~Fabian Tract No. 137. 


PARISH COUNCILS AND 
VILLAGE LIFE. 


A REVISED EDtTION OF 

"FIVE YEARS' FRUITS OF THE PARISH COUNCILS ACT." 

PuBLISHED AND SoLD BY 

THE FABIAN SOCIETY. 

PRICE ONE PENNY. 

LONDON: 
THE FABIAN SociETY, 3 CLEMENT's INN, STRAND, W.C. 
MARCH 1908. 



In the Press, 450 Pf>., D emy 8vo. 7s. 6d. net. 

A HISTORY OF THE 
ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL LABOURER. 
BY 
Dr. W. HASBACH, 

Professor of Pol£/tcal Economy z'n the Um'verszty of Ktel. 

In view of the widespread interest which is now being taken in the land question, 
considerable importance attaches to this publication. The author traces in historical 
order the development of the class of agricultural labourer as it exists at the present 
day. The book is historical and not controversial, though the whole impression left 
by it is of the evil results of the development of an agriculturd! proletariat and of the 
comparative novelty of such phenomenon. The work, which was originally published 
in Germany, has been brought right up to date and translated into English by Miss 
Ruth Kenyon. 

Prospectus post free on apph'catz'on. 

ORCHARD HOUSE,

p. s. KING & SON, 
WESTMINSTER. 

THE FABIAN SOCIALIST SERIES 
consists of a revised, collected, and classified edition of some of the most 
valuable of the famous "Fabian Tracts " in a style more suitable for the 
general reading public, and :;upplying in a handy and attractive form the 
best and most authoritative thought on " What Socialism Means." Each 
booklet contains not less than g6 well-printed pages, good paper and good 
type, and is supplied in two forms, i.e., in attractive wrappers at 6d. each, 
nett, and in quarter cloth boards, gilt top, at ts. each, nett. Postage rd. and 
2d. each respectively. 

VOLUMES NOW READY : 

I. 
SOCIALISM AND RELIGION. CoNTENTS: (r) Christian Socialism, 
by the Rev. Stewart D. Headlam. (2) Socialism and Lhristianity, by the Rev. 
Percy Dearmer. (3) Socialism and the Teaching of Christ, by the Rev. John 
Clifford. (4) A Word of Remembrance and Caution to the Rich, by j ohn 
Woolman, of the Society of Friends. 
II. 
SOCIALISM AND AGRICULTURE. CONTENTS: (r) The Village and 
the Landlord, by Edward Carpenter. (2) State Aid to Agriculture, by T. S. 
Dymond. (3) The Secret of Rural Depopulation, by Lieut.-Col. D. C. Pedder. 
(4) The Revival of Agriculture, by the Fabian Society. 
IIi. SOCIALISM AND INDIVIDUALISM. CoNTENTS: (r) The Difficulties 
of Individualism, by Sidney Webb. (2) The Moral Aspects of Socialism, 
by Sidney Ball. (3) The Impossibilities of Anarchism, by G. Bernard Shaw. 

(4) Public Service ve•·sus Private Expenditure, by Sir Oliver Lodge. 
IV. THE BASIS AND POLICY OF SOCIALISM. CoNTENTS: (1) Facts 
for Socialists, by the Fabian Society. (2) Capital and Land, by the Fabian 
Society. (3) Socialism: True and False, by Sidney Webb. (+) Twentieth 
Century Politics, by Sidney Webb. 
LONDON : A. C. FIFIELD, 44 FLEET STREET, E.C. 
AND TilE FABIAN SOCIETY, 3 CLE\~"iT'S J N, STRAND, W.C. 


. ttf?tt <::.tll)'l 


PARISH CouNCILS AND VILLAGE LIFE. 

SINCE 1894 every rural parish containing more than 300 inhabitants 
has had a parish council to manage its local affairs. These councils 
are elected once every three years. There will be elections in 
March or April, 1910, 1913, 1916, etc. Ifthere is not a good parish 
council in any parish, the electors should take care to get a good one 
at the next election. • 

What use is the Parish Council ? 

Many people are saying that the parish councils are of no use to 
the parishes, and that they have done nothing for the poor man. It 
is quite true that in most places the parish councils have not done 
much. In many villages they _have done nothing at all. But where 
they have done nothing at all, it is largely because the wrong men 
have been elected. In most parishes the farmers and shopkeepersand innkeepers do not like the parish council, because they are 
afraid of having to pay higher rates, and very few of the squires and 
parsons believe in it or·care much about it.t 

These people go about saying that parish councils are of no use 
at all to anybody. Unfortunately, many laborers and other simplefolk believe this. They hoped much from the parish councils, and 
they have got little or nothing. But it is not true that parishcouncils are of no use to the poor man. They have taken the 
power over the village affairs out of the hands of individuals or 
cliques, and taught the laborer that his vote is as good as that of 
anyone else. In hundreds of different parishes up and down 
England and Wales the parish councils have done a great deal of 
good. They have got allotments and small holdings of grazing or 
gardening land for men who wanted them; they have protected the 
poor man's common or village green, and often obtained additional 
land for common pasture ; they have appointed their own men to 
manage the village charities, and have sometimes restored to the 
poor charity money which had formerly been misapplied ; theyhave seen to it that the charities should go to those who really 
needed them, whatever political or religious opinions they mighthold ; they have got better drinking water for the cottages, digging 
aew wells and putting up new pumps where required ; they have 

* For a plain statement of the law about parish councils, exact particulars as to 
who can vote and who can be elected, and full explanation about the method of 
election, see Fabian T ract No. 62, " Parish and District Councils: what they are and 
what they can do." rd. It will be posted to any person sending r~d. in stamps to 
the Secretary, Fabian Society, 3 Clement's Inn, Strand, London, W.C. 
t For this reason no proper report has been published by the Government, as 
was its plai n duty, showing what the parish councils have done. The facts in this 
Tract have been gathered from more than a hundred separate reports obtained by the 
Fabian Society from parishes all over the country ; from the printed reports and 
proceedings of county and rural district councils ; and frcn various Parliamentary 

papers. 


4 

cleaned out filthy ponds and ditches, and done away with nuisances 
which were injuring the health of the village; they have maintained 
and repaired the footpaths, and prevented the stopping up of 
public rights of way; they have looked after the rates and taxes and 
sometimes saved the parish large sums of money by preventingdishonest officers stealing the cash or dealing unfairly with the 
assessments ; they have put up lamps to light the village streets at 
night; they have procured fire engines to put out fires; they have 
provided open bathing places and sometimes regular baths for men 
and women ; they have laid out playgrounds for the children, 
cricket fields for the young men, and pleasant walks among trees, 
with seats for the weary ; they have erected parish halls where 
needed ; and they have sometimes set going libraries and readingrooms for the free use of the parish. All this, and much more, has 
been done by the parish councils in those parishes in which the 
right men have been elected. This Tract is written to tell of their 
success. What these parishes have done, others can do. 

Allotments and Small Holdings. 

The Act of I907 having at the time of writing (February, I9o8),
only been in force for a few weeks it is impossible to record anyresults from it, but it has already created a great movement in many 
parts of the country and thousands of acres of land have been 
applied for. Associations of intending small holders have been 
formed in many districts, such as the Land Clubs of East Surreyand West Kent, federated in the Land Club Union, particulars of 
which can be obtained of Montague Fordham, Honorary Organizing 
Secretary, Pains Hill, Limpsfield, Surrey. The Co-operativeSmall Holdings Association, of 10 Adelphi Terrace, London, W.C., 
can supply lecturers and other information as to what is being done 
and how to get small holdings and allotments.• 

A considerable proportion of the 7 ,ooo parish councils in existence 
have got land for allotments, amounting altogether to something 
like I71ooo acres. Most of this was acquired in the first three 
years after the passing of the Act of I 8q4; but since I 897 there has 
been a steady, though slower, progress in this direction. In the five 
years from 1897 to I902, 219 parish councils acquired 2,580 acres for 
allotments, accommodating nearly 6,ooo tenants ; whilst five parishmeetings acquired 45 acres for 77 tenants.+ 

In Norfolk more than IOO parishes, in Devon and in Lincoln-
shire more than 8o, have now their own allotments under the parishcouncil. What no one laborer could do for himself, the parishcouncil was able to do for them all. Usually the parish council 
succeeded in getting enough land by agreement with the landlordt 
which is much the best way for all parties. Sometimes the landowners 
or parsons have shown themselYes willing to help the parish 

* See Fabian Tract No. 134, "Small Holdings, Allotments, and Common 
Pastures: and how to get them " ; six for rd. 
t lt is not yet possible to give any summarized figures for the years since rgozbecause the official return, which is the only possible source of such figures, appears at 
somewhat rare intervals. 


5 


council, as, for' example, at Shepton Beauchamp (Somerset) and at 
Eaglescliffe (Durham), where the good offices of the rector smoothed 
the way to the acquisition of some 28 acres of excellent grass land 
for the laborers of the village. An admirable instance of energy is 
afforded by the Parish Council of Belbroughton (Worcestershire).
This is a village inhabited mainly by nailmakers, who, in consequence 
of the rapid increase of machinery, found their old industryof nailmaking by hand could no longer provide them with even the 
bare living wage that they had been used to make. In 1895 the 
parish council took a field of I 8 acres and accommodated 30 nailers. 
The next year 16 acres were added; the year after, 109 acres; and, 
in 1903, a further 34 acres. These 177 acres enable II2 men to 
obtain a livelihood as market gardeners. No less than 26 horses are 
employed in ploughing, carting, and carrying the produce to Birmingham 
and bringing back manure for the land. All this, it is 
worthy of remark, has been done despite the lethargy of the rural 
district council and the continued opposition of the chief landowner. 
In many cases where a landlord's obstinacy has produced a deadlock, 
the law has been set in motion, and he has been forced to part with 
some of his land to the parish... 

