the St. James's Vestry, to join in a Memorial to | The paper went on to remark that, the Government, urging the necessity for in- while pauperism and crime in the quiry into the condition and management of the property and charities of the several Metro-Metropolis were rapidly on the decline, there was politan parishes and City Guilds." no corresponding diminution in the burden of the rates; and

The resolution above referred to ran that the inquiries made by independent

thus:

"That the several parishes in the Metropolis, the Corporation of the City of London, the Livery Companies of London, and other public bodies, now possess large funds available for educational purposes, for the relief of the poor, and for other public objects; and that, in view of the constantly-increasing burdens imposed on the ratepayers of the Metropolis by the Metropolitan Board of Works, the vestries, and the London School Board, in the carrying out of their varied and increasing powers, it is desirable for a full inquiry to be made, under the authority of a Royal Commission, into the character and circumstances of any such funds, in order to ascertain how far they may be rightfully directed to the relief of such ratepayers, and to all or any of the objects served by the several governing bodies and rating authorities of the Metropolis."

residents of Paddington had revealed wasteful expenditure under various heads. It then added

-Finance and Assessment Committees:-18

tion is that which comes under the general rate The most entertaining and instructive poraccount, and relates to refreshments.' The following particulars belong to one of many bills of the same description:-September 25. luncheons, £3 38.; 17 dinners, £7 138.; ale and stout, 78.; sherry, £1 4s.; port, 18s.; hock, £4 108.; cigars, 128.; and dessert, 25s.' These were among the items of one dinner for the gentlemen who were spending the money of the ratepayers; and other refreshment bills were much of the same character. He asked whether those things were creditable to Now, the property of the City Guilds the local government of a great capital. had been bequeathed for particular pur- Mr. Frith, in his admirable work on poses; and although its value had, no Municipal London, said that the godoubt, greatly increased, it was doubt- vernment of the Metropolis was utterly ful whether that fact alone would without system, regularity, or order; justify an interference with the destina- that the ratings all differed, that there tion of that property. However that was no uniformity, and that in all things might be, the case of the vestries was there was confusion and complication. very different. There the money spent Certain facts were very significant. In was taken directly from the ratepayers; the last 19 years the vestries and disits amount was constantly increasing; trict boards had not expended 18d. and there could be no question of the a-head in sanitary measures. The City right of the public to know and inquire had eight inspectors of nuisances, and into the manner in which it was dis- St. Pancras had only one. The inspector bursed. He now came to the charges for Chelsea reported that one-third of which were made against the vestries. the houses infringed the sanitary reguHe would quote to the House some ex-lations, and yet nothing was done to retracts taken from a printed paper issued by the Paddington Ratepayers' Association. If the statements there contained were incorrect, he was not responsible for them. This document said

"There is a growing suspicion that the manner in which assessments are made, and rates expended, in some quarters calls for special investigation, and we believe that nothing short of such a step will give satisfaction to the public." It continued

"People will want to get at the particulars lying behind the gross amounts which are tabulated, and act, occasionally at least, as their own auditors; and if Parliamentary assistance be not afforded them for that purpose, it may be incumbent on them in their several parishes to appoint a local commission from their number

to scrutinize vouchers, so that what is going on behind the scenes may be proclaimed on the housetops."

medy the abuse. The cost of making roads in Mile End was £364 a-mile, while in Marylebone it was £1,200 a-mile. Again, the cost of watering streets was in Greenwich £50 a-mile; in Limehouse, £50; in Hackney, £15; in Mile End, £15; and in Whitechapel, £11. The cartage of dust and mud cost in St. Martin's, £70 a-mile; in Paddington, £67; in Greenwich, £65; in Limehouse, £23; and in Mile End, £19. On several previous occasions Bills relating to the government of the Metropolis had been introduced in that House; but they had not been passed. One measure was introduced by his noble Friend the Member for Haddingtonshire (Lord Elcho), who had done so much to bring this matter under the notice of the public; but he did not see how it was pos

abolished altogether. Clearly he ought not to be left in his present state of impotence. He (Lord Elcho) did not think the Committee proposed by his hon. Friend (Mr. Baillie Cochrane) would be very useful; but the hon. Gentleman had made a very good practical suggestion-namely, that the Government should appoint Auditors to look after the accounts of the vestries. He would suggest that the Motion should be withdrawn, and that the Government should consent to the appointment of Auditors. They heard of the bottles of hock, champagne, and other wines consumed by the vestrymen. That alone required an audit, and the practical solution would be for the Government to appoint an audit of the different district accounts. It might be that the stories one heard were not true; it might be that there was no jobbery; and, in that case, it would be better for the vestries that Auditors should be appointed. If it turned out, however, that there had been waste, they would have good ground for legislation.

