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Fabian Tract No. 6r. 

THE 

LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL: 


What it Is and What it Does. 

PuBLISHED BY 

THE FABIAN SOCIETY. 

PRICE ONE PENNY. 

LONDON 

To R~~ OBTAINED oF THE F ABIAN SoCIETY, 276 STII.AND, W.C. 
FEBRlTARY I893· 



THE 

LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL 
What it Is and what it Does.* 


THE Administrative County of London, with its fifty-eight Parliamentary 
constituencies, measures 16-} miles in extreme length (eastand west), from Plumstead to Bedford Park, and I It miles in extreme 
breadth (north and south), from Stamford Hill to Anerley. This 
area comprises, including the "City" proper, 75,490 acres, or nearly119 square miles (being three-quarters the size of the Isle of Wight 
or the county of Rutland). The County had in 1891, 549,283 
inhabited houses, containing 4,2II,743 persons, or 84o,ooo families, 
being 14·52 per cent. of the population of England and Wales; 56 to 
the acre ; 35,392 to the square mile; and 7"8 to each house. 

The London County Council is constituted under the Local Government 
Act, 1888 (England and Wales). It inherited the powers,
duties and liabilities of the Metropolitan Board of Works and the 
County Justices. The Council consists of I I 8 Elected Councillors, 
who hold office for three years ; and of nineteen Aldermen, chosen 
by the Council, who hold office for six years, one-half retiring everythree years. Of the Councillors, four are elected by the City of London, 
while the remaining 57 electoral divisions of the metropolis elect 
two members each. The University of London is not represented, 
and the boroughs of West Ham, Croydon and Richmond are not 
included in the County of London. County electors consist of the 
householders, men or women, whose names are on the printedregister. Lodgers, service-occupiers and freeholders cannot vote 
at a County Council election. Women occupiers, who are not 
directly rated, should take special care to send in claims by August25th each year, if their names are not included in the list published 

• Further information as to the work of the London County Council may be found 
in the Annual Address of the Chairman, published with the Annual Report of the 
Council. It can be obtained from Messrs. P. S. King & Co., 12 King-street, 
Westminster, price Is. The London Refurm Union has issued as penny pamphlets 
Sidney Webb's article on "The Work of the Londou County Council," which 
appeared in the Contempo1·ary Review for January, r895, and the series of articles in 
London by Robert Donald, under the title of " Six Years' Service of the People." 
The Eighty Club pamphlet," The Reform of London," price rd., and "The London 
Programme," price Is., published by Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein & Co., and both bySidney Webb, should also be consulted. 

3 

-on the 1st of tha-t -month. Candidates must be registered as County.electors in London, but not necessarily in the constituency for which 
they are to stand. Aldermen must possess the qualifications requiredof Councillors. 

The Council elects its own Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and Deputy·
Chairman. The last receives a salary of £I,soo, and is the official 
head of the clerical establishment. 

The detailed work of the Council devolves on twenty-one Committees, 
five Special Committees, and the Technical Education Board. 
The Committees vary in size from five to fifty members. The Council 
.also elects representatives on the Standing Joint Committee of the 
Quarter Sessions and the London County Council, and on the Thames 
:and Lea Conservancy Boards. The following is a list of the Committees: 
(1) Asylums, (2) Bridges, (3) Building Act, (4) Corpurate Property, 
(5) Establishment, (6) Finance, (7) Fire Brigade, (8) General 
Purposes, (9) Highways, (Io) Improvements, (I I) Industrial andRe·
formatory Schools, (I2) Local Goyernment and Taxation, (13) Main 
Drainage, (14) Parks and Open Spaces, (IS) Parliamentary, (I6) Public 
Control, (17) Public Health and Housing, (r8) Stores, (r9) Theatres 
.and Music Halls, (2o) Water, (21) Works. The Special Committees 
.are two Statutory Committees for Assessment Appeals, and CountyRates, and two for Small Holdings, Fire Insurance, and the Joint 

•Committee on Coroners' Courts and Mortuaries. 
The Council has nothing to do with paving, cleansing, or lightingthe streets ; does not control the water-works, gas-works, markets, 
:and police ; is almost powerless in valqation and assessment ; does 
not collect its own rates ; is neither the sanitary nor the burial 
.:authority ; is inadequately represented on the Thames and Lea 
Conservancy Boards ; and cannot even prepare or supervise the 
Tegistration of the voters who elect it. 

