county, district, and parish senates were elected. The work of the
councils, especially that of the County Council, has been very
difficult; and when the time comes to write their history, the
historian will have to set himself to explain why the first councils
were served by men who had extraordinary tact for government and
great skill in financial matters. In the lower councils the village
Hampden's eloquence is modified by the chilling responsibility for
the rates, but the Parish Councils have already, in many places, made
up for the negligence of generations of sleepy magistrates and
officials.

With a great difference, it is true, Wales under local government is
Wales back again in the times of the princes. The parish is roughly
the maenol, the district is the commote or the cantrev, the shire is
the little kingdom--like Ceredigion or Morgannwg--which fought so
sturdily against any attempt to subject it.

The local councils were fortunate in the time of their appearance.
They came at a period characterised by an intense desire for a better
system of education, and at a time of rapidly growing prosperity. A
heavy rate was possible, and the people were willing to bear it. The
County Councils were able to build over seventy intermediate schools
within a few years; and that at a time when both elementary and
higher education made heavy demands on what was still a comparatively
poor county. The District Councils were able to lower the amount of
outdoor relief considerably, and without causing any real hardship,
for they had knowledge of their districts as well as the philanthropy
that comes naturally to man when he grants other people's money. The
Parish Councils have become the guardians of public paths; they have
begun to provide parish libraries, and the little parish senate