Part 16

Lighting and Watching Act was formerly adopted for a parish, or part of a parish, by the inhabitants in vestry, who elected lighting inspectors, of whom one-third went out of office in every year. The inspectors took the necessary steps for having the parish lighted (the provisions as to watching having been obsolete for many years), and the expenses of lighting were raised by the overseers upon an order issued to them by the inspectors. The owners and occupiers of houses, buildings and property, other than land, pay a rate in the £ three times greater than that at which the owners and occupiers of land are rated and pay for the purposes of the act. Now this act, like the other adoptive acts, can only be adopted by the parish meeting, and where adopted for part only of a parish, must be adopted by a parish meeting held for that part. After the adoption of the act it is carried into execution by the parish council, if there is one, and if not, by the parish meeting, and the expenses are raised in the same manner as heretofore. The Baths and Washhouses Acts have already been referred to in dealing with district councils, and it is sufficient to say that they are now adopted and administered in a rural parish in the manner pointed out with reference to the Lighting and Watching Act. The same may be said of the Burial Acts, but these are sufficiently important to require special notice. These acts contain provisions whereby burials may be prohibited in urban districts, and churchyards or burial grounds already existing may be closed when full. Formerly, when the acts had been adopted by the vestry, it was necessary to appoint a burial board to carry the acts into execution and provide and manage burial grounds. Now, in a rural parish which is coextensive with an area for which the acts have been adopted, the burial board is abolished and the acts are administered by the parish council; and the acts cannot be adopted in a rural parish save by the parish meeting. If the area under a burial board in 1894 was partly in a rural parish and partly in an urban district, the burial board was superseded, and the powers of the board are exercised by a joint committee appointed partly by the urban district council and partly by the parish council, or parish meeting, as the case may be. In a rural parish where there is no parish council, though the acts are adopted by the parish meeting, it is still necessary to elect the burial board, and that board will be elected by the parish meeting. The distinction between a burial ground under the Burial Acts and a cemetery provided under the Public Health Acts has already been noticed. A burial ground, properly so called, has to be divided into consecrated and unconsecrated portions, and the former really takes the place of the parish churchyard; and the incumbent of the parish church, the clerk, and the sexton continue to receive the same fees upon burials in the consecrated portion as they would have done in the parish churchyard. It has been mentioned that a portion of the burial ground must be left unconsecrated. But this is subject to one important exception, that the parish meeting may unanimously resolve that the whole of the burial ground shall be consecrated. In that case, however, the parish council may, within ten years thereafter, determine that a separate unconsecrated burial ground shall also be provided for the parish. The expenses of the execution of the Burial Acts are provided by the overseers out of the poor rate upon the certificate of the body entrusted with the execution of them. In the event of the acts being adopted for a portion only of a rural parish, the burial board, or the parish meeting, may by resolution transfer all the powers of the board to the parish council.

Public Improvement Act.

The Public Improvement Act, when adopted, enables a parish council to purchase or lease, or accept gifts of land for the purpose of forming public walks, exercise or play grounds, and to provide for the expense by means of a parish improvement rate. Before any such rate is imposed, however, a sum in amount not less than at least half of the estimated cost of the proposed improvement must have been raised by private subscription or donation, and the rate must not exceed sixpence in the £.

Public Libraries Acts.

The Public Libraries Acts enable the authority adopting them to provide public libraries, museums, schools for science, art galleries and schools for art. The expenses in a rural parish are defrayed by means of a rate raised with, and as part of, the poor rate, with a qualification to the effect that agricultural land, market gardens and nursery grounds are to be assessed to the rate at one-third only of their rateable value.

Finance: expenses of parish council.

The expenses of a parish council may not, without the consent of a parish meeting, exceed the amount of a rate of threepence in the £ for the financial year; but with the consent of the parish meeting the limit may be increased to sixpence, exclusive of expenses under the adoptive acts. If it is necessary to borrow, the consent of the parish meeting and of the county council must be obtained. The expenses are payable out of the poor rate by the overseers on the precept of the parish council.

One of the most important powers conferred upon a parish council is that which enables them to prevent stoppage or diversion of any public right of way without their consent and without the approval of the parish meeting. The council may also complain to the county council that the district council have failed to sewer their parish or provide a proper water-supply, or generally to enforce the provisions of the Burial Acts; and upon such complaint, if ascertained to be well founded, the county council may transfer to themselves the powers and duties of the district council, or may appoint a competent person to perform such powers and duties. In a parish which is not sufficiently large to have a parish council, most of the powers and duties conferred or imposed on the parish council are exercised by the parish meeting. It may be convenient here to add that where, under the Local Government Act 1894, the powers of a parish council are not already possessed by an urban district council, the Local Government Board may by order confer such powers on the urban council. This has been done almost universally, as far as regards the power to appoint overseers and assistant overseers, and in many cases urban councils have also obtained powers to appoint trustees of parochial charities.

