328 THE BRITISH APPROACH TO POLITICS

some distance away, and cannot use them more than once or twice
a week; the Council is now attempting to provide similar facilities
for the elementary schools which at present have nothing but
asphalt playgrounds, and the occasional use of public parks.
London education derives a special advantage from the number
of museums, and places of interest situated in the capital, and
provision is made for educational visits. The presence of a huge
population makes it practicable for the Council to supply, in
Commercial, Technical and Literary Institutes a great variety
of cultural and vocational education for those who have left
school.

PUBLIC ASSISTANCE.

Despite serious poverty in some parts, London as a whole is
comparatively prosperous; and since the 1929 Act made public
assistance a county responsibility, the difficulties which harassed
some of the East End Boards of Guardians have vanished.
L&ndon's Public Assistance Committee like that of other Counties,
faces the problem of combining the necessary delegation of
authority with effective public control, and has recently
remodelled its administration, to secure that the same principles
of granting relief prevail throughout the County. London has a
special problem of homeless'poor, for some of whom the capital
seems to have an attraction. The L.C.C.'s Welfare Office now
co-ordinates the activities of all organisations, public and private,
which have suitable accommodation, and it is no longer necessary
for anyone to sleep out of doors in London.

HOUSING, HEALTH AND SAFETY.

Sixty thousand new dwellings are needed to solve the problem
of slums and overcrowding in London, despite the fact that the
Council had already built sixty-five thousand in the first fifteen
years after the War. For London, more than for any other city*
the question of where to build is acute. The great estates, such
as Becontree and Downham, which lie wholly or partly outside