228 THE MURDER OF AGRICULTURE 



ment ; and we ask : — why have they so cruelly wronged 

 the people? 



Another aspect of this question which requires looking 

 into and adjusting, is the menace to the body politic 

 involved in municipal insubordination. 

 Passive Here we have an example showing how easy it is for 

 municipal bodies to thwart the Imperial Government 

 and do a wrong to the people by the mere process of 

 passive resistance, and unless the Imperial Government 

 assumes a firm attitude in the matter, and exercises a 

 sharper control over local governments, matters will go 

 from bad to worse, and the unfortunate people will be as 

 completely humbugged, and their best interests fooled 

 away by these municipal councils, as they have been in 

 so many other directions. 



Government should never have entrusted the working 

 of an important Act like that of 1892 to the incompe- 

 tency of municipal councils ; it was an Imperial measure, 

 and its operation should have been the especial care of 

 the central authority. Nevertheless, County Councils 

 were entrusted with the working of the Act, and we have 

 seen how signally they have betrayed their trust. 



For fifteen years the people have been waiting and 

 hoping for some relief from their burdens, and they have 

 waited in vain because County Councils, forsooth, stood 

 in their way. 



The people of Great Britain have a bitter grievance 

 against local governments, and they ask, in the name of 

 JUSTICE, that the whole matter be looked into by 

 Government, and their grievance redressed. 



