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tinued as a separate rate like the Metropolitan
Consolidated Rate, or whether it would be collected
as a County Rate, that is to say, as part of the
Poor Rate. The ultimate decision of the Council,
after taking eminent legal advice, was to issue its
precepts to the Guardians of the Poor as a County
Rate.
The above are the principal changes effected by
the Act so far as the local authorities of the
Metropolis are concerned, though many are made
in the transfer of the administrative duties of the
Justices to the Council, and in other important
matters, but as they do not affect the Vestries and
District Boards, they do not call for comment here.
The Local Government Board having settled the
boundaries of the Electoral Divisions on the lines
of the Parliamentary Divisions, the first election
for Members of the County Council took place on
the 17th January, 1889. Notwithstanding the
dissatisfaction thought to exist with the method
of election of the old Metropolitan Board of Works,
and the agitation which had been raised in favor of
the principle of direct election, only about half the
electors recorded their votes, the numbers polled
being as follows:—
ELECTED.
Earl Compton 2,333
Mr. Frederick Alfred Ford 1,461
NOT ELECTED.
Mr. Henry Edward Davis 1,074
„ William Robson 841
„ William Davies 561
„ Joseph John Goode 474
„ John Ross 74
Local Government—District Councils.—In connection
with the extension of the London Government
Schemes to the various districts, the Vestry