Fabian Tract No. gg. 


LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN 
IRELAND. 


PuBLISHED AND SoLD BY 

THE FABIAN SOCIETY. 

PRICE ONE PENNY. 

LONDON: 
THE FABIA:'\ Soc iETY, 3 CLE.MENT's I:->"', STRA:\'o, W.C. 
FEBIWARY, 1900. 



IN IRELAND. 

The Irish Revolution of r8g8. 

VERY few Irishmen have yet realized that in the year r898 a change 
was made in the government of Ireland greater than that made by 
many famous revolutions. Up to that date the mass of the Irish 
people had no more power over the local government of their own 
country than over the government of Russia. In that year, at one 
blow, the Local Government Act swept away the old aristocratic 
and oligarchical authorities, and substituted a system of government 
more popular and democratic than that enjoyed by Frenchmen 
under their Republic. 

The Old and the New. 

Let us contrast the old governing bodies with the new. Before 
r 8g8, the Irish Counties were governed by Grand Juries. Each 
Grand Jury was chosen by the Sheriff, who was appointed by the 
Lord Lieutenant. The people had nothing to do with it : the 
Sheriff might select ~vhom he pleased, except that he had to select 
from each barony one Juror holding freehold land worth £so, or 
leasehold land worth £roo. 

As the Grand Jury met only twice a year, most of the real work 
was done by the Boards of Guardians of the Poor Law Unions. 
The people had hardly more voice in the election of these Boards 
than in the selection of the Grand Juries, because half the Guardians 
were Justices of the Peace, sitting by right of their office, without 
any election at all ; and the other half, though elected by vote, were 
chosen by the large property owners under a system of plural votingwhich gave many of them six votes apiece, and under which it was 
possible for one rich man to have as many as thirty-six votes. 

All that is done away with now. County government will be 
carried on in future by County Councils and District Councils, 
elected just as Members of Parliament are. Every ratepayer, every 
occupier and lodger, whether rated or not, has a vote in the election 
of these Councils ; and no man, howeYer rich he may be, has more 
than one vote. Peers can vote and women can vote. Nothing is 
left of the old powers of the Grand Juries, though they were 
allowed to nominate three members to the first Councils elected, to 
instruct the new bodies in the routine of County business. In 
future an Irish Grand Jury will be no more than an English one 
has been for the bst two hundred year : that is, a committee 
to decide whether persons accused of crime shall be put to their 
trial or not. Outside the towns, the old Guardians are gone; and 
the District Councillors act as Guardians of the Poor in their stead. 
It now rests with the Irish nation to see that the new County 
government by the people is better than the old County governmentby the Castle and the landed gentry. 


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New Rents and New Rates. 

IN THE CouKTRY. 

The first thing the Irish agricultural tenant will want to know is 
how the change will alter his rent and the half of the Poor Rate 
which his landlord used to allow him out of it. This cannot be told 
him off-hand. It requires a little explanation, as follows:


Under the old system, the County Cess (the Grand Jury rate)
and the Poor Rate (the Guardians' rate) were paid in full by tl1e 
landlords and tenants between them. But the English Government 
has agreed for the future to pay half the rates on agricultural land 
(not on buildings). Only, the Government judges what is a fair half 
by the year 1897, and will never pay more than half what that year's 
Cess and Rate came to. So if the rates rise above the I 897 figure, 
the ratepayers will haye to make up the difference. This is why 
1897 is called" the Standard Year." In future, therefore, the Lord 
Lieutenant will pay to the County Councils every year a sum equal 
to half what was raised on agricultural land in the Standard Year. 
This payment is called the Agricultural Grant. A further sum will 
come from the Government as Licence Duties and Imperial Grants. 
The remainder of the money required by the County Council will 
have to be paid by the occupier as Poor Rate; but he will not be 
allowed to deduct half of it from his rent as he did formerly. The 
County Cess is done away with altogether.

This will leave the Irish tenants no worse off than they are at 
present. Many of them will be better off. Although there will be 
no County Cess to pay, the same money will have to be raised under 
the name of Poor Rate; still, the Government will pay half of it, so 
that the tenant will save half the Standard Year County Cess. To 
set against this, the tenant will not be able to get back half the old 
Poor Rate from his landlord out of the rent ; but then he will only 
have half of it to pay so long as the rate is not higher than it was in 
the Standard Year, because the Lord Lieutenant will pay the other 
half; so that unless the rates go up he will lose nothing, though the 
landlord will gain. Consequently in the ordinary case of the tenant 
who used to pay County Cess and Poor Rate, and get half the Poor 
Rate allowed out of his rent, the new arrangement will benefit the 
tenant by half the r897 County Cess, and benefit the landlord byhalf the r897 Poor Rate. Both of them will gain; but as the tenant 
gets control through his new vote of the new system of local government, 
whilst the landlord loses all his old votes but one, the tenant 
has much the best of the bargain politically.

