Excerpt from The Story of the London County Council: A Series of Articles by the Times Special Correspondent

Of the great bulk of the nominees we must frankly say the) are most of them but slightly superior, while many of them are actually inferior, to the old-fashioned type of candidate who was sent up by the vestries to the moribund Board of Works they will be found as a body less competent for the practical work Of efficient and thrifty local administration than the justices of the peace. If the London County Council is to be composed of persons of this type it is very unlikely that in our time there will arise a popular demand for an extension of its powers or an elevation of its status. It is-perfectly certain that the Council need not expect to be entrusted with authority over us comparable with that which the municipal councils of Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham wield over their constituents.

The Daily News regretted that more men of tried capacity and public distinction had not come forward and thought that it was hardly worth while to get rid of the Board of Works if mere vestrymen were to continue. The same authority said two days later the list of candidates includes very few men of national reputation. It is worth while to reproduce these expressions of opinion because they explain the apathy of the electors and the failure of the Council to command the prestige which it was hoped would signalize the constitution of the new authority and strengthen its hands. Public confidence was further discouraged by the total failure of a great many candi dates to grasp the nature of the fimctions which they were eager to undertake. As the Daily Chronicle said, what was wanted was to get the best possible administration of local affairs, and to that end the electors should endeavour to get the County Council composed of the best men of business whose services were attainable. But the candidates apparently thought the Council was to be a legislative body, and showed much less con cern about administering the powers entrusted to them by Parlia ment than about obtaining other vast powers which had been withheld. Their election addresses teemed with large promises and ambitious programmes, which included such trifling matters as control of the police, the liquor traffic, the City companies and the metropolitan charities, absorption of the City Corporation. The acquisition of the water supply, gas, and the markets.

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