ment Act of 1888. In England there is in each county a lord-lieutenant, who represents the Crown, but whose duties are almost nominal. He recommends to the Lord Chancellor persons to be put on the commission of the peace. There are also a custos rotulorum, or keeper of the records, a sheriff, a coroner, a clerk of the peace, and other officers. Before the Act of 1888 the management of county business was in the hands of the justices and of a number of Boards' elected under various statutes for certain specific purposes. The principal unit within the county is the parish, and of these there are in England and Wales about 13,000 ecclesiastical parishes, about 15,000 civil parishes, and about 14,775 highway parishes. The business of the parish is transacted by a vestry, and for poor-law purposes the civil parishes are grouped into 649 unions, each of which is administered by a board of guardians, elected by ratepayers and owners annually (see 'Pauperism'). Rural boards and school boards (see ⚫ Instruction') still transact certain portions of the county business. Supreme over all is the Local Government Board in London, the President of which is a member of the Government. This department was established in 1871, and has wide and varied powers. The County Councils, created by the Act of 1888, are subordinate to the Local Government Board. These Councils are elective bodies, consisting of a chairman, aldermen, and councillors. The councillors are elected by a popular vote for three years. The aldermen are elected by the councillors, and sit for six years, and onehalf of the number goes out in every third year. The chairman is elected by the Council. For the purposes of the new Act England and Wales was divided into 60 administrative counties, and 61 county boroughs having more than 50,000 inhabitants, so that with the County of London the number of new areas created was 122. The administrative business transferred from the justices of the peace to the County Councils consists of business as to (1) making of rates; (2) borrowing of money; (3) supervision of county treasurer; (4) management of county halls and other buildings; (5) licensing of houses for music and dancing, and of racecourses; (6) maintenance and management of pauper lunatic asylums; (7) maintenance of reformatory and industrial schools; (8) management of bridges; (9) regulation of fees of inspectors, analysts, and other officers; (10) control of officers paid out of the county rate; (11) coroner's salary, fees, and district; (12) Parliamentary polling districts and registration; (13) contagious diseases of animals, and various other matters. The control of the police is given to the County Councils jointly with the justices of the peace in quarter sessions, and there is a standing joint committee of the two bodies to exercise this control. The metropolitan police is under direct Government control. In all the great towns local business is administered by a municipal corporation, which derives its authority from a charter granted by the Crown. In 1835 the municipalities of the county were completely reorganised. A municipal corporation consists of the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses, and acts through a Council elected by the burgesses-practically by the ratepayers. The councillors serve for three years, one-third retiring annually; the aldermen are elected by the Council, and the mayor, who serves for one year, also by the Council. A municipal corporation has generally wider powers than are conferred on the County Council; e.g. the Town Council has the entire management of the police. As to poor law and school board administration in boroughs, see Pauperism' and 'Instruction.' Scotland.-In 1889 a Local Government Act was passed for Scotland, which in its main outlines followed the English Act of the previous year. The powers of local administration in counties formerly exercised by the Commissioners of Supply and Road Trustees were either wholly or in part transferred to the new Councils, which are to take over their duties and responsibilities in the present year. Municipal governments exist in the towns of Scotland, as in those of England, but instead of aldermen' there are bailies,' and instead of a 'mayor' there is a provost.' There are in Scotland five kinds of burghs-(1) Burghs of barony; (2) Burghs of regality (no practical distinction between these two); (3) Royal Burghs, representatives of which meet together annually in Edinburgh, as the Convention of Royal Burghs,' for the transaction of business; (4) Parliamentary Burghs, which by an Act passed in 1879 are enabled to send representatives to the convention; (5) Police Burghs, in which the local authority are the Police Commissioners. Ireland. In the counties local affairs are not in the hands of a popularly elected body. The principal county authority for local government is the grand jury, which is appointed under the Act 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 116. Its powers end with each of the assizes. In Ireland the towns are partly corporate and partly governed by commissioners. There are eleven boroughs with a mayor, aldermen, and councillors, whose powers are regulated by 3 & 4 Vict. c. 108. The ordinary affairs of the borough, such as lighting, watching, and cleansing, are administered by the Council, which has power to levy rates for these purposes. But in the majority of Irish towns, as they have no charter of incorporation, the local affairs are administered by a body of Commissioners, who have powers generally to discharge the usual municipal functions, and are empowered to levy rates to defray the cost of administration. Area and Population. I. PROGRESS AND PRESENT CONDITION. The population was thus distributed over the various divisions of the United Kingdom at the last census, taken April 4, 1881 The following table gives the population of those divisions at each of the four decennial censuses previous to 1881 : 3 The decennial rate of increase or decrease (-) per cent. at each of the last five censuses has been as follows: The decrease of the population of Ireland, which in 1841-51 was at the rate of 19.8 per cent., had become less and less in each succeeding decennium. If Ireland be excluded from the calculation, it will be found that the rate of increase for the remainder of the United Kingdom was very nearly uniform. It will be seen that the population of Ireland has decreased to the extent of 398,941, or at the rate of 7·54 per cent., in ten years. The proportion per cent. of the population living in the various divisions of the United Kingdom was as follows at each of the six decennial censuses from 1831 to 1881 : The total Celtic-speaking population in the United Kingdom .3 236 239 238 237 in 1881 was 2,067,359; of these 950,000, or about 70 per cent., of the population of Wales and Monmouthshire speak Cymric, of whom about a third speak Cymric only (according to un-official estimates, probably too high); 231,594, or 6.20 per cent., of the population of Scotland could speak Gaelic (Erse) (most, if not all, being able also to speak English); and 885,765, or 18-2 per cent., of the population of Ireland could speak Irish Gaelic. In Ireland in 1881, 64,167, or 1.24 per cent. of population, could speak Irish only; in 1871 the number was returned as 103,562, or 1.9 of the population. The figures for Scotland and Ireland are those of the census. Computed on the basis of the registration of births and deaths, the population of the United Kingdom and its divisions was, exclusive of army, navy, and merchant seamen abroad, as follows, at the end of June, in the ten years from 1880 to 1889: Subjoined is a more detailed statistical account of the population of 1. England and Wales; 2. Scotland; 3. Ireland; and 4. Islands in the British Seas. 1. England and Wales. The population of England and Wales was as follows at the nine enumerations, 1801 to 1881: Date of Enumeration The following table shows the area, in statute acres, and population of |