But there are some tenants who used to deduct half the CountyCess from their rents. They can now claim a reduction of their 
rent by the amount of half their 1897 County Cess. Those who 
used to be allowed the whole County Cess have the same right : 
their rent is reduced by the whole of their 1897 Cess. But where 
the tenant used to be allowed the whole of his Poor Rate, his rent 
is now reduced, not by the whole, but by half the 1897 Poor Rate. 
And in holdings under £4 value, where the landlord used to paythe Poor Rate, the tenant will have to pay it in future ; and h1s 
rent will be reduced by only half the 1897 Poor Rate. 


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One sort of tenant will have his rent raised; and that is the man 
who used to pay the whole Poor Rate and not have any of it allowed 
him out of his rent. In future his rent will be raised by the amount 
of half his Standard Year Poor Rate. But though this will benefit 
the landlord it will not hurt the tenant, because what he loses by the 
addition to his rent he saves by the Government paying half his rates. 

IN THE TowNs. 

In the cities and towns and "urban districts," there is this great· 
difference: that the Government does not pay half the rates, because 
the Agricultural Grant cannot be applied to houses or buildings, 
only to agricultural land. In future the occupiers will have to payall the rates; but their rents will be reduced by the amount of whatever 
rates the landlord paid for them or allowed them out of their 
rent for the Standard Year. 

Certain separate items of the Poor Rate in towns, concerning railway, harbor, 
and public health charges, will still be deducted from the rent as before; and tenants 
in urban districts holding under a lease for lives, or a lease with five years still to run 
in 1899, will continue paying and deducting without alteration. 

TowN AND CouNTRY ALIKE. 

No agreement between landlord and tenant stands good against 
these changes. The tenant must pay the Poor Rate in future, 
whether his agreement says so or not; and the landlord must reduce 
the rent when the Act says it is to be reduced, in spite of any agreement 
to the contrary.

The Lord Lieutenant will not under any circumstances pay a 
share of the expenses of extra police, or of compensation for 
criminal injuries. These will form a separate item of the Poor 
Rate, and must be paid in full by the tenant. 

The New Act. 
We have now to describe the sort of local government that the 
new Act has set up :First, 
for the Counties, we have the new County Councils in 
place of the Grand Juries. The cities of Dublin, Belfast, Cork, 
Limerick, Londonderry and Waterford will also, as County Boroughs, 
have each a separate County Council. 
Second, for the old Poor Law Unions, now called County 
Districts (Rural for the country and Urban for the towns), we have 
District Councils. In the Rural Districts the District Council 
takes the place of the old Board of Guardians and the old Baronial 
Presentment Sessions. But in the Urban Districts (the towns) the 
Guardians are still separately elected, though in the same manner 
and at the same time as District Councillors. 
The expenses of both the Counties and the County Districts are 
to be defrayed by the new Poor Rate, which includes the old 
Poor Rate and County Cess, and by the Agricultural Grant, etc., 
from the Imperial Government, as already explained. The CountyCouncil collects the Poor Rate, except in the Urban Districts, where 
it will be collected by the District Council. The County Councils 
and the Guardians can raise money for special purposes by borrowing 
; but all such sums must be paid off within sixty years. 


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The County Franchise. 

f3oth County and District Councils are elected by those who are 
entitled to vote at the Parliamentary elections. Women and peers 
who would be on the Parliamentary register if they were men 
or commoners can also vote. 

Qualifications of County Councillors. 

Any person qualified to vote for the County Councils can be 
elected to sit on them, except women, infants, aliens, County 
Coroners, the clergy (whether Catholic, Protestant, or Dissenting),
bankrupts, paid officers of the Councils, persons who have received 
union relief within twelve months of the election, and persons who 
within five years of the election have been sentenced to imprisonment 
with hard labor without the option of a fine for any crime. 
A similar sentence of imprisonment, or the acceptance of union 
relief, disqualifies a Councillor already elected. 

Disqualification to Prevent Jobbery. 

Another disqualification is that of persons concerned in contracts 
with the Councils. Partners of such persons are also disqualified. 
But this disqualification does not extend to the proprietor of a newspaper 
inserting Council advertisements, nor to persons selling land 
or lending money to the Council, nor to persons supplying material 
taken off their own land for making County roads and bridges, nor 
to persons who are interested in County contracts only as shareholders 
in Joint Stock Companies. 

Qualifications of District Councillors. 

The qualifications and disqualifications for seats on the District 
Councils are the same as for the County Councils, with two important 
exceptions. I. Women can sit on the District Councils. 

2. Twelve months residence in the district is as good a qualification 
as the possession of a vote. Consequently any twelve months' resident, 
being of full age and not disqualified under any of the heads 
given above, may be elected a District Councillor, whether a Countyelector or not. 
Period for which Councils are Elected. 

