THE BRITISH APPROACH TO POLITICS

but the resulting accumulation of knowledge shows what changes
in the law have become necessary. Circulars acquaint local
authorities with the policy which the Central Government wishes
them to pursue, and if the latter finds its legal powers insufficient,
it can always frame new laws* Occasionally if a local authority
uses its powers in a way of which the Government strongly
disapproves, a special Act will be passed handing over the powers
to Commissioners appointed by the Minister of Health. This
happened, before 1929, to a few Boards of Guardians whose
scales of relief were considered to be extravagant. Such a procedure
destroys local Government; it is only suitable for an emergency,
and could not easily be applied to a general, as distinct from an
ad hoc authority.

The lower limit of local Government activity is, therefore,
fixed by the Central Government's opinion of what constitutes
negligence, and the upper limit by its opinion of what constitutes
extravagance. The amount of possible variation has already
been noticed. For example, local authorities must provide
education, but the quality of school equipment is largely their
own affair; they must take measures to deal with tuberculosis,
but can determine the frequency of health visits for this purpose.
Such differences of degree, throughout all the services, provide
the issues on which local elections are fought. Some Acts, or parts
of Acts, are Adoptive, i.e., the local authorities may resolve to
use the powers if they wish. The Adoptive Acts do not create
completely new activities, but give legal authority for extensions
of the main service, e.g., the provision of public baths and
cemeteries as additions to the health service. Often, the local
party majority is at variance with the Central Government* The
Labour Governments of 1924 and 1929 had to deal with many
anti-Labour councils, and in 1937 about one-third of the County
Boroughs were controlled by Labour, which was by then the
Opposition in Parliament. Although friction is caused, there is
no deadlock, and the country is on the whole likely to benefit
from the check on extremism. The problem is well illustrated by