VARIOUS ACTIVITIES 315 



When his resignation of the Chairmanship of 

 the London County Council was brought before 

 its members the regret expressed was universal, 

 so much so that his diary of October 20 has the 

 entry : " My colleagues on the London County 

 Council presented me a memorial signed by every 

 single one of them now in England, asking me to 

 continue in the Chair until the end of our term of 

 office. Under these circumstances I felt that I 

 could not but consent." 



Whether these feelings underwent any modi- 

 fication three days later, when, as he further 

 notes, he " was in the Chair at the Licensing 

 Meeting of the L.C.C. from 10 to 6.30, except 

 half an hour for luncheon," we are not informed. 

 It would not be much like Sir John to complain 

 of hard work, but still such a tax as this on a 

 man of his immense and immensely varied energies 

 must have been felt heavily. It is really quite 

 impossible, within the limits of tolerable space, 

 even to notice more than a small fraction of 

 the public work to which he gave himself so 

 generously. 



Sir John has stated that one of his greatest 

 difficulties, in the whole course of his office as 

 Chairman, arose in December 1891 when it was 

 proposed by the General Purposes Committee 

 to present an Address to the Prince and Princess 

 of Wales on the approaching marriage of the 

 Duke of Clarence. It appeared that some of the 

 more extreme members intended to seize the 

 occasion to make a personal criticism on the 

 Prince, and it was felt that this would be a grave 

 scandal. On the other hand, the notice had been 



