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Home My WebLink AboutThe East Huron Gazette, 1892-08-18, Page 5E+ T gyred, 3e re Manager. ore, admires s Sap. oice. See ed on our • N'S NEW COUN A REMARKABLE EaENT 11414UNh 'G16MINWAIATION. Powers and Organization of: Theeope, London's New County Council Clearly and Succaently Stated—The Population Affected—An Incorruptible Body of Men. The most remarkable experiment ever made in the way of municipal administra- tion is now going on among that vast con- glomeration of human beings which De Quincey called the "nation" of London. The scope, powers, and organization of the new London County Council and the pro- grammes of its leaders are discussed at length in the April number of the Review of Reviews. We are indebted to the Amer'. can editor of that periodical, Dr. .Albert Shaw, for more light upon this interesting subject than has hitherto been attainable cn this side of the Atlantic What is known as the Metropolitan Po- lice District covers an area defined by a ra- dius of fifteen miles from CharinrCioss, and comprises several hundred square miles. It comprehends a population of nearly 6,000,• 000. Outside of the small inner nucleus bear. ing the historical title of the City of London, which at present has only about 30,000 regi. dents, the huge British metropolis was np to 1889 split into a number of irregular small divisions and governed by parish vestries and dietriot boards. There was no unified municipal spirit, and there was universal apathy and ignorance with regard to the methods and doings of the parish vestries. Four years ago a man might have walked the streets of London ten hours a day for a month, buttonholing every intelligent citizen he met,, and the chances were that he would not in that time have found a solitary person who could have explained to him how London was governed. It is true that for the main drainage system and some of the more im- portant street improvements, together with a few other purposes of general concern, there was established some twenty years ago a so -celled "Metropolitan Board of Works," made up of delegates from the local district boards and parish vestries. This body, having no direct ac- countability to anybody, was neither effi- cient nor well constituted. The great change which has taken place is not the outcome of any vehement agita- tion in London itself, but an incidental re- sult of the County Council Act applied to the whole of England in 1889. By that measure the larger part of the parishes which had come to be known as the metro- polis, were erected into a separate county, and provision was made for a• County Council, which was, in fact, to be a great Municipal Parliament, elected by the peo- ple of London. The districts of the -metro- polis, from each of which two councillors are chosen, are for the present identical with the fifty-nine electoral divisions from which members are sent to Parliament. The old City of London is thus far permitted to retain its separate govern anent, and it is allowed representation in the County Council as one of the districts constituting the larger maaticipality. We should add that the 118 Councilmen elected add to their number by choosing nineteen citizens to sit and act with them under the title of AIdermen. They are presided over by one of their mernbers, who is chosen Chairman, and who exercises some of the functions which in other cities pertain to the office of Mayor. It should be ►neutiou. ed that the County of London, imposing as it is, is not so large as it soon will be. It is by no means conterminous with the Metropolitian Police District. It has an area,of only about 120 square miles, and the population under the jurisdiction of its Council scarcely exceedes four millions and a half. One of the extensions of power which will probably be demand- ed by the Progressives, who control the Council recently elected by a majority of some 3 to 1, is the concession of control over the Metropolitan Police. When that demand is granted, the area governed by the Council will coincide with that of. the Metropolitan. Polies District, and will em- brace a population of about 6.000,000. As yet, however, the London County Council is only a frantework of a great municipal governanent which future acts of-• Parliament are expected to fill in and com- plete. For the moment its authority is comparatively limited. It took over all the powers that had been vested in the old'. Metropolitan Board of Works, and various other powers were conferred by the statute creating it. But many matters of munici- pal concern were left under the manage- ment anagement of local districtsand parishes; and its water supp'y, tts markets, its gas works, its tramways, and its docks remain in the hands of private owners. The programme of the Progressives, who are now the un- challenged masters of the London County Council,contemplates a vast expansion of its powers, and there is -no doubt that their wishes will be heeded if the Gla+dstonians are dominant in the next House of Corn mons. Among the demands in which all' the Progressives are agreed are the follow ing s First, that taxation reforriai shill kaiaks the great landlords and holders. Otitiownt rents pay their share of .municipai-rcv.aue; secondly, that the rights; of the eight pri• vote water companies shelf be transferred to .tbe municipality v. and -thirdly,.thant• trenchant measures,ahall be token for. an amelioration of the- housing coo itions of the poor. Not included in the official Programme. bat urgently, • preated by tie representatives ot- yworkfugmea to whoa the recent humpy of the Progressives mainly due, ere deMandlfor sn equalizati of taxes titiiitg.bout the metr'opolies_ tirade union*"es-aid an eight-hour day ht. the case of: all_ persons employed by the Council, and -for the substitution. of - public for private ownership and management; not. only :as regards= the, watersupply. but is regards the gas works, treurwsys, nrarkete, and docks. The. workingmen nsjet, aitch' over, that the people of Lundell ought. through their conlif. Council to- atansga! their police and all their parkeaanit- spaexa, and it *probable tont tib demand, will' be bsckset by s Istrge`aotaldilty ob th newly elec€O Ccemailmen. Thea.Londin fek — till us thst b .>r the# efosatiot gae.ta� w be said. to litre in commzttss . i the supervision ' of the ntaoic.i there are at Ieast fifty: their this to the Thegq* more thait .- onedLe average, it appears that each Connsiillor de- votes two dye a week _wilts .service of tbs.. town. A more incorruptible body of men- never assembled for the government of a. great city. From Lord Rosebery, Lord , Compton, LordLord Hobhouse and Sir John Lubbockat the top, tc Mr... john Burns,. th. Socialist,'for bottom, there is not one of the 131 membeers who: - has even been suspected ofeorruption or of abusing a trust. A new broom sweeps clean, and how long this exemplary state of -things will continue to exist is of coarse open to question ; but that it is the present outcome of the London municipal experiment is .se- knowledged on all hands. MISSING LINKS. Some Bright and Breezy Paragraphs •f Curious Information. Should a man in Chins be unfirtunsti enough to save the life of another from drowning he is saddled with the expense of supporting the saved oue for the re- mainder of that person's life. A superb new bridge has been construct- ed in Rome over the picturesque Tiber, and it is considered one of the finest modern works in the city. It has been christened Pante 3largherita by their majesties of Italy. Paper quilts ars said to be coming into extensive use abroad for the poorer classes. They are composed of sheet, of -white paper sowed together and perfore.tetd's1i aver at s distance of an inchor two apart.' Dr. Herzog .reeentiy diauuvered in It library et Aaran, Switzerland, a copy of the first 'edition of Holbein`s :"Dance of Death." The . same Volume Indictee forty- six wood outs of the same artist, illustrat- ing scenes from the Bible. Mrs. Newberry, a very wealthy woman who resides in Detroit,is having ,the Her. reshoffs build -for her a large steam yacht, in which she . can cruise oa the lakes.' Among other luxuries, it is to -hare 0 itiP • hogany diniug room oa deck. The man who lifted himself over a fay , by his boot straps was rivaled - by an old German bachelor in Iowa, who put a loop around his neck, threw the rope over tt: