St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1884-06-28
The Government Of London.

We are apt to think of London as
single, vast city, covering a wide area
and teeming with q population of four
millions of souls. What we do not fully
realize is that London, while geograph-
ically great and compact mass, is,
politically speaking, simply combina-
ton of large number Of separate
towns, each partially independent, in
government, of the others.
What is called ''the city of London
is but a very small part of the metropo-
lis. The ''city'' comprises only about 3
square mile, and has a population at
night of only about fifty thousand. It
is this small section, consisting mainly
of the business and financial quarter of
London, which is ruled over by the Lord
Mayor and Corporation.
Otherwise London is divided up into
large number of parishes, which are
governed by ''yestries,'' and into bor-
oughs, like Westminster and Southwark,
which have still another kind of govern
ment,
There are one or two Boards in
deed, which exercise their functions
throughout the whole area of the me-
tropois. These are the Board OF Works,
which establish the roads, make regula-
tons for health and look after the sew
erage, water and so on; the School
Board, which presides over the Nation
al schools, and the Board of Police Com
miSsioners, who manage the policeforce
of the entire city.
Justice is melted out in che larger part
of London bv police magistrates, who
are appointed and saIaried by the State.
But III the city proper the Lord
Mayor and Aldermen are the magis-
trates, serving like the English coun-
try magistrates without pay.
The many evils attendant upon the
divided government of London have
long been recognized; and now bill
has been introduced into Parliament
changing the various local and indie
pendent systems. and combining Lon
don under one central system.
This measure proposes, indeed, to
make London a sort of municipal feder-
alton, which we may compare with the
United States. The Lord Mayor,
chosen, not as now, by small body in
single locality, but by the representa-
tiYes of the whole metropolis, will find
his authority extended throughout its
limits. The Board of Aldermen is to
be abolished, and Common Council
chosen by and for all London.
At the same time each parish and
borough is still to have its local body,
acting under the general one, and man
aging its local affairs, just as do our
States under the general Government at
Washington,
The present Corporation of the
s. city is thus made the basis and nu-
cIeus of the new single government
which is to hold sway, not over fifty
thousand, but over four millions of
people.
In making this great change, the
Cabinet propose that the people to be
governed shall have a much larger
share in electing their civic rulers than
they have hitherto had, either in the
s'citv'' or in the parishes. The govern
ment of the ''city'' has always been
chosen by the ''liyery-men' and the va
rious trade guilds. Now, the mass of
those who are interested in the conduct
of municipal affairs will have voice at
the polls as to who shall assume it.
All the important functions, in short,
of municipal rule except poor relief, ed
ucation, and police, are to be given to
the new corporation. The council thus
created is to consist of two hundred and
forty members, this entire body being
elected every three years. OF these,
the s.city' proper viii have thirty mem
bers. The Lord Mayor will be elected
by this council, and will be paid such
salary as it chooses to vote him.
Each of the old vestry districts will
have its district council" all the pow
ers of which will be derived from the
general Common Council, and the
members of which will be chosen by
the voters of the locality itself.
Such are the main features OF the
scheme for the union of London into
one great central government - YOUTHS
Companion.