I do not think that the court of appeal was
ever constituted, and certainly the relations between the other two
Societies continued to be difficult.
The next move was one of a practical character. The Fabian Society had
always taken special interest in Local Government, as a method of
obtaining piecemeal Socialism, and had long acted as an informal
Information Bureau on the law and practice of local government
administration. The success of the I.L.P. in getting its members elected
to local authorities suggested a conference of such persons, which was
held at Easter, 1899, on the days preceding the I.L.P. Annual Conference
at Leeds. Sidney Webb was invited to be President, and gave an address
on "The Sphere of Municipal Statesmanship"; Will Crooks was Chairman of
the Poor Law Section. At this Conference it was resolved to form a Local
Government Information Bureau, to be jointly managed by the I.L.P. and
the Fabian Society; it was intended for Labour members of local
authorities, but anybody could join on payment of the annual
subscription of 2s. 6d. For this sum the subscriber obtained the right
to have questions answered free of charge, and to receive both "Fabian
News" and the official publications of the I.L.P., other than their
weekly newspaper. The Bureau also published annual Reports, at first on
Bills before Parliament, and latterly abstracts of such Acts passed by
Parliament as were of interest to its members.
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