160 ENGLISH RURAL LIFE 



at the present day, and appears to be rapidly spreading 

 through England. 



The control that the country gentry had exercised 



over Parliament, at which a blow had been struck 



by the Reform Act of 1832, was further 



Central and weakened at the election of 1885, when in 

 local govern- .'-! i r * - i 



men t. many counties the newly enfranchised 



labourers refused to vote for the landed 

 proprietors of the old school or their representatives ; 

 they returned to Parliament men of a different type 

 belonging to the Liberal and Radical groups, whom they 

 deemed to be more sympathetic to the views of their 

 class. Though there has been some reaction to this 

 revolt, the political influence of the country gentry has 

 been permanently weakened. A similar change took 

 place in local government when Parliament intervened 

 to transfer the management of country affairs from the 

 justices of the peace to elected county councils, district 

 councils, parish councils and parish meetings. 1 



The employment of these bodies by Parliament in the 

 reconstruction of conditions of life in rural England has 

 created what is perhaps the most interesting feature of 

 their work. The management of the main roads, 2 the 

 organization of education,3 and the creation of small 

 holdingss has been entrusted to the county councils; the 

 care of the secondary roads 2 and the supervision and 

 even building of labourers' cottages, a great need in 

 many parts of England, to the district councils ; 4 and 

 the provision of allotments to the parish councils and 

 meetings.3 Under this control an admirable system of 

 roads has at last been created throughout England, and 



1 See Appendix, p. 167, - Ibid. p. 174. 



3 Ibid. p. 175. 4 Ibid. p. 174, 



