634 EEPOET — 1882. 



Couuty government has a very portentous sound, and the idea of it is plausible 

 and attractive ; but when it comes to be examined, -we find there is little meaning' 

 in it as at present exercised, much that is of doubtful expediency in the proposals 

 for its extension, and no slight fallacy in the idea that it ought to be, or indeed can 

 \)e, converted into a system of ' municipalities for counties.' 



As to the facts, the counties appear, by the Statistical Abstract, to levy for 

 county and police purposes about one and a half millions annually, of which total 

 sum it is probable that the larger moiety is required for the latter and secondary 

 object. It is, no doubt, an anomaly that this money should be levied and expended 

 by persons who, though deeply interested in public economy, are not the elected 

 representatives of the ratepayers. Meanwhile it may be noted that the sum of 

 nine or ten millions, i.e. four or five times that amount, which is required for 

 poor law, sanitary, and highway purposes, is exclusively raised and administered 

 by persons annually elected by and responsible to the ratepayers. 



If, again, we further analyse the county expenditure, we find that as regards 

 the police force, for which the larger amount is levied, the county authorities, like 

 the town councils in boroughs, are only partners with the central government in 

 respect of the pay and management, and are very much under the control of the 

 Home Oflice for both. 



Of the county rate proper, whicli may be taken in round numbers at about 

 750,000^., it is probable that about one-half is required for the repayment of loans 

 raised to meet capital expenditure which has been made obligatory by Parliament 

 under various statutes for the building and maintenance of prisons and lunatic asy- 

 lums. Of the remainder, some is expended in discharge of duties imposed by statute 

 in connection with coroners' inquests, and in the salaries of the coroners themselves. 

 Heavy expense is likewise incurred under the Cattle Diseases Prevention Acts, the 

 Sale of Food and Drugs Act, and many other statutes ; so that tlie margi}i of de- 

 bateable expenditure on salaries of county officers, and on the repair of buildings and 

 county bridges, amounts to a comparatively insignificant sum in comparison with 

 the enormous amounts which are directly dealt with by the agency of the Board 

 of Guardians, a body thoroughh' representative of ratepayers. 



Those who desire to set up the county as an administrative machine for all 

 purposes, and in relief of our overworked House of Commons, forget how little 

 meaning the term and name of a county now has, except for political representation 

 and for the a<hninistration of justice. "What measure, indeed, for county govern- 

 ment reform could be devised which could provide machinery uniformly applicable 

 over such widely different areas, in point of size and circumstances, as Devonshire 

 and Ptutland ; or for Lancashire and the West Riding, spotted over with number- 

 less municipalities and local board districts, in common with Cambridgeshire or 

 West Sussex, with their sparse population of small village communities? Further, 

 the notion that county parliaments are, as county municipalities, to carry on public 

 business, to vivify local life, and to relieve the overloaded shoulders of the House of 

 Commons, is based on a triple fallacy. First, it is assumed that control exercised 

 by such bodies over the subordinate areas of unions or highway districts and 

 parishes would be welcomed in exchange for thecontrolof the central government; 

 whereas they would probably be more unpopular, and certainly less effective. 

 Secondly, it is forgotten that the requisite machinery for such an organisation and 

 control could not be brought to bear without great cost and a multiplication of 

 permanent county officers in continuous session at head-quarters. And thirdlj^, 

 it is impossible to believe that the public opinion of the countiy would ever 

 deliberately suffer the parliamentary function to be discharged by sixty or seventy 

 local centres, taking different, and probably conflicting views of dutj' and policy. 

 It would indeed be Home Rule for counties, with all the evil omen attaching to 

 that phrase. Every consideration of prudent statesmanship points to the con- 

 clusion that county government, if reformed and endowed with an infusion of 

 the representative element, must be confined to the limited functions now exer- 

 cised by the Courts of Quarter Sessions, together with such new duties as it 

 may be found possible to devise without interference with the real and, on the 

 whole, satisfactory work of the guardians, waywardens, and sanitary authorities, 



