OUR LOCAL AUTHORITIES. 167 
Union, appoint the Superintendent Registrar and Registrars, and 
provide a Register Office, where the registers are kept. The 
Register Office for Lewisham is at the Union Workhouse, and the 
Superintendent Registrar is the Clerk to the Guardians. No fees 
are payable to Registrars for recording births or deaths unless they 
are required to visit the residence for the purpose. The register of 
marriages for the district is also kept at the offices in the 
Workhouse. 
LuNATICS AND ASYLUMS. 
To get a house licensed as a private asylum, one would not 
have to go to any local authority previously mentioned. By the 
Lunacy Act of 1845, eleven Commissioners of Lunacy are appointed 
by the Lord Chancellor, of whom three are medical men and three 
barristers, who are paid for their work. They have the power of 
granting licences for private asylums and houses, and of register- 
ing hospitals not under public control. The County Asylums are 
governed by the London County Council, and Lewisham patients 
may be sent to either of the following: Barming Heath, Cane 
Hill, Banstead, Hanwell and Bexley Heath. The Imbecile Asylums 
are at Caterham and Darenth. 
In giving this bare outline of the work done by the Local 
Governing Bodies, one is reminded that changes are again in 
contemplation, and the organisation of the government of this huge 
aggregation of towns, the metropolis of the Empire, is passing 
through a critical period of evolution. The desire for efficiency 
with the necessity for huge business undertakings which exists, 
induces many proposals from various quarters which would give 
more power to officialism. On the other hand the purely local 
bodies are strongly against any alteration which will transfer 
powers from them to the Central London Authority, or make them 
merely a part of an organisation controlled by the larger Authority, 
instead of being solely answerable to the electors. Suggestions 
are being made for abolishing the Guardians entirely, and for 
providing that their work shall be done by the London County 
Council and the Borough Councils, while it is proposed that the 
work of the Metropolitan Asylums Board shall be divided up, and 
that body done away with. Other proposals have been put forward 
for establishing a much larger body than the present London 
County Council, to take under its management, not merely the 
present metropolitan area, but also those districts around, which 
are sometimes spoken of as Greater London. 
Certainly the government of London needs simplifying and 
organizing, and those who undertake the work will have to consider 
how far voluntary workers can be relied upon for carrying out the 
multifarious duties required to be done. On the Continent the 
practice of paying for the services of the Mayor and some other 
members of the town authority gives the principal power to the 
