th rural
poor-law unions, or with the rural portions of unions which are both
rural and urban; but they may not comprise parts of more than one
county. The governing authority of the district is a council, (p. 185)
composed of persons (women being eligible) chosen in most instances
triennially by the rural parishes in accordance with population.
Unless an order is made to the contrary, one-third retire each year.
The members at the same time represent on the board of guardians of
the union the parishes from which they have been elected, although the
two bodies are legally distinct. The council must meet at least once a
month. Its chairman, who during his year of office is _ex-officio_ a
justice of the peace, may be chosen from among the councillors or from
outside; and the same is true of members of committees. The principal
salaried and permanent officials are the clerk, the treasurer, a
medical officer, a surveyor, and sanitary inspectors. The functions of
the councils pertain, in the main, to the administration of sanitation
and of highways. The bodies are responsible largely for the execution
in the rural localities of the various public health acts, and they
have charge of all highways which are not classed as "main roads." To
meet in part the costs of this administration they are empowered to
levy district rates.

*195. The Parish.*--Of parishes there are two types, the rural and the
urban, and their aggregate number in England and Wales is
approximately 15,000. The urban parishes possess no general
administrative importance and further mention need not be made of them
here. Under the act of 1894 the rural parish, however, has been
revived in a measure from the inert condition into which it had
fallen, and it to-day fills an appreciable if humble place in the
rural administrative regime. The style of its organization is
dependent to a degree upon its population. In each parish there is a
meeting in which all persons on the local government and parliamentary
registers (including women and lodgers) are privileged to participate.
This meeting elects its own chairman, and it likewise chooses a number
of overseers whose duty it is to assess and collect certain local
rates, to administer the poor-rate, and to make up the electoral and
jury lists. All parishes whose population numbers as much as three
hundred have a council composed of from five to fifteen members (women
being eligible), elected as a rule for a ter