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143
"To the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty; the humble
loyal, and dutiful Address of the Members of the
Vestry of the Parish of St. Giles, Camberwell, in
the County of Surrey.
Most Gracious Sovereign,
Your suppliants, by virtue of the existing Metropolis
Local Management Acts, elect two representatives as part of the
body known as the Metropolitan Board of "Works, consisting of
60 Members. All the other Members of the Metropolitan Board
of Works except three are similarly elected by the Metropolitan
Vestries and District Boards, pursuant to the statutes on that
behalf, such three Members being elected by the Common Council
of the City of London.
The Metropolitan Board, not being directly elected by the
people, owes no allegiance to any constituency, and cannot be
assailed, except to the extent to which each Yestry or District
Board can put pressure on the Members it elects.
Your suppliants, speaking for themselves, and to the best of
their belief, as to many other Metropolitan Yestries or District
Boards, are under a sense of responsibility in respect of the
Metropolitan Board and its administration. The scope of the
Metropolis Local Management Acts enables the people to elect
from themselves representatives, still clothed with the harness of
their daily callings, to fulfil the duties of local self-government;
and any failure by the Metropolitan Board or its officers to carry
out its duties with the strictest integrity, soils the reputation of
local self-government, and reflects with discredit, at least indirectly,
upon all the Vestries and District Boards of the Metropolis.
It is unfortuuately common knowledge to all people of the
Metropolis, and therefore unnecessary of proof, that an official of
the Metropolitan Board, charged with important duties connected