Here are the names of some parishes where an order has been 
obtained compelling the landlords to let the laborers have land:


Pop. 
Asfordby (Leicestershire) 1,062 
Ashby {Lincolnshire) 1,845Beaghall (Yorkshire) 396 
Dunsford (Devon) 633 
East Rusten (Norfolk) 603 
Fosdyke (Lincolnshire) 436 
Gamlingay (Cambs.) 1,722 
Garthorpe (Lincolnshire) 481 
Goxhill (Lincolnshire) I,I74Holt (Dorset) 82o 
Kexby (Lincolnshire) 300 
Llandyfriog (Cardiganshire) 748 
Potter Heigham (Norfolk) 426 
Preston (Dorset) ... 664 
Tarvin (Cheshire)._.
Tydd St. Mary (Lincolnshire)
West Shutford (Oxfordshire) 

• If a parish council cannot get suitable land by agreement and on reasonable 
terms, it should lay the case before the county council, who will then draft an order 
authorizing the compulsory hiring for a period of not less than 14, and not more than 
35, years of such land in or near the parish as is specified in the order. This order 
will have to be confirmed by the Board of Agriculture. (The Board of Agriculture is 
now substituted for the Local Government Board, which was formerly the authorityfor carrying out this business.) If there is any opposition on behalf of the landowners 
concerned, or of any person interested, a local inquiry will be held, so that the 
Board of Agriculture may be satisfied before it confirms the order. If there is no 
opposition, the confirmation must be made as a matter of course. The Secretary to 
the Board of Agriculture, Whitehall, London, will answer any inquiries on the subject 
ana give all necessary information. 

6 

Nearly all the land has been hired by the parish council at as 
low a rent as it could arrange, and let out to the allotment holders 
at a rent per pole or per rood just covering all the expenses.

Several parishes have had allotment land purchased for them 
either by the county council or the rural district council, the parishcouncil in each case having the management. Thus Wigloft, in 
Lincolnshire, now has six acres, bought for it by the Holland 
County Council for £9oo, and paid for by a loan spread over 50 
years. The parish council lets the land to I.2 tenants, whose rent 
pays the interest and sinking fund. At the end of so years, the 
parish council will own the land free of any charge. The Parish 
Council of Keresley got the Warwickshire County Council to 
purchase I I i acres in the parish, which the parish council now 
hires from the county council, and sublets to I8 tenants. 

Most of this land is used for allotment gardens, varying in size 
from a few square yards up to an acre. But in many cases pastureland is let in larger holdings. Thus the Parish Council of Longcott,
in Berkshire, has hired IO acres of meadow which it sublets to four 
tenants ; Shrivenham, in Berkshire, zo!-acres of pasture to three 
tenants; Weedon, in Buckinghamshire, I6 acres of pasture to one 
tenant ; Clifford, in Herefordshire, four and three quarter acres to 
one tenant ; Glen Magna, in Leicestershire, six acres of pasture to 
one tenant ; Colyton, in Devonshire, I9 acres to three tenants; 
Witton Gilbert, in Durham, 3.2 acres to six tenants ; Rothbury, in 
Northumberland, 46 acres to five tenants; and the Trefdraeth 
Parish Council, in Anglesey (pop. 682) has hired no less than I72 
acres, which it has let to eleven tenants, one having about IOO 
acres. 

Although only a portion of the total number of parishes has yet 
put the law as to allotments in force, more than 3o,ooo working men 
now hold land directly from their parish councils. · 

In many other parishes the parish council has been able, without 
itself hiring or purchasing land, to induce the landlords to set aside 
land for allotments. Thus in the parishes of Axmouth, Clawton, 
and Pyworthy, in Devonshire, the parish councils received applications 
for allotments, and successfully appealed to the landowners 
on behalf of the applicants. This happened also at Dunston, in 
Lincolnshire, Harthill-with-Woodall (Yorkshire), and many other 
places. The Slimbridge Parish Council (Gloucestershire) got two 
acres of charity land divided into allotments. Twyford Parish 
Council (Hampshire) owns two acres of land under an Enclosure 
Award, and lets this out in allotments. The Cold Ash Parish 
Council (Berkshire), which similarly owns eight acres let in allotments, 
reduced the rents to the lowest possible point, and improvedthe plots by providing new gates and fences. At Nayland-with-
Wissington (Suffolk) the parish council got the rents of the existing 
allotments reduced. The Parish Council of St. Bride's Major(Glamorganshire, pop. 686) borrowed£400, on a I5 years term, in 
order to provide fences for its allotments on Ogmore Down. 

When a parish council has obtained land for allotments, it is very

useful to have definite regulations to prevent any abuse. Several 


7 


hundreds of parish councils have made such " Regulations for Allotments," 
and got them confirmed by the Local Government Board,• 
in London, so that each allotment holder may be protected from 
annoyance and the parish property from misuse. t 

Common Pasture and Grazing Grounds. 

A few parish councils have provided common pasture and 
grazing grounds for their villages. Thus at Soulbury (Bucks.), the 
parish council rents 21 acres for this purpose ; at Hasland (Derbyshire), 
seven acres. In Yorkshire, the Ashton-cum-Aughton Parish 
Council rents eight acres; that of Kilham, 21 acres; and that of 
Beeford, 48 acres-all for the poor man's cow, the cottager's goose,
and the horse or donkey of the small dealer or craftsman. And 
now, by the new Small Holdings Act, wherever allotments are provided 
and it is thought desirable to attach grazing ground to them, 
land may be acquired for that purpose. 

Cottages. 
A parish council cannot build cottages apart from allotments ; 
but it can, without permission from anyone, appoint a committee of 
inquiry to report on the state of the housing in the parish, and 
print its report. If this committee reports that the cottages are ill-
drained, unwholesome, and unfit to live in, and that new cottagesought to be built to supply the needs of the villagers, then the 
parish council should pass a resolution calling on the rural district 
council to build new cottages. 1f the rural district council neglects 
or refuses to comply with this request, the parish council can appeal 
to the county council, which, when satisfied that the need for new 
cottages exists, can order the cottages to be erected. 
[A Rural Housing Bill is promised by the Government, which 
may alter all this, but at the time of writing (February, 1908) its 
provisions are unknown.]
Some parish councils have got cottages repaired by complaining 
to the district or county council. The Parish Council of Suffield 
(Norfolk, pop. 207) found that the parish contained some cottageswhich were in very bad repair. It borrowed £roo on a 12 years 
term, put them in good order, and let them at satisfactory rentals. 
The parish of Ixworth (Suffolk, population 856) was the first to 
get cottages actually built for it by the rural sanitary authority.
After many complaints and repeated inquiries, the Thingoe Rural 
District Council bought four acres of land for £I6o, and built eight 
cottages for £1,370, borrowing the money from the Public Works 
Loan Commissioners at three and a quarter per cent., repayable byinstalments extending over 30 years. The cottages are let at 
£5 10s. each a year, and the surplus land at twopence per rod. 
This, however, was done in r89o-1893, before parish councils existed. 
The first case of a parish council building cottages was that of Pens


• These regulations will now be confirmed by the Board of Agriculture, the 
Secretary to which will furnish inquirers with all necessary information. 
t See also below (p. 9) as to power of parish council to build cottages on allotments. 



hurst (Kent, pop. 1,678), and this was due to the energy of a lady 
councillor (Miss Jane Escombe). Beginning in 1895, it was not 
until 1897 that she managed to get a county council inquiry; and 
it took over two years more to get over all the official and other 
difficulties. But in November, 1899, a site of three-quarters of an 
acre was purchased from the clergyman for £130 ; and twelve 
months later the cottages, six in number (with six rooms each), were 
completed at a cost of £501 for each pair, covered by a loan of 
£1,8oo at three and a half per cent., repayable in 40 years. At five 
>hillings per week the receipts amount to £78, and the annual 
charge for interest and repayment is £74 9s. 6d. 

Eight more cottages have since been built on leasehold land at a 
cost of £1,850, and are let at rents from four shillings to 4s. 9d. perweek. ·The loan is repayable in 40 years, and the rate of interest is 
three and a half per cent. 

Bradwell (Maldon R. D. C., Essex). Six cottages have been built, 
at a total cost of£I ,450 inclusive, on an acre of land costing £ 45· 
There are on the ground floor parlor, living room, and kitchen eightfeet high ; and on the first floor three bedrooms eight feet six inches 
high. They are let at 3s. 6d. each per week. The loans were 
£1,250 at three and three quarters per cent., and £zoo at four and 
a quarter per cent. 

Bratton (Westbury, Wilts). Four houses have been built, at a 
cost of £887, on land costing £30 for 32 perches (at the rate of 
£I so per acre), or a whole cost, with architect's fees, etc., of £970. 
Each house has two rooms and scullery on the ground floor, and 
three bedrooms on the first floor, and is let at 3s. 6d. per week, 
tenant paying rates. 

Linton (Cambridgeshire). Application was made by this council 
to the county council on behalf of five parishes in the district, but 
the others are standing over until Linton has gone through. It is 
hoped to build for £130 per cottage, then let at zs. 6d. per week. 
Land cost £IZ5 for two acres. A loan of £1,500, repayable in 61 
years, has been sanctioned by the Local Government Board. 

Malpas (Cheshire). A loan of £2,500 was obtained for sixty 
years, and twelve cottages provided at an estimated annual cost to 
the rates of £II per annum on an assessable value of£4,89 I. Only 
part of the land has been used, and a rent of four pounds per annum 
is being derived from the unbuilt portion. 

