co-extensive with Municipal Boroughs. Besides, there are Petty Sessional Divisions, Urban and Rural Districts (sanitary areas), Civil or Poor Law Parishes, and Ecclesiastical Parishes, which have to be taken account of in the Census Report. Many of these areas having undergone change in the course of the last ten years, there need be little wonder that in a considerable proportion of cases the returns are erroneous in the first instance, and much vigilance is required at the Census Office to detect inaccuracies in the local returns for these.

In eight Counties there was an actual decrease of population in the decennium 1891-1901, the decrease in Montgomeryshire reaching 54 per cent., in Rutlandshire 4'6 per cent., and in Cardiganshire 3'8 per cent. In the other Counties the increase of population varied from less than 1 per cent. in Huntingdonshire, Cornwall, Cumberland, and Cambridgeshire, to 18'3 per cent. in Kent, 19°1 per cent. in Northumberland, 25'1 per cent. in Glamorganshire, and 38'2 in Essex. The Counties showing the highest rates of increase are, as a general rule, those which either include part of London or adjoin it; those in which mining is the principal industry; or those which are distinctly manufacturing Counties; while it is in the mainly agricultural Counties in which the lowest rates of increase or actual rates of decrease are to be found.

ADMINISTRATIVE

COUNTIES.-The Administrative Counties have the same names as the Ancient Counties, except that Lincolnshire is divided into three distinct Counties (Holland, Kesteven, and Lindsey), Suffolk into two (Eastern and Western), and Sussex into two (Eastern and Western); and the Isle of Ely is separate from Cambridgeshire, the Soke of Peterborough from Northamptonshire, and the Isle of Wight from the County of Southampton. The County Boroughs are also for most purposes independent of the Counties in which they are locally situated.

COUNTY BOROUGHS AND OTHER TOWNS. Of the County Boroughs, Liverpool has the largest population (684,947), the increase in the last ten years having been at the rate of 8.8 per cent.; Manchester stands next with a population of 543,969 (increase 7'6); and then follow Birmingham (522,182), Leeds (428,953), Sheffield (380,717), Bristol (328,842), Bradford (279,809), and West Ham (267,308), the rates of increase in these Boroughs being 9'2, 16'7, 17°4,

137, 53, 30'5. The most remarkable instances of high rates of increase in towns are 193'4 per cent. in East Ham, 105'3 in Walthamstow, and 1018 in King's Norton and Northfield; other extremely high rates being 874 in Willesden, 618 in Hornsey, 61'6 in Handsworth (Staffs), 612 in Wallasey, 56'7 in Leyton, and 511 in Smethwick. It will be seen that these exceptional rates of increase are in places adjacent to London or some other large centre from which the population has overflown into these suburban places. In the largest towns, including London, the population increased at an average rate below that in the whole of England and Wales, presumably because, in the circumscribed areas constituting these towns, either there was not sufficient space for the erection of new houses, or because many of the inhabitants migrated into the suburbs in consequence of dwelling-houses being converted into shops or warehouses. Excluding the largest towns, however, the more populous the towns the higher was usually the rate of increase. Thus, in towns having populations between 100,000 and 250,000 the average rate of increase was 17'7 per cent., in those with populations between 50,000 and 100,000 it was 231 per cent., in towns with populations between 20,000 and 50,000 it was 20'4 per cent., and in towns with populations between 10,000 and 20,000 it was 18'4 per cent.

LONDON.

