PART IV
LOCAL GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER XVII

THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES

Historical Development

Local Government Electors

The Parish

The District

The County

The Borough

General Survey

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT.

The modern State contains towns and country districts and
exercises sovereignty over them, but it has not destroyed their
separate life, nor failed to use them as units of Government.
Local Government is necessary because the central authority has
not the time to concern itself with every lamppost and footpath,
and the first task of a local authority is to minister to purely
local needs. Secondly, when nation-wide schemes of education,
housing or transport are developed, the local authorities serve as
agents for the Government, adapting the main lines of policy to
local conditions. Further, if they enjoy some measure of inde-
pendence, they can make experiments which may help future
legislation, and they will attract the interest of the citizens. In
the long run, no doubt, the policy of the Central Government is
the more important; if the country goes to war, the dangerous
crossroads in one's own town may seeirj of little significance.
But in everyday matters the citizen's most immediate contact is
with the local authority; he may be run over because the street
is ill-lit, or poisoned because the water supply is neglected if he

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