Limpsfield (Surrey, pop. 1,9II) is another place which has been 
very active. In 1901 the parish council found the cottage accommodation 
in the village to be insufficient and, after very careful 
inquiry, representations were made to the principal landowner in 
the matter, with the result that he promised to build immediatelytwelve additional cottages as an experiment. In 1906 it was found 
that there was still a scarcity of cottages, and it was proposed that a 
special report on the matter should be laid before the rural district 
council. Eventually the parish meeting decided that the work had 
better be done by voluntary effort, and a building company was 
formed for the purpose. No difficulty was found in raising the 


9 

money, and cottages, which are already begun, will be let at a low 
rental, paying a small fixed charge by way of interest on the capitaloutlay.

In Ireland much more has been done than in England. There 
are now over I s,ooo cottages in Irish rural districts, built, owned 
and let out to tenants by the local public authority. 

Lastly, it is important to remember how the Small Holdings Act, 
1907, has changed the law as regards building in connection with 
allotments. Formerly the rural district council could improve and 
adapt land acquired by it for allotments. Now these powers have 
not only been transferred to the parish council, but they have been 
considerably increased by the fact that the parish council is allowed 
to erect buildings on the allotments which it holds. A parishcouncil may, if it think fit, put up a cottage on any of its allotments 
which is not less than one acre in extent. 

Recreation Grounds. 

Many parish councils have secured useful recreation grounds for 
their villages. Sometimes these have been given free. At Titchfield 
(Hampshire) five acres have been given; at Nacton (Suffolk) one 
acre ; at Westbury (Wilts.) half an acre. The parish council of 
Aldenham (Herts., pop. 2,487) had given it half an acre with 
gymnastic appliances; and has been offered another four acres for a 
public park. At Mayfield (Staffs.) the inhabitants themselves presented 
the parish council with one acre for this purpose. In other 
villages, land has been let to the parish council at a nominal rent, 
such as a shilling a year. At Roade (Northamptonshire, pop. 69 r l 
the parish council has thus secured a recreation ground of halt 
an acre; at Calverton (Notts.) one of two acres; at Bramcote, in 
the same county, one of four acres; at Harrow Weald (Middlesex) 
as much as five-and-three-quarter acres; whilst on the other hand 
the parish council of St. Margaret-at-Cliffe (Kent), having been 
given a zigzag footpath up the cliff, has got the use for sixpence a 
year of sufficient land to put seats on. Less fortunate villages have 
had to rent land for recreation grounds. The parish C::J •.mcil of 
Aston Tirrold (Berks., pop. 289) hires two acres, whilst that of 
Twyford (pop. I ,106) in the same county, hires ten acres; Wymondham 
(Norfolk) is content with half an acre, and Clifton (Lanes.) with 
three-quarters of an acre, whilst Naseby (Northamptonshire) hires 
1 I acres. Many parish councils (for instance, that of Great and 
Little Hampton, W orcestershire) have improved the village greens, 
so as to make them fit places for the children to play on. The 
parish council of Barrowden (Rutland) has hired seven acres specifically 
for a cricket ground; that of Norton-under-Hamdon (Somerset)
one-and-a-half acres for a children's playground, whilst Barford 
Parish Council (Warwickshire) went in for five-and-a-half acres for 
this purpose. Northolt Parish Council (Middlesex) has got one-anda-
quarter acres of land for a village green at a nominal rent of five 
shillings a year. Sometimes much larger areas are hired by parish 
councils for the combined purpose of recreation grounds and common 
grazing. Thus Aberffraw, in Anglesey, rents by its parish council 


JC 

16 acres; Whittington, in W orcestershire, 2c acres; Chigwell, in 
Essex, 49 acres; Pelsall, in Staffordshire, as much as 55 acres. 

A few parish councils have purchased land for recreation grounds ; 
thus Chulmleigh (Devon) has bought a little ornamental garden of 
four poles extent ; Horndon-on-the-Hill (Essex) has bought one-anda-
half acres ; Forest Row (East Sussex) four acres ; Horsepath(Oxfordshire) four acres; Wattisfield (West Suffolk) four-and-threequarter 
acres ; and Rapley (Hants.) as much as seven acres, part of 
which it devotes to allotments. In such cases the parish council 
borrows the money to pay for the land. Thus Burwell (Cambridgeshire) 
borrowed £346 to buy some recreation ground; Willingham,
in the same county, £soo; Cuddesdon, in Oxfordshire, £l6o; 
Winterslow (Wilts) £250; and Caterham, in Surrey, as much as 
£2,700-all for recreation grounds. Here again the parish council 
may make bye-laws, which will be confirmed by the Local Government 
Board, for the regulation of its recreation ground. In 1905-6 
and 1906-7 the Board has confirmed such bye-laws made by various 
councils-Patten (Bedfordshire), Tiverton (Somerset), Willingham(Cambridgeshire), South Normanton (Derbyshire), Combe Martin 
(Devon), Aldenham (Herts.), Frensham (Surrey), etc. 

Public Wharf. 

At Acle (Norfolk) a small piece of land by the river, forming a 
sort of wharf, is rented from the lord of the manor, in order that the 
inhabitants may have the free right to load and unload boats, independently 
of the riparian owners and occupiers. 

Drying Ground. 

At Cummersdale (Cumberland, pop. 61 5) the inhabitants felt the 
want of a drying ground, and the parish council rented half an acre 
of land for common use. 

Burial Grounds. 

When the parish churchyard gets full, or is too far off from partof the parish, it is a great convenience for the parish to be able to 
get a new burial ground. This has been done by nearly 700 parish 
councils. Occasionally the parish council has been able to get the 
land for nothing, on proving that it was really needed, as at Steetonwith-
Eastburn (West Riding of Yorkshire), where the chairman of 
the parish council presented the council with one-and-a-half acres. 
In some cases the land has to be hired on a long lease ; the parishcounc1l of Brisley (Norfolk) has thus rented half an acre. But nearlyalways the parish council has bought the freehold, obtaining a loan 
for the purpose. Sometimes, as at Isleham (Cambridge), all that is 
obtained is an additional half-acre beside the churchyard. At other 
times much more is bought; the parish council of Dolwyddelan (pop. 
I 
1II2), in Carnarvonshire, has purchased nearly eight acres. In a few 
cases where the landowner could not be induced to sell the necessaryland adjoining or near the churchyard, the parish council prevailed 

on the rural district council to take it compulsorily. 


II 

These purchases are made by means of loans. Thus the Curston 
Parish Council (Norfolk, pop. 986) borrowed £340 to buy land for a 
new burial place; the Hauxley Parish Council (Northumberland, 
pop. 1,627) borrowed £381 ; and the Rainham Parish Council 
(Essex, pop. 1,725) borrowed £400. In 1905-6 the Local Government 
Board sanctioned loans amounting altogether to £7,478, and 
in 1906-7 £6,765 to parish councils for burial grounds. 

Mortuary. 

The Parish Council of Clifton, a mining village in Lancashire 
(pop. 3,ooo), by setting aside a stable at the back of the council 
offices, has provided a mortuary for common use. 

Parish Land Recovered. 

Many small pieces of land belonging to the public at large havt 
been "lost" in years gone by for want of anyone to stand up for 
the public rights. Parish councils have been examining the Enclosure 
Awards, Tithe Awards, and Lists of Charities for their parishes,
and some of this "lost" land has been recovered. For instance, 
the Askern Parish Council (West Riding of Yorkshire) is now in 
possession of half an acre of land, including a useful quarry, which 
had been duly awarded to the parish years ago, but had been 
quietly usurped by the neighboring landowner. When the village 
got a parish council to assert the public rights, the present landowner 
consented to restore the half-acre in question. At Shirland 
(Derbyshire) the parish council compelled a landowner to disgorge a 
small strip of land by the high road which he had annexed. The 
parish council now receives a small annual rent for its use. The 
Hurley Parish Council (Berkshire) found that the lord of the manor 
had for years been allowing people, now and then, to enclose bits of 
the common land, on condition that they paid him a small quit 
rent. The council complained, and this filching of the public rights 
has been stopped. At St. Budeaux (Devonshire) the Government 
had appropriated the village green under some plea or another, but 
the parish council has now obtained possession of this half-acre, 
hiring it from the War Office at the nominal rent of a shilling a 
year. At Pilton (Somerset) the parish council got the lord of the 
manor to transfer to them free of cost the site of the old parish 
pound, to be planted with trees and shrubs. At Long Preston 
(West Riding of Yorkshire) the lord of the manor has transferred 
the village greens to the parish council free of charge ; and at 
Thundersley (Essex) the same is being done with regard to a large 
common. Many other village greens, the legal ownership of which 
has become vested in the lord of the manor, have been let to parishcouncils at a shilling, or some other nominal rent, so that the 
people might have a legal right to the use and management of 
them. By the activity of parish councils many commons and 
greens have been protected against encroachments and appropriation. 
Thus at Cellan, in Cardiganshire, the parish council had 
the common accurately measured, and the public ownership put on 
record. The Parish Council of Send and Ripley (Surrey, pop. 


12 

2,301) has made byelaws regulating the use of its village green and 
other open spaces. This should be done by every parish council 
which can prove its title to the green.

The green strips by the side of the high roads are public property, 
and ought never to be enclosed. In the past many thousands 
of these pieces of land have been quietly stolen by the neighboringlandowners. Now it is the duty of the parish council to watch 
them, and the duty of the county council to protect them. Manyencroachments have been thus stopped. The Parish Council of St. 
Bride's Major (Glamorgan., pop. 686) successfully fought the Earl of 
Dunraven, who had tried to make a big encroachment. 