In London the population increased at the rate of 73 per cent., against 17'4 and 10'4 per cent. in the two preceding decennia. While the population within the limits of the Administrative County of London, however, increased at so reduced a rate, it grew at the rate of 45'5 per cent. in the belt of suburbs outside that area but included in the Metropolitan Police District. As the rate of growth in these suburbs had been 508, 505, and 49'5 in the three preceding decennia, it is probable that the overflow of population from "Inner London" is extending to even a wider area. The Metropolis is the only area for which an official Census was taken midway between 1891 and 1901, this being done in accordance with the provisions of the London (Equalisation of Rates) Act, 1894. This intermediate Census enables us to compare the growth of population in London during the five years 1891-6 with that in the following five years, 1896-1901, and the result is very remarkable; for of the total increase per cent. of 7'3 in the decennium 1891-1901, 4'8 per cent. accrued in the first quinquennium, and only 2'5 per cent. in the second. Thus it would appear that the rate of growth in the ten years preceding 1891 (10'4 per cent.) was nearly maintained up to 1896, if indeed it was not exceeded for part of that period. In various parts of "Inner London the rate of increase of population was very considerable, being 42'3 per cent. in Lewisham, 32'0 in Fulham, 312 in Wandsworth, 22'1 in Woolwich, and 20*3 in Hampstead; in none of these, however, except Lewisham, was the rate so high in the last ten years as in the preceding decennial period. In Fulham the growth had been 74'0 per cent. in the ten years 1871-81, falling to 64'5 and 320 in the following decennia. In the most central districts the resident population continued to decline, notably in the City of London Union and in the Strand Union; in the former the rate of decrease in the several decennia since 1861 has been successively 330 per cent., 32'3, 25'5, and 282, the population in 1901 not exceeding 27,639. By the London Government Act of 1899, London

was divided into 28 "Metropolitan Boroughs," besides the City of London, their populations ranging from 51,247 in Stoke Newington to 334,928 in Islington.

DIVISIONS.-The

PARLIAMENTARY Census shows that the Parliamentary Divisions, settled by the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, are far from equal in respect of population; for, while an equal apportionment of the population of England and Wales to its 490 members of the House of Commons (excluding the University representatives) would give an average of about 66,000 persons, the actual populations represented by a member varied from 13,000 to 217,000.

UNITED KINGDOM. - The aggregate population in the United Kingdom on 1st April last was 41,454,578, to which it had grown from 20,893,584 in 1821, thus doubling itself in the interval. Of the total population, 74 per cent. were enumerated in England, 4 per cent. in Wales, II per cent. in Scotland, and 11 per cent. in Ireland. The rate of growth in the entire kingdom

in the last ten years was 9'9 per cent ; in England it was 12'1, in Wales 13'3, and in Scotland 111, while in Ireland the population decreased at the rate of 5'3 per cent. In England, Wales, and Scotland the population increased at a faster rate than in the preceding ten years, while in Ireland the rate of decrease was much lower.

Thus far the unrevised figures issued from the Census Office enable us to go. We learn from the Preliminary Report that it is proposed to publish the final Report in County parts, or in parts for groups of Counties, each of which will be complete in itself; the first of the series relating to London. Each of these parts will contain, besides the bare figures for all the principal subdivisions of the country, elaborate details respecting the ages, condition as to marriage, occupations, birth-places, infirmities, &c.; nevertheless, it is hoped that the London part will be issued before the end of 1901, the other parts following at short intervals.

ARMY REFORM. The war in South Africa having demonstrated clearly that our army as at present organised is incapable of fulfilling the duties which it may reasonably be expected to have to undertake, that our artillery needs strengthening, and that reform is urgently needed in the training of our troops and in the organisation of our medical and transport services, innumerable schemes have from time to time been propounded by would-be reformers, including one by Mr. Brodrick, the Secretary of State for War. His proposals, which are a frank recognition of the justice of much of the adverse criticism so long levelled at the War Office, are briefly as follows:Great Britain and Ireland are to be divided into six army corps districts-Aldershot, Salisbury Plain, Ireland, Scotland, Colchester, York-each containing the necessary troops of all arms, with barracks, stores, and transport. The commanders of these army corps are to be officers who are certified to be fit to hold the commands in time of war, and, with a view to the centralising of responsibility and the decentralising of administration, considerable authority will be delegated to them, and all future appointments will be for three years, with a power of extension. Of the six army corps the first three will be composed entirely of Regulars, the remaining three will consist of 60 battalions of Militia and Volunteers and 21 Militia and Volunteer field artillery batteries.

