here was but little actual corruption there was often the most
extravagant waste of the public funds and public property, and the most
utter neglect of all the ordinary ways of business and of economy. For
a long time the increasing evils of the system had been attracting the
attention and arousing the alarm of enlightened and public-spirited men
all over the country, and of course when the great measure of reform
had dealt with the political system, it was obvious that the reforming
hand must before long touch the municipal system as well. Shortly
after the passing of the Reform Bill Lord Althorp had appointed a
commission to inquire into the whole history, growth, and working of
the municipal corporations, and the report had brought out an immense
amount of systematized information on which the Liberal statesmen, now
once again in office, were determined to act. Lord Melbourne intrusted
the task of {258} preparing and conducting through the House of Commons
a measure for this purpose to the capable hands of Lord John Russell,
who was now the leader of the Government in that House. Lord John
Russell's measure was, in fact, the foundation of the whole municipal
system which we see spread over the country in our times. It proposed
to begin by abolishing altogether the freeman system and placing the
election of local governing bodies in the hands of residents who paid a
certain amount of taxation. In fact, it made the municipal bodies
representative in just the same sense as the Parliamentary
constituencies had been made representative by the Reform Act. It
remodelled altogether the local law courts and legal arrangements of
the municipalities, and ordered that the appointment of Recorders
should be in the hands of the Crown, that each Recorder was to be a
barrister of a certain standing, and that a Recorder should be
nominated for every borough which undertook to provide a suitable
salary for the occupant of the office. Provision was also made for the
proper management of charitable trusts and funds.

[Sidenote: 1835--The Municipal Reform Bill]

The measure was to apply to 183 boroughs, not including the metropolis,
with an average of 11,000 persons to each borough. Some of the larger
boroughs were to be divided into wards, and in most cases the intention
of the measure was that the boundaries of the Parliamentary borough
should be the boundaries of the municipal borough as well. The
governing body of each mun