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15
London Government Bill.
Legislation on the subject of local government in the
County of London has been in contemplation for a
considerable number of years, but although a Royal Commission
examined the question of the amalgamation of the
City and County of London, the only Government Bill
introduced on the subject since Sir "William Harcourt's
Bill of 1884, was introduced into the House of Commons
by the First Lord of the Treasury on the 23rd February,
1899. The measure was entitled, "A Bill to make better
provision for Local Government in London." It proposed
to create municipalities on the basis of the Metropolis
Management Acts, to consist of a number of areas, each
with a Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors, and to transfer
to these municipalities all the powers and duties at present
discharged by the Vestries and District Boards of Works
and the powers of executing adoptive Acts. In the Bill,
as introduced, a certain number of areas were included in
the first Schedule as being those which in the opinion of
the Government were fitted to be formed without further
enquiry into Municipal Boroughs.
The question was an extremely important one to the
District, because the Government had in their declarations
on the first and second readings of the Bill in the House of
Commons intimated that they had determined to form an
area to be known as Greater Westminster, which was to
include the whole of the Districts constituting the Parliamentary
Boroughs of the Strand, Westminster and St.
George, Hanover Square, and as the Bill also provided that
St. Marylebone and St. Pancras were to be included in the
first Schedule and that the City of London was not to be