The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-22
THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL.

< A Dody That Can Do Things and Dc
 Them WeII-It is Going to Tackle tn,
 London Fog-New subways, New fE Avenue, New "Lungs" and Othel
 Now Things-Great Work in a Grea City.
 London Nov. IS. To the Editor of the Journal and Courier:
 All who are interested in progress
 and good government will be pleased with sketch of what is being done ir
 these directions by the London county
 council. If the spirit of enterprise
 which animates this governing body of
 "a city of six millions were to inject it. ( self into parliament or were to make Iitself felt in the commercial life of the Silation, Great Britain would be deliv- erred from the clog of old-fogyism in all
 most no time. Crying wrongs would
 meet. prompt redress. Merchants
 would no longer go to bed with the < nightmare of foreign competition upon V them and there might even be chance x that some day two hundred thousand British troops, with limitless wealth to < back them, would be equal to the task < Of whipping out some twelve thousand ecattered and impoverished Boers. < This governing council of the biggest city in the world has just completed the twelfth year of its existence. The apology for a central authority which It supplanted was the Metropolitan Board of Works, which moved so slow AIy and did so little in comparison with what was needed, that it became noto- < Srious long before it's demise, not for the works 1t did, but for the works it left --tsrdone. Modestly, in his annual ad- dress, the chairman, MT. A. M. Tor rance, drew a contrast between the London of to-day and that of twelve years ago, by saying: We inherited gan Augean stable There is no Her ciiles now. But there has been deter 1iiination and resolution, and London is brighter and better than it was" The London county council consists of one s11tindred and eighteen members, who are elected triennially. With the eX sception of that small but important sarea known as the city, the members Hof this body represent every section of this great metropolis, and in their per- asonnel embrace every class of citizen chip, from the titled landowner, the BBcientist and the great merchant, to the lfradesman, the Socialist and the retired dock laborer. Very questionably is it If there Is another city on either conti- nent that has in it's administrative body such mixture of the classes and nj noses 1t presses into service men of the highest birth and place, and, at the sarne time, is glad also to welcome those whose merits have raised them from the ranks. In this feature the l.. C. EC.. which is the short name for it, Is strIkingly unique.
 <! sIt is impossible to please everybody. Against the old board of works the complaint most commonly made was that it didn't bring enough works to mass. whereas the common charge against this new body is that it works too much and is inclined in it's control of city life to be somewhat grandmoth- erly. Heightened ratepayers, when they look at the debt of two hundred and thirty-fiv millions, are inclined to vent their spleen by calling this London county council the London County Scoundrels But there has never been | any charge of corruption against this onterprising body. They work for nothing and find themselves. There is no allowance even for travelling eXpen- | ses. and many of these men give all their time to this service. Strange to | nav the monotony of working hard | without pay is never relieved by even a free lunch or a bottle of municipal | rhampagne. The councils headquar- ters are at Spring Gardens, and upon | he point just alluded to MT. Terrence, he chairman, said recently: "There is | nothing gratis at Spring Gardens, but l VOL may have a cup of tea or a glass if ginger ale if you pay for it." MT. Torrance however, is far from regret ing this "Such work" he says must always be done for the love Of t''-a sentiment which was loudly ap- ,lauded by full council chamber, as vas that which followed when he said, we are the largest municipal body, ,nd we must maintain our example or ,lean- handedness.
 Undoubtedly the county counclfs Jean -handedness stands out up to the resent unimpeached, and with not ven a suspicion over it, but it's free Iom from "grandmotherliness' is not o clear. One of it's numerous bye avs prohibits anyone from standing on unprotected window lodges to clean windows. If those engaged in this york are more than six feet from the fdewalk, they must have guards or opes about them; otherwise, says the j. c. O., they endanger the passer-by, nd may be summoned and fined. There have been already several con- ,ictions under this ordinance, but one magistrate in case of this kind v