas 
 could be brought once more into harmony, so that the 
 same area should in future be in every case a parish for 
 all purposes. The Local Government Board and the 
 Ecclesiastical Commissioners have full power under their 
 various Acts to carry out any rearrangement of parish 
 boundaries in which they concur. As it is, whenever 
 any parish is named, we have now to stop and ask, 
 Which area do you mean? the civil parish, or the 
 ecclesiastical parish of the same name 1 
 
 But the chances of confusion do not stop there. 
 There are other kinds of parishes besides the civil and 
 
 1 There are thirteen Church Building Acts, ranging from 1818 
 to 1851. 
 
 2 There are five New Parishes Acts, passed in 1843, 1844, 1856, 
 1869, and 1884 respectively.
 
 46 DIFFERENT KINDS chap. 
 
 the ecclesiastical. After unions were created, the Legis- 
 lature came to regard the parish as though it was im- 
 portant only in connection with the poor-rate. It was 
 the area in which a separate poor-rate was collected. 
 The Legislature has twice so denned the word : " In all 
 statutes, except there shall be something in the context 
 inconsistent therewith, the word 'parish' shall, among 
 other meanings applicable to it, signify a place for which 
 a separate poor-rate is or can be made, or for which a 
 separate overseer is or can be appointed." 1 The careful 
 vagueness of this definition is a good illustration of the 
 confusion which in 1866 reigned supreme over all local 
 matters in England. And, as was then pointed out in a 
 return by the Local Government Board, the area for 
 which a separate poor-rate could be made, or for which 
 a separate overseer could be appointed, might " consist 
 of an entire ancient parish, one or more highway town- 
 ships, a parochial chapelry, a chapelry, a quarter, a 
 hamlet, or some part of an ancient parish which is not 
 known by any of these designations." And the bound- 
 aries of the "poor-rate parish" did not necessarily 
 correspond with those of either the civil or the ecclesias- 
 tical parish. In the first place, outlying townships 
 of large parishes seem long ago to have acquired by 
 custom the right of appointing separate overseers, 
 and of being separately rated to the poor rate. By 
 an Act of 1819 this customary separation from the 
 mother parish was confirmed in the case of all places 
 which had enjoyed the right for sixty years, but the 
 
 1 These words are taken from s. 18 of the Poor Law Amendment 
 Act, 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. 113). They are substantially repeated 
 in s. 5 of the Interpretation Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 63.)
 
 in OF PARISHES 47 
 
 fresh creation of parishes by custom was forbidden. 
 Secondly, the same end was in certain cases arrived at 
 by direct legislation. An Act of 1662, after reciting the 
 largeness of the parishes in some northern counties, 
 provides that in every township or village in those 
 counties there shall be separate overseers. On the 
 other hand, by virtue of two Acts passed in 1857 and 
 1868, all extra-parochial places have been merged in the 
 adjoining parishes. The meshes of the poor-law net now 
 cover the whole of England, and no rateable person, 
 however slippery, can elude them. 
 
 And besides the Civil, the Ecclesiastical, and the 
 Poor-rate parish, there were at least two other kinds of 
 parish which deserve a passing notice. There was (and 
 still is) the Land-Tax parish, which is defined by statute 1 
 as any town, ward, township, tithing, parish, place, or 
 precinct for which a separate assessment of income-tax 
 duties or land tax may be made, or for which any 
 assessor or collector may be lawfully appointed for the 
 purpose of assessing or collecting such duties or land 
 tax. There was also the " highway " parish, which was 
 defined in the Report of the Committee of the House of 
 Lords on Highways (p. vi.) as " any parish, township, or 
 place maintaining its own highways, or which would 
 maintain its own highways, if it were not included in a 
 highway district or an urban sanitary district" — a 
 definition which at least makes one thing clear, that the 
 highway parish was not necessarily identical with any 
 other kind of parish. In the Burial Acts, too, the word 
 "parish" was sometimes employed in a special sense, 
 
 1 Section 5 of the Taxes Management- Act, 1880 (43 & 44 Vict, 
 c. 19).
 
 48 THE PARISH chap. 
 
 peculiar to those Acts. But the effect of the Local 
 Government Act of 1894 is practically to put an end both 
 to the highway parish, and to the Burial Acts parish, as a 
 separate area of local government. 
 
 Apart from statutory readjustment, the bound- 
 aries of parishes are determined by immemorial custom, 
 and are ascertained and evidenced by perambulations. 
 These perambulations formerly were made annually in 
 Kogation Week, but now it seems they should be made 
 triennially ; for the Poor Law Act of 1844 authorises 
 the expenses of perambulations incurred by the parish 
 officers to be charged to the poor-rate, provided the 
 perambulations do not occur more than once in three 
 years. The expense of setting up and keeping in 
 repair the parish boundary stones may also be charged 
 to the poor-rate. Parishes are still very unequal both in 
 area and population. There are many parishes with an 
 area of less than 50 acres, and many with an area ex- 
 ceeding 10,000 acres. There were in 1891, 11 parishes 
 without inhabitants ; 6367, or 43 per cent of the total 
 number, with a population under 300; 7813 between 
 300 and 10,000 ; and 504, or 3 -4 per cent, with a 
 population over 10,000. The most populous parish, 
 Islington, had 319,143 inhabitants. In Northumber- 
 land 50 per cent of the parishes had under 100 in- 
 habitants. The average population was about 1900. 
 
 The Overseers 
 
 The essential officers of the civil parish are "the 
 overseers of the poor." Where a civil parish is also an 
 ecclesiastical parish the churchwardens were until 1894
 
 in THE OVERSEERS 49 
 
 ex officio overseers, and are so still in urban parishes. 
 There were also in every parish nominated overseers. 
 The Act of Elizabeth directed that "four, three, or 
 two substantial householders" should be nominated in 
 every parish as overseers. Subsequent enactments enable 
 a single overseer to be appointed. The overseers are now 
 appointed annually, in urban parishes by the justices, in 
 rural parishes by the parish meeting or parish council. 
 Service in the office is compulsory, subject to certain 
 exemptions and disqualifications. A person, hoAvever, 
 who is appointed against his will may appeal to the 
 Quarter Sessions. The overseers are unpaid. They 
 have no power to appoint or pay a deputy; but the 
 urban vestry, or the rural parish meeting or parish 
 council, may elect one or more " discreet persons " to 
 be assistant overseers, and to perform all or any of the 
 duties of the overseers. The salary of the assistant 
 overseers is paid out of the poor - rate. They are 
 required to find security. On the application of the 
 guardians a paid collector may also be appointed for 
 any parish in the union. 
 
 The duties of the overseers in respect to poor relief 
 were in 1834 transferred to the guardians, but the over- 
 seers still have power in cases of immediate urgency to 
 order relief to be given. It is the duty of the overseers 
 to prepare the jury list, and to make out and publish 
 various lists of voters for parliamentary and local 
 government elections. They also publish the list of 
 claims and objections, and are bound to attend with their 
 books at the revision courts. 
 
 The chief duty, however, of the overseers is to 
 make and levy the poor-rate. They know how much 
 
 E
 
 50 THE PARISH chap. 
 
 money is needed ; they know the total rateable value 
 of the parish ; they proceed to calculate how much in 
 the pound will be sufficient to produce the required 
 amount, and then assess it upon the different tene- 
 ments according to the valuation-list. The poor-rate 
 is levied by an uniform 1 assessment or poundage on the 
 net rateable value of all the lands, houses, mines, etc., in 
 the parish. The overseers, when proceeding to make a 
 poor-rate, copy the valuation list or the former poor- 
 rate, with amendments, adding to it a statement of the 
 number of shillings or pence in the pound which will 
 produce the required sum, and a column showing the 
 amount to be paid by each ratepayer, and another column 
 for arrears and sums excused. The document so filled 
 up is properly called an "assessment." A declaration of 
 its correctness is signed by the overseers, and it is 
 submitted to two justices for their allowance, which 
 cannot be withheld if the rate is in proper form. When 
 allowed it becomes a " rate." It must be published, and 
 inspection of it must be permitted to ratepayers and 
 certain authorities. Any one aggrieved may appeal 
 to Quarter Sessions against the rate as a whole or 
 any item of it; but, subject to appeals, the overseers 
 may proceed to collect the rate from the parties 
 liable, and may "levy" or enforce their demands, if 
 necessary, by summons, distress, and, ultimately, imprison- 
 ment. There are some complicated provisions under 
 which the owners of small tenements may compound 
 and pay the rates instead of the occupiers. It must 
 be remembered that many expenses not connected with 
 the relief of the poor are by statute directed to be dis- 
 1 But see the Agricultural Rates Act, 1896.
 
 nr THE OVERSEERS 51 
 
 charged out of the poor-rate, and that some other rates, 
 such as the county council rate, the borough rate, and 
 the school rate, for instance, may be collected with, and 
 as if they formed part of, the poor-rate. 
 
 The Vestry 
 
 The ultimate authority in all parish matters, prior to 
 1894, was the Vestry. The vestry, as we have seen, 
 was primarily the assembly of the township for ecclesi- 
 astical matters, and derived its name from the old place 
 of meeting. If we go back some 300 years we shall 
 find that every Englishman was not only a churchman, 
 but was bound to attend his parish church. All parish 
 notices were given out in church, and after service it was 
 convenient and natural for the parishioners to go to the 
 vestry attached to the church to discuss and settle parish 
 matters. The rector or other parish priest presided, 
 but the business of the meeting was never confined to 
 ecclesiastical matters. From the first, secular affairs 
 were prominent, and became more and more prominent 
 as years rolled on. The officers of the parish or town- 
 ship were always elected in the vestry, such as the 
 churchwardens, the waywardens, the assessors, and the 
 collectors ; and in later days the assistant overseer and 
 the surveyor of highways. To this meeting the church- 
 wardens annually presented their balance-sheet showing 
 how the income of the parish during the preceding 
 twelve months had been expended. Matters affecting 
 the property of the parish (which was generally vested 
 in the churchwardens), the repair of all highways in the 
 parish, etc., would also be discussed. And to this day,
 
 52 THE PARISH chap. 
 
 though parish notices are no longer given out in church, 
 they must be posted on the doors of all churches and 
 chapels of the Established Church. If the parish con- 
 tains more than 2000 inhabitants, the vestry may hire 
 or build a vestry hall, so as to avoid the necessity of 
 holding large, and possibly stormy, meetings in the 
 immediate vicinity of the church. 
 
 Vestries are either (a) Common, or (b) Select. 
 
 The common parish vestry is not a representative 
 body; it is merely "the ratepayers of the parish in 
 vestry assembled " ; that indeed is its full title. Every 
 ratepayer, whether male or female, whether a churchman 
 or a dissenter, whether resident in the parish or not, is 
 entitled to attend and vote, unless his or her rates are 
 in arrear ; and so is every resident occupier who is liable 
 to be rated to the relief of the poor, but whose rates are 
 as a matter of fact paid for him or her by the landlord. 
 A corporation that pays rates may vote by its secretary 
 or other agent. Three clays' notice of a vestry meeting 
 must in all cases be given. The clergyman of the 
 parish, if present, is still entitled to take the chair. 
 If he is not present (and perhaps in all cases where the 
 parish is not also an ecclesiastical parish) the meeting 
 may elect its chairman. Minutes of the meeting must 
 be taken, which the chairman must sign. The opinion 
 of the meeting is taken by show of hands, but any one 
 present may demand a poll. If a poll be taken, the 
 system of voting is plural, the voters having from one 
 to six votes according to rating. Every one who is 
 rated at £50 or less has one vote ; every additional £25 
 rate gives one extra vote, until the total of six votes is 
 reached. No one mav have more than six votes.
 
 in THE VESTRY 53 
 
 In some of the larger parishes, however, there is 
 what is called a " Select Vestry." The ratepayers do 
 not themselves attend the vestry, but elect representa- 
 tives to act for them, who are called "vestrymen." 
 In a few parishes this method was adopted in very early 
 times : it became a custom of the parish to elect vestry- 
 men ; probably through the apathy of the inhabitants 
 as to their parochial rights, or possibly because the 
 church was not big enough to hold all the ratepayers. 
 These may be called customary select vestries ; there 
 appear to be 61 still in existence. The custom of the 
 parish will in each case determine the number of the 
 vestrymen and the mode of their election, which is 
 usually by co-optation. 
 
 There are also Statutory Select Vestries. These 
 were created by an Act of 1831, commonly known as 
 Hobhouse's Act. 1 This Act is permissive, and can only 
 be adopted by parishes having more than 800 rate- 
 paying inhabitants. It must be adopted after due 
 notice to the parishioners by a majority of two-thirds 
 of the ratepayers voting; and the whole number of 
 persons voting must be a clear majority of the rate- 
 payers of the parish. If the Act be adopted, a Select 
 Vestry is elected by the ratepayers. Each ratepayer 
 has only one vote. The number of select vestrymen 
 is fixed at twelve for every 1000 ratepayers, but the 
 total number elected must not exceed 120. The 
 clergyman of the parish and the churchwardens are 
 ex officio members. One-third of the members of the 
 Select Vestry retire annually ; but are re-eligible. The 
 Act further provides for the publication of the accounts 
 1 1 & 2 Will. IV. c. 60.
 
 54 THE PARISH chap. 
 
 of parish charities, and the election of auditors to audit 
 the accounts. This Act was largely adopted by the 
 London parishes; but it was repealed, as regards the 
 Metropolis, by the Metropolis Local Management Act, 
 1855 ; and it is believed that there are now only 8 
 parishes governed by a Select Vestry under Hobhouse's 
 Act. 
 
 The duties of the vestry, up to 1894, consisted 
 mainly in managing the parish property and the 
 parochial charities, if there were any, and in adopting 
 and working certain permissive Acts, such as the 
 Public Libraries Act. And in all urban parishes the 
 vestry still retains these powers. The Local Govern- 
 ment Act of 1894 did not create a Parish Council in any 
 urban parish. But in all rural parishes the powers 
 of the vestry (whether common or select), except those 
 relating to " the affairs of the church or to ecclesiastical 
 charities," have been transferred to the Parish Council 
 or the Parish Meeting; so that the vestry has now 
 ceased to take any part in the civil government of any 
 rural parish. 
 
 The Local Government Act, 1894 
 For two generations prior to 1894 the parish was 
 disregarded, not to say despised, as an administrative 
 unit. In 1834 poor-law administration was taken out 
 of the hands of the vestry and transferred to the 
 guardians. The establishment of the county police 
 in 1856 superseded the necessity for the old parish 
 constables, and since an Act of 1872 no parish con- 
 stable need any longer be appointed. By the Public 
 Health Act of 1872 the sanitary functions of the vestry
 
 in THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT, 1894 55 
 
 in rural districts were transferred to the guardians as 
 the rural sanitary authority. In urban districts vestries 
 had for some years ceased to have sanitary powers. 
 The parish sank in importance. It was regarded solely 
 as the unit for taxation and electoral purposes. All 
 rates included in the poor rate were, and still are, 
 collected parochially, and the lists of voters for parlia- 
 mentary, county council, and municipal elections are 
 also made out parochially. 
 
 The innovations made by the Local Government Act, 
 1894, are both sweeping and salutary. The parish has 
 become once more the primary unit of local govern- 
 ment. The main cause which led to this change was 
 the admission of the agricultural labourer to the parlia- 
 mentary franchise in 1884. This extension of the 
 franchise directed attention to the special wants and 
 needs of the rural elector. The parochial system, as it 
 existed in English country parishes, was not calculated 
 to supply any democratic training for self-government, 
 or to promote the recognition of common interests and 
 mutual duties in village communities. The ordinary 
 English farm-labourer was so accustomed to depend on 
 the clergyman in spiritual matters, on the squire for 
 his cottage, and on the farmer for his wages, that he 
 did not realise that he was an independent citizen, 
 although he had acquired a parliamentary vote. It 
 was also a period of agricultural depression and rural 
 depopulation. The same motives that prompted the 
 passing of the Allotments and Small Holdings Acts had 
 a powerful influence in suggesting the creation of 
 Parish Councils. Finally, the constitution of County 
 Councils in 1888 demanded as its logical sequel further
 
 56 THE PARISH OHAP. 
 
 developments of the representative system outside the 
 towns, where it had long flourished. The vestry still 
 exists in every urban parish ; a ghost of it survives in 
 rural parishes for the administration of ecclesiastical 
 affairs. But the vestry is for all practical purposes of 
 civil government superseded in every rural parish, and 
 in its stead are established the Parish Meeting and the 
 Parish Council. 
 
 It will be observed at once that the Act creates a 
 sharp distinction between urban and rural parishes. 
 This was unavoidable. Towns require much more 
 government than the country, especially in sanitary 
 matters. 1 An urban parish is not necessarily in a 
 borough ; though it always lies within an urban district. 
 Any parish which, on 5th March 1894 (the date of the 
 passing of the Act), lay wholly in an urban sanitary 
 district is now an urban parish. If on that day any 
 parish lay partly within, and partly without, a rural 
 sanitary district, each part became a separate parish, 
 and the urban part is now an urban parish. If 
 on 5th March 1894 any parish was situate in more 
 than one urban district, the parts of the parish in each 
 such district, unless the County Council for special 
 reasons otherwise directed, became separate parishes. 
 And since 5th March 1894 further alterations have been 
 made under the Act of 1894 and other statutes. So 
 that there are now 1803 urban parishes in England and 
 Wales, 191 of which are in the Metropolis. Every urban 
 parish is still subject to its vestry; and has as its 
 officers two churchwardens and two overseers of the 
 poor, who are appointed annually. The churchwardens 
 1 See ante, p. 23.
 
 in THE PARISH MEETING 57 
 
 are ex officio overseers of the poor for the parish : their 
 other duties are stated further on in this chapter, where 
 the ecclesiastical parish is described. 1 
 
 On the other hand, every parish which was in a rural 
 sanitary district on 5th March 1894 is now a "rural 
 parish." If on 5th March 1894 any parish was partly 
 within, and partly without, a rural sanitary district, 
 each portion became a separate parish ; and the portion 
 within such district is now a rural parish. In short, 
 any place which is not within an urban district, and for 
 which a separate poor-rate can be made, or a separate 
 overseer appointed, is a rural parish, and has a Parish 
 Meeting. The Parish Meeting has functions to perform 
 in every rural parish ; a Parish Council exists only 
 in rural parishes with a population over 300, and in 
 parishes having a smaller population in which it is 
 established by the County Council on the demand or 
 with the consent of the Parish Meeting. When a rural 
 district is coextensive with a rural parish, the District 
 Council has the powers of a Parish Council. There are 
 now 13,093 rural parishes in England and Wales, of 
 which 7310 have a Parish Council. 
 
 The Parish Meeting 
 
 The Parish Meeting is in every case the assembly of 
 the parochial electors, who are simply "the persons 
 registered in such portion either of the local govern- 
 ment register of electors or of the parliamentary register 
 of electors as relates to the parish." Thus many persons 
 are parochial electors Avho do not contribute to the rates 
 1 Post, p. 67.
 
 58 THE PARISH cHAr. 
 
 of the parish at all, such as owners who reside out of 
 the parish, lodgers, and persons enjoying the service 
 franchise. The Parish Meeting is therefore a much 
 larger body than the former vestry, which comprised 
 only persons rated to the relief of the poor and those 
 whose rates were paid for them by the owner of the 
 property under the Poor Kate Assessment and Collection 
 Act, 1869. Peers of the realm, soldiers, sailors, police- 
 men, officers and servants of any County or District 
 Council, and women, whether married or single, may all 
 be parochial electors. The married women must, how- 
 ever, possess a separate qualification ; for a husband and 
 wife cannot both be qualified in respect of the same 
 property. But a married woman is not qualified to be 
 a parochial elector merely because she owns property 
 within the parish ; for the Local Government Act, 1894, 
 does not create a new qualification in favour of married 
 women. So too the freeman of a borough, though on 
 the parliamentary register for that borough, is not, on 
 that ground merely, a parochial elector. But any one 
 who owns property in the parish, and who is registered 
 on the parliamentary register of electors for the county 
 in respect of such ownership, is a parochial elector. A 
 register of parochial electors is duly prepared and kept ; 
 and no one whose name is not in that register is entitled 
 to attend a parish meeting or to vote as a parochial 
 elector. The same person, if duly qualified, may be 
 registered as a parochial elector in more than one parish. 
 In every parish the Parish Meeting must assemble at 
 least once in every year on some day between 1st March 
 and 1st April, both days inclusive. This is called "the 
 annual assembly." At this assembly, the Parish Council,
 
 in THE PARISH MEETING 59 
 
 if there be one for the parish, is now usually elected ; 
 and in that case the assembly must be held at the date 
 fixed by the Local Government Board for such election, 
 which is usually the first Monday after March 10th. 
 If there be no Parish Council for the parish, the Parish 
 Meeting must meet at least twice a year, i.e. once be- 
 sides the annual assembly. The proceedings must not 
 commence before six o'clock in the evening, so that 
 labouring men may attend. The chairman of the Parish 
 Council, when there is one, is entitled to preside at the 
 meeting ; when there is no Parish Council, the meeting 
 elects its own chairman annually. All questions are 
 decided by a majority of the parochial electors present 
 and voting at the meeting, unless a poll is demanded. 
 Minutes must be kept. The expenses are payable out 
 of the poor-rate. In certain cases a Parish Meeting may 
 be held for a parish ward or other portion of a parish. 
 At every Parish Meeting "parish affairs" may be dis- 
 cussed and resolutions passed thereon. 
 
 The principal power possessed by a Parish Meeting 
 is that of adopting any or all of certain permissive Acts, 
 viz. Acts for lighting and watching the parish, and for 
 providing it with baths, wash-houses, burial-grounds, 
 recreation -grounds, and public libraries. 1 It has a 
 partial control over the disposition of parish property ; 
 it can veto the closing or diversion of any highway ; 
 and it may apply to the Education Department for the 
 formation or the dissolution of a School Board. Where 
 
 1 Many difficulties have arisen as to the details of the methods 
 prescribed for the adoption and the working of these various Acts 
 in rural parishes. These are well pointed out by Mr. Harris Stone. 
 in an able article which appeared in the Law Quarterly Review for 
 April 1898 ; but they are beyond the scope of this treatise.
 
 60 THE PARISH chap. 
 
 there is a Parish Council, it cannot support or oppose 
 draft charity schemes, sell or exchange land or buildings, 
 incur expenses involving a rate exceeding threepence in 
 the pound, or raise a loan, without the consent of the 
 Parish Meeting. When there is no Parish Council, the 
 Parish Meeting has certain of its powers, including those 
 formerly enjoyed by the vestry, and the appointment of 
 overseers, and the County Council may confer any other 
 of the powers of a Parish Council upon it. Its chairman 
 and the overseers are a body corporate ; and it may 
 appoint committees and levy a rate not exceeding sixpence 
 in the pound, inclusive of the rate required for the ad- 
 ministration of any of the adoptive Acts. 
 
 The Parish Council 
 
 A Parish Council is a body corporate with an official 
 
 title: " The Parish Council of ." It has perpetual 
 
 succession, and may hold land without any licence in 
 mortmain; 1 but it has no seal. There are now 7310 
 Parish Councils in England and Wales. There is one 
 in every parish which has a population of 300 or 
 upwards, and also in every parish which has a popula- 
 
 1 The fact that a corporation had perpetual succession {i.e. con- 
 tinued for ever) was bitterly resented in feudal times, and for this 
 reason : — On the death of an individual landowner his lord was 
 entitled to a "relief," a fee paid by his heir on succeeding to the 
 property, or, if there was no heir, the lands "escheated " (reverted) 
 to the lord ; whereas with a corporation the lord saw no prospect of 
 either relief or escheat. Hence it was the law that no corporation, 
 lay or ecclesiastical, could hold land without an express permission 
 from the Crown, and formerly also from the intermediate lord. 
 Such permission was called " a licence for land to be held in mortud 
 manu" (in a hand which would yield no fruit to the lord), or more 
 briefly, "a licence in mortmain."
 
 in THE PARISH COUNCIL 61 
 
 tion of more than 100 but less than 300, if the Parish 
 Meeting has resolved to have one. If the population of 
 any parish does not exceed 100, the County Council 
 may, if it thinks fit, establish a Parish Council, but only 
 with the consent of the Parish Meeting. The County 
 Council may also group small parishes together under a 
 common Parish Council, with the consent of the Parish 
 Meeting of every parish in the group. On the other 
 hand, the County Council may divide large rural 
 parishes into wards for electoral purposes. 
 
 A Parish Council consists of a chairman and such a 
 number of councillors, not being less than five nor more 
 than fifteen, as the County Council may fix from time 
 to time. Any parochial elector, male or female, married 
 or single, or any person resident for a year in or within 
 three miles of the parish, may be elected. The chair- 
 man must have the same qualification as a councillor, 
 but may be chosen either from within or from without 
 the Council. The councillors hold office for only 
 twelve months — from 15th April in one year to 15th 
 April in the next. There is thus an election every 
 year. At first a special parish meeting had to be 
 called for this purpose ; but now the parish councillors 
 can be, and usually are, elected at "the annual 
 assembly " of the parochial electors. Opportunity must 
 be given at the meeting for putting questions to such of 
 the candidates as are present, and receiving explana- 
 tions from them; and every candidate is entitled to 
 attend the meeting and speak, but, unless he is a 
 parochial elector, not to vote. The election is regulated 
 by rules prescribed by the Local Government Board 
 under sec. 48 of the Act of 1894. Such rules are for
 
 62 THE PARISH chai\ 
 
 the present embodied in a General Order, issued on 1st 
 January 1898, and known as "The Parish Councillors' 
 Election Order, 1898." All the parochial electors have 
 equal voting power ; and the election is by show of 
 hands — a somewhat clumsy method. Formerly any one 
 elector could put the parish to the expense of a poll. 
 But now one elector has no longer the power to insist 
 on a poll. 1 The chairman may grant a poll; otherwise 
 it must be demanded by electors present at the meeting, 
 not being less than five in number, or one-third of those 
 present, whichever number is least. As a matter of fact 
 a poll is not often demanded, because the expense spread 
 over so small an area is considerable. The poll is taken 
 by ballot. 
 
 The Parish Council has inherited most of the civil 
 powers of the vestry, subject, as regards the adoption 
 of the permissive Acts referred to above, to the control 
 of the Parish Meeting. It appoints the overseers and 
 assistant overseers. It has inherited the powers and 
 duties of the overseers or churchwardens to appeal in 
 respect of the valuation list, the poor-rate, and 
 the county rate ; to provide parish books, offices, 
 and fire-engines; and to make and maintain allot- 
 ments. Parish property, unconnected with church 
 affairs or ecclesiastical charities and formerly vested in the 
 churchwardens or overseers, is now vested in the Parish 
 Council ; and similar property held by trustees may be 
 transferred to the Parish Council. The Parish Council 
 may petition the County Council to purchase or hire 
 compulsorily land for allotments, and may manage the 
 
 1 See the Report of the Local Government Board for 1896-97, 
 p. xlii.
 
 in THE PARISH COUNCIL 63 
 
 allotments thus provided. It may also make statutory 
 representations on the subject of unhealthy dwellings and 
 obstructive buildings. It may provide parish offices, 
 meeting-rooms, and recreation-grounds, may manage and 
 improve village greens and other open spaces, utilise Avells, 
 springs, or streams for water-supply, deal with filthy ponds 
 and ditches, accept gifts, acquire rights of way, and repair 
 footpaths. It administers the adoptive Acts. It can 
 acquire land by agreement for any purpose authorised 
 by law; and, failing agreement, can, Avith the consent and 
 by order of the County Council, or (upon appeal) of the 
 Local Government Board, obtain it by compulsory 
 purchase. Its consent is required to the discontinuance 
 or diversion of any public right of way, and it may 
 support or oppose a proposed alteration of parish bound- 
 aries. It can, with the consent both of the County 
 Council and the Local Government Board, borrow 
 money for certain purposes, up to a maximum of one- 
 half of the assessable value of the parish. But it 
 cannot levy a rate exceeding threepence in the pound 
 Avithout the consent of the Parish Meeting ; and in no 
 case can it levy a rate exceeding sixpence in the pound, 
 exclusive of rates under the adoptive Acts. 
 
 Important powers over parochial charities have been 
 conferred on the Parish Council, Avhich do not operate, 
 however, in most cases until the charity has been in 
 existence for forty years. Where overseers are ex officio 
 trustees of any parochial charity, and Avhere churchwardens 
 are ex officio trustees of any non-ecclesiastical parochial 
 charity, the Parish Council are to appoint other trustees 
 in their place ; Avhere the vestry appointed trustees or 
 beneficiaries of a non-ecclesiastical parochial charity, the
 
 64 THE PARISH chap. 
 
 power is now exercised by the Parish Council ; and where 
 there is no popular representation on the governing body 
 of a similar charity, the Parish Council may appoint addi- 
 tional members to the number allowed by the Charity 
 Commissioners. 
 
 The Parish Council and the Parish Meeting have the 
 right to meet in public elementary schools, and possibly, 
 in certain cases, in the parish church. They may not 
 meet on licensed premises unless no other suitable room 
 is available. The accounts of every Parish Council and 
 also of every Parish Meeting must be made up to 31st 
 March in each year, and must be audited by a district 
 auditor, who is an officer of the Local Government 
 Board. 1 
 
 It is perhaps too soon to pass any decided judgment 
 upon the changes effected by the Act of 1894, an Act 
 which in some quarters was expected to change the face 
 of rural England. It certainly has not done all that 
 some people expected it to do. But it has undoubtedly 
 aroused in the minds of our rural population a sense of 
 citizenship and responsibility and widened their con- 
 ception of the powers and duties of each individual 
 elector. And it is not unreasonable to hope that 
 the next half -century will produce as notable a de- 
 velopment of civic life in the country-side as the last 
 two generations have witnessed in the towns. It is at 
 least satisfactory to the student of local government to 
 
 1 For further information as to the powers and duties of the 
 Parish Council and the Parish Meeting, the reader is referred to 
 Messrs. Macmorran and Dill's treatise on the Local Government 
 Act, 1894 (3rdedn. 1896).
 
 „i THE PARISH COUNCIL 65 
 
 observe the efforts which have been made in this and 
 other recent statutes to introduce some system and 
 symmetry into the former chaos of legislation. There 
 is now throughout rural England and "Wales a triple 
 gradation of local authorities — Parish Council, District 
 Council, and County Council — each exercising suitable 
 functions within a defined area, and each correlated to 
 the others according to an intelligible plan. 
 
 The Ecclesiadiotl Parish 
 
 Since the abolition of compulsory church rates by the 
 Act of 1868, the ecclesiastical parish has ceased to be of 
 much practical importance for purposes of local govern- 
 ment. It is almost entirely a permissive institution. 
 Still it once played a great part in English local affairs, 
 and it has but recently left the scene, so that a short 
 description of it may not be out of place. Besides, though 
 an English citizen owes but few duties as an ecclesi- 
 astical parishioner, he has some important general rights 
 in that capacity to which the law will give effect. In the 
 theory of English law every Englishman is a member of 
 the Church of England. The privilege of dissent is con- 
 ferred on Englishmen by a long series of statutes, each 
 dealing with a particular point and removing some 
 special grievance ; but by the exercise of his privilege 
 of dissent an English citizen does not forfeit his legal 
 rights as a member of the National Church ; he is only 
 relieved from certain corresponding and irksome duties 
 which were formerly imposed upon him. It must not 
 be forgotten that dissenter and churchman alike pay 
 tithes, both ordinary and extraordinary. 
 
 F
 
 66 THE PARISH chap. 
 
 The affairs of the ecclesiastical parish are regulated by 
 the vestry, which is, properly speaking, an assembly of the 
 minister, churchwardens, and parishioners. It was, and 
 perhaps still is, the duty of the vestry to make church rates, 
 in order to provide the necessary funds for the repair 
 of the church and churchyard, and for keeping up the 
 fitting's and ornaments of the church. An Act of 1868 l 
 provides that the payment of church rates (except 
 where they had previously been mortgaged) shall no 
 longer be enforced by any legal process. But the Act 
 distinctly recognises their validity, for it provides that 
 bodies corporate and trustees may pay church rates, and 
 that the sums so paid shall be allowed them in their 
 accounts. It further declares that no person who has 
 made default in payment of a church rate shall be en- 
 titled to vote in respect of the expenditure of any 
 moneys arising therefrom. Church rates therefore form 
 an apt illustration of what lawyers designate a duty of 
 imperfect obligation — that is to say, a duty recognised 
 as such, but enforced by no sanction. 
 
 The minister is the clerical officer of the ecclesiastical 
 parish. Whether he be rector, vicar, or incumbent, 
 he is what is called a corporation sole — that is to 
 say, the law, in regulating his rights and obligations, 
 regards the office and not the individual that fills 
 the office. The duties of the minister consist in the 
 performance of the offices of the Church as by law 
 ordained. He has also certain civil functions, 
 by virtue of which he is bound to act as registrar, 
 and to record, for civil purposes, the baptisms 
 and marriages at which he has officiated in his clerical 
 1 31 & 32 Vict. c. 109.
 
 ni THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH 67 
 
 capacity. He is also bound to register all burials which 
 have taken place in his churchyard, and is entitled to 
 the customary fee therefor, whether he has officiated at 
 the funeral or not. The minister, as such, has the 
 custody of the church ; and for many purposes the free- 
 hold of it, as well as of the glebe, is regarded as vested 
 in him. The freehold of the churchyard is also vested 
 in the minister, but he holds it subject to the rights of 
 the parishioners to be interred therein. By the common 
 law any person, whether a parishioner or not, who dies 
 within the parish, is entitled to be buried in the parish 
 churchyard; and a person who dies in another parish 
 is entitled to be buried in his own parish churchyard. 
 
 The principal lay officers of the ecclesiastical parish are 
 the churchwardens. They are usually two in number, 
 and are elected annually during the first week after 
 Easter. If the minister and parishioners do not agree 
 on the persons to be chosen, the minister nominates one, 
 and the vestry selects the other. The bishop of the 
 diocese is said to have a right of veto, if an obviously 
 unfit person be elected to the office. Any ratepaying 
 householder is eligible, and, as in the case with most 
 local offices in England, service is compulsory. Peers 
 and Members of Parliament are by common law exempted 
 from the duty of serving as churchwardens, and a similar 
 exemption has been extended by various statutes to 
 some of the professions. It is the duty of the church- 
 wardens to see that the church and churchyard are kept 
 in proper repair. They are bound to render annual 
 accounts of their expenditure to the Local Government 
 Board. It is also their duty to keep order in the church 
 during divine service. In olden times churchwardens
 
 68 THE PARISH OHAP. HI 
 
 acted generally as censores morum, and presented any 
 parishioner who had misbehaved at the Easter Visitation 
 for ecclesiastical censure or punishment. 
 
 Two other lay offices require a passing notice. 
 The parish clerk was once an important personage, 
 though his glory is now departed. His office is 
 a freehold office, and his fees, which originated in 
 custom, are now recognised and secured by numerous 
 statutes. But an Act of 1844 has provided that 
 a curate may, in addition to his other duties, be 
 appointed to do the work and receive the emolu- 
 ments of the parish clerk; and it further provides 
 machinery for removing from office a parish clerk who 
 has misbehaved. The sexton (sacristan) is the only 
 other officer of the ecclesiastical parish that need be 
 noticed. He is usually elected by the vestry. The 
 office is an ancient and freehold office. The duties of 
 the sexton consist in keeping the church swept and 
 clean, and in looking after the church furniture under 
 the direction of the churchwardens. It is also his duty 
 to make and fill up the graves for the dead, and for this 
 he is entitled to certain customary fees. A woman can 
 be a sexton, and also, apparently, a churchwarden.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE BOROUGH 
 
 English Towns — Creation of New Boroughs — History of the 
 Boroughs — The Municipal Corporations Act — Constitution of 
 the Borough or City — Borough Officers — Functions of the 
 Council — Borough Finance — Central Control. 
 
 Of our larger towns 307 are boroughs ; that is, their 
 inhabitants are incorporated by charter, and govern 
 themselves ; they manage the affairs of their own 
 town without the interference of any external local 
 authority. The fact that a town is incorporated gives 
 it ipso facto a perpetual succession, the power of holding 
 lands in mortmain, and the right to use a common seal 
 and a corporate name, by which it may act, contract, 
 sue, and be sued. The fact that it is incorporated by 
 charter gives it the power to make by-laws for the 
 regulation of the borough. The machinery of muni- 
 cipal government in all these boroughs is now very 
 much of one pattern. A little country -town like 
 Chippenham with its 4618 inhabitants is administered 
 on the same system as Manchester and Liverpool. But 
 formerly the utmost diversity prevailed.
 
 70 THE BOROUGH chap. 
 
 History of the Borough 
 
 The name "borough" is undoubtedly derived from 
 the Saxon word " burh," which meant originally a forti- 
 fied place, a place which had a ditch and mound, instead 
 of merely a hedge. As the " tun " was originally the 
 fenced homestead of the cultivator, the "burh" was 
 the fortified house and courtyard of the great noble. 1 
 Around his house and under his protection smaller men 
 would naturally congregate, and the town, in the 
 modern sense of the word, would thus arise. The 
 Anglo-Saxon borough was simply a more strictly or- 
 ganised form of township. But by the time of the 
 Norman Conquest many of the towns in England had 
 acquired the constitution of the hundred rather than 
 that of the township ; their moot was a court, and they 
 were therefore exempt from the jurisdiction of the 
 hundred court. In several cases, in addition to holding 
 their own courts, they had obtained the right to com- 
 pound for taxation. Ancient cities, such as Winchester, 
 London, and York, preserved their historic unity. New 
 centres of trade sprang up, each with its market-cross. 
 Under William the Conqueror there were but 50 vills 
 that could claim to be called boroughs : at the accession 
 of Edward I. there were at least 150. But there was 
 nothing approaching to the modern idea of a corpora- 
 tion, with its legal personality, its common seal, and its 
 perpetual succession. Even London under its port-reeve 
 and bishop, the two officers who seemed to give it a 
 unity and identity of its own, was only a bundle of 
 communities, townships, and parishes, each of which 
 1 Stubbs's Const. Hist. vol. i. pp. 92, 306.
 
 iv THE BOROUGH 71 
 
 had its own constitution. As time went on, we find the 
 towns gradually acquiring further privileges by grant or 
 charter from the lord or the king himself; for if a 
 borough had no other lord, it was the immediate pro- 
 perty of the king : such at least was the feudal theory, 
 which prevailed over the actual facts. The most im- 
 portant of these was the "firma burgi," the right to pay 
 a fixed sum by way of. composition for the indefinite 
 tallages previously exacted from the town, and to assess 
 and pay that sum themselves. Another privilege that 
 grew up under Henry II. and his successor, deserves 
 mention — if a serf escaped into a royal borough, and 
 lived there unreclaimed for a year and a day, he be- 
 came free. 1 As the towns acquired importance in the 
 country at large, by reason of their wealth and trade, 
 so the trade guilds acquired strength and importance in 
 the towns themselves. The regulation of trade fell into 
 their hands, and their privileges were frequently con- 
 firmed by charters. It must not be thought, however, 
 that the towns developed on any uniform principle. 
 Each town had its peculiar constitution and customs, 
 though a certain general resemblance may perhaps be 
 recognised throughout. Each relied on its own charter. 
 At the accession of Henry III. "the most advanced 
 among the English towns had succeeded in obtaining, by 
 their respective charters, and with local differences, the 
 right of holding and taking the profits of their own 
 courts under their elected officers, the exclusion of the 
 sheriff from judicial work within their boundaries, the 
 right of collecting and compounding for their own pay- 
 
 1 This rule apparently did not hold in either London or Nor- 
 wich (Pollock and Maitland, p. 034).
 
 72 THE BOROUGH ohap. 
 
 ments to the Crown, the right of electing their own 
 bailiffs, and in some instances of electing a mayor, and 
 the recognition of their merchant guilds by charter, and 
 their craft guilds by charter or fine." T 
 
 The first historical Mayor was Henry Fitz Alwyn, 
 Mayor of London. He held office till his death in 
 1215. Later Mayors of London were appointed for 
 shorter periods ; subsequently it became the custom for 
 the citizens to elect their mayor annually. The mayor 
 was assisted by twenty-five sworn citizens or jurats, who 
 seem afterwards to have acquired the name of aldermen, 
 though that title was originally applied to the heads of 
 the craft guilds. As London was the most powerful and 
 privileged municipality, other towns would naturally 
 take it as their model, and try to secure for themselves 
 like privileges and institutions. The constitutional 
 history of Leicester may be taken as typical of that of 
 many other boroughs. 2 "The chief court of the town 
 was the portman-mote, in which the bailiff of the lord 
 continued to preside until 1246. There was also a 
 merchant guild presided over by aldermen. From the 
 year 1246 a mayor took the place of the alderman and 
 edged out the bailiff, but the portman-mote and mer- 
 chant guild retained their name and functions. Under 
 the merchant guild were the craft guilds. The 
 tailors' guild paid ten shillings to the merchant guild 
 for every new master tailor enfranchised, and doubt- 
 less the other trades did the like. In 1464 Edward IV. 
 recognised the position of twenty-four common bur- 
 gesses and a court of common council, who in 1467 
 
 1 Stubbs's Const. Hist. vol. iii. p. 559. 
 2 As to Ipswich, see Pollock and Maitland, pp. 648, 6-19.
 
 iv THE MEDIAEVAL BOROUOIf 73 
 
 were empowered to elect the mayor. In 1484 the 
 twenty-four took the title of aldermen, and divided the 
 town into twelve wards ; and in 1489 the mayor, twenty- 
 four aldermen, and forty-eight councillors formed them- 
 selves into a strictly close corporation, took an oath by 
 which all the other freemen were excluded from muni- 
 cipal elections, and in 1504 obtained a fresh charter 
 confirming their new constitution." 1 In many of the 
 towns, however, though the type of administration 
 was similar, it rested on a more representative basis. 
 The councillors were elected from among and by the 
 freemen at large. In nearly all the freedom of the 
 borough could be obtained by gift or purchase, as well as 
 by service, marriage, or descent. There was always, 
 however, a large body of inhabitants who were outside 
 the privileged class, and who in consequence were subject 
 to various vexatious restrictions and imposts. But it 
 was not till the close of the fifteenth century that the 
 borough had become a "corporation" in the strict sense of 
 that term — a legsdjwson. On the accession of Henry VIII. 
 there were in England some 200 boroughs, each with a 
 close corporation of mayor, aldermen, and council, with 
 precisely defined organisation and numbers, — not indeed 
 uniform, but of the same general conformation, — and 
 with powers which in practice varied widely in the 
 different communities. In substance, then, the chartered 
 towns had, in the fifteenth century, acquired much of 
 the form and organisation which we find existing at the 
 time when they were so searchingly overhauled by the 
 Royal Commission of 1835. 
 
 In the Middle Ages the policy of the Crown was to 
 
 1 Stubbs's Const. Hist. vol. iii. p. 581.
 
 74 THE BOROUGH OHAP. 
 
 strengthen the towns in order to create a counterpoise 
 to the power of the nobles. During the reign of Richard 
 II. began the practice of including in municipal charters 
 a provision making the corporate officers justices of the 
 peace ; thus excluding the court of the local lord. Each 
 chartered borough or city, moreover, had the right of 
 sending one or more burgesses to Parliament to represent 
 it there. The first charter which expressly recognises 
 this right was that granted to Wenlock in the reign 
 of Edward IV. ; but the chartered recognition of the 
 right was probably in many cases a mere confirma- 
 tion of existing privileges. Until the reign of Henry 
 VII. the encroachments on popular liberty within the 
 towns themselves had been local and spontaneous, but 
 during the Tudor period the Crown began to grant 
 charters vesting all the powers of municipal government 
 in the mayor or other head officer and the council. By 
 many of these charters the same governing body was 
 entrusted with the exclusive right of returning members 
 to Parliament. The Crown was no longer afraid of the 
 aristocracy, and in many instances the office of high 
 steward was created and given to some powerful peer or 
 landowner, who became the patron of the borough, and 
 practically disposed of the parliamentary seat. l The 
 Commonwealth, however, crushed the power of the 
 aristocracy, and at the time of the Restoration the 
 Crown and Court party found themselves opposed by 
 the towns as the representatives of democracy. The 
 middle classes in the main were Whig and Protestant. 
 It was therefore determined to attack the boroughs 
 through the courts of law. A quo warranto information 
 1 Sir E. May's Const. Hist. vol. ii. p. 495.
 
 iv THE DEGENERATE BOROUGH 75 
 
 was filed by the Attorney-General against the City of 
 London, and its charter was declared by the Court of 
 King's Bench to be forfeited, on the ground that it had 
 exceeded its jurisdiction in the exaction of certain 
 market tolls. The forfeiture was not insisted upon, but 
 the City was allowed to continue to possess its franchises 
 only upon submission to certain regulations — such, for 
 instance, that no mayor, sheriff, or recorder should be 
 admitted until approved by the king — which made it 
 thoroughly subservient to the Crown. After the fall 
 of the capital, quo warranto informations were brought 
 against several other towns, and many more hastened to 
 anticipate attack by voluntarily surrendering their 
 charters. Judge Jeffreys, who went the Northern 
 Circuit in 1684, boasted that " he made all the charters, 
 like the walls of Jericho, fall down before him, and that 
 he returned laden with surrenders, the spoils of the 
 towns." The towns received instead new charters, 
 framing their constitutions on a more oligarchical model, 
 and reserving to the Crown the first appointment of 
 those who were to form the governing part of the 
 corporation. 1 After 1688, however, most of the Cor- 
 porations resumed their old charters, and the influence 
 of the prerogative was no longer felt. From this time 
 down to 1832 the history of the boroughs is parlia- 
 mentary rather than municipal. The charters of the 
 Georgian period were framed nearly on the model of 
 those of the preceding era, and in spite of the progress 
 of society, showed the same disregard for the improve- 
 ment of municipal policy. The freedom of a borough 
 was chiefly valuable for the parliamentary vote it carried 
 1 Hallam, Const. Hist. vol. iii. p. 455.
 