Parish Halls or Rooms. 
Many parish councils have acquired or built convenient public 
rooms for the village to meet in, and offices for the parish business. 
At Charing (Kent) the parish council bought 10 poles of freehold 
land and built a hall, getting a loan of £z86 for the purpose. The 
Boarhunt Parish Council (Hampshire) did the same thing. Compton(Rants.) bought three-quarters of an acre and built a hall; Hessle, 
in the East Riding of Yorkshire, half an acre for the same purpose.
Dysarth (Flintshire) borrowed £88, and West End (Southampton)
£450. The Parish Council of Hawkehurst (Kent) borrowed £625 
to build its parish hall, which includes offices for the parish business. 
But a suitable room can be put up for much less. The Parish 
Council of Trefriew (Carnarvonshire) only had to borrow £114 to 
pay for its parish room; and the Parish Council of Underskiddaw 
(Cumberland) only required £150 for the same purpose. The 
Parish Council of Bovey Tracey (Devonshire) borrowed £400 to 
provide themselves with a "town hall," but South Stoke (Oxford-
shire) was contented with spending £so, and Gunthorpe (Nettinghamshire) 
with spending £120 on their "parish rooms." At 
Cheddar (Somerset) the parish council bought a house with a 
quarter of an acre of garden, and converted it into a public hall and 
parish offices. This cost about £300, which the parish borrowed 
for a term of 30 years, during which it will pay interest and sinkingfund, and after that will have the house and building free of charge.
The Parish Council of Clifton (Lanes., pop. 3,ooo) bought two 
cottages for £ soo, and uses one for the parish offices, while the 
other is let to a tenant. 

Schools. 
Parish councils have no direct authority over the schools, but bymeans of the school manager whom they elect, or by making representations 
of their needs to the proper authority, they may add 
materially to the welfare of the scholars. A school manager 
appointed by the parish council should be required to give a report 
to the parish council of what has passed at the education committee. 
The report would, of course, be confined to such matters as are of 
public interest and not confidential. Another matter in which a 
parish council might usefully bestir itself would be to urge the 
county council to provide facilities for technical education in the 


13 

village. The Parish Council of Yarm (Yorkshire) secured for their 
village the services of an excellent horticultural lecturer from the 
North Riding County Council as a result of which a very promisinghorticultural society has been established there. 

The Preston-on-Tees Parish Council (Durham, pop. 8oo) finding 
that the distance from the homes of many scholars to the existing 
school was. too great to allow of their attending regularly, made 
representatiOns to the Durham County Council, and a new school 
w~s started for the children in the outlying parts of the parish. At 
L1mpsfield (Surrey) the school manager appointed by the parishcouncil personally started a canteen, which fed 6o children who came 
from a distance at a charge of one penny each per day. The planhas been continued for a second season. 

Charities. 

In many parishes the parish council has reformed the charities 
by appointing some of its own members as trustees. Sometimes, as 
at Burley-in-Wharfedale (Yorkshire), the rents of parish land or 
cottages have simply been taken by the overseers in aid of the poor 
rate (and so helped to pay the rates of the squire, the parson, the 
innkeeper, etc.!). This was promptly stopped, and the money given 
to the deserving poor. Then the poor were no longer compelled to 
come up publicly to claim their doles, but arrangements were made 
for paying them quietly in their own cottages. 

Sanitation. 

It is, properly speaking, the business of the rural district council 
and the county council to see that every parish is in a propersanitary condition ; that every cottage has a good supply of pure 
water ; that no stinking ponds, foul ditches, or other nuisances 
pollute the air or water ; and that every cottage has decent sanitaryconveniences. The parish council can, however, itself attend to 
small matters. At Marske-by-the-Sea (Yorkshire) the sanitation 
left much to be desired. An expert, who was called in, prepared an 
elaborate scheme ; but the parish council found it too expensive,
and so set themselves to remedy matters by giving a thoroughattention to the sewers and sewage outlets, disconnecting of all rain-
pipes from the drains, and so on. But, generally speaking, where 
the parish council comes in is in the power of making complaints to 
the rural district council, without any man running the risk of displeasing 
his landlord or his employer. Many parish councils have 
successfully used this power. They have pestered the rural district 
council with complaint after complaint, until the nuisances have 
been done away with. In Hurley (Berks.) the parish council found 
some of the cottages without any proper water supply, and using an 
infected source. It complained to the district council, got this 
source analysed and condemned, and compelled the cottage owners 
to provide a better supply. Sometimes the parish council has had 
to appeal to the county council, which has stirred up the district 
council and made it move. Where the county council has a 
medical officer (as every county council ought to have), the parish 


councils have found it very useful to send him their complaints, and 
to get him to inspect the parish. If neither the district council nor 
the county counCil will help the parish, then the parish council can 
appeal to the Local Government Board in London. The Parish 
Councils of Threapwood (Cheshire, pop. 305) and Hildenborough(Kent, pop. 1,407) complained to their district councils time after 
time about the unhealthy state of their parishes, owing to the bad 
arrangements for drainage. Finally they appealed to the Local 
Government Board in London, and the district councils have been 
told that they must provide proper drainage for these villages. The 
village of Holcot (Northamptonshire, pop. 343) was always suffering 
from bad illnesses because there was no drainage. When the 
parish council complained to the Local Government Board, the 
district council was ordered to put the village into a sanitary state 
at once. 

In 1905 there was a complaint against the rural district council 
of Dunmow that the want of a proper water supply in the village of 
Felstead was injuriously affecting the health of the inhabitants. The 
Local Government Board directed a local inquiry to be held, and 
eventually issued an order requiring the district council to carry out 
their duty within six months. The district council, however, did 
not comply with the order, and so in August, 1907, a mandamus 
was obtained from the High Court of Justice to compel them to 
do so. 

In many parishes the parish council has itself dealt with small 
nuisances, and got them stopped. At Clifton (Beds.) the villagesuffered from a filthy pond, illegally polluted by drains and itself 
polluting an open ditch. To put this right meant an expense of 
£so or more, and no one could tackle it. When the parish council 
was established it took up the job, cleaned out the pond, stoppedthe drainage into it, and scoured the ditches. It cost for one year a 
special rate of 4td. in the £, but it improved the health of the 
village. The Mundesley Parish Council (Norfolk) has hired half an 
acre of land as a dumping ground for parish refuse. The parishcouncil of Chesterton (Staffordshire) has done well in getting a sewage 
farm of its own of 140 acres. 

Water Supply. 
Although the provision of a new water supply on a large scale is 
a matter, not for the parish, but for the rural district council, the 
parish council has power to improve any existing supply within the 
parish. This power has been exercised in many hundreds of parishes, 
to the extent of making small but extremely useful improvements. 
Thus the parish council of Great Stambridge (Essex) found that the 
village badly needed better water. It obtained as a free gift from 
the landowner a few square yards of land, on which a well was sunk, 
a pump and horse-trough erected, and the whole covered by a neat 
roof. Kilmington (Wilts.) wanted a new parish pump ; one pole of 
freehold land was given free of charge by the owner to the parishcouncil, and a pump erected for the use of the public for ever. At 
St. Tudy (Cornwall) the parish council had the drinking water 


I " 

) 

~nalysed, and, finding it unsatisfactory, got the supply improved and 
mcreased. At Gaydon (Warwickshire) the parish council was given 
a good supply of water, so that it should be for ever maintained in 
good order for the village. The parish council of Humshaugh(Northumberland) has bought the freehold of a small piece of land, 
one pole in area, so as to secure for ever a public watering place.
The Churchstanton Parish Council (Devon) successfully asserted 
the public right to certain springs of pure water, and laid down 
pipes to supply the neighbors. At Thundersley (Essex) there is a 
good water supply, but the owners of some cottages neglected to layit on to them. The parish council took the matter up and compelledthem to do their duty. But the best work of that parish council 
was its standing up to a village tyrant. A local landowner filled upand destroyed an ancient spring, which the public had used from 
time immemorial, and put up barbed wire and tar to prevent the 
cottagers approaching it, whilst the county policeman was sent 
round to frighten them. The parish council raised a subscription 
to fight the case, and by an action in the Court of Queen's Bench 
(Reynolds v. Lincoln) in May, 1899, compelled the landowner to 
clear out and re-brick the spring, and remove all obstructions to the 
public use of it. The Ashton Parish Council (Northamptonshire)
had an instructive experience. When the churchyard was enlarged, 
it became necessary to divert an old line of pipes supplying water 
from a spring to the village well, and the clergyman took uponhimself to run the supply to his own house, allowing the villageonly the overflow from his tank. The parish council (whichconsisted of a grocer, a gardener, a platelayer, a signalman and a 
carpenter) then took steps to protect the village, and commenced 
to put down pipes connecting directly the well with the spring.
Thereupon the steward to the local landowner (Duke of Grafton) 
came down on the parish council, and declared that the pipes,
and even the water, belonged to the duke, because it ran under 
the public high road. At first he tried to stop the work ; then he 
claimed the ownership of the new pipes which the parish council 
was paying for; at last he offered that the duke should pay the 
expense, but said he must own the pipes. The parish council 
stood firm, and said that the parish was determined to possess its 
own water supply, which they and their forefathers had enjoyedfrom time immemorial. Finally, the duke, by his steward, made 
an awful threat. He would appeal to the Government Auditor, 
and get the amount "surcharged," upon which, as his agentexplained, those parish councillors who had ordered the expenditure 
would have to pay it out of their own pockets. He actuallytried to carry out this threat, but his agent fortunately mistook the 
day, and appeared twenty-four hours too late. So the parish council 
triumphed, and now enjoys its own good and abundant water supply.
This happy result was largely due to the wisdom of the parishcouncil in engaging a good man as clerk. Instead of getting their 
work done for nothing, and having it done badly, the council pays a 
salary of £6 a year, and shares with two other parish councils the 
services of a competent officer. 


r6 
Public Lamps and Lighting. 