Notwithstanding this degradation of the chief Municipality of the 
Kingdom below the meanest provincial borough incorporated under 
~the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835, the powers and duties of the 
London County Council are extremely multifarious, and touch the 
Jives of London's citizens from the cradle to the graYe. It has to 
administer either wholly or in part, or supervise the administration 
of a large number of general and special Acts of Parliament. 
Amongst the more important are : 

The Building Act, 1894. 
The Factory and Workshop Act, I 89 I. 
Y.he Electric Lighting Acts and Orders. 
The Railway and Canal Traffic Act, I 888. 
The W eights and Measures Acts, 1878 and 1889. 
The Bread Act. 
The Explosives Act, 1875. 
The Public Health (London) Act, 189 1. 
The Petroleum Acts. 
The Infant Life Protection Act. 
The Shop Hours Act, 1892. 
The Contagious Diseases (Animals) Acts. 



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The Fertilizer and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1893. 

The Artizan~' and Labor~rs' Dwellings Improvements Act, 187 j. 

The Hou~ing of the Working Classes Act, 1890. 

The Technical Instruction Acts, r889 and 1891. 

The work of the Council may be conveniently considered under 
the following general heads : 

I. T H E COUNCIL AND THE H E ALTH OF 
LONDON. 
The public health of London is affected by the powers of the 
Council in the provision of more room for the people to live in, 
more and better air for them to breathe, more open spaces for them 
to play in out-of-doors, and safer theatres, and better conducted. 
music-hall for their indoor amusement. 

The Housing of the People. 

The County Council has one medical officer and two assistants, 
and pays half the salaries of 23 medical officers and 188, out of a 
total of 2 I 9, sanitary inspectors appointed by the Vestries. Since 
the Council came into existence the number of inspectors in London 
ha doubled. In addition, two women in pectors of work hops and 
laundries, fifteen coal and coke inspectors, and two street inspector!>
have been appointed. The most important duties of these officer;, 
: re to inquire into the sanitary condition of houses and workshops, 
report on the water supply, and investigate the causes of anyepidemic. The Public Health and Housing Committee is not the 
sanitary authority for the whole of London, but it supervi es the 
admini tration of the Public Health Act (London), 1891, by the local 
authorities, with a view to ecure an adequate sanitary taff in each• 
di trict, and a far a pos ible the enforcement of the law. It ha 
drawn up a et of bye-laws in order to regulate and ecure greateruniformity of action by the local authorities, and thus to raise the 
sanitary !:>tandard of London. It makes bye-laws to regulate the 
remO\·al and di5posal of offensive material, to fix the clearance of 
du!:>t-bin to at lea t once a week, to ecure proper water-closet in 
hou!:>e ·, etc. Thi Committee also administer the A.rtizan ' and 
Laborers' Dwelling Improyements Act, 1 73, and the Hou ing of 
the \Vorking Cia e Act, r8qo, under which insanitary areas and 
hou es all over London are in\·estigated, clearances arc made, and 
new building erected in the place of slum-dwelling . 

_;. o,l)/J person in London live in one-roomed home·; 830,182 
per~ons live in tenemull with two or more than two in a room 
(Cen~u Return!>, rSq 1). Twenty per cent. of the population of 
London li\·e in O\ercrowded d11·ellings (London ,)'laltsltrs, YO!. iv.. 

p. 20). " London need the rebuilding of at least 400,000 rooms to 
hou~e its p ore~t citizens, at the minimum of t110 decent room perL1tn1h, not to peak of the ideal of three room and a scullery, wh1ch 
!:>hould be our goal" (Tile Lrilldill Fro.~-rammc, p. 12 ). 

The Council has, from the first, built either separate cottages, or, 
where this has been impossible, dwellings on the self-contained 
tenement system, which provides for separate sink and lavatoryaccommodation, and secures for the working-class tenant a distinct 
.and complete little home of his own. The internal fittings and 
.arrangements are made as neat and conyenient as possible, an 
adequate system of ventilation, and a certain cubical capacity for 
every room, sleeping and liYing alike, are insisted upon ; and, 
notwithstanding the better accommodation provided, the rents 
charged are based on those prevailing in the immediate neighborhood. 

Sanitary Inspectors. 

The Council's inspectors during the year ended 3 rst March, 189+, 
ins-pected 1 ,o6 I premises in respect of nuisances alleged to exist ; 
have made 4,958 visits to premises upon which offensive trades are 
conducted ; and have visited 3.962 cow sheds, I r ,or I milk-shops, and 
243 dairies. The Council granted licences during the year to 52~ 
slaughter-houses, 489 cow-houses, and 7 knackers' yards. In one 
case a manure manufacturer at Rotherhithe was, after several 
convictions for breaches of the Council's bye-laws, deprived of 
the right to carry on his business. 

