thur Balfour himself have prophesied with certainty in the
case of any other country but Ireland? Why, this, that each little local
body would become an outlet for suppressed agitation, and that national
or anti-national politics, not urgent local necessities, would enter
into local elections and influence the composition of local bodies. And
what would be the further consequence? That numbers of the best local
men would stand aloof or be rejected, and that favouritism would find a
congenial soil.

In point of fact, Irish local authorities, under the circumstances, are
wonderfully free from these evils, only another proof of the resilience
and vitality of the country under persistent mismanagement. On the whole
they bear comparison with British local authorities in thrift, purity,
and efficiency. None of them has ever yet had a scandal like that of
Poplar. All of them have shown sense and spirit in forwarding sanitation
and technical education. They vary widely, of course, the lowest units
in the scale being the least efficient, as in England. County Councils,
for example, are better than Rural District Councils. On the other hand,
Dublin Corporation, though not so bad as it is sometimes painted,
occasionally sets a very bad example. The standard of efficiency is
higher in the Protestant north than in the Catholic south, the standard
of religious toleration lower. But at bottom it is not a question of
theology, as every well-informed person knows, but a question of
politics. The same causes that keep the landed gentry out of Parliament
keep them, although not to the same degree, out of local politics.
Sometimes this is their own fault, for declining to take part in them;
for many of the Protestant upper class in Nationalist districts obtain
election in spite of being Unionists. Tolerance is slowly growing in
Nationalist, though not, it is to be feared, in Unionist, districts;
again a quite intelligible fact.[58] But when all is said and done, it
is an undeniable fact that Irish local authorities, especially those in
the poverty-stricken west, where all social activities are more
retrograde than elsewhere, are capable of great improvement, and that
improvement can come only by allowing them to concentrate on local
affairs, and obtain the co-operation of all classes and religions. The
very existence of a central Government of which Irishmen were proud
would influence the tone and standard of all minor authorities to the
b