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and proceeded very sloyvly and hesitatingly. Though it nominally existed for years, it really never made any advance. It was unpopular, both in town and country; the Press were almost unanimous in protesting against its existence, and when its extraordinary powers yvere subjected to the analysis of calm and careful consideration, the yvonder was hoyv the Imperial Parliament could have enacted a measure so brimful of the impracticable. A n extremely objectionable, not to say unconstitutional, feature of the system was, that the initiation of taxation rested with a batch of irresponsible nominees. T h e legal status of the Council yvas, besides, impugned by the Press ; and there yvere not wanting members of the Bar to declare that the acts of the Council, if it did act, could, in m a n y respects, be successfully resisted in the Supreme Court. However, the Councillors occupied a position of masterly inactivity, and seemed reluctant to provoke hostility. So they held their presumed powers in abeyance, and never gave any actual effect to their functions beyond holding an occasional meeting. A s vacancies occurred they werefilledby going through the farce of an election, always uncontested, and sometimes attended by half-a-dozen persons, never more, but often less. A n d so our District Councils lived—or, rather, slept—on in a state of partial coma, n o w and then broken by a growl, as if to show they were still alive, until the hour arrived for their coup de grace, administered by the same agency that generated them.