Upwards of a thousand parishes have adopted the Lightingand Watching Acts, which enable the parish council to put uplamps and light the village streets and roads at night. The Parish 
Council of Elmswell (West Suffolk) is one of those that have done 
this ; that of Menstone (West Riding of Yorkshire) is another 
(it borrowed £2oo to pay for the lamps, and did the thing hand 
somely). The Parish Council of Treeton (also in the West Ridingof Yorkshire) spent £140 on public lighting at starting; and 
Brampton (Cumberland) borrowed £roo for this purpose, and 
Seaton Delaval (Northumberland) £138. But usually much smaller 
sums suffice. The annual expense of lighting is paid for by a 
separate lighting rate on the parish, which is usually only a half 
penny or a penny in the pound. The Lighting and WatchingAct involves a separate rate and a somewhat cumbrous procedure.
Other parishes have asked the Local Government Board to confer 
on the rural district council the power to light the village; and then 
got the rural district council to delegate this power to a parochial 
committee. 

Assessments and the Parish Finances. 

Some parish councils, like that of Bradfield St. George (Suffolk, 
pop. 417) have formally adopted section 3 of the Poor Rate Assessment 
and Collection Act, r869, and so made the owners of all 
cottage property themselves pay the rates. This is found a boon to 
the poor.

Before the parish council came into existence there was veryoften no one to see that the churchwardens and overseers did their 
work fairly as to the assessment of property and the collection of 
rates. When the parish of Penalt (Monmouthshire) got a parishcouncil, it was discovered that some houses had for years been left 
out of the assessment, so that the owners of them escaped their 
share of the rates ; and that a large balance was owing to the parishby a former overseer. The parish council insisted on this beingmade right, and so saved the parish in one year more than the 
whole amount of its expenditure since that time. At Barford 
(Warwickshire, pop. 689) the parish council found that the three 
great houses of the parish were scandalously under-assessed, and gotthem put up by £2oo. This at once reduced the rates by a pennyin the pound. 

At Blackshaw (West Riding of Yorkshire) the parish council 
thought that the parish was unfairly treated by the county council 
in being assessed at too high a sum towards the county rate. The 
parish council twice appealed against the county rate basis, and was 
successful in getting it considerably reduced, saving the ratepayersof the parish a large sum annually. Similarly, when the neighboring 
town of Todmorden became a municipal borough, it strove to 
put upon Blackshaw parish the maintenance of some roads which 
were in a bad state of repair. The parish council stood up for its 
rights and got compensation for the parish. 

• 


17 

Markets, 

Some parish councils manage little markets or annual fairs and 
take the profits in aid of the rates. At Bawtry, in Yorkshir~ the 
parish council rents the market place from the lord of the m~nor 
and receives the market tolls. At Bardney, in Lincolnshire th~ 
parish council maintains the village green and, with the conse'nt of 
the lord of the manor, lets it out on the occasion of the annual fair, 
and uses the rents for parish purposes. 

Roads, Paths, and Bridges, 

Many parishes have, through their parish councils, got their 
footpaths and little bridges put in order, and sometimes new ones 
made. Thus, quite small parishes, such as Welford (Berkshire, pop. 
79 I) have gravelled their footpaths and repaired their footbridges, so 
that the children can go to school without getting their feet wet. 
The Parish Council of Snape (Suffolk, pop. 529) finds it convenient 
to have its own gravel-pit for footpath repair, and so rents a quarterof an acre of land and digs its own gravel instead of buying it. The 
Parish Council of Orrell-with-Ford (Lanes., pop. 2,1o4) is properlyproud of having "name-plated all the roads, finger-posted all the 
footpaths, and twice cleaned out the boundary brook.'' The Parish 
Council of St. Tudy (Cornwall, pop. 495) agitated for and got built 
a new footbridge over the river; and the Parish Council of Clifton 
(Lanes.) has put several footbridges over streams and over the railway. 
The Parish Council of Weston Turville (Bucks.) took in hand 
a dangerous corner of a road, and bought a strip of garden to widen 
the highway. The West Mill Parish Council (Herts.) fenced the 
road off from a bog with white-painted posts. At Timperley, in 
Cheshire, there was a footpath leading to a level crossing over the 
railway. This was a cause of serious danger and occasional accidents. 
As it proved to be impossible to get a railway bridge, the parish 
council made an exchange of land and diverted the footpath so as to 
obviate the dangerous crossing. At Newstead (Nottinghamshire) a 
new road was needed, and the parish council has rented altogetherfive acres of land in order to lay this out. Lower Dylais (Glamorganshire) 
wanted a new footpath and made it, formally hiring the 
narrow strip of land on a long lease. Whitwell (Derbyshire) was in 
the same case, but was able to hire the strip at a nominal sum. 
The Parish Council of Blaenpenal (Cardiganshire) made a new cart-
way, but was able to buy the freehold of the little bit of land 
required. At Ockbrook (Derbyshire) the parish council devoted its 
attention to improving the streets and highways. It adopted the 
Lighting Act and erected lamps (rate threepence in pound for this), 
gave names to the roads and streets and put up name-boards, 
made up and repaired the footways and approaches, and removed 
nuisances. 

Motor Cars. 

Many villages suffer very serious inconvenience and danger from 
careless and " scorching" motorists. Every parish council should 
petition the county council, as the Limpsfield Parish Council (Surrey) 


18 

has done, through the district council to get the Local Government 
Board to enforce the limit of ten miles an hour in dangerous partsof the roads. And the county council itself, without the intervention 
of the Local Government Board, ought to put up sign-posts at all 
dangerous corners, cross-roads and steep hills. 

Fire Protection. 

More than soo parish councils have taken steps to protect their 
villages against serious fires. Sometimes, as in the cases of half-adozen 
parishes near Bedford, the councils subscribe towards an 
efficient fire brigade maintained by a neighboring town. More 
usually, the parish council organizes a volunteer fire brigade of its 
own, and provides appliances. At Tempsford (Beds., pop. 434) the 
parish council pays the engineer's salary ; at Burnham (Bucks.,
pop., 3,245) the men are paid for drills ; elsewhere, as at Malpas(Cheshire, pop. 1,139), the men are paid for attendance at fires. At 
Flimby (Cumberland, pop. 2,482) the members of the parish council 
themselves act as a fire brigade. Other parishes have borrowed 
money for fire brigade purposes. Thus Walgrave (Northampton)
borrowed £6o, Easton (Northampton) £1oo, and Bishopstone(Wilts) £7o for fire engines, etc. ; Dagenham (Essex) £378 tor fire 
extinguishing appliances; and Hornchurch (Essex) £368 for enginehouse and appliances. 

Railway, Post, and Telegraph Facilities. 
Many parish councils have succeeded in getting better service 
from the Post Office. Thus the Parish Council of Broadhempston(Devon, pop. 445) got a seco:1d, or evening, postal delivery ; that of 
Hadley (Salop) got several additional pillar boxes and an afternoon 
postal delivery; that of Churchstanton (Somerset, pop. 581) obtained 
a money order office; those of East Claydon (Bucks.) and Elwick 
(Durham) have given a guarantee against loss and so secured a 
telegraph office. Newick (Sussex, pop. 953) and Eaglescliffe and 
Preston-on-Tees (Durham) got better train services from the railwaycompanies; St. Bride's Major (Glamorgan, pop. 686) made the 
company put up bridges and stiles ; while the Parish Council of 
Clifton (Lancashire) got the railway company to replace a level 
crossing by a footbridge. 

Libraries and Reading Rooms. 
In many villages a reading room is now maintained by the 
generosity of the clergyman or the squire. Often these are justwhat the village desires, but sometimes they are not. In one parishreading room in Surrey no Liberal or Radical newspaper is allowed. 
In one Sussex parish the clergyman gave his copy of the Ttmes, but 
refused to let the Da£/y News be presented, on the ground that it 
was a "party organ"! But in a few parishes the parish council now 
maintains a free public library and reading room, where the inhabitants 
can read just what books and newspapers they please, without 
being beholden to anyone. At Corwen (Merionethshire, pop. 2,723) 
the library was opened in 1896; it has a newsroom open 78 hours a 


week, and 250 books; it pays its librarian nine pounds a year; costs 
altogether £8o a year ; and is managed by a committee of six 
parish councillors and six others, whom the parish council co-opts. 
Halkyn (Flint., pop. 1,389) opened its library in 1898 ; already has 
700 books and a newsroom open 72 hours a week; pays its librarian 
£25 a year; and co-opts four persons to serve with five parishcouncillors as its library committee, which has an income of £63. 
Sometimes, as at Colwall (Hereford, pop. 1,892), the parish council 
gets a library building provided by private endowment. What can 
be done by a tiny village is shown at East and Botolph Claydon(Bucks., pop. 336) where a library was opened by the parish council 
in 1897, which now contains over 6oo books. The squire has built 
and placed at the disposal of the council, at a nominal rent, a parish 
hall, reading room, library, and caretaker's rooms. The librarywork is done gratuitously by a lady, who attends every Saturdayafternoon. In the neighboring parishes of Middle Claydon, Grand-
borough, and Water Eaton (Bucks., pop. of each between 200 and 
300), a joint library is maintained by the three parish councils 
largely through the help of Sir Edmund Verney, whose daughte;
gives her services as librarian. It is open 18 hours a week, and 
contains over 2,300 volumes, with a printed catalogue. The 
management is by a committee of five parish councillors ; and the 
total cost is about £18 a year, of which only £IO comes from the 
rates. In all these cases the parish council levies the full library rate 
of one penny in the pound, and ekes this out with such receipts as 
sales of old newspapers, fines, and subscriptions. 