All the County and Rural District Councillors hold office for 
three years, at the end of which period all must retire together, and 
new Councils be elected. In the six County Boroughs: Dublin, 
Belfast Cork, Limerick, Londonderry and Waterford, the old systemof one~third of the Councillors retiring annually may be continued ; 
but the Council can alter this by passing a resolution by a two-thirds 
majority calling on the Local Government Board to substitute the 
three years system. 

Elections and Voters. 

The elections are conducted under rules made by the Local 
Government Board. The notice of election is to be given not 
less than thirty-five clear days before the day of election. The 
Returnin<r Officer is appointed by the County Council ; and he 
must app~int a deputy for the election of Rural District Councillors 
This deputy acts as the Clerk of the Rural District Council. 


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Each candidate must be nominated in wnttng by two electors ; 
and the nomination paper (which is provided by the Returning 
Officer or his deputy) must be handed in not later than 5 p.m. 
on the seventh day after the notice of election is given. Candidates 
can only withdraw within the week after the last day from the 
receipt of nomination papers.

Notice of the poll must be given ten clear days at least before 
the day of election, which must be held not more than seven days 
earlier or later than the first day of June. 

The poll must remain open from six to eight in the evening ; 
and all polls in the same area must be held on the same day as far 
as practicable. 

The rule at eiections will be, " One Man, One Vote " ; but if an 
elector has votes in different counties he may use them all, if he 
can, provided he only votes once in each county.

Candidates may spend as much money as they like for election 
addresses, meetings, etc., and need not make any official return of 
the amounts. But they must not commit bribery, hold meetings 
on licensed premises, nor indulge in treating or other corrupt practice. 
The official expenses are paid out of the rates. All polls are 
taken by ballot, and are therefore secret. And each elector has one 
vote for each seat to be filled on the Council for his division. An 
elector can only vote in one division of any District. 

Rural District Councils. 

The Rural District Council consists of a Chairman and Councillors, 
two members being elected for each electoral division of the Union. 
The first meeting of a Council is held on the fifth day after the 
elections. At this meeting, three additional Councillors may be 
chosen by the others. But these co-opted Councillors must be 
qualified to serve like the rest. Each Councillor is also a Guardian 
for his electoral division. 

The Council may appoint a local committee for any part of its 
district; and it may give seats on the committee to persons who are 
not Councillors. Such committees can, if the Council gives them 
leave, exercise all the powers of a District Council except that of 
raising money, and of appointing or removing officers, or alteringtheir salaries. 

What Rural District Councils can do. 

The two chief duties of a Rural District Council are, first, 
the care of the roads, bridges, etc., in the District (but not of the 
main roads, which are under the control of the County Council, 
though one-half of the expense of their maintenance is borne bythe District); and second, the care of the public health. 

At first sight these matters do not seem so exciting as national 
politics. But let us consider the matter a bit. The provision of 
good roads, the prevention of nuisances and of the adulteration of 
food, the non-contamination of the air, the efficient lighting of the 
district, the supply of pure water: these things make a much greaterdifference to the welfare and comfort of the inhabitants of anydistrict than the questions which agitate Parliaments, whether they 


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sit at Westminster or College Green. When Dr. Johnson wrote, in 
Goldsmith's Travelle1', 
"How small of all that human h~arts endure, 
That part that laws or kings can cause or cure," 

he was thinking of Parliaments, not of District Councils. Thezr 
laws can both cause and cure a great deal that comes home to the 
hearth of every cottager and the doorstep of every citizen. Think 
of the questions the District Council has to decide. Here are some 
of them :-Shall insanitary property be swept away, and healthyhouses be provided for those who must otherwise, owing to lack of 
decent accommodation, live under unhealthy conditions? Shall the 
wages of those employed by the Council be based on the competition 
of starving men, without regard to the necessities and 
decencies of wholesome human existence, or be fixed by the Council 
at a standard below which it is inadvisable, in the interests of the 
community, that the earnings of its workers shall sink? Shall public 
works be carried out with or without the scamping and sweatin<T 
practised by contractors who grasp at a larger profit than is com~ 
patible with thoroughly good workmanship or proper treatment of 
their workmen? The answers to such questions as these, not onlyaffect the home comfort of every Irishman and Irishwoman in one 
way or another : they also involve principles which go to the very 
root of national politics. 

Let us go into the particulars of what the Rural District Councils 
have to do. The sewers of the district vest in the Council, which 
must maintain and repair them, may purchase and construct new 
sewers, :md has power to compel the owner of an undrained house 
to drain into its sewers if it is within TOO feet of a sewer. The 
Council can construct and maintain works for the disposal or disinfection 
of sewage. It may also make bye-laws respecting the 
structure of new buildings, and the description and quality of 
substances used in their construction, and the drainage of buildings 
generally. It may (and must if required so to do by the Local 
Government Board) itself undertake, or contract for, the scavengingand cleansing of the houses and streets in its district. And if on 
the certificate of the Medical Officer of Health or two medical 
practitioners it appears necessary, the Council may require anyhouse which is in a filthy and unhealthy condition to be whitewashed 
and otherwise purified. Swine or pig-styes must not be 
kept in the house, or so as to be a nuisance to other people.

