The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-04-07 00:00:00

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Mr. Walter Long, M.P., Secretary to the Local
Government Board, speaking at the Wilts Quarter
Sessions on Tuesday, when a resolution was proposed
and subsequently passed for the appointment of a
committee to consider the Local Government Bill,
observed that it was not for him to say what atti-
tude her Majesty's Government would adopt towards
any recommendations that might come from courts
of quarter sessions, but, speaking as a member of
the court and not as a member of the Government, it
did seem to him that considerable advantage might
accrue from the appointment of such a committee,
and the court were aware there was some portion
of the future county government which it
was proposed to divide between the court of quarter
sessions and:the newly-constituted county authority.
The iiiestion whether that division was rightly
devised, and whether the machinery for the carrying
out of the future work between those two authorities
would be sufficient was one upon which the quarter
sessions were fully qualified to give an excellent
opinion, and such opinion would be received with the
greatest respect by the Government. At the same
time the Government had made up its mind to a
certain extent upon this measure, and the bill had
undoubtedly received very considerable support from
gentlemen who were anxious to preserve the ancient
Constitution of this country, and would not give, by
voice or vote, one atom of assistance towards its
demol.tion. Ho ventured to appeal to that court to
approach this question in a manner worthy of their
ancient dignity and of the way in which they had
hitherto done their work, not from the point of view of
their own position, which they might individually or
collectively choose, but from the point of view of
what was best for the Government of this country,
and if they were satisfied that the measure was wise
let them support it, not as members of quarter
sessions, but as Englishmen anxious for wise, pru-
dent, and well considered proposals. (Applause.)
Lord Edmund Eitzmaurice also spoke expressing the
belief that the bill was based upon large and broad
principles. The instrument of Local Government
would no doubt extend its arms in future years, and
th:‘ county councils established under it were certain
to attract fresh powers and gain strength as it went
on.

At the East Sussex Sessions held at Lewes on
Tuesday the new Local Government Bill was dis-
cussed. Lord Monk-Bretton said it was a very good
bill, and he moved the appointment of a committee to
consider it and make any suggestions to the Govern-
ment which were thought desirable. This was carried
unanimously. The court also discussed the Quarter
Sessions Rill on the report of the Boundary Com-
missioners, and a memorial was read from the parish
of Hove asking that Sussex might be treated as one
county for the purposes of the Local Government Bill,
but no order was made thereon.
In charging the grand jury at the Berks Quarter
Sessions at Reading on Tuesday, Mr. W. G. Mount,
M.P., the chairman, referred to the Local Government
Bill, pointing out that it proposed to take from the
Justices of the Peace for the county all the powers of
administration now vested in them, and place them
in the hands of a council which would be elected on a
franchise similar to that of the Municipal Corpora-
tions Act. Without giving an opinion on the bill, he
could only hope that those to whom this franchise
was extended would use it to the public advantage,
setting aside entirely all sectional or party purposes.
At the Gloucestershire Quarter Sessions on Tuesday
the Local Government Bill was discussed at much
length, and several of its provisions were condemned
as revolutionary. A large committee was appointed
to report on the bill at the adjourned sess!ons, and it
was recommended that public meetings should be
held to discuss the bill.
Lord Egerton presided on Tuesday at Cheshire
Quarter Sessions, and referring to the Local Govern-
ment Bill, said it was a large and comprehensive
measure. He regretted that abody such as quarter
sessions, which had existed for more than 500 years,
and had administered the finances of the county with
great care and economy, and against whom no com-
plaint had been made, even by the Minister who
introduced the bill, should not be represented in the
new body to be formed. He trusted, however, that
those who had carried on the affairs would be elected,
so that The traditions of economy and prudence would
be carried . on. The Duke of Westminster said the
revolutionary bill had not been brought forward for
any complaint as to administration of county affairs.
It had been universally admitted that county business
had been conducted with the greatest regard for pro-
ficiency and ecomomy, and he hoped the new body
would carry it on in the same manner.
Presiding at the Leicestershire Quarter Sessions on
Tuesday Sir Henry Halford said that the Local
Government Bill was a very bad measure for a Con-
servative Government, and they could only hope that
it would be put into such a shape as would make it
workable. In his opinion sufficient power was not
reserved to owners of land, on whom the principal
expenses fell. It was agreed to join the borough in
appealing for the separation of Leicester from the
county._ _ _

The Devon Quarter Sessions on Tuesday appointed
a committee to consider the Local Government Bill.
• At the Staffordshire Quarter Sessions on Tuesday,
upon the motion of Ford Harrowby, the Highways and
Finance Committees were appointed a special com-
mittee to consider the provisions of the Local Govern-
ment Bill, with a view to recommending to tho
Government such alterations as might be deemed
judicious.

