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county ought or ought not to be set forth in the schedule of this Bill is open to question, but a scheme has been drawn up by Sir John Lambert which, at all events, demonstrates the possibility of doing this on a fairly satisfactory basis.

The most difficult question which arises with regard to the constitution of these County Councils depends upon the position which is to be assigned to the great boroughs in the county system.

In relation to contribution to county purposes boroughs may be divided into three classes.

1. Counties of cities, and counties of towns. These are entirely distinct from the counties in which they are situated. There are nineteen of them, varying in population from Bristol with 206,000, to Haverfordwest with 6,000 population.

2. Boroughs with separate Quarter Sessions.

These vary in population from Liverpool with 550,000 population to Sandwich with 2,800. They vary also largely in the amount of their contribution to general county purposes. In some cases they are altogether exempt; in other cases they contribute to only certain general county purposes; in other cases, again, they contribute only in respect of a portion of their area, and, therefore, do not contribute their full share to any single item of general county expenditure; in other cases, again, they contribute fully to general county purposes, with the exception of the main- tenance of main roads.

3. Boroughs which have not a separate Quarter Sessions, these boroughs varying in size from Sal- ford, with 176,000, to Hedon, with a population of less than 1,000.

Towns in this class, whether they have or have not a separate Commission of the Peace, are liable to be rated for general county purposes precisely in the same way as if they had no separate corporate existence, except that when they have a right to a separate police establishment, they are not obliged to contribute to the cost of the county police.

It is evident that no perfectly satisfactory method of dealing with so anomalous a state of things can be devised which shall not to a certain extent, at all events, interfere either with the sentiment or with the interests of the localities concerned.

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