The Council may provide the district, or any part of it, with a 
proper and sufficient water-supply, either by itself constructing and 
maintaining waterworks, or by leasing or (with the sanction of the 
Local Government Board) purchasing the works of any water 
company, or by contracting with any person for a supply of water. 
And for these purposes it may either charge a water-rate, or supply 
water at rents to be agreed on, or by measure. The Council may 
require houses to take a supply of water from it if the house is 
without a proper supply, and it can be done at a reasonable cost. 
It may dig wells and close polluted ones. 

The Council has wide powers for the regulation of cellar dwellings, 
which are not allowed except under stringent conditions. It also has 


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to register common lodging-houses, and generally supervise them; 
and with the consent of the Local Government Board it may make 
bye-laws to put a stop to bad drainage, dirt, neglect and overcrowding 
in houses which, though let in lodgings, are not common 
lodging-houses. It has also extensive powers to prevent and :1bate 
nuisances, which term includes the overcrowding of house and 
factories, and the sending forth of too much black smoke from 
chimneys (not being those of a private house). It can also take step 
to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, and to provide 
mortuaries. 

For the purpose of carrying out its dutie as to public health, 
the Council appoints a Medical Officer of Health, who adYises and 
reports to them as to the health of the district, and also makes an 
annual report to the Local Government Board ; also an Inspector of 
Nuisances, who acts under the supervision of the Medical Officer and 
whose duty it is to discover and report all nuisances. Both the 
Medical Officer and Sanitary Inspector have power to inspect,
condemn and seize any meat, fish, fruit, milk, vegetables, corn, bread, 
flour, or butter exposed or intended for sale, which appear to be 
unsound, unwholesome, or unfit for the food of man. 

Houses for the People. 

The Council has most important powers under the Laborers' Acts, 
1883-96. Twelve ratepayers or agricultural laborers can, by signing 
a representation, cause the powers under these Acts to be exercised. 
The representation must state, and give examples to prove, either 

(i) that the accommodation for laborers is deficient, or insanitary, or 
in a bad state of repair ; or (ii) that the exi ting cottages are not 
provided with sufficient allotments, or that suitable land is needed 
as allotments for agricultural laborers living in neighboring villages 
or towns. It must also state that some plan (called "a scheme")
is necessary to remedy the matters complained of. If the Council i 
satisfied, it may make a scheme, and 
(i) purchase or lease land, and erect a sufficient number ofcottagewith proper sanitary arrangement , and a plot or garden to each not 
exceeding an acre ; but it is not necessary to provide a garden ; 
(ii) purchase, repair, add to and improve existing cottages, and 
allot an acre of land to them ; 
(iii) provide, either by agreement, or, if the landlord is unwilling, 
by exercising compulsory power , allotments of an acre for laborers 
in cottages belonging to the Council; or 
(iv) close dwellings, or pull them down , if an inspector of the 
Local Government Board, when inquiring into a scheme, finds them 
unfit for habitation. 
The above powers are mo t valuable ; and every elector should 
in i t on their being exerci ed should his di trict be lacking in 
healthy cottage . 

Be ides these powers under the Laborers' Act , Rural Di trict 
Councils have powers under Part II. of the Hou ing of the WorkingClasses Act, 1890. 

If the Medical Officer, or four hou eholder , proye to the sati f:J.ction 
of the Council that any buildings are o injurious to health a 


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to be unfit for human habitation, proceedings must be taken to 
close them ; and they may even be ordered to be pulled down. 

And the Council has also power to deal with buildings which, 
though not themselves injurious to health, yet either stop the ventilation 
of other buildings, and so render them dangerous to health, 
or prevent proper measures being taken to remedy nuisances in other 
buildings. 

The Council may also prepare a scheme for dealing with an area 
on which insanitary houses exist. This can be done in two cases : 

(i) if an order has been made for the pulling down of any buildings, 
and it seems desirable that the ground on which such buildings 
stand should (a) be dedicated as a highway, or (b) itself be used, 
sold, or let, or be exchanged for other land more suitable, for the 
erection of dwellings for the working classes; 
or (ii) where it appears that the sanitary evils which are caused 
by the bad arrangement or condition of any buildings can only 
be remedied by the reconstruction and rearrangement of those 
buildings. But houses or lodgings must be built or found for the 
persons turned out under the scheme. 

It is impossible here to mention all the steps which must be 
taken before any such scheme can be carried out. But it may be 
stated that, though compensation must be paid to the owners of 
the buildings included in a scheme, the amount is reduced if it is 
shown (a) that the rental was increased by the house being used for 
illegal purposes or being so overcrowded as to be injurious to its 
inmates' health ; or (b) that the house was in a state of defective 
sanitation or not in reasonably good repair ; or (c) that it was unfit 
and not reasonably capable of being made fit for human habitation. 

