THE MUNICIPAL LIFE OF NORWICH 109 
XII. 
THE MUNICIPAL LIFE OF NORWICH 
BY 
NOEL B. RUDD, M.A., Town CLERK. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
Ir is extremely difficult in a short article to do justice to the municipal 
life of Norwich. In fact, it is impossible if this term is to include the 
municipal life of past centuries. I intend, therefore, to deal only with 
some of the present civic activities. Mention, however, should be made 
of the fact that the city received its first Charter so long ago as 1158, and 
that the first Mayor, William Appleyard, was elected in 1404. Originally 
there were two Sheriffs, as in the City of London, but the number was 
reduced to one on the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835. 
In 1910 the last Mayor, Alderman Dr. Blyth, became the first Lord Mayor 
under grant of letters patent from His Majesty King Edward VII. 
The City Council, which carries on the work of local government in 
Norwich, comprises sixteen Aldermen and forty-eight Councillors, in 
addition to the Lord Mayor, if not otherwise a member of the Council. 
One-third of the Councillors are elected annually in the sixteen wards, 
while half the Aldermen are elected every three years. ‘The detailed work 
of administration is undertaken by twenty committees (excluding Special 
Committees), and the number of meetings of committees and sub-com- 
mittees in a year approximates to 800. In fact, the average citizen can 
have little idea of the volume of work involved in dealing with the 
problems of local government in Norwich to-day, nor the amount of time 
willingly devoted by their representatives to such work. I am afraid 
local government in this country suffers somewhat from a lack of the 
right kind of publicity, with a consequent failure of interest on the part 
of the general public. We hear a good deal of the deficiencies of local 
governing bodies, but not enough of the good work that is done. 
Much of the critical attitude towards local government is in fact due to 
lack of understanding on the part of the public. At the same time I 
think that interest in the activities of a municipality is growing rather 
than decreasing owing to the wide range of such activities at the present 
day, and there is a more intelligent appreciation of the difficult problems 
that local government has to face. 
HOUSING. 
In considering the matters with which the Norwich City Council is 
particularly concerned at the present time, the housing of the citizens is 
naturally a question which is very much to the forefront. Since the War 
