budget which this prefecture receives from the city. The budget of the prefect of police is voted en bloc by the municipal council.
Besides numerous duties consequent on the maintenance of order, the inspection of weights and measures, authority over public spectacles, surveillance of markets and a wide hygienic and sanitary authority belong to the sphere of this prefect. In the last connexion mention may be made of an important body attached to the prefecture of police—the Conseil d’Hygiène Publique et de Salubrité of the department of the Seine, composed of 24 members nominated by the prefect of police and 17 members called to it in virtue of their office. To it are referred such questions as the sources from which to obtain drinking-water for the town, the sanitary measures to be taken during important works, the work connected with the main sewers for the cleaning of the Seine and the utilization of the sewage water, the health of workpeople employed in factories, the sanitary condition of the occupants of schools and prisons, questions relating to the disinfection of infected districts, the heating of public vehicles and dwellings, the conveyance of infected persons, night shelters, &c. Board of health (commissions d’hygiène) in each of the twenty arrondissements act in co-operation with this control council. The municipal police, consisting of brigades of gardiens de la paix, are divided among the arrondissements in each of which there is an officier de paix in command. There are besides six brigades in reserve, one attached to the central markets, another entrusted with the surveillance of cabs, while the others are held in readiness for exceptional duties, e.g. to reinforce the arrondissement brigades at public ceremonies or in times of disorder. In nearly every quarter there is a commissaire de police, whose duties are of a semi-legal nature; the police require his sanction before they can commit an arrested individual to prison, and he also fulfils magisterial functions in minor disputes, &c.
Finance.—The chief item of ordinary expenditure is the service of the municipal debt, the total of which in 1905 was nearly £125,000,000. Its annual cost rose from £722,000 in 1860 to £3,583,000 in 1875 and £4,826,000 in 1905. In the latter year the other chief items of expenditure were:—
| Poor relief | £1,490,000 |
| Prefecture of police | 1,448,000 |
| Primary instruction | 1,206,000 |
| Streets and roads | 916,000 |
| Water and drainage | 579,000 |
| Collection of octroi | 471,000 |
The general total of ordinary expenditure was £14,192,000, and of ordinary and extraordinary expenditure £16,995,000.
The chief of the ordinary sources of revenue are:—
| Octroi (municipal customs) | £4,351,000 |
| Communal centimes, dog tax and other special taxes | 3,268,000 |
| Revenue from gas company | 969,000 |
| Water rate and income from canals | 943,000 |
| Public vehicles | 614,000 |
| State contribution to, and receipts of prefecture of police | 514,000 |
| Revenue from public markets | 367,000 |
The total of ordinary revenue was £14,365,000, and of all revenue, ordinary and extraordinary, £25,426,000.
Communications.—Passenger-transport is in the hands of companies. The ordinary omnibuses are the property of the Compagnie Générale des Omnibus, founded in 1855, which has a charter conferring a monopoly until 1910 in return for a payment of £80 per annum for each vehicle. The organization of the omnibus service is under the supervision of the prefect of the Seine. Since 1906 motor-driven omnibuses have been in use. The Compagnie Générale owns a number of tramways, and there are several other tramway companies. The cab companies, the chief of which are the Compagnie Générale des Voitures and the Compagnie Urbaine, have no monopoly. The use of the taximeter is general and motor-cabs are numerous. Cabs pay a license fee and are under the surveillance of the prefect of the Seine as regards tariff and the concession of stands. The steamers (bateaux-omnibus) of the Compagnie Générale des Bateaux Parisiens ply on the Seine between Charenton and Suresnes.
The great railways of France, with the exception of the Midi railway, have terminal stations in Paris. The principal stations of the northern, eastern and western systems (that of the latter known as the Gare St Lazare) lie near the outer boulevards in the north-centre of the city; the terminus of the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée railway is in the south-east, close to the right bank of the Seine; opposite to it, on the left bank, is the station du Quai d’Austerlitz, and on the Quai d’Orsay the Gare du Quai d’Orsay, both belonging to the Orléans railway. The Gare Montparnasse, to the south-west of the Luxembourg, is used by the western and the state railways. Other less important stations are the Gare de Vincennes (line of the eastern railway to Vincennes), the Gares du Luxembourg and de Paris-Denfert (line of the Orleans railway to Sceaux and Limours), and the Gare des Invalides (line of western railway to Versailles).
