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It will thus be seen that more than three-fourths
(76.5) of the rates levied in the parish were for the
purposes of the School Board, the County Council, the
Police, the Asylums Board, and the Guardians of the Poor,
over whose expenditure the Vestry have no manner of
control whatsoever; and it is to be remarked that the
Vestry's control over the Baths and Library expenses is
only partial, in the fact that the Commissioners have
sources independent of the rates. The Vestry are entitled
to claim, therefore, that the interests of the ratepayers are
studied by them in every way in so far as the Vestry have
jurisdiction. The School Board required 1s. 0½d. in the
£. for the single purpose of elementary education, and for
exactly the same sum the Vestry were able to maintain,
light and cleanse the footways and roadways, remove the
dust and refuse from the 8,800 inhabited houses in the
parish, to cleanse and maintain the local sewerage system, to
carry out the expensive work of rating and collecting for
the other spending bodies as well as for themselves, to
administer the important machinery of sanitary legislation,
and to carry out important street improvements.