The Rural District Councillors are also the Poor Law Guardians 
for the district. 

A Rural District Council may obtain powers which generally are 
only possessed by an Urban .District Council, if the Local Government 
Board so directs on the application of the County Council. 

Such are the chief powers of a Rural District Council. Like all 
public powers, they can be used or abused, neglected or made the 
most of, according to the ability and good faith of the Councillors, 
and the public spirit and watchfulness of the electors. 

Urban District Councils. 

These are endowed with larger powers, as they govern the towns, 
in which greater evils to health arise than in rural districts. They 
ha\'e all the powers of the Rural District Council, except that the 
Councillors are not Guardians. The Guardians are still separatelyelected; but their old duties and powers, except those of relievingthe poor, are transferred to the Councils. In addition to the powersof the Rural District Councils, they have the following :


An Urban District Council can supply light to the houses in its 
district, either by contract with a company or by setting up gas\
Yorks or electric lighting stations of its own. And it may buy up 
an existing gas or electric light company.

It may also provide markets for the district, either by purchase 
of an existing one or otherwise; but it cannot establish a market in 


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opposition to an existing one. It may also provide a slaughterhouse. 


The consent of the Council must be obtained before an offensive 
trade such as soap-boiling or tallow-melting can be established in 
its district. And the Council can take proceedings in respect of 
nuisances arising outside its district. 

Public baths and wash-houses can be provided by the Council, 
which can either erect them itself, or contract with any person or 
company for the building of them, or purchase existing ones. 

Besides the powers under Part II. of the Housing of the 
Working Classes Act, 1890, possessed by Rural District Councils, 
and already described on page 8, an Urban District Council has 
powers under Part I. of the Act for dealing with unhealthy areas, 
and under Part III., to provide lodging-houses for the workingclasses, as follows : 

As regards unhealthy areas, when the Medical Officer of Health 
reports to the Council, either on his own initiative, or after complaints 
to him by two Justices of the Peace or twelve ratepayers,

(i) that in a certain area within the district the houses are unfit for 
human habitation, or that the bad condition and arrangement of the 
houses and streets is dangerous or injurious to the health of the 
inhabitants, and (ii) that the houses and streets can only be put in a 
sanitary condition by an improvement scheme for their reconstruction 
and rearrangement, the Council can, if convinced by the report,
make such a scheme, provided its resources are sufficient. Provision 
must be made for housing the people displaced by the scheme; and 
the amount of compensation to the owners is subject to the same 
rules practically as under Part II. of the Act as above (page 9). 
The Council may, under Part III., purchase land and erect 
and keep lodging-houses for the working classes, or convert existingbuildings into lodging-houses. The Council can also, with the consent 
of the Local Government Board, use any lands already in its 
hands for the erection of such lodging-houses, or purchase existing 
ones. The word "lodging-houses" includes separate houses or 
cottages, whether containing one or several tenements. A gardenof not more than half an acre and of an annual value of £3 or under 
may be attached to a cottage built by the Council. For further 
details reference may be made to Fabian Tract No. 76. 

The Council can provide and maintain recreation grounds and 
public walks; and it possesses powers to take over open spaces in its 
district. In the case of Urban Sanitary Districts which are towns of 
over 6,ooo, public parks, which need not be within the town, can be 
acquired, and thus the districts outside a town may be benefited. 
Public libraries also can be provided by the Council or Commissioners 
of a town. A resolution adopting the Libraries Acts, 1855-94, can 
be passed by the Council. But it is open to any twenty or more 
voters to make a requisition to the Council, asking that the opinionof the voters in the district be ascertained. A poll is then taken 
by ballot. If it is objected that the expense of adopting the Acts 
is too heavy, and there is a neighboring di trict which has adoptedthe Acts, the expense can be reduced by the two districts combining.
But as generally the rate for libraries is limited to a penny in the £, 


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this objection can rarely be honestly made against the provision of 
what is or ought to be a necessary institution in every town. 

County Councils . 

County Councils are now established in every county in Ireland, 
and in the cities of Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Londonderry,
and Waterford, which are "administrative counties" under the Act. 
A County Council consists of a chairman and councillors, who are 
either (i) elected, or (ii) chairmen of the different Rural District 
Councils in the county, sitting on the County Council by virtue of 
their office ("ex officzo "), or (iii) chosen by their fellow Councillors ; 
for the Council may, at its first meeting, co-opt one or two persons 
to be Councillors, who must, however, be qualified to be Councillors 
like the rest. Vacancies caused by death, resignation or disqualification are also filled by co-option. 

A Councillor is elected by each County electoral division, exceptin an Urban District, which may return more. 
The election is held on the 1st of June in each year, or some day 
a week earlier or later as may be fixed by the County Council. 