Railway communication round Paris is afforded by the Chemin de Fer de Ceinture, which has some thirty stations along the line of ramparts or near it. The Métropolitain, an electric railway begun in 1898, and running chiefly underground, has a line traversing Paris from east to west (Porte Maillot to the Cours de Vincennes) and a line following the outer boulevards; within the ring formed by the latter there are transverse lines.
Streets.—The total length of the thoroughfares of Paris exceeds 600 m. For the most part, and especially in the business and industrial quarters where traffic is heavy and incessant, they are paved with stone, Yvette sandstone from the neighbourhood of Paris being the chief material. Wood and macadam come next in importance to stone, and there is a small proportion of asphalte roadway. The upkeep and cleansing is under the supervision of a branch of the department of public works (service technique de la voie publique et de l’éclairage), and for this purpose the city is divided into sections, each comprising two or three arrondissements. All streets having a width of 25 ft. or more are planted with rows of trees, chestnuts and planes being chiefly used for this purpose, and in many of the wide thoroughfares there are planted strips down the middle.
The upkeep (exclusive of cleansing) of the thoroughfares cost about £500,000, towards which the state, as usual, contributed £120,000 and the department £16,000. In the same year the cleansing cost about £450,000. The original cost of paving a street is borne by the owners of the property bordering it; but in the case of avenues of exceptional width they bear only a proportion of the outlay. Payments are exacted in return for the right to erect newspaper kiosks, &c., to place chairs and tables on the footways and similar concessions.
Water.—The water and sewage system of Paris is supervised by a branch of the public works department (bureau des eaux, canaux et assainissement). The water supply comprises a domestic supply of spring water and a supply for industrial and street cleansing purposes, derived from rivers and artesian wells. The domestic supply, which averaged 55,000,000 gallons daily in 1905, has three sources of origin:—
1. The springs of the Dhuis, to the east of Paris, whence the water is conveyed by an aqueduct 82 m. in length to a reservoir in the quarter of Ménilmontant.
2. The springs of the Vanne, south-east of Paris, whence the water comes by an aqueduct 108 m. in length to a reservoir near Montsouris Park. The springs of the Loing and Lunain, south-east of Paris, also supply the Montsouris reservoir.
3. The springs of the Avre, near Verneuil, to the west of the city, the aqueduct from which is 63 m. in length and ends at the St Cloud reservoir.
In addition, filtering installations at the pumping station of Ivry, St Maur and elsewhere make it possible to supplement the domestic supply with river water in hot summers.
Water for public and industrial purposes is obtained (1) from pumping stations at Ivry and other points on the banks of the Seine, and at St Maur on the Marne; (2) from the Ourcq canal, which starts at Mareuil on the Ourcq and ends in the Villette basin; (3) from artesian wells and the aqueduct of Arcueil from Rungis, the latter being of trifling importance. The water is stored in reservoirs in the higher localities of the city, which for the purposes of distribution is divided into zones of altitude; thus the water from the Vanne, stored at the Montsouris reservoir at an altitude of only 260 ft., is supplied to the central and lowest part of the city. The upper parts of the quarters of Montmartre, Belleville and Montrouge being too high to benefit by the supply from the ordinary reservoirs, are supplied from elevated reservoirs, to which the water is pumped by special works.
The water is distributed throughout the city by two systems: the low or variable pressure, carrying the river water for use in the streets, courts and industrial premises; the high pressure, taking the spring water to the various floors of buildings, and supplying hydraulic lifts, drinking fountains and fire-plugs. The total length of pipes is nearly 1600 m. The water arrives in all cases from two different directions, so that in case of accident the interruptions of the supply may be reduced to a minimum. Consumers are supplied by meter (compteur) at a price of 35 centimes the cubic metre (domestic supply) and at a minimum charge of 16 centimes for river water. In its dealings with individuals the municipality is represented by a company (Compagnie générale des eaux), which acts as a collecting agent and receives a commission on the takings. Its charter expires at the end of 1910. In 1905, for the first time, the gross takings reached £800,000.
Drainage.—The drainage system of Paris comprises four main collectors, with a length in all of nearly 20 m.; 27 m. of secondary collectors and several hundred miles of ordinary sewers. Its capacity is such that the Seine (except in certain cases of exceptional pressure, such as sudden and violent storms) is kept free from sewage
