304 THE BRITISH APPROACH TO POLITICS

should be a percentage of expenditure approved by the Central
Government, is adopted by the Home Office, and by'the Ministries
of Transport, Labour, and Agriculture for the services with which
they are concerned, and by the Treasury for the task of compiling
the Voting Register; the percentages themselves vary with the
type of service. In total, Grants-in-Aidjprovide the local authorities
with approximately £125,000,000.

(3) Municipal property and enterprise. Local authorities, like the
Central Government, can own property, and carry on under-
takings which bring in an income* Many towns receive rents from
land, and under the 1932 Planning Act this practice is spreading.
Charges are made for baths and similar services; it is not intended
that these should cover the cost but they help to reduce the
burden on the rates. But when the municipality runs an electricity
undertaking, or a tramway service, it is expected that the charge
will at least cover the cost. It may, indeed, be so arranged as to
provide a surplus, but this means that the people who use the
services are subjected to a kind of local indirect tax, which, if
they form only a section of the community, will be unjust. Most
municipal services are of a kind" that the great majority of people
use, and which would otherwise have to be run by a private
monopoly. If, without charging higher prices than private enter-
prise would charge, the municipality can make a surplus, there is
ground for general congratulation. Municipal trading is some-
times extended beyond public utilities; the electrical undertaking,
for example, may supply electric fittings as well as power, and
special Acts have enabled particular municipalities to run services
other than those generally permitted. Most famous of these is
the Birmingham Municipal Savings Bank in which nearly one-
third .of the city's population are depositors. When local
authorities are carrying out street repairs or other work, they
can decide to employ "direct labour", i.e., conduct the work
themselves, instead of inviting tenders from private contractors.
All these activities are the subject of controversy, in which some
of the same arguments, appear as in the discussion of the