Events seem to be forcing on the reorganization of London.
The Metropolitan Board of Works only obtained an extension of the coal and wine duties on condition of carrying an improvement rate. It has proposed one of 4d. in the pound, which London generally does not like, and which the City has instructed its Members to reject. Yet if the rate is refused improvement stops, and the Board of Works becomes powerless. The City, which has hitherto been the main obstacle to improvement, begins there- fore to relent, and seems inclined to a compromise under which a Federal body, governing all London for certain purposes, should govern the City for all purposes. This is the natural scheme, and it will, we trust, one day be worked out. The City will then be in its natural position as the representative municipality of the Empire, with the same power of taxation as other municipalities, and estates sufficient for the maintenance of its special dignity. The main difficulty, we suspect, will not be in framing a Federal Council, but in appointing a Federal Executive. An annual Lord Mayor will never do.
Previous page
