CIVIC GOVERNMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 46, 23 February 1934, Page 6

CIVIC GOVERNMENT.

i PROBLEMS THAT PERSIST. The sixteenth century is one of the most epoch-making centuries in English history. There is no respect in which this is more true than in the remarkable development that then took place in. municipal administration and control. Many of the towns consisted at first of one street, which was a continuation of the country road. , It was only gradually that other streets were formed, footpaths made, and the skyline of the houses determined. For long the streets were unlit after dark, and those who ventured abroad were obliged to carry their own light, though in some towns it was compulsory for householders to show a light at their house for the benefit of the passer-by. It was in this century, too, that water supply and drainage were provided by town authorities and other sanitary measures [taken. Even well on in the century most of the town.; were very small. Coventry and Leicester had each a population of only five thousand or so, Liverpool was a mere village of a few hundred souls, and a town like Norwich, with its 17j000 inhabitants, was considered big. It was now that a working class came into existence, and that the problem of unemployment first began to worry town councils, for' the State was not then as paternal as it is to-day. Each local authority was responsible for its own industrial and social, as well [as municipal, legislation. As a consequence, town councils had to control the industries and trades of their town, to revive decaying industries, to encourage or introduce new ones, and to look after the native unemployed and

indigent. Mr. ,T. H. Thomas lias written a most interesting and informing book dealing with all this.* Mr. Thomas has taken great pains with the book, which is based chiefly on the records of a number of towns. In those days town councils were more oligarchic than we to-day would tolerate. And Mr. Thomas makes the reasons plain. For one thing, citizens were even more unwilling then than now to take office. It was almost impossible to get a man to stand for the council, and even more difficult to find one who aspired to be Mayor. Men were often elected to both positions against their will, and, if they refused office, were heavily fined. Sometimes a man would give a benefaction towards, for example, providing a new water supply, on the condition that he would never he called upon to be either a Mayor or a councillor. Then, town government had to be paid for by the council, and so it was that it was those who might suffer in default who came to hold the reins of government. There was much drinking in the sixteenth century, chiefly of ale. and. in later years, of beer, i.e., alo with hops added, and it was town councils that developed the regulations that to this day control the "Drink Trade." In certain cases, and under certain conditions, begging was tolerated, but beggars who made themselves undesirable were punished and expelled from the town. No sympathy was shown able-bodied men who were given to loafing. A man who would not work was consigned to the "house of correction." and. 'after being "corrected." was made to work at I something or other. Town councils did not undertake to provide relief for incomers, but they did not evade their responsibility to the native poor. They took eare that they were not exploited by unscrupulous persons, gave them relief, and, in cases of sickness, free medical aid. They also gave free education t > their children, and provided the aged among [them with a home. It was no uncommon thinsr for those who were well off to sreneronsly co-operate with them, but. as with ourselves, thev levied rates, collected subscriptions, .and floated loans. Those who are interested in civic matters will find Mr. Thomas' book well worth reading. * "Town Government in the Sixteenth Century," by J. H. Thomas, B.Litt. (Allen and Unwin.)