t the least in London, over the Crafts
and Arts which they represent. Let us never destroy what has been
useful: let us, on the other hand, preserve it, altered to meet changed
circumstances. For an institution is not like a tree which grows and
decays. If it is a good institution, built upon the needs and adapted to
the circumstances of human nature, it will never decay but, like the
Saxon form of popular election, live and develop and change as the
people themselves change from age to age.

63. LONDON.

GREATER LONDON.

It has been a great misfortune for London that, when its Wall ceased to
be the true boundary of the town, and when the people began to spread in
all directions outside the walls, no statesman arose with vision clear
enough to perceive that the old system must be enlarged or abolished:
that the City must cease to mean the City of the Edwards, and must
include these new suburbs, from Richmond on the West to Poplar on the
East, and from Hampstead on the North to Balham on the South. It is true
that something was done: there are the Wards of Bridge Without, which is
Southwark: and of Farringdon Without. There should have been provision
for the creation of new Wards whenever the growth of a suburb warranted
its addition. That, however, has not been done. The Old London remains
as it was, and as we now see it, surrounded by another, and an immense
City, or aggregate of cities, all placed under the rule of a Council.

This was done by the Act of 1888, which created a County whose
boundaries were the same as those of the former Metropolitan Board of
Works; in other words, it embraces all the suburbs of London properly so
called. This County extends from Putney and Hammersmith on the West to
Plumstead on the East: on the North are Hampstead and Highgate; on the
South are Tooting, Streatham, Lewisham and Eltham. There are 138
Councillors, of whom 19 are Aldermen and one a Chairman. The
conservative tendency of our people is shown in their retention of the
old division of aldermen. It is, once more, Kings, Lords, and Commons.
But the functions of the Aldermen do not differ from those of the
Councillor. The Councillors are elected by the ratepayers for three
years, the Aldermen for six; but there is a rule as to retiring by
rotation.

The powers of the County Council are enormous. It regulates the building
of houses and streets: the drainage: places of amusement: it can close
streets and pull down ho