In a letter to Tuesday's Times the Duke of Rutland
makes some suggestions that are worth the consideration of the Government. He points out that after Parliament has created some thirty municipalities, with Mayors and Alder- men and Town_Councillors, it is absurd to call the body which unites them a County Council, and to call its chief merely Chairman. He wants a more appropriate name for the Council, and suggests " The Metropolitan Council," and a more dignified title—say President—for its head. That head, he thinks, should have a status equal to that assigned to the Lord Mayors of various provincial towns, and should be ex officio a Privy Councillor. If this were done, London, without interfering with the City, would be endowed with a, congruous and intelligible municipal hierarchy. We have not the late Professor Freeman's horror of the word " Metropolitan," but its- associations are not good, and we do not see why the title of London Council should not be sufficient. With the proposal to give extra dignity and status to the Chairman of that body we are in entire. accord. Perhaps the best compromise would be " The Right Hon. -the President of the London Council." It might be also enacted that he should officially be addressed and described as " My Lord," and outside the City, but within the Metropolitan area, should be given the same precedence as is accorded to Lord Mayors within their own cities. We hope the Government may be able to deal with the matter. It would be a proof that the designs upon the powers and status of the Council which are very foolishly, or very unfairly, attributed to them, have no foundation in fact.
Previous page