The Council's in pectors of explosi\'es and its coal officers are 
instructed to report any nuisance from the non-consumption of 
smoke that may come to their notice in the course of their other 
duties. In this way 774 cases of serious nuisance from smoke were 
reported in I 894, and in each case the attention of the sanitaryauthority concerned was called to the nuisance with a view to its 
abatement. 

New Streets and Buildings. 

Through the Building Act Committee t!-te Council has organized 
a definite attack on the jerry-builder and house-farmer, and has 
begun to repair the neglect of past years in the clearing away of 
London's slums and rookeries, with all their evil outcome of 
intemperance, disea e and crime. One of the most importantpieces of this work was the drafting and steering through Parliament 
in I894 of the London Building Act, which provides that the 
making of all new streets and the alteration of old ones shall be 
subject to the approval of the Council ; that streets for carriage 
traffic shall be not less than forty feet wide, and those for foot 
passengers only not less than twenty feet wide ; that no dwellingshall be erected or re-erected within twenty feet from the centre of 
a roadway, or ten feet from the centre of a footway for passengers, 
and that the height of the buildings shall not exceed the width of 
the street ; that the space at the back shall be at least I 50 squarefeet, and ten feet deep, and that the space shall increase by an angle 
of 63~ degrees with the height of the housei ; that dark recesses and 
shafts in blocks of dwellings shall not be a(lowed; and that the width 
<>f all recesses shall be half the height. Under the .Act, provision 
must also be made for the proper lighting of new buildings in order 
to make it possible for the sunshine to have access to all tenements 


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down to the street level ; and powers are given for regulating the 
erection of buildings in which dangerous and noxious businesses are 
to be carried on, for preventing building on land lying too low 
to be properly drained, for the removal of dilapidated and neglectedbuildings, and for other purposes. During I 894 the Council granted39 applications for the formation of new streets whose total lengthexceeded ten miles; and condemned 6,286 dangerous structures. 

Main Drainage. 

The main sewers of London (but not the local drains) are under 
the management of the Council, in whose sludge vessels 2, 102,ooo 
tons of sludge were, during 1894, sent to sea. The whole body of 
sewage used to flow into a vast underground reservoir, in which it 
was penned by the rising tide, and allowed to flow away with the 
falling water. The Thames used therefore to receive every day 
some two hundred million gallons of unpurified sewage. Under the 
improved methods which have been put into operation by the 
Council, the sewage is subjected to scientific processes, and is passedinto the river as an inodorous, innocuous liquid. In consequence,
the water in the Thames has been so purified as to make it possiblefor shrimps, whitebait, dace, and other fish to live where theycould not before (even as high up as Woolwich), and the black mud 
banks haYe disappeared, and given place to clean shores of gravel, 
clay, or river sand. 

Water. 

Although the Council has not the Water Supply in its own 
hands, it has been making enquiries as to the provision of an 
adequate supply of pure water that shall keep pace with the growingneeds of the people. In 1895 it introduced eight bills into Parliament 
for the acquisition of the existing means of supply, and in the 
meantime it has also so efficiently used its statutory powers to 
secure a constant supply of water, and thus to do away with the 
intermittently filled and often foul cisterns, as to have secured a 
constant supply to 613,187 houses, as against 423,567 so suppliedin 1889. Of all the houses in London, 78·7 per cent. were on 
constant supply in I 894. 

Gas. 

The powers of the Council over the Gas Companies are of a verylimited nature. They are confined to testing the illuminating powerof the gas and the accuracy of the meters. During 1893 thirteen 
cases of deficient illuminating power and five of excess of sulphurimpurity were reported. 

Parks and Open Spaces. 

During the first six years of the Council's existence, one new 
open space was secured for London, on an average, every two 
months. EYery week it adds on an average between three and four 
acres to London's breathing grounds and playing fields. In 1888 


7 


~here were forty-three separate open spaces, with an area of 2,578 
<J.Cres, under the Council's control and management ; in December 
1894, their number had increased to seventy-five, covering 3,647 
acres. But the Council's work is not confined to increasing the 
number and area of these open spaces. It organizes them in such a 
way as to make the most liberal provision of cricket-pitches, football 
grounds, tennis-courts, and gymnasia for both sexes. It supplieslavatories and free public conveniences. It regulates the refreshment 
tariffs. And, finally, it makes provision for a plentiful supply of 
music during the summer months by its own uniformed bands. The 
increase of charge in the six years did not amount to a rate of a 
halfpenny in the pound, and came almost exactly to three-pence 
per head per annum on the whole population. Once in four 
months every Londoner is invited in effect "to put a penny in the 
slot'' of the Council's money-box, and to obtain in return nicer 
walks for the men and women, more playing-fields for the babies, 
cricket and football for the boys, a free gymnasium for the girls, and 

music for the family party, just at the times that they can enjoy it. 