 76 THE BOROUGH chap. 
 
 with it. Admission into the corporate body was sought 
 mainly with a view to the lucrative exercise of the 
 elective franchise. " A great number of corporations," 
 say the Commissioners of 1835, 1 "have been preserved 
 solely as political engines, and the towns to which they 
 belong derive no benefit, but often much injury, from 
 their existence. To maintain the political ascendency 
 of a party, or the political influence of a family, has been 
 the one end and object for which the powers entrusted 
 to those bodies have been exercised. This object has 
 been systematically pursued in the admission of freemen, 
 resident or non-resident ; in the selection of municipal 
 functionaries for the council and the magistracy ; in the 
 appointment of subordinate officers and the local police ; 
 in the administration of charities entrusted to the 
 municipal authorities ; in the expenditure of corporate 
 revenues ; and in the management of corporate pro- 
 perty." As a rule the numbers of the privileged 
 freemen were strictly kept down, but political exigencies 
 sometimes created an exception. Thus at Maldon, 
 where the average admission of freemen was seventeen 
 per annum, 1000 were created during the election of 
 1826. During the same election the Corporation of 
 Leicester spent £10,000 and mortgaged a part of their 
 property to secure the return of a political partisan. 2 
 The political abuses connected with the boroughs were 
 swept away by the Reform Act of 1832. Many of 
 the smaller boroughs were disfranchised, the parlia- 
 mentary boundaries of others were resettled, and the 
 franchise was bestowed on all £10 occupiers, whether 
 freemen or not. But the spirit of reform had not yet 
 1 fiep. Mm. Corp. 1835, p. 34. 2 Ibid. p. 54.
 
 iv THE DEGENERATE BOROUGH 77 
 
 spent itself. It was determined to reconstruct the 
 municipal organisation of the boroughs on a broad and 
 popular basis, and to restore their efficiency in local 
 administration. 
 
 In 1833 a Royal Commission was appointed to con- 
 duct a searching inquiry into the nature and conduct 
 of our municipal institutions. Their Report, which has 
 already been cited, showed that it was an Augaean 
 stable that had to be cleansed. Municipal functions 
 were almost entirely neglected, and jobbery, corruption, 
 and oppression were almost universal. The great mass 
 of the townspeople were excluded from corporate privi- 
 leges and from any share in town government. The 
 municipal councils for the most part were self-elected, 
 and the members held office for life. In Plymouth, 
 where the population was 75,000, the number of freemen 
 was 437, of whom 145 were non-resident. In Ipswich 
 less than two per cent of the inhabitants enjoyed cor- 
 porate privileges, and of that two per cent a large 
 number were paupers. In Portsmouth, with a popu- 
 lation of 45,000, the number of freemen was 102. The 
 freemen in many boroughs enjoyed exclusive trading 
 privileges, and were exempt from borough tolls and 
 market dues. In Newcastle the payment of these tolls 
 made a difference to one merchant of £450 per annum. 
 In Liverpool the tolls were even heavier. Corporate 
 funds, which were not spent on political corruption, 
 were " frequently expended in feasting and paying the 
 salaries of unimportant officers." There were then 246 
 boroughs ; only 28 of these published any accounts of 
 their expenditure. Pluralism in holding lucrative cor- 
 porate offices was common. Corporate contracts and
 
 78 THE BOROUGH chap. 
 
 lands were let out to corporators on terms most bene- 
 ficial to the latter. Tn some boroughs the Coroner was 
 a small tradesman. In many boroughs where the 
 Recorder had large criminal and civil jurisdiction, he 
 was not necessarily a lawyer. In nearly all boroughs 
 the aldermen were ex officio magistrates. The juries 
 were taken exclusively from the freemen, and the 
 administration of justice was tainted with political parti- 
 sanship. At Haverfordwest the opinion was given that 
 "it was impossible to convict a burgess." The corporate 
 magistrates, apart from political bias, were often wholly 
 unfit for the discharge of judicial functions. At Malmes- 
 bury some of the magistrates could not read or write. 
 At Wenlock it was their habit to sign blank warrants. 
 At East Retford a magistrate on one occasion amused 
 himself by fighting the prisoner. 1 The whole Report 
 is instructive reading, and fully justifies the conclusion 
 at which the Commissioners arrived. It appeared in 
 1835, and very effective legislation followed in the same 
 year. The Municipal Corporations Act, 1835 (5 & 6 
 Will. IV. c. 76), swept away the abuses laid bare by the 
 Report, it annulled all charters and customs inconsistent 
 with its provisions, and provided a uniform constitution, 
 based on the model of the best- administered existing 
 municipal corporations, which, with slight modifications, 
 should apply to all towns then or thereafter to be 
 brought under the Act. In brief outline the reforms 
 which it effected were these : it took away magisterial 
 powers from the aldermen, provided that the Recorder 
 should be a trained lawyer, abolished all trading mono- 
 polies, exemptions, and restrictions, shortened the tenure 
 1 Rep. Man. Corp. 1835, p. 38.
 
 iv THE MUXICIFAL CORPORATIONS ACTS 79 
 
 of elective offices, gave the franchise to all inhabitant 
 ratepayers, and provided for the honest administration 
 of corporate funds and the efficient discharge of muni- 
 cipal duties. It was at first intended to bring London 
 under the Act, but the intention was temporarily aban- 
 doned, and down to the present day the Corporation of 
 London retains its ancient constitution. The Act of 
 1835, which constitutes the great charter of English 
 municipal liberty, has been amended by no less than 
 forty-two subsequent enactments. The whole, however, 
 are brought together and reproduced in the Muni- 
 cipal Corporations Act, 1882. 1 We have therefore now 
 a complete municipal code, and in the sketch which 
 follows of our existing municipal system the provisions 
 of that Act need alone be referred to. 
 
 The Commissioners of 1835 had inquired into the 
 condition of 246 boroughs, but the Act of that year 
 applied to only 178 of these. The rest were left for 
 future treatment, which — still with the exception of the 
 City of London — they received in 1883. Another 
 Commission was appointed in 1876, mainly at the 
 instigation of Sir Charles Dilke, to deal with all 
 boroughs to which the Municipal Corporations Acts of 
 1835 and 1882 did not apply. These Commissioners 
 inquired into the condition and circumstances of 106 
 boroughs or reputed boroughs. They reported that in 
 32 of these municipal government, if it had ever existed, 
 had become extinct ; of those in which corporate insti- 
 
 1 Mr. Chalmers, in the work on which this is founded, alludes 
 to the Act of 1882 as "probably the best drafted Act on the 
 statute-book." The learned reader will make a mental exception in 
 favour of certain well-known Acts drafted by Mr. Chalmers himself.
 
 80 THE BOROUGH chap. 
 
 tutions — in form at least — still existed, they recom- 
 mended that 49 should altogether cease to be municipal 
 corporations, and that the remaining 25 should be 
 brought under the Act of 1882. These recommenda- 
 tions were carried into effect by the Municipal Corpora- 
 tions Act, 1883, which declared that no one of these 106 
 towns and places should any longer be a corporate town 
 or borough, and dissolved all charters, grants, and pre- 
 scriptions relating to them. Her Majesty in Council 
 then granted new charters to the 25 towns mentioned 
 by the Commissioners as proper places to be brought 
 within the Act of 1882. Every charter granted by 
 Her Majesty to a new borough now extends to it the 
 provisions of that Act. And so the statutory definition 
 of a borough now is: "Any place for the time being 
 subject to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882." l 
 
 Creation of New Municipalities 
 
 Since Queen Victoria ascended the throne, the 
 population of our towns has more than doubled. Hence 
 beside the 25 boroughs just mentioned, 104 new boroughs 
 have been created by charter during the present reign. 
 The procedure is as follows : — When a certain unspecified 
 number of inhabitant-householders in a town deem them- 
 selves worthy of a municipal government, and wish to 
 try the experiment, they may petition the Queen in 
 Council to grant them a charter of incorporation, and to 
 extend to the borough thus constituted the provisions of 
 the Municipal Corporations Act. The petition is adver- 
 
 1 Interpretation Act, 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 63), s. 15.
 
 iv CREATION OF NEW BOROUGHS 81 
 
 tised in the London Gazette ; notice of it must also be given 
 to the County Council of the county in which the 
 borough is situated. It is then referred to a Committee 
 of the Privy Council, who direct a local inquiry, in the 
 course of which evidence is taken for and against the 
 proposal. The Committee of the Privy Council which 
 advises upon the petition is empowered to settle a 
 scheme for absorbing into the new corporation the 
 existing local authorities, or for otherwise adjusting their 
 relations with it. Any local authority affected by the 
 scheme may oppose it. If the scheme be opposed, it 
 requires confirmation by Act of Parliament ; otherwise 
 an Order in Council is sufficient. The existing authorities 
 often object to being thus extinguished. Absorption 
 into a higher existence, with loss of personality, may be 
 congenial to Buddhists, but does not always commend 
 itself to our local luminaries. When a charter is granted, 
 it fixes the number of councillors the borough is to have, 
 and the number and boundaries of the wards, if the 
 borough is to be so subdivided. It also provides for the 
 appointment of first officers, and makes such temporary 
 modifications of the Municipal Corporations Act as may 
 be necessary to start the working of the corporate 
 machinery. Subject to this, as soon as the charter 
 comes into effect, the provisions of the Municipal 
 Corporations Act apply to the new-born borough, and 
 clothe it with a ready-made constitution. 
 
 Parliamentary Borough : Freemen 
 
 Before passing on, however, to give a sketch of our 
 existing municipal system, it is as well to warn the 
 
 G
 
 82 THE BOROUGH chap. 
 
 reader of two facts. In the first place, the so-called 
 " parliamentary borough " has nothing at all to do 
 with municipal government. It is merely an electoral 
 division, an area to which a certain number of represent- 
 atives in Parliament is assigned. It may or may not 
 coincide with a municipal borough. There are only 143 
 parliamentary boroughs, and to some of these there is 
 no corresponding municipal area. And when there is 
 both a parliamentary and a municipal borough of the 
 same name, separate lists of voters are always prepared, 
 even where their boundaries are identical : for the 
 franchises are distinct. Then, again, the freemen of a 
 borough have now lost all place in municipal govern- 
 ment. Freemen as such have no rights as burgesses. 
 They are entitled to the parliamentary franchise ; and 
 their rights to a share in corporate property and in such 
 charities as existed prior to 1835 are carefully preserved ; 
 but no claim to exemption from any borough tolls or 
 dues is to be recognised, except in the case of a person 
 who on 5th June 1835 was an inhabitant, or was admitted 
 or entitled to be admitted a freeman, or was the wife, 
 widow, son, or daughter of a freeman, or was bound an 
 apprentice. No person can now be admitted a freeman 
 by gift or purchase, except in one case. Persons of 
 distinction, and persons who have rendered eminent 
 services to the borough may be admitted to be honorary 
 freemen under an Act of 1885 ; but they do not there- 
 by acquire any vote for the borough, or any share in its 
 property. 1 
 
 1 48 & 49 Vict. c. 29.
 
 iv MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 83 
 
 Municipal Government 
 
 Where a town, as distinct from a city, is governed 
 by the Municipal Corporations Act, the municipal cor- 
 poration of the place consists of the Mayor, aldermen, 
 and burgesses, and is named accordingly. Thus, the 
 proper style of the Corporation of Cambridge is "the 
 Mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of Cambridge." Some 
 boroughs, however, generally those which contain a 
 cathedral and a bishop, are entitled to the more dignified 
 name of city, and their burgesses are styled citizens, 
 though for purposes of local government the distinction 
 is purely one of name. The proper style of the Corpora- 
 tion of Oxford, therefore, is " the Mayor, aldermen, and 
 citizens of Oxford." 
 
 The original boundaries of municipal boroughs were 
 not settled on any definite principle. They intersected 
 parishes, unions, and counties. Boroughs, in short, were 
 carved out of the surrounding country in the same hap- 
 hazard way as other local areas in England. But now 
 full power is given to the Local Government Board, by 
 s. 54 of the Local Government Act of 1888, and s. 36 
 of the Local Government Act of 1894, by Provisional 
 Order to make any alteration that seems expedient in 
 the boundaries of a borough. Many orders have already 
 been made under these sections. 
 
 The municipal franchise rests on a firm basis of 
 ratepaying residence. Every person who occupies a 
 house, warehouse, shop, or other building in the borough 
 for which he pays rates, and who resides within seven 
 miles of the borough, is entitled to be enrolled as a burgess. 
 A single woman or a widow may vote at any municipal
 
 84 THE BOROUGH chap. 
 
 election ; but a married woman, though qualified by 
 occupation and payment of rates, may not vote, even 
 though her name has been put on the burgess list. No 
 woman can serve as a town councillor, or hold any 
 corporate office. The main rights and duties of a burgess 
 are — (1) that he is entitled to vote at the election of 
 councillors, elective auditors, and revising assessors ; (2) 
 that he is eligible for any corporate, office, and is liable 
 to a fine if on election he refuses to serve ; (3) that he 
 is eligible and liable to serve on borough juries. The 
 overseers annually make out the burgess list for each 
 parish in the borough for submission to the revision 
 court. Where a municipal borough is also a parlia- 
 mentary borough, the revising barrister revises the 
 municipal list at the same time that he revises the par- 
 liamentary lists. In other cases the list is revised by 
 the Mayor, Avith the assistance of two revising assessors, 
 who must be burgesses qualified to be councillors, but 
 who are not on the Council. 
 
 The governing body of the borough is the Council, 
 which consists of the Mayor, aldermen, and councillors. 
 The number of councillors is fixed when the borough is 
 incorporated under the Act. They are elected by the 
 municipal voters, i.e. by the persons who are enrolled as 
 burgesses or who, being qualified except in the matter of 
 residence, reside within fifteen though beyond seven miles 
 from the borough, and have also an extra property 
 qualification. Any municipal voter may be elected a 
 councillor, unless he is interested in any contract made 
 with the Council, or is in holy orders, or the regular 
 minister of a dissenting congregation. Elections to 
 the Council are held on the 1st of November in every
 
 iv MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 85 
 
 year. The term for which a councillor holds office is 
 three years, and every year one-third of the councillors 
 go out by rotation. An outgoing councillor is eligible 
 for re-election. 
 
 The election of councillors is conducted on the model 
 of a parliamentary election. If a borough is not divided 
 into wards the Mayor acts as returning-officer. If it is 
 divided into wards, elections to the Council are held 
 simultaneously in the different wards, and an alderman 
 assigned for the purpose to each ward acts as returning- 
 officer. If more candidates are nominated than there 
 are vacancies, and a poll is demanded, the election is 
 conducted by ballot, as nearly as may be in accord- 
 ance with the provisions of the Ballot Act, 1872. In 
 many boroughs the elections are mainly governed 
 by considerations of party politics ; a municipal elec- 
 tion is regarded as a means of feeling the political pulse 
 of the inhabitants, and purely local questions seem to 
 have but little influence on the result. Persons guilty 
 of corrupt practices at a municipal election are liable to 
 be punished in the same way as if the offence had been 
 committed at a parliamentary election. If it be desired 
 to question an election on the ground of corrupt prac- 
 tices thereat, the procedure is by petition to the High 
 Court. The petition is tried by a Commissioner sent 
 down by the High Court, who must be a barrister of 
 not less than fifteen years' standing. The procedure 
 before him for the most part resembles the procedure in 
 a parliamentary election petition. 
 
 The number of the aldermen is one-third of that of 
 the councillors, which, as we have seen, is a number 
 that varies with the size of the borough. Any person
 
 86 THE BOROUGH chap. 
 
 who is, or who is qualified to be, a councillor, may be 
 elected an alderman. The aldermen are elected by the 
 Council at the ordinary quarterly meeting on the 9th of 
 November. The mode of election is by voting papers, 
 signed and personally delivered to the chairman of the 
 meeting. In the case of equality of votes the chairman 
 has a casting vote. If a councillor is elected an alder- 
 man, he thereby vacates his office as councillor. The 
 aldermen hold office for six years, one-half of the whole 
 number retiring by rotation every three years. Their 
 longer tenure of office is intended to give an element of 
 stability and continuity to the policy of the Council. 
 If the Mayor is temporarily incapacitated, an alderman 
 may act for him, and, as we have seen, where a borough 
 is divided into wards, an alderman acts as returning- 
 officer; but apart from what has been mentioned, an 
 alderman has no greater powers or other functions than 
 an ordinary councillor. 
 
 The Mayor is the chief officer of the corporation. 
 He has precedence of all persons in the borough. The 
 Mayor is elected by the Council from among the alder- 
 men or councillors, or persons qualified to be such. An 
 outgoing alderman is eligible, and as a fact an alderman 
 is usually selected for the office. As he represents the 
 borough on public occasions, and especially when it is 
 dispensing hospitality, he generally receives a salary, the 
 amount of which is fixed by the Council. The election 
 takes place on the 9th of November at the ordinary 
 quarterly meeting of the Council, and the statute directs 
 that it shall be the first business transacted at the meet- 
 ing. The Mayor is ex officio a magistrate for the borough, 
 and chairman of all meetings of the Council. As chair-
 
 iv MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT -7 
 
 man of the Urban District Council, he is also a justice 
 of the peace for the county. With the exception of the 
 Mayor and ex-Mayor, all borough magistrates are now 
 appointed by the Crown. The Mayor is the returning- 
 officer in parliamentary elections, and in the election of 
 councillors if the borough is not divided into wards. 
 When the borough is not a parliamentary borough, in 
 conjunction with two assessors he acts as the revision 
 court. He is also an ex officio member of the Watch 
 Committee. If he dies or becomes bankrupt Avhile in 
 office, the Town Clerk must call a meeting of the Council 
 to fill up the vacancy. If he is temporarily incapacitated 
 by illness or otherwise, he may appoint a deputy. 
 
 We have now discussed the three constituent factors 
 of the Council, — namely, the Mayor, the aldermen, and 
 the councillors. Directly or indirectly, as we have seen, 
 they are all chosen from and elected by the burgesses 
 at large. The Central Government takes no part or 
 share in their election. In France the Maire and his 
 deputy the Adjoint are the nominees of the Government, 
 and for the most part constitute very efficient spokes 
 in the municipal council's wheel. Spanish municipalities 
 since 1869 have enjoyed the right of electing their own 
 Alcalde, but this apparent liberty of choice is fettered 
 by a provision that he must be able to read and write. 
 In Germany the Crown has a veto on the election of 
 the Burgomaster, and his appointment therefore recpiires 
 the royal sanction. In England happily no such restric- 
 tions are necessary, and our boroughs enjoy complete 
 independence as regards the appointment of their govern- 
 ing body. 
 
 The officers of a borough are the Town Clerk, the
 
 88 THE BOROUGH chap. 
 
 Treasurer, and " such other officers as have usually been 
 appointed in the borough, or as the Council think 
 necessary." The Town Clerk holds his office during the 
 pleasure of the Council, and his salary is fixed by them. 
 He has the custody of the charters, deeds, records, and 
 documents of the borough, and it is his duty to issue 
 the summonses for the meetings of the Council, and to 
 act as secretary to the Council at their meetings and 
 otherwise. The Treasurer, too, holds office during the 
 pleasure of the Council, and his salary, if any, is fixed by 
 them. It is his duty to receive and make all payments 
 on behalf of the corporation. All officers appointed by 
 the Council must give security for the due execution 
 of their duties, and there are stringent provisions for 
 making them account. 
 
 The officers above referred to are the ordinary staff 
 of every borough, but many boroughs have, in addition 
 to their normal functions, wholly or in part the organ- 
 isation of a county, having their own Commissions of 
 the Peace, and Courts of Quarter Sessions ; and this of 
 course involves additional officers, whose duties will be 
 described hereafter. 1 Under the Sale of Food and 
 Drugs Act, 1875, the Council may be required by the 
 Local Government Board to appoint a public analyst. 
 
 The duties and powers of the Council must next 
 be considered. The Council must hold four quarterly 
 meetings every year for the transaction of general 
 business. The Mayor may also call a meeting at any 
 time. If the Mayor refuses to call a meeting, five 
 members of the Council may call it. The Town Clerk 
 1 See post, pp. 97, 99.
 
 iv MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 89 
 
 circulates a paper of the agenda three days before the 
 meeting. The Mayor, or in his absence the deputy- 
 mayor or an alderman, takes the chair. Minutes of 
 the proceedings are taken, and are confirmed by the 
 signature of the chairman of the next meeting. The 
 minutes may be inspected and copied by any burgess 
 on payment of a shilling. 
 
 The Council may appoint committees "for any 
 purposes which, in the opinion of the Council, would 
 be better regulated by means of committees " ; but the 
 acts of the committees must be submitted to the Council 
 for their approval. 
 
 The functions of the Council are legislative as well 
 as administrative. 
 
 The Act empowers them " to make such by-laws l as 
 to them seem meet for the good rule and government of 
 the borough, and for the prevention and suppression of 
 nuisances not already punishable in a summary manner 
 by virtue of any Act in force throughout the borough." 
 The by-laws may be enforced by fine not exceeding <£5. 
 In the case of an Act of Parliament every citizen is 
 bound to know and obey it, even though it comes into 
 force before it can be printed or obtained by the public; 
 but as regards borough by-laws a concession is made to 
 human infirmity, and no by-law can come into force 
 until it has been promulgated for forty days. They 
 must also be submitted to the Home Secretary ; and the 
 
 1 A by-law is a rule made by a body corporate, and binding on 
 a certain class of persons, or over a certain district. It must not 
 be retrospective, or at variance with the general laws of the realm. 
 It must be reasonable in itself, and tend to accomplish the objects 
 for which the body making the by-law was incorporated.
 
 90 THE BOROUGH chap. 
 
 Privy Council has power to disallow any by-law wholly 
 or in part. 
 
 The administrative functions of the Council may be 
 divided into ordinary and special functions. A large 
 number of boroughs have special Acts under which their 
 Councils are entrusted with special powers to carry out 
 particular works of local utility, such as water or gas 
 supply. Apart from these, there are numerous general 
 Acts of Parliament which impose important duties on 
 the Council of every municipal borough. For instance, 
 the Council of the borough is, almost invariably, the 
 sanitary authority of the place, and has as such all the 
 powers and duties of an ordinary Urban District Council 
 under the Public Health Acts, 1875 to 1896. 1 Again, 
 in a borough where there is no School Board, the 
 Council has to elect from among its own members a 
 School Attendance Committee to enforce the provisions 
 of the Elementary Education Act. 2 So, again, the 
 Council is the local authority to take action under the 
 Housing of the Working Classes Acts, the Cemeteries 
 Acts, and the Acts authorising the establishment of free 
 libraries, museums, and schools of art. 
 
 The ordinary functions of the Council consist in the 
 management of the corporate property, the maintenance 
 of a proper police force, the regulation of markets and 
 burial-grounds, the levying of rates, and, when necessary, 
 the raising of loans. In the absence of special local 
 Acts it is the duty of the Council to see that the town 
 is properly paved, lighted, cleansed, and supplied with 
 gas and water ; and when by any local Act these duties 
 are entrusted to special Trustees or Commissioners, 
 
 1 As to these, see ch. vi., post, p. 127. ~ See post, p. 161.
 
 iv MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 91 
 
 power is given to them to make over their property and 
 functions to the Council. The Council has the same 
 powers and duties as regards borough bridges that the 
 justices have in the case of county bridges. The Council 
 may purchase land not exceeding five acres for borough 
 buildings, and may build "a town-hall, council-house, 
 justices' room, with or without a police station and 
 cells, or a quarter and petty sessions house, or an assize 
 court-house, with or without judges' lodgings, or a poll- 
 ing station, or any other building necessary for any 
 borough purpose." The Council are not allowed to 
 sell, or mortgage, or let out on long lease, any of the 
 borough land without the approval of the Treasury. 
 An exception is made in favour of long leases of land 
 for the purpose of working-men's dwellings, under 
 specified regulations. The misapplication of corporate 
 property (more especially for the purpose of any parlia- 
 mentary election) is severely punished. 
 
 Borough Finance 
 This subject may be considered under the three heads 
 of Expenditure, Loans, and Accounts. 1 All moneys 
 received by a borough in the ordinary course of its 
 affairs (e.g. all rates, fees, and the rents and profits of the 
 corporate property), are paid into a fund called the 
 Borough Fund, and out of this fund is drawn all the 
 money necessary for the ordinary expenditure of the 
 borough. If, as is generally the case, the fund is not 
 sufficient to meet the expenditure, the Council has no 
 power to contract any temporary loan ; it must from 
 
 1 The subject of local expenditure and taxation is dealt with at 
 length by Mr. A. J. Wilson in another volume of this series.
 
 92 THE BOKOrmi chap. 
 
 time to time cause a rate to be Levied in the borough to 
 make up the deficiency. This is called the Borough 
 Rate. The Council assesses the amount to be contributed 
 by each parish. The assessment is usually based on the 
 poor-rate valuation, but a special valuation may be 
 made, if necessary. The overseers of each parish are 
 responsible for the collection of the rate. If it should 
 ever happen that the fund is more than sufficient to 
 meet the ordinary expenditure of the borough without 
 the aid of a rate, the surplus must be applied under the 
 direction of the Council " for the public benefit of the 
 inhabitants and improvement of the borough." But 
 the Borough Council may not make rates for the pur- 
 pose of creating a surplus to be so applied, nor can it 
 make any binding agreement to apply the surpluses 
 which may arise in future years to any particular object. 
 
 All payments to the Treasurer of a borough are paid 
 into the borough fund ; all payments to and out of the 
 borough fund are made to and by him. Some payments, 
 such as the regular quarterly salaries, may be made out 
 of the fund without an order of the borough Council, 
 these are specified in part i. of the fifth schedule to the 
 Act of 1882. Other payments (specified in part ii. of 
 that schedule) may not be made without an order of the 
 Council, which must be signed by three members of the 
 Council, and countersigned by the Town Clerk. 1 
 
 The extraordinary expenditure of the borough is not 
 defrayed out of the borough fund. Money needed for 
 works of utility of a more or less permanent character is 
 
 1 See s. 141 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, and s. 2 of 
 the Municipal Corporations (Borough) Funds Act, 1872 (35 & 36 
 Vict. c. 91).
 
 iv BOROUGH FINANCE 93 
 
 raised by a loan, repayable by instalments and charged 
 on the rates. The borrowing powers of municipal cor- 
 porations are of great extent and variety. Separate 
 loans may now be raised, under general Acts of Par- 
 liament for ordinary municipal purposes, for cemeteries, 
 lunatic asylums, parks, baths, hospitals, sewerage, and 
 other sanitary works, industrial and reformatory schools, 
 libraries, public buildings, and dwelling-house improve- 
 ment schemes ; while under local Acts money may be 
 borrowed for any purpose that Parliament can be induced 
 to sanction. All loans under general Acts of Parliament 
 must be repaid within a specified term of years either by 
 equal annual instalments of principal and interest, or by 
 a sinking fund ; and the consent of one of the central 
 authorities to the loan must be obtained before the 
 money is borrowed. The authority that must give its 
 consent is in some instances the Treasury, in others the 
 Home Office, in a few cases (such as harbours and piers) 
 the Board of Trade, but usually — and especially with 
 reference to sanitary works and improvement schemes — 
 the Local Government Board. A local inquiry, after 
 due notice, is then held, and if the loan is approved a 
 term of years is fixed by the central authority over 
 which the repayment is to extend. It is only fair that 
 the cost of a town improvement, which will last for 
 several years, should be spread over an equivalent period, 
 and not charged on the income of the year in which it 
 is incurred. 
 
 In order to escape from the control of any Govern- 
 ment Department, borough Councils frequently apply 
 direct to Parliament for a private Act to authorise some 
 proposed expenditure. But a check has been placed on
 
 94 THE BOROUGH chap. 
 
 this method also ; a municipal corporation may not now 
 pay the cost of promoting any Bill in Parliament out of 
 the borough fund without the consent of an absolute 
 majority of the whole number of the borough Council, 
 and also of a public meeting of ratepayers convened for 
 the purpose. 1 Most of the municipalities have availed 
 themselves largely of their borrowing powers. Accord- 
 ing to the Local Taxation Eeturns of 1895 the City 
 of London had an outstanding debt of £4,563,400, and 
 the total indebtedness of the other boroughs was 
 £14,554,184. 
 
 The accounts of most local authorities are now audited 
 by the Local Government Board, but boroughs are 
 exempt from this jurisdiction. The audit is conducted 
 by three borough auditors, two elected by the burgesses, 
 called elective auditors, and one appointed by the 
 Mayor, called the Mayor's auditor. An elective auditor 
 must be qualified to be a councillor, but must not be a 
 member of the Council. The Mayor's auditor must be a 
 member of the Council. The Treasurer must make up 
 his accounts half-yearly, and within a month of making 
 them up must submit them with the necessary papers 
 and vouchers to the auditors. After the second audit of 
 the financial year the Town Clerk must make a return 
 to the Local Government Board of the receipts and 
 expenditure of the corporation for the year. The return 
 must be sent within a month of the completion of the 
 audit. It is the duty of the Local Government Board to 
 prepare an annual abstract of these returns for submis- 
 
 • 1 See s. 4 of the Borough Funds Act, 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. 91). 
 The Local Loans Act, 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. 83) also lays down 
 general rules for the management of loans to local authorities.
 
 IV BOROUGH FINANCE 95 
 
 sion to Parliament. A somewhat curious check is pro- 
 vided to prevent the application of borough funds to 
 improper or unauthorised objects. The Act of 1882 
 provides that every order of the Council for the pay- 
 ment of money out of the borough fund " may be removed 
 into the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of 
 Justice by writ of certiorari, and may be wholly or partly 
 disallowed or confirmed, with or without costs, according 
 to the judgment and discretion of the Court." The 
 High Court is thus constituted a kind of casual auditor, 
 whose aid can be called in when the regular audit fails. 
 But recourse is very seldom had to this deus ex machind. 
 A serious defect in our municipal system is the 
 absence of anything in the nature of a town budget, 
 showing its financial position, and estimating its finan- 
 cial requirements for the year to come. This matter 
 has been already discussed at the end of chap. ii. 
 
 Different kinds of Boroughs 
 
 So far what has been said in this chapter has been 
 equally applicable to all boroughs. There are, however, 
 several distinct classes of boroughs known to the law ; 
 though the distinctions between these classes relate 
 chiefly to the administration of justice and the control 
 of the police, and do not affect the scheme of municipal 
 government, which, as has been already pointed out, is 
 of the same type in all boroughs. 
 
 1. Counties of Cities; Counties of Towns. — Bristol, 
 Nottingham, Norwich, Exeter, and some other 
 ancient boroughs have all the organisation of a county. 
 They have their own Commissions of the Peace and
 
 96 THE BOROU<:ll chap. 
 
 Courts of Quarter Sessions, and each year they appoint 
 a Sheriff. This appointment is made at the quarterly 
 meeting of the Council on the 9th November in each year, 
 immediately after the election of the Mayor. There are 
 nineteen of these counties of cities or towns ; they are 
 wholly independent of the surrounding counties ; the 
 county authorities have no jurisdiction within their 
 area. 
 
 2. County Boroughs. — This special class of borough 
 was first created by the Local Government Act of 1888. 
 There are 64 county boroughs in England and Wales ; 
 most of them have a population of not less than 50,000. 
 The same place may be both a county of a city or town, 
 and a county borough ; though most county boroughs 
 are not counties of towns ; while a few counties of cities 
 or towns, such as Lichfield and Poole, are not county 
 boroughs. A county borough is practically exempted 
 from the jurisdiction of the County Council of its 
 county; its own borough Council has in fact most of 
 the powers conferred by the Act of 1888 upon County 
 Councils, except as to parliamentary elections. But 
 the constitution of the borough Council is unchanged by 
 the new powers conferred on it. It continues to act as 
 a borough Council ; and it is the County Council for 
 the area of the borough as well. A county borough 
 makes no contribution (with a few unimportant excep- 
 tions) to the expenses incurred for county purposes. 
 And this has involved the necessity of making an 
 elaborate adjustment of the financial relations between 
 the county borough and its county in respect of local 
 taxation, licences, and probate duties, which may be 
 revised by order of the Local Government Board after
 
 iv DIFFERENT KINDS OF BOROUGHS ' 07 
 
 every five years. But if no assizes be held in the 
 county borough, it must contribute towards the cost of 
 the county assize. 
 
 3. Boroughs having a separate Court of Quarter Ses- 
 sions. — There are 131 of these. Each such borough has 
 a Recorder and a Clerk of the Peace ; it also, as a rule, 
 elects its own Coroner. 1 All these boroughs, if not 
 county boroughs, are part of the adjoining county for 
 some purposes, such as main roads ; they pay the 
 expenses of the prosecution and maintenance of all 
 prisoners committed by the borough magistrates for trial 
 at the county assizes ; but they are not liable to be 
 assessed to the county rate, unless the population of the 
 borough has fallen below 10,000. If the population be 
 less than 10,000, the borough is included in the county 
 for rating purposes, and for most, if not all, administra- 
 tive business. But a borough which has a Court of its 
 own and a population which exceeds 10,000, does not 
 contribute towards the expense of the Court of Quarter 
 Sessions for the county ; and the burgesses of such a 
 borough are not bound to serve as jurymen at that Court. 
 
 In borough Quarter Sessions the justices do not act 
 as judges. The sole judge of the Court is the Becorder, 
 who must be a barrister of not less than five years' 
 standing. He is appointed by the Crown, on the 
 recommendation of the Home Secretary. He holds 
 office during good behaviour, is ex officio a justice for the 
 borough, and has precedence next after the Mayor. 
 He may not be an alderman or councillor for the 
 borough, nor may he sit for it in Parliament. In the 
 case of unavoidable ahsence he may appoint a qualified 
 
 1 But see s. 38 of the Local Government Act, 1888. 
 H
 
 98 THE BOROUGH chap. 
 
 barrister to act as his deputy for the next ensuing 
 sessions. The criminal jurisdiction of the Recorder is 
 the same as that of a Court of Quarter Sessions in the 
 county, and the procedure in court is strictly analogous. 
 But the Act prohibits him from making or altering any 
 borough rate, except on an appeal, or exercising any 
 licensing jurisdiction. 
 
 In eighteen of these boroughs there is also by pre- 
 scription a Borough Court of Civil Jurisdiction, of 
 which the Recorder is also judge (e.g. the Mayor's 
 Court, London ; the Court of Passage at Liverpool ; 
 the Salford Court of Record ; the Tolzey Court at 
 Bristol, etc.). The jurisdiction of such court is gener- 
 ally limited to causes of action arising within the 
 borough, but unlimited as to the amount which can be 
 claimed in the action. 
 
 Incidental to a Court of Quarter Sessions are the 
 offices of Clerk of the Peace and Coroner. The Clerk 
 of the Peace is appointed by the Council, and is usually 
 paid by fees. The Coroner is only appointed when the 
 population of the borough exceeds 10,000 ; otherwise 
 the county Coroner acts. In a borough that has a 
 population over 10,000, a borough Coroner is appointed 
 by the Town Council. Any "fit person," who is not 
 an alderman or councillor, is eligible. The Coroner 
 holds office during good behaviour, and is paid by fees, 
 which must be certified for by the Recorder. The 
 duties of the Coroner and the procedure on inquests 
 are the same as in the county. In boroughs of this 
 class three or more justices, and also at least one 
 medical practitioner, must be annually appointed to 
 act as visitors of houses licensed to receive lunatics ;
 
 iv DIFFERENT KINDS OF BOROUGHS 99 
 
 and this appointment must be confirmed by the Re- 
 corder. 
 
 Every borough that has no separate Court of Quarter 
 Sessions (even though it be a county borough) must 
 contribute to the expense of the Assizes and the Quarter 
 Sessions of the county, and also of the county coroners. 
 The Council of any such borough may at any time 
 petition Her Majesty in Council to grant to the borough 
 a separate Court of Quarter Sessions. The petition 
 must specify the grounds of the application, and state 
 the amount of the salary that the borough is willing to 
 pay its Recorder. If a court be granted to any borough 
 after 1st June 1888, the borough will still remain liable 
 to the county rate. 
 
 4. Boroughs having a separate Commission of the Peace. 
 — A separate Commission has been granted to many 
 boroughs, and may be granted to others, on application 
 under s. 156 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882. 
 Such a separate Commission does not of itself exempt a 
 borough from the county rate, or deprive the county 
 justices of their right to act within the borough at 
 Petty Sessions, or in matters concerning the borough 
 at Quarter Sessions. It only enables the borough justices 
 to act in the borough as if they were county justices 
 acting in and for a distinct petty sessional division. 
 But, in practice, it is rare for the county justices to sit 
 in a borough having a separate Commission of the Peace. 
 Such a borough, too, is a separate licensing division. 
 The Mayor is ex officio a magistrate for the borough 
 during his year of office, and for one year afterwards. 
 Every other borough magistrate is appointed by the 
 Crown ; he must, while acting as such, reside in or
 
 100 THE BOROUGH ciiap. 
 
 within seven miles of the borough, or occupy a house, 
 warehouse, or other property in the borough ; but he 
 need not be a burgess, or have any qualification by 
 estate such as is required for a justice of a county. 
 The Council must provide a proper room for the justices 
 to meet in. The borough justices appoint their own 
 clerk, who must not be a borough councillor. 
 
 In twenty-one of our laiger boroughs, a Stipendiary 
 Magistrate has been appointed. The Council of any 
 borough that desires the appointment of a Stipendiary 
 Magistrate may petition the Home Secretary to appoint 
 one. If appointed, the Stipendiary holds office during 
 Her Majesty's pleasure. He must be a barrister of not 
 less than seven years' standing, and is paid by yearly 
 salary. He has the powers of two justices acting to- 
 gether ; in other words, he is a Court of Petty Sessions. 
 
 5. Boroughs having a separate Police Force. — Most of 
 our larger boroughs maintain a police force of their 
 own, separate from the county police. They do this at 
 their own expense. The supervision and control of the 
 police force is confided to a committee of the Council 
 called the Watch Committee. This committee must 
 not exceed in number one-third of the whole Council ; 
 the Mayor must always be a member of it. The Watch 
 Committee must appoint "a sufficient number of fit men 
 to be borough constables," and is empowered to make 
 rules for their regulation and guidance. The Watch 
 Committee has also power to dismiss men from the 
 force. If in any emergency the borough police force 
 is' not sufficient, the justices having jurisdiction in the 
 borough may, under an Act of 1831, appoint special 
 constables to assist the regular policemen. The ex-
 
 iv DIFFERENT KINDS OF BOROUGHS 101 
 
 penses of the police force are usually paid out of the 
 borough fund ; but in some boroughs a special fund, 
 called the Watch Rate, is raised to meet them. If, on 
 inspection, the police force of any borough is certified 
 to be efficient, the County Council makes, out of moneys 
 received from the Imperial Exchequer, a grant to the 
 borough amounting to at least half the cost of the 
 clothing and pay of the men. The Treasury also con- 
 tributes towards the cost of criminal prosecutions. No 
 new police force can be established in any borough which 
 has less than 20,000 inhabitants ; and no borough which 
 according to the census of 1881 had a population of less 
 than 10,000 may have a separate police force at all. 
 
 6. Boroughs which according to the census of 1881 had a 
 population of less than 10,000. — A borough which in 1881 
 had less than 10,000 inhabitants is regarded by the 
 Legislature as a very poor and sickly entity — a thing 
 not worthy of the name of a borough, that had far better 
 allow itself to be submerged in the county. It is dis- 
 tinctly encouraged to petition Her Majesty in Council 
 to revoke the grant to it of a Court of Quarter Sessions, 
 and also the grant of a separate Commission of the 
 Peace. If it does not, it must pay the salaries of its own 
 Recorder, Clerk of the Peace, and Clerk to the borough 
 justices, and yet contribute to the cost of the County 
 Sessions as well. It cannot have a separate police force 
 of its own : the county police keep order in its streets — 
 men over whom the borough justices have no control 
 and can exercise no supervision, for they are appointed 
 by the joint committee of the County Council and the 
 county magistrates. All the former powers of the 
 Council and justices of such a borough in respect of
 
 102 THE BOROUGH chap, iv 
 
 police, public analysts, pauper lunatic asylums, reforma- 
 tory and industrial schools, fish conservancy, contagious 
 diseases of animals, destructive insects, explosives, gas 
 meters, and weights and measures were by section 38 
 of the Local Government Act, 1888, transferred to the 
 County Council. And subsection 5 of that section ex- 
 pressly declares that the area of such a borough " shall 
 for the purposes of the above-mentioned Acts and all 
 other administrative purposes of the County Council be 
 included in the county, as if the borough had not a 
 separate Court of Quarter Sessions, and shall accordingly 
 be subject to the authority of the County Council and 
 the county coroners, and may be annexed by the County 
 Council to a coroner's district of the county, and the 
 parishes in the borough shall be liable to be assessed 
 to all county contributions." Nevertheless the town 
 remains a borough : it has still a Mayor and cor- 
 poration ; it still audits its own accounts ; it still has 
 power to manage its own municipal affairs in its own 
 independent fashion. 
 
 Central Control 
 
 Only one other point remains to be noticed, and 
 that is the relation of boroughs to the Central Govern- 
 ment. As we have seen, the controlling power of the 
 Central Executive is purely negative. It can disallow 
 certain things, such as parting with corporate property 
 or the creation of loans on the security of the rates, but 
 there its power of interference begins and ends. In all 
 other matters a municipality enjoys, within the limits of 
 the law, an unfettered liberty of action.
 
 CHAPTEE V 
 
 THE UNION 
 
 History of Unions — The Guardians of the Poor— Their Election— 
 Their Duties — Central Control 
 
 FOR poor-law purposes primarily, but incidentally for 
 other purposes also, England is divided into unions. A 
 union is the area which is under the jurisdiction of a 
 Board of Guardians. For the most part it consists, 
 as its name implies, of a group of poor-law parishes; 
 but the constitution of a union may be conferred on a 
 single parish, if the population warrant it. The statutory 
 definition of a poor-law union is " any parish or union 
 of parishes for which there is a separate Board of 
 Guardians." 1 There are 649 unions, of which a few are 
 single parishes, and the rest are groups of parishes. 
 
 Both unions and Boards of Guardians are unknown 
 to the common law of England ; both are entirely the 
 creatures of statute. Our present poor-law system dates 
 from 1601, when the great statute of Elizabeth (43 Eliz. 
 c. 2) was passed. 
 
 This measure was rendered necessary by the decay of 
 
 1 52 & 53 Vict. c. 63, s. 16.
 
 104 THE UNION chap. 
 
 agriculture, the enclosure of commons and other land, 
 the decline of villcnage, and many other social and 
 economic changes, which rendered it more and more 
 difficult for the peasant class to earn an honest living. 
 The Act directed that officers should be appointed for 
 each parish, called " overseers of the poor," whose duty 
 it should be to "set to work" all paupers and their 
 children, and to raise a common fund "for the necessary 
 relief of the poor" by "taxation of every occupier of 
 lands, houses, tithes, coal-mines, or saleable underwoods 
 in the parish." This fund the vestry of each parish 
 formerly administered. The churchwardens were over- 
 seers ex officio. 
 