At the Warwickshire Quarter Sessions on Tuesday
morning, Mr. J. S. Dugdale, Q.C., M.P., proposed that
"the new Local Government Bill be referred to a
committee to consider and suggest such alterations as
may be deemed expedient." He said that he did not
think it possible that the new local authority could
conduct county affairs with greater integrity, economy,
and efficiency than those affairs were now conducted.
He only hoped that they would not be led into the
temptation of launching into extravagant schemes
and incurring a great amount of debt, and he trusted
that there would be no backwardness on the part of
justices who had taken part in county business to
take their burden in the county councils which would
be elected. It war! quite obvious that the
councils must meet at the same centres as the jus-
tices had met, and there were only a limited num-
ber of able persons who could afford the time to go to
any central place, and he trusted the representation
of the county would not be allowed to lapse into
hands less efficient than those by which the business
_

had up to the present time been conducted. Lord
Leigh seconded the proposition. The Rev. H. Mills
moved, as an amendment, "That the court, while
ready to welcome such an infusion of other ratepayers
into this assembly as may be calculated to assist
them in the conduct of county business, protests
against the entire surrender demanded of them by the
terms of the Local Government Bill of the trusts they
are admitted to have on the whole faithfully dis-
charged, and to the transfer of those trusts, on a
vastly extended scale, to a new class of men to be
'elected under ',conditions which afford no guarantee
for their possession of any sufficient stake in the
county to induce them to economise its funds, and
who, as a perpetually fluctuating body, will be naturally
prone to a spasmodic rather than to a continuously
steady policy in their endeavours to promote the
public good." Lord Norton thought the principal
fault of the bill was that it did not go far enough.
He would like to see the School 'Board, the Poor-law
Board, and all other existing authorities merged in
the county councils, which would then become more
popular assemblies, attracting as candidates all the
best men in the counties. Mr. Ramsden considered
the bill a good example of Radical legislation in Tory
hands. Several other members having spoken, the
chairman's resolution was put to the meeting and
adopted.
The bill was also alluded to at the meeting of the
Surrey magistrates, the chairman (Mr. Penrhyn) ex-
pressing a belief that the magistracy of England, cer-
tainly of Surrey, would do all in their power to
smooth the way for the new authorities.
At a special meeting of the Parliamentary Com-
mittee of the Cardiff Corporation, held on quesda.:67,
the town clerk presented a report in which he strongly
condemned the Local Government Bill. The tendency
of modern times, he said, had been to decentralise,
but the bill would bring into existence a great number
of local centres controlled by an ever varying repre-
sentative body, subject to locai influence and
jealousies. A petition in favour of Cardiff being made
a county was adapted, and a deputation was appointed
to attend the meeting of the Municipal Corporations
in London on the subject of the bill.
At a largely-attended -Meeting of representative
licensed victuallers from the principal towns in
Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire, and Wor-
cestershire, held on Easter Tuesday at Wolverhampton,
a resolution was passed expressing strong disap-
proval of the provisions in Mr. Ritchie's bill for
clositi public-houses on Sundays, Christmas Day, and
Good Friday, unless accompanied by similar regula-
tions for dealing with the consumption of intoxicating
drinks in clubs and railway refreshment-rooms.
Resolutions were also passed to the effect that
licensed victuallers should be deemed eligible for
election on the proposed county councils; and that
the Parliamentary Committee of the Licensed Vic-
• tuallers' Association be instructed to respectfully
submit to the Government the desirability of recon-
sidering the clause in the bill for increasing the duty
on licenses.

•
"BUT I will not linger upon this point," as th
orator said when he sat down on the carpet tack.
AN advertiser offers for sale ,6 a mail pha-ton, the
property of a gentleman with a moveable head as good
as new."

WHAT is the difference between a young lady and
her night-cap? One is born to wed, and the other is
worn to bed.

MISS HAZELETES, to absent-minded but enamoured
Mr. Mallow: "Won't you join us and take a hand 2"
Mr. Mallow: " Ah—er—thanks awfully! I will accept
yours."
TIIE difference between the children of Israel and
the chappies at the ballet is that the children of Israel
worshipped a golden calf. With the chappies its
sawdust.
JOT !-It was very late, and Brown was steering
Robinson homeward. "What will you say to your
wife ?" Brown asked, "Not a—(hic)—word," said
Robinson. "Why not P" "I shan't have a—(hio)--T
chance.".

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