Theatres and Music Halls. 

The County Council took over from the County Justices the 
licensing of London's Theatres, Music Halls, and Dancing Saloons ; 
and, whatever mistakes they may have made in the opinion of some 
people, no one who knows the facts <.:an deny that their work has 
increased the safety alike of the playgoer and the performer, and 
has raised the tone of the performances. Its action has wiped 
out some places which, under the guise of providing public amusement, 
were hotbeds of debauchery and vice. It has thoroughlyinspected the theatres and halls, and insisted upon the provisionof proper exits. One of the places to which a licence was rdused 
has since been burned down ; and in another case it was discovered 
that dramatic entertainments were given over a shop stored with 
dangerous material. In one instance, a dressing-room used by a largenumber of girls was found to be two storeys below the street, insanitary 
to the last degree, and without proper exits. The Council's regulations 
insist on the provision of non-mineral oil and candle-lampsin case of the sudden extinction of gas and electricity by fire ; theyrequire that there shall be two exits for each part in a theatre ; that 
gangways shall not be blocked with seats ; that the exits shall be 
plainly and boldly indicated ; and that there shall be an ample supply 
of wraps, rugs and buckets kept on the stage or in the flies in the 
charge of a responsible person. 

II. THE COUNCIL AND THE FIRE BRIGADE. 
The Council has thoroughly reorganized this important section of 
its work. During its six years' term of office it has increased the staff 
from 790 to 846 ; the number of fire-engine stations from 55 to 56 ; 
the hose-cart stations from 27 to 53 ; the fire-escape stations from 146 
to 180 ; the hydrants from 8,807 to I 8,7I I. It has replaced worthless 


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machinery and appliances by the best mechanical contrivances. It 
has thus immensely increased the efficiency of the Brigade, and rendered 
the lives and property of Londoners more secure from •the 
ravages of fire. The statistics of fires amply prove this. The total 
number of outbreaks-which no fire brigade can diminish-goes 
steadily up. In I884 there were every day six outbreaks; in I893 
there were nearly nine. But the proportion of outbreaks allowed to 
reach very serious dimensions has, under the Council's rule, steadily 
fallen. In the five years between I 884 and 1888, when Captain Shaw 
and the Metropolitan Board of Works were in power, 72 out of every 
1 ,ooo fires grew to such an extent as to be classified as "serious." 
Between I889 and 1893 the corresponding proportion was only 6oa 
reduction of no less than I6 per cent. Ten years ago one-eleventh 
of the outbreaks became "serious " ; to-day the proportion is one-
twentieth. 

III, THE COUNCIL AND THE POOR. 

The poor consumer is always at a disadvantage when comparedwith the rich purchaser, because he is obliged to buy in small 
quantities, and cannot for want of means set in motion the laws that 
should protect him from unscrupulous tradespeople. The Council 
has exercised to the full the powers it possesses in the testing of 
weights and measures. Out of a total of I1I2312II weights, 
measures, and weighing instruments submitted for stamping, no 
less than 243,2 I I were rejected as unfit. 

In the sale of coal and coke, the Council has also been a protectorof the poor, for by its efficient inspection the sacks have had to be 
increased on the average by two inches. Last year 723 infringementsof the law were reported ; in 588 cases a written caution was sent bythe Council, and 82 convictions were obtained. 

During I 894 proceedings were taken under the"' Bread Act 
against eight persons for selling bread, other than fancy bread or 
rolls, otherwise than by weight. In seven cases convictions were 
obtained and fines imposed. Written cautions were also sent in a 
large number of cases. 

The Council has used all its powers to make it possible for people 
to live a little way out of London, by improving the means of 
communication. Its policy of establishing free ferries, of buying 
up the Tramways, and exerting all its influence on the RailwayCompanies, the Board of Trade, and on Parliament to increase the 
number of workmen's trains and to reduce the fares, both. in the 
case of existing as well as of all newly projected railways has already 
resulted in very appreciable advantages to the community, and will 
be still more fruitful in the near future. 

IV. THE COUNCIL AND EDUCATION. 
The Council's work touches on Education at two points. It has 
the management of the Industrial and Reformatory Schools at 
Feltham and Mayford in its hands. These schools contain boys 


9 

who have been sent there by the London Police Magistrates.
The boys, rescued from vicious and criminal surroundings, are 
boarded, lodged, clothed, educated, and started in the world. 
Every endeavor is made during their detention to fit them for an 
honest life, and to this end ir:creased attention is being given to their 
industrial training.