 The relief of the poor was thus entrusted to the 
 parishes ; and each separate parish was to maintain its 
 own poor. There were many reasons for this. To 
 begin with, the parish had by 1601 in most parts of 
 England effaced the Saxon township, the Norman vill, 
 and the feudal manor, and become the solely recognised 
 area of local administration. Moreover it was still largely 
 an ecclesiastical area ; and the relief of the poor had so 
 long been .left to the monasteries, that, though the 
 monasteries were now dissolved, it still was deemed a 
 quasi - ecclesiastical matter. But England was full of 
 " vagrom " men and women, who wandered from one 
 parish to another, seeking work, or seeking what they 
 might devour. It was soon found necessary to take 
 some steps to compel all such wanderers to return to 
 the parish whence they came. This was done by an 
 Act passed in 1662, the 13 & 14 Car. II. c. 12. The 
 recitals of that Act state in graphic language the evils 
 which it proposed to remedy : " Whereas the necessity,
 
 v POOR-LAW SETTLEMENT 105 
 
 number and continual increase of the poor, not only 
 within the cities of London and Westminster, with the 
 liberties of each of them, but also through the whole 
 kingdom of England and dominion of Wales, is very 
 great and exceeding burthensome, being occasioned by 
 reason of some defects in the law concerning the settling 
 of the poor, and for want of a due provision of the 
 regulations of relief and employment in such parishes 
 or places where they are legally settled, which doth 
 enforce many to turn incorrigible rogues, and others to 
 perish for want, together with the neglect of the faithful 
 execution of such laws and statutes as have formerly 
 been made for the apprehending of rogues and 
 vagabonds, and for the good of the poor; for remedy 
 whereof and for the preventing of the perishing of any 
 of the poor, whether young or old, for want of such 
 supplies as are necessary " ; and, again, " whereas by 
 reason of some defects in the law, poor people are not 
 restrained from going from one parish to another, and 
 therefore do endeavour to settle themselves in those 
 parishes where there is the best stock, the largest 
 commons or wastes to build cottages, and the most 
 woods for them to burn and destroy ; and when they 
 have consumed it, then to another parish ; and at last 
 become rogues and vagabonds, to the great discourage- 
 ment of parishes to provide stocks, where it is liable to 
 be devoured by strangers." And so the Act proceeds 
 to empower the justices to make an order that such 
 wanderers be conveyed back to the parish to which 
 they properly belonged. 
 
 But no one who had been born in a parish, or had 
 occupied a house therein worth £10 a year or over, or
 
 106 THE UNION chap. 
 
 had resided in any house in the parish forty days, could 
 be " removed " under this Act. Thus arose the law of 
 "poor-law settlement," which took shape subsequently 
 in an important Act of William and Mary (3 W. & M. 
 c. 11, passed in 1691). Any pauper who became 
 chargeable to one parish could be removed thence to 
 the parish in which he was "last legally settled." A 
 man was said to gain a settlement in any parish in 
 which he held an estate in land, however small, or 
 rented a tenement worth £10 a year, or served as a 
 parochial officer, or paid parochial taxes, or was bound 
 apprentice to any parishioner. A woman might also 
 gain a settlement by marriage; she at once acquired 
 her husband's settlement, if he had one. If a pauper 
 had never gained a settlement for himself, he took his 
 father's or his mother's settlement; if neither of his 
 parents had ever had a settlement, he was deemed to 
 be settled where he was born. Without some such law 
 of settlement the Act of Elizabeth would have been 
 unworkable. 
 
 Then followed constant litigation between parishes. 
 Orders for the removal of paupers from one parish to 
 another were made recklessly by interested justices, and 
 there were many costly appeals to Quarter Sessions 
 and thence to the Court of Queen's Bench. Sensible 
 men saw that if a larger area was taken as the unit for 
 poor-law purposes, much of this expensive litigation 
 between neighbouring parishes would be saved. The 
 parish poorhouse, too, was a miserable and sadly mis- 
 managed institution. Hence as early as 1662 we find 
 parishes uniting for poor-law purposes under special 
 Acts, which enabled them to maintain their joint poor
 
 v THE UNION 107 
 
 in one common workhouse. By a statute passed in 
 1782 (22 Geo. III. c. 83 — commonly known as Gilbert's 
 Act), any parishes that could agree on such a course 
 were authorised to combine for purposes of indoor relief. 
 By the same Act, new officers, called guardians of the 
 poor, were created to act with the overseers and church- 
 wardens. 
 
 But the present systematic scheme of unions covering 
 the whole country was created by the Poor Law Amend- 
 ment Act, 1834 (4 & 5 Will. IV. c. 76). By the 
 same Act the relief of the poor was taken out of the 
 hands of the overseers and transferred to Boards of 
 Guardians, which were then created for the purpose. 
 Parish mismanagement and the policy of the bastardy 
 laws had completely demoralised the rural poor. One 
 of the first works of the Beformed Parliament was the 
 entire remodelling of the poor-law administration. A 
 central body of Commissioners, with very large powers, 
 was appointed, to whom was entrusted among other 
 matters the duty of grouping parishes into unions. These 
 Commissioners a few years later became a permanent 
 body, under the title of the Poor Law Board ; and in 
 1871 the Poor Law Board was merged in the Local 
 Government Board. 
 
 In forming unions, they went on the general principle 
 of taking a market-town as a centre, and uniting the 
 surrounding parishes, the inhabitants of which resorted 
 to its market. It was supposed that such a centre 
 would be convenient for the attendance of guardians and 
 parish officers. At the same time care was taken to 
 keep the union small enough to enable the guardians 
 to have personal knowledge of all the details of its
 
 108 THE UNION chap. 
 
 management. Unions under the former Acts were 
 respected. The situation of existing workhouses 
 and other local circumstances and feelings were 
 allowed to modify the general plan. Little or no 
 respect was paid either to municipal boundaries or to 
 the old division of the land into hundreds, or to any- 
 other area of local government, except the parish. 
 The result is that the unions are very unequal in size 
 and population, and often very irregular in form. In 
 1894, out of 649 unions, 183 still cut county boundaries, 
 notwithstanding the efforts made by the Boundary Com- 
 missioners appointed in 1887. But this has been gradu- 
 ally put right by the Local Government Board, which 
 has full power to create new unions and to dissolve 
 existing ones, or to alter their boundaries by transferring 
 parishes from one union to another. Nevertheless, the 
 number of unions in England and Wales has remained 
 practically stationary; it was 647 in 1877, 648 in 
 1892, and it is now 649. For certain purposes unions 
 are grouped by the Local Government Board into 
 what are called "union counties," but the area of such 
 counties does not correspond with the county properly 
 so called of the same name. 1 
 
 The governing body in every union is a Board of 
 Guardians. To this body in 1834 was confided, sub- 
 ject to the efficient control of the Poor Law Board, 
 the whole administration of the relief of the poor 
 and the management of the workhouses. Many other 
 functions were subsequently bestowed on them. In 
 
 1 The history and working of the poor-laws is the subject of 
 another volume of this series : The Poor Law, by Rev. T. "W. 
 Fowle, M.A., second edition. 1898.
 
 v GUARDIANS OF THE POOR 109 
 
 1855 the guardians and overseers of any rural parish 
 were made the ultimate authority to enforce the pro- 
 visions of the Nuisances Removal Act and the Diseases 
 Prevention Act, which were both passed in that year. 
 From 1872 to 1894 the guardians were the sanitary 
 authority in every rural district. And under an Act of 
 1878 whenever the area of a union was coincident with 
 the area of a highway district, the guardians might be 
 constituted the highway authority, with all the powers 
 of a district Highway Board. From 1863 to 1878 it 
 was also the duty of the Board of Guardians to supervise 
 the sanitary condition of all bakehouses. But all these 
 powers and duties are now transferred to the District 
 Council. So by the Union and Parish Property Act, 
 1835, the Board of Guardians was empowered, with the 
 approval of the Local Government Board, to sell, ex- 
 change, or let the property of any parish within its 
 union. But this power is now vested in the Parish 
 Council. 
 
 In the country generally, apart from the Metropolis, 
 the guardians until 1894 consisted of two classes, 
 namely, ex officio guardians, and elective guardians who 
 were subject to a property qualification. The justices of 
 the peace resident within the area of the union were 
 the ex officio guardians. The property qualification 
 of the elective guardians was fixed by Government 
 at £5 a year. The persons entitled to vote at the 
 election of guardians were the owners and ratepayers 
 of the electing parish. The system of plural voting 
 prevailed, and a person might have from one to six 
 votes, according to his property qualification. A re- 
 sident owner might vote both as owner and ratepayer,
 
 110 THE UNION chap. 
 
 and therefore, given a sufficient property qualification, 
 might register twelve votes. A non-resident owner 
 might appoint a proxy to vote for him. A contested 
 election was conducted by means of voting papers, 
 delivered at the house of each voter or proxy. 
 And in most parishes the guardians only held office 
 for a twelvemonth ; so that there was an election once 
 a year. 
 
 The Local Government Act of 1894 put an end to 
 all these electoral arrangements. It abolished the ex officio 
 guardians, the elective property qualification, the plural 
 vote, proxies, and the house-to-house delivery of polling 
 papers. The guardians are now elected by the parochial 
 electors by ballot. By the same Act all sanitary powers 
 were taken away from the guardians and conferred on 
 the District Council. Yet at the same time a most in- 
 timate connection is maintained between this new body 
 and the Board of Guardians in every rural district. 
 For every rural district councillor is necessarily and 
 inevitably a guardian of the poor as well. He represents 
 his own parish on the Board of Guardians for the union, 
 without any separate election thereto ; and this although 
 the Rural District Council and the Board of Guardians 
 are entirely distinct bodies. But in an urban district 
 the Board of Guardians and the District Council 
 are still elected separately and may consist of entirely 
 different persons. 
 
 The wisdom of this new arrangement in the rural 
 districts has been much questioned. It is urged that 
 the work of a district councillor is different from that of 
 a poor-law guardian, and requires somewhat different 
 qualifications. Why then must the same man be both 1
 
 v THE BOARD OF GUARDIANS 111 
 
 A good councillor, it is said, may be an inefficient 
 guardian, or vice versd: an efficient man may not have 
 leisure to serve properly in both capacities. The answer 
 is, that it has been found by experience that if the 
 duties of any such post are increased, superior men will 
 seek election to it ; but that capable men will not come 
 forward as candidates for an office in which their powers 
 are limited, and their opportunities of usefulness are 
 scanty. Moreover, the work that is now divided between 
 the Board of Guardians and the Rural District Council 
 is practically the same as that which the Board of 
 Guardians dispatched unaided prior to 1894. 
 
 Present Constitution of the Board 
 
 Every Board of Guardians is a body corporate, called 
 by the name of " The Guardians of the Poor of the 
 
 Union (or of the parish of ) in the county 
 
 of ." It has perpetual succession and a common 
 
 seal, and may sue and be sued and take and hold land 
 in that name, without licence in mortmain. In any 
 action or indictment relating to any property belonging 
 to the Board, it is sufficient to lay the property in the 
 Board of Guardians by that name. All guardians now 
 are elected. They hold office for three years ; one- 
 third, as a rule, retire each year. There are no longer 
 any ex officio or nominated guardians. The parochial 
 electors of each parish directly elect the bulk of the 
 members. The number of guardians representing each 
 parish is originally fixed by the Order creating the union ; 
 but may be subsequently altered by either the Local
 
 11 '2 THE UNION chap. 
 
 Government Board or the County Council (or where 
 unions cross county boundaries, by the joint committee 
 of the two County Councils). As a rule, every parish 
 which has a population of not less than 300 sends at least 
 one representative to the union ; but a parish with a 
 population of less than 300 may by an Order of the Local 
 Government Board be joined to some neighbouring 
 parish for the purpose. This means practically the 
 merging of the smaller in the larger parish. On the 
 other hand, if the population of a parish exceeds 20,000, 
 it may be divided into wards, and one or more guardians 
 allotted to each ward. 
 
 Guardians, as such, are not now elected for any 
 parish in a rural district. It is only in urban districts 
 that a separate election of poordaw guardians is held. 
 The electors are the "parochial electors" of each parish 
 or ward. The election must be conducted in accordance 
 with the rules laid down by the Local Government 
 Board in an Order dated 20th September 1894. The 
 election is by ballot and subject to the provisions of the 
 Ballot Act, 1872, the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, 
 and the Municipal Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Prac- 
 tices) Act, 1884. Each elector may give one vote and 
 no more for each of any number of candidates not 
 exceeding the number to be elected. 
 
 A woman, even a married woman, may be a guardian. 
 No property qualification is now required. Any person 
 is qualified to be elected a guardian who is a parochial 
 elector of some parish within the union, or has resided 
 in the union during the whole of the twelve months 
 preceding the election, or, in the case of a parish which 
 lies wholly or in part within the area of a borough
 
 v THE BOARD OF GUARDIANS US 
 
 (whether a county borough or not), who is qualified to be 
 a councillor for that borough. No one, however, may be 
 elected a guardian who is a paid poor-law officer of a 
 union or parish anywhere in England or Wales, or is an 
 infant or alien, or has within twelve months before the 
 election received union or parochial relief, or has within 
 five years before the election been adjudged bankrupt 
 or convicted of a crime, or is concerned in certain 
 contracts with the Board. If any guardian is absent 
 from all meetings of the Board for more than six con- 
 secutive months, except through illness or for some 
 other good cause approved by the Board, he vacates his 
 seat. And any guardian, who is also a rural district 
 councillor, will apparently vacate his seat on the Board 
 of Guardians as well as on the District Council, if he 
 has without good cause been absent for more than six 
 months from all meetings of the District Council, how- 
 ever regularly he may have attended the meetings of 
 the Board. 
 
 As soon as a Board is thus constituted it may add to 
 its number not more than two persons from outside its 
 own body, who are qualifier 1 to be guardians of that 
 union ; and any person so elected will be an additional 
 guardian and a member of the Board. So, too, the 
 Board when constituted may elect a chairman or vice- 
 chairman from outside its own body, provided he be 
 qualified to be a guardian of that union ; and such 
 chairman or vice-chairman will also be an additional 
 guardian and a member of the Board. Such additional 
 guardians are not, however, district councillors even 
 in a rural district ; they merely attend when poor-law 
 business is taken ; and so do the representatives of 
 
 I
 
 114 THE UNION cnAh. 
 
 parishes which, though comprised in the union, are not 
 within the rural district. 
 
 Duties of the Guardians 
 
 The primary duty of the guardians is to relieve the 
 poor. The overseers of a parish can only give relief 
 temporarily and in urgent cases. Every union has its 
 workhouse, or a share in a workhouse, in which the 
 "impotent poor" and the pauper children are housed, 
 clothed, and fed, and the casual poor temporarily 
 relieved. The Board of Guardians supervises the 
 management of the workhouse and the pauper schools 
 and, subject to confirmation by the Local Government 
 Board, it appoints the relieving officers and the medical 
 officers for the union, and the workhouse masters, 
 chaplains, and schoolmasters. The guardians, too, must 
 take care that the inmates of the workhouse do their 
 task- work and observe the rules of the house ; and they 
 must also, so far as possible, provide work for every 
 able-bodied male person who is in receipt of outdoor 
 relief. No one can demand outdoor relief as a right ; 
 but, if in need, he can insist on being received into the 
 workhouse of the union in which he is, until it is shown 
 that he is "settled" in some other union (i.e. that some 
 other union can be compelled to maintain him). The 
 master of any workhouse must also receive into the 
 workhouse any child brought there under any order 
 made in pursuance of the Infant Life Protection Act, 
 1897 ; and such child must be maintained in the work- 
 house until other arrangements can be made for its 
 maintenance.
 
 v DUTIES OF THE GUARDIANS 115 
 
 In the administration of the large sum of money 
 compulsorily raised each year for these charitable pur- 
 poses, the guardians have often to anxiously consider 
 vexed problems, and to exercise their discretion with 
 intelligence and foresight. They have to decide in any 
 particular case whether outdoor relief should be given or 
 the workhouse test applied. As regards this question 
 the poor-law is very unequally administered in different 
 unions. On 1st January 1898, 836,913 persons (or 27 
 of the population) were in receipt of poor-relief in Eng- 
 land and Wales; of these 107,071 were adult able- 
 bodied paupers; 231,788 received indoor relief, and 
 605,125 outdoor relief. At the same date the ratio of 
 indoor paupers in England and Wales to 1000 of the 
 population was 7*4; the ratio of outdoor paupers was 
 19-5. But while in the Metropolis the figures were 
 15-6 and 120, in Wales they were 4-2 and 281 re- 
 spectively. During the last thirty years the cost of 
 indoor relief has increased from one-third to nearly 
 one-half of the cost of the whole relief given. Again, 
 when outdoor relief has to be given, the guardians must 
 decide whether it shall be given in money or in kind. 
 Relief in kind (i.e. gifts of food, clothing, coal, blankets, 
 etc.) is less liable to misapplication than gifts in cash. 
 
 The total cost of the relief of the poor was in 1881 
 £8,102,106; in 1896-97 it was £10,432,189, a greater 
 expenditure than in any previous year ! Of this 
 large sum £33,065 was most usefully spent in the six 
 months ending at Michaelmas 1896 in "boarding-out" 
 4784 children — an excellent method, which, apparently, 
 only 354 Boards out of the 649 have as yet adopted. 
 By far the greater part of the money required is raised by
 
 116 THE UNION chap. 
 
 means of the poor-rate, the collection of which, as we 
 have seen, 1 is the duty of the overseers of each parish, 
 and not of the guardians, who merely make an order 
 that each parish in the union shall contribute a certain 
 sum. For any permanent work or object, such as the 
 erection of a new workhouse, hospital, or asylum, the 
 guardians may borrow money, provided they can obtain 
 the consent of the Local Government Board. The 
 benefit of such outlay will last for many years, and 
 therefore it is fair that the cost should be spread over 
 many years. But, except for such purposes, a Board of 
 Guardians has no power to borrow money ; it may not 
 anticipate its income, or borrow on the security of future 
 rates, or pay interest on moneys so borrowed. The 
 present outstanding debt of our poor-law authorities is 
 £8,136,457. 
 
 The office of a guardian of the poor in any populous 
 district is no sinecure. The parish valuation lists are 
 made out by the overseers, but they are subject to 
 revision by a committee of the guardians, called the 
 Assessment Committee, who hear and determine ob- 
 jections. An appeal lies from the guardians to the 
 Quarter Sessions. Though the guardians are primarily 
 the poor-law authority, several matters unconnected 
 with poor-relief have been entrusted to their manage- 
 ment. In rural districts where there is no School 
 Board, a committee of the guardians constitutes the 
 School Attendance Committee.' 2 It is the duty of the 
 guardians to appoint and pay the Registrars of Births 
 and Deaths, and to see that they are provided with 
 suitable offices. The enforcement of the Vaccination 
 1 Ante, p. 50. 2 See^os*, p. 161.
 
 v DUTIES OF THE GUARDIANS 117 
 
 Acts is also entrusted to them. In all places outside 
 the Metropolis the Board of Guardians is the authority 
 whose duty it is to enforce the Infant Life Protection 
 Act, 1897. As in the case of most other English admini- 
 strative bodies, much of their work is done through 
 committees. 
 
 Central Control 
 
 In no other department of local government is the 
 control exercised from headquarters so efficient and com- 
 plete as in the case of Boards of Guardians. The union 
 is as potters' clay in the hands of the Local Government 
 Board, and can be moulded at its will. The Board may 
 create new unions, alter the constituent parishes of 
 existing unions, and dissolve unions. The only limit- 
 ing principle to the exercise of these powers is the 
 regard of the Board for the vested interests of par- 
 ticular parishes. The transfer of a parish from one union 
 to another may obviously alter very considerably the 
 proportion of expenses which it may be called on to con- 
 tribute. Though the pauper is always with us, he is not 
 evenly distributed over the face of the country. By an 
 Act of 1879 the Local Government Board may, with the 
 consent of the guardians, combine unions for any pur- 
 pose connected with the administration of the poor-law. 
 Should any corrupt or illegal practice take place at an 
 election of guardians of the poor, a petition must be 
 presented in proper time to the Local Government 
 Board ; the newly-elected Board of Guardians has no 
 jurisdiction over the matter. No union officer can be 
 appointed, except in the case of menial servants, without 
 the sanction of the Local Government Board. The
 
 118 THE UNION chap. 
 
 officers, when appointed, may be removed by the Local 
 Government Board without consulting the guardians; 
 yet they cannot be dismissed by the guardians without 
 consulting the Local Government Board. The Local 
 Government Board, too, takes a most paternal interest 
 in all proceedings of the guardians. It advises them in 
 all their doubts and difficulties. It arbitrates between 
 different Boards of Guardians or between a Board and its 
 officers. 
 
 Whether the poor-laws should be administered 
 uniformly throughout the country, or whether local 
 authorities should be allowed to impress their own indi- 
 viduality on their administration, is a wide question 
 on which I will not venture here. But there is one 
 matter on which central control is most salutary. The 
 Local Government Board subjects the accounts of all 
 Boards of Guardians to a half-yearly audit of a most 
 thorough and searching character. The auditor (who is 
 an officer appointed by the Local Government Board) gives 
 the officers of each parish in the union fourteen days' notice 
 of the day on which he proposes to hold the audit. The 
 rate-books and other accounts must then be made up 
 and balanced forthwith, and deposited seven clear days 
 at least before the day fixed for the audit at some con- 
 venient place within each parish, where they can be 
 inspected on any of the seven intervening days between 
 11 A.M. and 3 P.M. by any person liable to be rated to 
 the relief of the poor in that parish. Due notice must 
 be given forthwith in each parish, and advertised in at 
 least one local newspaper, of the time and place fixed 
 for the audit, and of the place where the parish books 
 are deposited. Any parish officer refusing to allow any
 
 v CENTRAL CONTROL 119 
 
 ratepayer in the parish to inspect the books will be 
 liable to a fine of 40s. Every ratepayer in any parish 
 of the union is entitled to be present at the audit, and 
 may raise any objection to any such accounts before the 
 auditor. The auditor can compel the attendance at the 
 audit of every person who holds any book, deed, paper, 
 goods, or chattel, relating to the poor-rate or to the 
 relief of the poor, and also of every person accountable 
 to the union for any money ; and can call on any such 
 person to produce all accounts and vouchers, and also 
 to make and sign a declaration with respect to such 
 accounts. 
 
 It is the duty of the Local Government Board auditor 
 to disallow every item of expenditure which is in his 
 opinion improper (and therefore illegal), and to " reduce 
 all such payments and charges as are exorbitant." In 
 addition it is his duty to charge against any person who 
 is accounting to him the amount of any deficiency or 
 loss incurred through the negligence or misconduct of 
 such person, and also the amount of any sum for which 
 such person is accountable but which he has not brought 
 into account against himself. For the guardians who 
 are entrusted with the control and distribution of the 
 poor's fund must be taken to know that there are certain 
 specific purposes for which alone this fund may be em- 
 ployed ; and if they allow the moneys in their hands to 
 be devoted to any unauthorised purpose, they betray 
 the trust reposed in them. Hence strictly every guardian 
 who voted in favour of the resolution directing the 
 illegal payment is liable to be surcharged. But the 
 usual course is for the auditor only to surcharge those 
 guardians who actually signed the cheque or the order
 
 120 THE UNION chap, v 
 
 to the treasurer of the union. The persons surcharged 
 must pay the amount to the treasurer within seven 
 days. 
 
 Any guardian who is surcharged can require the 
 auditor to state his reasons for the surcharge in writing 
 in the book of account in which he enters the surcharge. 
 He may then (a) appeal from the auditor to the Local 
 Government Board, who will decide whether the auditor 
 acted legally or not in making the surcharge. Or (b) he 
 may admit his error and apply to the Local Government 
 Board to exercise their equitable powers in his behalf 
 and relieve him from making the payment under 11 & 
 12 Vict. c. 91, s. 4. The amount will generally be re- 
 mitted, if the mistake was made in good faith. Or (c) 
 he may apply to the High Court for a certiorari to bring 
 up the order of the auditor to be quashed. On such an 
 application the Divisional Court as a rule will refuse 
 to interfere with the discretion of the auditor on any 
 matter of detail or on any question of amount, and will 
 only reverse his decision if it is clear that he has gone 
 wrong on some matter of principle.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE COUNTY DISTRICT 
 
 County Districts— Necessity and Province of Sanitary Legislation 
 — History of Sanitary Legislation — Its Results — Sanitary 
 Districts — District Councils: their Constitution, Powers, 
 Officers, and Finance — Central Control — Port Sanitary 
 Authorities. 
 
 The whole of England and Wales, outside the Metro- 
 politan area, is now divided into 1772 districts, of which 
 307 are boroughs, 785 urban districts, 680 rural dis- 
 tricts. The boundaries of the rural districts were origin- 
 ally identical, and still in many cases coincide, with the 
 boundaries of the poor-law unions. The urban sanitary 
 districts were carved out of the unions according to the 
 exigencies of population, little or no regard being paid 
 to the boundaries of parishes or any other area of local 
 government. What was left of the area of the union 
 after the urban portions were abstracted was the rural 
 district. This division of the land dates from 1872, 
 and was made originally for sanitary purposes, with the 
 object of bringing every house in the kingdom under 
 the jurisdiction of some sanitary authority, urban or 
 rural.
 
 122 THE COUNTY DISTRICT ohap. 
 
 The boundaries of these sanitary districts have since 
 been rearranged, in order, so far as possible, to bring 
 the whole of every district into the same county. And 
 they are, therefore, now called county districts. They 
 are, in fact, the modern substitute for that ancient 
 division of a county — the Hundred, Wapentake, or Rape 
 — which is now obsolete. Yet the county districts are 
 still very unequal in size and population, as well as very 
 irregular in form. Thus, leaving all boroughs out of 
 consideration, the urban district of Childwall in Lanca- 
 shire had in 1891 a population of 199, and contained 
 only 32 inhabited houses ; while the urban district of 
 Wallasey, in the same county, has a population of over 
 45,000 inhabitants, and a rateable value of £241,292. 
 
 History of Sanitary Legislation 
 
 Systematic sanitary legislation in England has had 
 but a short history — in fact, it may be said to begin 
 with the Public Health Act of 1848. Sanitary legisla- 
 tion then was urgently needed, owing to the pressure of 
 population and the rapid growth of large towns. But 
 sanitary science was yet in its infancy ; its laws have 
 only recently been recognised as laws at all. It is true 
 that in 1847 and 1848, when cholera visited England, 
 an epidemic disease was no longer looked upon as a 
 shower of darts from some angry Apollo. It was 
 known to be the consequence of the neglect of sanitary 
 precautions, and the violation of sanitary laws. Ex- 
 perience, moreover, had taught men that by isolating the 
 sick and carefully disinfecting their clothing, the spread 
 of such a disease could be arrested. Yet they knew very
 
 vi HISTORY OF SANITARY LEGISLATION 123 
 
 little of the nature and causes of infectious and con- 
 tagious diseases. Science has since advanced ; it has 
 traced most, if not all, such diseases to a living germ. 
 We now know that at least one-quarter of the diseases 
 which destroy life are absolutely preventible — that, 
 though sporadic cases may occur, infection is the ordinary 
 cause of such diseases, and that infection can he pre- 
 vented by sufficient precaution. We know too that pure 
 air and water are the essential conditions of health, while 
 polluted air and water are the sure forerunners of 
 zymotic disease — that sewer gas and all other unhealthy 
 surroundings so lower the vitality of the individual that 
 his constitution cannot resist the germs of disease — that 
 the poison of typhoid fever seems capable of almost 
 unlimited diffusion in water — that milk has extra- 
 ordinary power of conveying the poisons of scarlet 
 fever and diphtheria — and that ground saturated with 
 decaying organic matter is an excellent breeding-place 
 for the germs of typhoid. Thus, while our informa- 
 tion is still far from complete, we know enough of 
 the conditions of health and disease to enable us to 
 take action ; and that action must necessarily take the 
 form of legislation. In such matters the individual is 
 comparatively helpless. Concerted action alone can 
 deal effectively with questions of public health. And 
 apparently it is only by the strong arm of the law that 
 concerted action can be efficiently sustained. At the 
 same time, legislation alone will not prevent the 
 spread of disease. The co-operation of the public is 
 necessary ; and the best way to secure that co-operation 
 is by teaching the public the properties and causes of 
 each preventible disease.
 
 124 THE COUNTY DISTRICT chap. 
 
 A nuisance injurious to health is indictable at common 
 law. For instance, if a man accumulates filth on his 
 land so as to cause a nuisance to his neighbours, he may 
 be prosecuted criminally. The now obsolete Courts 
 Leet seem to have exercised some control in sanitary 
 matters. The court rolls of Stratford-on-Avon show 
 that in 1552 Shakspeare's father was fined for depositing 
 filth in the public street in violation of the by-laws of 
 the manor, and again in 1558 for not keeping his gutter 
 clean. But the function of common law begins and ends 
 with the punishment of individuals. It knows nothing 
 of prevention or cure. It has no machinery for dealing 
 with those insanitary conditions which the massing of 
 human beings together in cities and towns necessarily 
 creates. Hence the aid of the Legislature had to be 
 invoked. 
 
 The first sanitary Act on the statute-book is an Act 
 of 1388, which imposed a penalty of £20 on persons 
 who cast animal filth and refuse into ditches and rivers. 
 In the reign of Henry VIII. the Statute of Sewers was 
 passed, which authorised the issue of Commissions of 
 Sewers at the discretion of the Lord Chancellor and 
 Lord Treasurer. The Act defined the duties of the 
 Commissioners, which included, among other matters, 
 the cleansing of rivers, public streams, and ditches. 
 In the seventeenth century special statutes were passed 
 relating to the plague. As early as the reign of 
 George II. the more populous and wealthy towns began 
 to seek a remedy in their individual cases by applying 
 to Parliament for special legislation ; and from that 
 date down to the present time very numerous special 
 Acts have been passed conferring on various populous
 
 vi HISTORY OF SANITARY LEGISLATION 125 
 
 places powers of local government, pointed more directly 
 in the earlier instances at the paving, lighting, cleans- 
 ing, and improving the districts embraced in them, but 
 recognising in all later instances the importance of 
 sanitary regulations, and making provision accordingly. 
 
 The Lighting and Watching Act, 1833, was a step 
 towards more general legislation. It provided for 
 lighting and watching in parishes ; enabled the rate- 
 payers to appoint inspectors, who might contract for 
 works ; and imposed penalties for contaminating water 
 by gas. The Act was permissive. Its provisions might 
 be adopted in any parish by resolution of the vestry 
 duly convened for that purpose ; they were so adopted 
 in many parishes. 
 
 In 1847 the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, the 
 Towns Police Clauses Act, the "Water-works Clauses 
 Act, the Gas-works Clauses Act, with several similar 
 Acts, were passed for the purpose of consolidating and 
 generalising the provisions usually inserted in local Acts 
 for various public purposes. Their object is to supply 
 model clauses, which can be adopted by reference into 
 local Acts. With a few exceptions their provisions have 
 been adopted into all subsequent local legislation. 
 Under these Acts districts were formed, called " Im- 
 provement Act districts," governed by "Improvement 
 Commissioners." Of these districts about fifty continued 
 down to 1894. 
 
 In 1848 was passed the first Public Health Act — a' 
 great and comprehensive measure, which may be called 
 the foundation-stone of our national sanitary legislation. 
 It did not apply to the Metropolis, but was intended 
 mainly for other large towns and populous places. It
 
 126 THE COUNTY DISTRICT chap. 
 
 created a General Board of Health, the members of 
 which were appointed by the Crown, and were em- 
 powered to appoint inspectors to see that the provisions 
 of the Act were carried out. The General Board of 
 Health had also power to create (through the machinery 
 of an Order in Council) Local Boards of Health. In 
 places where the rate of mortality was exceptionally 
 high the Board of Health might act of its own motion ; 
 but in ordinary cases it could only act on the petition of 
 the ratepayers. In municipal boroughs the Town Council 
 was constituted the Local Board. In other places the 
 Board was elected by the ratepayers. Certain specified 
 powers were conferred on all Local Boards, and the 
 General Board of Health was authorised to vary local 
 Acts by Provisional Order. In particular, Local Boards 
 were empowered to construct and manage sewers, drains, 
 wells, water and gas works ; to deal with deposits of 
 refuse, closets, and slaughter-houses ; to regulate offensive 
 trades ; to remove nuisances ; to protect water-works from 
 pollution ; to pave and regulate streets ; to regulate 
 dwellings and common lodging-houses ; to provide burial 
 and recreation grounds ; and to supply public baths with 
 water. 
 
 The Local Government Act of 1858 enabled a Local 
 Board to be created by the resolution of the ratepayers 
 of any place having a defined boundary without the 
 intervention of the General Board of Health. That 
 Board was allowed to expire, and its remaining functions 
 were divided between the Home Office and the Privy 
 Council. In 1871 the public health powers of the Home 
 Office and Privy Council were transferred to the newly- 
 created Local Government Board. The Public Health
 
 vi HISTORY OF SANITARY LEGISLATION 127 
 
 Act of 1872 divided the country into urban and rural 
 sanitary districts, and constituted the guardians the 
 rural sanitary authority. Up to that date it had been 
 the duty of the guardians to see to the removal of 
 nuisances. The vestries, on the other hand, had been 
 the rural sewer authorities, and as such had had various 
 other sanitary powers conferred upon them. Now the 
 Act of 1872 took away all sanitary functions from the 
 vestry of every rural parish, and transferred them to the 
 guardians. In urban districts the vestries had for some 
 years ceased to have any sanitary powers. Hence from 
 1872 to 1894 the sanitary authority in every rural 
 district was the Board of Guardians ; while in every 
 urban district it was either the Town Council of a 
 borough, the Improvement Commissioners of an Im- 
 provement Act district, or a Local Board of Health. 
 
 The Public Health Act of 1875 repealed the Act of 
 1848 and twenty-nine of its amending Acts, and re- 
 enacted them in a condensed and intelligible form. It 
 does not apply to the Metropolis, but it forms the 
 sanitary code of the rest of England. Several Acts 
 amending or extending it have since been passed, but, 
 with few exceptions, the law of general application 
 relating to sanitary matters is to be found in the Act of 
 1875. Of the amending and extending Acts it is only 
 possible here to mention three : — 
 
 (a) The Notification of Infectious Diseases Act, 1889 ; 
 
 (b) The Infectious Disease (Prevention) Act, 1890 ; and 
 
 (c) The Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890, of 
 which Part I. extends to all England, Wales, and Ireland, 
 but Parts II., III., IV., and V. only apply in such districts 
 as adopt them.
 
 128 THE COUNTY DISTRICT chap 
 
 The first of these Acts supplied a most necessary 
 link in our machinery for the prevention of infection. 
 It was of little use to give a Local Board power to 
 order a house to be disinfected, and infected clothing 
 to be burned, when no machinery was provided by 
 which the Board could be informed in which houses 
 infection was rife. This Act only operates, outside the 
 Metropolis, in those districts that think fit to adopt 
 it; but 1549 districts out of 1772 have adopted it. 
 
 Our sanitary legislation has borne good fruit. It 
 has almost stamped out typhus fever, a disease which 
 formerly exacted an annual tribute of some thousand 
 lives. Compulsory vaccination has scotched, though it 
 has not killed, small-pox. 1 The general health of the 
 population has largely improved, and the expectation of 
 life has perceptibly increased. In the year 1881, 16,000 
 persons died from scarlet fever, and 5000 from small- 
 pox. In 1896, 5476 persons died from scarlet fever, and 
 only 541 from small-pox ; and of these 541 deaths, 443 
 occurred in the registration district of Gloucester in the 
 course of the epidemic which prevailed there. In the year 
 1847 the death-rate was 24-7 per thousand of the popula- 
 tion ; for the year 1896 it was 17'1. This lower death- 
 rate implies the survival of over 2,000,000 persons who, 
 according to the previous rate of mortality, would have 
 died. And the gain does not consist merely in the 
 saving of life. These diseases maimed and enfeebled 
 those who ultimately recovered ; they inflicted on those 
 who survived as well as on those who succumbed an 
 
 1 This was written before the passing of the Vaccination Act, 
 
 1898.
 
 vi HISTORY OF SANITARY LEGISLATION 129 
 
 enormous amount of pain and misery and pecuniary 
 loss which could have been prevented by efficient hy- 
 gienic precautions. The loss of vigour and diminished 
 power of work due to unhealthy surroundings may be 
 an unknown quantity, but no one can doubt its magni- 
 tude. There is also an intimate connection between 
 overcrowded dwellings and crime. Nothing more need 
 be said to demonstrate the importance of the matters 
 with which sanitary authorities have to deal. 
 
 District Councils 
 
 The framers of the Local Government Act of 1894 
 were in a difficulty. They had announced in the Act 
 of 1888 that there were to be "District Councils." But 
 what was to be the district of these District Councils 1 
 With the County Councils all was straight sailing : there 
 were the counties waiting for their Councils. And it 
 had been determined that the parish was to be the unit 
 of local government. But something had to come 
 between the parish and the county, which was to be 
 called a district. Each county was to consist of a 
 number of districts, and each district of a number of 
 parishes. There were plenty of districts to choose from 
 — sanitary districts, School Board districts, highway 
 districts, Improvement Act districts, Drainage Board 
 districts, Land Drainage Act districts. But none of 
 these had been mapped out with any regard to the 
 boundaries of either parishes or counties. There were 
 the unions, which were groups of parishes, it was true, 
 but unfortunately they did not tit into the county 
 system at all. Out of the 649 unions, 183 lay in more 
 
 K
 
 130 THE COUNTY DISTRICT chap. 
 
 than one county. The old hundred, if it had still 
 existed, would have been the very thing; but it was 
 felt to be impossible to revive the hundred. And so our 
 legislators had to take the sanitary districts and rearrange 
 them. They tried, as far as possible, to get the whole of 
 every parish into the same district, and the whole of every 
 rural district into the same county. Then they christened 
 the districts thus rearranged " county districts," and 
 gave to each a District Council. 
 
 A county district may be either urban or rural ; its 
 size and boundaries still depend mainly on the areas of 
 antecedent unions and sanitary authorities. Whenever 
 the area of any poor-law union lay wholly outside any 
 urban sanitary district, it became in 1894, if all in the 
 same county, a rural county district, governed by a 
 Eural District Council. If part of the area of a poor-law 
 union lay within, and part without an urban sanitary 
 district, that part which lay outside all urban sanitary 
 districts, if all in the same county, became in 1894 a 
 rural county district, governed by a Rural District 
 Council. Where a union lay in more than one county, 
 the portion included in each county, if large enough to 
 have not less than five district councillors, became at 
 once a separate rural district with a separate District 
 Council ; if it would have less than five councillors, and 
 no special order was made either by the County Council 
 or the Local Government Board, it merged in the nearest 
 county district of its own county. The area of any 
 formeriuiban sanitary district;. became in 1894 an urban 
 county district ; if a borough, it is governed by the 
 City or Town Council of the borough ; if outside a 
 borough, by an Urban District Council. But the districts
 
 VI DISTRICT COUNCILS 181 
 
 which existed in 1894 have since been considerably 
 modified by Orders made by the Local Government 
 Board and by various County Councils under s. 57 of 
 the Local Government Act of 1888, and s. 36 of the Act 
 of 1894. The latter section expressly directs that, so 
 far as possible, the whole of every parish shall be in the 
 same district, and the whole of every rural district in the 
 same county. 
 
 The difference between an Urban and a Eural 
 District Council should be carefully observed ; as the 
 Legislature has conferred on the former many powers — 
 especially in sanitary matters — which a rural authority 
 does not necessarily possess. 1 But the most important 
 distinction between the two bodies has been already 
 pointed out in the preceding chapter. A Eural District 
 Council is not only the sole sanitary and the chief high- 
 way authority in its district, but its members are also 
 necessarily poor-law guardians ; they represent each his 
 own parish on the Board of Guardians for the union. 
 Guardians as such are not now elected for any parish in 
 a rural district. Whereas in an .urban district all poor- 
 law matters are still administered by the Board of Guar- 
 dians of the union, which is independent of and elected 
 separately from the Urban District Council, and may 
 consist of entirely different persons. And from this a 
 minor distinction follows : — By the combined effect of 
 the provisions of 5 & 6 Vict. c. 57, s. 14, and Local 
 Government Act, 1894, s. 46, subs. 5, no person can be a 
 councillor for any rural district who is engaged as the 
 paid poor-law officer of any union or parish in England 
 or Wales, wherever situated. But in the case of an 
 1 But see post, p. 138.
 
 132 THE COUNTY DISTRICT chap. 
 
 urban district, there is no such disqualification, as an 
 Urban District Council has nothing to do with the 
 administration of the poor-law. 
 
 Constitution of a District Council 
 
 Every District Council is a body corporate ; its full 
 title is " The Urban (or Rural) District Council of — — " 
 (adding the name of the district, or if there is any doubt 
 as to that name, such name as the County Council 
 direct). It may sue and be sued in that name. It has 
 perpetual succession and a common seal. It may hold 
 land for the purposes of its powers and duties without 
 license in mortmain. Any District Council may, with 
 the sanction of the County Council, change the name of 
 its district, and thus its own name. 
 
 A district councillor holds office for a term of three 
 years. As a rule, one-third, as nearly as can be, of the 
 members of every Council go out of office by rotation on 
 April 15th in each year, and new members are elected 
 to fill their places ; though in some districts by special 
 order the whole body retires en bloc in every third year, 
 instead of one-third portion retiring each year. The 
 number of councillors in any District Council varies with 
 the size and the population of the district ; but there must 
 be at least one member for every constituent parish that 
 has a population of not less than 300. The councillors 
 are unpaid. They are now all elected by the parishes : 
 there are no ex officio or nominated members. Th6 
 electors are the parochial electors of each constituent 
 parish, or of each ward, if the parish be divided into 
 wards for such an election. The voting is by ballot.
 
 vi CONSTITUTION OF A DISTRICT COUNCIL 133 
 
 Each elector may give one vote and no more for each 
 of any number of candidates not exceeding the number 
 to be elected. 
 
 A woman, even a married woman, may be a district 
 councillor. No property qualification now is requisite. 
 No person can be elected a member of an Urban 
 District Council unless he or she is a parochial elector 
 of some parish within the district, or has resided 
 in the district during the whole of the twelve months 
 preceding the election. But a rural district councillor 
 is allowed greater latitude in the choice of his residence. 
 He is only required to be either a parochial elector of 
 some parish within the union, or to have resided in the 
 union during the whole of the twelve months preceding 
 the election ; although the union is often a much larger 
 area than the rural district. 1 
 
 The election is conducted under rules made by the 
 Local Government Board. Each candidate for election 
 must be nominated in writing. The clerK to the District 
 Council is the returning officer. A candidate will be 
 disqualified if he is an infant or an alien, or has within 
 twelve months been in receipt of parochial relief, or has 
 within five years been convicted or adjudged bankrupt, 
 or is interested in certain contracts with the Council. 
 
 1 The Legislature never intended that a person living outside a 
 district should be a councillor for that district. The anomaly is 
 caused by the way in which the Act is drafted. Section 24 of the 
 Local Government Act, 1894, which deals with rural councillors, 
 should have been made complete in itself ; instead of that, it 
 incorporates s. 20, which deals with guardians of the poor. The 
 result is that any one who is qualified to be a guardian for a 
 union is also qualified to be elected a member of every rural 
 District Council comprised in the area of that union.
 
 134 THE COUNTY DISTRICT chap. 
 
 The paid officer of one District Council may be elected 
 a member of another, but not of the District Council 
 which employs and pays him. Whatever will dis- 
 qualify a candidate from serving as a guardian will 
 disqualify him also from becoming a rural district 
 councillor. 
 
 The councillors elect their own chairman, who, if a man 
 and not personally disqualified by any Act of Parliament, 
 is by virtue of his office a Justice of the Peace for the 
 county in which his district is situate. If he has not 
 done so already, he must take the oaths usually taken 
 by a Justice of the Peace before he acts in that capacity. 
 But, if re-elected chairman, he need not take the oaths 
 again. 1 
 
 If any district councillor is absent from all meetings 
 of the Council for more than six consecutive months, 
 except through illness or for some other good cause 
 approved by the Council, he vacates his seat. And any 
 rural district councillor, who is also a guardian, will 
 apparently vacate his seat on the District Council as 
 well as on the Board of Guardians, if he has without 
 good cause been absent for more than six months from 
 all meetings of the Board, however regularly he may 
 have attended the meetings of the District Council. 
 
 Powers of a District Council 
 
 ' On the new body thus constituted, the Legislature 
 has bestowed very wide and extensive powers. And in 
 order that it may discharge its various duties, every 
 District Council is authorised to provide itself with suit- 
 
 1 59 & 60 Vict. c. 22.
 
 vi POWERS OF A DISTRICT COUNCIL 135 
 
 able offices, and to appoint and pay a Clerk, a Surveyor, 
 a Treasurer, and other officers. 
 
 1. Sanitary Powers. — In the first place, it conferred 
 on every Urban District Council all the powers formerly 
 possessed by a Local Board of Health, with some 
 additions. The sewers * of every district vest in the 
 District Council. That body may purchase and con- 
 struct new sewers. It may provide a map of its sewer 
 system. It must keep its sewers so cleansed and ven- 
 tilated as not to be a nuisance. It has power to make the 
 owner of a house drain into its sewers, if the house be 
 •within 100 feet of the sewer and has no efficient drain- 
 age. No new house may be built in the district without 
 being properly drained to the satisfaction of the surveyor. 
 Houses more than 100 feet from the sewer may drain 
 into cesspools. There are special powers to enable 
 District Councils to start and maintain works for dis- 
 infecting sewage, or otherwise disposing of it, so as not 
 to create a nuisance. By leave of the Local Government 
 Board, adjoining urban districts may unite and work 
 together in sewage schemes. District Councils may 
 either undertake themselves, or contract for, the 
 scavenging and cleaning of the houses and streets in 
 their district. If in any house there has been infectious 
 disease, or if any dwelling is in a filthy condition, the 
 District Council may, on the certificate of their medical 
 officer of health, require it to be whitewashed and other- 
 
 1 Note the distinction between a "sewer" and a "drain." 
 Speaking generally, any pine or conduit used for draining one 
 building only, or one block of buildings belonging to the same 
 owner, is pn'md facie a drain, and therefore private property ; 
 every other channel used for carrying otf sewage matter is primd 
 facie a sewer, and the property of the District Council.
 
