The Municipal Year-Book for 1907. Edited by Robert Donald. (E.
Lloyd. 3s. 6d. net.)-The facts set out in this volume may be profitably studied by all who are minded to discharge, as indeed every one should be minded, the functions of civic life. The sooner an intelligent interest in municipal questions is aroused the better. It is high time that we put the drag on, before we get to the condition of San Francisco. Any one who desires, as is very natural, to get a summary, should go in the first place to the summaries that are supplied by the tables printed on pp. 644-50 and 652-54, giving respectively "Municipal Debt and Assets," and "Rates Levied in Various Towns." Specimens from the first are: Accrington, loans and overdrafts 4307,180, estimated value of corporate property £303,624; Blackpool, 41,601,183 and £1,556,818; Eastbourne, 4486,998 and 4304,114; East Retford, .887,688 and £86,794; Heywood, 4416,332 and £325,927; Longton, 4326,239 and 4292,000. In these the debt exceeds the assets. But these cases are rare. On the other side we have Liverpool, where the debt is £13,642,871,' and the property 422,666,244; Manchester shows a good balance, 420,196,829 of debt, and 425,590,975 of assets. This last instance, however, suggests the question of the value of the assets. It is possible that these may be overvalued, while the debt must be accurately stated. When we turn to the second table, we find one place in which the rates are more than 105. in the pound, West Ham (10s. 44.) The lowest figures are Oxford, 4s. 6d.; Lancaster, 4s. 10d. ; Bournemouth, 5s. ; Southport, 5s. 3d.; St. Helens, 5s. 6d.; Newcastle, 5s. 71d. ; Tunbridge Wells, 5s. 8d.; and Bath, 5s. 10d. Twenty-seven places out of eighty-nine havo to pay 8s. and upward. East Ham comes next to its neighbour with 9s. 7d., and Norwich is third with 9s. 5d.
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