In connection with the Technical Education Grants, the Council 
has organized a Technical Education Board for London. It consists 
of twenty members of the Council and fifteen outside members, 
selected from the highest educational authorities in London, and 
representing the London School Board, the City and Guilds 
Institute, the City Parochial Trustees, the London Trades Council, 
the Head-Masters' Association, and the National Union of Teachers. 
The Board has already established a comprehensive " scholarship 
ladder," from the Board School right up to the highest technical 
college, the best art schools, and the university ; it has done much, 
by liberal grants and skilled inspection, to develop and improve the 
various Polytechnics now growing up all over the metropolis ; 
it has ·vorked a beneficent revolution in the evening science and 
technology classes, and made more practical the instruction in those 
subjects given in the public secondary schools ; whilst the London 
Schools of Art are, under its fostering care, springing into new 
life. 

The work of the Board is to extend the advantages of a higher 
·education to the children of the poor. The Junior County Scholarships, 
tenable at secondary schools for two years, include free education 
in any upper standard or secondary school approved by the Board 
in which the fees do not exceed £IO a year, and a money paymentof £8 for the first, and £rz for the second year. The scholarships 
-are open to children under thirteen in the public elementary schools 
who are in the fifth or a higher standard, and whose parents are in 
receipt of an income of less than £Iso a year. The Intermediate 
County Scholarships are for children over fifteen, and are renewable 
annually until the candidate reaches the age of eighteen 
years. The scholars are entitled to free education in secondaryschools, including high schools or technical colleges, and to money 
payments varying from £zo to £35 a year. Senior County Scholarships 
will be established in due course. Art scholarships and 
-exhibitions for artizans are also provided. They are intended 
merely to pay the fees and travelling expenses of students attending 
-evening art classes, who are engaged during the day in earning a 
livelihood. The Board has under consideration the establishment 
of other scholarships and exhibitions. Grants are also made under 
-certain conditions to schools of art, technical institutes and polytechnics, 
in order to raise the standard of teaching in the science and 
art classes. By the appointment, as its art advisers, of such expert-craftsmen as Mr. George Frampton, A. R. A., and Mr. William 
Lethaby, a distinguished sculptor and a no less distinguished architect, 
the Board has shown how keenly it is alive to the need of a 
thorough reorganization of the "arts and crafts," and we need not 


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now despair of London one day possessing a Municipal Art School to· 

rival that of Birmingham. Nor have the women and girls been 

forgotten. Besides sharing in all the preceding advantages, they

enjoy a special department of their own. The Board has set up 

three " Schools of Domestic Economy " (shortly to be increased to· 

five), which intercept the maidens of thirteen who would otherwise 

be leaving school to " take a little place" ; it has started at Battersea 

a Domestic Training School, which is already turning out skilled 

teachers accustomed to the housekeeping of the London poor ; and 

by a staff of qualified instructors in cookery, dress-making, laundry

work, and hygiene, it has given thousands of lessons in these subjects 

to groups of working women in all parts of London, who are too old 

or too poor, too hard-worked or too apathetic, to take advantage of 

any existing institutions. 

V. THE COUNCIL AND THE WORKER. 
The Council's establishment consists of 339 permanent officials,

\ and 105 temporary and other assistants who are arranged in eleven 
departments-Clerk's, Comptroller's, Engineer's, Architect's, Solicit-
or's, Chemical, Valuer's, Public Health, Public Control, Parks, and 
Statistical. In addition 34 messengers, caretakers, etc., and I 8 
charwomen are employed. 
Unlike many private employers, the Council does not put anyobstacle in the way of the combination of its workers. If there is 
any influence exercised in the matter, it is in the direction of 
encouraging the workers to join their Unions and increase the armyof organized labor. 

Fair Wages. 

It is now the settled policy of the Council to pay its employees in 
each trade the recognized Trade Union rate of wages, and in no case 
less than 6d. an hour, or 24s. a week, to men; or r8s. a week to women.. 
Seeing that Mr. Charles Booth places the actual "poverty line" in 
London at regular earnings of 2Is. a week, it cannot be said that the 
Council's "moral minimum" errs on the side of luxury or extravagance. 
But, unlike the Council's wage for skilled workmen, it is more 
than is actually paid by many employers; and it is undoubtedly above 
the rate at which the Council could obtain similar labor if it chose to· 
disregard all other considerations. It is noteworthy that this policyhas not led to any ruinous increase jn the labor bill. In 1889 the 
average pay of the wage-staff taken over from the MetropolitanBoard of Works was £7 5 per annum. In I894, after five years, this 
average has risen to £78, or exactly four per cent. 

