THE SOCIAL WORK OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES 291

Association., takes an active part in this work: and the co-operation
of trade unions, political parties and other organisations is sought.
There is thus extensive opportunity, for those who cannot go to
a University, to secure a comparable education; or, at the least,
to find an interesting and profitable use for their leisure. Special
effort has been made to promote the use of these facilities by
unemployed people, so that they shall not feel that separation
from the life of human society which is one of the most dangerous
results of unemployment.

The quality of a local education authority may be Judged by
the school buildings and equipment, and die opportunities for
higher and special education which it provides, and by the extent
of its co-operation with parents, teachers, and employers. In all
these respects, there are wide differences throughout the country.

HOUSING.

Collective action about housing is in origin a department of
health activities. Bad houses, like bad food, cause ill health, and
the condition of houses offered for sale or rent must be subject
to inspection as much as food in shops. The principle, however,
is not so easily applied to housing; if any dwelling is destroyed
as unfit for habitation, the occupants must be re-housed; the
provision of houses by local authorities creates complex financial
problems; attempts to establish a high standard of building, and
to check exorbitant rents, may .discourage private enterprise
from house building. The growth and movement of population
and the wartime neglect of housing, add to the difficulties. Since
the War there have been some half-dozen notable housing Acts,
most of whose provisions have been summarised in the Housing
Act 1936.

The housing authorities are the Borough and District Councils.
Their first duty is the inspection of houses, to see that they are
fit to live in, and from the information thus obtained, the authority
can decide what further policy is necessary. The Medical Officer
of Health is responsible for seeing that the inspections are made