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Below is shown the population of the arrondissements separately (in 1906), together with the comparative density of population therein. The most thickly populated region of Paris comprises a zone stretching northwards from the Île de la Cité and the Île St Louis to the fortifications, and including the central quarters of St Gervais with 400 inhabitants to the acre, Ste Avoie with 391 inhabitants to the acre, and Bonne-Nouvelle with 406 inhabitants to the acre. The central arrondissements on the north bank, which (with the exception of I., the Louvre) are among the most densely populated, tended in the latter part of the 19th century to decrease in density, while the outlying arrondissements (XII.–XX.), which with the exception of Batignolles and Montmartre are comparatively thinly populated, increased in density, and this tendency continued in the early years of the 20th century.

Municipal Administration.—Each arrondissement is divided into four quarters, each of which nominates a member of the municipal council. These 80 councillors, together with 21 additional councillors elected by the cantons of the rest of the department, form the departmental council. The chief functionaries of the arrondissement are a mayor (maire) and three deputies (adjoints) appointed by the president. The mayors act as registrars, draw up electoral and recruiting lists and superintend the poor-relief of their arrondissement. There is a justice of the peace (juge de paix) nominated by the government in each arrondissement. There is no elective mayor of Paris: the president of the municipal council, who is nominated by his colleagues, merely acts as chairman of their meetings. When occasion requires, the function of mayor of Paris is discharged by the prefect of Seine. The municipal council discusses and votes the budget of the city, scrutinizes the administrative measures of the two prefects and deliberates on municipal affairs in general. The prefect of Seine and the prefect of police (both magistrates named by the government, but each with a quite distinct sphere of action) represent the executive authority as opposed to the municipal council, which latter has no power, by refusing a vote of credit, to stop any public service the maintenance of which legally devolves on the city: in case of such refusal the minister of the interior may officially insert the credit in the budget. In like manner he may appeal to the head of the state to cancel any decision in which the council has exceeded its legal functions.

The prefecture of Seine comprises the following departments (directions), subdivided into bureaux:—

The administrative functions of the prefect necessitate a large technical staff of engineers, inspectors, &amp;c., who are divided among the various services attached to the departments. There are also a number of councils and committees on special branches of public work attached to the prefecture (commission des logements insalubres, de statistique municipale, &amp;c.). The administration of the three important departments of the octroi, poor-relief (assistance publique) and pawnbroking (the mont-de-piété) is also under the control of the prefect.

The prefecture of police includes the whole department of Seine and the neighbouring communes of the department of Seine-et-Oise—Meudon, St Cloud, Sevres and Enghien. Its sphere embraces the apprehension and punishment of criminals (police judiciaire), general police-work (including political service) and municipal policing. The state, in view of the non-municipal functions of the Paris police, repays a proportion of the annual