W hat County Councils can Do. 

The·most important new power given to the County Councils, 
in addition to the powers of the old Grand Jury, is the power to 
acquire, purchase, take on lease, or exchange any land, or any easement, 
or any rights over or on land, or to erect and furnish any buildings, 
whether wiLhin or without the County, for the purpose of anyof their powers or duties. Their principal duties are the following:


I. The construction, repair, and care of main roads, bridges, and 
other public works. 
2. The administration of the Food and Drugs Act, so as to 
prevent 
adulteration. 
3· The management of Lunatic Asylums.

+ The support of County Infirmaries and Fever Hospitals.
5· The provision, either in conjunction with other local authorities 
or not, of Technical Education, whereby the children of the 
poor may obtain the advantages to be derived from better education 
and be assisted in this by means of Scholarships. The word "technical," 
applied to education, is now interpreted in a very wide sense: 
for example, the Technical Education Board of the London County 
Council gives every year about 700 Scholarships to the cleverest 
children in the London Board schools, each Scholarship carrying 
with it free education and from £8 to £35 a year for maintenance. 

6. When the Guardians of any union satisfy the Council that 
exceptional distress exists in some district electoral division situate 
both in the Union and in the county, the Council can make an 
application to the Local Government Board, which may then 
authorize the Guardians to ad mini ter outdoor relief for any period 
not exceeding two months to poor persons in the division. And 
an occupier of more than a quarter of an acre may also be relieYed 
outside the workhouse. One half the expense incurred in thus 
relieving exceptional distress is borne by the County. But it must 
not exceed a rate of threepence in the pound. 

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7· The making of bye-laws for the good government of the Countyand for the prevention of nuisances. 

8. The power of opposing (but not of promoting) Bills in Parliament. 
This is to enable the Council to protect the interests of the 
County when they are threatened in Parliament. 
9· Power, with the consent of the Congested Districts Board, and 
of the Board of Works, to take over, maintain, or reconstruct harbors, 
docks, piers, quays, and other marine works. 

10. By the Tramways and Public Companies Act, 1883, the 
Grand Jury were empowered, on the failure of the promoters of any 
tramway company which was supported by a baronial guarantee, to 
complete, work, or maintain the undertaking if the baronies had 
paid money either for the completion, or, for two years, for the 
maintenance and working of the undertaking. The County Council 
can do the same; but it is also empowered to enter into agreements 
with any railway or tramway company whose undertaking is connected 
with the tramways of the Council, in order that they may 
be worked by the company. The proposed exercise of this powershould always be opposed, and the working of the tramways by the 
Council itself advocated, because the Council can either run the 
tramways at cost price or else devote the profits to the good of the 
town, whereas the company works only for the profit of its shareholders, 
who are as likely as not to live in London or Manchester. 
1 I. The administration (on the application of the Rural District 
Council) of the Irish Education Act, 1892, under which there is 
power to compel the attendance of children at school, and to appoint 
members of School Attendance Committees. 

12. The County Council must appoint a secretary, a treasurer, 
and a County surveyor, and has power to appoint assistant surveyors 
and such further officers as it thinks necessary. The Local 
Government Board must, however, appro\'e the appointment of the 
secretary, surveyor, and assistant surveyor. The salaries of those 
officers can only be fixed or altered with concurrence of the Board, 
wherea in other cases they are generally in the discretion of the 
Council. 
The Council also appoints but cannot remove the coroner, and 
fixes his salary. 

The preparation of the lists of voters and jurors is one of the 
duties of the ecretary of the Council, though the existing clerks of 
unions may continue to do it during their lives. The printing of 
the lists, forms, registers or otherwise must be contracted for, after 
tenders have been obtained as in the case of other public works. 

The Fabian Society in Ireland. 

IRISH PoYERTY CoNTRASTED wiTH ENGLISH. 

It is hoped that the information given in this Tract will be 
useful to those who cannot afford to buy expensive handbooks of 
the new Act. The Fabian Society publi hes it because it believes 
that the right business of politics is to improve the condition of the 
ma of the people, and wishes to show how that can be done 
without regard to the difference of clas , creed, or race, which 


