GREAT BRITAIN 



2689 



GREAT' BRITAIN 



sists of practically those same peers who have 

 the right to hear appealed cases in the House 

 of Lords. Before this Judicial Committee are 

 brought cases appealed from the colonies. See 

 PRIVY COUNCIL. 



/ In addition to these, there are the High 

 Court of Justice and Court of Appeal; the 

 petty sessions and quarter sessions, which are 

 criminal courts, and the assize courts (see 

 COURTS, subhead Courts in Great Britain). 



Local Government. It is difficult for anyone 

 not thoroughly conversant with the local gov- 

 ernment system of Great Britain to under- 

 stand it, so complicated and involved is it. 

 Only since the passage of local government 

 acts in 1888 and 1894 has it had any right to 

 the name of system, so inconsistent has it 

 always been. The units of government now 

 are counties, boroughs, urban districts, rural 

 districts, parishes and school districts. In each 

 county there is a lord lieutenant the repre- 

 sentative of the Crown together with a 

 sheriff, justice of the peace, clerk of the peace 

 and coroner; and each county has, as well, a 

 council elected by popular vote, which has 

 charge of finances, charities, local education, 

 bridges and roads and the police system. 



Counties are subdivided into urban districts 

 and rural districts, each with its own council, 

 which has charge of the poor laws and health 

 laws, and other minor matters; and below the 

 district is the parish, governed by an assembly 

 consisting of every voter and all the married 

 women. Incorporated towns are known as 

 boroughs, and each one has a mayor, aldermen 

 and councilors, who together form the council. 

 London has special treatment. The county of 

 London, which includes the city, is divided 

 into twenty-nine boroughs, each of which has 

 the same officers as any other borough. At the 

 head of the whole complex system is a local 

 government board, whose president is some- 

 times, though not always, a member of the 

 Cabinet. The tendency at present is to in- 

 crease the jurisdiction of this board. 



Administration of Colonies. As noted above, 

 the governmental systems applied to the 

 administration of the numerous British colo- 

 nies are of necessity various. A very general 

 idea of such variation is given under the 

 subhead British Empire, above, but a strict 

 division calls for the following classes: 



(1) Self-governing dominions, or those whicli 

 have their own legislature and courts, but a gov- 

 ernor appointed by . the Crown. See CANADA ; 

 AUSTRALIA ; NEW ZEALAND. 



(2) Semi-independent colonies, which have a 

 legislature partly elected and partly appointed, 

 and a governor appointed by the Crown. See 

 BRITISH GUIANA; CYPRUS; MALTA; JAMAICA. 



(3) Colonies and protectorates which have a 

 legislative council appointed by the Crown. Such 

 is that great empire within an empire, India, 

 with its British territory and native states. See 

 INDIA ; CEYLON ; BRITISH HONDURAS ; THE STRAITS 

 SETTLEMENTS ; GOLD COAST ; BRITISH HONDURAS. 



(4) Colonies and protectorates not possessing 

 a legislative council, but governed by a royal 

 commissioner. See BASUTOLAND ; GIBRALTAR ; 

 UGANDA ; SAINT HELENA. 



There are certain territorial possessions 

 which do not, strictly speaking, fall under any 

 of these heads, but these include most of the 

 important ones. 



For the administration of Scotland and Ire- 

 land, see the articles on those countries, sub- 

 head Government. Wales needs no separate 

 treatment, for it has been governed since the 

 sixteenth century as a part of England. Any 

 right or privilege which an Englishman has, a 

 Welshman possesses in equal degree. 



Defense. The problem of defense presented 

 to Great Britain has been in one way peculiar. 

 Itself an island, but an island with scattered 

 possessions enough to make up the largest 

 empire in the world, it has needed especially 

 a strong navy, and toward the building of that 

 attention has been directed with such good 

 results that England has had since the decline 

 of Spain centuries ago no rival on the sea. Its 

 policy has been to maintain a navy which 

 should at least equal in strength the combined 

 navies of any two other countries in the 

 world, and toward that end ships were multi- 

 plied rapidly during the latter part of the 

 nineteenth and the first part of the twentieth 

 centuries. The great merchant marine has been 

 an added resource, for a certain number of 

 seamen have been drilled to render service in 

 the event of war. For statistics on- Great 

 Britain's navy see the article NAVY, subhead 

 Great Britain; for the manner in which it has 

 recently acquitted itself in actual sen-ice, see 

 WAR OF THE NATIONS. 



But if the navy of Great Britain haa been 

 the strongest in the world, the same cannot be 

 said of its army. While on the Continent 

 compulsory military service has been the rule, 

 in Great Britain the principle of voluntary 

 service has been rigidly adhered to, and as a 

 result the British army has been the weakest 

 among all the armies of the great European 

 nations. The forces have been divided, since 

 1907, into two classes the regular army with 



