The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-10-01 00:00:00

LOCAL GOVERNMENT,

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THIS is an age of clamour for local govern.

ment, in some shape or form Mani of the
Irish and their friends are demanding local
government under the guise of liome Rule;
in England the cry is for County Boards;
while Scotland and Weles from time to time
make it known with clearness that they con-
sider themselves quite competent to conduct
their own affairs with efficiency and without
undue imperial interference. And no doubt,
speaking, local government is g, od, and
mech more likely to produce local satisfac-
tion than the wisest possible system of
centralised authority. But in local govern
ment, put into practice, there is too often
found a narrowness of thought and sEor •
uess:of sight, arising from the very fulness
of acquaintnyce with things local, t the
•''owlo g€ll of the ways of the
*icier 'co • -.1. 'AA the well-being of the whole
c uUiV übjc2ctecl to great danger.
Hence i i that a safeguard should alwa.s
be reeerained, for the procuration of the
greatest 0.17. of all, by the continuance of
ai etfit!: nt rent .al power, which, while
relegating the control of things purely local
au. the administration of well-considered
general lews to local boards, should so
dominate Sid direct government everywhere
thai; th.- hes: laws might be found in proper
application throughout the realm, thus con-
dueine to the soundness, solidity, and con-
tinuously hipy prospeii:,- of the en ti e
State. Herein is a 'farm upon wh;ch
poetician.; et' all ;Ntrtics ru:ght find ground
for agr,e?rsH :it. reeeutli i,sued by
Vie faecal (3evernmeat Boa- I have led to
tiec reflection.,, and wo may profiably
g'e..nce ore, er two pints arising from
.ee on he principle just propounded,
taking illustrative detail from the return
referred to. We find confirmation of the

conviction that while dominatilg authority
is goo I. a providing a corrective con t to
wipe awaj local blunder, excessive meddling
at head. qui -rters with minutia leads only to
irritation and delay, without effecting
ecimom.y. From intricate and hampering
vegulati..ns, of the Circumlocution Office
order, red-tapeism arises, and trifles which
shonld have been dealt with summarily by
some authorative official with discretionary
power, become the subject of lengthy co i -
respondence, making tho whole system
liable to ridicule. This is especially the
case with regard to poor house maintenlnce
and management, and the difficulty has been
recoile.,-1 and legislated for by Parliament
in the session just passed. To suppose a
wi!i bes make our meaning clear. The
-.corkl nse guardiftns may have spent a
poanci -'r two at Clri.-;tmas-titne on a pad-
paupers. Bye-and-by tte
dl:Etor down, and. finds in the ac-

ecu': ai for Christmas pudding,
tightway disallow and sur-
charge the
.27aardians with, because in the
~t•ti.ntes at 1.-tr7e he finds no specific mention
of Christmas pudding as a legal and allow-
able ,rw)/hor.se requirement. The local
authoriti- ~ will thereupon appeal to the
Local G,,veroment Board, and eter very
much deliberation and lengthy epistolary
communication, the itcm is permitted to be
re-:r stated, the auditor's action, however,
being at the same, time upheld as right and
proper. By a short Act recently passed it is
ordaineo that for the future guardians may
obtain in ati.rance from the central authority
sanction for any proper items of expenditure
whieh are reasonable and necessary, though
th-v may not have specific mention in the
statute iroverning the case, Suh expenses
having been thus speialiy allowed by the
Local Government Board. the auditor would
not strike out the items, and a tedious and
annoy tn. eorr,!spondence, costing often far
wore th tn the amount in dispute, wonld be
rendered unnecessary. This, it may be
thonzlit, is a small matter to need an Act of
Parliament to set it right ; but it is not.
In 1-iB6 no less than 2523 appeals arose out
of the workhouse audits, and 1957 of these
were allowed, though the auditor was assure I
that he was right, as the law stood, iu sur-
charging. If one pictures the piles of
vouchers, einlanations, and certificates re-
quired in all these cases by the Local Gov-
ernment Board lyefore the items were per-
mitted it will be readily seen that the new
At cial:d to !la; remelied mere than a
sateill'inatter. It, is very essential that the
central authority Joni! I keep a virgin watch
upon the ex,-,enditure of all the local boards,
brit the oversight ought to be managed
lvi!iont making w ts e w ,rse by inagnificent
inquiry and the maT.nif.,ing of molehills to
mounain importance. ,The Returns prove
another thing, th It is the power of a central
bartrd. to ..ouriyi,re the ea!,o, of necessities in
t:in vario- us, an I F:o direct the guar-
dilDB to th e :;pest markets. To take
14‘.-ndon parishes for the sake of showing a
contrast :—Tee siek pnuper in St Pancras
cnstsl.s() a ; 11) p ovided for for £l9
ia Soutewark. At Waitechapel "Workhouse
int.; imAivaes, in health, entail on the average
an elpenditure of .C. 15 a head on the rate-

payi:rs, while ia• the Buckingham Palace-
road £5-17 a pauper has to be paid. The
withorities of Chelsea Workhouse buy their
mutton on the average at four and eight-
peace a stone; bat the Ktnsington Guar-
dians are such bad marketers that nine and
ninepence a stone has to be paid. Candles
are a penny farthing a pound at St. Olave's
WorkhouSe Board, which als ) buys cocoa at a
guinea a hundredweight; whereas Paddi g-
tou pays a shilling a pound for candles, and
Btepney seven pounds per hundredweight
fot, coo( , Cies° figures
~.; 7 . • pi. id :1 ic food,

_
- by tile
timuirtitublw-". LIM poor in clalormota all war

the country; bnt iestanee; enoug,t have see I
cited to show that local wisdom is ..ot away
synonymous with ecenorny. We held tha
the Local Government Board shonl4 do mor
than publish comparisons, and ought ti hay
to compels )r:ly point the spaicle's pabli
meney to the i laces at which .h .:r want
can be most advantag.emsly supplied Tbe
is imp rtant when we consider that th
iecal debt of the country is now nearly double
what it was ten years back, amounting t
over £173,000,000, and this notwithstanding
that the National Debt has decreased ly
£30,000,000 in the same period. Surely
this shews thatwe ought to - ook very sharpl::
after our boards of guardians locally, and in-
sist on an intelligeet and authoraiive super-
vision being exereised by the central depart-
meat also The local boards an.l niuni;:ip :1
aathor:ties have oth,r itnpertant duties b. -
B.des inenq sending, such as lookiag• afte.
.üblie health and safety; and in this there
is quite-as much nced that tilt wisest. of
imperial control should supplement and give
tone to t le best obtainable loc.d admieistra-
tion.