Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/132

 10 THE BRITISH EMPIRE: — UNITED KINGDOM

county there is a popularly-elected Council, called a County Council, who co-opt a prescribed number of aldermen, either from their own body or from outside it. Aldermen are elected for six years, half of them retiring every third year. A councillor is elected for three years. Women are eligible. The jurisdiction of the County Councils extends to the making ol county and police rates ; levying of duties on licenses for carriages, armorial healings, gun>;. dogs, killing and dealing in game ; borrowing of money ; supervision of county treasurer; management of county halls and other build- ings ; licensing of houses for music and dancing, and of racecourses ; mainten- ance atid management of pauper lunatic asylums; maintenance of reformatory and industrial schools ; management of bridges and main roads ; regulation of fees of inspectors, analysts, and other officers ; control of officers paid out of the county rate ; coroner's salary, fees, and district ; Parliamentary polling districts and registration : contagious diseases of animals, allotments, weights and measures, sale of food and drugs. Under Acts of 1902 and 19ol the County Councils are local education authorities, and other recent acts have in minor matters extended their jurisdiction. The control of the county police is vested in a standing joint committee composed of an equal number of magistratij and members of the County Council. The London iVl etropolitan police are, however, under the control of the Home Secretary.

The administrative counties, with the exception of the County of London, are subdivided into ' County Districts ' which are either * Urban ' or '■ Rural, ' as the case may be. Generally speaking, an urban district comprises a town or a small area more or less densely populated, and a rural district takes in several country parishes. Women may be elected to these District Councils, but cannot be magistrates ; the District Councils administer the Public Health and Highway Acts, and also exercise powers under the Housing Acts. Urban District Councils may also take over main roads from the County Councils ; provide burial grounds, allotments, baths and washhouses, libraries, open spaces, museums, isolation hospitals, &c. ; exercise powers under Provisional Orders or Private Acts for gasworks, tramways, electric light and power works, &c. Any urban district with 20,000 inhabitants may also be a local education authority. The Rural District Councils may also provide allotments, cemeteries, &c. ; make arrangements for an adequate water supply ; and exercise any 'Urban powers* conferred on them by the Local Government Board.

In every civil parish in a 'rural district' there is a Parish Meeting, at which every parochial elector may attend and vote. In such parishes of over 300 inhabitants there is in addition a Parish Council. Women are eligible for election. Parishes of less than 300 inhabitants may have Parish Councils if authorised by the County Council. To these Parish Councils have been transferred all the civil powers of the old Vestries, including the election of overseers, and in addition very considerable powers oyer charities, allotments, and other public matters. Where there is no Parish Council some of these powers, including the appointment of the overseers, are exercised by the Parish Meeting. Urban District Councils can, by petitioning the Local Government Board — which is the supreme Local Government authority — obtain part or all of the powers of a Parish Council. Only Parish Meetings may have power to ado])t the Public Libraries Acts, the Baths and Washhouses Acts, the Lighting and Watching Acts, the Burials Acts, and the Public Improvements Acts

The main central authority in London, the metropolis, is the County Council, created by the Local Government Act of 1888. It has considerable powers in regard to public health, housing, bridges and ferries, asylums,