 136 THE COUNTY DISTRICT chap. 
 
 ■wise purified. Among pleasures expressly forbidden to 
 dwellers in urban districts is the " keeping of any swine 
 or pig-stye in any dwelling-house." The provisions of 
 the Act may be summed up by saying that it is made 
 the duty of every householder to keep his house and 
 premises wholesome and clean, while it is the duty of 
 the Council to see that he does so. 
 
 Where a district is not already supplied with water 
 by some water company with statutory powers, the 
 District Council may undertake the water-supply. It 
 may also purchase or lease the works of existing water 
 companies. It may either supply water by measure, 
 charging according to quantity, or may recoup itself by 
 a water-rate. If the Surveyor reports that any house 
 has not a proper water-supply, the District Council may 
 compel the householder to take a supply from them. 
 In connection with water-supply the District Council is 
 bound also to supply fire-plugs. It has also power, con- 
 currently with the County Council, to enforce the 
 provisions of the Eivers Pollution Prevention Act. 
 Moreover, the District Council itself is now forbidden to 
 pollute any natural stream with sewage. 
 
 Every District Council has ample powers for the 
 regulation of cellar-dwellings and common lodging- 
 houses, and the Local Government Board may, under 
 certain conditions, empower a District Council to make 
 by-laws regulating any houses let in lodgings although 
 not common lodging-houses. It is the body entrusted 
 with the execution of the provisions of the Acts relating 
 to the Housing of the Working Classes. The jurisdic- 
 tion of the Council to prevent and abate nuisances is 
 extensive. It further has power to prevent offensive
 
 vi POWERS OF A DISTRICT COUNCIL 137 
 
 or noxious trades, such as soap-boiling or tallow-melting, 
 from being established without its consent, and to 
 regulate them when allowed. 
 
 The powers of sanitary authorities for dealing with 
 infectious diseases have not been sufficiently used. Any 
 person who, while suffering from an infectious disease, 
 wilfully exposes himself in the streets or in any other 
 public place, or who gets into a public conveyance with- 
 out warning the driver, is liable to a penalty not exceed- 
 ing £5 ; but proceedings are seldom taken to enforce 
 this provision. The District Council may provide mor- 
 tuaries ; in certain circumstances it may obtain an oider 
 from a Justice of the Peace that the body of a person 
 who has died of an infectious disease be removed to the 
 mortuary. It is highly undesirable for the body of a 
 person who dies of an infectious disease to be kept in a 
 dwelling-house more than a few hours. As it is, the 
 blinds are pulled down, the windows closed, and all 
 the surroundings conduce to a spread of the disease. 
 The District Council may order infected clothing to be 
 burned, making compensation to the owners. It may 
 also order a house or conveyance to be disinfected. 
 It may provide sufficient means of disinfection, e.g., a 
 steam disinfecting apparatus. These powers should be 
 freely used ; especially as systematic provision has now 
 been made for the notification of infectious disease to the 
 local authority. 
 
 The District Council has power to construct and 
 maintain hospitals, and two or more local authorities 
 may have a joint hospital. There is also power to 
 recover expenses from patients who are not paupers. 
 Some hospitals provide private rooms for patients who
 
 138 THE COUNTY DISTRICT chai\ 
 
 are willing to pay for such accommodation with attend- 
 ance and nursing. Every inducement should be held 
 out to induce persons of the better classes to avail 
 themselves of hospital accommodation when suffering 
 from infectious disease ; for a well-to-do man is just as 
 infectious as a poor man. 
 
 In rural places sanitary problems are for the most 
 part less pressing than in thickly-populated towns ; con- 
 sequently the normal powers of the rural authority are 
 much less extensive than those of its urban kinsmen. 
 Speaking broadly, a Rural District Council has much 
 the same powers as an Urban District Council in 
 respect of sewerage and drainage, and the inspection 
 and abatement of nuisances. It has larger powers as 
 regards water-supply. It is bound to see that every 
 house in its district is properly supplied with water. 
 It has not the powers of an urban authority in respect 
 of lighting, highways, streets, public baths, or recreation 
 grounds. The Local Government Board may, however, 
 confer on a Rural District Council all or any of the 
 powers of an urban authority upon the application of 
 a Rural District Council or of the ratepayers repre- 
 senting one-tenth in value of the rateable property of 
 the district. 
 
 In order to efficiently perform all these functions, 
 every District Council, whether rural or urban, appoints 
 two sanitary officers, namely, the Medical Officer of 
 Health and the Inspector of Nuisances. 
 
 The Medical Officer of Health, who must be a 
 qualified medical practitioner, is the sanitary adviser 
 of the Council. His duty is to attend their meetings 
 when required, to advise them as to their sanitary by-
 
 vi POWERS OF A DISTRICT COUNCIL 139 
 
 laws, to keep them informed as to the health of their 
 district, and to bring to their attention anything de- 
 fective in their arrangements, or any threatenings 
 of an approaching epidemic. He supervises the pro- 
 ceedings of the Inspector or Inspectors of Nuisances ; 
 and he may also himself exercise the powers of an 
 Inspector of Nuisances. It is further his duty to 
 make an annual report on the health and sanitary 
 conditions of his district to the Local Government 
 Board, and to report specially in the case of any epi- 
 demic outbreak. If his reports are properly made, one 
 half of his salary will be repaid to the District Council 
 by the County Council out of their Exchequer Con- 
 tribution Account. 
 
 The Inspector of Nuisances is appointed and paid by 
 the District Council. It is his duty to search out and 
 report upon all nuisances in the district prejudicial 
 to health, and, under instructions, to take proceedings 
 for their abatement. He also reports to the Medical 
 Officer of Health. It is part of his duty to procure 
 samples of food for analysis by the public analyst. Private 
 individuals, on payment of a small fee, are entitled to have 
 any drug or article of food analysed in like manner. Both 
 the Medical Officer and the Inspector of Nuisances have 
 power to inspect, condemn, and seize any meat, fish, milk, 
 vegetables, fruit, bread, or other food, exposed or pre- 
 pared for sale, which appears to him to be diseased or 
 unsound or unwholesome or unfit for the food of man. 
 
 The Public Health Acts Amendment Act, 1890, is 
 divided into five parts. Part I. extends to all England, 
 Wales, and Ireland, exclusive of the administrative 
 county of London. Parts II., III., IV., and V. may be
 
 140 THE COUNTY DISTRICT chap. 
 
 adopted by any Urban District Council under the 
 provisions of the Act; but a Rural District Council 
 may only adopt Part III., and that so far only as it 
 is declared by the Act to be applicable to such an 
 authority. Any District Council may adopt the Noti- 
 fication of Infectious Diseases Act, 1889, and the 
 Infectious Disease (Prevention) Act, 1890. 
 
 2. Highway Powers. — Next, the Legislature conferred 
 on the District Councils large powers over highways. 
 The main roads and county bridges are vested in the 
 County Council, except such as an Urban District 
 Council may elect to retain under its own control. But 
 over all other highways the District Council, whether 
 urban or rural, is supreme. It has all the powers, 
 duties, and liabilities of a surveyor of highways ap- 
 pointed by the vestry under the Highway Act, 1835, 
 and of the vestry itself under that Act or any Act 
 amending the same. The Rural District Council of any 
 district in which there formerly existed a Highway 
 Board under the Highway Acts, 1862 and 1864, has 
 also the powers, duties, and liabilities of such a Board. 
 The reader will find some information as to what 
 these powers, duties, and liabilities are in chap. viii. 
 All Highway Boards have now ceased to exist (ex- 
 cept thirty-two, whose existence has been artificially 
 prolonged by a special Order of the Local Government 
 Board, but an early date is fixed for the dissolution of 
 even these). It is the duty of every District Council 
 to protect all public rights of way, and to prevent as 
 far as possible the stopping or obstruction of any such 
 right of way, whether within its district or in an 
 adjoining district in the same county, where the
 
 vi POWERS OF A DISTRICT COUNCIL 141 
 
 stoppage or obstruction thereof would, in its opinion, 
 be prejudicial to the interests of its district. It is also 
 the duty of every District Council to prevent any 
 unlawful encroachment on any roadside waste within 
 its district. 1 
 
 Every Urban District Council has the management 
 of all streets and highways within its district. It is 
 ex officio the surveyor of highways, and may exercise 
 any powers which a vestry could formerly exercise. 
 The Urban District Council owns the soil of every 
 street repairable by it, so far as is necessary for 
 the use of the street by the public, or for any other 
 of the purposes of the Public Health Acts. It may 
 make new roads and regulate the width and paving of 
 new streets, and make regulations to which all new 
 buildings or houses in the district must conform. It 
 may also indulge in civic luxuries. It may name or 
 rename and renumber streets ; it may put up statues 
 and clocks in public places ; it may provide boats, baths 
 and washhouses, public walks and recreation-grounds, 
 plant trees in the roads, and establish markets, charging 
 stallage rents to the traders who use them. 
 
 If there be no gas company in the place, it may con- 
 tract for, or itself undertake, the supply of gas both for 
 streets and private houses. It may also buy out existing 
 gas companies. It may make rules for the prevention 
 of fires and the regulation of hackney carriages. It 
 may establish cemeteries, and make by-laws for their 
 management. 
 
 3. Allotments and Commons. — Any District Council 
 may acquire land for allotments. It may also, with the 
 1 See post, pp. 181-183.
 
 142 THE COUNTY DISTRICT chap. 
 
 consent of the County Council for the county within 
 which any common land is situate, aid persons in 
 maintaining rights of common where, in the opinion of 
 the District Council, the extinction of such rights would 
 be prejudicial to the inhabitants of the district. It may 
 also, with the like consent, exercise in relation to any 
 common within its district all such powers as may, 
 under s. 8 of the Commons Act, 1876, be exercised by 
 an urban sanitary authority in relation to any common 
 referred to in that section. Notice must be served on 
 the District Council of any application to the Board of 
 Agriculture in relation to any common within its dis- 
 trict, so that it may oppose the application if it thinks fit. 
 4. By-laws. — Every District Council has moreover an 
 inherent power to make by-laws for the regulation of 
 the district under its control. This power would ipso 
 facto attach to every District Council, merely by reason 
 that it is a corporation having jurisdiction over a certain 
 definite territory. But in addition to this, a District 
 Council is expressly empowered to make by-laws for 
 the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the Public 
 Health and Nuisance Kemoval Acts. Such by-laws 
 may impose a penalty not exceeding £5 for each 
 offence. In the case of continuing offences there is 
 power to impose further penalties not exceeding 40s. 
 a day. All by-laws roust be made under the seal of 
 the Council, and must be advertised and published in 
 the prescribed manner. They must also, before coming 
 into force, be submitted to the Local Government Board 
 for its approval, when they may be either confirmed, 
 amended, or disallowed. If confirmed, they bind all 
 persons who come within the district.
 
 vi POWERS OF A DISTRICT COUNCIL 14?, 
 
 5. Miscellaneous Powers. — The Legislature also trans- 
 ferred to the District Council all the powers, duties, and 
 liabilities of justices out of session in relation to the 
 licensing of gang masters, the grant of pawnbrokers' 
 certificates, the licensing of dealers in game, the grant 
 of licenses for passage brokers and emigrant runners, the 
 abolition of fairs and alteration of days for holding fairs, 
 the administration and enforcement of the Acts relating 
 to petroleum and infant life protection ; and also the 
 powers, duties, and liabilities of Quarter Sessions in 
 relation to the licensing of knackers' yards within 
 a county district. A District Council is also the 
 authority under the Factory and Workshop Act, 1883, 
 whose duty it is to supervise retail bakehouses. The 
 Council of any district abutting on a canal has also 
 duties to perform with regard to the registration and 
 inspection of canal boats under the Canal Boats Acts, 
 1877 and 1884. An Urban District Council may adopt 
 the Museums and Gymnasiums Act, 1891, and also 
 the Public Libraries Acts, 1892 and 1893. It may 
 apply for and obtain from the Local Government Board 
 all or any of the special powers, duties, and liabilities of 
 a Parish Council. A Rural District Council may enter 
 into a contract with the Postmaster-General indemni- 
 fying him against any loss occasioned by his providing 
 extra postal facilities for the district. 1 
 
 Finance 
 
 All these miscellaneous functions involve of course 
 very considerable expenditure. This expenditure is of 
 
 1 54 k 55 Vict. c. 46, s. 8.
 
 144 THE COUNTY DISTRICT chap 
 
 two kinds — expenditure which benefits the whole dis- 
 trict, and expenditure which benefits particular inhabit- 
 ants only. To meet expenditure of the latter class two 
 different methods are provided : — 
 
 1. Certain expenses — as, for instance, the expenses of 
 putting house drains in order, or connecting them with 
 the sewers, or paving a private street, — are directed to 
 be borne by the owners or householders themselves. If 
 the Council does the work, it may recover the money 
 expended from the householder. 
 
 2. Where, though a few only are benefited, the 
 outlay is heavy, the Council for the most part has a 
 discretion to declare the expenditure to be private 
 improvement expenses. In such case the repayment by 
 the householder may be spread over a series of years 
 not exceeding thirty, and the money may be collected 
 by means of what is called a private improvement rate, 
 leviable on the particular persons benefited. 
 
 3. Expenditure which benefits the inhabitants gener- 
 ally is met out of the general district fund, or as it is 
 called in the case of a Eural District Council, the 
 common fund. 
 
 Into the general district fund is collected the general 
 income from all sources of an Urban District Council. 
 The sources of its income are very various : Treasury 
 subventions (now paid through the County Council), 
 fines imposed and penalties exacted for breaches of by- 
 laws, rents of houses and land, payments for water and 
 gas, harbour-dues, bridge-tolls, loans, and last, but not 
 least, the general district rate. The general district 
 rate must be made by the Urban District Council under 
 its common seal. It may be made from time to time as
 
 vi FINANCE 145 
 
 occasion requires, either prospectively, in order to raise 
 money for the payment of future charges and expenses, 
 or retrospectively, in order to raise money for the 
 payment of charges and expenses incurred at any time 
 within six months before the making of the rate. The 
 district rate is assessable on all property assessable to 
 the poor rate, and is to be assessed on the full net 
 annual value of such property, except in the case of 
 agricultural and railway land within urban limits, which 
 is only to be assessed on one-fourth of its net annual 
 value. The poor-law valuation is usually taken as the 
 basis. Occupiers, not owners, are the persons generally 
 rated ; but the Council may, if it chooses, rate the 
 owner instead of the occupier, where the annual value 
 of the premises does not exceed £10, and the premises 
 are let out to weekly or monthly tenants. The rate 
 may be inspected by any person interested. Before 
 making a rate it is the duty of the Council to prepare 
 an estimate showing the total amount required, the 
 value of the property assessable, and the amount of the 
 rate per pound. 
 
 A rural district is much less compact and connected 
 than an urban district ; hence the financial arrangements 
 are necessarily different. A Rural District Council has 
 no power directly to levy its own rates, except in the 
 case of a private improvement rate. It obtains the 
 necessary money by means of precepts addressed to the 
 overseers of the separate parishes comprised in its dis- 
 trict. All its expenses, other than private improvement 
 expenses, were divided by the Public Health Act, 1875, 
 into general and special expenses. "General expenses," 
 with one immaterial exception, are the salaries of the 
 
 L
 
 146 THE COUNTY DISTRICT OHAP. 
 
 officers of the Council, the expenses of the establishment, 
 the cost of disinfection, and of conveyances provided for 
 infected persons, and all other expenses not determined 
 by the Act or by order of the Local Government Board 
 to be special expenses. " Special expenses " are those 
 which specially benefit a particular area ; that is, 
 primarily, the cost of maintaining and cleansing the 
 sewers and of providing a proper water-supply ; but 
 the Local Government Board has power to direct that 
 other expenses should be special. "General expenses" 
 must be paid out of a " common fund " to be raised out 
 of the poor-rate of the parishes in the district according 
 to the rateable value of each contributory place. But it 
 is right that each parish should pay separately for its 
 own water-supply or other local work. Hence each 
 parish in the district is a separate "contributory place" 
 and pays all expenses incurred specially for it, by means 
 of a special rate, similar to a poor-rate, but levied only 
 on the particular parish benefited. The basis of assess- 
 ment is the same as that of the general district rate of 
 an Urban District Council just described ; agricultural 
 land, railways, etc., paying on only one-fourth of their 
 net rateable value. Where any work is for the common 
 benefit of two or more parishes in the same district {e.g. 
 a joint water-supply) the Bural District Council may 
 apportion the expense between such places as it thinks 
 fit, subject to an appeal to the Local Government Board. 
 Loans have been mentioned as a source of income. 
 District Councils have large borrowing powers. All 
 works which are not of a permanent nature must be 
 paid for out of current income ; but the expenses of 
 works of a permanent character may be defrayed out of
 
 vi FINANCE 147 
 
 loans. Such loans must be repayable within sixty years, 
 and the sanction of the Local Government Board to the 
 scheme and the amount of the loan must be obtained. 
 The Board also fixes the period over which repayment is 
 to extend. The loans form a charge on the general district 
 rate. In order to secure the lenders, special provisions for 
 the repayment of loans and the due payment of interest 
 are made by the Local Loans Act, 1875. As a result, 
 local authorities can generally obtain money on very easy 
 terms. 1 The last report of the Local Government Board 
 shows that between 1886 and 1895 sanitary rates out- 
 side the Metropolis have risen from £6,548,247 to 
 £10,277,160, an increase of 60 per cent; while the total 
 outstanding loans of our extra -Metropolitan District 
 Councils, urban and rural together, is no less than 
 £121,359,032. 
 
 Central Control 
 
 One other matter must be mentioned — namely, the 
 power entrusted to the Local Government Board of 
 compelling District Councils to do their duty. If a 
 District Council makes default in any matter relating to 
 the sewering or water-supply of the district, the Board, 
 after due inquiry, may order it to execute the necessary 
 works within a specified time. If the order is not 
 obeyed, it may either be enforced by a writ of mandamus, 
 or the Board may appoint persons to do the work and 
 recover the expenses from the District Council. Again, 
 the accounts of every District Council, not being a 
 Borough Council, are audited annually by an officer of 
 the Local Government Board. And every by-law framed 
 
 1 See the Public Works Loans Act, 1897.
 
 148 THE COUNTY DISTRICT chat\ vi 
 
 by a District Council must be submitted to and confirmed 
 by a central authority before it comes into force ; such 
 central authority is generally the Local Government 
 Board, but sometimes, as in the case of electric lighting 
 or telegraphy, the Board of Trade. 
 
 The Port Sanitary Authority 
 
 Besides the ordinary urban and rural authorities, 
 there are sixty Port Sanitary Authorities. The Local 
 Government Board, by Provisional Order, may constitute 
 any local sanitary authority whose district forms part 
 of or abuts on any port, or any conservators or com- 
 missioners having jurisdiction over such port, the 
 sanitary authority for the port. Where there are two or 
 more riparian authorities having jurisdiction within any 
 port, the Local Government Board may, if it thinks fit, 
 combine them by Provisional Order, and constitute them 
 the sanitary authority. In such case the Provisional 
 Order must either prescribe the mode of their joint action 
 or must provide for the formation of a joint board. The 
 Port Sanitary Authority has jurisdiction over all waters 
 within the limits of the port and such portions of the 
 surrounding land as are specified by the Provisional 
 Order which creates the port authority. 
 
 The constituting order may assign to the Port Sani- 
 tary Authority all or any of the rights, powers, and 
 duties possessed by local authorities under the Public 
 Health Act, 1875. It must further direct the mode in 
 which the expenses of the Port Authority are to be 
 paid.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE SCHOOL AUTHORITY 
 
 National Education— Elementary Schools— School Districts— The 
 School Board — The School-Attendance Committee — Voluntary 
 Schools. 
 
 FOR purposes of elementary education England and 
 Wales are parcelled out into school districts. This 
 division of the land dates from Mr. Forster's Elementary- 
 Education Act of 1870, which may be regarded as the 
 charter of national education. That Act has been several 
 times amended by subsequent statutes, but only for the 
 purpose of supplementing and working out the details of 
 the original scheme. Prior to 1870 primary education 
 was recognised as an object of public utility. Building 
 grants and annual grants out of public moneys were 
 made in favour of voluntary schools which had reached 
 a certain standard of efficiency. But Mr. Forster's Act 
 first recognised and gave effect to the principle that it is 
 the duty of the State to see that every child receives 
 the primary elements of an education. A later Act, the 
 Elementary Education Act of 1876, went a step farther 
 and compelled parents to educate their children, or at 
 least to see that they were educated. It also pro-
 
 150 THE SCHOOL AUTHORITY chap. 
 
 hibited the employment of the children in any work 
 which would interfere with their education. No child 
 under the age of eleven may now be employed in any 
 factory or workshop. 1 No child under the age of 
 eleven can be excused from attendance at school. 
 No child between eleven and fourteen can be excused 
 from school attendance without a certificate of pro- 
 ficiency or of due attendance at school. Under the Act 
 of 1893, a blind or deaf child may be compelled to attend 
 school till he or she has attained the age of sixteen. 
 
 To give effect to these Acts two distinct steps must 
 be taken : — 
 
 (i.) Efficient schools must be provided, large enough 
 to accommodate the children who need education. 
 
 (ii.) The children who need education must be made 
 to attend those schools. 
 
 In other words, " a school place for every child, and 
 every child in its place." 
 
 The first step is generally attained by the creation of 
 a School Board, wherever the school accommodation is 
 inadequate ; the second by the formation of a School- 
 Attendance Committee in every district which has no 
 School Board. The local education authority in every 
 school district is either a School Board or a School- 
 Attendance Committee. The School Board both pro- 
 vides education and makes the children attend to receive 
 it. The School-Attendance Committee merely sees that 
 the children receive the education which is provided for 
 them. 
 
 An Elementary School is a school or department of a 
 school at which elementary education is the principal part 
 1 Factory and Workshop Act, 1891, s. 18.
 
 vir ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 151 
 
 of the education there given, and at which the ordinary 
 payments from each scholar do not exceed ninepence a 
 week. 1 A public elementary school is an elementary school 
 which is open to inspection by Her Majesty's Inspectors 
 of Schools, which is worked under the conscience clause, 
 and which conforms in other respects to the require- 
 ments of the Education Department. The Education 
 Department is a Committee of the Privy Council, which 
 was first formed in 1839. It controls the Elementary 
 Day Schools and also the Evening Continuation Schools. 2 
 Industrial Schools are under the control of the Home 
 Secretary ; as children are sent to these schools by the 
 order of a magistrate. 
 
 In order that the Elementary Education Acts might 
 be efficiently carried out, statutory duties were imposed 
 on three classes of persons — namely, parents, the Educa- 
 tion Department, and local authorities. 
 
 1 See s. 3 of the Elementary Education Act, 1870 (33 & 
 34 Vict. c. 75). When this Act first came into operation, the 
 chief element of controversy was the question of religious teaching 
 in rate-supported schools. That controversy was lulled to sleep hy 
 a compromise ; it was revived in 1892, and did much mischief; it 
 is now once more happily dormant. Attention is at present chiefly 
 directed to questions of educational efficiency, to the dividing lines 
 between elementary and secondary education, and to public 
 management in relation to State aid. With all these questions 
 the present volume is in no wise concerned. They are admirably 
 dealt with in another volume of this series — The State in relation to 
 Education, by Sir Henry Craik, 1896. We have only to consider 
 here the machinery by which the Education Acts are worked, not 
 the nature of the products which that machinery turns out. 
 
 ' 2 The Evening Continuation Schools are most valuable and have 
 done great good. Some day we shall have a system of secondary 
 education by the State. The Continuation Schools are an effort in 
 that direction.
 
 152 THE SCHOOL AUTHORITY chap. 
 
 First, It is declared J to be the duty of the parent 
 of every child to cause such child to receive efficient 
 elementary instruction. The term " parent " is denned 
 so as to include every person standing towards a child 
 in loco parentis, and has been held to apply to a maiden 
 aunt. What is meant by "efficient elementary educa- 
 tion" is defined each year by a Code issued by the 
 Education Department. At first it meant writing, 
 reading, and arithmetic. It now includes much more. 
 The Code has practically the force and effect of an Act 
 of Parliament. 
 
 Secondly, It is the duty of the Education Department 
 to see that in every school district there is an adequate 
 supply of public school accommodation to meet the wants 
 of the children. In order that the necessary information 
 may be obtained, the various local authorities are 
 required to furnish returns to the Education Depart- 
 ment ; and there is also power for the Department to 
 hold independent inquiries. 
 
 Thirdly, If in the opinion of the Education Depart- 
 ment there is not a sufficient supply of public school 
 accommodation in any school district, it is the duty of 
 the local authority to supply it. 
 
 The machinery by which these various duties are 
 enforced is as follows : — The country is mapped out into 
 school districts. The whole of the Metropolis is one 
 school district. Every borough outside the Metropolis 
 is a school district. 2 Every parish not included in a 
 
 1 39 & 40 Vict. c. 79, s. 4. 
 
 2 The City of Oxford was formerly an exception. But it is now 
 regulated by a special order of the Local Government Board (con- 
 firmed in 1889) under which it has a School Board, consisting of
 
 vii ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 158 
 
 borough or in the Metropolis is also a school district. 
 Where a parish is partly within and partly without a 
 borough, the part outside is treated as a separate parish, 
 and constitutes a school district. The Education 
 Department has power to unite school districts, and 
 then the united district thus formed is treated as an 
 ordinary school district. Schools for pauper children, 
 other than workhouse schools, may be provided by 
 combinations of unions or of parishes not in any one 
 union. Such combinations are formed by order of the 
 Local Government Board, but only with the consent of 
 the majority of guardians in each union or parish. 
 
 In every school district there must be either a 
 School Board or a School-Attendance Committee. 
 
 I. The School Board 
 
 On 31st December 1897 there were in England and 
 Wales 2502 School Boards representing areas which 
 contain a population of 19,918,110, which is just over 
 two-thirds of the entire population. The number of 
 children in average daily attendance in Board schools in 
 England and Wales on 31st August 1897 was 2,023,850. 
 A School Board is a body corporate, with a common 
 seal, perpetual succession, and the power to hold lands 
 in mortmain. It may be created in two ways — namely 
 (1) by the action of the Education Department ; and (2) 
 by the voluntary action of the ratepayers of the district. 
 
 If the Education Department, after inquiry, finds that 
 
 nine members, six of whom are elected by the ratepayers, and three 
 by the University. The borough of Weulork is for some mysterious 
 reason to be treated as a parish (37 <fc 38 Vict. c. 39).
 
 154 THE SCHOOL AUTHORITY ohap. 
 
 there is not sufficient public school accommodation in any 
 school district, it must notify the local authorities of 
 the fact, and require them to supply it. If, after the ex- 
 piration of six months, the local authorities have neglected 
 to provide the required accommodation, the Education 
 Department must cause a School Board to be created for 
 the district. 
 
 A School Board may in any case be created on the 
 application of the persons locally interested. In the 
 case of a borough, the application must be made by the 
 Town Council ; in any other case the application must be 
 made by the persons on whom it would devolve to elect 
 the School Board. The opinion of the electors must be 
 taken at a meeting duly convened for the purpose. 
 The meeting is called by the Clerk to the Guardians 
 on the application of fifty ratepayers. If the resolution 
 be negatived, it cannot be proposed again for a year. 
 
 The Education Department have power, under certain 
 conditions and circumstances, to dissolve a School 
 Board, which is " in default," or has become unnecessary. 
 
 At a School Board election every ratepayer is 
 entitled to vote. He has as many votes as there are 
 members to be elected, and he may distribute his votes 
 as he pleases, — that is to say, if he likes he may give 
 the whole of his votes to one candidate. This system is 
 known as the cumulative vote ; it was devised in order 
 to secure the due representation of minorities. 1 
 
 •The mode of conducting elections is under the control 
 
 of the Education Department. By the regulations of 
 
 that Department the nominations of candidates must 
 
 be in writing, and when there is a contest the poll is 
 
 1 See ante, p. 9.
 
 vii THE SCHOOL BOARD 155 
 
 taken according to the provisions of the Ballot Act, 
 1872, applicable to a municipal election. The return- 
 ing-officer in a borough is the Mayor, or, if it be divided 
 into wards, one of the aldermen of the ward. In rural 
 districts the Clerk to the Guardians is the returning- 
 officer. Women may be elected to serve on any School 
 Board, even for the City of London, in which women 
 have no vote at a School Board election. 
 
 When a new School Board is created, the number of 
 members is fixed by the Education Department, but 
 afterwards it may be such as the School Board, with 
 the approval of the Education Department, may deter- 
 mine. But no School Board may have less than five 
 members or, except the School Board for London, more 
 than fifteen. No property qualification is necessary for 
 membership of a School Board. The members hold 
 office for three years, and then all retire together. 
 Retiring members are eligible for re-election. Any 
 dispute as to the election of a member is determined 
 by the Education Department. If a casual vacancy 
 occurs, the remaining members of the Board may elect 
 a person to fill up the vacancy. The members of the 
 Board elect their own chairman, and minutes of their 
 proceedings signed by him are evidence. A School Board 
 appoints its own Clerk, Treasurer, and teachers. These 
 officers hold office during the pleasure of the Board, and 
 receive such salaries as the Board may assign to them. 
 
 No religious catechism or religious formulary which 
 is distinctive of any particular denomination may be 
 used in any Board school. Subject to this provision, 
 any School Board may direct that religious instruction 
 shall be given in its schools ; and of such a kind as it
 
 156 THE SCHOOL AUTHORITY chap. 
 
 thinks best. But such instruction must be given either 
 before or after the ordinary school-work ; and any parent 
 may withdraw his child. 
 
 The Board may make by-laws for the purpose of 
 enforcing the attendance of children at school, and may 
 appoint an officer to aid in carrying the by-laws into 
 effect. Another mode of compelling the attendance of 
 the children is by school -attendance orders, made by 
 the justices on the application of the Board. If the 
 order be not complied with, the child may be sent to a 
 certified industrial school. 
 
 The School Board may, with the consent of the 
 Education Department, provide an office for themselves ; 
 and it is their duty to provide such school accommodation 
 as the Department may require them to provide. If they 
 make default, the Education Department may, after due 
 notice, appoint a Committee to act in their place, until the 
 requirements of the Department have been complied with. 
 
 The expenses of the School Board are defrayed out 
 of the school fund. All moneys received by the School 
 Board go into the same fund. That fund is supplied 
 from five sources : — 
 
 1. Loans for building schools, etc. 
 
 2. Fees paid by the children. 
 
 3. The fee-grant made by Parliament in lieu of fees. 
 
 4. Annual grants made by the Education Department. 
 
 5. The school-rate. 
 
 1. For purposes of building or enlarging schools 
 extensive borrowing powers have been conferred on 
 School Boards. They must, however, obtain the sanction 
 of the Education Department : unless they borrow money 
 for the purpose of an Industrial school, in which case the
 
 vii SCHOOL BOARD FINANCE 157 
 
 sanction of the Home Secretary is requisite. The repay- 
 ment of loans may be spread over a period of fifty years. 
 No parliamentary grants in aid of buildings are made 
 now. The amount of the outstanding loans effected by 
 the London School Board was on March 25th, 1896, 
 £8,574,140; of other School Boards £15,803,534; 
 making a total of £24,377,674. Rather more than 
 £2,400,000 was borrowed by School Boards during 
 the preceding twelve months. 
 
 2. Formerly about one-quarter of the income of every 
 Board school was derived from fees— the pence paid by 
 the children. The amount of these fees was fixed by 
 the School Board under the sanction of the Education 
 Department. The School Board had power under certain 
 conditions to remit a child's fees, and the Guardians had 
 a further power to pay the fees where the parents could 
 not afford to pay them. Many Boards of Guardians 
 made free use of this power. Thus in 1881 the amount 
 raised by rates was £1,500,000; while the amount 
 derived from fees was £370,000, of which £33,000 was 
 paid by the Guardians for children whose parents could 
 not pay the fees. 
 
 Of course it was right that parents who could afford 
 to do so should pay for the education of their children. 
 But it was more important that the children should be 
 educated. The difficulty in practice was to know which 
 parents could, and which could not, pay the fees. If a 
 child in whose favour no order had been made for re- 
 mission came to school one Monday morning without 
 the school-pence, what was the teacher to do? The 
 child's story always was that "Father was out of 
 work, and could not find the money." And this was
 
 158 THE SCHOOL AUTHORITY chap. 
 
 generally true, though sometimes false. The law said 
 that in such a case it was the duty of the teacher to 
 exclude the child from the school, to turn him into the 
 street where all the good he had already received at 
 the school would be speedily dissipated, and then to 
 prosecute the parent because the child had not attended 
 school ! It was found in practice that in many schools 
 the money received from fees did not compensate for 
 the worry, expense, and loss of time incurred in 
 obtaining them ; while in schools attended by a better 
 class of children the teacher was constantly occupied in 
 making book-keeping entries, when he should have 
 been teaching the children. It was humiliating to 
 honest parents to have to beg for a remission of the 
 fees, while less honest parents obtained such remission 
 by deception. It was therefore strongly urged that, as 
 education now was compulsory, it should also be made 
 "free." This was warmly opposed as "another step 
 towards Socialism," unfairly relieving the parent of his 
 responsibilities at the cost of his neighbours. And on 
 whom, it was asked, was the burden to fall, if it were 
 taken off the shoulders of the parent. The ratepayer 
 was already overburdened. The amount which the 
 Imperial Exchequer already contributed in relief of the 
 rates was enormous. But it was thought that the long- 
 suffering taxpayer could be a little further squeezed. 
 After all, education was a matter of national concern. 
 
 3. The Legislature, as usual, did not quite adopt 
 
 the view of either side. It avoided all compulsion ; but 
 
 it attained the end in view by a permissive measure, 
 
 the Elementary Education Act, 1891. 1 In the first 
 
 1 64 & 55 Vict. c. 56.
 
 vii PARLIAMENTARY GRANTS 159 
 
 place it increased the amount of free school accommo- 
 dation. Every parent has the right to claim free 
 education for his child ; and as a matter of fact, a free 
 place is now always found, either in a Board school or a 
 voluntary school, for every child whose parent applies 
 for one to the Education Department. Parliament 
 also offered to every school a " fee-grant," as it is 
 called, of ten shillings for each child in average 
 attendance, on condition that the school would reduce 
 the fees it charged by a corresponding amount. 
 No school is bound to accept this fee-grant ; most 
 schools do ; in fact, nearly every Board school does. 
 But if any school accepts the fee-grant, it must make 
 a corresponding reduction in its fees. The practical 
 result is this, that in all low-grade Board schools, the 
 children who are compelled to attend school pay no 
 fees ; in higher-grade Board schools, they pay a reduced 
 fee, merely Id. or 2d. a week as a rule for children under 
 the age of 15. The Education Department has, how- 
 ever, power to approve a higher scale of fees, if it is 
 satisfied that sufficient free accommodation is already 
 provided in the school district, and that it will be for 
 the educational benefit of the district or any part of it 
 to allow an increase of fees in a particular school. But 
 even in that case the ordinary fee must not exceed 
 sixpence a week per child. The result is that the 
 amount received by Board schools from school-fees is 
 very greatly reduced. In the year 1895 it was only 
 £74,053, whereas the total amount spent by Board 
 schools in that year (apart from moneys raised by loan) 
 was £6,802,531. 
 
 4. The annual grant is the amount allowed by the
 
 160 THE SCHOOL AUTHORITY chap. 
 
 Education Department to any school (voluntary or 
 Board school) which fulfils its requirements. The 
 conditions which must be fulfilled to enable any school 
 to obtain a grant are set forth in the Code which is 
 issued annually by the Education Department. The 
 amount granted varies with the efficiency of the par- 
 ticular school inspected. There is now no limit imposed 
 by statute on the amount which any school can earn. 
 Formerly there was in most cases a maximum limit of 
 seventeen shillings and sixpence for every child in 
 average attendance at the school. But that limit was 
 abolished in 1897 j 1 and now the amount which a school 
 can earn does not depend in any way upon its income 
 from other sources. The total amount of the grant made 
 by the Education Department to Board schools in the 
 financial year 1885-86 was £1,094,607 ; for 1890-91, 
 £1,445,085 ; for 1895-96, £2,999,956 ; and this amount 
 will steadily increase as the efficiency of our elementary 
 education advances. 
 
 5. The amount received from all the above sources 
 is never sufficient to meet the expenditure of any School 
 Board. The deficiency has, therefore, to be provided 
 by a rate; The School Board delivers to the rating 
 authority a precept for the amount required. In 
 boroughs the rate is levied as part of the borough rate, 
 and in parishes outside boroughs as part of the poor- 
 rate. In the year 1881 the amount raised by rates was 
 £1,500,000; in 1896 it was £4,571,260; so that now 
 about half of the expenditure of our Board schools is 
 contributed by the rates. 
 
 School Board accounts are required to be made out 
 1 60 Vict. c. 5, s. 2 ; and see 60 Vict. c. 16.
 
 vii THE SCHOOL BOARD 161 
 
 in such form as the Local Government Board may 
 direct. They must be made up and balanced half- 
 yearly or yearly, as may be directed, and signed by 
 the chairman. They are then audited by the District 
 Auditor, who is an official of the Local Government 
 Board. An appeal lies from his decision to that Board. 
 After the audit an abstract of the accounts must be 
 sent to the Education Department and to the rating 
 authority of every parish in 'the school district. Any 
 ratepayer is entitled to a copy on paying a fee of sixpence ; 
 and the School Board may, if it thinks fit, publish it in 
 the local newspapers. 
 
 II. The School-Attendance Committee 
 
 Where a School Board exists, it is the local school 
 authority for all purposes, and it is its duty to enforce 
 the attendance of children at school. 
 
 In places where there is no School Board, the school 
 authority is the School-Attendance Committee. That 
 Committee consists in effect of a sub-committee of some 
 previously existing local authority. It is appointed 
 annually, and must consist of not less than six nor 
 more than twelve members. In the case of a borough, 
 the Council must appoint the School- Attendance Com- 
 mittee out of the members of the Council. In the case 
 of an urban district outside a borough with a popula- 
 tion of not less than five thousand, the Urban District 
 Council may be authorised by the Education Depart- 
 ment to appoint a committee of their members to be 
 the School-Attendance Committee. In the case of a 
 parish not included in one of the above-mentioned 
 
 M
 
 162 THE SCHOOL AUTHORITY chap. 
 
 areas, the School- Attendance Committee is a committee 
 of the Board of Guardians within whose jurisdiction the 
 parish is situated. School- Attendance Committees may 
 appoint local committees of not less than three persons 
 "for the purpose of giving such aid and information" 
 as the committee may require. 
 
 It is the duty of the School-Attendance Committee 
 to make by-laws in the same manner as a School Board 
 for the purpose of enforcing attendance at school, 1 to 
 publish the provisions of the Acts, and to report to the 
 Education Department any infringements of the con- 
 science clause. But it has no power to build or maintain 
 or manage any school. Provision is made for the appoint- 
 ment and pay of officers to carry out the by-laws and the 
 provisions of the Acts as to school attendance. In certain 
 cases,however,inruraldistricts, theofficersof the guardians 
 are to act. The expenses properly incurred by a School- 
 Attendance Committee are defrayed out of the rates. 
 
 On 1st January 1898 there were in England and 
 Wales 785 School- Attendance Committees, representing 
 about one-third of the population. Of these, 119 were 
 appointed by Borough Councils, 85 by Urban District 
 Councils, and 581 by Poor-law Guardians. If a School- 
 Attendance Committee make default in the performance 
 of its duties, the Education Department may appoint 
 persons for a specified period, not exceeding two years, 
 to perform the duties of the Committee. The persons 
 so appointed may be remunerated, and the expense 
 incurred may be recovered from the Town Council, 
 District Council, or guardians, as the case may be. 
 
 1 Elementary Education Act, 1880, ss. 2, 3.
 
 VOLUNTARY SCHOOLS 163 
 
 Voluntary Schools 
 
 A public elementary day school which is not pro- 
 vided by a School Board is called by the Legislature 
 a " voluntary school." It has recently been found 
 necessary to invoke the aid of the State in order to 
 increase the efficiency of these schools and to help 
 especially such as were " necessitous." For this purpose 
 a grant is now made annually by Parliament in aid of 
 voluntary schools as well as Board schools. The grant 
 in aid of voluntary schools (generally known as the 
 "aid-grant") must not exceed in the aggregate five 
 shillings per scholar for the whole number of scholars 
 in those schools. Voluntary schools are by the same 
 Act invited to form themselves into associations, with a 
 committee or other governing body, representative of 
 the managers in each locality ; and the Education 
 Department will consult the governing body of any 
 such association before distributing the aid-grant for 
 that locality ; and distribute the grant in accordance 
 with any scheme prepared by that body which the 
 Department for the time being approves. 1 The total 
 amount of the aid-grant paid to voluntary schools for 
 the year 1897 was £201,121. The amount paid by 
 the State for the year 1897 to Board schools and 
 voluntary schools together in annual grants was 
 £4,610,273, and in fee-grants £2,270,345; making with 
 other smaller items a total of £7,778,246 provided out 
 of the Imperial Exchequer for elementary education in 
 the year 1897. 
 
 1 The Voluntary Schools Act, 1897 (60 Vict. c. 5), s. 1.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE HIGHWAY AUTHORITY 
 
 Highways— Repair of Highways— Main -roads— Bridges— High- 
 way Areas and Authorities— Bridle-paths, Footpaths, etc.— 
 Roadside Strips. 
 
 A highway is defined by Blackstone as a public road 
 which all subjects of the realm are entitled to use. If 
 the public has the right to pass on foot only, the way is 
 a public footpath ; if the public has a right to ride or 
 lead a horse along the way, it is a bridle-path ; if the 
 public has a right to drive cattle along the way, it is a 
 drift-way ; if the public has the right to drive in carts or 
 carriages along the way, it is a high-road. In each case, 
 the extent of the right of the public is determined prin- 
 cipally by antecedent user. 
 
 A highway can, of course, be created by statute; 
 otherwise it can only arise by what is called "a dedica- 
 tion to the public." If a freeholder makes a new road 
 and invites the public to use it, he is said to expressly 
 dedicate it to the use of the public. But what more 
 frequently happens is that the freeholder tacitly permits 
 the public to walk or drive across his land in a certain 
 defined track for such a length of time that the law
 
 CHAP. VIII 
 
 HIGHWAYS 165 
 
 presumes that he must have intended to dedicate the 
 way to the public, although he has never expressly said 
 so. Such an intention will be presumed from his 
 acquiescence in the indiscriminate use of the way by 
 the public for a substantial length of time, such as ten 
 or twelve years. But the presumption may be rebutted 
 by special circumstances — as, for instance, if the free- 
 holder had let the land to a tenant, or is himself only a 
 tenant for life. 
 
 When once a public right of way has been thus 
 acquired, it cannot be lost or extinguished by abandon- 
 ment or non-user; the public retain the right, though 
 they may not have occasion to exercise it. Nor can 
 such a right be released or sold : for there is no body or 
 person (except Parliament) that can grant away the 
 property of the public. At common law the maxim 
 was, "Once a highway, always a highway." But the 
 framers of the Highway Act, 1835, devised a cumbrous 
 method by which a highway can, after many pre- 
 liminary precautions, be stopped or diverted. The 
 only ground on which a highway can be stopped is that 
 it is unnecessary. The only ground on which a highway 
 can be diverted is that the proposed new way is " nearer 
 or more commodious " than the existing way. The prior 
 consent of both the District Council and the Parish 
 Council is now necessary in both cases ; and even when 
 these bodies consent, the Parish Meeting may veto the 
 proposal. If there be no Parish Council in any parish 
 through which the highway passes, the consent of the 
 Parish Meeting must be obtained before it can be either 
 stopped or diverted.
 
 166 THE HIGHWAY AUTHORITY chap. 
 
 Repair of Highways 
 
 At common law it was the duty of the inhabitants of 
 each parish to maintain and repair all highways within 
 it. There was no escape from this liability. No con- 
 tract would free the parishioners from it. And in spite 
 of all modern changes, if " a highway repairable by the 
 inhabitants at large " be out of repair, the proper course 
 is still to indict the inhabitants of the parish. This 
 general rule was subject to two exceptions which are 
 still preserved — first, a particular landowner might be 
 bound, as one of the conditions on which he held his 
 land (ratione tenures), to repair the public roads passing 
 through it ; and secondly, a particular parishioner or a 
 particular portion of a parish (e.g. a township or hamlet 
 included in it) might ratione tenures be exempt from the 
 general duty. But unless the liability could thus be 
 cast on others, the inhabitants of each parish, prior to 
 1836, were bound to repair every highway in their 
 parish, whether it had been dedicated to their use a 
 century, or only a week, ago. It was in fact in the 
 power of any landowner by dedicating a way to the 
 public to impose on the parish the burden of repairing 
 and maintaining it, without the leave or consent of his 
 fellow-parishioners, and whether the way was of any 
 real use to them or not. This was felt to be a hardship. 
 Accordingly by s. 23 of the Highway Act of 1835, the 
 law was altered, and the general liability of the in- 
 habitants of a parish restricted. They remained liable 
 tp repair any road, drift-way, or bridle-path which had 
 been set out and dedicated to public use by a private 
 person or corporation at any date prior to March 20th
 
 viii REPAIR OF HIGHWAYS 167 
 
 1836 ; but no such liability arose in respect of any new 
 way, unless and until certain formalities were gone 
 through and the way accepted ("taken over," it is 
 called) by the parish. The steps which now are 
 necessary before a way dedicated to the public becomes 
 repairable at the expense of the district are as follows : — 
 
 1. Any person who desires to dedicate a way to the 
 public must give three months' notice of his intention to 
 the District Council and to the justices of the division 
 of the county in petty sessions assembled. 
 
