The King made an admirable speech in opening the new
County Hall on Monday. He said with truth that good local government depended on an active civic spirit, and must appeal to the imagination. " A public authority meanly housed may be meanly esteemed." The mediaeval cities were wise in erecting stately town halls for their governing bodies. So, too, the London County Council has been well advised in building a great hall which will make every Londoner feel with pride that he is a. citizen of no mean city. The King welcomed the completion of the hall as a sign that peace had returned. He hinted that it must lead to the reconstruction, long delayed and very urgently needed, of the squalid district on the south bank in which the County Hall stands. If the City Corporation, which has very wisely postponed the adoption of the St. Paul's Bridge scheme, would spend its trust funds on a new bridge at Charing Cross; the Council might well devise plans for a new business quarter in the curve of the river between Blackfriars and Westminster. The south side is picturesque enough in certain lights, but it is unworthy of London.
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