Bathing Places, 

A score of parishes have adopted the Baths and Washhouses 
Acts, and now provide swimming baths. Sometimes, as at Betchworth 
(Surrey, pop. 1,789) and Alveston (Warwick) the parishcouncil has merely put up sheds, screens and platforms, so as 
to enable the river to be used in comfort, and made regulations, confirmed 
by the Local Government Board, as to the times for women 
and men respectively. At Ibstock (Leicester, pop. 3,922) the parishcouncil built a bathing tank 6ft. deep, with corrugated iron fences ; 
costing £90; supplied with water from the brook; and looked after 
by an old man at 7/6 a week . A penny is charged for admission, or 
two shillings for a season ticket. But the most successful bath seems 
to be that at Snitterfield (Warwick, pop. 727). Here an old brick 
tank, 7oft. by 30ft., that had been long unused, was obtai_ned by the 
parish council on lease from Lady Trevelyan at a nommal rental. 
The council spent £40 in putting it in order, fencing it round with 
tarred matchboarding, and providing a comfortable dressing-room 
and diving-pier. The water is supplied by a spring and is constantlychanged. The bath is open free five days a week, certain hours being 
set apart for women and g~rls. One hour a ~eek may be reser~e~ on 
the sixth day by season ttcket holders paymg a small subscnpt10n. 
The nearest cottager and his wife act as caretakers for 30s. a year, 
and the total annual cost is only about £5· The vicar has gratuitously 
taught the boys to swim. He offered to teac.b the girls if the 


20 

parish coum:il would provide bathing dresses for them, but the 
council (consisting of a "gentleman," a doctor, a farmer, and two 
hurdlemakers) declined to do so (though bathing dresses are provided 
out of the rates in London baths). During the summer 30 or 40 
persons use the tank daily. Many children bathe regularly every 
noon; and the bath is highly appreciated by the parish. Swimmingbaths have also been established by the parish councils of Snodland 
(Kent, pop. 4,136), Shere (Surrey, pop. 2, 184) ; and Blaby parish 
council (Leicestershire, pop. 1,842) hires a few square yards of land 
for a bathing station. 

It is to be regretted that so few parishes have yet followed these 
examples. The whole capital cost of a good open-air bath need not 
be incurred at once. The bath may be made one year, cemented the 
next, enclosed the next, and so on. The annual cost of maintenance 
need only be trifling. 

No parish council seems yet to have provided hot-water baths 
for individual use, though these would be a great boon to everymining village. Nor has any parish council had the enterprise to 
provide a laundry for public use, in spite of the great success in 
London and elsewhere of this convenience to small households. 

Some Typical Parishes. 
The following account of the work of the parish council in four 
separate parishes in different parts of England, shows what has 
actually been done. 

KINGSTEIGNTON (DEVONSHIRE). 

Population in Igor, 1,94-2. 
Area, 3,975 acres. Number of parochial electors, 370. 
Ratea~le value, £141280. 

This parish has throughout taken considerable interest in its 
parish council elections. The council has had from the first a Liberal 
majority, about evenly divided between Church and Dissent; but 
the elections have turned more on " village politics" and personalpreferences, than on Imperial politics or religion. The council (13) 
now consists of one clergyman, three farmers, two schoolmasters, 
two builders, one mine-owner, one shopkeeper, and three wage-
earners. The council has appointed trustees of the charities, and 
set on foot inquiries about them which have done good ; it ha! 
regularized the assessments; it has preserved one footpath from a 
threatened encroachment ; it obtained the tithe-map from the vicar 
and transferred it to its own custody; it hired two fields, comprising 
five-and-a-quarter acres, and let them out in 33 allotments; it moved 
the district council to provide a new water supply for the parish at a 
cost of £2,ooo, and built a new reservoir capable of holding 8s,ooo 
gallons and costing £1 ,8oo, which (though hotly opposed) is now 
appreciated and used by nearly all the parish ; it has organized a 
parish fire brigade, providing £so worth of fire-hose and other appliances 
; it has obtained from the district council its own appointmentas a parochial committee for sanitary purposes, and has got nuisances 
stopped ; it has cleaned out the village leet (or water course) which 
was in a dangerous state ; it has repeatedly moved the district council 


21 

to improve the drainage, obtaining more frequent flushing of sewers 
and good ventilating shafts, and causing steps to be taken to preventfloodings and storm damage. It owns three houses, bringing in 
a small sum towards the expenses, which are rigorously kept down. 
It has a division under the Newton Abbot Corps of the St. John's 

A.mbula~ce Brigade, with full uniform and equipment for dealingwith accidents and removal to hospital. It has taken gas from Newton 
Abbot for street lighting purposes, and is without doubt the best 
lit village in the country. 
AYLESFORD (KENT}. 
Population in rgor, 2,678. Area, 4,057 acres. Number of parochial electors, about 

550. Rateable value, about £rs,g8r. 
In this parish (which includes two villages, one old and proprietary, 
the other modern and manufacturing) there has never been 
any active fighting in the elections; and though the meetings have 
been well attended, they have lately not been seriously contested. 
The parish council has always been elected by show of hands 
without a poll, and only once has any old member been rejected.
The council (I 2) now consists of a sand merchant, a manager and 
assistant manager of a cement works, two doctors, two grocers, the 
cashier and secretary of a brickworks, a lime merchant, a farmer, 
and an engineer ; mostly Conservative in politics ; partly Church, 
partly Dissent. The council has done useful work with regard to 
the charities, putting representatives on the board of some important 
almshouses. It has stopped at least one job, by which it was proposed 
to reduce to a nominal sum the rent paid for a way-leave. 
The council appealed to the Charity Commissioners against it, and 
got a substantial rent fixed. It has encouraged revision of the 
assessments, and got raised those (especially of licensed houses) that 
were too low. It has prevented unwarranted diversions of publicfootpaths, even when desired by the dominant landowner. It has 
increased an already considerable supply of allotments by hiringthree and a half acres, let to 40 tenants. It has obtained two 
recreation grounds, one of three and one of nine acres. It negotiated 
with a neighboring water company, and got considerablybetter terms of supply. It has provided fire hydrants. It has 
greatly improved and extended the lighting of the village by gaslamps. It helps the county council to provide the parish with 
technical classes every winter. It has an excellent sewage arrangement, 
which cost nearly £2o,ooo. The expenditure (other than 
than that for lighting) is covered every year by a penny rate, except 
in the year that the recreation grounds were laid out, when it 
amounted to threepence in the pound. 

HoRSFORD (NoRFOLK), ST. FAITH's UNION. 

Population in rgor, 6gr. Area, 4,249 acres. Number of parochial electors, 151. 
Rateable value £2,560. 

This is a good sample of a purely rural parish, where the parishcouncil, though not brilliantly successful, has been of real advantage. 
The first election (r 894) excited great interest, and there was a fierce 


22 

contest and a poll. An active Radical majority was elected, which 
got some things done, but found more difficulties than it expected. 
The next three elections were decided by show of hands, and Conservative
· majorities were elected. Later on, in the same way, eight 
Liberals and one Conservative were elected, and these have gonesteadily to work in a quieter way than the first council. The 
councillors long included four tenant farmers, three farm laborers, 
one brickfield laborer, and one agent (a townsman). The council, 
since I 894, has secured a useful footpath against possible diversion ; 
hired eight acres of land for allotments ; got the county council to 
hold a public inquiry into the overcrowded state of the village and 
need for more cottages-the inquiry attracted so much attention 
that the worst evils got remedied-obtained a letter-box where 
needed from the Post Office, and got a savings bank branch openedin the parish, by guaranteeing the cost ; stirred up the district 
council about a wet and dirty lane which had never been repaired 
within living memory-this caused the landowners to remedy their 
neglect. Perhaps the most striking result has been the care of the 
parish land. These 208 acres of heath had been neglected for years, 
and the neighboring landowners and occupiers were quietly establishing 
a right of way across it. The parish council elected trustees 
to manage this charity, and these fenced in its land from the road, 
enclosed and drained eight acres, which are now let for grazing ; 
and, after a hot disoussion with the squire, maintained its fence 
against his claim to a right of way. The district council now owns 
and lets the shooting on the watering pits, gravel pits, and other 
odds and ends of land belonging to the parish under an Enclosure 
Award of 1810; and the rent is credited to the parish for the maintenance 
of roads. When land is wanted for allotments, the landowners 
are quite willing to let it to the parish council. But the 
real value of the parish council here is much more its intangible 
results on the village life and character. All classes are broughttogether to discuss their common business, and the laborers have 
been taught to look the squire and the parson in the face, and to 
realize that the best' men of their own class make as good and trustworthy 
councillors as landlords and farmers. "Everyone," it is now 
said,." has become independent." They know that any real grievance 
in the village can now be remedied, and the council serves as a 
vent-hole for complaints and suspicions that would otherwise have 
smouldered dangerously for years. 

NEWICK (SussEx). 

Population in 1901, 953. Area, 1,977 acres. Number of parochial electors, 200. 
Rateable value, £4,876. 

One grave defect of the parish council, as it is usually administered, 
is its failure to attract any public interest. It is not enough 
to put up a notice on the church door. It is better to do as the 
Parish Council of Orrell-with-Ford (Lanes., pop. 2,104) has done, 
viz., to meet regularly every six weeks on fixed dates. The lack of 
public interest is partly due to the neglect of the councils to let the 
parish know what they are doing. An admirable example to the 


contrary is seen at Newick (Sussex), where the parish council presents 
an annual report, which is printed in the local newspaper. As 
the report for 1899-1900 gives a vision of the work of an active 
parish council, it is here printed in full. 