General observations.

The foregoing is a sketch of the scheme of local government carried out in England and Wales. No attempt has been made to deal with poor law (q.v.) or education (q.v.). The local administration of justice devolving upon the justices in quarter or petty sessions is hardly a matter of local government, although in one important respect, that, namely, of the licensing of premises for the sale of intoxicating liquors, it may be thought that the duties of justices fall within the scope of local government. It will be seen that the scheme, as at present existing, has for its object the simplification of local government by the abolition of unnecessary independent authorities, and that this has been carried out almost completely, the principal exception being that in some cases burial boards still exist which have not been superseded either by urban district councils or by parish councils or parish meetings. There are also some matters of local administration arising under what are called commissions of sewers. These exist for the purpose of regulating drainage, and providing defence against water in fen lands or lands subject to floods from rivers or tidal waters. The commissioners derive their authority from the Sewers Commission Acts, which date from the time of Henry VIII., from the Land Drainage Act 1861, and from various local acts. It is unnecessary, however, to consider in any detail the powers exercised by commissioners of sewers in the few areas under their control.

AUTHORITIES.--G. L. Gomme, _Lectures on the Principles of Local Government_; S. and B. Webb, _English Local Government_; Redlich and Hirst, _Local Government in England_; Wright and Hobhouse, _Local Government and Local Taxation_; W. Blake Odgers, _Local Government_; Alex. Glen and W. E. Gordon, _The Law of County Government_; Alex. Glen, _The Law relating to Public Health_; _The Law relating to Highways_; W. J. Lumley, _The Public Health Acts_ (6th ed., by Macmorran and Dill); Macmorran and Dill, _The Local Government Act 1888_, &c.; _The Local Government Act 1894_, &c.; Hobhouse and Fairbairn, _The County Councillors' Guide_; Pratt, _The Law of Highways_ (15th ed., by W. Mackenzie); Archbold, _Law of Quarter Sessions_ (4th ed., by Mead and Croft); J. Brooke Little, _The Law of Burials_; Archbold, _On Lunacy_ (4th ed., by S. G. Lushington). (A. McM.; T. A. I.)

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Among earlier works devoted to, or dealing largely with topography, a few may be mentioned out of a considerable mass. W. Camden, _Britannia; sive florentissimorum regnorum Angliae, Scotiae, Hiberniae ... chorographica descriptio_ (1586 and subsequent editions; in Latin, but translated by several successive writers both in Camden's time and later); M. Drayton, _Poly-Olbion_ (a descriptive poem, first issued in a complete form in 1622); T. Fuller, _History of the Worthies of England_ (1662); J. Leland, _Itinerary_, and _Collectanea_, edited by T. Hearne respectively in 1710 and 1715; T. Cox and A. Hall, _Magna Britannia_ (1720, based on Camden's _Britannia_, in English); D. Defoe, _Tour through the whole Island of Great Britain ... divided into Circuits or Journeys_ (1724-1727); various works of Thomas Pennant, published between 1741 and 1820, and, at the same period, of Arthur Young (topographical treatises on agriculture, &c.); W. Gilpin, _Observations on Picturesque Beauty made in the Year 1776 in several Parts of Great Britain_ (1778); _Essays on Prints and Early Engravings; Western Parts of England_ (1798), and other works on various districts; _Gentleman's Magazine_ (1731-1868); E. W. Brayley, J. Britton and others, _Beauties of England and Wales, or, Original Delineation, Topographical, Historical and Descriptive, of each County_ (1801-1818; both the authors named wrote other descriptive works on special localities; Britton wrote _Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain_, 1835); Daniel Lysons (with the collaboration of his brother Samuel), _Magna Britannia_, _Topographical Account of the several Counties of Great Britain_ (1806-1822; the counties were taken alphabetically but on the death of Samuel Lysons in 1819 the work was stopped at Devonshire); Sir G. Head, _Home Tour in the Manufacturing Districts of England_ (1835); Nathaniel Hawthorne, _English Notebooks_ (1870). Among modern publications, out of a great mass of works of more or less popular character, there may be mentioned the well-known series of _Murray's Guides_, in which each volume treats of a county or group of counties.