 2. The District Council must be satisfied that the 
 road is properly made, and that it is useful and not 
 unnecessary. 
 
 3. The justices must inspect the road, and satisfy 
 themselves that it is properly made and is of the proper 
 width (30 feet), and give a certificate to that effect. 
 
 4. Their certificate must be enrolled at the next 
 Quarter Sessions, subject to a possible appeal. 
 
 5. The public must use the road for twelve months, 
 and during that time the dedicator must himself repair 
 it. 
 
 Then at the end of the twelve months it becomes a 
 highway repairable by the District Council. 
 
 A District Council may also agree with a landowner, 
 who is proposing to make a road in their district and to 
 dedicate it to the public, that it shall on completion 
 become a highway repairable by the District Council ; 
 and it will then become such a highway without the 
 intervention of any justices. 
 
 If a road is dedicated to the public after 20th March 
 1836, and is not "taken over" in either of these ways, 
 it remains a public highway, but no one is bound to repair
 
 168 THE HIGHWAY AUTHORITY chap. 
 
 it. No such duty rests on the dedicator, or on the 
 present owner of the soil. The inhabitants of the parish 
 have no duty and no right to repair it ; indeed, if they 
 do so against the will of the owner of the soil, they 
 commit a trespass. 
 
 But the Act of 1835 was not retrospective. It did 
 not relieve the inhabitants of a parish from the necessity 
 of repairing any existing highway. They still had to 
 repair all highways which were repairable by the in- 
 habitants at large on 20th March 1836. This liability 
 has since been narrowed. If an ancient highway has now 
 become unnecessary for public use, proceedings can be 
 taken — with the consent in a rural district of the Parish 
 Council — to have it declared to be no longer repairable 
 by the parish or at the public expense. But means are 
 provided for reviving the liability of the inhabitants of 
 the parish, should the highway again be needed for 
 public use. 
 
 There are now in England and Wales 119,523 miles 
 of highways repairable at the public expense, of which 
 21,536 miles are on what are called "main-roads." 
 
 Main-roads 
 
 High-roads, or public carriage-ways, are of two 
 kinds : main-roads and ordinary high-roads. Main- 
 roads are the great arteries along which the main traffic 
 of the country flows ; they were formerly known as the 
 "king's highways." The distinction between such 
 main-roads and by-roads which only serve a small 
 area was recognised from the earliest times ; but 
 it only became important in the last century, when
 
 vin MAIN-ROADS 169 
 
 the Legislature began to pass the various Turnpike 
 Acts. 
 
 Under these Acts the control of certain roads was vested 
 in trustees, who were empowered to defray their expenses 
 by collecting tolls. In theory nothing could be fairer 
 than this system of direct taxation. Every one who 
 used the road contributed to the expense of maintaining 
 it, and contributed an amount which was roughly in pro- 
 portion to the use which he made of the road. But in 
 practice the system is both annoying and costly. Mr. 
 Dodson described it as "the most extravagant mode of 
 maintaining roads which the ingenuity of man or fiend 
 could devise." x This feeling spread, and no new Turn- 
 pike Trusts were created ; all the old ones are now 
 at an end : the last turnpike toll has been collected ; 
 and the Turnpike Acts have all expired. 
 
 Before 1878, when a road ceased to be a turnpike 
 road, it became once more an ordinary high-road. But 
 by an Act of that year, known as the Highways and 
 Locomotives (Amendment) Act 2 it was provided that 
 all roads disturn piked after 31st December 1870 should 
 be styled " main-roads." The Act further provided that 
 the county authority (i.e. at that date the justices in 
 Quarter Sessions, now the County Council) may declare 
 any important highway (e.g. one which is the medium 
 of communication between great towns, or which leads to 
 a railway station) to be a "main-road." On the other 
 hand such authority may apply to the Local Government 
 Board for an order declaring that a main-road or any 
 part of a main-road shall cease to be such, and become 
 
 1 Hansard, vol. eclx. p. 64. 
 2 41 & 42 Vict. c. 77, ss. 13, 15.
 
 170 THE HIGHWAY AUTHORITY ouap. 
 
 an ordinary highway. Hence no exact definition of a 
 " main-road " can be given : one can only say that most 
 main-roads were formerly turnpike roads, though many 
 former turnpike roads are not now main-roads. 
 
 A main-road was formerly repaired by the highway 
 authority of each district ; but one-half the cost of such 
 repairs was repaid by the justices of the county, so long 
 as the road was repaired and maintained to the satisfac- 
 tion of the County Surveyor. Now, however, by s. 11 
 of the Local Government Act, 1888, every road in a 
 county which is for the time being a main-road, and 
 every bridge carrying such road, if repairable by the 
 highway authority, vested in, and must be maintained 
 and repaired by, the County Council, except such as an 
 Urban District Council elected to retain under its own 
 control. Before any road was taken over by the County 
 Council, it had to be placed in proper repair by the 
 highway authority to the satisfaction of the County 
 Surveyor. The County Council may either itself main- 
 tain and repair a main-road, or it may require the 
 District Council in whose district such main-road lies to 
 undertake these duties in consideration of an annual 
 payment to be agreed upon or settled by arbitration. 
 Any main-road which an Urban District Council retains 
 under its control vests in it in the same way as any 
 ordinary high - road ; and in that event the County 
 Council pays the Urban District Council an annual con- 
 tribution, the amount of which must be agreed between 
 them, or determined by the Local Government Board 
 after inquiry. And whenever any part of a main-road 
 is out of repair, and the duty of repairing it rests on a 
 District Council, the County Council may give notice
 
 VIII 
 
 MAIN-ROADS 171 
 
 requiring the road to be placed in proper repair, and, if 
 this is not complied with, may itself do the repairs, and 
 the expense will be a debt due from the District Council 
 to the County Council. The County Council also has 
 power to abate any encroachment, and to remove any 
 obstruction, on a main-road. 
 
 Bridges 
 
 At common law the inhabitants of a county at large 
 were primarily liable to repair all public bridges in the 
 county. This duty was part of the trinoda necessitas. 
 But by usage, prescription, or ancient tenure, theduty of 
 repairing a particular bridge may be cast upon a hundred, 
 parish, township, or individual. And if a wholly un- 
 necessary and superfluous bridge was erected by a 
 private individual, the county was not bound to repair 
 it, even though the public used it. All other bridges 
 were called "county bridges," and the obligation of 
 repairing them lay at common law upon the county, and 
 not on any particular township or parish. This obliga- 
 tion has been repeatedly confirmed by statute. But the 
 County Bridges Act of 1803 imposed one important 
 restriction in the case of bridges erected after 24th June 
 1803 : the county was not to be liable for the repair of 
 any such bridge, unless it was built in a substantial 
 manner under the direction or to the satisfaction of the 
 County Surveyor. Another limitation was introduced 
 by the Highway Act of 1835, which came into operation 
 on 25th March 1836. Till that date the county was 
 liable under the old Statute of Bridges of 1531 x to 
 
 1 22 Hen. VIII. c. 5, s. 7.
 
 172 THE HIGHWAY AUTHORITY chap. 
 
 repair not only the bridge, but also the approaches to it 
 for a distance of 300 feet on either side. And this 
 liability continues in the case of every bridge which was 
 built before 25th March 1836. But as regards all 
 bridges built since that date the burden of maintaining 
 the approaches and the roadway supported by the bridge 
 is thrown by the Act of 1835 on the highway authority 
 of the parish or district and not on the county. 
 
 And now, under the Local Government Act of 1888, 
 all county bridges are to be repaired by the County 
 Council ; and all business formerly done by Quarter 
 Sessions in respect of bridges and roads repairable with 
 bridges, and all powers vested in the justices of a county 
 in such matters are transferred to the County Council. 
 The County Council may either repair such bridges 
 itself, or it may from time to time make an arrangement 
 with any District Council, or other highway authority, 
 or with the Council of any adjoining county, as to the 
 construction, reconstruction, alteration, or improvement 
 of any bridge within its jurisdiction, or as to freeing it 
 from tolls. A County Council may also purchase or 
 take over, on terms agreed on, existing bridges which 
 are not at present "county bridges," and erect new 
 bridges, and maintain, repair, and improve them. All 
 costs of repairing and maintaining main -roads and 
 county bridges are charged to the general county account. 
 Any bridge which is not a " county bridge " must still 
 be repaired as it was before 1888. The duty of repair- 
 ing a bridge extends to the repair of all the artificial 
 parts of the structure, and includes rebuilding, if 
 necessary. This was decided in 1810 in the case of the 
 bridge built by Queen Anne across the Thames at Datchet.
 
 vm HIGHWAY AREAS 173 
 
 Highway Areas and Authorities 
 
 So far we have dealt with main-roads and county 
 bridges. As to all other highways a different and a 
 longer and more complicated tale remains to be told. 
 The highway authorities whose duty it was to repair 
 and maintain such highways were formerly of many 
 different kinds, and so were the areas under their 
 control. The principal highway areas, prior to 1894, 
 were three in number — (1) the highway parish; (2) the 
 highway district; and (3) the urban sanitary district. 
 The first two were always rural authorities. There 
 were other areas besides these. The six counties of 
 South Wales had a special highway organisation of 
 their own under Acts of 1844 and 1860; the Isle of 
 Wight had its special constitution ; and the Metropolis, 
 of course, was excluded from the operation of the 
 general Acts. There were, too, other places and towns 
 which had special Acts, varying or adding to the general 
 highway powers. 
 
 The highway authority in a highway parish was 
 formerly the " Surveyor of Highways " ; in a highway 
 district, the District Highway Board ; in an urban 
 sanitary district, the Local Board of Health, the Town 
 Council, or a body of Improvement Commissioners. 
 Now the highway authority is for most purposes the 
 District Council, though the County Council, the Parish 
 Council, and even the Parish Meeting, have powers 
 which must not be ignored. 
 
 1. The highway parish did not necessarily coincide 
 with the poor-law parish. By custom a particular town- 
 ship or hamlet which was part of a poor-law parish
 
 174 HIGHWAY AUTHORITIES chap. 
 
 might for highway purposes be a separate parish. In 
 short, any parish, township, or place which maintained 
 its own highways was a separate highway parish. Thus 
 in Shropshire there were 740 highway parishes, and 
 only 224 poor-law parishes ; and in one district of Cum- 
 berland there were 66 highway to 36 poor-law parishes. 
 At common law, as we have seen, the duty of main- 
 taining and repairing highways lay upon the parish. 
 The amount of money requisite for this purpose was 
 raised by a highway rate, which was levied on all 
 property in the parish rateable to the relief of the poor, 
 and also on woods, mines, and certain sporting rights. 
 The Highway Act of 1835 adopted the common law for 
 its basis, and provided the machinery by which the 
 parish was to perform its duties. The vestry was re- 
 quired to appoint a surveyor, who held office for a year, 
 and was liable to a penalty if he refused to act. The 
 vestry might, if it thought fit, vote him a salary, and 
 this became the usual course. The surveyor might 
 appoint a deputy, and, by leave of the vestry, he might 
 also appoint a collector. It was his duty to see that 
 the roads were properly maintained, and with the 
 sanction of the vestry he might enter into contracts for 
 their repair. It was also his duty to assess and levy 
 the necessary highway rate. If the vestry made default 
 in appointing a surveyor, it was the duty of the justices 
 to appoint some person to the office. In parishes where 
 the population exceeded 5000, the vestry might appoint 
 a board to discharge their functions in respect of high- 
 ways. This board was in effect a committee of the 
 vestry ; but there were never, apparently, more than 
 nine such boards.
 
 vin THE HIGHWAY BOARD 175 
 
 2. Under the Highway Acts of 1862 and 1864, power 
 was given to the Quarter Sessions to combine parishes 
 into highway districts. In the exercise of these powers 
 424 highway districts, comprising about 9000 highway 
 parishes, were created. Unfortunately, these districts 
 seldom coincided with either the unions or the Petty 
 Sessional Divisions or the sanitary districts, but were 
 an altogether fresh collocation of parishes. Each high- 
 way district was governed by a District Highway Board, 
 composed of the justices resident in the district, and of 
 way-wardens elected by the several combined parishes. 
 It discharged all the duties both of a surveyor of high- 
 ways and also of the vestry which appointed that sur- 
 veyor. And additional powers were also conferred on 
 a Highway Board ; it might raise a loan and appoint 
 other officers ; the vestry and the surveyor could do 
 neither of these things. Thus the Board appointed a 
 treasurer, a clerk, and a district surveyor ; and it might 
 also appoint an assistant surveyor. The expenses in- 
 curred by a Highway Board were borne partly by a 
 common fund, partly by the different parishes. The 
 common fund was formed by contributions from the 
 several parishes in proportion to their respective poor- 
 law valuations. The amount of the contribution so 
 due from a parish and that of its separate charges for 
 its own roads were levied by a precept. If the parish 
 was not a poor-law parish, the precept went to the way- 
 wardens, and the amount was raised by them by a 
 separate highway rate. In other cases the precept went 
 to the overseers, and the amount was paid out of the poor- 
 rate. The accounts of every highway parish and Highway 
 Board were audited by the Local Government Board.
 
 176 HIGHWAY AUTHORITIES chap. 
 
 By the Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) 
 Act, 1878, it was enacted that where the area of a 
 highway district coincided with the area of a rural 
 sanitary district, the rural sanitary authority — that is 
 to say, the guardians — might apply to the county 
 authority to have the control of the highways trans- 
 ferred to them. If the justices made the order, the 
 guardians thereupon superseded the District Board and 
 became the highway authority. The guardians, how- 
 ever, seldom availed themselves of this provision, as 
 they had quite enough work to do already. Only in 
 41 cases did guardians take over highway powers. 
 
 Thus, in rural districts, and till 1875 in urban dis- 
 tricts also, the highway area was either a highway 
 parish or a highway district ; and the highway authority 
 might be a parish surveyor, a parish board, a District 
 Board, or the guardians. 
 
 3. In the year 1875, in all urban sanitary districts, 
 the urban sanitary authority — which was then, as we 
 have seen, either a Town Council or a Local Board or 
 Improvement Commissioners, and is now in all cases an 
 Urban District Council — became the highway authority 
 as well. The ratepayers recognised the importance and 
 efficiency of the local sanitary authority, and failed to 
 see the necessity for another local authority, with an 
 area of much the same size, and a separate staff of clerks 
 and offices. So by section 144 of the Public Health 
 Act, 1875, it was enacted that every urban authority 
 should, within its district, exclusively of any other 
 person or authority, execute the office of, and be, the 
 surveyor of highways, and have, exercise, and be sub- 
 jected to, all the powers, authorities, duties, and liabilities
 
 vin HIGHWAY AUTHORITIES 177 
 
 of a surveyor of highways, and also of the parish vestry 
 by which such a surveyor was appointed. The urban 
 sanitary authority thus became itself " the surveyor of 
 highways " for the district : the surveyor of the urban 
 sanitary authority was only, so to speak, a deputy 
 surveyor with power to do all ministerial acts, which a 
 surveyor of highways was required to do by any Act of 
 Parliament. The authority was and still is liable for 
 any wrongful act or neglect committed by its surveyor 
 in the execution of his duties ; but the action must be 
 brought within three months after the act complained 
 of. 1 But for a mere omission to repair a road, the 
 highway authority, apparently, is not liable, even 
 though special damage has been directly caused thereby 
 to the plaintiff. 
 
 The control of the highways was thus to a very con- 
 siderable extent taken away from the officers of the 
 highway parish and vested in various Boards. But 
 there still remained in 1894 about 5000 highway parishes 
 which maintained their own roads. The Local Govern- 
 ment Act of 1894, however, put an end to all existing 
 highway authorities in every rural district. In some 
 thirty-two cases a special order of the Local Government 
 Board is still in force, postponing for a while the opera- 
 tion of the Act. 2 Except in these isolated instances, all 
 Highway Boards have now ceased to exist, all highway 
 parishes have ceased to repair their own roads, and no 
 more surveyors of highways will be appointed for any 
 parish. 
 
 1 Highway Act, 1835, s. 109. 
 
 2 Even these thirty-two Highway Boards will expire on 31st 
 March 1899, unless the suspending order be renewed. 
 
 N
 
 178 THE HIGHWAY AUTHORITY chap. 
 
 4. The newly-created Parish Council is not, speaking 
 generally, a highway authority at all. It rather takes 
 the place of the vestry. It has the very important right 
 of vetoing the stopping up or the diversion of any public 
 right of way ; it may refuse to consent to a declaration 
 that any public highway is unnecessary ; it may make 
 a representation to the District Council (and if that be 
 ineffectual to the County Council) complaining of the 
 stoppage or obstruction of any right of way in the parish 
 or in any adjoining district. But it is not bound 
 to maintain any highway in the parish. There is one 
 case and only one in which a Parish Council may, if it 
 thinks fit, employ its funds in maintaining a highway : 
 it may, subject to the restrictions on expenditure im- 
 posed by the Act, undertake the repair and mainten- 
 ance of all or any of the public footpaths within the 
 parish, not being footpaths at the side of a public road ; 
 but neither the existence nor the exercise of this power 
 will relieve the District Council from its general liability 
 to repair and maintain such paths. 
 
 5. The County Council is, as we have seen, the high- 
 way authority, so far as main-roads and county bridges 
 are concerned. It also has certain powers of compelling 
 a District Council to do its duty. A County Council 
 may also, if it thinks fit, contribute towards the cost of 
 the maintenance, repair, enlargement, and improvement 
 of any highway or public footpath in the county, al- 
 though the same is not a main-road. But it is not often 
 that a County Council does think fit to make such a 
 contribution. 
 
 6. The District Council is now, speaking generally, the 
 highway authority in all parts of England and Wales.
 
 vin THE DISTRICT COUNCIL 179 
 
 Every District Council, whether urban or rural, has as 
 respects highways all the powers, duties, and liabilities 
 of a surveyor of highways appointed by the vestry 
 under the Highway Act, 1835, and of the vestry itself 
 under that Act or any Act amending the same, and 
 also of an urban sanitary authority under ss. 144-148 
 of the Public Health Act, 1875. The Rural 1 District 
 Council of any district in which there formerly existed 
 a Highway Board under the Highways Acts, 1862 and 
 1864, has also all the powers and duties and liabilities 
 of such a Board, which, as we have seen, were in some 
 respects larger than those of a surveyor of highways. 
 The Local Government Board may also confer on any 
 Rural District Council, on its application, any of the 
 powers possessed by an Urban District Council as to 
 highways. The District Council can as a rule exercise 
 all these powers without obtaining the consent of any 
 vestry, Parish Council, or Parish Meeting. Hence now 
 the duty of repairing every highway, other than a main- 
 road, which is repairable at all at public expense, lies 
 primA facie on the District Council. 
 
 A District Council is invested "with wide powers to 
 enable it to repair highways at small expense. It may 
 take road material from any common, waste land, river, 
 or brook in a parish without making any payment. It 
 may gather stones off any man's land after one month's 
 
 1 The Legislature no doubt intended to confer on every Dis- 
 trict Council, whether urban or rural, all the powers, duties, and 
 liabilities of a Highway Board. But the language of the section 
 leaves it at least doubtful whether this presumed intention has 
 been carried out with respect to any district in which the high- 
 way authority prior to 1894 was a surveyor of highways and not 
 a Highway Board.
 
 180 THE HIGHWAY AUTHORITY chap. 
 
 notice, paying compensation for any damage done by 
 the carts, but nothing for the stones. It may open 
 gravel-pits and quarries to obtain road materials, paying 
 both for the material and the damage done in hauling. 
 Such gravel-pits and quarries must be properly fenced 
 while open, arid filled up or sloped down when they are 
 no longer needed. It can order the owner or occupier 
 of any adjoining land to grub up and remove any tree, 
 bush, or shrub planted on any highway within fifteen 
 feet of the centre. It may order its surveyor to prune 
 or lop any trees or hedges which overshadow the high- 
 way too much, and exclude the sun and air ; to make, 
 scour, cleanse, and keep open all ditches, gutters, drains, 
 and water-courses in and through any land adjoining a 
 highway; and to remove any timber, hay, soil, or 
 rubbish left on a highway so as to be a nuisance. An 
 Urban District Council may, by agreement, undertake 
 the maintenance, repair, cleansing, and watering of any 
 street or road for which they would not otherwise be 
 liable. An Urban District Council may also purchase 
 any premises for the purpose of widening, opening, 
 enlarging, or improving any street, or (with the sanction 
 of the Local Government Board) for the purpose of 
 making any new street. A Eural District Council may 
 widen or improve a highway under their control on 
 their own initiative, and may for the purpose acquire 
 the necessary land by agreement. They may also, with 
 the sanction of the Court of Quarter Sessions, borrow 
 money to meet the expense of widening or improving 
 such highway.
 
 vin BRIDLE-rATHS, FOOTPATHS, ETC. 181 
 
 Bridle-paths, Footpaths, etc. 
 
 It is the duty of every District Council under the 
 Local Government Act, 1894, to protect all public 
 rights of way, and to prevent as far as possible the 
 stopping or obstruction of any such right of way, whether 
 in its own or in an adjoining district, whenever the 
 stoppage or obstruction would, in its opinion, be 
 prejudicial to the interests of the district. It may 
 for this purpose institute or defend any legal pro- 
 ceedings, and generally take such steps as it deems ex- 
 pedient. And there is no limit of time within which 
 such proceedings must be taken ; no Statute of Limita- 
 tions runs against a public right of way. Hence the 
 District Council should take proceedings whenever there 
 is clear evidence of a right in the public, even though 
 the path was obstructed before 1894 ; for the Act is not 
 limited to obstruction made since it came into opera- 
 tion. 
 
 And though this duty was laid on the District 
 Council as being now the principal highway authority, 
 still it was felt that in many instances the Parish 
 Council or the Parish Meeting would be more vigilant 
 and more anxious to detect any obstruction of a public 
 right of way than the District Council which governs 
 so much larger an area. Hence power is given to the 
 Parish Council (and where there is no Parish Council 
 to the Parish Meeting) to " sound the alarm." If any 
 Parish Council (or Meeting) is satisfied that any foot- 
 path, bridle-path, or other public right of way within 
 the district in which its parish is comprised, or in any 
 adjoining district, has been unlawfully stopped or
 
 182 THE HIGHWAY AUTHORITY chap. 
 
 obstructed, it may make a representation to that effect 
 to the District Council. Thereupon it becomes the 
 duty of the District Council, unless satisfied that the 
 statements made in such representation are incorrect, to 
 take proper proceedings accordingly. If the District 
 Council refuses or fails to take proceedings in conse- 
 quence of such representation, the Parish Council may 
 petition the County Council of the county within which 
 the way is situate, and that County Council may then, 
 if it thinks fit, take such proceedings as the District 
 Council might have taken, at the expense of the District 
 Council. But the Legislature did not intend, by giving 
 this power to the Parish Council and Meeting, in any 
 way to limit the duties of a District Council to cases in 
 which it is set in motion by a Parish Council or Meeting. 
 In any case in which it is brought to their notice from 
 any reliable quarter that a public right of way has 
 been obstructed or stopped, it is the duty of the District 
 Council to take proper steps to vindicate the right of 
 the public. 
 
 Roadside Strips 
 
 The right of the public extends over the whole width 
 of the highway, and not merely over the part which is 
 metalled or trodden down. This has been clear law 
 ever since 1618, whether the highway be a carriage- 
 road, or only a bridle-path or footpath. And it makes 
 no difference that trees, bushes, or furze have for twenty 
 years or more been allowed to grow on the unmetalled 
 portion. Hence whenever there are on either side of 
 a public road strips of land open to the public between 
 the metalled road and the fences on either side, the
 
 vin ROADSIDE STRIPS 183 
 
 public right of way primd fade extends over such strips ; 
 and it will be for any one who disputes the right of 
 the public to produce evidence to the contrary. In the 
 absence of such evidence, these roadside wastes, however 
 wide, cannot lawfully be enclosed by the owner of the 
 adjoining land or by the lord of the manor or by any 
 other person. It is sometimes supposed that the adjoin- 
 ing owner has a right to enclose up to fifteen feet from 
 the centre of the road. But this is not the law. He 
 may not even straighten the line of his fences by taking 
 in any portion of such a strip. The public, unless 
 the contrary can be shown, has the right to use the 
 whole space between the original fences; and the 
 District Council has no power to authorise or consent 
 to the enclosure of any portion of that space. The 
 Local Government Act of 1894 makes it the duty of 
 every District Council to protect all roadside wastes 
 within its district, and to prevent any encroachment 
 thereon, whether made before or since the passing of 
 the Act. Should this duty be neglected, the Parish 
 Council is empowered to make a representation on the 
 subject to the District Council. If the District Council 
 still neglects or refuses to take proceedings, the Parish 
 Council may appeal to the County Council, and that 
 body may then take such proceedings as the District 
 Council ought to have taken. Where there is no Parish 
 Council, the Parish Meeting has the same powers.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE BURIAL AUTHORITY 
 
 The Parish Churchyard— The Cemetery— The Burial-ground 
 — Burial Boards— Local Government Act, 1894. 
 
 Cremation is a perfectly lawful method of disposing of 
 a dead body, so long as it is not resorted to in order to 
 avoid a Coroner's inquest, and provided also the process 
 is so conducted as not to be a nuisance. Still, burial has 
 always been the usual method adopted in this country. 
 There is no branch of local government which is so 
 complicated, and so needlessly complicated, as that 
 relating to the burial of the dead. 
 
 At common law, everything was simple and clear. 
 Every person dying in England is entitled to Christian 
 burial, unless he died by his own hand, or was un- 
 baptized, or excommunicate. He is entitled to be buried 
 in consecrated ground, whether he was a member of the 
 Church of England, or a Roman Catholic, or a Dissenter. 
 And whether he is a parishioner or not, he is entitled to 
 be buried in the churchyard of the parish in which he 
 died, if there be room there. If a parishioner of one 
 parish die in another, he may be brought back to his 
 own parish, if his relatives wish it, and buried there in
 
 ohap. ix CEMETERIES 185 
 
 the churchyard of his own parish church. Some privi- 
 leged persons have the right to be buried in the church 
 itself. Every householder in whose house a dead body 
 is lying is bound at common law to have it decently 
 interred, if no one else comes forward to undertake the 
 duty. Dead bodies cast up by the sea, or any navigable 
 river, or floating or sunken in any such waters, if 
 unclaimed by their relatives, must be buried by the 
 churchwardens and overseers of the parish in which 
 they are found, in the churchyard and at the expense of 
 that parish. 1 
 
 As population increased, parish churchyards became 
 insufficient to meet the requirements of the parish. 
 They are, moreover, frequently ordered to be closed for 
 sanitary reasons. When the parish churchyard is no 
 longer accessible, provision is made for the burial of 
 the dead in three ways : — 
 
 First, there are cemeteries made and maintained as 
 commercial undertakings under special Acts of Parlia- 
 ment. These undertakings were sufficiently numerous, 
 even in 1847, to make it expedient to pass the Ceme- 
 teries Clauses Act, which contains a series of model 
 clauses for adoption into the special Acts. 
 
 Secondly, by the Public Health (Interments) Act, 
 1879, the provisions of the Cemeteries Clauses Act, 
 1847, are incorporated into the Public Health Act. The 
 effect of this is, that any District Council, Rural or 
 Urban, may now make and maintain a cemetery for its 
 own district, and exercise all the powers given by the 
 Act of 1847. The cemetery for the district may, in 
 certain cases, be situated outside the district. Moreover, 
 1 Burial of Drowned Persons Acts, 1808 and 1S86.
 
 186 THE BURIAL AUTHORITY chap. 
 
 under the Act of 1879, the Local Government Board has 
 power to compel a District Council to provide a cemetery 
 when one is urgently needed ; as, for example, where 
 there is insufficient burial accommodation for the 
 neighbourhood, or where the water-supply of the locality 
 is polluted by the existing cemetery or churchyard, or 
 the health of the inhabitants otherwise endangered. 
 
 Thirdly, burial-grounds may be provided under a 
 series of twelve Acts, extending from 1852 to 1885, 
 commonly known as the " Burial Acts." As usual, we find 
 two distinct sets of Acts dealing with the same subject. 
 Any parish, district, or township may adopt the provi- 
 sions of these Acts, and more than 900 Burial Boards 
 have been constituted under them. The Burial Board 
 is elected by the vestry. It must consist of from three 
 to nine ratepayers of the parish. The members hold 
 office for three years, one-third retiring annually. As 
 vacancies occur, the Board may fill them up, if the vestry 
 do not. The Board, with the consent of the Home 
 Secretary, may mortgage the rates in order to pay for a 
 burial-ground. The Board manages the burial-ground, 
 subject to regulations made by the Home Secretary ; 
 and, subject to his approval, fixes the table of fees for 
 interments. Parishes may concur in forming a joint 
 Burial Board, with a common burial-ground ; and a 
 Burial Board, instead of providing a ground of its own, 
 may contract for accommodation in the ground of some 
 other authority. There are some rather complicated 
 provisions in the Burial Acts, under which a Town 
 Council or other urban sanitary authority may acquire 
 the powers of a Burial Board within its own area. 
 
 There are many (wholly unnecessary) refinements and
 
 IX THE BURIAL BOARD 187 
 
 distinctions between " cemeteries " under the Cemeteries 
 Clauses Act, and " burial-grounds " under the Burial 
 Acts. A Eural District Council may provide the 
 former, not the latter. If the Burial Acts are adopted 
 and a burial-ground provided in accordance with their 
 provisions, a portion of it must be tendered to the 
 bishop of the diocese for consecration ; whereas it is 
 not necessary that any portion of a cemetery should be 
 consecrated at all. Then, again, no part of a cemetery 
 may be laid out within 200 yards of a dwelling-house ; 
 in the case of a burial-ground all that the Burial Acts 
 require is that no one shall be buried within 100 yards 
 of any dwelling-house, without the consent of its owner 
 and occupiers ; and in neither case, apparently, is there 
 any provision which forbids the subsequent erection 
 of dwelling-houses in closer proximity to the graves ! 
 
 The Local Government Act, 1894, treats the law as 
 to burials in a halting and half-hearted fashion. Such 
 of its provisions as deal with this subject (unlike the 
 rest of the Act) are complicated and far from clear. 
 The complication is caused, as usual, by the interlacing 
 of areas : the boundaries of the district of a Burial 
 Board do not necessarily coincide with those of an urban 
 district or a rural parish ; they sometimes contained 
 portions of both. Each case had to be dealt with 
 separately. In some cases the existing Burial Board 
 was continued ; in others it ceased to exist ; in others 
 power was given to some other body to cut short 
 its existence at pleasure. Two cases, however, are 
 simple and can be dealt with here. When the area 
 under a Burial Board was one entire rural parish, 
 all the powers, duties, and liabilities of the Burial
 
 188 THE BURIAL AUTHORITY chap. 
 
 Board were transferred to the Parish Council as soon 
 as it came into office. The Burial Board ipso facto 
 ceased to exist, and its place was taken by the Parish 
 Council, without any action on the part of the Parish 
 Meeting. But if a rural parish had no Parish Council, 
 the Burial Board continued, and the Parish Meeting 
 has no powers under the Burial Acts, unless the County 
 Council, on the application of the Parish Meeting, has 
 conferred on it the powers of a Parish Council in this 
 matter. Again, where a Burial Board district lay 
 wholly in an urban district power was given to the 
 Urban District Council to resolve that the powers, 
 duties, and liabilities of the Burial Board shall be 
 transferred to itself on a specified date. If such a 
 resolution is passed, the transfer takes place and the 
 Burial Board ceases to exist on the specified date. Till 
 such a resolution is passed, the Burial Board for such a 
 district continues, unaffected by the Act. 
 
 In future, no Burial Board can be created in any 
 rural parish which has a Parish Council. If in such a 
 parish the Parish Meeting should think fit to adopt the 
 Burial Acts, for the whole or part of the parish, no 
 Burial Board will be elected, but the Parish Council 
 will be the authority for the execution of those Acts. 
 But in any rural parish which has no Parish Council, 
 a Burial Board may still be newly established, if there is 
 no existing Burial Board which includes that parish in 
 its area, and if the Burial Acts are duly adopted by the 
 Parish Meeting. Any such Burial Board will have 
 power to provide a cemetery. 
 
 In 1894 there were 919 Burial Boards, and there 
 were 86 Town Councils, 58 Local Boards, and one body
 
 IX THE BURIAL BOARD 189 
 
 of Improvement Commissioners acting as Burial Boards, 
 making a total of 1064. There are now 276 Burial 
 Boards still in existence ; there are 222 Joint Burial Com- 
 mittees created under sec. 53 of the Local Government 
 Act, 1894, and an amending Act of 1897 j 1 while 106 
 Town Councils, 136 Urban District Councils, about 400 
 Parish Councils, and 15 Metropolitan Vestries have 
 the powers of a Burial Board. 
 
 Probably in a few years, when the Councils created 
 by the Act of 1894 have thoroughly warmed to their 
 work, we shall have a fresh Act of Parliament that will 
 deal with the matter in a more stringent (or shall I say 
 a less permissive) spirit. All special burial districts 
 should be abolished. All distinction between cemeteries 
 and burial - grounds should be swept away. Every 
 public place of burial should have one portion con- 
 secrated, and another unconsecrated ; and any ratepayer 
 should be at liberty to ' bury his dead in whichever 
 portion he may prefer. Every Urban District Council 
 should have a cemetery of its own, and appoint a 
 committee of its own members to manage it. In every 
 rural parish the burial authority should be the Parish 
 Council, where there is one ; parishes which have no 
 Parish Council might be grouped and send representa- 
 tives elected at their respective Parish Meetings to serve 
 on a Joint Committee. 
 
 1 60 & 61 Vict. c. 40.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE COUNTY 
 
 The Administrative County— History of the Shire — Divisions of 
 the County— Its Officers : the Sheriff, the Lord -Lieu tenant, 
 the Coroner, and the Justices of the Peace — The County 
 Council : its constitution and powers — County Finance. 
 
 FOR certain administrative purposes England is 
 divided into c'ounties. The term " county " is the 
 Norman equivalent of the old Saxon " shire." A third 
 synonym, the hybrid word " bailiwick," is still some- 
 times used in legal phraseology. We all learnt at school 
 that there were 40 counties in England and 12 in Wales. 
 But Yorkshire has three ridings, Lincolnshire has three 
 parts (the parts of Holland, of Kesteven, and of Lindsey), 
 and Suffolk and Sussex have each an eastern and 
 a western division ; and each of these ridings, parts, and 
 divisions is for purposes of local government a separate 
 county. To these must be added the Isle of Ely, the 
 Soke of Peterborough, and the newly -created admini- 
 strative counties of London and the Isle of Wight, 
 bringing the number up to 62. And in each of these 
 62 counties there is now a County Council.
 
 chap, x THE COUNTY 191 
 
 In addition to the counties properly so called, there 
 is the City of London, which is still for judicial purposes 
 a separate county, distinct from either the ancient 
 county of Middlesex, or the newly-created county of 
 London. Then there are, as we have seen, 19 
 boroughs called "counties of cities "and "counties of 
 towns," which are outside the jurisdiction of the 
 counties in which they are situate, and which, for many 
 purposes — chiefly in relation to the administration of 
 justice — have themselves the organisation of a county. 
 There are also now 64 county boroughs, which 
 are for most purposes independent of the county 
 authority, and make little or no contribution to the 
 expenses of county administration. 1 Formerly too there 
 were many liberties exempt from county jurisdiction ; 
 but nearly all of them now are merged and obliterated 
 in the counties within which they were situated. The 
 Cinque Ports, however, still retain some of their former 
 privileges. 
 
 Counties differ much both in size and population. 
 Rutland contains 94,889 acres, and 20,659 inhabitants ; 
 Lancashire contains 1,208, 154 acres, and has a popula- 
 tion of 3,926,798 persons; while the administrative 
 county of London, with only 74,692 acres, has a popula- 
 tion of 4,433,6 18. The area of the county has no 
 necessary relation to any other local government area, 
 except the county district and the obsolete hundred. 
 The boundaries of the county are still intersected by the 
 boundaries of boroughs, unions, and school boards, and 
 in a few cases also of parishes. 
 
 1 See ante, pp. 95-97.
 
 192 THE SHIRE chap. 
 
 History of the Shire 
 
 The word "shire" means share, any portion shorn 
 oft"; thus the diocese of a bishop was sometimes called 
 his " shire." But the word soon came to denote 
 exclusively a portion of the land cut off from the rest 
 for separate local administration. The division of 
 England into shires dates as far back, at any rate, as the 
 reign of King Edgar ; and the modern English counties 
 correspond, as a rule, with the Saxon shires and bear 
 similar names. The number of the counties, however, 
 was smaller at first, and their boundaries certainly 
 fluctuated, especially on the Scotch and Welsh borders. 
 It was not till the reign of Henry VIII. that England 
 and Wales were definitely mapped out into the 52 
 counties which we see on the school-map. 
 
 In Saxon times the government of the shire was 
 democratic. The shire-moot, its governing assembly, was 
 largely representative. It was composed of all lords of 
 lands, and of the reeve and four "best men " from each 
 township. At the head of each shire was an ealdorman 
 or earl, who was originally appointed by the king in 
 the Witenagemote. lie was generally the largest or 
 most prominent landowner in the shire ; he presided at 
 the shire-moot. The bishop also had some share in the 
 administrative business of the county. Later, as central- 
 isation developed and the earl came to be too important 
 a personage to attend to the details of local government, 
 the king appointed a sheriff (shire-reeve — county-steward) 
 to proclaim the king's dues, to preside over the shire- 
 moot in the absence of the earl, and to act as the chief 
 police officer of the shire. The sheriff often held office
 
 x HISTORY OF THE SHIRE 193 
 
 for life, and he gradually ousted the earl from actual 
 power in the shire. Under King Edgar the shire -moot 
 met twice a year. Its functions were at once admini- 
 strative, legislative, and judicial. The suitors — that is, 
 all who attended— were the judges. The power of 
 the Central Government was but little felt, and the 
 various shires were almost as independent as the 
 different States now are in the United States. 
 
 In early Norman times much of this independence 
 was preserved. The county court was still largely a 
 representative assembly. At first, indeed, nothing- 
 changed except the names. The earl became a count 
 (the king's comes or companion) ; the shire became the 
 county (comitatus) ; and the shire -moot became the 
 county court. Henry I. sent his judges to the county 
 courts to hear and decide revenue cases only. Under 
 Henry II. , however, the royal power made itself more 
 felt. His justices in eyre made their circuits through 
 the land, and tried the more important criminal and 
 civil cases. They tried them, it is true, in the county 
 court. But the regular attendance of the king's justices 
 at that assembly tended to curb the power of the sheriff, 
 and prevented the feudal barons from obtaining in- 
 dependent courts such as they possessed in France. By 
 the Assize of Clarendon (1166) all landholders were 
 obliged to attend the county court twice a year to meet 
 the king's justices. This was the origin of the county 
 Assizes. The office of ealdorman or earl declined, and 
 the chief officer of the county was the sheriff, who was 
 a nominee of the Crown and the farmer of the royal 
 taxes. The county court of the thirteenth century, 
 when it met in full session, as it did twice a year to 
 

 
 194 THE COUNTY ohap. 
 
 receive the king's justices in eyre, was attended by the 
 bishop, abbots, priors, earls, barons, knights, and free- 
 holders ; by four men and the reeve from each township ; 
 and twelve burghers from each borough. The ordinary 
 court sat once a month, and was attended only by those 
 who had special business there. 
 
 Under Edward III. the county court rapidly de- 
 clined. Its criminal jurisdiction was taken from it 
 and divided between the judges on circuit and the 
 county justices, who are nominees of the Crown. The 
 judicial functions of the suitors are now represented 
 by the jury system, which has slowly developed ; and 
 the right of the grand jury to make presentments on 
 matters of local interest or importance is perhaps a sur- 
 vival of the old right of the county in its corporate 
 capacity to approach the Crown. The civil jurisdiction 
 of the county court has been transferred either to the 
 High Court or to the new statutory county courts 
 established in 1846, whose circuits have no relation to 
 county boundaries, and whose judges are barristers 
 appointed by the Crown. The ancient county court, 
 presided over by the sheriff, now never meets. For 
 parliamentary elections the counties have been sub- 
 divided into divisions, which, for electoral purposes, are 
 distinct counties. The county coroner is no longer 
 elected in the county court, but by the County Council. 
 If any one were outlawed, his outlawry must be pro- 
 claimed in the county court ; but no attempt to outlaw 
 any one has been made since 1859; and, indeed, out- 
 lawry in civil cases was abolished in 1879. In theory, 
 it is still the duty of the sheriff to proclaim in the 
 county court all new Acts passed by the Legislature.
 
 x HISTORY OF THE SHIRE 195 
 
 But there its functions end. The present administrative 
 work of the county has been created by a series of 
 statutes ranging from Tudor times down to the present 
 day ; but the body appointed to do this work was not 
 the old county court, but the justices of the peace for 
 the county assembled either in quarter or special sessions. 
 
 Divisions of the County 
 
 The Saxons found it necessary for purposes of local 
 government to create an area, larger than the township 
 but smaller than the shire, which they called the hundred. 
 Each shire was roughly divided into so many hundreds. 
 The division was not made on any clear system ; counties 
 of very different size, such as Lancashire and Middlesex, 
 had the same number of hundreds (six), while Kent and 
 Sussex had at least sixty. In the Danish counties the 
 hundreds were known as Wapentakes. Each hundred 
 had its court, which was regularly attended by the 
 reeve and four "best men" from each township. That 
 court had jurisdiction in matters affecting law and 
 police, but it could decide no question as to the title to 
 land. William the Conqueror allowed the hundred 
 court to meet as of old, and decreed that if a Norman 
 were killed in any hundred, and the murderer was not 
 promptly brought to justice, the hundred should be 
 severely fined. But in the reign of Edward III. justices 
 of the peace were appointed ; and as the office became 
 general and the duties of the justice increased, those of the 
 hundred court dwindled and gradually became obsolete. 
 The head officer of the hundred was the high constable. 
 In a few hundreds a high constable is still appointed
 
 196 THE COUNTY chap. 
 
 for old custom's sake. But he has no duties to perform; 
 and all necessity for such an appointment was taken 
 away in 1869. The ordinary constables of the hundred 
 had previously (in 1856) been merged in the county 
 police. One relic still lingered till quite recent times. 
 If a riot broke out and any man's house or property was 
 injured by the mob, he could claim compensation from 
 the inhabitants of the hundred in which the house or 
 property was situated. But even this last trace has 
 now disappeared; such a claim must now be made 
 against the police authority of the district; 1 and the 
 hundred exists only on the county map. 
 
 The place of the hundred has been taken, as we have 
 seen, 2 by the county district. Every county now 
 contains so many county districts, and the whole of 
 every county district lies, almost without exception, in 
 the same county. 
 
 The area for poor-law purposes is still the union ; and 
 many unions still cut county boundaries. For purposes 
 of the criminal law every county is also divided into 
 petty sessional divisions. The justices resident in each 
 such division meet every month, or oftener, at some 
 market town which is conveniently central, to dispose of 
 petty cases and to send more serious offences for trial 
 at Quarter Sessions or the Assizes. A division of this 
 kind is generally of about the same area as a union. 
 The justices in Quarter Sessions have power under 9 
 Geo. IV. c. 43, to rearrange and adjust the boundaries of 
 these divisions ; and in some counties they are already 
 ■ trying to make the petty sessional divisions coincide, 
 
 1 Under the statute 49 & 50 Vict. c. 38. 
 2 See ante, chap. vi. p. 130.
 
 x DIVISIONS OF THE COUNTY 197 
 
 so far as possible, with the unions. It is illogical and 
 inconvenient that a county should for different purposes 
 be cut up into three distinct series of areas. 1 If it 
 could be arranged that the same area should be always 
 both a union and a petty sessional division, and should 
 either be itself a county district or should consist of 
 two or more entire county districts, a further step of 
 some importance would have been taken in the direction 
 of simplifying and facilitating the government of our 
 counties. 
 
 The civil officers of a modern county are the Sheriff, 
 the Lord-Lieutenant and Custos Botulorum, the Coroner, 
 the Justices, the Clerk of the Peace, the public analyst, 
 the county surveyor, and the county police. 
 