ALLOTMENTS.-The committee have now a prospect of securing land and havingnearly completed their proposals, the council hope shortly to have before them a 
definite and complete scheme. 

BooKs OF REFERENCE.-Copies of further Acts of Parliament have been added. 
BUILDING BYE-LAws.-In view of the continued construction of insanitarydwellings in the parish, the council have urged on the authorities the necessity of 
enacting building bye-laws for this district. The response has not been favorable, 
but, looking at the importance of this question, the council will probably feel it their 
duty to press it further. 
CHARITIES.-The council having inquired as to the existence of any parochialcharities, have received from the Commissioners an opinion that there are none, but 
further inquiries remain to be made. 
DISTRICT RoADs.-The council, having persevered in their former course, find 
that there has been some improvement. They have also obtained from the highwayauthority an undertaking to repair the Rough, which has, however, not yet been acted 
on. The council have resolved not to apply for powers over the district roads under 
section 15 Local Government Act, 1894, but unless such roads are better managed 
in future to seek to obtain the transference of such management to the county council 
under section 16 of the above Act, or otherwise. 
EDUCATION.-Two classes for women and girls under the county council have 
been carried out by Mrs. Gravely with satisfactory results. It remains to arrangetechnical or other classes for men and boys, and the organizing secretary (Mr. Young)
has consented to address a public meeting shortly to that end. 
FINANCE.-Considerable progress has been made. All payments under the 
authority of the council, whether of accounts or of extra remuneration to officials, 
have been systematically examined by the finance committee, who have also ascertained 
the causes of the rise in the poor rate in May, r8g8. They have also established 
the right of ratepayers to examine the district council minute book. The 
drainage committee have partly explained the heavy special drainage rate and will 
further report thereon. 
FIRE BRIGADE.-An ineffectual communication was made to the Bonfire Boys' 
Society. It remains to decide whether to repeat that communication next year or 
what other attempt to make, if any. Inquiries should be made of those parishes who 
have already successfully completed their arrangements. 
FooTPATHS.-The committee have collected much information r.s to the historyof the more important footpaths with a view to determining the liability for their 
repair. They are waiting legal advice as to preserving the testimony they have 
collected. Meanwhile no further expense has been incurred. 
ISOLATION HosPITAL-The council have supported an application to the 
authorities for an isolation hospital for the district, which is likely to be acted on. 
PARISH DOCUMENTS.-The committee was re-appointed but have been unable 
to proceed for want of the required directio~s from the county council, whose attention 
will probably have to be recalled to the subject. 
PosTAL FACILITIES.-The council have secured from the General Post Office 

the promise of a new pillar-box at Cornwell's Bank for outgoing letters. An application 
for the despatch on Sundays of letters posted at the railway station was not 
granted. 

REPRESENTATION ON DISTRICT COUNCIL AND BOARD OF GUARDIANS.The 
memorial presented by the council in r8g8 has resulted, not in an increased 
representation for N ewick, but in a proportionate increase in rural representation on 
the board of guardians at the expense of urban. 

SEWAGE.-The committee appointed by the council have devoted much attention 
to this subject, and have furnished the council with considerable information. There 
has been some alteration in the methods of the sanitary authority in providing super



vision and in cultivating the irrigation area. It remains to ascertain how far the 
present methods are adequate for the improvement of the drains or the relief of the 
ratepayers. 

STEAM ENGINES ON HIGHWAYS.-The county council have acted on the suggestion 
of the parish council for the publication of the conditions under which steam 
traffic on highways is permitted. The issue of the new regulations of the countycouncil is now awaited. 

TRAIN SERVTCE.-Among other railway business transacted the council, havingbeen informed by the railway company that the late train run the previous winter 
between Lewes and Newick had been worked at a loss, requested the company to 
extend the train to East Grinstead, a request in which they were supported by the 
councils of East Grinstead, West Hoathley, Horsted Keynes and Danehill. The 
company, however, preferred to run the same train as before, but on Saturdays, an 
experiment which seems to have paid better. The council also obtained through the 
Brighton United Football Club a reduction of fares in connection with the Saturdaytrain. .Further mformation is likely to be furnished by the company shortly. 

VOLUNTEER EQUIPMENT FUND.-At the instance of the Lord Lieutenant the 
parish council undertook to support and collect for this fund, and have arranged for 
the sum of £r4 gs. 6d. to be sent to the treasurer. 

VILLAGE GREEN.-Some progress has been made in pursuing the necessaryinquiries, but some time must elapse before the council assume effective control, 
because the legal difficulties are exceptionally technical and intricate. 

WATER SuPPLY.-The last-named consideration applies to the water supply, so 
far as it is connected with the Green.-.ti:zst Sussex News, 13th April, rgoo. 

The Parish Meeting. 

In those parishes which are too small to have a parish council, 
there is always a parish meeting, which has nearly the same powers 
as a parish council. It was intended that all the house or cottageoccupiers and other electors in these small parishes should meet 
now and then in the evening to discuss the parish affairs and decide 
what ought to be done. They could appoint committees for special 
purposes, and get new powers conferred on them by the countycouncil. This seems to have been a failure in most places. The 
parish meeting has been held as a matter of form, to elect a chairman 
and two or more overseers. But in very few villages have the 
laborers, or the other electors, had any real discussion on the parishaffairs. Very few parish meetings have obtained allotments or 
grazing land, recreation or burial grounds; hardly any have done 
anything about the charities, or looked after the footpaths, or 
improved the water supply. In over s,ooo parishes in England and 
Wales, where no parish council exists, nothing at all has been done 
by the people themselves. During the year 1906-7, out of 5,724 
parishes without parish councils, only in 385 did the parish meeting 
spend anything at all. 

But a. few of these little parishes have done something. Some of 
them have applied to the county council and obtained the privilegeof having a parish council. This should be done by every one of 
them. A few have asked the county council to group them with 
neighboring parishes, and so share in their councils. 

In a few cases the parish meeting has itself managed the parishaffairs, as it was intended to do. Thus the parish meeting of 
Kempley (Gloucestershire, pop. 210) has hired five and a half acres 
of land foJ allotments, which it lets out to seven tenants. At 


Barney (Norfolk) the parish meeting managed to get four and a 
quarter acres for this purpose, which is now let to IS tenants. 
So in East Worldham (Hampshire, pop. 272) the parish meetinghires and manages four and a quarter acres, let to I3 tenants ; and 
at Walberswick (East Suffolk, pop. 304) the parish meeting has five 
acres, let to I 2 tenants. In one case, that of Clapton (Gloucestershire, 
pop. 103), the parish meeting, finding itself unable to getallotments in any other way, applied to its county council and got 
an order compelling the landowner to let it some land. 

Some of these tiny parishes have improved their burial grounds. 
The parish meeting of Little Hale (Lincolnshire, pop. 270) laid out 
£92 in providing additional burial accommodation, and borrowed 
the money on a thirty years term. The parish meeting of South 
Newbald (East Riding of Yorkshire, pop. 166) borrowed and spent£150 in this way; and those of Wilshop (West Riding of Yorkshire), 
Gauthrop (North Riding of Yorkshire), North Redditch (Worcester), 
£68, £40, and £70 respectively. 

How Parishes can get Greater Freedom and More 
Powers. 

Nearly everywhere we find the complaint that the parish council 
has not got enough power. Many things it cannot do at all, such 
as manage the village school, though it appoints one of the six 
managers. Many other things it can do only by getting the consent 
of the rural district council, a body usually made up of farmers, who 
often object to do anything, however useful it may be, that costs 
money. But parish councils have actually got many abuses remedied 
by writing to the rural district council, and this should always be 
tried. Sometimes (as, for instance, getting compulsory power to 
hire or purchase land) the parish council has to go to the countycouncil, which is a long way off, and not very willing to listen to a. 
small parish. The law ought to be changed.

But even under the present law there are ways and means bywhich a parish can get more power and freedom to manage its own 
affairs. Many parishes have done so in the following ways :


I.-THE PAROCHIAL CoMMITTEE. 

The parish council may ask the rural district council to appoint 
a "parochial committee," and t<;> .make the ~ar~sh coun~il that 
committee, with, perhaps, the additlO~ of t?e distn~t councillor for 
that district. Then the parish council (besides all Its own powers) 
may exercise within its own parish nearly all the powers that the 
rural district council possesses, if they are delegated to t.he parishcommittee. The expenses for sewage and water supply will he kept 
separate, and will be charged on the parish in the po.or :ate.; but 
for other matters they will be shared over the whole distnct, JUSt as 
if there had been no parochial committee, unless the Local Government 
Board confers powers specially for one parish. '_fhus the 
Croydon Rural District Council (Surrey) every year appomts parochial 
committees for five of its parishes, consisting in each case of 
the members of tpe parish council, together with the rural district 


councillors elected by the parish. These parochial committees, 
meeting in the parishes themselves, practically carry on the government, 
giving their orders direct to the rural district officials, and 
making formal reports to the rural district council, which are usuallyconfirmed. The Liskeard Rural District Council (Cornwall) has 
followed the same plan with regard to all the parishes within its 
district. Another example is seen in Derbyshire, where the Parish 
Council of Ockbrook (pop. 2,567) got itself appointed the parochialcommittee for the parish. Some of the best governed parishes in 
the Bromley Rural District (Kent) are managed by parish councils 
acting as parochial committees. 

II.-THE URBAN DISTRICT CouNCIL. 

