The following is a table of the duration of Parliaments of the United Kingdom during the reign of Queen Victoria : The executive government of Great Britain and Ireland is vested nominally in the Crown; but practically in a committee of Ministers, commonly called the Cabinet, whose existence is dependent on the possession of a majority in the House of Commons. The member of the Cabinet who fills the position of First Lord of the Treasury is, as a rule, the chief of the Ministry. It is on the Premier's recommendation that his colleagues are appointed; and he dispenses the greater portion of the patronage of the Crown. The present Cabinet consists of the following members: 1. Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.-Right Hon. the Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., born 1830, younger son of the second Marquis; educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford; M.P. for Stamford, 1853-68; succeeded to the title, 1868; Secretary of State for India, July, 1866, to March, 1867, and again, 1874-1878; Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1878-1880; Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, June, 1885, to February, $1886; Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, August 3, 1886, to January 14, 1887; Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs till August, 1892. Present appointment, June 25, 1895. 2. Lord President of the Council.-Right Hon. the Duke of Devonshire, born 1833; succeeded to the title, 1891; educated at Trinity College, Cambridge; M.P. for North Lancashire, 1857; a Lord of the Admiralty, 1863; Postmaster-General, 1868; M. P. for Radnor, 1869; Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1871; M.P. for North-East Lancashire, 1880; Secretary of State for India, 1880; Secretary of State for War, 1882; M.P. for the Rossendale division of Lancashire, 1885. Present appointment, June 25, 1895. 3. Lord High Chancellor.-Right Hon. the Earl of Halsbury (formerly Sir Hardinge S. Giffard), born 1825; educated at Merton College, Oxford; called to the Bar (Inner Temple), 1850; Solicitor-General, 1875; M.P. for Launceston, 1877; Lord Chancellor, November, 1885, to February, 1886, and again, August, 1886, to August, 1892. Present appointment, June 25, 1895. 4. Lord Privy Seal.-Right Hon. Viscount Cross (formerly Sir Richard Cross), G. C. B., born 1823; educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cam bridge; called to the Bar (Inner Temple), 1849; M.P. for Preston, 1857; for South-West Lancashire, 1868; for Newton division, 1885; Secretary of State for Home Department, 1885; created Viscount, 1886; Secretary of State for India, 1886 to 1892. Present appointment, June 28, 1895. 5. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.-Right Hon. Lord James of Hereford (formerly Sir Henry James), born 1828; educated at Cheltenham College; called to the Bar, 1852; M.P. for Taunton, 1869; Solicitor-General, September to November, 1873; Attorney-General, 1873-1874, and 18801885; raised to Peerage, June, 1895. Present appointment, June 28, 1895. 6. First Lord of the Treasury.-Right Hon. Arthur J. Balfour, born 1848; educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge; Private Secretary to Marquis of Salisbury, 1878-80, at Berlin Congress; M.P. for Hertford, 1879; for Manchester East, 1885; President of Local Government Board, 1885; Secretary for Scotland, 1886; admitted to Cabinet, November, 1886; Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1887-1891; First Lord of the Treasury, November, 1891, to August, 1892. Present appointment, June 25, 1895. 7. Secretary of State for the Home Department.-Right Hon. Sir M. White Ridley, Bart., born 1842; educated at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford; M.P. for North Northumberland, 1868; Under-Secretary of State for Home Department, 1878-1880; Financial Secretary to the Treasury, 1885; M.P. for Blackpool division of Lancashire, 1886. Present appointment, June 28, 1895. 8. Chancellor of the Exchequer.-Right Hon. Sir Michael E. Hicks-Beach, Bart., born 1837; educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford; M.P. for East Gloucestershire, 1864; Parliamentary Secretary to the Poor Law Board, February to December, 1868; Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1874; Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1878; Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1885; Chief Secretary for Ireland, August 3, 1886; resigned, March 5, 1887, but retained seat in Cabinet; President of the Board of Trade, 1888-1892. appointment, June 25, 1895. Present 9. Secretary of State for the Colonies.-Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, born 1836; educated at University College School, London; Mayor of Birmingham, 1873-1876; Chairman of the Birmingham School Board, 18741876; M.P. for Birmingham, 1876; for West Birmingham, 1885; President of the Board of Trade, 1880-1885; President of the Local Government Board, February to April, 1886; one of the Commissioners to Washington on North American Fisheries, 1887. Present appointment, June 25, 1895. 