It must equally be put to the credit of the Council that it has 
settled the" Fair Wages" question, for its contractors as well as for 
itself. Over I so local governing bodies have adopted some kind of 
fair-wages clause in their contracts (H.C. 189-I 892). All firms 
tendering for the Council's work are required to specify the wagesthey pay for each particular craft. Sub-contracting is forbidden, and 
a rigid penalty clause is included in every contract. 


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The Standing Orders of the Council are as follows :


(I) There shall be kept at the county hall a list of the rates of wages and the 
hours of labor to be paid and observed by the Council in works which are in the 
nature of construction or manufacture, and which the Council may resolve to carry 
out without the intervention of a contractor. 
The list shall be settled by the Council on the recommendation of the Works 
Committee, and shall be based on the rates of wages and hours of labor recognised 
and in practice obtained by the various Trade Unions in London, and by contractors 
in respect of the supply, manufacture and production of any raw material or manufactured 
articles, except contractors for the supply of stores to be used in maintenance, 
and shall form part of the standing orders of the Council. 

The list shall at all time; be open to public inspection. 

(2) In inviting tenders for work to be executed within 20 miles of Charing Cross, 
the advertisements and instructions for tender shall state that in the case of all 
workmen to be employed by the contractor he will be required to pay wages at rates 
not less, and to observe hours of labor not greater, than the rates and hours set out in 
the Council's list, and that such rates of wages and hours of labor will be inserted in a 
schedule and will form part of the contract, and penalties shall be enforced for anybreach thereof. 
As regards each contract the list shall be that in force at the date of the tender. 
The system works smoothly and well. If the work is to be 
executed within the London district it is an easy matter to see 
whether the rates correspond with those in the Council's Standard 
List. If the work is to be done elsewhere, it is found in practicequite possible to ascertain by inquiry of the proper local officers of 
the associations of employers on the one hand, and the trade 
unions on the other, whether the proposed rates are really those 
current in the district. Firms accusing themselves of paying less 
than these rates are informed of the fact, as a reason why their 
tenders are not accepted, and have, therefore, full opportunity of 
correcting any injustice. The good contractors fall easily into line. 
The key-note of the Council's policy is, not the abolition of 
competition, but the shifting of the plane from mere cheapness to 
that of industrial efficiency. 

The Works Department. 

Wherever possible the Council dispenses with the contractor, and 
executes its work by engaging a staff of workmen under the supervision 
of its own salaried officers. The first trial of this experiment 
was that of watering and cleaning the bridges over the Thames. The 
new system has now been tried for three years, with the result that 
whereas the contractor charged 4s. 7-}d. to 4s. 10-}d. per square yard,
the work is now done at an average cost of 3s. zd. a square yard,
everything included. This, however, was a mere matter of hiringlabor, no constructive work being involved. The first piece of actual 
building executed by the Council was the schoolhouse at Crossness. 
The architect's estimate was for £I,8oo. The lowest tender was for 
£2,300. The work was completed by the Main Drainage Committee, 
under its own officers, at a cost of£I, 764, or £536 under the lowest 
tender, and £36 under the architect's estimate. But the case that 
finally convinced the Council was the York Road Sewer. The 
engineer's estimate was for £7,000. Two tenders only were sent in, 


12 

for £II,588 and £II,6o8. The work was done by the Council 
itself, with the result that a net saving of £4,477 was made byhaving the work done without a contractor. 

The outcome was the establishment in the spring of 1893 of a 
Works Committee to execute works required by the other committees. 
The Works Committee has an entirely distinct staff, and 
keeps its own separate accounts. Up to the present it has completedand rendered accounts for twenty-nine separate jobs, varying from 
£IOo to £18,785. Sometimes the expenditure works out below the 
estimate, sometimes above, but, in the aggregate, the total cost of 
these twenty-nine works-undertaken at the very outset of a new 
business, with insufficient plant and under manifold disadvantages-
comes to £63,061, against the architect's and engineer's detailed and 
independent prior estimates amounting to £66,o6I Is. 2d. 

Stores. 

