l86 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF NEWFOUNDLAND 



municipal institutions. Tlius St. John's has been burnt twice 

 during this period. After the first burning (1846) an Act 

 was passed for the rebuilding of St. John's, and this Act, Hke 

 a similar Act in English history (1666), paved the way for, 

 although it did not create municipal institutions. A fire 

 brigade and a water company were organized, and the latter 

 built sewers as well as waterworks, and administered the 

 coal-dues and water- and sewer-rates which the Governor-in- 

 Council levied. Nor was this state of things altered, except 

 in name, when in 1888 St. John's obtained a Town Council 

 without power to collect its revenue. The second great fire 

 occurred in 1892, and the second step was taken in 1902, 

 when the Town Council of St. John's became wholly elective, 

 with power to raise what it spent,^ and to provide for its local 

 indebtedness, which was held to include amongst other things 

 the debts incurred for paving and for tramcars, to which 

 reference has been made. The municipal movement has 

 communicated itself to Harbour Grace, Carbonear, Heart's 

 Content and Twillingate, which are, however, still in the 

 stage of evolution to which St. John's was promoted in con- 

 sequence of the first of these two fires.^ 

 road Local Government Acts of general application were passed 



hoards, jj^ jg^^ ^^^ 1898. Long before these Acts were passed 

 nominee road-boards were appointed in the electoral Districts 

 to distribute appropriations voted by the Legislature for local 

 roads. The new Divisional Local Boards of 1897-8 are 

 elective, but are only entitled to receive and not to demand 

 financial aid, so that they are little more than the old road 

 boards under another name. In 1855 coping-stones were 

 placed upon the Constitution, yet the humble offices on the 

 ground floor are still almost wanting. Being built from the 

 roof downwards, self-government has not yet reached so far. 



and Ecclesiastical institutions have shown more local vitality. 



Churches, 



and schools. 1 Statutes of Newfoundland, 2 Edw. VII, c. 6, s. 127. 



2 Statutes of Newfoundland, 2 Edw. VII, c. 8 : 8 Edw. VII, c. 8. 