 The Sheriff 
 
 The office of Sheriff dates back to the time when the 
 shires themselves were formed. The sheriff was origin- 
 ally appointed for life ; but by a statute of Edward III. 2 
 it is provided that "no sheriff shall tarry in his bailiwick 
 over one year; and then another convenient shall be 
 ordained in his place that hath land sufficient in his 
 bailiwick by the Chancellor, Treasurer, and Chief Baron 
 of the Exchequer, taking unto them the Chief Justice of 
 the one bench and the other if they be present ; and 
 
 1 The counties are also divided into police divisions and into 
 county court districts. But these divisions have little or no con- 
 nection with the divisions of the county for purposes of local 
 government. For further information on these subjects, the reader 
 is referred to another volume in this series, Justice and Police, by 
 Professor F. W. Maitland. 
 
 2 14 Ed. III. st. i. c. 7.
 
 198 THE COUNTY chap. 
 
 that shall be done yearly on the morrow of All Souls at 
 the Exchequer." In accordance with this statute, the 
 judges of the High Court and the officers of the 
 Exchequer still meet annually on November 12th and 
 prepare a list of qualified persons, three for each 
 county. This list is submitted to the Queen, who 
 makes a pin prick opposite the names of the ones she 
 selects. Hence the ceremony is called "pricking the 
 sheriffs." Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, and the 
 Isle of Ely have but one sheriff between them. There 
 was no separate sheriff of Middlesex till 1889. 1 The 
 Prince of Wales as Duke of Cornwall appoints the 
 sheriff of Cornwall. Nineteen boroughs have also 
 sheriffs ; 2 and so has the City of London. 
 
 The sheriff is an unpaid officer, and he is liable to a 
 heavy fine if he refuses to serve. During his year of 
 office he may not act as a justice of the peace. He takes 
 precedence of all persons in the county, except the 
 judges on circuit. His main duties are to attend on the 
 judges, to summon and return juries, and to act as the 
 executive officer of the High Court. He issues execu- 
 tions and otherwise enforces all judgments of the High 
 Court. Formerly all prisoners were held to be in his 
 custody, but this jurisdiction was taken from him by 
 an Act of 1877, which transferred all prisons to the 
 Central Government. He is also returning-officer at 
 parliamentary elections for the county. His ministerial 
 duties are discharged by the under-sheriff, but the 
 sheriff is responsible for their due performance. 
 
 1 See -post, p. 213. 2 See ante, p. 96.
 
 x THE LORD-LIEUTENANT 199 
 
 The Lord-Lieutenant 
 
 The office of Lord-Lieutenant dates from the time of 
 Henry VIII. He holds office under a special com- 
 mission from the Crown, and is usually a peer or other 
 large landowner. His office was to some extent a 
 revival of the ancient ealdormanhood, and it certainly 
 took away from the sheriff a great part of the dignity 
 and importance which he had acquired since the 
 decline of that office. His authority, however, was 
 almost exclusively military ; in civil matters the 
 sheriff remained the executive minister of the law. 
 The militia, under the lord-lieutenant, took the place of 
 the posse comitatus, headed by the sheriff". But by an Act 
 of 1871 the jurisdiction of the lord-lieutenant over the 
 militia has been taken from him and revested in the 
 Crown. The lord-lieutenant usually holds also the office 
 of custos rotulorum, or keeper of the records ; and as such 
 he is the principal justice of the county. So far as 
 county administration is concerned, his main duty is to 
 recommend to the Lord Chancellor persons qualified for 
 the office of justice of the peace. He also appoints 
 Deputy Lieutenants, subject to the approval of the 
 Crown. 
 
 The Coroner 
 
 The office of Coroner is a very ancient one, dating 
 back, at any rate, to the reign of Richard I. It is 
 regulated partly by common law, partly by a series of 
 51 statutes, beginning in 1275, and ending with an Act 
 of 1888. In spite of their name, which suggests that 
 they were appointed by the Crown, the county coroners
 
 200 THE COUNTY chap. 
 
 have always been elective officers. Till 1888 they were 
 always elected " by the commons of the counties " in the 
 full county court. They are now elected by the County 
 Council. There are 241 county coroners acting for 
 counties or divisions of counties. Boroughs that have a 
 separate Court of Quarter Sessions, and had according to 
 the census of 1881 a population of not less than 10,000, 
 elect their own coroners. There are also certain franchises 
 and liberties which have coroners of their own, called 
 franchise coroners, and within whose precincts the county 
 coroner cannot act. In such places the coroner is usually 
 appointed by the lord of the manor, but in one franchise 
 in Cheshire the office is said to go with an hereditary 
 horn. In a manor in Essex the tenants appoint. 
 In another franchise the Ecclesiastical Commissioners 
 appoint. The coroner of the Admiralty of England 
 is appointed by the President of the Admiralty Division 
 of the High Court ; the coroner of the Queen's house- 
 hold by the Lord High Steward. 
 
 Although the office is judicial in its nature, no 
 professional qualification is required. The statutes of 
 Edward I. and Edward III. merely insist on coroners 
 being "sufficient men" "chosen of the most meet and 
 lawful people that shall be found in the said counties to 
 execute the said office." The only other requisite is 
 that the candidate should possess some freehold interest 
 in the county. A share in a freehold grave has been 
 held sufficient. A county coroner ordinarily holds office 
 for life, but may be removed by the Lord Chancellor for 
 misconduct or incompetence. He is paid a salary, the 
 amount of which may be revised every five years. In 
 case of illness or unavoidable absence he may appoint a
 
 x THE CORONER 201 
 
 deputy to act for him, who must he a barrister, a 
 solicitor, or a medical man. The coroner is ex officio 
 a justice of the peace, and he may therefore cause any 
 person suspected of homicide to be apprehended, even 
 before the jury have found their verdict. But he may 
 not be elected a county alderman or councillor of the 
 county for which he is coroner. 
 
 Coroners formerly held inquisitions concerning 
 wrecks, treasure trove, and deodands, but this part 
 of their jurisdiction is now obsolete. A county 
 coroner has no power to inquire into incendiary fires. 
 But the coroner of the City of London has this 
 exceptional power. If any loss or injury is caused by 
 fire within the city or its liberties, he may, if he thinks 
 there is proper cause, hold an inquest to " inquire into 
 the cause and circumstances of such fire " ; and if the 
 jury think that the fire "was caused by the wilful and 
 unlawful act of any person," they may find a verdict of 
 arson against him, and, if he has been present during 
 the proceedings, the coroner may at once commit him 
 for trial. 1 
 
 The main function of every coroner, however, is to 
 hold an inquest, with a jury, over the body of any 
 person who has been killed, or who has died in prison, 
 or who has died suddenly, if the cause of death be 
 unknown. The inquisition must be held super visum 
 corporis ; that is to say, the body must be viewed both by 
 the coroner and by the jury. The jury, which must con- 
 sist of not less than twelve, nor more than twenty-three 
 good and lawful men, are sworn by the coroner, and are 
 then charged to inquire how the deceased came by his 
 1 51 & 52 Vict. c. xxxviii.
 
 202 THE COUNTY chap. 
 
 death. Witnesses are examined on oath, and the 
 coroner has power to order a post-mortem examination 
 of the body, and the attendance of medical witnesses. 
 The finding of the jury is recorded in writing, and is 
 attested by the signatures and seals of the jury, as well 
 as of the coroner. If on such finding or inquisition any 
 person is found guilty of murder or manslaughter, the 
 coroner commits him for trial, and the accused may be 
 indicted on the inquisition without any presentment by 
 the grand jury. As a fact, however, an independent 
 inquiry is always held before the justices in the ordinary 
 way, and both sets of depositions are sent up and dealt 
 with at the Assizes. 
 
 Justices of the Peace 
 
 The office of Justice of the Peace dates from the 
 statute 34 Ed. III. c. 1. There is no limit to the num- 
 ber of justices that may be appointed in any county. 
 Justices are appointed by the Crown on the recom- 
 mendation of the lord-lieutenant. They are unpaid; 
 they elect their own chairman. They hold office for 
 life, but may be removed for misconduct by the Lord 
 Chancellor. The qualification is the enjoyment of an 
 estate in possession of £100 a year, or the reversion in 
 an estate of not less than £300 a year, or two years' 
 assessment to the Inhabited House Duty at not less than 
 £100 a year. In the case of county court judges no 
 property qualification is required. A justice is appointed 
 for the whole county ; but, except in Quarter Sessions, 
 he only acts in practice in the petty sessional division 
 in or near which he resides. His judicial functions,
 
 x JUSTICES OF THE PEACE 203 
 
 though defined and limited by statute, depend ultimately 
 on the terms of his commission. The form of the com- 
 mission was settled by the judges in the time of Queen 
 Elizabeth and has remained substantially the same ever 
 since. Any two or more justices acting in their own 
 division constitute a petty sessions. When a petty 
 sessions is summoned by special notice given to all the 
 justices " acting in and for " the petty sessional division, 
 it is called a special sessions. 
 
 By a long series of statutes all the administrative 
 work of the county was placed in the hands of the 
 justices. And the work was well done. They main- 
 tained the county bridges, the shire halls, the pauper 
 lunatic asylums, and the county police. They appointed 
 the county analyst and the inspectors of weights and 
 measures. They formed highway districts and com- 
 pelled highway boards to repair the roads. They 
 visited lunatic asylums. In petty sessions they ap- 
 pointed the overseers, and granted licenses for the sale 
 of intoxicating liquors. In every other department of 
 the State the rule was that representation must go with 
 taxation. But the county ratepayers did not wish to be 
 represented : they cheerfully and contentedly acquiesced 
 in the existing arrangements, under which nominees of 
 the Crown, over whom they had no control, spent their 
 money and managed their county business ; for they 
 knew that the money was well spent and the business 
 well managed. But at last the principle of representa- 
 tion gained the day ; and the Local Government Act of 
 1888 was passed, which created in each of the 62 ad- 
 ministrative counties a representative body directly 
 elected by the ratepayers, called the County Council,
 
 204 THE COUNTY chap. 
 
 and transferred to it the administrative business of the 
 county. 
 
 The County Council 
 
 The main object of the Local Government Act, 1888, 
 was, so far as possible, to give to counties that form of 
 municipal government which had previously pertained 
 only to English boroughs. That is the guiding prin- 
 ciple which underlies all its provisions. Of course, 
 much adaptation was necessary — as a borough is essen- 
 tially different from a county. Every County Council 
 was made a corporation : it has perpetual succession 
 and a common seal ; it can acquire and hold land with- 
 out any licence in mortmain. All county property, 
 real and personal, was transferred to it, except the 
 records of the Court of Quarter Sessions. The number 
 of its members varies according to the size of the county 
 — from 28 for Rutland and 32 for Radnor, to 120 for 
 the West Riding and 137 for London. One-fourth of 
 the members of a County Council are county aldermen. 
 The ordinary councillors are elected by the county 
 electors for a period of three years. At their first 
 meeting in each such period they elect half the number 
 of aldermen. The aldermen hold office for six years, 
 half their number retiring every third year. The alder- 
 men are often chosen from the existing councillors ; but 
 this is not necessary; any one qualified to be a councillor 
 may be elected an alderman. If a man who is already 
 a councillor be elected alderman, he vacates his seat as a 
 councillor. 
 
 A roll is kept in each county of the persons qualified 
 to vote at an election for the County Council. A county
 
 x THE COUNTY COUNCIL 205 
 
 elector may be ;i man or a woman, but must be either 
 enrolled as a burgess of some borough which is not a 
 county borough, or registered as a county elector under 
 the Act of 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 10). Speaking 
 generally, every person, male or female, who (a) has 
 during the twelve months preceding the 15th July in 
 any year occupied any building (or any land of the 
 clear yearly value of £10) rated to the relief of the 
 poor, (b) has resided in the borough or parish, or within 
 seven miles of it, during such twelve months (or in the 
 case of the £10 occupier, for six months), and (c) has 
 paid all rates which have been assessed in respect of 
 such property up to the 20th July immediately follow- 
 ing, is qualified to be so enrolled or registered, unless 
 he or she is under age, or is insane, or an alien, or has 
 been within the preceding twelve months in receipt of 
 poor relief, or is disqualified by any specific Act of 
 Parliament, e.g. for bribery. The burgesses of a county 
 borough are exempt from the jurisdiction, and therefore 
 take no part in the election, of any County Council. 
 And no county elector, though registered in more than 
 one electoral division of the same county, may vote in 
 more than one division at the same County Council 
 election. 
 
 To be eligible as a county councillor, a man must be 
 a parliamentary voter, registered as such in respect of 
 ownership in the county ; or a peer owning property in 
 the county ; or be qualified to be registered as a muni- 
 cipal elector in any borough which is not a county 
 borough ; or qualified in all respects save that of resi- 
 dence to be a municipal elector in any borough not a 
 county borough, resident within fifteen miles of the
 
 206 THE COUNTY chat. 
 
 borough, and liable to be rated in respect of property 
 therein above a certain limit of value. But no woman 
 can be elected a county councillor ; nor can any person 
 holding any paid office in the gift of the council ; nor 
 any person who has an interest, direct or indirect, in 
 any contract with the Council ; nor an uncertificated 
 bankrupt for five years after his discharge. But a clerk 
 in holy orders or a dissenting minister may be a coun- 
 cillor, and therefore an alderman. 
 
 Powers of the County Council 
 
 To the County Council were transferred all the powers 
 and duties of justices in Quarter Sessions relating to 
 matters of local government. But no judicial powers 
 were transferred. A County Council is an administrative 
 body, not a court. The control of the county police 
 and the appointment of the chief constable is vested in 
 a joint committee of the County Council and the county 
 justices. The justices still hear rating appeals and all 
 applications for licenses to sell intoxicating liquors. But 
 in all other local concerns the County Council now 
 governs the county. It can make by-laws for the regula- 
 tion of the county in the same way and to the same 
 extent as a Town Council can for the regulation of a 
 borough. It repairs all main roads and county bridges. 
 It provides, maintains, and visits pauper lunatic asylums, 
 reformatories, and industrial schools. It prevents the 
 pollution of rivers ; it carries into execution the laws 
 relating to destructive insects and contagious diseases 
 in animals ; it protects wild birds, and conserves fish. 
 It assists or organises technical education ; it registers
 
 x POWERS OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL 207 
 
 Dissenting chapels, and the rules of various societies. 
 It appoints the county coroner, the county treasurer, 
 the county surveyor, the public analyst, and the officers 
 under the Explosives Act, 1875. It directs the 
 registration of voters and fixes the polling stations 
 for parliamentary elections. It regulates all Local 
 Government elections. It pays the salary of the clerks 
 to the justices, and the cost of the Assizes and 
 Quarter Sessions ; it pays half the cost of the cloth- 
 ing and pay of the county police ; it makes the 
 assessment for the County rate and levies that and 
 the Police rate. It grants licenses for music and 
 dancing and for racecourses ; it insists on the use of 
 proper weights and measures ; it protects the purchaser 
 of coal and bread. It can by Provisional Order authorise 
 the compulsory purchase of land for allotments and 
 other purposes. It can oppose, but not promote, Bills 
 in Parliament, and prosecute and defend all necessary 
 legal proceedings in the same way as the corporation of 
 a borough. 
 
 Moreover, the Local Government Board may by 
 Provisional Order transfer to a County Council any 
 other powers, duties, or liabilities of any Court of 
 Quarter Sessions or of the justices of any county under 
 any local Act which are similar in character to those 
 mentioned above or which relate to any property trans- 
 ferred to the County Council. The Local Government 
 Board may also by Provisional Order transfer to a 
 County Council any of the statutory powers, duties, and 
 liabilities of Her Majesty's Privy Council, a Secretary 
 of State, the Board of Trade, the Local Government 
 Board, or the Education Department, or any other
 
 208 THE COUNTY chap. 
 
 Government department, which relate to matters aris- 
 ing within the county, and are of an administrative 
 character; also any similar statutory powers, duties, 
 and liabilities arising within the county, of any Commis- 
 sioners of Sewers, Conservators, or other public body, 
 corporate or unincorporate, except the corporation of a 
 borough, or an Urban or Rural District Council, or a 
 School Board, or a Board of Guardians. 
 
 These extensive powers have been enlarged by the 
 Local Government Act of 1894. The County Council 
 is now called upon to exercise a kind of general super- 
 vision over Parish and District Councils. It settles 
 their areas and boundaries ; it arbitrates between them, 
 if they quarrel ; if they neglect their work, the County 
 Council has in many cases to do it for them. The 
 consent of the County Council is necessary before a 
 District Council can exercise any powers over a common 
 or aid a commoner to maintain his right of common. It 
 can establish a Parish Council in a parish which has a 
 population of less than 300 persons, or group small 
 parishes together and give them a common Parish 
 Council ; should the population increase, it can dissolve 
 the common Parish Council, and separate the group of 
 parishes. It can divide large rural parishes into wards 
 for the purpose of electing parish councillors. It fixes 
 and can alter the number of guardians and rural district - 
 councillors for each parish within the county. It sees 
 that all parish books and documents are properly pre- 
 served. It can hold local enquiries ; it can itself acquire 
 the powers of a District Council, or employ a District 
 Council as its agent. In fact it is made the duty 
 of the County Council to see that the new system
 
 x POWERS OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL 209 
 
 of local government works properly all over the 
 count}. 
 
 The County Council also administers the Technical 
 Education Acts ; it has power to establish technical 
 schools, and can call upon the rates to the extent of one 
 penny in the £ for this purpose. It is its duty too 
 to appoint inspectors to enforce the Shop Hours Acts 
 of 1892, 1893, and 1895. 
 
 County Finance 
 
 The financial year for the county runs from April 1st to 
 the 31st of March ensuing. At the commencement of each 
 financial year an estimate of the probable receipts and 
 expenditure during that year is prepared and laid before 
 the Council. At the close of each financial year its 
 accounts are made up, and a reswnd of them published. 
 Any ratepayer may inspect the original accounts, which 
 are subsequently audited by a District Auditor ap- 
 pointed by the Local Government Board. A Finance 
 Committee is regularly appointed to attend to the 
 financial business of the Council ; and three members at 
 least of this Committee must sign every order for the 
 payment of money. 
 
 The income of a County Council is drawn from 
 many sources. It receives a certain amount in the 
 shape of fines inflicted for breach of bydaws or statutes. 
 It derives some small income from its property in the 
 shape of tolls, rent, royalties, etc. It also receives a 
 share of the license duties collected by the Imperial 
 Government in the county, together with a proportion 
 of the probate duty collected in the United Kingdom. 
 
 p
 
 210 THE COUNTY chav. 
 
 These contributions from the Imperial Exchequer are 
 carried to a separate account, called the "Exchequer 
 Contribution Account " ; and they must be devoted 
 primarily to the payment of poor-law officers, medical 
 officers of health, registrars of births and deaths, and 
 other statutory officials, and cannot be used for the 
 general purposes of the county till these prior claims are 
 satisfied. Then by the Local Taxation Act, 1890, a 
 certain portion of the English share of the customs and 
 excise duties may be distributed between county and 
 county borough funds, to be used primarily for payment 
 of the officials mentioned above, and then for purposes 
 of technical education. These Treasury subventions to 
 the extra-Metropolitan County Councils amounted in 
 the year 1895-96 to £2,142,932. 
 
 The income derived from these various sources is far 
 from sufficient to meet the expenditure for general county 
 purposes. Hence each County Council levies a county 
 rate under the County Rates Act, 1852. And for this 
 purpose it has its own Assessment Committee, which 
 may either adopt the existing poor-law valuation or make 
 a valuation of its own. It frequently adopts the poor- 
 law valuation with certain modifications, which are 
 generally in favour of the ratepayer. It then divides 
 the amount to be raised among the various parishes in 
 the county (except those that are comprised in one of 
 the larger Quarter Sessions boroughs), according to the 
 value of the property comprised in each parish. The 
 Council issues its precept to the guardians of each union, 
 bidding them collect from each such parish the amount 
 so found due from it. The guardians pay the amount to 
 the county treasurer, and recover it from the overseers
 
 x COUNTY FINANCE 211 
 
 of each parish. If the amount be not paid by the 
 guardians within the time named in the precept, the 
 County Council may themselves order the overseers to 
 collect the amount due from each parish ; and, if they 
 fail to do so, may distrain on the overseers. All appeals 
 against a valuation or a rate are still heard as hereto- 
 fore by the justices or a Recorder in Quarter Sessions, 
 and not by the County Council. The total amount 
 raised by the county rate outside the Metropolis was, 
 in the financial year 1895-96, £2,557,585. 
 
 All moneys received by or on behalf of a County 
 Council from any source other than the Imperial Ex- 
 chequer are carried to its County Fund Account. Money 
 can only be drawn out of that account by the county 
 treasurer, and he will draw none out without an order 
 of the Council, signed by at least three members of the 
 Finance Committee. All moneys so drawn out can only 
 be used to meet expenditure incurred by the County 
 Council in the exercise of its statutory powers or in the 
 due execution of its statutory duties. The total ex- 
 penditure of the extra -Metropolitan County Councils 
 (not including the cost of works, etc., defrayed out of 
 loans) was, in the financial year 1895-96, £5,076,199. 
 
 But a County Council cannot be expected to meet all 
 its expenses out of its annual income. Some portion of 
 its expenditure is of permanent value, and its cost may 
 properly be spread over several years. A County Council 
 is therefore entrusted with considerable powers of borrow- 
 ing money on the security of the county fund and of 
 any revenues of the Council. It may from time to time, 
 with the consent of the Local Government Board, borrow 
 such sums as may be required for consolidating the debts
 
 212 THE COUNTY chap, x 
 
 of the county ; or for purchasing any land or erecting 
 any building which the Council are authorised by any 
 Act to purchase or build ; or for any permanent work or 
 other thing which the County Council are authorised to 
 execute or do, and the cost of which ought, in the 
 opinion of the Local Government Board, to be spread 
 over a term of years ; or for the other purposes men- 
 tioned in s. 69 of the Local Government Act, 1888. 
 But the Local Government Board cannot, without the 
 express approval of Parliament, sanction any loan which 
 will bring the total debt of a county above a tenth of 
 the rateable value of the property within its area. The 
 loan may be secured either by " county stock " issued 
 under the provisions of the Act of 1888, by debentures 
 or annuity certificates under the Local Loans Act, 
 1875, or by mortgage under the provisions of the 
 Public Health Act, 1875. But every loan must be 
 repaid within thirty years by equal yearly or half-yearly 
 instalments, or by means of a sinking fund. The total 
 amount of the outstanding loans of the County Councils 
 outside the Metropolis in 1896 was £3,465,293.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE METROPOLIS 
 
 The Administrative County of London — Confusion of Areas and 
 Authorities prior to 1888 — History of London and its Suburbs 
 — The Metropolitan Board of Works — The London County 
 Council — Metropolitan Vestries and District Boards — The City 
 of London — The School Board for London — Metropolitan Poor- 
 law Authorities, etc. 
 
 The Metropolis is the area of the new administrative 
 county of London, which was created by the Local 
 Government Act of 1888. It is identical with the area 
 over which the defunct Metropolitan Board of Works 
 had formerly jurisdiction. It includes the City of 
 London. For judicial, police, and other purposes, it is 
 true, there still exist in the Metropolis two "non- 
 administrative counties," viz. the county of London 
 and the county of the City of London. But for most 
 purposes of local government the City is a subdivision 
 of the administrative county of London, which includes 
 the whole Metropolis. 
 
 The boundaries of this administrative county are 
 defined by the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, as 
 amended by subsequent Acts. They include an area of
 
 214 THE METROPOLIS chap. 
 
 121 square miles and a population, in 1896, of 4,433,618 
 persons. The City of London has an area of only 671 
 acres — j us t over one square mile — and a population in 
 1896 of 31,148; at least, that is its "sleeping popula- 
 tion." The whole administrative county of London is 
 one School Board district. It is cut up into 58 Parlia- 
 mentary boroughs or divisions of boroughs. A small 
 portion of it is outside the Registrar-General's Tables of 
 Mortality ; but the whole county lies within two larger 
 districts — the Metropolitan Police District and the dis- 
 trict of the Central Criminal Court. 
 
 It is impossible within the limits assigned to this 
 little volume either to relate the history of London or 
 adequately to describe its present system of government. 
 Mr. Chalmers wrote in 1883: "The confusion which 
 reigns supreme over local affairs in the rest of England 
 is only worse confounded in the case of the Metropolis." 
 Much has been done since 1883 to improve this state of 
 things ; but much remains to be done. There is still no 
 uniformity, no harmonious system about the government 
 of London. To give a methodical and accurate account 
 of London government is as difficult as to describe the 
 pattern on a patchwork quilt. Whenever a crying 
 necessity arose, resort was had to some exceptional 
 expedient ; some special authority was created to meet 
 the need of the hour. The plan of putting a new 
 legislative patch on to the. old garment was consistently 
 pursued with the usual result. The constitution of the 
 City of London is regulated by 120 charters, some 50 
 general Acts, and an unknown quantity of special Acts. 
 London outside the City is regulated by about 120 
 general Acts supplemented by an unknown quantity of
 
 xi THE METROPOLIS 215 
 
 special Acts. There are nine different kinds of rates 
 collected. Besides the City Corporation, the London 
 County Council, and the London School Board, there 
 are 30 Boards of Guardians, 29 incorporated Vestries, 
 and 12 District Boards in the Metropolis, to which must 
 be added the Corporation of the City of Westminster, 
 the Woolwich Local Board of Health, the Burial Boards, 
 the Metropolitan Asylums Board, the Commissioners of 
 Baths and Wash-houses, the Commissioners of Free 
 Libraries, the Thames Conservators, the Lea Conserva- 
 tors, and a few minor authorities. In many matters the 
 London County Council has jurisdiction over the whole 
 Metropolis. Certain statutory powers, 1 on the other 
 hand, can be exercised by the London County Council 
 only in that portion of the Metropolis which is outside 
 the City ; in the City they are exercised by the Common 
 Council. Then, again, in a few matters (such as the 
 provision of markets, the inspection of animals imported 
 from abroad, and the sanitary administration of the Port 
 of London) the Corporation of the City has jurisdiction 
 over the whole of the Metropolis. The fact that the 
 Metropolis is so well governed as it is speaks volumes 
 for the practical sagacity and honesty of purpose of the 
 men who work such cumbrous and intricate machinery. 
 
 Before saying anything more as to the existing 
 authorities, it will be well to give the reader the 
 briefest sketch of the history of our great city. 
 
 1 Such, for instance, as those conferred by the Explosives Act, 
 1875, and the provisions of the London Building Act, 1894, which 
 forbid the erection of any new sky-signs.
 
 216 THE METROPOLIS ohap. 
 
 Outline of the History of London 
 
 Some of our ancient cities, such as Winchester, 
 Chester, and York date back to Roman times. Win- 
 chester even claims a British origin. No doubt there 
 was once a Roman colony on the spot now occupied by 
 the City of London. But London cannot show a con- 
 tinuous municipal history from that date till now. 
 Twice at least since the Romans retired from England, 
 London was left unpeopled and empty, with only the 
 bare Roman walls still standing. 
 
 During the early portion of the Roman occupation of 
 Britain, London was nothing more than a fortified barrack, 
 posted on a hillock that rose out of the marshes of the 
 Thames, and occupied by soldiers and camp-followers. 
 This fort must have stood on or near the spot which is 
 now occupied by Ludgate Hill Railway Station. As 
 trade developed, non-combatants came to reside under 
 its shelter ; and London grew to be a colony. About 
 A.D. 340, in all probability, municipal institutions were 
 created. And at some date between A.D. 350 and 370 
 the famous Roman wall was built — we do not know by 
 whom— enclosing the town and a large tract of open 
 country as well. About the same time an unsuccessful 
 attempt was made to re-christen the colony Augusta. In 
 A.D. 410 the Romans quitted Britain. But London 
 remained a strongly fortified town ; and at first it stoutly 
 resisted the Saxon invaders ; its walls rendered it almost 
 impregnable. But either it was eventually abandoned 
 by the Britons or it was starved out. At some unknown 
 date in the sixth century the Saxons became masters of 
 it, and held it till in A.D. 839, the Danes in their turn
 
 xi OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF LOXDOX 217 
 
 captured the town and drove the Saxons out. The 
 Danes burnt and destroyed all the buildings, and did 
 what they could to destroy the walls, and then left it 
 empty and desolate. It cannot, therefore, be maintained 
 that the City corporation of to-day is the direct successor 
 of a Roman municipality. 
 
 King Alfred realised the importance of London and 
 the value of its situation both as a military and a com- 
 mercial centre. Accordingly in A.D. 886 he repeopled 
 London, rebuilt its walls, and founded a new city oh the 
 site of the Roman colony. He organised London as a 
 county enclosed within walls rather than as a muni- 
 cipality. None of the institutions of the City shew any 
 trace of Roman origin ; they were all of the type with 
 which we are familiar in the Saxon shires. Alfred 
 appointed his son-in-law Ethelred ealdorman. He wel- 
 comed strangers from all parts. Saxons, Danes, French- 
 men, and Germans came to live in the new town. Trade 
 was especially encouraged. Any member of this mixed 
 population who fared thrice across the sea in his own 
 ship ranked as a thane. 
 
 Under later Saxon kings the organisation of the city 
 continued aristocratic ; the king appointed the chief 
 officer, or port-reeve as he was subsequently called ; 
 under him the government was exclusively in the hands 
 of those who owned land within the city-walls. William 
 the Conqueror hastened to make terms with the City of 
 London : he wrote a " friendly " letter, which is still 
 preserved in the archives of the City at Guildhall, to 
 " William, Bishop, and Gosfrith, port-reeve, and all the 
 burghers within London, French and English," promis- 
 ing that all should be " law-worthy " that were so in the
 
 218 THE METROPOLIS chap. 
 
 days of King Edward the Confessor, that every child 
 should be his father's heir according to Saxon custom, 
 and that he would not suffer any man to do them wrong. 
 In all subsequent disputes between rival claimants for 
 power in England the City of London generally was 
 shrewd enough to choose the winning side. Hence it soon 
 acquired privileges such as the right to hold its own 
 courts, to elect its own bailiff or mayor, to commute its 
 dues for a fixed sum, etc. 1 
 
 London never was in the county of Middlesex for any 
 administrative purpose; it was always independent of the 
 courts of that shire, which in Saxon and Danish times 
 was very sparsely populated. But in 1 101 Henry II. gave 
 the county of Middlesex to the City " to farm," together 
 with the right to appoint the sheriff of Middlesex, so that 
 the county now became an appanage of the City. The 
 City paid (and, I believe, still pays) the Crown a rent of 
 £300 for the county ; and the Mayor, commonalty, and 
 citizens of the City of London continued to appoint the 
 sheriff of Middlesex till the year 1888, when the right 
 was taken from them by the Local Government Act of 
 that year (s. 46). 
 
 The trade of London increased ; so did its popula- 
 tion; "nigh the thronged wharf, Geoffrey Chaucer's 
 pen moved over bills of lading." But for centuries 
 there was room for all within the ambit of the Roman 
 walls. When it did become necessary to build houses 
 outside the walls, the City at first incorporated its extra- 
 mural parishes, such as Bishopsgate and Farringdon 
 Without. The Borough of Southwark was for some 
 purposes annexed to the City ; it is still by a fiction a 
 1 See ante, pp. 71, 72.
 
 xi OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF LONDON 219 
 
 ward of the City — the ward of Bridge Without. But 
 a monastery had been founded on the site now called 
 Covent Garden, the monks of which had no wish to be 
 included in the City boundaries. And around another 
 monastery, specially favoured by the king, had grown 
 up the City of Westminster. Hence the natural exten- 
 sion of the City of London was checked ; and its suburbs 
 were left to be governed as though they were country 
 villages. Their only local authority was the parish 
 vestry. But it soon became impossible for the parish- 
 ioners to assemble in the vestry ; no room indeed would 
 hold them. It was necessary to create a representative 
 body, called a " select vestry," and many local Acts were 
 passed with this object, each dealing with a separate 
 parish. Where the parishes were small, instead of a 
 select vestry, a District Board was formed, under which 
 several small parishes were grouped. And so com- 
 menced that patchwork system which Mr. Chalmers 
 so strenuously and so properly denounced. The Metro- 
 politan select vestries have since been incorporated. 
 While the suburbs were thus split up under a quasi- 
 parochial government, the City proper remained a small 
 but compact town, well organised and well governed. 
 
 It was found, however, that there must be some 
 central authority for greater London, to deal with 
 matters which affect more parishes than one, and ac- 
 cordingly in 1855 the Metropolitan Board of Works was 
 created to control the main -drainage, to carry out im- 
 provements, to regulate the streets and bridges, and to 
 manage the fire brigade. This Board had 46 members, 
 but they were selected on a vicious principle. They 
 were elected by the various vestries and District Boards,
 
 220 THE METROPOLIS chap. 
 
 and not by the ratepayers direct. The Metropolitan 
 Board was abolished in 1888, and no one regretted its 
 abolition. Its place was taken by the London County 
 Council, which held its first meeting on March 21st, 
 1889, under the presidency of Lord Rosebery. 
 
 The London County Council 
 
 The London County Council consists of 1 18 councillors, 
 19 aldermen, and a chairman, who may or may not be 
 already an alderman or a councillor. Its members 
 therefore number in all either 137 or 138. The council- 
 lors are elected directly by the ratepayers, four for the 
 City, two for each of the 57 other Parliamentary divisions 
 of the Metropolis. They serve for three years, and then 
 retire altogether. They elect the aldermen at the first 
 meeting of the new Council. The aldermen serve for 
 six years, nine or ten retiring every alternate three years. 
 The Chairman is ex officio a justice of the peace for the 
 county of London. The Council meets every Tuesday. 
 Its twenty-six standing Committees are also busy on 
 other days of the week with an enormous variety of 
 business. ■ 
 
 The London County Council has of course all the 
 powers and duties of an ordinary County Council. But 
 it has also succeeded to the powers, duties, and liabilities 
 of the late Metropolitan Board of Works. These are 
 very various in character. In the first place, the Council 
 has very large powers of raising and borrowing money, 
 and of sanctioning loans recpiired by the Vestries and 
 District Boards. It has extensive powers too in connec- 
 tion with main-drainage, the sanctioning of local sewers,
 
 xi THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL 221 
 
 and the prevention of floods by the Thames. It main- 
 tains and controls the Fire Brigade. It regulates nearly 
 4000 acres of parks and other open spaces, and all 
 bridges and other crossings over and under the Thames, 
 within the county but outside the City, including the 
 free ferry at Woolwich and the new tunnel under the 
 Thames at Blackwall which was opened by the Prince 
 of Wales in May 1897. It also supervises all street 
 improvements ; controls the width of new streets ; insists 
 on the due observance of the building line ; directs the 
 naming and numbering and temporary closing of streets ; 
 and maintains subways under streets for gas and water 
 mains. With the efficient assistance of its district sur- 
 veyors, it deals with dangerous structures and buildings 
 unfit for habitation, and supervises the structural 
 arrangements of theatres, music-halls, and artisans' 
 dwellings. It has also extensive duties in connection 
 with cattle disease, offensive businesses, dairies and cow- 
 sheds, explosive substances and the storage of petroleum, 
 tramways, motor-cars, and other locomotives for roads, 
 the testing of gas, gas-meters and electric-meters, and 
 the constant supply of water. All county buildings, 
 pauper lunatic asylums, reformatories, and industrial 
 schools were transferred by the Local Government Act, 
 1888, from the county justices to the London County 
 Council ; and so was the power of granting licenses for 
 music and dancing in the Metropolis (including the 
 City), and licenses for theatres beyond the limits 
 controlled by the Lord Chamberlain. The County 
 Council also licenses slaughter-houses and cow-houses, 
 and supervises common lodging-houses. It has also 
 certain highway powers. It has purchased the tram-
 
 222 THE METROPOLIS chap. 
 
 ways within the county of the North Metropolitan 
 Tramways Company, the London Tramways Company, 
 and the London Street Tramways Company. It has 
 also power to make by-laws for the better regulation of 
 the county — a power which it has recently exercised 
 Avith regard to lights on vehicles, unnecessary noises, and 
 betting in the streets. 
 
 New powers are constantly being conferred on the 
 London County Council. It is, outside the City, the local 
 authority whose duty it is to appoint inspectors under 
 the Shop Hours Acts, 1892 to 1895, to enforce the 
 Infant Life Protection Act, 1897, and to regulate over- 
 head wires and sky-signs under two local Acts passed in 
 1891. But the London County Council has no control 
 over the Metropolitan Police. And no judicial powers 
 of any kind have been transferred to it. 1 The London 
 County Council is not a Court. 
 
 The Council has nominated twenty of its own 
 members and fifteen other gentlemen, who represent 
 certain educational bodies or other interests, to act as a 
 Technical Education Board, and carry out the Technical 
 Education Acts. It also appoints delegates to serve 
 on the Thames Conservancy Board, the Lea Conservancy 
 Board, and many other bodies. 
 
 The expenditure of the London County Council is 
 divided into two heads — capital outlay (i.e. outlay of a 
 kind that may fairly be spread over a term of years), 
 and annual expenditure (e.g. maintenance charges, 
 salaries, interest on loans, instalment towards sinking 
 fund, and all other recurring items). The capital outlay 
 varies considerably in different years ; for the year 
 
 1 Local Government Act, 1888, s. 78, subs. 2.
 
 xi THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL 223 
 
 ending March 31st, 1898, it was £1,609,683. Stock is 
 issued from time to time to meet this outlay in accord- 
 ance with the provisions of the annual Money Acts, 
 which require the creation of a sinking fund by 
 means of which the money borrowed will be replaced 
 before the end of a prescribed term, which never exceeds 
 sixty years. The London County Council can borrow 
 money at about 2f per cent, including stamp duty and 
 incidental expenses. The total amount of its stock now 
 outstanding is £40,011,638; but a large portion of this 
 sum is debt inherited from its predecessors, the counties 
 of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent, and from the Metro- 
 politan Board of Works for main-drainage works, the 
 Thames Embankment, and other improvements. On the 
 other hand, the London County Council has itself lent 
 large sums (amounting in all to upwards of £16,000,000) 
 to the London School Board, to vestries, and other 
 local public bodies, and on these sums it receives 
 interest. It has other assets which reduce its present 
 net liability to about £21,000,000. The annual expen- 
 diture, on the other hand, amounts to about £3,600,000. 
 The greater portion of this sum is raised by the county 
 rate, which for the last two years has been 14d. in the 
 £. But the Treasury contributes upwards of £500,000 
 from the Imperial Exchequer ; the tramways bring in a 
 profit ; interest is received on the loans just mentioned ; 
 and there are rents, fees, fines, and other smaller sources 
 of income. More than one-half of the net amount thus 
 obtained is expended in paying interest on the debt 
 and in repayment of the capital ; the rest is spent on 
 main-drainage work, the fire brigade, parks and open 
 spaces, the Thames bridges, tunnel, and embankments,
 
 224 THE .METROPOLIS chap. 
 
 lunatic asylums, industrial and reformatory schools, 
 inspection of weights and measures, inspection of 
 theatres and music halls, sanitary matters, and the 
 clerical establishment at Spring Gardens. 
 
 Metropolitan Vestries and District Boards 
 
 There are 113 parishes within the limits of the 
 City of London. Outside the City boundary, but still 
 within the Metropolis, lie 78 parishes and places which 
 are governed by either Vestries or District Boards. 
 Twenty-nine large single parishes are now ruled by 
 Vestries ; Woolwich still preserves its Local Board of 
 Health, — the last of its kind ; the remaining parishes 
 and places are grouped into twelve districts and governed 
 by twelve District Boards. These Vestries and District 
 Boards are the sanitary authorities for their respective 
 areas. They superintend the removal of nuisances, and 
 the lighting, paving, watering, and cleansing of the 
 streets. Minor drainage works, supplemental to the 
 main system, are also in their hands. 
 
 The London vestries are incorporated. The members 
 are elected by the parochial electors of each parish ; no 
 rating qualification now is necessary, but they must be 
 either parochial electors of the parish, or have resided 
 in the parish during the whole of the twelve months 
 preceding the election. No person is disqualified by sex 
 or marriage from being a London vestryman. The 
 number of vestrymen varies according to the population 
 of each parish; but it may not be less than 18 or 
 more than 120. A parish with more than 2000 house- 
 holders on its rate-books may be divided into wards,
 
 xi METROPOLITAN VESTRIES 225 
 
 and the number of vestrymen to be elected will then be 
 apportioned among the wards. Should the population 
 vary in the future, the number of vestrymen may be 
 altered according to the census. They hold office for 
 three years ; one-third of their number retire each year, 
 but are re-eligible. The elections are held in May ; and 
 are now regulated by an Order of the Local Government 
 Board: The Vestrymen (London) Election Order, 1898, 
 (S. E. & 0. 1898, No. 244), dated March 25th, 1898. 
 Each candidate must be proposed in writing by one 
 parochial elector and seconded in writing by another ; 
 if there be more candidates than vacancies, the election 
 takes place by ballot. The Ballot Act, 1872, and the 
 Municipal Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Practices) Act, 
 1884, apply to such an election. The same Order of 
 March 25th, 1898, directs how casual vacancies are to be 
 filled up. Each successful candidate must make and 
 sign a declaration of acceptance of office before he may 
 act. The rector of the parish and the churchwardens 
 continue ex officio vestrymen ; but the rector has no 
 longer any right to preside. 1 
 
 The members of the District Boards are elected by the 
 Vestries of the combined parishes. Their constitution 
 closely resembles that of the Vestries for single parishes. 
 The accounts both of the Metropolitan Vestries and of 
 the District Boards are checked by auditors elected 
 by the parochial electors from persons qualified to be 
 vestrymen, but not actually on the Vestry. The out- 
 standing debt of these Vestries and District Boards is 
 £2,659,476. 
 
 Various proposals have been mooted from time to 
 1 Local Government Act, 1894, s. 31, subs. 1,
 
 226 THE METROPOLIS chap. 
 
 time to bring these local authorities into closer harmony 
 with the general scheme of Metropolitan government. 
 Some of the larger Vestries have petitioned that their 
 parishes may be made into boroughs. It would be 
 necessary to have a special Act of Parliament to effect 
 this change. But it has not escaped the more vigilant 
 ratepayers that the accounts of a borough council are 
 not audited by the auditor of the Local Government 
 Board, any more than are those of the present Vestries 
 and District Boards. In both cases the duty is dis- 
 charged by elective auditors, who as a rule have no 
 professional training as auditors, and no legal knowledge 
 as to what expenditure is permissible and what is not. 
 Surely the proper course is to convert all these Vestries 
 and District Boards, and the Woolwich Local Board of 
 Health as well, into Urban District Councils, as has been 
 done everywhere else in England. The accounts of 
 every District Council are audited by the officers of the 
 Local Government Board. A borough, too, is allowed 
 in practice greater liberty in borrowing money than is 
 a District Council. Then, again, women cannot serve 
 on the council of a borough. They can be District 
 Councillors. 
 
 At the same time, the Metropolitan District Councils 
 must be given larger powers than are possessed by an 
 ordinary Urban District Council. It would not be 
 difficult for the London County Council and the local 
 authorities amicably to arrange what powers shall be 
 transferred to the new District Councils. The power 
 of making by-laws, the control of the main-drainage, and 
 the appointment of district surveyors should remain in 
 the hands of the London County Council. But the local
 
 XI METROPOLITAN VESTRIES 227 
 
 authorities might be safely trusted to control new streets, 
 to remove obstructions and dangerous structures in the 
 streets, and to maintain all main roads in their district. 
 Power should also be given them, concurrently with the 
 County Council, to make improvements of public utility 
 within their own district, to be paid for out of their 
 own local funds. 
 
 TJie City of London 
 
 The Corporation of the City of London is still, for 
 nearly all purposes, except main-drainage, the sole local 
 authority within its area. It is subject to no external 
 control or audit. It enjoys complete independence, 
 except in the few matters in which the London County 
 Council has jurisdiction within the limits of the City. 
 No one can deny the efficiency of its government within 
 those narrow limits. The City has its own police and 
 its own courts. It is the sanitary authority for the 
 port of London. It is also a poor-law union. It has 
 the monopoly of all markets within seven miles of its 
 boundary. It is paid a duty on all corn brought into 
 the port of London or the Metropolitan area. 
 
 The Corporation exercises its functions through three 
 assemblies — namely, the Court of Aldermen, the Court 
 of Common Council, and the Court of Common Hall. 
 The Lord Mayor is president of each of these 
 assemblies. 
 
 The Court of Aldermen consists of twenty-six alder- 
 men, including the Lord Mayor. The City is divided 
 into twenty-six wards. There are twenty-four wards 
 which each elect an alderman ; two more wards elect 
 an alderman between them ; the remaining alderman
 
 228 THE METROPOLIS chap. 
 
 sits for a twenty-seventh nominal ward, that of Bridge 
 Without, and the vacancy is usually bestowed on the 
 senior alderman. The aldermen hold office for life, are 
 ex officio magistrates, and when sitting alone have the 
 powers of ordinary justices sitting in petty sessions. 
 The Court of Aldermen licenses brokers and elects the 
 Recorder, who is a judge of the Central Criminal 
 Court and also chief judge of the Mayor's Court, which 
 has an unlimited civil jurisdiction within the limits of 
 the City. But he cannot act as a judge till he is 
 approved by the Crown. 
 
