MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS;

THEIR GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

FROM

1835 TO 1879,

STATISTICALLY ILLUSTRATED.

Job

the 66

Rischard

BY

SOMERS VINE, F.S.S.,

"

Compiler and Editor of the "County Companion and Annual Statistical Chronicle,"
Municipal Corporations' Companion and Year Book of
Statistics," &c., &c.

"I have no doubt that when this new constitution of the municipal boroughs comes into effect,
we shall find, not only that it will be productive of great improvements, not only that many defects
will be remedied and many abuses corrected, but that the working of the Bill itself will point out
how the whole system may be perfected."-LORD JOHN RUSSELL, in moving the adoption of the
Municipal Reform Bill of 1835.

LONDON:

WATERLOW & SONS LIMITED, LONDON WALL,
GREAT WINCHESTER STREET, AND FINSBURY, E.C.; AND

1

TO THE

RIGHT HON. RICHARD ASSHETON CROSS, M.P.,

HER MAJESTY'S

SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT,

THESE PAGES

ARE, BY PERMISSION, RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED

BY

HIS OBLIGED SERVANT,

THE COMPILER.

THE

HE increasing manifestation of public interest in all that appertains to the extension of Municipal government in this country has induced me to compile the following pages for publication. I sincerely trust, without claiming a pretentious character for the book, that its contents will be deemed useful and instructive; in providing appropriate materials for comparison with the details of the shortly-expected report of the Royal Commission on Unreformed Corporations it may, very possibly, prove to be of some value.

I have endeavoured, with what success I must leave others to determine, to so arrange the tabular matter that the contrast between the past and present condition of English municipal life may be clearly apparent. This object has not been previously attempted in a similar form.

Parts I. and II. are, mainly, a reprint from an established year book* (edited by myself), and are inserted here in deference to the opinion of competent authorities upon Municipal matters who have represented that the work will probably find its way into the hands of many persons to whom the remarks upon the nature, constitution, and history of the English Municipalities may be of practical advantage.

The abstracts of the Acts of Parliament have not been prepared with the view of their serving for professional guidance, but I think I may safely say that not a single statute of importance has escaped

*"The Municipal Corporations' Companion, Diary, Directory, and Year Book of Statistics." Waterlon and Sons Limited.