10. Secretary of State for War.-Right Hon. the Marquis of Lansdowne, born 1845; succeeded to title, 1866; educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford; a Lord of the Admiralty, 1868; Under-Secretary for War, 1872; Under-Secretary for India, May to July, 1880; Governor-General of Canada, 1883-1888; Governor-General of India, 1888-1893. Present appointment, June 28, 1895. 11. Secretary of State for India.-Right Hon. Lord George Hamilton, born 1845; educated at Harrow; M.P. for Middlesex, 1868; for Ealing, 1885; First Lord of the Admiralty, 1885-86; and again, 1886-1892. Present appointment, June 28, 1895. ; 12. First Lord of the Admiralty.-Right Hon. G. J. Goschen, born 1831 educated at Rugby and Oriel College, Oxford; M. P. for City of London, 1863; Vice-President of the Board of Trade, 1865; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1866; President of the Poor Law Board, 1868; First Lord of the Admiralty, 1871; M.P. for Ripon, 1880; Special Envoy to Constantinople, 1880; M.P. for East Edinburgh, 1885; for St. George's, Hanover-square, London, 1887; Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1887-1892. Present appointment, June 25, 1895. 13. President of the Local Government Board.-Right Hon. Henry Chaplin, born 1840; educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford; M.P. for Mid Lincoln, 1866; for Sleaford division, 1885; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1885; President of the Board of Agriculture, 1889. Present appointment, June 27, 1895. 14. President of the Board of Trade.-Right Hon. C. T. Ritchie, born 1838; M.P. for the Tower Hamlets, 1874; for the St. George's division of the Tower Hamlets, 1885; Secretary to the Admiralty, 1885; President of the Local Government Board, 1886.. Present appointment, June 28, 1895. 15. Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.-Right Hon. Earl Cadogan, born 1840.; succeeded to title, 1873; educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford; M.P. for Bath, 1873; Under-Secretary for the Colonies, 1878; Lord Privy Seal, 1886. Present appointment, June 28, 1895. 16. Lord Chancellor of Ireland.-Right Hon. Lord Ashbourne (formerly Mr. Edward Gibson); born 1837; educated at Trinity College, Dublin; called to the Irish Bar, 1860; M.P. for Dublin University, 1875; AttorneyGeneral for Ireland, 1877; Lord Chancellor of Ireland, June, 1885, to February, 1886, and again, August, 1886, to August, 1892. Present appointment, June 28, 1895. 17. Secretary for Scotland.-Right Hon. Lord Balfour of Burleigh, born 1849; assumed restored title, 1869; educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford; is a Representative Peer for Scotland; Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, 1888. Present appointment, June 28, 1895. 18. First Commissioner of Works.-Right Hon. A. Akers-Douglas, born, 1851; educated at Eton and University College, Oxford; called to the Bar (Inner Temple), 1874; M.P. for East Kent, 1880 to 1885; and for the St. Augustine's division of Kent since 1885; Patronage Secretary to the Treasury, 1885-1886, and again, 1886-1892. Present appointment, July 2, 1895. 19. President of the Board of Agriculture.-Right Hon. W. H. Long, born 1854; educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford; M. P. for North Wilts, 1880; and for the Devizes division, 1885; Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Government Board, 1886-1892; M.P. for West Derby division of Liverpool, 1893. Present appointment, July 2, 1895. The following is a list of the heads of the Administrations of Great Britain during the reign of Queen Victoria : Viscount Palmerston Feb. 8, Viscount Palmerston June 17, Earl Russell. Earl of Derby 1885 Benjamin Disraeli. Feb. 28, II. LOCAL GOVERNMENT, 1886 1894 1895 England and Wales.-In each county the Crown is represented by a Lord-Lieutenant, who is generally also custos rotulorum, or keeper of the records. He usually nominates persons whom he considers fit and proper persons to be justices of the peace for his county, to be appointed by the Lord Chancellor. His duties however are almost nominal. There is also a sheriff, who represents the executive of the Crown, an under-sheriff, a clerk of the peace, coroners, who are appointed and paid by the County Councils, and other officers. The licensing of persons to sell intoxicating liquors, and the administration of the criminal law-except that which deals with some of the graver offences-is in the hands of the magistrates. For the purposes of local government England and Wales are divided into sixty-one administrative counties, including the county of London, which differ slightly in area from the geographical counties. For each administrative county there is a popularly-elected Council, called a County Council, who co-opt a prescribed number of aldermen, either from their own body or from outside it. Aldermen are elected for six years, half of them retiring every third year. A councillor is elected for three years. The jurisdiction of the