 The Court of Common Council is the main legislative 
 and executive body. By virtue of s. 41 of the Local 
 Government Act, 1888, it is to be " deemed to be " an 
 Urban District Council. It consists of the 26 
 aldermen and 206 common councilmen elected annually 
 in different proportions by the several wards. The 
 electors at the ward-mote elections need not be citizens, 
 but must have a certain property qualification in the 
 City. The Court of Common Council elects the Town 
 Clerk, the City Remembrancer, the City Coroner, and 
 the Secondary, or under-sheriff. It formerly also 
 elected the Common Serjeant and the Judge of the 
 City of London Court ; but the right to elect these 
 officers was taken from it by the Local Government Act 
 of 1888. By a private Act (60 & 61 Vict. c. cxxxiii.) 
 which came into operation on Plough Monday (January 
 10th) 1898, the Court of Common Council took over all 
 •the powers and duties of the former Commission of 
 Sewers, which had for more than 200 years superintended 
 the paving and lighting and managed the streets of the 
 City.
 
 xi THE CITY OF LONDON 229 
 
 The Court of Common Hall consists of the Mayor, 
 sheriffs, aldermen, and all the liverymen of the several 
 companies of the City of London, who number about 
 9000. This body meets only twice a year, on June 
 24th and September 29th ; on the later date it 
 nominates two aldermen — usually the two senior 
 aldermen who have not passed the Chair — for the office 
 of Lord Mayor. On the same day it elects the Sheriffs, 
 the Chamberlain (or City Treasurer), and other cor- 
 porate officers. The election of Sheriffs is subject to 
 the approval of the Crown. 
 
 The Lord Mayor is chosen from among the aldermen 
 who have served the office of sheriff. Of the two alder- 
 men named by the Court of Common Hall on September 
 29th in each year, the Court of Aldermen selects one, 
 (usually the senior one), who is sworn in as Lord Mayor 
 and presented to the Lord Chancellor on the following 
 November 8th, and to the judges of the Queen's Bench 
 Division on November 9th. The Lord Mayor is the 
 lord-lieutenant and chief magistrate and coroner for the 
 City, and admiral of the port of London. He is expected 
 to take the lead in all City functions and other matters 
 of public interest. During his year of office he lives at 
 the Mansion House, and there dispenses hospitality on 
 behalf of the City. His salary for the year is £10,000 ; 
 but he invariably spends more than this amount. 
 
 The citizenship of London was formerly confined to 
 the members of the livery companies. Any member of 
 any of these companies could take up his freedom and 
 be enrolled as a citizen. Now, however, any ratepayer 
 within the City, or any one on the parliamentary 
 register for the City, may on personal application at the
 
 230 THE METROPOLIS chap. 
 
 Chamberlain's Court, Guildhall, and on payment of one 
 guinea, become a freeman of the City of London. 
 
 The debt of the City is small. The outstanding loans 
 of the Corporation on December 31st, 1897, amounted to 
 £4,410,600; to which must be added the debt of the 
 defunct Commissioners of Sewers, which at the same date 
 was £1,405,415 ; making a total of £5,816,015. 
 
 The School Board for London 
 
 There is one School Board for the whole Metropolis. 
 It consists of fifty-five members, elected by different 
 districts in the following proportions : — The City, 4 
 Chelsea, 5 ; Finsbury, 6 ; Greenwich, 4 ; Hackney, 5 
 East Lambeth, 4 ; West Lambeth, 6 ; Marylebone, 7 
 Southwark, 4 ; Tower Hamlets, 5 ; Westminster, 5. 
 The Chairman is elected by the Board ; he may, but in 
 fact never does, receive a salary. In all other respects, 
 the constitution of the London School Board is precisely 
 similar to that of other School Boards ; and its work is 
 of the same kind, though vastly greater in extent. The 
 outstanding debt of the School Board for London is 
 £8,574,140. 
 
 There is, however, a curious clashing of jurisdiction 
 between the London School Board and the London 
 County Council in the matter of Industrial schools. 
 The Board has six Industrial schools under its own 
 management, viz. : the Shaftesbury Training Ship for 
 boys ; two Industrial schools, one at Brentwood for 
 boys, and one at Isleworth for girls ; one day Industrial 
 school in Drury Lane; and two "Truant Schools," 
 Upton House and Highbury. It also sends children to
 
 xi THE SCHOOL BOARD FOR LONDON 231 
 
 some sixty-two other Industrial schools all over the 
 kingdom. Between June 1871 and March 1898 it has 
 had 25,467 children under its care in various Industrial, 
 Truant, and day Industrial schools. In the year ending 
 March 25th, 1898, it had 1898 children in such schools. 
 But at the same time, the London County Council 
 has two Industrial schools of its own : Feltham and 
 Mayford. There were 567 hoys at Feltham, and 
 171 boys at Mayford on March 31st, 1898. In 
 addition to these, the Council contributed to the main- 
 tenance of 495 London boys and girls in various re- 
 formatories and 67 Industrial schools under the care 
 of voluntary managers. Why there should be this 
 competition in the same work between two public 
 bodies, both elected by the same ratepayers, I do not 
 know. 
 
 Metropolitan Poor-law Authorities 
 
 The hamlet of Penge is in the Croydon Union. All 
 the rest of the Metropolis is divided into 30 unions, of 
 which the City is one. The guardians are elected 
 annually by the same electors as the Vestries. The Local 
 Government Board used formerly to nominate a certain 
 number of guardians for each of the Metropolitan 
 unions; but this arrangement ceased in 1894. A fund, 
 called the Common Poor Fund, was created in 1867, to 
 which the wealthier unions, including the City, contri- 
 bute for the benefit of the poorer Metropolitan unions. 
 The Local Government Board assesses the amount 
 that each union or union - parish is to contribute to 
 this fund according to the parish valuation-lists. The 
 money thus collected is used to defray tthe cost of the
 
 232 THE METROPOLIS chap. 
 
 maintenance of pauper lunatics, the provision and 
 maintenance of hospitals for patients suffering from 
 fever and smallpox, the salaries of persons employed in 
 dispensaries, vaccination, and the registration of births 
 and deaths, in all the Metropolitan unions. 
 
 The construction and management of asylums for 
 imbecile or insane paupers, and hospitals for infectious 
 cases, have been taken out of the hands of the ordinary 
 guardians and vested in a corporate body called the 
 Metropolitan Asylums Managers. The number of 
 managers is fixed by the Local Government Board. 
 The present number is 72. Of these 18 are nominated 
 by the Local Government Board ; the remaining 54 are 
 elected by the guardians of the several unions, including 
 the City, either from among themselves or from the 
 ratepayers of the union. The nominated members must 
 be either justices of the peace or ratepayers resident in 
 the asylums district ; they must never exceed in num- 
 ber one-third of the elective members. The managers 
 had at one time five hospitals for infectious diseases. 
 But the result of massing large numbers of smallpox 
 cases together was undoubtedly to spread the disease in 
 the immediate vicinity of the hospitals. Now cases of 
 smallpox are treated on board hospital ships moored in 
 the river Thames off Dartford ; and as soon as the 
 patients are convalescent, they are removed to Gore 
 Farm, Darenth. By a curious anomaly the provision of 
 hospitals for infectious disease is considered a poor-law, 
 and not a sanitary, matter, and the whole management 
 of these institutions is conducted without any reference 
 to the sanitary authorities. The Metropolitan Asylums 
 Managers have not (as their name might lead one to
 
 xi LUNATIC ASYLUMS 233 
 
 suppose) any share in the control or management of the 
 non-pauper lunatic asylums of the Metropolis. There 
 are five of these : Hanwell, Colney Hatch, Banstead, 
 Canehill, and Claybury; two more are in course of 
 erection, one at Bexley and one near Epsom ; these are 
 all managed by the Asylums Committee of the London 
 County Council. 
 
 Other London Authorities 
 
 Having briefly described the principal local authorities 
 in the Metropolis, it may be well to mention some ex- 
 ceptions to their jurisdiction. National buildings and 
 most of the public parks are under the control of the 
 Office of Works, a State department consisting of a 
 permanent staff and a Parliamentary Chief Commis- 
 sioner, who is appointed by the Government of the day, 
 and goes out with his party. The London County 
 Council has no jurisdiction over structures erected in 
 certain liberties, such as the Temple or the Close of West- 
 minster Abbey. The Lord High Steward appoints a 
 special coroner for the Boyal Palaces. For police 
 purposes London is divided into two distinct areas, 
 the City and the Metropolitan Police District. Each 
 has its separate police force. The Metropolitan Police 
 District is a very large area, nearly six times the size of 
 the county of London ; and the force, which consists of 
 about 15,544 men, is under the direct control of the 
 Home Secretary, and wholly independent of the London 
 County Council. The City Police Force numbers 985 
 men ; it is under the control of the Police Committee of 
 the Common Council. The theatres in certain parts of
 
 234 THE METROPOLIS chap, xi 
 
 London are a licensed by, and are under the control of, 
 the Lord Chamberlain. Public-house licenses remain 
 in the hands of the county justices or city magistrates, 
 as the case may be. The supply of gas and water for 
 the most part is in the hands of private companies with 
 special statutory powers. But the London County 
 Council has resolved to apply to Parliament for power 
 to purchase the undertakings of the eight London 
 Water Companies. 
 
 There are many minor authorities (such, for instance, 
 as the Thames Conservancy Board, the various Burial 
 Boards, the Corporation of the City of Westminster, 
 etc.) which ought to be described in order to give any- 
 thing like a complete account of London government. 
 That, however, is beyond the scope of this chapter.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 CENTRAL CONTROL 
 
 Local Self-government— Necessity for Central Control— The Board 
 of Trade— The Board of Agriculture— The Local Government 
 Board — Its Functions — Advice — Administrative Control — 
 Financial Control — Audit— Limits of Central Control. 
 
 So far we have dealt with matters of purely local 
 government. We have watched the rise of the parish 
 and seen it gradually supersede the Saxon township, 
 the Norman vill, and the feudal manor. We have 
 traced the development of the borough from a few 
 houses clustering under the shelter of a baron's castle 
 or a bishop's palace, till it rises into an organised 
 municipality, such as Birmingham or Leeds. We have 
 studied the powers and duties of the modern statutory 
 authorities, such as the Board of Guardians, the Dis- 
 trict Council, the School Board, and the County 
 Council. A few words must be added to give the 
 reader some idea of the extent to which these effi- 
 cient local bodies are supervised and controlled by a 
 Central Executive and of the nature and incidence of 
 such control.
 
 236 CENTRAL CONTROL chap. 
 
 But there at once arises the previous question : 
 " Why should there be any Central Executive in local 
 affairs 1 What need is there of any control from head- 
 quarters?" The principle of local self-government is 
 dear to every Englishman ; for he knows how large a 
 share it has had in developing the national character, 
 and in securing to us the liberties which we possess. 
 That principle pervades and underlies our whole history 
 as a nation. Local government is at once the oldest and 
 the youngest branch of our political system. Township, 
 hundred, and shire date back to the days of King 
 Alfred. But we are scarcely yet familiar with the 
 Councils Avhich now govern their modern equivalents, 
 the parish, the district, and the county. Or take 
 the parish meeting as an instance. It is an insti- 
 tution hundreds of years older than either the House 
 of Lords or the House of Commons, although it has 
 only just received in 1894 its full recognition at the 
 hands of Parliament. This parish meeting was the 
 cradle in which our liberties were nursed. It was the 
 school in which our forefathers learnt those lessons of 
 self-control, self-help, and self-reliance which have 
 made the English nation what it is. Slowly and 
 gradually they learnt them, but by such lessons alone 
 does a nation rise to a true conception of the meaning 
 of liberty and the methods of self-government. 
 
 Nevertheless, experience has proved that it is neces- 
 sary to have in addition a central authority — not to do 
 the work, or take the responsibility which belongs to 
 the local executive, but to keep it everywhere in action ; 
 to develop and strengthen it; to give advice, when 
 asked ; to volunteer it, where it seems to be required ;
 
 xii CENTRAL CONTROL 237 
 
 and in some cases even to compel the local authority to 
 do its duty. The independence of the local administra- 
 tive councils is not diminished, but rather invigorated, 
 by the existence of an efficient central body, which can 
 guide and superintend their various activities, and aid 
 them with higher and wider knowledge than is avail- 
 able in the district. 
 
 At the same time, the extent to which the Central 
 Government should exercise administrative control is a 
 difficult problem. It should not unduly interfere in 
 individual cases. Nor should all England be treated as 
 though it were a suburb of London. No doubt, when- 
 ever an intelligent and conscientious central department, 
 armed with large executive powers, sees things going 
 wrong in a certain district, there is a strong temptation 
 for it to step in and set them right with a strong hand. 
 But local bodies should be allowed even to mismanage 
 their own affairs to some extent ; only thus can they 
 acquire the necessary experience and learn the necessary 
 lessons. They must not be kept too long " in leading 
 strings." A child that is learning to walk must have 
 some tumbles. Local self-government is worth having, 
 even at the cost of a few initial blunders. 
 
 At present, however, no one can fairly accuse our 
 central departments of that " fureur de gouverner " 
 which M. Mirabeau l'Aine denounces as " la plus funeste 
 maladie des gouvernements modernes." They largely 
 temper power Avith discretion, and encourage everything 
 which can give vigour and colour to local life. They 
 have latterly shown a marked disposition to transfer to 
 important local bodies, like the County Council, juris- 
 diction over lesser authorities in the county, particularly
 
 238 CENTRAL CONTROL chap. 
 
 in matters which require an intimate acquaintance with 
 the locality, and can therefore be best disposed of on 
 the spot. 
 
 In England the supervision of the Central Government 
 over local authorities is mainly exercised through three 
 departments : — the Board of Trade, the Board of 
 Agriculture, and the Local Government Board. School 
 Boards and School -Attendance Committees, as regards 
 all matters relating to education, are under the control 
 of the Education Department of the Privy Council, 
 Avhile financially they are under the Local Government 
 Board. Industrial schools are under the care of the 
 Home Office. The sanction of the Treasury is required 
 for loans for certain local purposes. But the general 
 superintendence and control of local affairs is mainly 
 in the hands of the Local Government Board. 
 
 The Board of Trade 
 
 The first effort in the direction of central control 
 in England was purely tentative. During the greater 
 part of the eighteenth century there had existed a 
 " Council for Trade and Plantations," whose duty 
 was merely to advise the Government on commer- 
 cial and other kindred topics. In 1786 a committee 
 of the Privy Council was appointed by an Order in 
 Council to take the place of this council, and this 
 committee subsequently came to be called the Board of 
 Trade. It was not till 1862 that it was so entitled in an 
 Act of Parliament. On this body very large administra- 
 tive powers have gradually been conferred. It has a
 
 xii THE BOARD OF TRADE 239 
 
 President, a Parliamentary Secretary, and a permanent 
 staff. It deals with a vast number of most important 
 matters — such as bankruptcy, companies, copyright, 
 trade-marks, charters, harbours, railways, canals, and 
 electric lighting. It regulates light railways. Licenses 
 to local authorities under the Electric Lighting Acts, 
 1882 and 1888, are still granted by the Board of Trade. 
 
 The Board of Agriculture 
 
 On the passing of the Tithe Act, in 1836, a body of 
 commissioners was appointed to carry the Act into 
 execution. In 1841, when the Copyhold Act was 
 passed, its administration was entrusted to the same 
 commissioners, who, when acting under the new Act, 
 were called the Copyhold Commissioners. Four years 
 later the Enclosure Act of 1845 was passed, and under 
 its provisions Enclosure Commissioners were appointed, 
 who were distinct from the Tithe and Copyhold Com- 
 missioners. The Land Drainage Act, passed in the 
 following year, was also to be administered by the 
 Enclosure Commissioners. In the year 1851 these two 
 bodies of commissioners were merged into one by the 
 14 & 15 Vict. c. 53, and a single department was 
 formed, presided over by officials who were styled 
 Tithe, Copyhold, or Enclosure Commissioners according 
 to the functions which they happened to be exercising 
 at the moment. This arrangement existed for upwards 
 of thirty years, until, on the passing of the Settled 
 Land Act in 1882, the former titles disappeared, and the 
 commissioners were thenceforth known as the Land 
 Commissioners for England. Finally, by the Board
 
 240 CENTRAL CONTROL chap. 
 
 of Agriculture Act, 1889, a new body was created, 
 called the Board of Agriculture, in which the Land 
 Commission was merged ; and the title of Land Com- 
 missioners was abolished. 
 
 To this new body were transferred, in the first place, 
 all the powers and duties of the Land Commissioners 
 (which were most various and important, for they com- 
 prised all the work done formerly by the Tithe, the 
 Copyhold, and the Enclosure Commissioners), all the 
 powers and duties of the Privy Council under the 
 Destructive Insects Act, 1877, and the Contagious 
 Diseases (Animals) Acts, and all the powers and duties 
 of the Commissioners of Works and Public Buildings in 
 connection with the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain, 
 Ireland, and the Isle of Man. By the same Board of 
 Agriculture Act, 1889, power was given to the Board to 
 make general or special orders for prescribing and 
 regulating the muzzling of dogs, and the seizure, 
 detention, and disposal (and, if need be, the slaughter) 
 of stray dogs, and of dogs not muzzled or not under 
 control. By subsequent legislation all the duties of the 
 Board of Trade under the Corn Returns Act, 1882, and 
 many other miscellaneous duties, have been imposed on 
 the Board of Agriculture. By the Law of Commons 
 Amendment Act, 1893, s. 2, it is provided that no 
 enclosure or improvement of any part of a common 
 purporting to be made under either the Statute of 
 Merton or the Statute of Westminster the second, 
 shall be valid, unless it is made with the consent of the 
 Board of Agriculture.
 
 xii THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD 241 
 
 The Local Government Board 
 
 One of the first tasks attempted by our reformed 
 Parliament was the entire remodelling of the then poor- 
 law system. A central body of commissioners, with very 
 large powers, was constituted by the Poor-Law Amend- 
 ment Act of 1834, which was subsequently made per- 
 manent under the title of the Poor Law Board. The 
 Public Health Act, 1848, created a General Board of 
 Health, the members of which were appointed by the 
 Crown ; they were empowered to appoint inspectors 
 to see that the provisions of the Act were carried out. 
 That Board was allowed to expire, and its remaining 
 functions were divided between the Home Office and 
 the Privy Council. Thus, in 1871, such central super- 
 vision as existed was divided among various depart- 
 ments of State which had no organised or necessary 
 communication with each other. There was a Local 
 Government Act Department of the Home Office to 
 which many general questions of local government were 
 referred ; the Privy Council dealt with measures for the 
 prevention of disease ; the Poor Law Board controlled 
 the Boards of Guardians; other matters came before 
 the Board of Trade. There was no sufficient staff of 
 inspectors or other officers ; no concentration ; no constant 
 and official communication between central and local 
 officers throughout the kingdom. A Ro} r al Sanitary 
 Commission was appointed in 1869, which strongly depre- 
 cated the existing inefficiency and uncertainty of the 
 central sanitary authority, and urged the necessity of a 
 new statute to " constitute and give adequate strength 
 to one central authority." 
 
 R
 
 242 CENTRAL CONTROL chap. 
 
 The Commissioners say in their report : " There 
 should be one recognised and sufficiently powerful 
 minister, not to centralise administration, but, on the 
 contrary, to set local life in motion — a real motive 
 power, and an authority to be referred to for guidance 
 and assistance by all the sanitary authorities for local 
 government throughout the country. Great is the vis 
 inertice to be overcome ; the repugnance to self-taxation ; 
 the practical distrust of science; and the number of 
 persons interested in offending against sanitary laws, 
 even amongst those who must constitute chiefly the 
 local authorities to enforce them." 
 
 The recommendations contained in this report were 
 carried into effect by the Local Government Board 
 Act, 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. 70). The preamble of 
 this Act recites that " it is expedient to concentrate in 
 one department of the Government the supervision of 
 the laws relating to public health, the relief of the poor, 
 and local government." It then proceeds to constitute 
 the Local Government Board, to consist of a President, 
 and the following ex officio members — the Lord President 
 of the Council, all the Secretaries of State, the Lord 
 Privy Seal, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The 
 President is paid a salary of £2000 a year ; the ex 
 officio members are unpaid. The President and one 
 of the secretaries to the Board may sit in Parliament, 
 and as a fact the President has always been a Cabinet 
 Minister. The whole Board seldom or never meets. 
 • Questions of national importance of course come before 
 the Cabinet. The President and the Department do 
 all the work. The Act seems to contemplate this, for 
 it provides that the Local Government Board may
 
 xii THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD 243 
 
 adopt an official seal and style, and that any act to 
 be done or instrument to be executed may be done 
 or executed in the name of the Board by the President 
 or by a Secretary or Assistant-Secretary, authorised so 
 to do by any general order of the Board. Mr. S. B. 
 Provis has just succeeded Sir Hugh Owen, G.C.B., 
 as Permanent Secretary of the Board. There are five 
 Assistant- Secretaries. The chief Medical Officer is 
 Sir R. T. Thorne, K.C.B., M.B. In addition to the 
 ordinary staff of a Government Office, the Board has 
 attached to it a staff of medical inspectors, architects, 
 and engineers, who conduct local investigations of a 
 scientific or technical nature. 
 
 The Act of 1871 vested in the new Board— (1) All 
 the powers and duties of the Poor-Law Board ; (2) all 
 the powers and duties of the Privy Council relating to 
 vaccination and the prevention of disease ; (3) all the 
 powers and duties of the Home Office in relation to public 
 health, drainage and sanitary matters, baths and wash- 
 houses, public and town improvements, artisans' and 
 labourers' dwellings, local government, local returns, and 
 local taxation. But since that date at least 100 statutes 
 have been passed which have added enormously to the 
 duties of the Local Government Board. I may mention 
 especially the Public Health Act, 1875, the Local Govern- 
 ment Acts of 1888 and 1894, the Public Health Acts 
 Amendment Act, 1890, and the Agricultural Rates Act, 
 1896. Indeed, it is seldom that a year passes without 
 some new power being conferred, or some new duty 
 being imposed, or some amendment being made in the 
 procedure of the Board. To a large extent this legisla- 
 tion is suggested by the permanent officers of the Board,
 
 244 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD chap. 
 
 who know better than any one else where the machinery 
 does not work quite smoothly, and how to proceed to 
 remedy the defect. But it is high time that all these 
 minute provisions, which are scattered broadcast over 
 the Statute Book, should be collected into one " Local 
 Government Code." 
 
 It is impossible for me in this short chapter to convey 
 to the mind of the reader more than an elementary 
 notion of the infinite variety and complexity of the work 
 of the Local Government Board. Roughly, that work 
 may be grouped under five heads : — 
 
 1. Legislative Powers. 
 
 2. Advice. 
 
 3. Returns. 
 
 4. Administrative Control. 
 
 5. Financial Control. 
 
 1. Legislative Powers 
 
 The Local Government Board has large legislative 
 powers. Its orders, rules, and regulations have in many 
 cases the force and effect of a statute. In poor-law 
 matters the Board may make either a general order 
 binding on all unions, or a "general rule" affecting 
 several unions, or a " single rule " affecting one union 
 only. But it has no power to interfere in any individual 
 case for the purpose of ordering relief. Moreover, this 
 legislative power of the Board in poor-law matters is 
 subject to a threefold control. In the first place, a copy 
 of every general rule, order, or regulation issued by it 
 must be laid before both Houses of Parliament as soon 
 as practicable after its publication. Secondly, the Queen
 
 xii LEGISLATIVE POWERS 245 
 
 may, by the advice of her Privy Council, disallow a 
 general rule, or any part of it, which will then cease 
 to be of any further force or validity. Lastly, there 
 is a power, little known and seldom, if ever, exer- 
 cised, to bring any rule, order, or regulation of the 
 Board before a court of law and have it declared illegal 
 or ultra vires. No rule, order, or regulation of the Board 
 comes into operation until fourteen days after it has, if 
 a general order, been published in the London Gazette 
 or, if a rule, sent to the overseers of the parish and 
 the guardians of the union concerned ; though it may 
 be acted on within the fourteen days. But at any 
 time within a year after it has been so published, any 
 person aggrieved may apply to the High Court of Justice 
 to have the rule, order, or regulation removed by 
 certiorari into the High Court, with a view to its being- 
 quashed. Till it is quashed, however, the rule remains 
 in force, in spite of the application. Notice of the 
 application must be left at the office of the Board at 
 least ten days before the motion is made ; and the 
 applicant must give security for the costs of the Board, 
 in case the application fails. If, however, it succeeds, 
 the Board must at once give notice to all unions, 
 parishes, or places affected that the rule has been declared 
 illegal or ultra vires. 
 
 Again, the Board has power to make regulations and 
 issue directions under the Diseases Prevention Acts, 1855 
 to 1873. It has also made many most valuable regula- 
 tions under the Canal Boats Acts, 1877 and 1884, with 
 the object of securing that adequate accommodation is 
 provided for persons who live on board canal-boats, and 
 that due attention is paid to sanitation. Moreover,
 
 246 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD chap. 
 
 the Board can, by Provisional Order, alter, amend, or 
 repeal local sanitary Acts. These Provisional Orders, it 
 is true, require confirmation by Parliament, but that is 
 usually obtained as a matter of course. 
 
 In addition to its own power of direct legislation, the 
 Board also performs the important duty of revising and 
 amending by-laws made by other bodies. All by-laws 
 made by any local authority under the Public Health 
 Act, 1875, or the Highways and Locomotives Amend- 
 ment Act, 1878, must be submitted to the Board, which 
 supervises, and may alter or disallow them, wholly or in 
 part. So too, with a few exceptions, no by-law made as 
 to markets, or as to slaughter-houses, or other offensive 
 trades in the Metropolis, or as to hackney carriages and 
 public bathing, or under any Tramway Act, will be of 
 any validity until it has been confirmed by the Board. 
 It is very necessary that such by-laws should be sub- 
 mitted to some central authority for revision and con- 
 firmation, as local councils sometimes take strange 
 views as to the extent of their powers. The following 
 by-laws, for instance, were passed by an urban 
 sanitary authority, and subsequently disallowed by the 
 Board : — a by-law prohibiting all persons from singing 
 hymns in the street, a by-law forbidding strangers to 
 bring dogs into the town, and a by-law forbidding 
 " lounging " on Sunday afternoon ! 
 
 2. Advice 
 
 Every local authority is entitled to the advice of the 
 Board, whenever it is in any difficulty, even though 
 such difficulty be of its own creation. And the local
 
 xii ADVICE 247 
 
 authorities very freely avail themselves of this privilege. 
 The Board thus indirectly superintends innumerable 
 local matters ; questions of the most varied character 
 are constantly referred to Whitehall. Whether the 
 question relates to a cemetery or to the water-supply, 
 to the erection of a hospital or the misconduct of the 
 master of a workhouse, it is the duty of the Board to 
 consider the reports of the various local officers, and 
 to advise the local authority thereon. Sometimes it is 
 necessary to send down an inspector to hold a local 
 inquiry and report on the matter before the Board 
 gives its opinion. 
 
 The value of the information thus acquired and of 
 the advice thus given by the Board, cannot be exagger- 
 ated. "Power," says Mr. J. S. Mill, "maybe localised, 
 but knowledge to be most useful must be centralised." 
 Unfortunately, the Board can seldom secure that its 
 advice will be accepted and acted on. The Board has 
 power to apply to the High Court for a mandamus, 
 under section 299 of the Public Health Act, 1875, to 
 compel a defaulting local authority to perform its duty; 
 but it only takes this step in extreme cases. 
 
 It is also the duty of the Board from time to time to 
 hold inquiries into outbreaks of disease in any place 
 (such as the recent epidemic of typhoid fever at Maid- 
 stone), and into any other matter affecting the public 
 health ; and it has power to charge the expenses of 
 such inquiries on the rates of the locality concerned. 
 These investigations are conducted by medical men of 
 high scientific attainments ; and the reports they send 
 in not only enable the Board to advise the local 
 authority which has raised the question, but are also
 
 248 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD chap. 
 
 of great scientific value. The Board has thus accumu- 
 lated a mass of experience which has lai'gely contributed 
 towards the solution of many difficult problems of 
 sanitary science. It further has power to direct and 
 pay for special researches into any medical question 
 bearing upon its duties. 
 
 Another important and little known function of the 
 Board is that of advising the Government on local Acts. 
 It has to report specially on every private bill that 
 relates to local matters. An enormous number of 
 interests is affected by what is called private bill legis- 
 lation ; and many matters of vital importance, such as 
 powers to make by-laws or to borrow money, pass un- 
 observed in private bills which would be made the 
 subject of active opposition if they were contained in 
 public bills. It is the duty of the Board to examine 
 these measures and to report specially upon them. 
 
 3. Returns 
 
 In order that the Board may be able to offer efficient 
 advice to the various local authorities who may consult 
 it, it is essential that it should have the fullest informa- 
 tion. Hence large powers have been conferred on it 
 of demanding reports and returns of every sort and 
 kind from local sources. Every year there is poured 
 into its various departments an immense stream of 
 statistics, which it is the duty of the Board to collate 
 and digest. The clerk to every vestry, board, or cor- 
 poration, and to every body of justices, commissioners, 
 inspectors, trustees, etc., which is authorised to levy or 
 to order to be levied any compulsory rate, tax, toll, or
 
 xii RETURNS 249 
 
 due, must make an annual return to the Board, show- 
 ing how much has been received, and how it has been 
 expended. The Board may also require any return to 
 be made to it, which under some previous Act had to be 
 made to any other public department. Whenever the 
 accounts and receipts of a local authority are audited by 
 a District Auditor, he sends to the Board a duplicate of 
 the financial statement of that authority, stamped and 
 certified by himself. Special provision is made in the 
 Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, with regard to 
 returns from municipal corporations, and in the High- 
 way Accounts Eeturns Act, 1879, with regard to returns 
 of Highway Boards and surveyors of highways. 
 
 Furthermore, the Board is itself required to lay an 
 annual report of its work before Parliament, and also 
 an abstract of all returns made to it under the Local 
 Taxation Returns Acts, 1860 and 1877. As a matter 
 of fact, the Annual Report and its exhaustive Appendix 
 are by no means confined to matters as to which returns 
 are made to the Board, but deal with every branch of 
 local government, detailing the steps taken by the Board 
 in working its multitude of statutes. The statistics thus 
 collected from the whole country are most valuable ; in 
 some cases almost alarming ! The correspondence which 
 is constantly passing between local officials and the 
 Board enables the central authority to lay its finger 
 upon the defects of local administration, and its Annual 
 Report furnishes Parliament with the information neces- 
 sary to enable it to remedy these defects by legislation. 
 A most interesting and instructive blue-book is this 
 Annual Report. But it has one sad defect : there is 
 no Index !
 
 250 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD chap. 
 
 4. Administrative Control 
 
 The administrative control exercised by the Board 
 over different local authorities varies considerably, as 
 we have already seen. Over municipal boroughs the 
 Board has no direct control. It is only when a 
 borough wants to borrow money that the Board can 
 step in and impose conditions. Over District Councils 
 the Board has considerable power; it can, in extreme 
 cases, force them to carry out sanitary measures to its 
 satisfaction ; for instance, it can compel them to provide 
 a cemetery when one is urgently needed. It can 
 authorise them by Provisional Order to acquire any 
 necessary land by compulsory purchase. It can in 
 like manner rearrange county districts, or alter their 
 boundaries. In all poor-law matters the Board has 
 complete control. It has power to create, dissolve, and 
 amalgamate unions, and to regulate the proceedings 
 of the guardians in the minutest particulars. No officer 
 of a union (as distinct from a menial servant) can be 
 appointed by the guardians without the sanction of the 
 Board, and when once appointed such an officer cannot 
 be dismissed by the guardians without the consent of 
 the Board ; though he may be dismissed by the Board 
 without consulting the guardians. The Board takes a 
 most paternal interest in all the proceedings of the 
 guardians — possibly too paternal an interest. As soon 
 as the principles which should govern the relief of the 
 poor and the management of workhouses are better 
 understood and generally accepted, Boards of Guardians 
 will, no doubt, be allowed a freer hand. 
 
 In addition to its supervisory duties, the Board has
 
 xii ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL 251 
 
 also much direct administrative work. Thus, it has 
 important powers under the Rivers Pollution Prevention 
 Act, 1876. Section 3 of this Act made it an offence, 
 which can be restrained by the summary order of a County 
 Court judge, for any person to cause or knowingly to 
 permit any solid or liquid sewage matter to fall or flow 
 into any stream. It was feared that this provision 
 would press severely on sanitary authorities, too many 
 of whom were then and are still in the habit of thus 
 disposing of the sewage of their locality ; it was felt 
 that time must be given to such sanitary authorities 
 to find other means of disposing of their sewage, or of 
 rendering the sewage matter harmless. It was therefore 
 provided that if it appears to the Board, after local 
 inquiry, that further time should be granted to any 
 sanitary authority which was discharging sewage matter 
 into a stream, the Board may by order suspend the 
 operation of section 3 of the Act for a fixed period, and 
 subject to any conditions they please, so as to protect 
 the sanitary authority from any proceedings which 
 might otherwise be brought against it under that 
 section for polluting the stream. Moreover, no pro- 
 ceedings can be taken against any person under sections 
 4 and 5 of the Act, except by a sanitary authority ; and 
 that authority must first obtain the consent of the 
 Board to its instituting such proceedings. But if a 
 sanitary authority, on application from a person in- 
 terested, refuses to take proceedings or to apply for the 
 Board's consent, the Board may, on the application of 
 that person to them, and after inquiry, direct the 
 sanitary authority to take proceedings. The Board is 
 also empowered by section 12 to appoint an inspector
 
 252 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD chap. 
 
 for the purpose of granting certificates to the effect that 
 the means used for rendering harmless any sewage 
 matter or other pollution falling or flowing into any 
 stream, are the best or only practicable and available 
 means under the circumstances of the case. If such a 
 certificate be given, it is for two years at least conclusive 
 evidence in favour of the person accused of polluting the 
 stream. But any person aggrieved by the granting or 
 withholding of such a certificate may appeal to the 
 Board, which has power to confirm, reverse, or modify 
 the inspector's certificate, and also to make an order as 
 to the payment of the costs of the appeal. 
 
 The Board has many other miscellaneous duties. It 
 is required by the Canal Boats Acts, 1877 and 1884, to 
 make provision for the inspection of canal-boats, and 
 the education of the children dwelling on board them. 
 To it have been transferred the powers conferred on the 
 Board of Trade by the Metropolis Water Acts 1852 and 
 1871. If a local authority sanctions the use of a steam- 
 whistle or "hooter," there is an appeal to the Board, 
 which has power under the Factories (Steam Whistles) 
 Act, 1872, to revoke the sanction. It may be called 
 upon to sanction the sale by a parish of its land ; or to 
 rearrange the boundaries of parishes under the Divided 
 Parishes Acts, 1876 to 1882. It may be required to 
 issue instructions to the Office of the Begistrar-General 
 as to the registration of births and deaths. It has also 
 important powers under the Baths and Wash-houses 
 Acts, 1846 to 1896; under the Union Assessment Acts, 
 1862 to 1880, and the Valuation of the Metropolis Act, 
 1869; under the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, 
 1890 to 1894; under the Local Loans Act, 1875, and
 
 xii ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL 253 
 
 the Public Works Loans Acts 1875 to 1883; and under 
 the Alkali Acts, 1881 and 1892. 
 
 Then, again, as we have seen, the Board has special 
 powers under the Vaccination Acts. It makes special 
 grants to public vaccinators who attain a high standard 
 of efficiency. It supplies calf-lymph to the vaccinators 
 in order to meet the views of those who object to 
 humanised lymph. Of the 921,512 children registered 
 as born in 1895, 624,690 were successfully vaccinated, 
 104,830 died un vaccinated ; the remainder, a little 
 more than 20 per cent of the whole number, were 
 either "insusceptible," or had had smallpox, or were 
 not in a fit state of health to be vaccinated. The 
 Board has also stringent powers to deal with any kind 
 of epidemic ; in such a case it may provide for the 
 speedy interment of the dead, and house-to-house 
 visitation, and make many other necessary arrange- 
 ments. 
 
 It is further the duty of the Board to see that the 
 provisions of the Adulteration Acts are carried out. 
 It has to keep the local authorities up to the mark. 
 This formerly was a difficult task, especially in the case 
 of the smaller boroughs. " In one case a Town Council 
 at first refused to have samples analysed, saying 
 they had received no complaints, but afterwards, on our 
 insistence, decided to make the experiment. The result 
 was that no less than three out of four of the samples 
 examined during the quarter were found to be adul- 
 terated." 1 Under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, 
 1875 and 1879, and the Margarine Act, 1887, the 
 Board has power to compel local authorities to appoint 
 
 1 Eleventh Report of the Local Government Board, p. xcix.
 
 254 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD chap. 
 
 analysts, if they do not do so of their own accord. 
 The Board has used all its influence to induce the local 
 authorities to take this simple precaution against adul- 
 teration. As late as 1891 it appeared that in twenty- 
 two counties, nineteen of our largest towns, and two 
 metropolitan districts, the Sale of Food and Drugs 
 Acts were practically inoperative. Analysts have, how- 
 ever, now been appointed in most, if not all, these 
 places, and with very satisfactory results. The bene- 
 ficial effect of this legislation is shown by the statistics 
 which have been received and tabulated by the Board. 
 In 1877, 14,706 samples were analysed in England, and 
 of these 19*2 per cent were condemned. In the five 
 years 1877-1881 the proportion reported against was 
 16 - 2 per cent. In the next five years 1882-1886 the 
 percentage of adulterated samples fell to 13"9. In 1887- 
 1891 it was 11 - 7 per cent; while in the five years 1892- 
 1896 it was reduced to 10 - 6 per cent, In the years 
 1895, 1896, and 1897 the proportion of adulterated 
 samples fell to a little over 9 per cent. The total num- 
 ber of analyses made during the year 1897 under these 
 Acts was 46,856, or one to every 619 of the population. 
 Adulteration was discovered in 4383 cases, and 2777 
 prosecutions were instituted. Or take a particular 
 article, such as milk, the adulteration of which was 
 treated in our boyhood more as a joke than as a crime. 
 Of the specimens of milk analysed in 1882, 19 per cent 
 were found to be adulterated. In some cases as much 
 as 60 per cent of water was found to be added. The 
 analyst for Woolwich remarked that the inhabitants 
 must be paying " some thousand pounds a year under 
 the name of milkmen's bills, but really as an additional
 
 xii ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL 255 
 
 water rate." 1 The analyst for Essex complained that 
 the milk was not even adulterated with pure water, but 
 that the compound "is eminently favourable for the 
 development of disease germs." In 1897, 18,896 
 samples of milk were analysed, of which 1967, or 10*4 
 per cent, were condemned. This is bad enough, but it 
 is an improvement on 1896, when 2091 out of 18,795 
 samples, or 1 1 *1 per cent, were condemned. 
 
 5. Financial Control 
 
 The Board controls the financial engagements and the 
 expenditure of local bodies in two ways : — 
 
 (a) In most cases, before any local authority can 
 borrow money, it must obtain the sanction of the Board. 
 
 (b) The Board subjects the accounts of most local 
 authorities to a searching audit. 
 
 (a) Loans. — Almost all loans for local public works 
 (except piers and harbours) must be sanctioned by the 
 Board, unless they are authorised by special Act of 
 Parliament. Thus the Board sanctions loans for the 
 construction, widening, paving, flagging, and channelling 
 of streets ; for the erection of offices, public baths and 
 wash-houses, bridges, gas-works, markets, hospitals, and 
 defences against the sea ; for the provision of pleasure 
 grounds, cemeteries, slaughter-houses, manure depots, and 
 works for the removal of night-soil and for the destruc- 
 tion of refuse. The purposes for which the money is to 
 be borrowed are strictly scrutinised ; plans and detailed 
 estimates of the proposed works must be furnished ; 
 and before any loan is sanctioned, the Board must be 
 1 Eleventh Report, p. ciii.
 
 256 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD chap. 
 
 satisfied that the works are necessary and suitable to the 
 locality, and that the estimates are not excessive. The 
 Board will also see that the money borrowed is properly 
 applied. The dates and terms of repayment, the due 
 payment of interest, the issue of debentures, etc., are now 
 regulated mainly by the Local Loans Act, 1875. It is 
 unfortunate, however, that the control of the Board over 
 such loans is not complete. A local authority can 
 always evade the scrutiny of the Board by applying to 
 Parliament direct ; and a private bill often slips through 
 without receiving that severe examination which it 
 would encounter at Whitehall. During the period of 
 twenty -five years ending in July 1897, various local 
 bodies, without the sanction of the Board, obtained 
 special Acts, under which they borrowed no less a sum 
 than £71,858,843. 
 
 (b) Audit. — The Board is also charged with the duty 
 of auditing the accounts of most local authorities. For 
 purposes of audit the country, exclusive of the Metro- 
 polis, is mapped out into thirty- three districts, under 
 the District Auditors Act, 1879 ; and the Board appoints 
 officers, called District Auditors, who, under its direc- 
 tion, audit on the spot the accounts of every Board of 
 Guardians, County Council, District Council, Parish 
 Council, Parish Meeting, School Board, and Highway 
 Board, and also the accounts of all overseers of the poor, 
 and surveyors of highways. When in 1879 highway 
 accounts were first brought under the audit, some 
 curious applications of the rates came to light. In one 
 parish a sparrow-shooting club for the farmers had for 
 five-and-twenty years been supported by the highway 
 rate. In another parish the mole-catchers' bills were
 
 xii FINANCIAL CONTROL 25? 
 
 paid out of the same source, the explanation being given 
 that " having no other available source from which to 
 pay the above, we paid it from the surveyor's account." * 
 And although in most parts of rural England vulpicide 
 and infanticide are regarded as crimes of about equal 
 magnitude, two or three cases were discovered in which 
 rewards for killing foxes were paid out of the rates. 
 Among other items of disallowed expenditure we find 
 champagne and plovers' eggs, visits to the theatre, 
 journeying expenses when no journey was taken, pre- 
 sentation portraits, " suitable demonstrations " on the 
 chairman's wedding-day, memorial keys, and the like. 
 
 The District Auditor has full power to disallow items 
 and to surcharge those who directed any illegal or im- 
 proper payment with the amount of the sum misspent. 
 From his decision an appeal lies to the Board. As a 
 rule, if the defaulting authority has made a bond fide 
 mistake, the Board lets it off with a caution ; but it is 
 occasionally necessary for the Board to be strict. In 
 1896 the number of disallowances and surcharges re- 
 ported by the District Auditors was no less than 2936. 
 
 Whatever view the reader may take as to the 
 desirability of extending or curtailing the jurisdiction 
 of the Board in other matters, there can surely be only 
 one opinion as to the efficacy of an independent and 
 searching audit. Of all expedients for the preservation 
 of public property it is the most simple, ready, and self- 
 acting. The ratepayers are grateful for this central 
 audit; for they know its value. Poor-law accounts 
 have for a long time been audited by a central 
 authority ; but the extension of such an audit to other 
 1 Tenth Report of the Local Government Board, p. 43,
 
 258 URGENT NEED OF chap. 
 
 local bodies is of recent date. Municipal boroughs and 
 the Metropolitan Vestries and District Boards are still 
 unfortunately exempt. 
 
 Urgent Need of Financial Control 
 
 This financial control is most valuable. And yet, in 
 spite of all, our local expenditure and taxation steadily 
 increase. In the year ending March 31st, 1896 (the 
 latest period for which reliable information is at present 
 available), the total amount expended for local purposes 
 was £75,675,526 ! In 1868 it was only £30,240,000, 
 and even that comparatively modest figure was then 
 denounced by Mr. Goschen as "astounding." In order 
 to meet the outlay for the year 1895-96, £35,898,042 
 was raised by means of rates; £13,449,173 was defrayed 
 out of moneys borrowed for the purpose ; the Treasury 
 contributed £3,198,524; and the rest was raised from 
 fines, tolls, dues, and other sources of income. The 
 total amount of the rates raised in England and Wales 
 has increased in each year of the last decade. In the 
 financial year 1885-86 it was £26,142,891; in the 
 financial year 1895-96 it was, as I have just stated, 
 £35,898,042, an increase of 38 per cent in 10 years. 
 The rateable value of rateable property in England 
 and Wales steadily increases; on Lady Day, 1896, it 
 was £165,990,085. But in spite of this, the rate per 
 pound steadily increases too. Taking an average all 
 over England and Wales, it was, in round figures, in 
 the year 1891-92, 3s. 8d. ; in 1892-93, 3s. lOd. ; in 
 1893-94, 4s. 0|d. ; in 1894-95, 4s. 2|d. ; in 1895-96, 
 4s. 5d. in the £. And yet at the same time the out-
 
 xii FINANCIAL CONTROL 259 
 
 standing debt of our local bodies grows at the same 
 rapid pace, much faster than the rate at which we 
 reduce the National Debt. True, we have since 1874 
 paid £120,471,614 off the National Debt. But during 
 the same period the local debt of England and Wales 
 has been increased by £150,389,762 ! In 1875, it 
 was £92,820,100 ; in 1881, £144,203,299 ; in 1892, 
 £207,524,093; in 1896, £243,209,862; £35,685,769 
 being thus added in four years, and £150,389,762 in 
 twenty-one years ! It is true that this debt must be 
 paid off within periods of varying length — thirty, forty, 
 or it may be sixty years. But new debts are constantly 
 created which far outbalance any amount paid off. 
 
