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every large town as a check upon agrarian com- munism.
My County Board would thus combine the character of a Chamber of Representatives and a Chamber of Notables; and this treatment of the subject would assist us hereafter in dealing safely with Irish Local Government. To an English or Scotch County Council thus constituted, I would gladly intrust the control of the Constabulary, and I wish I could see my way to restore to the Local Authority a larger share in the management of the prisons. I should give all dignity possible to the Council, and as its seat of government would be the Shire Hall, I should call it the Shire Court, and its Chairman, President of the Shire Court.
In introducing the measure, I should boldly avoW the difference between County Councils and those of the towns, and should state our belief that on a body with such wide, new, and varied functions, it was essential for the welfare of the country that all classes and interests should be represented.
With a faulty constitution, these Councils will surely be the powerful instruments of a jobbing and tyrannical Radicalism, but if leavened by the introduction, as I propose, of the leading personages of all classes, thus securing full public discussion, they ought to become the centres of the best Conservatism in the country.
As to the Rates,—it would seem preferable that they should be divided between owner and occupier, as this change would be very popular with our farmer friends, would be in accordance with many pledges, and would tend to make gentlemen attend to local business. The Irish argument does not count for much, as it is most improbable that the Liberals and the Irish would ever allow a rate hitherto divided between owner and occupier to be placed upon the latter alone.
But as to the main question at issue,—whether we as a Conservative Government should propose a Conservative or a Radical County Council,—when I am met by the assertion that we could not pass a Conservative Council in the present House of Commons, I reply that County Government is not likely to be settled this year, or possibly by this Government, or even for several Sessions; that our Conservative friends in the counties will be much
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