The parish council may apply to the county council to have the 
parish declared an urban district. The county council will send one 
or two of its members to hold a public inquiry in the parish, and if 
it is clear that the bulk of the people wish it, and if the parish is not 
too small, the county council will probably do what is desired. 
Then the parish elects an urban district council instead of a parishcouncil, and gets quite free from any control by the rural district 
council. It can then build cottages, provide sewers and water 
supply, and manage the roads. It can go in for improving the 
parish in almost any way it chooses ; but, of course, the parish will 
have to pay the cost in rates. An urban district council has practically 
the same powers as the town council of a small municipal 
borough. There are no aldermen, and the chairman is not called a 
mayor. But he is, during his year of office, a justice of the peacefor the county ; he can s;.t as a magistrate at petty sessions, and 
attend the general quarter sessions. There are many of these so 
called "urban districts" with fewer than z,ooo population, and 
quite rural in character. On the other hand, there are a score or 
two of parishes with between s,ooo and 1 s,ooo population, which 
are apparently still contented to be under parish councils, and thus 
subject to the rural district council. There are some hundreds of 
parishes having more than z,ooo inhabitants in the same case. 

Every parish with a population of z,ooo or upwards ought to apply 
to the county council to be made into an "urban district," and so 
set free from the control of the rural district council. During the 
last 10 years a great many parishes, some of them quite small, have 
thus obtained self-government. 

Conclusion. 

The lesson of aU this is that "where there's a will there's a way." 
lf there is anything wrong in a parish, the parish council can do a 
great deal towards putting it right, zf only the r£ght men are chosen. 
If anyone wishes for further information on the subject, he should 
write to the Secretary of the FABIAN SociETY, 3 Clement's Inn, 
Strand, London, W.C. 


MOTHER EARTH 


PEOPLE OF ALL CLASSES and of all political parties are genuinely 
anxious to revive village life. Thus we may prevent the constant 
drifting of the people to the towns, with much concurrent misery. 
:::=veryone will therefore be interested to read " Mother Earth," by 
MoNTAGUE FoRDHAM, a thoughtful and practical book on this 
question. 

It deals not only with the economic changes needed in order 
that a permanent life should be built up in the country districts, but 
also gives important information on co-operation, on the financing 
of small holdings through loan societies, and on agricultural education 
and productivity. The building up of a stable community of 
agriculturists and artizans in permanent country homes and the Land 
Club system, mentioned in this Tract, are also fully dealt with. 

The book has been widely reviewed and highly praised. It can 
be obtained through all booksellers and from the Fabian Society. 

A few press notices follow :


The Economist.-" Mother Earth " should be read by all who are anxious to find 
remedies for the decay of agriculture. 
The G/obe.-Students will find much sense and ability in this short practical 
treatise. 
The Church Times.-H is book should be read by all who are concerned with the 
problem. It has the advantage of being a real book, written with a style. 
The Manchester Courier. -It may be strongly recommended to the attention of all 
having any connection with the administration of the rgo7 Small Holdings Act. 
The YodiShi,-e Observer.-This book should be studied by land reformers of all 
shades of opinion. 

The Ma11chester Guardian.-This bea utifully printed essay has, as Mr. Hobson 

says, the conspicuous method of outlining a " large, bold, comprehensive and 

genuinely organic reform." 

The D.>ily News says : The [ Land Club] movement is so full of promise, because 

it has sprung voluntarily from the country people themselves. It i; ?ne of the very 

few effort in modern rural En<>'land that can be called truly democratiC .... Homes 

and land-that is the talisman" that has cal ltd these clubs into being. 

The Morning Leader.-A book so temperate and sane that all thoughtful people 

should read it. 

The book is published in a special Library Edition, beautifully 
printed on deckle-edge paper at 5s. net, post free; and a 
Popular Edition will be issued in April at 1s. net, postage 2d. 

LONDON : 

THE OPEN ROAD PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

I 1 CUI<SITOR STREET, E.C. 


ment of lts Rules and ~he following oan be ob~alned from tlul 
Secretary, at the Fabian Office, 8 Clement's Inn, London, W.O. 
THIS MISERY OF BOOTS. By H. G. WBILLS. Paper cover, deaign .,.•. 
by A. G. Watts. 3d., post free 4d.; 2/3 per doz., post free, 2/7· .... . , 

FABIANISM AND THE EMPIRE: A Manifesto. u. net. 
FABIAN ESSAYS IN SOCIALISM. ({SrdThousand.)
Paper cover, 1/·: plain cloth, 2/·,poe~ free from the Secretary.
FABIAN TRACTS and LEAFLETS. 
Tracta, each.16 to 62 pp., price 1d., or 9d. per do•., wdua oth.enoi.ae 1tGted. 


Leo.fteta, 4 pp. each., price 1d.for~~ copus, 1s. per 100, or 8/6 per 1000. _,
fhe Set of 81, 3s.; post free 3/5· Bound in Buckram, 4/6; post free for J~' 
(.-General Socialism in its various aspects. . 


TB.lcors.-ux. Public Service versus Private Expenditure. By Sir·OLIVBIB 
LoDGBI. u3. Communism. By WM. MORRIS. 107. Socialism for Millionaires. 
By BERNARD SHAW. 133. Socialism and Christianity. By Rev. 
PERCY DEARMER. 78. Socialism and the Teaching of Christ. By Dr. 
JoHN CLIFFORD. 87. The same in Welsh. 42. Christian Socialism. ByRev. S. D. HEADLAM. 79· A Word of Remembrance and Caution to 
the Rich. By JoHN WooLMAN. 75· Labor in the Longest Reign. BySIDNEY WEBB. 72. The Moral Aspects of Socialism. By SIDNEY BALL,

651. Difficulties of Individualism. By SIDNlllY WEBB. s•· Socialism: True 
and False. By B. WEBB, 45· The Impossibilities of Anarchism. ByBERNARD SHAW (prioe 2d.). 15. English Progress towards Social Democracy. 
By S.WBIBB, 7· Capital and Land (6th edn.revised 1904). S· Facts 
for Socialists (lOth edn., revised 1906). LlllAl!'LlllTS-13. What Socialism Ia. 
1. Why are the Many Poor? 38. The same in Welsh. 
11.-Applications of Socialism to Particular Problems. 
TRAC'rs.-136. The Village and the Landlord. By EDWARD 0ARl'ENTER. 

135. Paupers and Old Age Pensions. By SIDNlllYWEBB. 131. The Decline 
In the Birth-Rate. By SIDNEY WBIBB. 130. Home Work and Sweating.
By Miss B. L. HuTCHINS. uS. The Case for a Legal Minimum Wage.
126. The Abolition of Poor Law Guardians. 122. Municipal Milk and 
Public Health. By Dr. F. LAWSON DODD. 120. "After Bread, Education." 
us. Municipalization by Provinces. ug. Public Control of Electrical 
Power and Transit. 123. The Revival of Agriculture. uS. The Secret 
of Rural Depopulation. us. State Aid to Agriculture : an Example. 
u2. Life in the Laundry. 518. State Railways for Ireland. 124. State 
Control of Trusts. 86. Municipal Drink Traffic. 85. Liquor Licensing 
at Home and Abroad. 84. E,.onomics of Direct Employment. 83. State 
Arbitration and the Living Wage. 4S. Eight Hours by Law. 23. Case 
for an Eight Hours Bill. 47· The Unemployed. By JoHN BuRNS, M.P. 
LBIAl!'LlllT.-I04· How Trade Unions benefit Workmen. 
111.-Local Government Powers : How to use them. 
TRACTS.-137· Parish Councils and Village Life. u7. The London 
Education Act, 15103 : how to make the best of it, xog. Cottage Plans 
and Common Sense. By RAYMOND UNWIN. 76. Houses for the People. 
519· Local Government in Ireland. 82. Workmen's Compensation Act. 
New edition for the Ao~ of 1906. 62. Parish and District Councils. 54· 
The Humanizing of the Poor Law. By 1. F. OAID!ISHOTT. LEAl!'LlllTS.6S. 
The Tenant's Sanitary Catechism. 71. Same for London. 134. 
Small Holdings, Allotments and Common Pastures : and how to getthem. FABIAN MUNICIPAL PROGRAM, FIRST SER1ES (Nos. 32, 36,37). Municipalization of the Gas Supply. The Scandal of London's 
Markets. A Labor Policy for Public Authorities. SECOND BEBllllS (Nos. 
go to 97). Municipalization of Milk Supply. Municipal Pawnshops. 
Municipal Slaughterhouses. Women as Councillors. MunicipalBakeries. Municipal Hospitals. Municipal Steamboats. -Second 
Series in a red cover for ld. (9d. per doz.); separate leaflets, 1/· per 100. 

IV.-Books. 132. A Guide to Books for Socialists. 29. What to Read 
on social and economic subjects. 6d. net. 129. More Books to Read. 
Supplement to October, 1906. 

V.-General Politics and Fabian Policy.

127. Socialism and Labor Policy. u6. Fabianism and the Fiscal 
Question : an alternative policy. 108. Twentieth Century Politics. BySIDNEY WEBB. 70. Report on Fabian Policy. 41. The Fabian Society : 
its Early History, By BERNARD SHAW. 
VI.-Question Leaflets. Questions for Candidates : 20, Poor Law Guard· 
lana. 28, County Oounoils, Rural. 102, Metropolitan Borough Councils. 
BooK BOXBIS lent to Societies, Clubs, Trade Unions, for lOs. a year. 
Prliltecl bT G. 8tandr1Jl11:, 7 J'!ubury St., London, I.e.,ed publtehed by the Fable Society,

s Cl-llllt'eIu.ltru4, London W o.