I90I-2.] The Beginnin'g of Municipal Government in Ontario. 413 



intelligence, enterprise and strength of character generally. Later the 

 planters obtained negroes as servants, and the whites, gradually 

 emancipated from service, yet remained for the most part in a backward 

 condition as a permanent lower social order. Under these circumstances 

 the superior white minority asserted and secured the right to rule in 

 local as well as central affairs. 



The other colonies exhibited various modifications or combinations 

 of these two types, according to their social structure, or their contact 

 with New England or Virginia. 



The majority of the loyalists and other settlers in Upper Canada 

 came from New York colony, with smaller proportions from the 

 adjoining colonies of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New England. In 

 these regions the New England type of local government prevailed. 



The local unit of the New England system was the old English 

 parish or town, with officers who were at once civil and ecclesiastical, 

 and who combined in themselves legislative, executive and judicial 

 functions. 



The New England parish or town, in its town meeting, had power to 

 legislate on all matters of purely local interest, affecting the everyday 

 life and comfort of the people ; and its legislation, expressed in by-laws, 

 was executed by officers of its own. The town had certain duties with 

 reference to the parish church, the relief of the poor, and the oversight 

 of the public morals. These duties were performed by the wardens, 

 usually termed church wardens, though they were really civil officers. 

 The town clerk kept a record of the proceedings of the town meetings. 

 The constables looked after the peace and protection of the town, and 

 raised hue and cry in pursuit of offenders. 



There were also overseers of the highways who attended to the 

 maintenance of the roads and levied a labour tax for that purpose. Other 

 officers were the assessor and collector of the taxes, fence viewers and 

 pound keepers. There was also a body of select men, corresponding to 

 our present town or township councillors, having a general oversight of 

 town matters, with power to act in emergencies. All these officers were 

 elected annually at the general town meeting. 



The Court of Quarter Sessions, which was early established in the 

 colonies, was mainly a court of justice in New England. Nevertheless, 

 all regulations made by the select men of the town had to obtain the 

 sanction of the Court of Quarter Sessions before being regarded as legal, 

 The Quarter Sessions also had the duty of laying out all the highways 