The Council decided in I 8gr that contracts for the supply of 
stores should be entered into for one year only, and in June, 1893, 
a special committee was appointed. The stores are supplied by 
ninety-nine firms, and comprise I ,8I 7 items, which are classified 
under twenty-four headings, the most important of which are boots, 
brass fittings, brushes, baskets and matting, clothing, disinfectants, 
engineers' goods, firewood, fodder, glass, hats and caps, indiarubber 
and waterproof goods, ironmongery, leather, oilman's sundries, oils, 
paints and varnishes, rope and canvas, tools, and wrought :md cast 
iron. The "Fair Wages" Clause is inserted in all the clothing and 
boots contracts, and the work must be done in the contractors' own 
factories. The question of establishing a Factory of its own, for 
making boots and clothing, is now under the consideration of the 
Committee. 

The Shop Hours Act, 1892. 
This Act provides that no young person under the age of eighteen 
years shall be employed in or about a shop for a longer period than 
seventy-four hours, including meal times, in any one week. At 
present, the duties of the inspectors have been confined to investigating 
specific complaints made as the result of the Council's widely 
advertised intention of following up cases of infringements of the Act 
brought to its notice. Experience showed that there were some 
businesses, notably that of hairdresser, in which the Act was verygenerally disregarded. The result of the enquiries that were made 
was that, in 1893, I02 infringements were discovered on the premisesof hairdressers alone. With a view to more completely investigating 
cases affecting women, a woman inspector has been appointed.
Since the Act came into force, I ,386 investigations and reports have 
been made, and infringements have been discovered in 231 cases. 
These have been dealt with by I 79 written cautions, and legalproceedings have been taken in thirty cases, resulting, up to March 
1894, in twenty-six convictions, and the imposition of penalties and 
costs to the amount of£28. 


I _,' 

VI. THE COUNCIL AND LONDON'S PURSE. 
The rateable Yalue of London is £33,913,/0?, and the amount 
raised in 1893-4 was£! ,7R2,5091 which is equivalent to 8s. s!d. per head 
of the population. Each penny in the rate represents ?fd. per head. 

London's finance is complicated by the fact that the Council is not 
only a borrower, but also a lender. It lends money to local authorities, 
and receives interest from them. It receives contributions from various 
local authorities, and from the Goyernment, and thus its receipts are 
swelled. In r 893-4 the gross debts were OYer £ 33,ooo,ooo, and the 
net debts under £r9,ooo,ooo, ha\·ing increased by £r,2oo,ooo since 
the Council came into existence. 

The Council's precept for 1894-5 has been for 14d. in the pound, 
whilst the last precept of the Metropolitan Board of Works in r888-9 
was only for roT11fd. But these figures can no more be fairly placed 
in comparison than the budget of a lone widow with that of the 
mother of a large and growing family. The Council's preceptincludes not only the old charges of the Metropolitan Board of 
Works, but also several other rate which used to be formerly levied 
in other ways. The old County Justices' rate, for instance, which 
amounted to rid. in the Middle ex part of London, 1·37 sd. in the 
Surrey part, and no less than 4d. in the corner which was formerly 
in Kent, or an average throughout London of r·72d. in the pound in 
1888-9, the last year of its separate existence, now accounts for r·73d. 
of the Council's expenditure. Then there are portions of the old 
Poor Rate and local Vestry Rates, which the Council, for the sake 
of efficiency and better equalization of the burden, has had placed on 
its own shoulders. These items, which are actually paid by the 
Council to the local Vestries and the Boards of Guardians, and do 
not form part of its own expenditure at all, amount to no less than 
3·72d. out of its levy on London. If we add these to the last 
Metropolitan Board of \Vorks precept, as in all fairness we should do, 
we shall see that, instead of there being any increase of burden in 
the Council's precept, there is an actual decrease of I ASd. in the 
pound. The result is, that as regards the majority of parishes, 
the net demand of the Central Municipal Authority has posztzvel)' 
decreased durzizg the szx years of the Couudl's exzstmce. 

Apart from these financial complications, which affect rather the 
distribution of the burden than its total amount, the Council's net 
demand on the London ratepayer has, in the six years, risen by 1 !d. 
in the pound everything included. A half-penny each for the Parks 
Committee ~nd the Technical Education Board, a farthing for the 
Fire Brigade, and another farthing for the growing activitie~ of the 
Public Health, Asylums, Main Drainage, and other cornmJtteesthi 
is the price which London as a whole 1s asked to .Pa):' for the 
abolition of its old corrupt aovernment, and the substitutiOn ot a 
body which has carried out ~ beneficent reYolution in every department 
oF its municipal life. The net increase of charge upon each 
Londoner, after six ye.ars of the Council's n:!e, is less than rd. prr 
month, e\'erything included. 


14 

London's Budget, 1893-4. 

