ENGLISH LOCAL GOVERNMENT : Statutory Authorities for Special Purposes. By
Sidney and Beatrice Webb. (Longmans. 25s. net.)
This volume completes Mr. and Mrs. Webb's valuable account of the structure of English local government in the eighteenth century. Fourteen years have elapsed since the publication of the two earlier parts of the trilogy—The Parish and the County and The Manor and the Borough. The authors now give a most interesting account of the other authorities which had been superposed for special purposes on these units of local government. These fall into four main classes : the Courts of Sewers, which administered sluices, embank- ments and drainage in low-lying districts ; the Incorporated Guardians, who administered poor relief; the Turnpike Trusts, which transformed our main roads ; and the Improvement Commissioners, in whom the bulk of what is now called local government came to be invested. The authors again base Their work on elaborate research, and have brought to light many previously unstudied facts. In two final chapters they summarize the contents of the three volumes, and sketch the outstanding characteristics of English local government from 1689 to 1835, when the Municipal Corporations Act was passed. All students of social conditions owe Mr. and Mrs. Webb gratitude for tracing so faithfully the emergence of the new principles which in the last century have transformed the appearance of our cities and the healthiness of our country.
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