GOVERNMENT BY COMMITTEES.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—May I, as having had some years' experience in London local government, venture to express my firm conviction that you are right in saying that the present system of administra- tion by committees is an impossible one? Fortunately, as it seems to me, we are already on the high-road to a better state of things. Practically the whole of the London elections, down to those for Vestries and Boards of Guardians, are now fought—or, at least, will be on the next occasion—on party lines. The disadvantages are obvious, but so are the ad- vantages. The Conservatives secure, let us say, a majority on the School Board. They make, of course, their leader Chair- man of the Board. But let them go further; let them make his most distinguished followers chairmen of the different committees ; and let them arrange—as would be arranged by the party Whips in the House of Commons—that their side shall have a majority on each committee. The chairmen's panel would then afford a very good imitation of the Cabinet, and Londoners would be able to fix on them and their party, responsibility for the success or failure of their administration. It would then be impossible for us to witness confusions such as take place at present, when a distinguished Unionist, such as Sir John Lubbock, presides over an assembly in which the Radicals are in a large majority, and consequently finds his action in Parliament as their representative hampered by the hostility of Members of his own party.—I am, Sir, dec.,
L. C. C.
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