RECEIPTS. 
Exchequer Contribution 
Contributions for Fire Brigade 
Do. Industrial Schools 
judicial receipts -Fees, 
Fines, &c. 
Middlesex & Surrey CountyCouncils ... 
Contributions for Main 
Drainage... , .. 
Grant for County PauperLunatics ... 
Fees and Fines from various 
services and miscellaneous 
receipts ... 
Difference of balances between 
beginning and end 
of yearRate for General County 
purposes ... 
Rate for Special County pur


poses 

£ 

339,-PI 

1,626 

II,532 
16,737 


EXPENDITURE. 
Interest on debt and expensesGrant for Indoor Paupers ... 
Other grants in relief of 
Local Rates 
Pensions .. 
Judicial Expenses and Criminal 
Prosecutions ... 
Establishment ChargesWorks 
Main DrainageFire Brigade 
Parks and Open SpacesBridges and Free FerryWeights and Measures Inspectiou 
... 
Coroners 
Industrial Schools ... 
Lunatic AsylumsParliamentary Business 
Sundry Services ... 
Balance 

£ 

1,071,537 
326,809 

12,099 

33.390 

ss.968 
30,20+ 
103,535 
2j8,Q02 
J+2,998 
87,496 
35,20! 

13,152 
23,53426,!38 
49,60212,82 I 
122,410 

46.968 

VII. A PROGRESSIVE COUNTY COUNCIL 
PROGRAM. 
To bring it into line with the Municipal Boroughs in the 
provinces, London must be unified by the supersession of the City 
Corporation, and the London County Council must obtain powersfrom Parliament


(r) To levy special taxation upon the owners of ground rents and 
other land values, and to collect half rates from owners of emptyhouses and vacant land. 
(2) To secure special contributions by way of betterment from 
the owners of property benefited by public improvements.
(3) To absorb all future unearned increment by means of a 
Municipal Death Duty on local real e tate. 
(4) To further equalize the local rates by means of a Common 
Municipal Fund analogou to the Common Poor Fund. 
(S) To enforce a proper valuation_ and assessment of houses and 
land. 
(6) To collect its own rate. 
(7) To protect, reclaim, and usefully employ the vast misappropriated 
endowments now in the hands of the City Guilds. 
(8) To control the water supply by providing an independent 
supply, and taking over, on equitable terms, the plant, pipes, &c. of 
the exi~ting undertakings. 
(9) To work the tramways as it acquire~ them, under its legal 
powers, without the intervention of any lessee, contractor, or other 
middleman. 

IS 


(10) To secure the transfer of all existing private markets, and to 
-provide new ones where required.
(II) To take over and extend the existing gas supply. 
(12) To control the police force. 
(13) To take over the duties of the Asylums' Board, and the 
·control of the hospitals. 
(14) To obtain control of all the metropolitan open spaces still 
vested in the Crown, including the Royal Parks and Trafalgar 
.Square.
(15) To supervise and control the Vestries and District Boards so 
as to secure more uniformity in paving, cleansing, and lighting the 
streets, and the enforcement of the sanitary and other laws affecting 
the public health. 
(16) To license omnibuses and cabs. 
(17) To prepare the register of electors. 
(18) To become the Metropolitan Burial Authority.
(19) To promote bills in Parliament for all the purposes of its 
work. 
In addition, women should be made eligible as candidates, m 
·Order that in its administrative work the Council may be able to 
have the assistance of every capable citizen, irrespective of sex. 
The maintenance of the policy of the present Council on the 
following points should also be insisted upon : 

The Proper Treatment of Labor. 

(1) A 
normal Eight Hours day.
(2) Not less than Trade Union rate of wages for each occupation. 
(3) Full liberty of combination. 
(4) One day's rest in seven, and sufficient holidays. 
(S) The prohibition of overtime except in unexpected emergencies.
(6) 
The direct employment of labor by the Council wherever 
possible, in preference to contracting, both in the supplyof commodities and in constructive works. 
(7) 
Where contracting is necessary, the putting down of all 
sweating and sub-contracting, and the rigid enforcement 
of the rule that only firms which pay the Trade Union 
rate of wages for the particular occupation, and observe 
the standard hours of labor, where such standard exists, 
shall be employed. 
NOTE . 

The authorities for the facts given in this Tract are the Annual Report of the London 
County Council, 1893-4, the Report of the T echnical Education Board, and the 
Census Returns. 

G. STANDRING, Printer, 7 & 9 Finsbury Street, London, E.C. 

\ 


F
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ABIAN SOCIETY.-The Fabian Society consists of Socialists. A statement 
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