County Councils extend to (1) making of county and police 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 and main roads; (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 county police is vested in a standing joint committee composed of an equal number of magistrates and members of the County Council. The London police are however under the control of the Home Secretary. The administrative counties, with the exception of the County of London, are subdivided into County Districts' which are either Urban' or Rural, as the case may be. Generally speaking, an urban district comprises a town or a small area more or less closely populated, and a rural district takes in several country parishes. Women may be elected to District Councils, but may not sit on County Councils; and the chairman of a District Council is, unless a woman, a magistrate for the county by virtue of his office. The District Councils administer the Public Health and Highway Acts, and also exercise some powers formerly exercised by the justices out of session. In every civil parish in a rural district' there is a Parish Meeting, at which every parochial elector may attend and vote. In such parishes of over 300 inhabitants there is in addition a Parish Council. To these latter bodies has been transferred all the civil powers of the old Vestries, including the election of overseers, and in addition very considerable powers over charities, allotments, and other public matters. Where there is no Parish Council some of these powers, including the appointment of the overseers, are exercised by the Parish Meeting. Urban District Councils can, by petitioning the Local Government Board-which is the supreme Local Government authority-obtain part or all of the powers of a Parish Council. Only Parish Meetings may have power to adopt the Public Libraries Acts, the Baths and Washhouses Acts, the Lighting and Watching Acts, the Burials Acts, and the Public Improvements Acts. In the County of London local government is carried on under the County Council by the Vestries, formed under the Metropolis Management Acts, and exercise powers similar but somewhat wider than urban district councils. These Vestries are elected on the same wide suffrage as district councillors. Married women, properly qualified, have votes, and may now sit on them, as well as single women. [See Local Government Acts, 1888 and 1894.] In all the great towns, including county boroughs,' 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 country 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, onethird 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 practically all the powers of an unban district council, in addition to the privilege of electing a mayor and corporation, and in some cases municipal boroughs have a separate commission of the peace and maintain their own police force. As to Poor Law and School Board administration, see 'Pauperism' and Instruction.' The Scotland. By the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1894, a Local Government Board for Scotland was constituted, its President being the Secretary for Scotland. The Local Government Act which was passed for Scotland in 1889 followed in its main outlines the English Act of the previous year. 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 took over their duties and responsibilities in 1890. The Act of 1894 provided that a Parish Council should be established in every parish to take the place of the Parochial Boards and to exercise powers similar to those of the Parish Councils in England. Municipal bodies 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. The Ireland. The principal county authority for local government has hitherto been the grand jury, appointed under the Act 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 116; but, by the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, provision was made for the establishment of popularly elected councils for counties and districts. councillors will be elected for three years, and the first council in each county and district may choose additional members to hold office till the next triennial election. The councils will take over the administrative business formerly managed by the grand juries and presentment sessions, especially the business relating to poor rates, roads, asylums, hospitals, and public health, while the appointment of coroners is also made over to them. The cities of Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Londonderry, and Waterford, which already possess representative councils, are made county boroughs, and are exempt from some of the special provisions of the Act. Urban sanitary authorities become urban district councils, and for rural polling districts district councils will be created, the councillors, urban and rural, being the guardians in their districts. The towns are partly corporate and partly governed by Commissioners. Certain boroughs have 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. In such towns as 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 |