While

the provisions of those Acts were adequate or not. It would be monstrous to enter into the question of the water supply in connection with the present Motion. The question raised by the present Motion was one of very great importance; but he should regard the extension of the City jurisdiction or the establishment of a new Centralized Body for control of the affairs of the Metropolis with some suspicion, and to establish such a body might prove to be a step in the wrong direction. He had taken some trouble to ascertain what had been the increased cost of the Metropolitan taxation, and he found it had not been so considerable as some persons supposed. He would, with the permission of the House, state what the increase of that taxation had been during the last 10 years. In 1869 the vestries spent £1,789,281, including payments to the Metropolitan Board of Works. In 1878, or 10 years later, the vestries spent £3,162,771; thus showing an increase in 10 years of about £1,400,000. But while the rateable value of the Metropolis in 1869 was MR. SCLATER-BOOTH said, the £16,258,000, in 1878 it was £23,470,000, subject raised by his hon. Friend was or an increase of £7,212,000. a very important one, and one in which the net increase of the vestry expenthey were all interested; but he hardly diture in those 10 years was £1,000,000, thought the House would be prepared the following were the principal items to appoint a Select Committee, such as of which that increase was composed: was asked for, neither did he think-Upon streets and highways the the suggestion for the appointment of increase Auditors would command general assent. It was admitted that the Metropolis Management Act had effected a change for the better. A great deal had been said about the shortcomings of the vestries; but what were the district boards but a combination of parish vestries? Under the Act to which he referred, no less than 46 parishes were combined in 12 district boards, and a substantial change for the better was, no doubt, the result. He was not prepared to defend the vestries from all the charges made against them. Their powers were, to a certain extent, limited. In some respects they exercised their power very well, and in other respects the shortcomings of the vestries were considerable. As to gas and water, those were matters of so serious a nature that they had not been left to the vestries, but had been taken in hand by Parliament. Measures had been passed providing for the water supply and lighting of the Metropolis. A great deal might be said as to whether

was more than £500,000, upon lighting it was £37,000, on payment to the Metropolitan Board of Works £131,000-the vestries now paid £500,000 out of their rates to the Metropolitan Board-and they now paid £500,000 to the School Board rates. The salaries to officers were £46,000 higher than in 1869; when they amounted to £71,000; while, in 1878, they amounted to £117,000. Loans and interest in 1869 amounted to £174,700, and in 1878 to £263,000, or a difference of £88,000. He did not think that the Government could do of their own accord what his hon. Friend asked, and he did not know that the House would support the Secretary of State if he made such a proposition.

SIR ANDREW LUSK asked the House to look at this matter in a fair and broad light. Charges had been made against the vestries; but it should be remembered that vestries were elected under an Act of Parliament, and by the same. class of persons as elected Members of

Parliament, and if they did not do their | sified, that he was not surprised that all work well, the members who composed Ministries were particularly chary in them might be put out, and others attempting to interfere with it. He had elected in their place. People, no doubt, felt it only fair to say a word in favour complained very much about vestries; of the vestries, which had a great deal but so they did about the Members of of hard work to do, and, upon the whole, that House. The thing to do was to they did it in an admirable manner. As change them, and put in better men. a rule, they had nothing to do with the He challenged hon. Gentlemen who expense incurred for luncheons and dinspoke about the health of the Metropolis ners and wines. The blame, if any, on to compare it with that of any other that score attached to the Guardians; city in the world. London was the but Boards of Guardians were not largest city in the world, and among peculiar to London, and why blame cities in point of health it stood per- vestries? There was no mystery or fectly unique. What was the use of secret about their proceedings, for their coming down upon these poor vestrymen meetings were more open than the House and talking about gas and water. The of Commons. He quite admitted that vestries had no more power over the gas the rates were increasing and becoming and water of the Metropolis than hon.Gen- more onerous, and they could not be tlemen themselves had. When his hon. too cautious in imposing new burdens. and gallant Friend (Sir James M‘GarelHogg) attempted to take up the water supply he was most violently opposed by the Water Companies, and it would be the same with the gas. It was all the Companies, and if you touched them they would say you were attacking private property. No doubt, the rates were heavy; the School Board rate, for example; but the vestries could not help that. Parliament made the law, and the vestries had to carry it out and to find the money. So it was with the main drainage, the fire brigade, the police rate which was now very heavy -and so on. It was most ungenerous, unhandsome, and undignified to say-tries. "Oh, these are sinall men, tradesmen." If they were small men and tradesmen, it was all the more to their credit that they gave a great deal of time to the public good. Hon. Gentlemen talked of the City of London, and spoke of it as a model. He knew something about the City of London, and, no doubt, it was very well managed; but it was very expensively managed. In the City of London there was more to pay than in the Metropolis generally. A good deal had been said about the state of the streets; but Oxford Street was as nicely kept and as clean a street as any in the world, and they had only to go to Marylebone to see streets as well watered, lighted, and cleaned as any in Birmingham, Glasgow, or any other city. It was easy to find fault with the government of the City of London; but it was of such enormous extent, and the interests involved were so vast and so diverSir Andrew Lusk