13 

create such disastrous divisions in national affairs. The first 
Tract issued by the Society on its foundation in 1884 was entitled 
" Why Are the Many Poor?"; and the Society has never since 
occupied itself with any other question. Within its ranks Irishmen, 
Engli~hmen, Scotchmen, and Welshmen have worked together, and 
are stdl so working, without any of the dissensions that have torn 
the Parliamentary parties asunder and broken the political force of 
the Irish people. It has always seemed to us absurd that English-
m_en and Scotchmen, crowded by millions into the slums of London, 
Lrverpool, Glasgow, and the big manufacturing towns, many of 
them paying four and six shillings a week for a room, or even 
a cellar in a filthy house, or scattered in country cottages where 
a workman has sometimes to pay half-a-crown a week for sharing 
one room and two beds with five other men, should be regarded as 
enemies-even as tyrants and oppressors-by Irishmen no worse off 
than themselves, and often a great deal better. It is a common 
thing in England for the slum landlord to evict a family which is a 
week behindhand with the rent in the bitterest weather and under 
the most inhuman circumstances. If the father of such a family 
reads in the newspaper that an Irish tenant has been evicted for 
being eighteen months behindhand, and that a whole nation with 
an organized parliamentary party and funds from America is agitating 
vehemently on his behalf, what can the unfortunate Englishman 
feel except that the Irishman is a good deal luckier than 
himself? He may forget the fact that the Irishman's livelihood is 
bound up with his holding; but his own grievance is none the less 
real for that. The plain reason why Englishmen care so little about 
the wrongs of Irishmen is that they suffer from just the same wrongsthemselves on a much greater scale and often in a crueller form, and 
this, too, not because their country is poorer than Ireland, but 
because it is much richer. What the Fabian Society has to say on 
the Irish Question is exactly what it has to say on the EnglishQuestion ; and that is, that the workers of a nation have no 
enemies except the idlers of it; that the poor are always oppressed, 
no matter what government they live under ; and that nothing will 
rescue the Irish and English worker from that common oppression 
except giving them control through their votes and elected representatives, 
not only over Parliaments which merely make laws and 
wars, but over public bodies which shall own the land they cultivate, 
and organize and conduct the industries in which they earn their 
wages. Both in Ireland and England, it is the landlord and employer, 
not the Lord Lieutenant and Prime Minister, who need control in 
the interest of the community. Without that control, Home Rule 
can be nothing to the Irish worker but a change in the Government's 
address. On the other hand, if the land of Ireland and the 
chief industries of Ireland pass into the hands of the County and 
District Councils, as they can and will in the long run if the Irish 
workers of all classes, creeds, and parties use their \'Otes intelligently,
then the people of Ireland will have more real and complete Home 
Rule and ownership of their own country than any nation now 
enjoys, whether the Imperial Government sits in London, Dublin, 
Montreal, Sydney, or St. Helena. 


14 

What County Councils have Done for England. 

In England, where democratic County Government is only ten 
years older than in Ireland, the new Acts (on which the Act for 
Ireland is modelled), have already made a remarkable change. In 
1888, at the first County Council elections, when none of the 
Parliamentary politicians had a word to say as to the future of the 
Councils, the Fabian Society stepped in with a series of " Questions 
for County Councillors," which took the towns-especially London-
by surprise, and captured them. Instead of the old divisions of 
Whig Liberal and Tory Conservative, which had lasted for two centuries, 
two new parties suddenly appeared, called Progressive and 
Moderate. The Progressives adopted the Fabian program, declaring 
that towns should be lighted and supplied with markets, 
waterworks, tramways, baths and laundries by the Councils instead 
of by J oint Stock Companies charging high prices and paying low 
wages to make profit for absentee shareholders; that the Councils 
should acquire land and build houses for the people ; that they 
should establish Works Departments to build the houses, lay the 
drains, and paint the bridges themselves by their own directly-
employed workmen, paying fair wages for an Eight Hours Working 
Day, instead of calling in contractors; and that they should agitate 
for powers to relieve the working ratepayer by throwing the burden 
of taxation on the ground landlords and other recipients of unearned 
income. A rich and powerful opposition, called the Moderate 
Party, was raised by the company shareholders, the contractors, the 
landlords, and, of course, the large body of people who are against 
all changes, for better or worse; but, so far, the Progressives are 
making headway ; and "Municipal Socialism" is now an accepted 
part of English town life. 

What County Councils may do for Ireland. 

If all this has happened in England in ten years, a much more 
rapid change may take place in Ireland, because the Irish people are 
undoubtedly much quicker to seize a political advantage and understand 
a political system than the English. For in tance, the introduction 
of the ballot and the exten ion of the franchise to all classes, 
which have actually increased the strength of the English propertiedclasses in the House of Commons, in tantly swept the Conservative 
Irish landlords out of politics. In too many of the English parishes,
districts and countie , the English laborers and small farmers or 
shopkeepers have taken no notice of the new Councils, and are 
letting affairs drift along in the old way in the hands of the greatlandlords. Fabian speakers have repeatedly held up the Irish people 
as examples to the English of what political alertness and organization 
can do. And already the Irish people have justified them by 
filling the Councils in all directions with their representati\'eS. 

