120 THE BRITISH APPROACH TO POLITICS

unemployed, has been praiseworthy, but very limited in extent.
The rearmament of the last few years has brought some relief
to unemployment both in these areas, and elsewhere, but the
problem is very far from being solved.

THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH.

This Ministry was created in 1919, to take over the duties of
the Local Government Board, which itself had previously
absorbed the Poor Law Board and the Board of Health. The
growth of Health Insurance and Old Age Pensions in the
twentieth century added to the work, so that the Ministry is
now far more than its name implies. It is the most important of
the social departments, and the chief link between the Central
Government and the local authorities.

Local Government Supervision. It is convenient to give here
a brief outline of the Ministry's work; its full importance will
only become apparent from later chapters on Local Government.
Anyone who surveys the progress of a number of Separate local
authorities, will discover that they possess considerable freedom,
and that they differ widely in the spirit in which they approach
their work. The task of the Ministry is to prevent local authorities
from ignoring the law of the land, or making it impossible for the
Central Government, to pursue its own policy, and to provide
such uniformity as is necessary to prevent confusion. The chief
problem in this connection is that of Finance. Local authorities
have to value the properties in their areas in order to see what
the occupiers should pay in rates. The Minister appoints a
Central Valuation Committee to which the local authorities have
to report each year. Thus informed, the Minister is able to
make recommendations to the authorities, or prepare alterations
in the law, so that serious differences in the method of valuing
shall be avoided. The Minister also appoints Auditors to see that
the accounts of local authorities are properly kept, and that
xrjbney is not spent on any object not put within their powers.
When local authorities borrow money, they most frequently z$