METHODS AND PROBLEMS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT 31!

to international trade. Even this proposition must be stated with
caution; the number of women in industry is growing, and trade
policies affect the cost of housekeeping. As the facts now stand,
however, it is correct to emphasise the greater prominence of
women in local, than in Central Government. The connection
has been mutually advantageous; the local authorities have
received valuable help, and the woihen have been able to
demonstrate their capacity for politics. It is regrettable that many
local authorities still have no women—or very few—among
their numbers.

OFFICERS.

The scope and complexity of local Government make it
essential that the elected Councillor should be assisted by a paid
staff which may be divided into three groups. There is first the
Clerk and the Treasurer, who, with their subordinates, form the
Civil Service of the Town or County Hall. Their work brings
them into contact with every department of local Government;
by them records are kept, correspondence conducted, and the
local Budget prepared. Someone must do this,work for every
authority, though in most Parishes it will not provide full time
employment, and in some there may be no paid official at all.
The second group comprises those with special kno\$edge of.
one department, e.g., the Director of Education, the Electrical
Engineer, the Surveyor. Under the direction of each of t&ese, is
an administrative staff, and teachers, works managers, and other
specialised workers, not in such direct contact with the local
authority. It is difficult to say whether the Medical Officer of
Health should be placed in the first or second of these groups.
He is certainly a specialist, a doctor by profession, with a consider-
able technical staff under him. But there are so many activities in
his field, that he is in constant contact with the whole Council
administration. Thirdly, there are manual workers, skilled or
unskilled—builders, dusrmen, tramdrivers, labourers, many of
whom have not a definite status, but move between public and