MR. C. BECKETT-DENISON said, that two years ago he gave Notice of a Motion for a Committee to inquire into vestry management, and especially into the paving, lighting, watering, and scavengering of the streets and houses of London. He had been unable to bring forward that Motion; but if he found encouragement from other Members of the House, he should be inclined to urge upon the House the desirability of appointing such a Committee. He did not think that a single word of blame or censure had been cast on the Metropolitan Board of Works, and very little, indeed, had been said against the vesIt was not at all necessary to speak offensively or in a hostile manner against the vestries. As the hon. Baronet who had just sat down said, those gentlemen took upon themselves a vast

amount of work for no remuneration, and they got a good deal of abuse, especially from people outside, who did not know how difficult their duties were. But he should despair of obtaining any improvement if they acted on the views of the hon. Baronet (Sir Andrew Lusk), whose maxim seemed to be, quieta non movere, and who appeared to think that the government of London, as it was, was the best possible government that could be, and that it could not be improved without additional expense and taxation. He (Mr. C. Beckett-Denison) was not of that opinion; but thought that in one or two respects there was a loud call for improvement and investigation. He referred especially to the watering and scavengering of the streets.

As compared with Paris or other Euro- | Wight (Mr. Baillie Cochrane) had intropean capitals, the watering of the streets duced the subject in a very broad way, of London was not what it ought to be. alluding to water supply, gas supply, A friend of his, who took a great inte- sanitary arrangements, and so forth; rest in the St. George's Vestry, had told but ended with a Motion which was him that the watering and scavengering limited to an inquiry into the question of the streets of London was practically of the vestries and their duties. The in the hands of a close monopoly. There great evil in regard to London was that were five or six men who tendered in the local government was very defective. turns to the various parishes. Osten- Great works were distributed into the sibly the competition was open; but the hands of a large number of different contractors had entered into a secret ar- bodies, and there was no unity. He was, rangement among themselves by which therefore, prepared to vote against the the contract was always relegated to the Motion, because it would take away same hands. On Sundays the streets their power to deal with the question in were not watered as on other days of the a more satisfactory way, especially when week; and when they considered that they remembered the Home Secretary's the masses of the population took their statement that the subject was so large holiday on that day and visited the parks that it would be the duty of the Governin immense numbers, they would at once ment to take it up and consider it in all see that on a hot Sunday afternoon, with its aspects. But the Motion would throw the wind blowing, the state of the streets the inquiry on the vestries, and would of London was a reproach to them. remove the responsibility from ParliaWhat was the remedy for this? He ment. He did not agree with the hon. feared there was none, for the contrac- Member for Finsbury (Sir Andrew tors would not allow their carts to go Lusk) in the satisfaction he had exout unless in charge of their own men, pressed with the existing state of things. and they would not send out their men; With regard to the water supply, for and as they would not do the work, no instance, in some places it was good; but one could do the work which they re- he (Mr. Lyon Playfair) lived in a disfused to do. The watering of the streets trict which was supplied with water into of London was simply discreditable, and which 750,000 people poured their exthe same thing might be said of the crements before he could drink it. They scavengering. It was notorious that had been told that there would be there was a regular system of black- another Session of the present Parliamailing in connection with scavenger- ment. It would be a capital thing if ing, and that no one could get his ash- the Government would deal with this pit cleansed without submitting to it. question next Session. He would, thereThe result of this was absolute discom- fore, suggest that as they were now fort, uncleanliness, and unhealthiness, getting into a state of things which so which they were powerless to remove. operated in the House as to produce the It was all very well for powerful people, passing of but one Act a Session, the who could make their voices heard, to question of improvement in Metropolitan say that things were as good as they could administration should be undertaken be; but it was the poor and the small next year by the Government, which householders who were really affected. might thus signalize the last year of Without bringing any charge of corrup- their reign by passing at least one comtion or abuse of authority against the prehensive measure for the promotion vestries, there was certainly ground for of the health of the people. Should inquiry whether it was not possible to the hon. Gentleman withdraw his Motion, bring about a better state of things. With the House would be left free to consider out any hostility either to the Board of a large scheme for Metropolitan local Works or to the vestries, he should, as government. he had stated, be inclined, if he found any encouragement, to renew his Motion for a Committee of Inquiry with respect to the two special points of watering and scavengering the streets.

MR. LYON PLAYFAIR observed, that the hon. Member for the Isle of VOL. CCXLVI. [THIRD SERIES.]

SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL said, that they all grumbled at the cost of Metropolitan rates; but it was but fair to give the devil his due, and look at the results which they got for the rates. The Metropolitan rates also, he might say, had not been much raised for the

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