Mr. Clare Read made an important speech to the Norfolk
Chamber of Agriculture on Saturday. There had been a dis- cussion on roads, and the Chamber voted, by 22 to 5, that a County Council ought to decide what roads were public and what private, and that public roads ought to be made, in part at all events, out of county rates. Mr. Read agreed in this, and
added that there would be no real reform in local taxation until it was entrusted to a good Representative Board, acting quite apart from Quarter Sessions. The Magistrates might still ad- minister justice, superintend gaols, and control the police, but -the Representatives ought to manage all remaining affairs. How do the Norfolk squires like that? We do not suppose that Mr. Clare Read spoke for the Government, but independent utter- ances by men of official experience show which way the Govern- ment must ultimately go, if they want to keep their seats.
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