LONDON 325

which had been created in 1855 to handle those matters for which
central control was essential. The 1888 County Councils Act
drew the boundaries of the County of London, and provided it
with a directly elected Council. Both the boundaries and the
powers of this authority have survived, with minor alterations,
to the present day. In 1898, there were created within the L.C.C.
area the twenty-eight Metropolitan Boroughs—e.g., Poplar,
Hampstead, Westminster—having subordinate powers,

For Parliamentary elections, there are now, within the County,
sixty single-member constituencies, and the two-member
constituency of the City; each of the sixty divisions returns two
London County Councillors, and the City returns four. The
whole Council is elected in March, once every three years starting
from 1889, and the usual local Government qualifications are
required for voters and candidates. The hundred ajid twenty-four
Councillors choose, in addition to themselves, twenty Aldermen,
who hold office for six years, half of them retiring at the end of a
three year period. The Chairman of the Council may be chosen—
as was Lord Snell in 1934—from outside. At King George V's
Jubilee in 1935, the Council prepared an exhibition illustrating
its activities; the King marked the occasion by ordering that
henceforward the Chairman should, like the Lord Mayor, bear
the title Right Honourable.

The Council's committees resemble those of the great County
Boroughs in the provinces; its powers are in some respects greater
than theirs, because of its size, and in other respects jess, because
in the capital, the Central Government judges it best to perform
some functions, e.g., police, itself. The subject can be studied by
taking in turn the work of the various committees.

FINANCE.

The L.C.C. administers 117 square miles in which dwell
four million people. The total rateable value is £60,000,000
which with a rate of about 7/6d. yields £22,000,000 a year. The
Council is not a rating authority, but obtains the money by