 The expenditure of our local authorities steadily in- 
 creases; the amount of the rates we pay steadily increases; 
 and at the same time the permanent outstanding debt of 
 our local authorities steadily increases. Can nothing be 
 done to remedy this state of things 1 
 
 I venture to make three suggestions : — 
 
 1 . The accounts of all our local bodies should be audited 
 by the District Auditors of the Local Government Board. 
 I have no doubt that the elective auditors honestly try 
 to do their duty. But they are often personal friends 
 of the leading members of the vestry or council whose 
 accounts they are appointed to audit ; they have had, 
 as a rule, no professional training as auditors, and have 
 no legal knowledge to enable them to decide which 
 items of expenditure are permissible and which are not. 
 
 2. Further restrictions should be placed on the 
 power of local authorities to apply to Parliament for 
 borrowing powers behind the back of the Local Govern- 
 ment Board.
 
 •260 CENTRAL CONTROL chap, xii 
 
 3. Every local authority should prepare and publish 
 an annual budget — a detailed estimate of its probable 
 income and its probable expenditure during the coming 
 year; at the close of the year it should prepare and 
 publish a detailed account of the actual receipts and the 
 actual expenditure of the year. This is done, I know, 
 in some cases, but not in all. Every ratepayer should 
 be able at any reasonable time to obtain a copy of both 
 statements without difficulty. And the accounts should 
 be stated clearly in a simple form that will be readily 
 intelligible to those who provide the money which the 
 local authority spends.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 TABLE, 
 
 taken from the Report of a Select Committee of the 
 House of Commons on the Election of Poor-Law 
 Guardians, dated July 18th, 1878. 
 
 (a) Dates of Election for different Authorities. 
 
 Town Councils — 1st November. 
 
 Local Boards — First week in April. 
 
 Boards of Guardians — 7th, 8tli, and 9th April. 
 
 Highway Boards — 25th March. 
 
 School Boards — Any time of the year. 
 
 Lighting Inspectors — Any time of the year. 
 
 Overseers — 25th March. 
 
 (6) Scale of Voting. 
 
 Town Councils — Occupiers one vote. 
 
 Local Boards — As owners, one vote to six votes, 
 according to rating, up to .£250. 
 As occupiers, the same scale. 
 
 N.B. — Persons can vote in both 
 capacities, and when rated up to 
 £250 can have twelve votes. 
 
 Boards of Guardians — Owners and Occupiers re- 
 spectively, according to same scale 
 as Local Boards.
 
 262 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Burial Boards . \ Occupiers, one vote to six 
 
 Highway Boards . ' votes up to £150, as pre- 
 Lighting Inspectors . t scribed by " Vestries Act, 
 Overseers . . / 1818." 
 
 School Boards — One vote, which is cumulative. 
 
 (c) Tenure of Office. 
 
 Town Councils — Triennial ; one-third retiring each 
 
 year. 
 Local Boards — Triennial ; one-third retiring each 
 
 year. 
 Boards of Guardians \ 
 Highway Boards • ( AmmaL 
 Lighting Inspectors . I 
 Overseers . . / 
 
 Burial Boards — Triennial ; one-third retiring each 
 
 year. 
 School Boards — Triennial ; all retiring together. 
 
 (d) Method of Election. 
 
 Town Councils — Ballot ; single vote. 
 
 Local Boards — Voting papers left at the house of 
 
 voters, and collected in about three 
 
 days ; plural voting. 
 Boards of Guardians — Voting papers left at the house 
 
 of voter, and collected on following 
 
 day ; plural voting. 
 Burial Boards . ) Show of hands, and open 
 
 Highway Boards . > poll, if demanded ; plural 
 Lighting Inspectors . ) voting. 
 Overseers as above, subject to confirmation by justices. 
 School Board — Ballot ; cumulative vote. 
 
 (e) Qualification of Candidates. 
 
 Town Councillors — In boroughs divided into four or 
 more wards, £1000, or be rated 
 on an annual value of not less 
 than £30. In other boroughs 
 £500, or rated at not less than 
 £15.
 
 APPENDIX J,; ' 
 
 Guardians -Varies from £15 rating to £40 rating 
 
 in different unions. 
 Local Board--£l5 rating where the population is 
 under 20,000, and £30 rating 
 where the population is over 
 20,000. Personal property with- 
 out rating is available, provided 
 the amount be £500 or £1000, 
 according to the population. 
 Burial Boards ■ ~\ 
 
 Highway Boards . V, Ratepayers. 
 Lighting Inspector* I 
 Overseers • • ' 
 
 School Boards— No qualification. 
 
 ^.-Some places, e.g. South Wales, with respect 
 to highways, are for certain purposes 
 governed by special Acts ; and in such 
 cases the tables given above may be 
 somewhat varied. In the Nottingham 
 Union guardians are elected for three 
 years.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Administrative county 
 
 of London . 
 Adoptive Acts . 
 Adulteration of Food 
 Agricultural Rates Act 
 Aid-grant . 
 Alderman, of a borough 
 
 of the City of Londoi 
 
 of a county 
 
 of a guild . 
 
 of a shire . 
 Aldermen, Court of 
 Alfred, King . 
 Alkali Acts 
 Allotments 
 Analyst, borough 
 
 county 
 Ancient parish 
 Annual assembly 
 Annual grants to schooi 
 Annual Report ok THE Local 
 Annual returns 
 Appeal, against a rate 
 
 against a surcharge 
 Areas, of Local Governmen 
 
 simplification of 
 Assessment 
 Assessment Committee, of 
 
 of county . 
 
 190-212 
 
 13-215, 220-224 
 
 59 
 
 139, 253-255 
 
 50, 243 
 
 . 103 
 
 2, 73, 78, 85, 86 
 
 227-229 
 
 204, 220 
 
 72 
 
 17, 192, 193 
 
 227-229 
 
 36, 217, 236 
 
 . 253 
 
 &2, 141, 207 
 
 88, 102, 253 255 
 
 139, 197, 203, 207 
 
 39-43 
 
 . 58, 59, 61 
 
 . 160 
 
 Government Board . 249 
 
 . 248, 249 
 
 50, 206 
 
 . 120, 257 
 
 t before 1888 . 14-16, 20, 21, 1S7 
 
 28-30, 44, 45, 56, 57, "JOS 
 
 50 
 
 borough . . . . .116 
 
 . 210
 
 266 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Assistant overseers 
 Assize of Clarendon 
 Assizes 
 Asylums 
 
 Attendance officer 
 Audit .... 
 
 importance of strict 
 Auditor, district 
 
 elective 
 
 50, 62 
 . 193 
 193, 207 
 . 232, 233 
 . 156 
 94, 118-120, 256-259 
 . 118, 257, 258 
 118, 147, 175, 209, 249, 256, 257 
 84, 94, 225, 226, 259 
 
 Bailiff 
 
 Bailiwick . 
 
 Bakehouses 
 
 Baths 
 
 " Best men " 
 
 Bishop 
 
 Board of Agriculture 
 
 Board of Guardians 
 
 accounts of 
 
 duties of . 
 
 election of 
 
 supervision of the Local Government 
 Board of Trade 
 Boarding-out children . 
 Borough .... 
 
 aldermen . 
 
 central control . 
 
 Commission of the Peace 
 
 corporation 
 
 council 
 
 councillors 
 
 counties of cities or towns 
 
 county 
 
 court 
 
 creation of new 
 
 different kinds of 
 
 finance . 
 
 fund . 
 
 history of the 
 
 Boar 
 
 [2, 
 
 72, 218 
 
 190, 197 
 
 . 109, 143 
 
 .9, 141, 215, 252 
 
 36, 192, 195 
 
 0, 190, 192, 194 
 
 239-240 
 
 103, 108-120 
 
 118-120 
 
 114-117 
 
 109-113 
 
 118, 250 
 
 8, 239, 241 
 
 . 115 
 
 24, 69-102 
 84-86 
 
 102, 250 
 99, 100 
 
 69, 73 
 84-95 
 
 72, 81 
 25, 95, 96 
 25, 96, 97 
 
 70, 71 
 SO, SI 
 
 25, 95-102 
 91-95 
 
 91, 101 
 18, 70-S0
 
 INDEX 
 
 267 
 
 Borough — 
 
 
 
 justices . . . . . . 
 
 . 74, 78 
 
 , 99, 100 
 
 officers ...... 
 
 
 . 81 
 
 parliamentary . . . . . 
 
 
 82, 214 
 
 police force . . . . . 
 
 
 100, 101 
 
 property ..... 
 
 
 . 97 
 
 •Quarter Sessions 
 
 
 lb, 97-99 
 
 rate ...... 
 
 
 . 92 
 
 Borrowing powers 
 
 
 
 of a borough . 
 
 93 
 
 , 94, 226 
 
 of a County Council . 
 
 
 211, 212 
 
 of a District Council . 
 
 
 146, 147 
 
 of a Parish Council 
 
 
 63 
 
 of a School Board 
 
 
 156, 157 
 
 of a union .... 
 
 
 . 116 
 
 sanction of the Local Government Bo; 
 
 ird 
 
 255, 259 
 
 Boundaries — 
 
 
 
 of boroughs .... 
 
 
 . 83 
 
 of counties 
 
 
 192, 196 
 
 of districts .... 
 
 121, 130, 
 
 Ml. 17.". 
 
 of parishes . . . 44, 
 
 15, 43, 56, 57 
 
 , 63, 252 
 
 of unions ..... 
 
 20, 107, 
 
 108, 121 
 
 overlapping of . 
 
 15 
 
 , 16, 186 
 
 rectification of . 
 
 . 28-3C 
 
 , 45, 197 
 
 Bridge Without, ward of . 
 
 
 219, 228 
 
 Bridges 
 
 91, 140, 
 
 170, 171 
 
 Bridle-path .... 
 
 . 164, 
 
 181, 182 
 
 Budget, need for .... 
 
 3i 
 
 , 98, 260 
 
 lil'RIl 
 
 
 17, 70 
 
 Burial Arts 
 
 
 17. ISo 
 
 Burial Boards 
 
 
 186-189 
 
 Burial-fee .... 
 
 
 67, 68 
 
 Burial-grounds .... 
 
 
 186-189 
 
 By-laws, defined .... 
 
 
 . 89 
 
 confirmation of . 
 
 . • : 12, 
 
 11<. 246 
 
 for attendance at school 
 
 
 156, 162 
 
 of a County Council . 
 
 
 . 206 
 
 of a District Council . 
 
 
 111. 142 
 
 of a parish .... 
 
 
 . 39 
 
 of a Town Council 
 
 
 69, 89 
 
 of a township 
 
 
 36
 
 26S 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Canal Boat Acts 
 Cellar-dwellings 
 
 Cemeteries 32, 
 
 Central Control 
 
 necessity for 
 
 over Boards of Guardians 
 
 over boroughs 
 
 over District Councils 
 
 proper limits of 
 
 value of audit . 
 Central Governm ent— 
 
 contrasted with local . 
 
 how affected by local . 
 Certiorari .... 
 Cesspool .... 
 Chairman, of Board of Guardians 
 
 of District Council 
 
 of London County Council 
 
 of Parish Council 
 
 of Parish Meeting 
 
 of School Board . 
 Chalmers, Mr. . 
 Chamberlain of the City of London 
 
 Chaos, prior to 1888 . 
 
 Charities, parochial . 
 
 Charters . 
 
 Cholera . 
 
 Church Building Aits 
 
 Church rates . 
 
 Churchwardens 
 
 Churchyard 
 
 City .... 
 
 City of London 
 
 City Remembrancer . 
 
 Civil parish 
 
 Clerk, of District Council 
 
 of School Board . 
 
 of the Peace 
 
 to borough justices 
 Coincidence of custom 
 
 14-16, 21 
 
 0, 72 
 
 79. 
 
 113, 245, 252 
 . 136 
 90, 141, 185, 187, 189 
 . 235-260 
 236, 241, 242, 250 
 117-120, 250 
 . 102, 250 
 147, 148, 250 
 118,237,257 
 118, 257, 258 
 
 . 5-13 
 
 . 3, 13, 236, 249 
 
 .- 95, 120, 245 
 
 . 135 
 
 . 113 
 
 . 134 
 
 . 220 
 
 61, 62 
 
 59, 60 
 
 . 155, 230 
 
 4, 22, 30, 79, 214, 219 
 
 . 229, 230 
 
 22, 214, 219, 261-263 
 
 63, 64 
 
 43, 69, 71-75, 81 
 
 . 122 
 
 . 45 
 
 . 66 
 
 42, 48, 66-68, 104 
 
 66, 67, 184, 185 
 
 83 
 
 191, 216-220, 227-230 
 
 . 228 
 
 . 44-50 
 
 . 135 
 
 . 155 
 
 98, 197 
 
 . 100 
 
 . 36
 
 INDEX 
 
 209 
 
 Collector .... 
 Commission of the Peace 
 Commissioners, Library 
 
 of Sewers . 
 Common Council, Court of 
 Common fund, of rural district 
 Common Hall, Court of 
 Common law 
 
 Common lodging-houses . 
 Common Poor Fund, in Metropoli 
 Common, rights of 
 Common Serjeant 
 Commons Act 
 Compulsory education 
 Compulsory purchase 
 Confirmation of by-laws 
 Conscience clause . 
 Consecration of burial-ok'txi 
 Constable, chief 
 
 high . 
 
 parish 
 
 police 
 
 special 
 
 Contagious diseases of animals 
 Continuation classes 
 Contributory place . 
 Copyhold Commissioners 
 Corn returns . 
 Cornwall . 
 Coroner, of borough . 
 
 of City of Loudon 
 
 of county . 
 
 of franchise 
 Corporation, municipal 
 
 sole . 
 
 Council for Trade and Plan- 
 County .... 
 
 alderman . 
 
 bridges 
 
 coroner 
 
 councillors 
 
 . 174 
 25, 99, 203 
 . 215 
 24, 208, 228, 230 
 227-229 
 . 144. 1 16 
 . 227, 229 
 103, 124 
 . 136, 221 
 . 231 
 . 142, 208 
 . 228 
 . 142 
 149-153, 162 
 62, 180, 207, 250 
 142, 148, 246 
 . 151, 156 
 . 187 
 . 206 
 . 195 
 . 54 
 100, 101, 196, 207 
 . 100 
 102, 206, 240 
 . 151 
 . 146 
 . 239 
 . 240 
 . 198 
 98, 102, 200 
 . 228 
 102, 199-202, 207 
 . 200 
 69, 70, 73, 83-102 
 . 66 
 . 23S 
 17, 27, 190-212 
 . 204 
 140, 171, 203 
 199-202 
 . 204, 205
 
 270 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 County — 
 
 divisions of 
 
 electors 
 
 finance 
 
 fund . 
 
 officers of 
 
 police 
 
 rate . 
 
 stock 
 
 surveyor 
 
 treasurer 
 County borough 
 County Council . 142, 169. 
 
 accounts of 
 
 debt of 
 
 duties of . 
 
 election of . 
 
 finance committee of 
 
 income of . 
 
 powers of . 
 County Court, ancient 
 
 modern 
 County District 
 County electors 
 County Fund Account 
 County of City or Town 
 Court, baron 
 
 borough 
 
 leet . 
 
 manorial . 
 
 of Quarter Sessions 
 Cow-houses 
 Cremation . 
 Cumulative vote 
 custos rotulorum 
 
 172, 
 
 178, 
 
 I) 
 
 Death-rate, diminution in 
 Dedication to the public 
 Deputy-coroner 
 Deputy- lieutenant . 
 
 
 190, 195-197 
 
 . 205 
 
 209-212 
 
 . 210, 211 
 
 197-206 
 
 54, 196, 203, 206, 207 
 
 . 207, 210 
 
 . 212 
 
 170, 171, 197, 207 
 
 197, 207, 211 
 
 25, 96, 97, 191, 205 
 
 182, 183, 200, 204-212 
 
 209-212 
 
 
 . 212 
 
 
 . 206-209 
 
 
 204-206 
 
 
 . 209, 211 
 
 
 . 209 
 
 
 206-209 
 
 
 17, 18, 193-195 
 
 
 . 194 
 
 
 26, 121-148 
 
 
 . 205 
 
 
 .211 
 
 
 25, 95, 96, 191 
 
 
 . 38 
 
 
 . 70 
 
 
 . 124 
 
 
 41, 42 
 
 
 25, 97 
 
 
 . 221 
 
 
 . 184 
 
 
 9, 154 
 
 
 . 199 
 
 . 128 
 
 164, 165 
 
 . 201 
 
 
 . 199
 
 INDEX 
 
 271 
 
 Destructive Insects 
 Disease, diminution of 
 
 how spread 
 Disinfection 
 Dispensaries 
 Dissenters 
 District 
 
 District Auditor 
 District Board, in Metropolis 
 District Council 23, 2G, 110, 
 
 accounts of 
 
 by-laws of . 
 
 central control ovei 
 
 constitution of . 
 
 election of 
 
 finance 
 
 loans to 
 
 powers of . 
 
 urban and rural 
 District Highway Board 
 District rate . 
 District surveyor . 
 Diversion of a highway 
 Divided parishes 
 Divisions of county 
 Dogs, muzzling . 
 Drains 
 Driftway . 
 
 129-1 
 
 48, 1 
 
 E 
 
 Ealdorman 
 
 Earl 
 
 Ecclesiastical parish 
 Edgar, King 
 Education Code 
 Education Department . 
 Electric lighting 
 Elementary education . 
 Elementary Education Acts 
 Elementary school . 
 Emigration 
 
 
 
 206, 
 
 240 
 
 
 
 128, 
 
 245 
 
 23, 128, 
 
 135, 
 
 137, 
 
 138 
 
 128, 
 
 135, 
 
 137, 
 
 146 
 232 
 
 65 
 
 , 66, 
 
 184, 
 
 207 
 
 
 26 
 
 121-148 
 
 L18-120, 
 
 161, 
 
 249, 
 
 256 
 
 
 219, 
 
 225, 
 
 226 
 
 67. 170. 
 
 179, 
 
 180, 
 
 208 
 147 
 142 
 
 
 147, 
 
 148, 
 
 250 
 
 
 
 132 
 
 -134 
 
 
 
 132, 
 
 133 
 
 
 
 143-147 
 
 
 
 146, 
 
 147 
 
 
 
 134-147 
 
 25, 
 
 110, 
 
 131. 
 
 138 
 175 
 
 
 
 144, 
 
 145 
 
 
 
 175. 
 
 221 
 165 
 
 . 20, 28, 29, 44. 
 
 252 
 
 
 190 
 
 , 194-197 
 
 
 
 
 240 
 
 
 
 135, 
 
 144 
 164 
 
 
 17 
 
 193 
 
 217 
 
 
 
 192 
 
 193 
 
 . 39, 40 
 
 , 44, 
 
 45, 65-68 
 
 
 
 
 192 
 
 
 
 152 
 
 160 
 
 151-163 
 
 207 
 
 238 
 
 
 148 
 
 221 
 
 239 
 
 
 
 149-163 
 
 149 
 
 150 
 
 159 
 
 162 
 150 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 143
 
 272 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Enclosure Commissioners 239 
 
 Enclosure of commons 142, 208, 240 
 
 Epidemic 122, 128, 135, 247, 253 
 
 Exchequer contribution 12, 101, 158, 163, 209, 210, 223, 258 
 P]xchequer Contribution Account .... 139, 210 
 
 Expenditure of local bodies . 
 suggestions for restricting . 
 Explosives Act .... 
 Extra-parochial places . 
 
 30-34, 258-260 
 33, 259, 260 
 . 207, 215 
 . 40, 44, 47 
 
 Factory Acts 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 143, 150 
 
 Fairs . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . ' . .143 
 
 Fee-grant . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 159 
 
 Finance, borough 
 
 
 
 
 
 91-95 
 
 committee . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 209 
 
 county 
 
 
 
 
 
 209-212 
 
 district 
 
 
 
 
 
 143-147 
 
 local . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 30-34, 258-260 
 
 London County Council 
 
 
 
 222-224 
 
 Fire, inquest as to cause of 
 
 
 
 . 201 
 
 Fire-brigade 
 
 
 
 62, 219, 221, 223 
 
 Fire-plugs . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 136 
 
 Firm a burgi 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 71 
 
 Fish, conservation of 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 206 
 
 Footpaths . 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 164, 181, 182 
 
 Franchises 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 200 
 
 Frankpledge 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 17 
 
 Free education 
 
 
 
 
 
 157-159 
 
 Freeman, of borough 
 
 
 
 
 
 58, 73, 76, 77, 82 
 
 of township 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 17 
 
 Frith-borh 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 17 
 
 Game, dealers in . 
 Gang masters . 
 •Gaols .... 
 
 Gas, supply of 
 
 General Board of Health 
 General district rate . 
 
 . 143 
 
 . 143 
 
 4, 198 
 
 32, 90, 141, 221, 234 
 
 . 126, 241 
 
 . 144, 145
 
 INDEX 
 
 273 
 
 General expenses 
 
 
 
 145, 146 
 
 General Order 
 
 
 
 . 244 
 
 General rule .... 
 
 
 
 . 244 
 
 Germs 
 
 
 
 . 123, 255 
 
 Gilbert's Act . . 
 
 
 
 . 107 
 
 Government grants to schools 
 
 
 
 159, 1G0, 163 
 
 Grand jury .... 
 
 
 
 . 194 
 
 Guardians of the Poor . 
 
 
 
 25, 107-120, 210 
 
 additional .... 
 
 
 
 . 113 
 
 control of . 
 
 
 
 . 118, 250 
 
 duties of . 
 
 
 
 114-117 
 
 election of . 
 
 
 
 109-113 
 
 ex officio .... 
 
 
 
 8, 109, 110 
 
 in rural parishes 
 
 
 
 . 25 
 
 in urban districts 
 
 
 
 . 25 
 
 Dominated, abolished 
 
 
 
 . 231 
 
 Guild .... 
 
 
 
 . 18, 71, 72 
 
 II 
 
 Hackney carriages .... 
 
 
 . 141, 246 
 
 High-road 
 
 
 . 164, 168 
 
 High Steward 
 
 
 74 
 
 Highway 
 
 
 140, 164-183 
 
 accounts ..... 
 
 
 . 175 
 
 areas ..... 
 
 
 . 173 
 
 authorities .... 
 
 
 . 173 
 
 Board 
 
 
 140, 174-177 
 
 district ..... 
 
 
 . 109 
 
 parish ..... 
 
 
 47, 173, 174 
 
 public entitled to use whole width ol 
 
 
 . 182 
 
 rate ...-•• 
 
 
 . 174 
 
 repair of . 
 
 
 166-180 
 
 Highways and Locomotives (Amendmem 
 
 ■) Act 
 
 169, 176, 246 
 
 "Homage," of the manor . 
 
 
 . 39 
 
 Home Secretary .... 
 
 126, 
 
 186, 238, 243 
 
 "Hooter" 
 
 
 . 252 
 
 Hospitals 
 
 137, 
 
 232, 247, 255 
 
 Housing of the Working Classes Acts 
 
 > 
 
 90, 136, 252 
 
 Hundred 
 
 16, 26, 
 
 130, 195, 196 
 
 Hundred-moot 
 
 
 . 17
 
 274 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 157, 
 
 123, 127, 
 
 Improvement Act district 
 Incorporation .... 
 Indoor relief .... 
 Industrial Schools . 90, 151, 156, 
 Infant Life Protection Act . 
 Infectious disease . 
 
 notification of . . . 
 
 Inquest 
 
 Inspector of Nuisances . 
 Inspector of Weights and Measures 
 
 Isle of Ely 
 
 Isle of Wight 
 
 20, 125, 127, 129 
 
 . 69, 73, 80, 81 
 
 . 107, 114, 115 
 
 206, 221, 230, 231, 238 
 
 . 114, 117, 143, 222 
 
 128, 135, 137, 138, 232 
 
 127, 128 
 
 . 201 
 
 . 139 
 
 . 203 
 
 190, 198 
 
 173, 190 
 
 Joint-committee 
 
 Jury list .... 
 
 Justice of the Peace 
 
 appointment of . 
 
 government of counties by 
 
 qualification of . 
 Justices in eyre 
 
 101, 112 
 
 . 49 
 
 195, 202-204 
 
 74, 202 
 
 18, 19, 203 
 
 . 202 
 
 17, 193 
 
 Knackers' yards 
 Knights of the shire 
 
 L 
 England 
 
 Land Commissioners foi 
 
 Leicester . 
 
 Liberties . 
 
 Libraries . 
 
 License in mortmain, explained 
 
 Licenses .... 
 
 Light railways 
 
 Liverymen .... 
 
 Loans, increase in amount of 
 
 to Boards of Guardians 
 
 to boroughs 
 
 to County Councils . 
 
 to District Councils . 
 
 to London County Council 
 
 143 
 19 
 
 . 239 
 
 . 72, 73, 76 
 
 191, 200, 233 
 
 33, 59, 90, 143 
 
 . 60 
 
 43, 206, 221, 234 
 
 . 239 
 
 . 229 
 
 30-34, 259 
 
 . 116 
 
 91-94 
 
 211-212 
 
 146, 147 
 
 220, 223
 
 INDEX 
 
 275 
 
 Loans, to Metropolitan Vestries and District Boards . 
 
 to Parish Councils ...... 
 
 to School Boards ...... 
 
 sanction of the Local Government Board . 255, 
 Local authorities, confusion prior to 1888 
 
 14, 15, 19-22, 214, 219 
 Local Board of Health . 
 
 Woolwich, the last survivor 
 Local expendituee 30-34 
 
 existing restrictions on 60, 63, 94, 
 
 steady increase of .... . 30-34, 
 
 suggested further resirictions on . . 33, 
 
 Local Government, defined 
 
 before 1888 
 
 in Norman times 
 
 in Saxon times . 
 
 province of 
 Local Government Act, 1888 
 Local Government Act, 1894 
 Local Government Board 
 
 advice given by . 
 
 Annual Report of 
 
 audit by officer of 118, 
 
 auditor 
 
 control by . 
 
 control over local finance 
 
 creation of 
 
 functions of 
 
 legislative powers of . 
 
 limits of such control 
 
 officers of . 
 
 returns 
 
 value of control by .... 118,236, 
 Local inquiries .... 93, 203, 243, 
 Local institutions, development of 
 
 distinguished from political 
 
 influence on political . . . . . 3, 13, 
 
 necessity for central control . . 236, 241, 
 
 value of 
 
 want of symmetry in . 
 Local Loans Act 147, 
 
 14, 23, 170, 
 14, 23, 54, 55, 64, 
 
 147, 175, 209, 249, 256, 
 118 
 102, 117-120 
 
 . 225 
 
 . 63 
 
 156, 157 
 
 256, 259 
 
 261-263 
 . 126 
 . 224 
 
 258-260 
 255, 256 
 
 258, 259 
 
 259, 260 
 
 1 
 
 14, 22 
 
 . 17 
 
 16, 236 
 
 2 
 
 172, 204 
 
 187, 208 
 
 241-258 
 
 246-248 
 
 . 250 
 
 257, 259 
 -120, 256 
 , 250-258 
 
 255-260 
 . 242 
 244-258 
 244-246 
 118, 237 
 . 243 
 248 249 
 
 241, 242 
 247, 251 
 5, 6, 236 
 
 . 5-13 
 236, 249 
 
 242, 250 
 3, 237 
 
 5 
 252, 256
 
 276 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Local Taxation Act 
 
 
 
 . 210 
 
 Local Taxation Returns 
 
 
 94, 249 
 
 London, City of . 
 
 72, 
 
 213, 216-220, 227-230 
 
 County Council . 
 
 
 
 220-224 
 
 County of . 
 
 
 
 213-215 
 
 District Boards . 
 
 
 
 . 219, 225 
 
 history of . 
 
 
 
 . 70, 72, 216-220 
 
 never in Middlesex 
 
 
 
 . 218 
 
 police 
 
 
 
 . 227, 233 
 
 port of 
 
 
 
 215, 227, 229 
 
 School Board 
 
 
 
 . 230, 231 
 
 Vestries 
 
 
 
 219, 224-227 
 
 walls of 
 
 
 
 . 216, 218 
 
 Lord High Steward 
 
 
 
 . 200, 233 
 
 Lord-lieutenant 
 
 
 
 . 199 
 
 Lord Mayor of London 
 
 
 
 72, 218, 229 
 
 Lord of the Manor. 
 
 
 
 17, 37-43, 183, 200 
 
 Lunatic Asylums 
 
 
 
 203, 206, 221, 232 
 
 M 
 
 
 Main-drainage works 
 
 219, 220, 223, 226 
 
 Main roads .... 
 Maldon 
 
 
 . 140, 168 
 . 76 
 
 Mandamus 
 
 Manor 
 
 
 . 147, 247 
 . 17, 37, 41, 42 
 
 Manor Court .... 
 
 
 41, 42 
 
 Margarine Act .... 
 
 
 . 253 
 
 "Mark" , 
 
 Markets 
 
 
 . 35 
 
 141, 215, 227, 246 
 
 Married woman 9, 58, 61, 84, 112, 1 
 
 33, 155, 205, 206, 224, 226 
 
 Mayor 7 
 
 2, 73, 75, 86, 218, 227, 229 
 
 Mayor's Court .... 
 
 . 228 
 
 Medical Officer of Health . 
 
 
 . 138, 139, 210 
 
 Metropolis, the .... 
 
 
 28, 152, 213-234 
 
 Metropolis Management Act . 
 
 
 . 213 
 
 Metropolitan Asylums Managers 
 
 
 . 215, 232, 233 
 
 Metropolitan Board of Works 
 
 
 . 219, 220 
 
 Metropolitan police 
 
 
 . 222, 233 
 
 Metropolitan Vestries . 
 
 
 224-227 
 
 reform of . 
 
 
 . 226 
 
 Middlesex . 
 
 
 
 191, 198, 218
 
 INDEX 
 
 277 
 
 Milk 
 
 123, 254, 255 
 
 Minister 
 
 
 66, 67 
 
 Monasteries, dissolution of the . 
 
 
 43, 104 
 
 Mortality, decrease in 
 
 
 . 128 
 
 Mortmain, explained ...... 
 
 
 60 
 
 Mortuary 
 
 
 . 137 
 
 Motor-cars 
 
 
 . 221 
 
 Municipal Corporation .... 
 
 
 83-102 
 
 duties of ...... 
 
 
 83-95 
 
 Municipal Corporations Acts 
 
 
 79, 80, 81 
 
 Museums 
 
 
 33, 90 
 
 Music-halls 
 
 
 . 221 
 
 N 
 
 
 National Debt 
 
 . 32 
 
 Necessitous schools ... 
 
 . 163 
 
 New Parishes Acts 
 
 45 
 
 Notification of Infectious Diseases 
 
 127, 128, 137 
 
 Nuisances 
 
 2, 124, 136, 224 
 
 Nuisances Removal Act . . . 109, 136, 139, 142 
 
 
 
 
 Office of Works 
 
 . 233 
 
 Officers, of borough 
 
 87, 88 
 
 of county ...... 
 
 197-203 
 
 of County Council .... 
 
 . 207 
 
 of District Council .... 
 
 135, 138, 139 
 
 of parish ...... 
 
 . 49, 59, 61 
 
 of union ...... 
 
 . 113, 114 
 
 Open spaces ...... 
 
 63, 221 223 
 
 Orders of Local Government Board . 
 
 111, 244-246 
 
 Ordnance Survey 
 
 . 240 
 
 Outdoor relief 
 
 . Ill, 115 
 
 Outlawry 
 
 . 194 
 
 Overhead wires 
 
 . 222 
 
 Overseers of the Poor . . .43, 48- 
 
 51, 104, 203, 211 
 
 Oxford 
 
 83, 152 
 
 P 
 
 
 Parent 
 
 . 152 
 
 Parish, the 
 
 . 24, 35-68 
 
 
 
 39-43
 
 278 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Parish — 
 
 boundaries of 
 
 bound to repair highw 
 
 civil . 
 
 constable . 
 
 different kinds of 
 
 divided 
 
 ecclesiastical 
 
 highway . 
 
 land-tax 
 
 meaning of the word 
 
 poor-law . 
 
 rise of the . 
 
 rural 
 
 urban 
 Parish accounts 
 Parish churchyard . 
 Parish clerk 
 
 Parish Council 24, 57, 60-64, 165, 168, 178, 181-183, 188, 208 
 
 Parish Meeting 
 
 in ancient days . 
 Parish priest . 
 Parish property 
 Parks 
 
 Parliamentary borough 
 Parliamentary grants to schools 
 Parochial charity . 
 Parochial electors . 
 Pauperism, cost of 
 
 increase of 
 
 methods of dealing w 
 Penge 
 
 Perambulations 
 Petroleum . 
 
 Petty sessional divisions 
 Petty Sessions . 
 Piecemeal legislation 
 Pindar 
 
 Plough Monday 
 Plural vote 
 Police, borough . 
 
 ays 
 
 44, 45, 48, 56, 57, 63, 252 
 166-168 
 . 43-55 
 . 54 
 . 44-48 
 20, 28, 29, 44, 252 
 . 65-68 
 47 
 . 47 
 39, 40 
 46, 47 
 18, 24, 39-44 
 21, 30, 57 
 21, 23, 56 
 42, 64 
 67, 184, 185 
 . 68 
 
 24, 56, 57-60, 165, 181-183, 188, 236 
 
 . 41, 42, 43 
 
 . 17, 40-43 
 
 42, 59, 62, 109, 208, 252 
 
 32, 221, 223, 233 
 
 82, 214 
 
 159, 160, 163 
 
 63, 64 
 
 57, 61, 110, 112, 132, 224 
 
 . 115 
 
 33, 115 
 
 33, 114, 115 
 
 . 231 
 
 48 
 
 . 143, 221 
 
 196, 197, 202 
 
 . 203 
 
 21, 23, 214, 219 
 
 36 
 
 . 228 
 
 6, 7, 9, 53, 109 
 
 . 100, 101 
 
 th
 
 INDEX 
 
 279 
 
 Police, county .... 
 
 54, 196, 203 
 
 City of London . 
 
 . 227, 233 
 
 Metropolitan 
 
 . 233 
 
 Police rate .... 
 
 . 101, 207 
 
 Poll 
 
 . 53, 59, 62, 155 
 
 Pollution of streams 
 
 124, 136, 206, 251, 252 
 
 Poor., Guardians of the 
 
 25, 107-120 
 
 relief of the 
 
 43, 103-120 
 
 Poor-law 
 
 43, 103-110, 241 
 
 Poor Law Amendment Act 
 
 . 107, 241 
 
 Poor Law Board . . . . 
 
 . 107, 108, 241 
 
 Poor-ratio .... 
 
 50, 51, 116 
 
 Port-reeve .... 
 
 70, 217 
 
 Port Sanitary Authority 
 
 . 148, 227 
 
 Postmaster-General 
 
 . 143 
 
 "Pricking the Sheriffs" 
 
 . 198 
 
 Prisons 
 
 4, 198 
 
 Private Acts of Parliament . 
 
 93, 248, 256, 259 
 
 Private improvement rate 
 
 . 144, 145 
 
 Privy Council 1 
 
 26, 151, 238, 240, 243, 245 
 
 Property qualification, abolished 
 
 S, 133, 155 
 
 Provisional Order . 
 
 . 246 
 
 Public elementary school 
 
 . 151 
 
 Public Health Acts 
 
 125-140, 243, 246 
 
 Public libraries 
 
 59, 90, 143 
 
 Public right of way 
 
 . 164, 182 
 
 Public Works Loans Act 
 
 . 147, 253 
 
 Quarter Sessions 
 
 25, 97, 196, 200, 204 
 
 Rape 
 
 . 122 
 
 Rate, borough 
 
 . 92 
 
 county ..... 
 
 . 207, 210 
 
 general district .... 
 
 . 144 
 
 highway ..... 
 
 . 174 
 
 parish ..... 
 
 60, 63 
 
 police ..... 
 
 . 101, 207 
 
 poor ...... 
 
 50, 116, 249, 258 
 
 private improvement 
 
 . 144
 
 280 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Rate, school ..... 
 
 156, 160 
 
 watch ..... 
 
 . 101 
 
 Rateable value .... 
 
 32 
 
 Ratepayer, long-suffering . 
 
 31, 33, 158, 226, 260 
 
 Rating appeals .... 
 
 50, 206, 211 
 
 Ratione tenurae .... 
 
 . 166 
 
 Recorder 
 
 of London ..... 
 
 25, 75, 78, 97 
 . 228 
 
 Recreation ground .... 
 
 59, 63, 141 
 
 Rector 
 
 42, 53, 66, 67, 225 
 
 Reeve, of shire ..... 
 
 17, 192, 197, 198 
 
 of township .... 
 Reformatories 
 
 36, 192, 195 
 90, 206, 221, 231 
 
 Reforms suggested .... 
 
 33, 226, 250, 259, 260 
 
 Registrar of Births a\d Deaths . 
 
 116, 210, 232, 252 
 
 Relief of the poor 
 
 43, 104, 114, 115, 244 
 
 Religious instruction 
 
 . 151, 155, 156 
 
 Removal, of nuisances 
 
 . 109, 127 
 
 of paupers ..... 
 Repair of a highway 
 
 . 105, 106 
 166-180 
 
 Representation, principle of 
 
 5, 7-11, 19, 28, 203 
 
 Reputed manor .... 
 
 . . 38 
 
 Returns, to Local Government Board 
 
 . 248, 249 
 
 Revising assessors .... 
 
 . 84 
 
 Revising barrister .... 
 
 . 84 
 
 Riding 
 
 . 190 
 
 Right of way, public 
 
 140, 164-183 
 
 Riot . 
 
 Rivers, pollution of . . . 1 
 
 Roads 
 
 disturnpiked . . ' . 
 
 high 
 
 main ..... 
 
 . 196 
 
 24, 136, 206, 251, 252 
 
 164-183 
 
 . 169 
 
 164, 168 
 
 168, 171 
 
 not " taken over " 
 
 . 167 
 
 turnpike ..... 
 Roadside waste .... 
 
 . 169, 170 
 . 141, 182, 183 
 
 Rural District . . .2] 
 
 , 23, 30, 112, 130-148 
 
 Rural District Council . 25, 1 
 
 10, 113, 131, 138, 178 
 
 Rural Parish 
 
 . 21, 30, 57, 208
 
 INDEX 
 
 2 si 
 
 Sale of Food and Drugs Acts 
 
 Sanitary District . 
 
 Sanitary legislation, history of 
 
 Scarlet fevee . 
 
 School Attendance Committee 
 
 School Authority . 
 
 School Boa no . 
 
 audit of accounts of . 
 
 compulsory attendance 
 
 creation of 
 
 dissolution of 
 
 elections of 
 
 for London 
 
 grants to . 
 
 income of . 
 
 loans to 
 
 officers of . 
 School District 
 School fees 
 School fund 
 School rate 
 Secondary education 
 Secondary of the City of London 
 Secular priest . 
 Select Vestry . 
 
 in the Metropolis 
 Serf . 
 
 Settlement, of paupei 
 Sewers, defined . 
 
 Commission of 
 
 control of . 
 
 cost of 
 Sexton 
 Sheriff, of borough 
 
 of county . 
 
 of London . 
 
 of Middlesex 
 Shire . 
 Shire-moot 
 
 
 88, 253 
 
 L21, 
 
 127, 130, lis 
 
 
 122-129 
 
 
 . 12:), 128 
 
 90, llti, 
 
 150, 161, 162 
 
 
 . 150, 161 
 
 59 
 
 150, 153-161 
 
 
 . 161 
 
 
 149-153, 162 
 
 
 . 15:;. L54 
 
 
 59, 154 
 
 
 . 154 
 
 152, 155 
 
 157, 230-231 
 
 
 159, 160 
 
 
 156-161 
 
 
 156, 157 
 
 
 . 155 
 
 
 26, 152 
 
 
 156, 157 
 
 
 . 156 
 
 
 156, 160 
 
 
 . 151 
 
 
 . 228 
 
 
 . 17, 40-43 
 
 
 53, 54 
 
 
 219, 224-227 
 
 
 . 36, 39, 71 
 
 
 105, 106, 114 
 
 
 . 135 
 
 124, 
 
 208, 228, 230 
 
 
 . 220 
 
 
 144, 146 
 
 
 68 
 
 
 75, 96 
 
 . 17, 18, 
 
 192, 197, 19S 
 
 
 . 198, 229 
 
 
 . 198, 218 
 
 
 16, 192-195 
 
 
 17, 192-194
 
 282 
 
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Shop Hours Acts 
 Single rule 
 Sinking-fund 
 Sky-signs . 
 Slaughter-houses 
 Small-pox . 
 South Wales 
 Southwark 
 Special constables 
 Special expenses 
 Special sessions 
 Steam whistle . 
 Steward of the manor 
 Stipendiary Magistrate 
 Stopping a highway 
 Streets 
 Subways 
 Surcharge . 
 Surveyor, county 
 
 district 
 
 of highways 
 
 . 209, 222 
 . 244 
 93, 212, 223 
 . 215, 222 
 . 221, 246, 255 
 . 128, 232 
 173, 263 
 . 218 
 . 100 
 . 145, 146 
 . 203 
 . 252 
 . 38 
 . 100 
 . 165, 181, 182 
 141, 180, 221, 227, 255 
 . 221 
 . 119, 120, 257 
 170, 171, 197, 207 
 . 135, 221 
 140, 141, 174-179 
 
 "Taking over" a highway 
 Tallage .... 
 Taxes, distinguished from rates 
 Technical education 
 Theatres . 
 Tithe Commissioners 
 
 TlTHING-MAN 
 
 Tolls . 
 Town Clerk 
 Town Council 
 
 duties of 
 
 election of 
 Township . 
 Tramways . 
 Treasurer, of borough 
 
 of county . 
 
 of District Council 
 
 of union 
 
 75, 
 
 . 167 
 . 71 
 . 11 
 . 209, 210, 222 
 . 221, 233 
 . 239 
 . 36 
 77, 144, 169, 209, 249 
 88, 94, 228 
 83-102 
 85-95 
 84, 85 
 17, 35 
 221, 222, 223, 246 
 . 88, 92, 94 
 197, 207, 211 
 . 135 
 . 120
 
 INDEX 
 
 283 
 
 Treasury, contribution to local expenditure 
 
 12, 101, 111, 158, 163, 209, 210 
 Trinoda neosssitas 
 
 TlM ANT SCHOOLS 
 Trx . 
 
 Turnpike roads 
 Typhoid fever . 
 
 Under-sheriff . 
 
 Union, the . 
 
 Union county 
 
 Urban district . 
 
 Urban District Council 
 
 Urban sanitary authority 
 
 Vaccination 
 
 Valuation . 
 
 Vestry 
 
 common 
 
 Metropolitan 
 
 select 
 
 Vestrymen, election of 
 
 Vill . 
 
 Villeins 
 
 Voluntary schools 
 
 W 
 
 Wallasey . 
 Wapentake 
 Wards, of a borough . 
 
 of a parish 
 
 of the City of London 
 Wash-houses 
 Watch Committee 
 Water-supply . . \ 
 Waywardens 
 Weights and measures 
 Wenlock . 
 Wight, Isle of 
 
 90, 
 
 26, 136 
 
 
 16, 171 
 
 . 230 
 
 36, 70 
 
 169, 170 
 
 123, 247 
 
 . 198, 228 
 
 25, 103-120 
 
 . 108 
 
 . 21, 23, 121, 130-148 
 
 25, 110, 131-143, 170, 180 
 
 127, 176, 177 
 
 116, 128, 232, 253 
 
 . 50, 92, 145, 210 
 
 
 43, 51-54, 56 
 
 
 52 
 
 
 224-227 
 
 
 53, 54, 219 
 
 
 54, 225 
 
 
 37, 70 
 
 
 38, 42 
 
 
 149, 160, 163 
 
 122 
 
 26, 122, 195 
 
 . 81 
 
 59, 112, 132, 208, 224 
 
 . 227, 228 
 
 59, 141, 215, 252 
 
 . 101 
 
 36, 138, 1 16, 147, 221, 234 
 
 . 175 
 
 . 203, 207, 224 
 
 74, 153 
 
 
 173, 190
 
 284 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Wild birds, protection of 206 
 
 Winchester 70, 216 
 
 WlTENAGEJIOTE ......... 192 
 
 Women, position of, in local affairs 9, 10, 58, 61, 68, 84, 112, 
 
 133, 155, 205, 206, 224, 226 
 Woolwich, only surviving Local Board . 215, 221, 224, 226 
 Workhouses 108, 114, 250 
 
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