Early in the 20th century the _Victoria History of the Counties of England_ (dedicated to Queen Victoria) began to appear; its volumes deal with each county from every aspect--natural history, prehistoric and historic antiquities, ethnography, history, economic conditions, topography and sport being dealt with by authorities in all branches.

The maps of the Ordnance, Geological and Hydrographic Surveys delineate the configuration and geology of England and the adjacent seas with a completeness unsurpassed in any other country. For ordinary detailed work the best series of maps is found in Bartholomew's _Survey Atlas of England and Wales_ (Edinburgh Geographical Institute, 1903), which, besides small distributional, physical and other maps and letterpress, contains a magnificent series of coloured-contour maps on the scale of ½ in. to 1 m. (also issued in larger separate sheets).

Statistics of every kind--of climate, agriculture, mining, manufactures, trade, population, births, marriages, deaths, disease, migration, education--are liberally furnished by government agencies.

See also A. J. Jukes-Brown, _The Building of the British Islands_ (London, 1888); Sir A. C. Ramsay, _Physical Geography and Geology of Great Britain_, edited by H. B. Woodward (London, 1894); Lord Avebury, _The Scenery of England and the Causes to which it is due_ (London, 1902); Sir A. Geikie, _Geological Map of England and Wales_ (scale, 10 m. to 1 in.; Edinburgh, 1897); E. Reclus, _Universal Geography_, vol. iv., _The British Isles_, edited by E. G. Ravenstein (London, 1880); H. J. Mackinder, _Britain and the British Seas_ (2nd ed., Oxford, 1907); G. G. Chisholm, "On the Distribution of Towns and Villages in England," in _Geographical Journal_, vol. ix. (1897), pp. 76-87; vol. x. (1897), pp. 511-530; A. Haviland, _The Geographical Distribution of Disease in Great Britain_ (London, 1892); A. Buchan, "The Mean Atmospheric Temperature and Pressure of the British Islands" (with maps), _Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society_, vol. xi. (1898), pp. 3-41; W. M. Davis, "The Development of Certain English Rivers," _Geographical Journal_, vol. v. (1895), pp. 127-148; H. R. Mill, "The Mean and Extreme Rainfall of the British Isles," _Min. Proc. Inst. C.E._ (1904), vol. clv. part i.; "A Fragment of the Geography of England--South-west Sussex," _Geographical Journal_, vol. xv. (1900), p. 205; "England and Wales viewed Geographically," _Geographical Journal_, vol. xxiv. (1904), pp. 621-636.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The general questions capable of a single treatment for England, Scotland and Ireland are considered under UNITED KINGDOM.

[2] Measurements made on a map on the scale of 12½ m. to 1 in., the coast being assumed to run up estuaries until the breadth became 1 m., and no bays or headlands of less than 1 m. across being reckoned. The coast-line of Anglesea and the Isle of Wight, but of no other islands, is included.

[3] A separate topographical notice is given under the heading WALES, but the consideration of certain points affecting Wales as linked with England is essential in this article.

[4] The figures given here are for the ancient or geographical counties. Section IX., on _Territorial Divisions_, indicates the departures from the ancient county boundaries made for certain purposes of administration. Each county is treated in a separate article in the topographical, geological, economical and historical aspects. Further topographical details are given in separate articles on the more important hill-systems, rivers, &c.

[5] Partly belonging to Scotland.

[6] The principal members of the Humber-system are the Ouse of Yorkshire (121 m. long from the source of the Swale or Ure) and the Trent (170 m.), qq.v. for their numerous important tributaries.

[7] Including the Medway (680 sq. m.) in the drainage area.

[8] Including the Wye (1609 sq. m.) and the Lower Avon (891 sq. m.) in the drainage area.

[9] These rivers have their earlier courses in Wales, and flow at first to some point of east. Of wholly Welsh rivers only the Towy and the Teifi are comparable in length and drainage area with the smaller rivers in the above list (see WALES).

[10] From the source of its headstream the Goyt.

[11] As in Bartholomew's Survey Atlas of England and Wales (1903).

[12] The figures are for Registration Counties (see classification of _Territorial Divisions_, below).

[13] Census of England and Wales, 1901; General Report, p. 15.

[14] Certain great offices of state are closed to Roman Catholics.

[15] The actual selection of the bishops is in practice in the hands of the prime minister for the time being. This formerly led to purely political appointments; but it is usual now to select clergymen approved by public opinion.

[16] In 1906.

[17] There are in addition some thousands of Presbyterians unconnected with the church, including members of the Church of Scotland.

[18] Great Britain and Ireland, 1906.

[19] On September 17, 1907, the United Methodist Free Churches, the Methodist New Connexion, and the Bible Christians were united under the name of the United Methodist Church.

