72 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF LEICESTER AND DISTRICT 
a wide industrial field beyond the confines of the county. In respect of 
the shoe industry, for example, there are several thread factories, while 
local manufacture supplies nails, tacks, knives, wires, hammers, etc., in 
far greater quantity than is required for use in Leicester. Thus too do 
we explain the prosperity of local tanneries and of firms specialising (on 
the chemical side of the business) in the manufacture of dyes, stains, 
inks, waxes, cements, paints, and so on. A further step in the same 
direction brings us to an understanding of Leicester’s unique position 
in boot and shoe distribution: hundreds of retail stores with branches 
scattered all over the country are owned and controlled by Leicester 
firms, who thus bridge the gap between manufacturer and customer. 
The position with respect to the hosiery industry is very similar. 
Wool-spinning, the manufacture of cotton threads and of rubber latex 
threads, dyeing and finishing, box-making, needle manufacture, and so on, 
tend to make Leicester more and more independent of her neighbours, 
more and more self-sufficing. 
Tyres for all types of vehicles, from perambulators to omnibuses and 
aeroplanes ; elastic web measured in miles, buttons in millions ; all sorts 
of celluloid articles; fountain pens, dolls, cameras; cigars; pies and 
cheeses, confectionery ; ready-made suits; show-cases, shop fronts, 
metal stands, electric signs ; umbrellas ; medical dressings and surgical 
appliances ; corsets, corselets, brassieres, girdles ; furniture, upholstery, 
cane goods ...and so might one prolong the list. Versatility, a 
refusal to hang on to just a couple of staples—this is, it would appear, 
the interpretation of the group-mind of Leicester. 
VIII. 
MUNICIPAL ACTIVITIES OF 
LEICESTER 
BY 
H. A. PRITCHARD, 
TOWN CLERK. 
The Corporation— Water supply—The Derwent Valley Water Board—Gas 
undertaking—Electricity supply —Tramways and Omnibuses—Sewage dis- 
posal—Open spaces and recreation areas—Roadway development— Judicial 
Courts—Diocese—Civic status restored—Arms of the City. 
IT is now just a century since the Royal Commission was appointed to 
examine the then existing municipal corporations’ activities, and it was 
in consequence of the famous Report of this Commission, generally known 
