530 THE BRITISH APPROACH TO POLITICS

Although the full title of the Committee is Housing and Public
Health, its functions in the latter sphere are limited; the Metro-
politan Boroughs are sanitary authorities, and two of the most
important health duties of the L.C.C. are discharged by other
committees. The main sewers are under the control of the Fire
Brigade and Main Drainage Committee., whose other duty has
recently been brought into prominence by the opening of the
new Fire Brigade Headquarters. The Hospitals and Medical
Services Committee now controls 75 per cent, of all the hospital
beds in London, and about half of London's babies are born in
the Maternity Homes of the L.C.C. and the Metropolitan
Boroughs. The County is able to deal, more effectively than the
Boroughs, with the building of hospitals, the training of nurses,
the development of research, and special problems such as the
sanatorium treatment of tuberculosis. It is the statutory duty of
the Committee to assess the means of patients, and decide what
they can pay; about 10 per cent, of the cost of treatment is thus
recovered. No charge, however, is made in cases of tuberculosis.
A separate Committee deals with Mental Hospitals, which contain
over thirty thousand patients. The Welfare of the Blind Cotftmittee
maintains homes and workshops, and provides employment for
blind people working in their own homes.

Further contribution is made to public safety by the Entertain-
ments Committee, which ensures that cinemas and other places of
amusement are properly planned and equipped to deal with the
danger of fire. This committee must also approve the type of
entertainment that is^to be given. The Public Control Committee
is for the most part an agency of the Central Government,
collecting motor licences, enforcing the Shops Acts, and the
Acts dealing with the storage of explosives.

DEVELOPMENT.

Most of the difficulties of London Government are due to
the haphazard growth of the town. Three Committees—those
for Highways, for Parks, and for Town Planning, are concerned