Of the grand total of 680,000 men (including 120,000 recruits and sick soldiers) which Mr. Brodrick proposes to enrol, 260,000 are to form the field army, 196,000 are for garrisons at home, and 100,000 Volunteers, specially trained for the defence of London, with staffs of 4,000. Onehalf of the field army, or 130,000 men, is to be composed entirely of Regulars. To supply this large force 126,500 new troops will be required, and it is proposed to obtain them partly by freeing troops from garrison duties abroad, transferring smaller coaling stations to the navy, and establishing eight garrison battalions of older soldiers; by raising the strength of the Militia from 100,000 to 150,000, and giving to each man the 3d. a day ration money which the Regulars receive, also giving to each man after two trainings a total bounty of £4 10s, at different periods, and allowing all men after army colour and reserve service, or after ten years' militia service, to have 4d. a day for joining the Militia Reserve for home defence.

Intimately connected with army reform is the question of the organisation of the War Office, upon which the report of the Committee was issued in June. The pressing need of placing the work of this department upon a business footing is recognised by the suggestion that a War Office Board should be formed, to consist of the heads of all the great military and_civil divisions, with the Secretary of State as President, and to supersede the present War Office Council and Army Board, and be an integral part of the War Office. One aim of this suggestion is to free the Commander-in-Chief from nominal responsibility for every little detail of organisation, and to give him perfect freedom in his proper sphere. The principal recommendations of the Committee, which amount to a severe condemnation of existing methods, are decentralisation and greater elasticity as regards financial control and audit. With these ends in view the Committee urges a real delegation of authority to general officers, central control of totals as

opposed to petty financial details, and the reduction of the present overwhelming correspondence about trifles; it pleads for the handing to commanding officers absolute control in their districts, subject to inspection and audit of accounts and general regulations, and recommends a local audit carried on by officials interchangeable with those at the War Office. It further recommends the abolition of petty and harassing deductions from soldiers' pay, the simplification of the present chaotic regulations, and the placing of contracts on a proper business basis.

AUTOMOBILISM.-For several years England has lagged behind France, Germany, and America in the adoption of the motor car, but during the last twelve months a sudden and surprising increase has taken place in the number of horseless vehicles of all kinds seen on the roads. At one end of the scale is the motor bicycle, a machine which appears to be recognised for racing purposes by the National Cyclists' Union; at the other is the 'capacious family carriage of 12 h.p., which is said to cost its owner as much as a small yacht for maintenance -as much as 100 per annum being expended on tyres, and at least double this sum on fuel, repairs, &c., if it is utilised to anything like the full extent of its capacity. Between the two are the light, smooth - running, and noiseless locomobiles, driven by steam, and subject to the disadvantage of occasionally emitting a puff of vapour, in contravention of the law, but nevertheless deservedly increasing in popularity. The legal limit of speed is a question that has continued and must continue to be agitated. The drivers of automobiles have been frequently summoned and fined at the instance of the police for exceeding the prescribed pace of 12 miles an hour, and it can hardly be questioned that in some cases the evidence of the guardians of the law on the subject of speed has been anything but convincing. The fact is that even 12 miles an hour is too high a rate for crowded thoroughfares, while it is much too low to satisfy the most careful and unambitious of motorists in the open country. The mere letter of the law is broken by everybody without compunction when the road is clear and no policeman is supposed to be in sight. The compromise that would most readily be accepted by motorists would be an entire removal of the speed limit, coupled with the most severe enforcement of restrictions on driving to the public danger. The mere raising of the limit would be of little use, since it would still be exceeded at times, as it is at present. Of the capabilities and dangers of motor cars valuable lessons have been gathered from the two great road races, both attended by serious accidents, held on the Continent. The first race was from Paris to Bordeaux, under the control of the police, a stipulation being made that through the towns on the way there was to be a limit of eight miles an hour. All sorts of motors were entered, from the huge 50 horse-power machine to the small cyclette. The pace developed by the winners was in excess of that of express trains, and the interest aroused was such that a second race was promoted from Paris to Berlin, the police of both countries making the best possible arrangements for the safety of the public. In this race the competitors were only allowed to ride during the daytime, and many rules were drawn up. On the route both French and Germans showed the greatest enthusiasm, and