How to Choose County Councillors. 
Unfortunately, there is great danger of this capture of the new 
County Government by the Irish people being followed by a reaction. 
The duties of County and Parish Councillors cannot be discharged 
by mere political partizans and patriotic enthusiasts. They require 


plenty of business capacity, hard work at prosaic details in committee, 
very little speech-making, and a character proof not onlyagainst the corruption which is always at hand when commercial 
interests are threatened, but against the temptation to be good-
natured with public money, and to give public appointments, not to 
the most capable candidates, but to old frieuds or relations whose 
needs appeal to the pity of the Councils. The first thing everyCouncil should do is to make arrangements, as the banks and insurance 
offices do, with some educational body, to examine candidates 
for County employment exactly as candidates for the Government 
Civil Service are examined. The medical officers should be in the 
front rank of their profession, not only in their scientific qualifications 
and public diligence, but al o in their personal character and 
habits. And the more highly educated and better chosen the 
officials of a Council are, the solider must be the character and 
worth of the elected representatives who are to control them. 
Therefore it is quite certain that unless the new cbss of representatiYes 
on the County and District Councils prove hardworking 
and business-like as well as popular and patriotic, they will 
manage things so badly and run the ratepayers into such expense 
that the country gentlemen will come back again at the next election. 
The County and District Councils are business bodies, elected to 
collect, invest and spend public money and to carry out public 
works ; and it is useless to pretend that a man's fitness for such 
business depends on his being a Catholic or a Protestant, a Home 
Ruler or a Unionist. Even among those whose fitness for Countywork is undoubted, the same person may be an extreme Nationalist 
in Parliamentary questions, and a bigoted Con ervative supporter of 
companies and contractors in County questions. And, conversely,
the same person may be a first-rate municipal reformer (as Mr. 
Chamberlain was in Birmingham) and a leader of Unionist-Imperialism 
in Parliament. The Fabian Society therefore strongly urgesthe Irish County elector not to vote on Nationalist or Unionist lines 

at local elections, but to be guided solely by the candidate's fitness 
for the special work of the Councils and his views as to the treatment 
of labor and the policy of getting the land and industry of the 
district under public control. 

If readers desire any information about the new Act which 
cannot be found in this Tract, they should write to the Secretary of 
the Fabian Society, 3 Clement's Inn, London, \iV.C., who will freely 
answer any questions. 

Copies of the Act can be purchased for a shilling from the 
Government publishers, Hodges, Figgi & Co., Ltd., 104 Grafton 
Street, Dublin. The official title is Local Government (Ireland)
Act, 1898, 61 & 62 Viet., ch. 37· 


PUBLICATIONS OF THE FABIAN SOCIETY. 


It is impossible to give here a complete list of the publications 
of the Fabian Society ; but the following selection will be found 
specially useful to those interested in the great possibilities of social 
reform opened up by the Local Government Act : 

THE FABIAN MUNICIPAL PROGRAM. 
Tract 37. A Labor Policv for Public Authorities. 
, 81. Municipal Water. 
, 90. Municipalization of the Milk Supply. 
, 91. Municipal Pawnshops. 
, 92. Municipal Slaughterhouses. 
The above Tracts are sold at the rate of Six a Penny, or a 
Shilling a Hundred. 
Tract 84. The Economics of Direct Employmsnt, with 
an account of the Fair Wages Policy. I 6 pages. 
This important Tract will enable any Councillor to dispose 
authoritatively of the common objections to Local Authorities doing 
their own work without the intervention of contractors. Like all 
the Fabian Tracts, it gives facts and figures as well as arguments.
Tract 86. Municipal Drink Traffic. The Right Way to 
Deal with The Drink Ouestion. 
Tract 77. Municipalization ~of Tramways. This gives 
recent facts and figures on the subject. 
The above each price One Penny, or Ninepence a Dozen. 

LOCAL ELECTIONS. 

Valuable hints for heckling Candidates at these elections can 
be gained from the Fabian Series of Questions for Town Councillors, 
County Councillors, Urban District Councillors, Rural District 
Councillors, Tenants' Sanitary Cater.hism, etc., each sold at Six a 
Penny, or a Shilling a Hundred. 

NATIONAL QUESTIONS. 
Tract 98. State Railways for Ireland. Price One Penny, 
or Ninepence a Dozen. 

Tract 88. The Growth of Monopoly in Industry. By

H. W. MACROSTY. 
Tract 
5. Facts for Socialists. This Tract, of which 
8o,ooo copies have been sold, has had more effect 
on public opinion than any other publication of the 
Society, except perhaps Fabian Essays. Eighth Edition, 
with figures revised up to September, J899· 

These three Tracts are sold at a Penny each, or Ninepence 
a Dozen. 
Tract 12. Practicable Land Nationalization. Six a Penny, 
or a Shilling a Hundred. 
Fabian Essays (35th Thousand). Paper Cover, designed byWalter Crane, Is.; Plain Cloth, zs.; post free from the Secretary. 

3 CLEMENT'S INN, LONDON, W.C. 

Printed by U. t!tn~:dring, \1 Fiuslmry Street. E.C., and Publi"hed by the Fabian Society,
3 Clement's lnu. Stran t, London, \Y C.