[20] The figure 17.76 is the percentage for the whole of Yorkshire.

[21] The West Midlands (Shropshire, &c.) include the coal-fields of Shrewsbury, Leebotwood, Coalbrookdale, the Clee Hills and the Forest of Wyre.

[22] The Forest of Dean coal-field is in Gloucestershire.

[23] The coal-field of Monmouthshire belongs properly to, and in the Report is classified with, the great coal-field of South Wales.

ENGLAND, THE CHURCH OF. The Church of England claims to be a branch of the Catholic and Apostolic Church; it is episcopal in its essence and administration, and is established by law in that the state recognizes it as the national church of the English people, an integral part of the constitution of the realm. It existed, in name and in fact, as the church of the English people centuries before that people became a united nation, and, in spite of changes in doctrine and ritual, it remains the same church that was planted in England at the end of the 6th century. From it the various tribes which had conquered the land received a bond of union, and in it they beheld a pattern of a single organized government administered by local officers, to which they gradually attained in their secular polity. In England, then, the state is in a sense the child of the church. The doctrines of the English Church may be gathered from its Book of Common Prayer (see PRAYER, BOOK OF COMMON) as finally revised in 1661, with the form of ordaining and consecrating bishops, priests and deacons, with the exception of the services for certain days which were abrogated in 1859; from the XXXIX Articles (see CREEDS), published with royal authority in 1571; and from the First and Second Books of Homilies of 1549 and 1562 respectively, which are declared in Article XXXV. to contain sound doctrine.

Christianity in Roman Britain.

The British church.

_Precursors._--Christianity reached Britain during the 3rd century, and perhaps earlier, probably from Gaul. An early tradition records the death of a martyr Alban at Verulamium, the present St Albans. A fully grown British Church existed in the 4th century: bishops of London, York and Lincoln attended the council of Arles in 314; the church assented to the council of Nicaea in 325, and some of its bishops were present at the council of Rimini in 359. The church held the Catholic faith. Britons made pilgrimages, to Rome and to Palestine, and some joined the monks who gathered round St Martin, bishop of Tours. Among these was Ninian, who preached to the southern Picts, and about 400 built a church of stone on Wigton Bay; its whiteness struck the people and their name for it is commemorated in the modern name Whithorn. From northern Britain, St Patrick (see PATRICK, ST) went to accomplish his work as the apostle of Ireland. Early in the 5th century Britain was infected by the heresy of Pelagius, himself a Briton by birth, but in 429 Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, and Lupus, bishop of Troyes, recalled the church to orthodoxy and, according to tradition, led their converts to victory, the "Hallelujah victory," over the Picts and Scots. When the Britons were hard pressed by Saxon invaders large bodies of them found shelter in western Armorica, in a lesser Britain, which gave its name to Brittany. A British Church was founded there, and bishops, scholars and recluses of either Britain seem constantly to have visited the other. The Saxon invasion cut off Britain from communication with Rome; and the British Church having no share in the progressive life of the Roman Church, differences gradually arose between them. The organization of the British Church was monastic, its bishops being members, usually abbots, of monasteries, and not strictly diocesan, for the monasteries to which the clergy were attached had a tribal character. The monastic communities were large, Bangor numbered 2000 monks. From Gildas, a British monk, who wrote about 550, we gather that the bishops were rich and powerful and claimed apostolical succession; that though governed by synods the church lacked discipline; that simony was rife, and that bishops and clergy were neglectful. He evidently draws too dark a picture, for religious activity was not extinct. Gildas himself and others preached in Ireland, and from them the Scots, the dominant people of Ireland, received a ritual. The organization of the Scotic Church in Ireland was similar to that of the British Church. Its monastic settlements or schools were many and large, and were the abodes of learning. Bishops dwelt in them and were reverenced for their office, but each was subject to the direction of the abbot and convent. In 565 (?) St Columba, the founder and head of several Scotic monasteries, left Ireland and founded a monastery in Hii or Iona, which afforded gospel teaching to the Scots of Dalriada and the northern Picts, and later did a great work in evangelizing many of the Teutonic conquerors of Britain. By 602 the British Church, in common with the Irish Scots, followed practices which differed from the Roman use as it then was; it kept Easter at a different date; its clergy wore a different tonsure, and there was some defect in its baptismal rite. The conquerors of Britain--Saxons, Angles and Jutes--were heathens; the Britons gradually retreated before them to Wales, and to western and northern districts, or dwelt among them either as slaves or as outlaws hiding in swamps and forests, and they made no attempts to evangelize the conquering race.

Foundation of the English church.