The elections of the County Councils have passed with very
limited excitement. In London it is -reckoned that only 88 per cent. of the voters did their duty, but this is higher than in 1919 or 1925. Here the Municipal Reform Party returns to power with a clear majority of 30 seats. The Labour Party gained from them seven seats and one from the Liberals, who are reduced to a party of five members in all. This long tenure of power by the Municipal _Reformers is very remarkable. Custom has not staled the support they receive, nor have they been shaken, as they might undeservedly have been, by the catastrophe due to the Thames flood being laid at their door. In the Provinces there has been no great change in the Councils. Labour is very strong in such parts as Durham and South Wales and weak as before in rural areas, where, indeed, the electors generally choose their administrators by merit rather than by party labels.
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