THE SOCIAL WORK OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES 28l

in 1848 the General Board of Health, the parent of the present
Ministry, was set up. Medical science made fresh discoveries
not only as to the cure of diseases, but* which was even more
useful, as to the causes of them, and the precautions which
public authorities could take. Recently, there has been special
emphasis on the need for proper care for children, since conditions
in early life do much to determine a human being's constitutioh
and power of resisting disease. Public health activities fall,
therefore, into three sections, (i) general measures to prevent
disease and promote health, (2) the treatment of the sick, (3)
the care of mothers and children. Most of the law concerning
these matters is consolidated in the Public -Health Act, 1936.
The provision of houses stands in a separate category because of
its connection with transport and industry.

I. General Health Measures. The authorities for this purpose
are the Borough and District Councils, the latter having power
to delegate some of the work to Parishes. They must see that
every house and school in their area has a supply of water for
domestic purposes, and usually they meet the needs of factories
and the total demand for water for all purposes. Some authorities
set up their own water works and reservoirs, others make
arrangements with a private company. It is usual to think of
water as something which costs nothing, but in few parts of the
country is the supply easy to arrange. Large towns face the
obvious difficulty of finding a supply which is at once adequate,
and so situated geographically that the engineering feat of
conveying it to the town can be performed at reasonable cost.
Lancashire, which once attracted industry by the abundance of its
own water power, must now go so far afield as the Lake District.
Yet it is the country districts with their poorer local authorities,
and scattered populations, * which face the greatest difficulty.
Drought frequently occurs in the summer, and during the last
three years the Central Government has been making special
grants to the rural areas. One cause of the difficulty is the small
size of the authorities, and the lack of proper co-ordination in